Beginnings are always the hardest part of writing.

It's why I tend to start chapters off with a single line of dialogue rather than a detailed description of whatever room the scene's supposed to be in. It throws both myself and the reader into the deep end, gets the momentum rolling, and allows me to describe the setting in a more organic way as we go. In that spirit, I'd like make the following announcement.

I'm shutting down the Last Spartan.

For reals this time.

Eight years ago today, I started this project more or less on a dare from a friend. He told me that he didn't think a Halo / Mass Effect fanfic could work, and that made me a lil' pissed and so I set out to prove him wrong. I would spend the next several years trying to squeeze this thing into my life in between college classes, a job, TONS of other video games, a hospitalized family member, and clinical depression.

Then, one day in 2015, my depression finally got the better of me and, on a whim, I announced on my tumblr that I would shut down the Last Spartan for good. I made the announcement before breakfast, so after making that announcement I went into the kitchen to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Low blood sugar might've had something to do with the impulsive decision. Moral of the story - don't make life-altering decisions on an empty stomach.

The fanfic would remain dormant for well over a year afterwards, until New Year's Day 2017, where I updated it as a sort of last hoorah - and then I went right back to not updating it for more than a year.

I'll confess, a big thing that kept me from coming back to it was shame. Shame over the fanfic's quality, its flaws. As many critics have pointed over the years, the whole "Slipspace and AI" thing wasn't that great or well thought-out, and despite my attempts to spin it into something interesting, it still felt like a black stain that wouldn't come out no matter how hard I tried to rub it out.

Even if there wasn't that black stain to deal with, I'd still have feelings of inadequacy. I have entire documents worth of ideas and dialogue dedicated to this hybrid universe I created, entire side-stories and character arcs, and I couldn't stop thinking about how I'm simply not a good enough writer to write it all. If there's one thing this fanfic has taught me, it's that I can neither handle deadlines nor large workloads.

But you wanna know the one thing that I was most ashamed of? Lack of interest. My passions for the Halo and Mass Effect franchises simply aren't as powerful as they used to be. Halo 5 took its story in a weird, unexpected direction that didn't entirely gel with me, and do I really need to explain where Mass Effect Andromeda went wrong? I've since moved on to other things.

And really, that's the reason I've decided to shut down the Last Spartan. I've decided that it's just time to move on. Even if I were to resume now, it would probably take another eight years just to kill Saren, and then….what? ME2? ME3? Forget it.

It's honestly heartbreaking. To look back on this universe I've created, and how much potential there was, all the planned twists and turns that I now know will never see the light of day? It's almost enough to make me cry. Not just lamenting my flaws and my failings, but also grieving a dead dream.

The saddest story in the world is the one that never gets told.

Is that a quote? Should be a quote. Someone smarter than me probably said something like that at some point in history.

…Anyway, I can't cry over this. Not forever, anyway.

For the Master Chief's character arc has become my own.

His whole deal in this fanfic was learning to stop dwelling in the past, to let go of what was and stop dwelling on what could've been. Instead, he needs to embrace what's in front of him now. Is it different from what he once had? Absolutely, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

So just as Chief had to let go of the 26th century, so too must I let go of this story. I don't know if I could do it as successfully as he did though. I'm certainly no Master Chief. He's strong, determined, everything I'm not. But isn't that the whole point of telling stories about heroes like him? To inspire people? To give them an example? To tell them that with determination, discipline, humility, compassion, and of course plenty of luck, they too could become something great?

I could summarize what was SUPPOSED to happen here. How this fanfic could've, and in a more ideal world, would've ended, but…come on.

It's the Master Chief.

Villains will try to slay him.

Schemers will try to use him.

But in the end, he rises to the challenge, foils the villains' machinations and defeats them, saves the galaxy on his own terms, and gave everyone the happy ending they deserved.

Did you really need me to tell you all that?

This isn't the last you'll hear from me. Not by a long shot. See, I'm ending this fanfic for the right reasons, I think. It's so I can work on a new project.

This won't be a fanfic. It'll be something totally original. Although, the Last Spartan did influence a bit of it. So while this story may die, we can at least take comfort in the fact that it will be reincarnated. Hopefully into something better.

I want to thank each and every one of you for reading and reviewing, even if your reviews weren't always the kindest.

Yes, I'm talking to you, darkfinder. The way you'd type your reviews in all caps and complained about how the Chief won't tell his team about Cortana's existence actually directly inspired Chapters 26-31, arguably some of my best work in this fanfic. Thank you for that.

While I'm at it, I should also thank Zgamer, for always being a good friend that I could bounce ideas off of, and I hope I can continue to do that throughout this next project.

Another thank you to Crow T Robot, who made the TVtropes page and in general was just a die-hard fan who never stopped believing in me, even after I stopped believing in myself.

And thank you to everyone else. The thousands of reviews, favs, and follows, my own TVtropes page. Though I'd certainly fantasized about making it this big, I never thought it would actually happen. You're all the reason I got as far as I did. Thank you.

Be sure to follow my blog on Tumblr - dinojake's wordworks -and keep an eye on it over the next few weeks. I'm working on setting up my own and the first chapter of my new web serial novel project will soon be up on a separate blog. Thank you all again for supporting me on this adventure, and I sincerely hope you'll join me for the next one.