Today, I open not with author's notes, but rather with an opinion and a question.

When did MST-ing fanfiction become a bad thing?! Is this because of participation trophies!? Because I'm ready to blame it on the participation trophies! If someone can't handle their "FAFORIGHT SEERYS EVAR" being made fun of, they are a walking object lesson for why we have the first amendment, goddammit!

Anyway, very sorry to be late with this. I had one HELL of a plot-bunny jump into my brain, and I wrote and posted several chapters of that before coming back to this one. Which is a little weird, as it was an Omake for the One Piece Self-Insert fic called This Bites!, rather than a stand-alone story. (It's on spacebattles and on FF, called A New Dawn)

Anyway, let's pick up where we left off before, shall we?

Imperial Servant: Chapter 7
Understanding

OOOOOO

For the last several hours as Dabbler's kiss wore off, Akane had meditated on the information she'd gotten today. While the succubus hadn't lied about any resentment Akane might have felt towards her, the enchantment did nothing for other negative emotions that the bluenette was coming to grips with. Shame being the most predominant among them.

Shame from being kissed by a demon in front of everyone she knew.

Shame from acting like a pervert in front of those same people and her family.

But most importantly, shame from spending the last year and a half calling a boy she lived with a 'sex-changing perverted lech' when he wasn't capable of being one.

Her fiancé, who couldn't stop peeping on her and had several other fiancée's along with a small fan club at school she pretended not to know about, didn't understand physical intimacy outside of the textbook definition. The young man she'd all-but painted as a sexual predator wouldn't know what to do with a girl if she threw one at him. Which explained so many of the circumstances she found him in, it was almost funny.

But Akane wasn't laughing.

The pillow pressing into her face was making her cheeks damp, thanks to the tears that had been soaked into it off-and-on ever since the magical afterglow wore off. She wasn't sure how long it had been going on for, as it seemed like moments after she finished dehydrating herself from one bad memory, another would pop-up and send her into another round of quiet crying. As much as the self-loathing hurt from all the times when she'd punished Ranma for being hentai, more than a little of the recent sorrow came from the times when he'd complimented her or looked at her like he genuinely cared about her, which hurt even worse.

A gentle rap at her window brought Akane's head up, where she spotted a blurry red blob through the glass. Her eyes widened and the remains of her regrets were quickly wiped on the sleeve of her dress, making the image of her fiancé solidify where he-currently-she was hanging upside down off the edge of the roof's terrace and looking at Akane worriedly. The bluenette quickly got out of bed and ran to the window, which she opened a crack before hissing quietly, "What do you want, Ranma?"

"I wanted to talk to you!" Ranma-chan replied, frowning like the answer should have been obvious.

The flair up of irritation from the redhead's tone, which came off as insulting Akane's intelligence, was quickly stamped out as the bluenette widened the gap between her window and its sill, and gestured her visitor to come inside. "Quick, before someone sees you!"

Ranma-chan nodded and swung in through the gap, easily landing on her feet without touching the sides. Akane didn't comment on the display of gymnastic ability. Instead, she asked, "Where were you?" As her fiancé stepped away from his/her entrance.

Ranma-chan, without thinking or turning around, replied casually, "I was at a porn store."

The two girls immediately froze, one in mid-step as she internally screamed, (WHY THE HELL DID I SAY THAT!?) and the other gaping slack-jawed at the former's back.

Akane's eyes slowly narrowed and she ground her teeth as a great swell of fury rose in her chest. "Why were you there?"

The familiar snarl made a cold sweat break out on the back of Ranma-chan's neck, and she slowly turned to look at her fiancé, who was wearing an outraged expression that had been mostly absent today but definitely not missed. Once again, the redhead replied honestly, though this time it was intentional as she offered in a pleading tone, "Because…I wanted to prove you guys were wrong about me?"

In the depths of Akane's mind, her usual instincts let out a disappointed whine upon discovering that the wooden mallet in a box labeled 'in case of baka/hentai, break glass' had been reinforced with iron bars. Her voice calmed ever-so-slightly, but her question of, "And? Were we wrong?" Still had a very sharp point to it.

While surprised and heartened by Akane's control, Ranma-chan frowned and looked away from the bluenette as she answered softly, "I…don't think so."

The admittance of being wrong, especially after such an angrily boastful statement earlier must have been like pulling teeth for the heir of Anything Goes. That coupled with her sullen expression flicked a mental safety switch in Akane's mind and she asked in a conciliatory (and definitely not pitying) tone, "Nothing…you know?"

Ranma-chan blushed at the memories of what she'd seen, though it was more from embarrassment then enjoyment as she muttered, "It might have…but everything looked so…messy."

Akane blinked. And then a soft giggle escaped her lips, which was soon followed by more as she chortled, "M-Messy!? Is that all you can say!?"

"Well, what else am I supposed to say!?" Ranma-chan fired back defensively. "I've never looked at my girlside like that! And even if I was flexible enough to get a look there, I wouldn't have used a telescope to do it!" the redhead grimaced and shuddered briefly. "I think I saw that dangly thing in the back of the girls' throats in some of those pictures…"

Akane's control snapped, not on her anger, but mirthful humor as she clutched her stomach and laughed delightedly at Ranma-chan's disgust. The redhead's cheeks reddened even more, though she could definitely see the humor in the situation and let out a few chuckles of her own before adding, "Well, some of them were…I guess they didn't look bad-bad, but most of the pictures were just confusin'."

Pondering that little addition and wondering just how strange the day had gone that she was discussing pornography with her fiancé, Akane wiped away a few tears and asked, "Really? What was confusing?" with morbid curiosity for what sort of perversions Ranma had observed.

Ranma-chan bit her lip and looked over her shoulders as she internally debated pushing her luck by confessing her 'sin' and ruining Akane's mood, but curiosity overruled paranoia and she leaned in, gesturing for her fiancé to do the same. The bluenette did so and after a nervous swallow, Ranma-chan whispered quietly, "Do girls really get plastic models of guy's…things?"

Having heard the muffled sounds of delight from her sister's bedroom, which was unusual since Akane had only let out sporadic, barely audible sobs as the kiss wore off, Nabiki was heading to her sibling's bedroom before she stopped and blinked in surprise. Said surprise was coming from the uproarious laughter that was shaking the duck door-hanger with Akane's name written on it. Now even more curious what had put her sister in good humor, Nabiki finished her trek and asked, "Akane, what are you doing?" as she cracked open the door.

Seeing Akane on the floor, legs kicking and cackling like a madwoman while Ranma-chan grumbled and blushed nearby brought a smile to Nabiki's face. Both from seeing that her (currently) sister-in-law was back and appeared to be in a much better mood than the last time she'd seen him/her.

However, Nabiki schooled her expression from relieved happiness to a cheeky smirk before Akane or Ranma-chan noticed her presence and stated, "Well, that answers my question," as she stepped in and closed the door behind her.

"S'not funny." Ranma-chan growled in embarrassment.

"What's not funny?"

"Th-this baka!" The bluenette giggled. "She-she just—"

Quick as a flash, Akane stuffed her knuckles into her mouth and bit down. Not hard, but enough to keep her from accidentally revealing that her fiancé had headbutted the limbo-stick of Akane's expectations regarding the redhead's descent into depravity.

Lips pursed from having that avenue cut off, Nabiki turned to Ranma-chan and her smirk curled impishly. Assuming that the redhead didn't know about the Zone of Truth spell yet, she asked, "Well, Ranma? What'd you do?"

"Oh no!" Ranma-chan waved her hands in a warding gesture. "I'm not telling you, you'll blackmail me for the next year, easy!"

Normally, Nabiki wouldn't have acknowledged the reaction to her well-earned Ice Queen reputation, though she would have snickered about it later.

Instead, the backfire of getting her brother-in-law's completely honest answer cut a fair bit deeper than she was used to. Not as much from the severe beating her emotional armor had taken when she thought that Ranma would never be cured, but because of her own musings during his absence.

Ranma-chan blinked, wondering to herself why she'd voiced that last bit out loud, but then tensed up when Nabiki's eyes hardened. She prepared herself for some kind of retribution, or possibly a dismissal which would mean an even worse punishment later from the middle Tendo sister.

Instead, Nabiki's eyes closed, and she gave a small sigh before bowing towards him/her and saying, "I'm sorry, Ranma-kun."

Akane's laughter ended, not abruptly, but far sooner than expected as the bluenette got to her feet and stared at her sister. "Nee-san? Why are you apologizing to Ranma?"

Nabiki hesitated for a moment, before gritting her teeth and willing away her 'cruel bitch' persona for a few moments more. "For taking advantage of him, and his curse. Which is why I'm canceling the Ranma-chan pin-up line."

While there was some amusement from watching the fallout of a cranial nuke detonating in Ranma-chan and Akane's minds, Nabiki kept her voice solemn and sincere as she met her brother-in-law's eyes. "I want to get rid of what I have in stock, but I already destroyed the negatives to the pictures I have. If…the Imperial Servant can't be cured, I won't take pictures of you anymore, in either form."

A pair of teenage jaws hit the floor as Ranma-chan and Akane gaped in shock at Nabiki. Ranma-chan was the first to recover however, since Nabiki was correct in the redhead's ignorance of the truth spell that had been laid on the household, and scoffed incredulously. "Yeah right. Good joke, Nabs."

Nabiki flinched like she'd been slapped, even though she'd expected and braced for disbelief, as the casual way Ranma-chan had dismissed her claim added a fair bit of force to the emotional strike. Akane immediately berated her fiancé by shouting, "She's telling the truth, baka!" which Nabiki was grateful for. But the brunette was painfully aware that if the truth spell wasn't still in effect, her little sister wouldn't have believed her either.

"Oh come on," Ranma-chan turned her disbelieving eyes onto Akane. "You're not gonna fall for somethin' that ridiculous, right?"

Before Akane could respond, Nabiki interrupted her sister by saying solemnly, "We thought your dad put the Imperial Servant on you, because of what you said at school about not reacting to girls." That brought Ranma-chan's attention back onto the brunette, who continued. "Dabbler-san and Cologne were going to beat a cure out of him, but Kasumi is so kind and good, Dabbler realized that nee-san could use a spell called Zone of Truth. It covered the whole house and won't wear off until tomorrow."

Seeing that sink in as the redhead's eyes widened, Nabiki stated far more firmly, "So yes, I am sorry, Ranma. And I did destroy the negatives I have of your girl-side. If you can't trust in me, then try and tell a lie right now, and trust the magic instead."

Ranma-chan's eyes narrowed challengingly, and she opened her mouth. But only got as far as, "Your hair is…" before the remainder of her statement died on her lips. She blink-blinked and repeated, "Your hair is…" only to have the effect repeat as well.

Seeing the belief sinking in, Nabiki asked casually, "What were you going to say about my hair?"

"I was tryin' to say 'your hair is blue', but it didn't—" The redhead jerked in surprise. "Hey, why'd it work that time?!"

"Because you were answering her question honestly," Akane replied. "Not lying directly."

While that helped Ranma-chan understand the magnitude of what Nabiki had done, the little nugget of unbelievability still needed time to process. Which is why the redhead's mind turned its attention onto the other 2 tidbits of her sister-in-law had dropped on her. The fact that she and everyone were enchanted went down smoothly, since Ranma-chan had more experience with magic than she ever needed or wanted. But the other snippet which was more believable than Nabiki destroying valuable merchandise needed additional confirmation, so the redhead turned to Akane and blurted, "Kasumi used magic? She's a wizard!?"

Akane snickered. "No, she's not. Dabbler had that spell on a scroll, so technically, anyone could have used it."

"But the spell is 'holy magic'," Nabiki added, using finger-quotes for emphasis. "So Dabbler couldn't use it, and it might not have worked for a normal person." The brunette smiled. "It should have lasted for 15 minutes, but Kasumi accidentally 'meta-magiced' it, whatever that means."

Ranma-chan digested that in silence for a few moments before nodding. "Kasumi's so nice, she overpowered holy magic. I'd believe that even without the spell." While Akane and Nabiki snickered, the last bit of weirdness for the night finished processing and the redhead once again focused her attention on the brunette. "You really destroyed my pictures? Why?"

"Because…" Nabiki's mood turned regretful. "Because even I have limits. It was one thing when you were flaunting your assets around the house, or sleeping in a tank-top and boy-shorts—"

Nabiki paused. Then closed her eyes and silently swore a blue-streak as Ranma's jaw dropped and she shouted, "You were taking pictures of me in my sleep?! Was that why I'd wake up on a soaking wet mattress!? I thought I was—"

Ranma-chan's lips snapped shut and she flushed beet-red, but the implication of her self-interruption was obvious and Akane clapped both her hands over her mouth to keep from howling with laughter again.

"Yes, I did. And I'd do it again, because I thought you were wasting the opportunity you had, all the money you could have made by taking advantage of how sexy your girl-form is," Nabiki went on with a calm and collected poise. "If someone's throwing away free money, I'm not too proud to pick it up and clean it off." Her voice changed subtly, softening and adding a tinge of shame as she added, "But if it's because they're illiterate and think it's just paper with squiggles on it…that's a lot different."

Ranma-chan reddened further, though now from irritation more than embarrassment. "Why, because you pity me, or it's too easy for you that way?!"

Nabiki's eyes hardened while Akane's gaze flicked between the pair with a worried and slightly upset expression. "If you want to think of it that way, fine, but I like being able to look at myself in the mirror and not think I'm a bad person. Using those pictures of you would be like selling pictures of someone in a coma, which would be easier to do because I'd be taking advantage of someone who can't stop me. Scamming a sucker or using idiots who think with their hormones to get paid is one thing, but even I wouldn't sink that low."

Still angry, but less so with understanding of where Nabiki was coming from, Ranma-chan nodded slowly. "I gotcha. Thanks, Nabs."

Akane let out the small breath she'd been holding in the tense atmosphere that had formed between Nabiki and Ranma-chan. But with relief came clarity, and her sister's earlier phrasing jumped to the forefront of the bluenette's mind and showed her a loophole in the carefully worded statement. "What about after the Imperial Servant gets taken off of Ranma, nee-san?"

Nabiki immediately looked away from her suspicious sister, and the suddenly wary Ranma-chan. Then, the redhead's nearly atrophied conversational skills rolled a Nat-20, and she added, "Wait a minute, what do you mean 'in either form'?"

To Ranma-chan's consternation and rising dread, Nabiki grinned sneakily and a glance to the side showed that Akane's cheeks were reddened as the bluenette cleared her throat with a nervous cough. After looking between the two siblings for a moment, she shut her eyes and groaned, "I don't want to know, do I?"

"Probably not," Nabiki chuckled. "But when that pressure-point comes off, you might think it's flattering."

"Nee-san!"

"Doubt it," Ranma-chan replied snidely. "If the girls are even half as perverted as the guys at school, I don't want anything to do with…"

The redhead trailed off as Akane and Nabiki stiffened, then a rising heatwave on her left was contrasted by a cold snap from the front and Ranma-chan wondered why her mouth and brain apparently hated each other almost as much as they hated her, while the two real girls in the room acquired target-lock. "Speaking of that, Ranma-kun."

"Who were the ones giving you…tips at school?"

Ranma-chan's iron-hard willpower became entirely focused on maintaining bladder control in face of two very angry females, one of whom had passed the event-horizon of furious and looped back around to politely calm, which was much scarier to her than apoplectic rage. "Before I tell you," She squeaked as she glanced fearfully at Akane. "Promise you're not gonna mallet me because of the stuff they said?"

Normally foot-in-mouth syndrome is more damaging for the one suffering under the occasionally hilarious malady. This time, the verbal equivalent of a swift kick in the teeth snuffed out Akane's aura of righteous indignation and she reeled back, her expression of wide-eyed shock morphing into one of deep hurt as she lowered her eyes and murmured, "Nee-san…could you go?"

"Yeah," Nabiki replied, her glacial tone pinning the confused Ranma-chan on the spot. "I'll leave you two alone."

No longer being pierced by a chilling glare as her sister-in-law turned around and left the room, Ranma-chan wondered why it felt like she'd made the situation even worse than if she'd started itemizing a few of the comments that had been made by some of the guys at school. With a loud gulp, she looked worriedly at Akane and asked, "Anno…Akane, are you—"

"Why are you here?"

Akane's question, soft and thick with an emotion Ranma-chan couldn't identify, confused her almost as much as the bluenette's slumped shoulders and defeated posture, as neither of those were her fiancée's normal reactions when the redhead had verbally screwed the pooch. "Eh? Whaddya mean, Akane?"

"Why are you still here, Ranma?" Akane repeated without raising her eyes. "Why haven't you left already? Gone back to China with Shampoo to get your curse fixed, left with Ukyo to learn martial arts without me, or just run away?"

Ranma-chan frowned "I got no reason to run away, and even if I did, you know I don't—" The redhead quietly growled. "I don't like runnin' away, and that I don't like Shampoo or Ucchan throwin' themselves at me all the time."

Akane flinched, her body seeming to shrink inward and bringing a twinge of guilt to Ranma-chan's chest that made her worried and confused.

The confusion disappeared and the twinge became a pained clench when Akane raised her eyes and looked at the redhead with an utterly heartbroken expression. "That's not what I'm talking about! I hit you! I insult you all the time! I'm so hopeless at the Art that you won't teach me seriously! I-I thought some part of you liked me, b-but you…" Their gazes broke as Akane dropped her head into her hands and she sobbed brokenly, "You don't like me! You don't like any of us and everybody knows it! How can you stay here with people you hate!?"

"What?! I don't hate you! I like you!"

Akane's sobs choked off and her head snapped up, displaying bloodshot eyes and wet cheeks to her very embarrassed iinazuke. "You…like me?"

Silently cursing up a storm at the spell for making her blurt that out, Ranma-chan nodded once with pursed lips.

"Why!?"

Akane's completely bewildered plea was tinged by desperate hope and Ranma-chan internally braced herself as she tried, for one of the few times in her life, to choose her words carefully. "Just because I don't have much interest in this-and-that doesn't mean I don't feel anythin'. I think you're cute when you smile and I know you take the Art seriously, but that and pops are the only things I've got, while you had a lot more to focus on besides that…"

The trade-off with carefully considering your words, is that it can result in unexpected and unwanted introspection. Which is why Ranma-chan's voice turned sullen as she added, "I know I insult you and it makes you mad, but you were doin' it too and I thought it was 'cause you were ticked off about the engagement like I was…at least at first."

Curiosity, worry, and a bit of sympathy colored Akane's feelings as Ranma-chan trailed off and looked away from her. "Akane…do you remember what the first thing you said to me was? When me and pops came here?"

Akane blinked at the non-sequitur. Diving briefly through the hazy memories of when a panda strolled through the front door with an irate redheaded girl, fragments of annoyed comments and frustrated grumbling gave way to the pair's first civil conversation in the dojo after their spare and the bluenette replied, "I said, tha—"

Her voice cut off as a sudden earlier memory disrupted the accidental lie she'd almost tossed out, of what had lead to her and Ranma-chan's first spar in the first place.

"My name's Akane…do you want to be friends…"

Ranma-chan nodded at Akane's quiet answer. "Only thing I had was the Art and Pops. And only two real friends I could remember." The redhead gritted her teeth. "Ryoga and Ucchan…"

Understanding dawned, and Akane's vision blurred a little as she whispered, "Oh masaka…Ranma…"

"I thought I had a friend," The boy-turned-girl went on, voice thickening with bitter misery as she let some of her newly acquired verbal control slip and she let her honest thoughts stream out of her mouth, completely unedited. "But instead, I got a fiance who didn't want me anywhere near her. We started gettin' along okay, but pops kept makin' it worse by never shuttin' up about the stupid engagement. I thought fightin' with you when they were around would give him a clue to back off, but the stupid panda's so thick headed it's like nailin' tofu to a tree."

Ranma-chan's arms folded across her stomach, her head lowered and a tremor that she couldn't stop came to her voice. "Then Ryoga showed up, and he hated me for runnin' away from the duel and-and other stuff. And Ucchan showed up, and she hated me 'cause pops robbed her old man. Ryoga's gotten better, but only 'cause now he would piss on me if I was on fire and before, he'd just roast marshmallows." Glimmering drops fell out from under red bangs as Ranma-chan's vision blurred and she struggled through the tightness in her throat. "Ucchan doesn't…we were kids and she liked me-she likes me, but we can't be buddies again, 'cause the old day's are poison to her, and now she's a fiancé! And I can't have someone be a friend and a damn fiancé at the same time—"

Ranma-chan's rising rant was stopped as two slim, well-toned arms wrapped across her back, and a deceptively delicate yet powerful body was pressed against hers. Through her shock, the redhead heard Akane whisper in her ear, "I'm sorry, Ranma. I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance." And every syllable was tinged with regret.

Like this afternoon, the Heir to Anything Goes let her control slip again. But this time, it was by lowering her face to the soft cloth covering Akane's shoulder and letting the emotional flood soak the front of the bluenette's blouse as she hugged Akane back, rather than blistering anyone in earshot with a tirade worthy of any drill-sergeant. After several minutes of quiet crying became sorrowful silence, Ranma-chan sniffled loudly and moaned, "'m sorry too, 'kane…it just hurt…s'not fair…"

"I know." Akane replied honestly, realizing that she and Ranma were far more similar than she'd ever realized, considering what she'd been doing before her wayward iinazuke had returned to the dojo. As she considered the content of the redhead's rant, a thought occurred to Akane that made the rest of her mind shriek in alarm. But she vetoed the majority and resigned herself to her honest comeuppance as she asked, "Ranma…do you…do you want to end the engagement?"

Ranma-chan tensed up, her eyes which had been slightly gummed from dried saltwater popping open as fear, anger, shame, and nearly hysterical confusion whirled through her mind as she hoarsely asked, "Why?"

"So we could try again…and be friends."

Relief eased the stiffness out of the redhead's body, but then reality brought a metaphorical splash of cold water as Ranma-chan considered the reactions of those around them and she sullenly intoned, "If we wouldn't get hassled by everybody; or our stupid dads wouldn't shove the engagement onto Kas-chan or Nabs; or someone wouldn't try to screw that up because kami forbid we do anythin' normal around here…" She rubbed her eyes against the fabric in a quick nod. "Yeah…yeah, I'd like that, Akane."

While it hurt to hear that Ranma didn't want to be her iinazuke, the fact that it was because being engaged was hurting their relationship brought a hopeful feeling to Akane as she whispered, "Then…you really do like me?"

Ranma-chan nodded again. "Yeah. But I thought it was weird, 'cause I like you more as a girl 'stead of—"

The two teenagers froze. And then they both burned for the exact same reason as Ranma-chan raised her head, revealing that her and her fiance's cheeks were glowing like a quartet of stoplights as Akane squeaked, "Nani!? Y-you like me more like this?!"

Ranma-chan swallowed nervously. "Anno…kinda? I mean, I still don't wanna do this-and-that, but I don't think that pressure-point works as well on my girlside, 'cause I wonder a lot more often what it'd be like if we k—"

The redhead's mouth snapped shut and her eyes widened. The embodiment of an anti-poker face making it very clear what she'd nearly blurted out as both teens suddenly registered their proximity to one another, which was a fair bit closer and had lasted for far longer than other intimate moments they'd shared. Akane twitched as she suppressed the desire to break Ranma-chan's embrace, but it was easily done. Not due to the lingering effects of Dabbler's kiss, much to the bluenette's pride, but from the growing surge of self-control that was maybe 10% influenced by her promise to the succubus earlier. Her cheeks dialing back to a rosy pink, Akane tightened her hold on her fiancé and whispered, "Ranma…if you want to do…whatever you were about to say, I won't hit you."

Heart pounding and a heat that was a little more uncomfortable than she'd expected was spreading through Ranma-chan's body. Despite the truth spell, she couldn't stop herself from nervously stammering, "Y-you're sure?"

A slight frown and narrowing of the eyes appeared and vanished again in a flash, before a smile formed on Akane's face that Ranma had rarely-if-ever seen before. Affectionate, understanding, and gentle. "I'm sure, baka."

Hesitantly, with a great deal of stopping and starting, Ranma-chan moved her head closer to Akane's. The two of them closed their eyes when they were an inch apart. Fear, excitement, nervous energy and anticipation all molded together, and sent a spark through the pair's nerves when their lips brushed together.

It was all of a half-second and almost in unison, the two teenager's eyes snapped open and they jerked their heads back, wearing matching expressions of shock while their faces were the same pallor of the currently-girl's hair. After a second to wordlessly determine that nothing had exploded, Ranma-chan let out a deep breath and moved in again, with a little more confidence as she zeroed in on her target.

Unfortunately, the touchdown was interrupted on the account of interference as a second after Ranma-chan closed her eyes, the uncomfortable and distressingly familiar sensation of her chest being manhandled made her eyes snap open at the same time as Akane's. The two girls looked down in unison to see a balding head ringed by fuzzy white-hair nestled in their shared cleavage. Before what was happening sank in, the face of the Grandmaster of Anything Goes popped up and grinned cheekily at the pair. "Sweeto! Bout time you two started getting along!"

-AN-

If I may quote Voltaire.

"I do it all because I'm E~vul~~!"

"And I'd do~ it all~ for free~~!"

"Your~ tears are all the pa~y I'll ever~ nee~~d!"

I literally did not consider ending on that bit until this recent edit, when i realized it works SO damn well that I couldn't not stop there.

Don't worry, the next chapter will not take nearly as long to get out as this one did. Mostly because I'll have one less plot bunny jumping up-and-down in my head from here on out.