Dear Readers,

Normally, I don't like writing forwards in fanfiction. Normally, I'd rather just let the story be told on its own merits without further involvement from me. (Barring brief author's notes at the bottom of the page.) However, this story isn't like my other stories. It's a story that has a great deal of pain. It's a tale that delves deeply into heavy topics and in some ways, embraces them utterly.

Some might say I'm glorifying agony because of how much suffering is in this tale.

I sincerely, adamantly disagree.

How can one appreciate the good in life fully if they've never known pain? If they've never experienced loss? How can one fully appreciate what sacrifices were taken to give you that better life if you never even knew they existed to begin with? It's hard to fully comprehend how much one has if one hasn't seen the pain that gave a person that joy.

In an ideal world we'd never know suffering and everyone would always be happy. It's naive to believe that that's our world right now though. Yes, it's an ideal we should strive for but until we've obtained that perfect world, looking away from the terrible aspects of life is a disgrace to those that have suffered them.

In some ways, yes this story has been a way for me to try to sort through some of my own traumas and with that said, yes, there are heavy traumas involved in this story.

If you've suffered abuse this story might trigger that trauma. I never intended this to be a light story and could it be a triggering experience?

Yes, absolutely, it could.

I first wrote this forward at around the 20th chapter mark and in those early chapters Rokko's sanity has been stressed and her hate has almost totally consumed her at points. There have been easier moments in the story, but it's a heavy story that tells of a world consumed by fear and racism. It's a story about an innocent child (for despite her mental maturity, she is but a child when the story start) being dipped into an unfair world.

And that, is truly tragic. Tragedies cause pain, loss, and grief.

But despite all of that, this story isn't meant to simply ooze agony.

It's a story about a child who longs for the most precious of all things: freedom and the path to liberty is never easy. Be it on a personal level of escaping abuse and traumatic experiences or be it in a nation led by a cruel tyrant.

I sincerely feel that if I were to lessen the pain that Rokko experiences in her path to try to find that I would lessen the value of her freedom should she gain it and how could I ever do that when so many have given it all and never been able to taste that freedom they longed for?

How could I ever make light of a child's emotions, of her pain, of her rage, of her frustration, and distrust?

It would be, in my opinion an insult to those that have suffered such horrible tragedies.

You might also notice that Rokko doesn't really take the time to try to comprehend her own losses and grieve. When you're surrounded by horror, often the only thing you can do is push forward and only when it's truly safe, when you're free to look back at the nightmare can you begin to sort out what you've been through.

Every step of this journey is meant to be something real for the people involved.

Will they succeed in their quest for freedom? Will they be able to hope and live life as their own?

I know (thankfully, the two drafts to this story gave it a strong backbone to work of), but I won't spoil it for you. If I told you it ended in tragedy, it'd be easy to just set aside as another gloomy story that has a gloomy ending, but if I tell you it ends in joy, you'd probably be constantly wondering how the light would rise over the world when everything is so bad. It'd also I feel, lessen the value of the ending of the story and in this case, anything that lessens the subject matter must be avoided. No matter how difficult that might be.

TLDR: There's a lot of content that could be a trigger for those that have suffered and even the healthy should be well aware that this isn't an easy story, to read or write. If you're looking for a silly fic or fun loving one, look elsewhere.