A/N: Finally! Chapter 10 is here! I know I'm sooooooo excited to finally post this and I really hope it is worth the long wait, for which I sincerely apologize. If it makes it any better, this is the longest chapter thus far. Now, I know you've been waiting too long already so I'll shut up and let you start on Chapter 10!

I don't own Young Justice

Chapter 10: Confrontation

(Bruce's P.O.V)

The wheels of the Batmobile screeched as it tore down the streets of Gotham. Bruce had to swerve several times in order to avoid other cars or the occasional pedestrian. 'This is incredibly dangerous,' he mused as he made a hard right in order to keep from running down an elderly woman walking with her grandson.

The woman screamed and shook her purse at him as he passed; if Batman hadn't been so focused on the task at hand he might've actually taken the time to wonder exactly what she thought she could accomplish by brandishing a purse at him?

Beep... Beep... Beep Beep... Beep Beep... Beep Beep Beep...

The pulses from the map on the Batmobile console were getting closer together, he was getting close.

He was now driving through one of the outer parts of Gotham. Unfortunately in this city, outer didn't mean friendly, suburban homes, and quaint family run shops like in other places, no, in Gotham, outskirts generally meant abandoned and falling apart.

For now, it was mostly abandoned apartment buildings, windows either smashed or boarded up, some with caved in roofs. But the further he drove the more industrial style buildings he saw mixed in with the residential.

He was getting closer.

Batman felt a chill go through him when the twisted gates of the old Arkham Asylum building came into view. It had only been about eleven years since it was in use but looking at it now one would think it had been much longer.

The stone walls of the abandoned asylum were still mostly intact, however the roof had massive holes from the fire that had rendered the place no longer usable all those years ago.

That place was the main reason the surrounding area was in such bad shape. Many people couldn't stand living anywhere near the asylum. For some, the fire was the last straw and those that didn't leave then moved out shortly after the neighborhoods were ravaged by the escaped inmates. Those few that couldn't afford to move out had to deal with the drug lords and gangs that now ruled over the area, however even those types steered clear of the asylum. Some went as far as claiming it was haunted, others said it was possessed, but everyone, Batman included, agreed that there was something sinister still living in that place.

Batman felt his chest relax a little more with each mile he put between himself and the burnt out shell. Unfortunately that wasn't very many as he had just barely cleared the perimeter fence when the GPS in the car pulsed erratically and the lab came into view.

At a glance it didn't look particularly suspicious, of course, at a glance it didn't look particularly like a lab either. A person walking down the street probably wouldn't even recognize it as a lab, just a simple, concrete structure, one to two rooms at best. However, Batman's research had revealed that underground their was a network of other rooms that, in the end, added up to a rather large and complex structure. The above ground section had once served as a security checkpoint for arriving employees, but when STAR Labs had come to town and built a new location in downtown Gotham, this building had been essentially abandoned and left to rot; most of it's employees being employed by the new STAR facility. Despite it's small size and boarded up door, it didn't appear particularly conspicuous, that is, until one took a hard look at the buildings around it.

In an area as overrun with gang activity and violence as this one, it was common for the buildings to be in massive states of decay, with peeling paint and jungles of grass.

So why did this one have a path of worn down grass in front of it?

The strangest part of it was it didn't lead to the door, instead it went around the back.

Apprehension rising within him, Batman parked the car in an alleyway. Before he got out, however, he scanned the area for traces of Wally's heat signature.

Nothing recent.

'Good,' he thought, 'that means he'll likely be returning soon.'

Climbing out of the Batmobile, Bruce silently climbed up a nearby fire escape. Once on the roof, he quickly surveyed the area below, just to make sure it was clear. He was right, the grass led around to the back of the lab, came right up to the back wall, and stopped...

Of course, Dick could've easily climbed or jumped up onto the roof without much effort being the acrobat he is, but he remembered from watching the team on missions that Wally had always had trouble running up walls.

Skeptical, he leaped down from his perch onto the lab roof. Approaching a skylight, Batman cut a small hole in the glass, listening intently for any action inside. Hearing nothing he picked the lock and opened it just enough to slip through.

Landing in a crouch on the concrete floor, he quickly slunk back into the shadows.

When felt concealed enough to really look at his surroundings, he started a bit. This wasn't at all what he'd been expecting. What had once been a reception area, had been converted into something entirely different.

He seemed to have landed in a bedroom, albeit a very plain one, in fact it almost reminded him of a barracks. It only had a simple bed, dresser, and desk. With only two other doors, one half open revealing it to be a closet, and the other most likely leading to a bathroom, it seemed the only way in or out of the room was through the skylight.

'Strange,' he mused, 'I'd expect this of Dick, but Kid Flash isn't particularly fond of climbing, so why would he make the only entrance and exit one he had to jump in and out of?'

This was becoming a theme, so far this whole operation has been set up to cater to Dick's strengths, ironically, most of those being Wally's weaknesses.

Batman was getting frustrated, none of the pieces he found were fitting together, in fact they almost seemed to be pieces from entirely different puzzles.

There was little of interest in the room, however he did find an odd collection of objects sitting atop the desk, as if they were on display or something.

A watch, a necklace, a set of keys, a wallet, etc. none of them seemed particularly interesting, except their reason for being here as all of them were clearly not Wally's, unless...

Wally was the one who always collected souvenirs from the teams missions. These couldn't be...

Batman felt a wave of nausea overtake him and he had to turn his attention to something else.

Like what happened to the rest of the building? From the look of things the space the elevator had once occupied was now a bathroom, perhaps there was another way down?

A quick look at the bare floor revealed no obvious trap doors, so Batman moved on to study the furniture.

He was disappointed to discover that it was all bolted to the floor - the dresser, the desk, the bed... wait!

Taking a closer look, he discovered that not only was half of the bed not bolted to the floor, but the frame of the bed could be folded in half in order to reveal a locked trap door underneath.

'Finally,' he mentally sighed, 'progress.'

Pulling a small laser from his belt he made quick work of the lock, which had clearly not been disturbed in a while judging from the even layer of dust on it.

Removing the lock, Batman attempted to open the trap door without making any noise.

*Screeeeeech*

He failed.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Batman paused to see if anyone would come running before jumping down through the hole and landing in a plain, badly lit hallway.

Well, if you didn't count the electricity, this part of the facility seemed to really be abandoned, but he was done trusting appearances.

He continued down the hall, stopping occasionally to check doors, all of which were locked, till he came to a dead end. Well, not exactly a dead end, before him stood a large, metal, maximum security door with a key pad to the left.

Batman went ahead and tried the door anyway, locked, no surprise there. Turning his attention to the key pad he found himself wishing Dick were here, or at least his glove with computer interfacing capabilities were here, one of them could get the job done a lot quieter than what he was about to do...

Pulling out an exploding Bat-a-rang he prepared to throw it at the key pad.

"Well, well, well... didn't expect to find you here."

Batman whipped around ready to let the weapon fly, but when he made to throw it he found it was no longer in his hand.

"Souviner," an all too familiar voice chirped in front of him.

Batman's lenses narrowed as he stared at the yellow clad figure in front of him, only to widen as he took in the blood staining the young man - Wally's - hands.

That's when it really hit him. Wally. This was Wally in front of him. Wally with innocent blood on his hands. Wally... the murderer.

The evidence had all been pointing toward him, hell Batman had gone out tonight intent on bringing him in, but...

He wasn't prepared for this.

This case wasn't just words on paper anymore. It was real, and he was about to put Wally, Dick's best friend, in prison for murder. It was different with Dick, that had happened so fast, he didn't really have time to think about what was happening until he was driving away from Arkham. He...

Was he really freezing up? The Batman was freezing up before a fight?!

He tried to go numb, tried to think of the person before him as someone - anyone -else.

He couldn't.

He just couldn't.

He was the Goddamn Batman and he couldn't take down a serial killer half his size just because he also happened to be his son's best friend?

This was pathetic, he had to-

*Slam*

-'pay attention!' his mind screamed at him. He was so stuck in the past he couldn't focus on what was happening.

Wally had returned to his original spot, relaxing against the wall, twirling a knife in his hand.

Batman slowly rose up from the floor and assumed a defensive position, once again trying to look at his opponent as only that - his opponent.

Didn't work.

So instead he decided to go ahead and ask the one question he'd been wanting to ask since this whole mess started.

"Wally... why are you doing this."

Wally scoffed, "Wally? Who's that? Name's Renegade," he finished with a smile. "Thought you'd know that by now Bats."

Okay... that was unexpected.

Wally - Renegade? - followed up that declaration with a flip into a flying kick that Batman managed to break out of his musings long enough to dodge.

As... was that.

The was Wally, Kid Flash, red hair, green eyes, freckles, and superspeed. So why was he attacking like Dick would? Like an acrobat would?

This was getting ridiculous. Nothing was making sense anymore. Batman wanted answers and he wanted them right now.

Wally tried to attack using one of Dick's signature moves, one Batman had taught him himself.

Bad idea.

Batman grabbed the boy's ankle and jerked him to the ground, Wally landed with a grunt. The Dark Knight flipped him onto his stomach and had him effectively pinned in seconds.

"Ugh! Get off of me!" Wally yelled as he struggled to throw of his much heavier captor.

"Wallace Rudolph West," Batman growled in his ear, "drop the act right now. What are you doing here? Why did you kill all those people?"

"I keep telling you my name's Renegade, now let me go!" With that, the boy's struggling grew erratic and he began to vibrate. Still not enough to go through anything, but enough to make Batman slacken his grip.

As soon as he realized he could, Wally flew off the floor at record speed.

Batman leaped up, ready for another attack.

But none came.

Instead, he looked up to find Wally staring at his hands in disbelief.

"W-what just happened?" he stuttered, seemingly talking to no one.

"You vibrated Wally, you do it all the time, it's part of your super speed." Batman supplied, not sure why Wally was so freaked out.

Wally's head jerked up in surprise, almost as if he'd forgotten anyone else was there.

"For the last time, my name is not Wally, and I've never done that before."

He looked panicked, his green eyes were wide and his breath was coming out in pants. This was good, he was off balance, now he would talk.

"Renegade?" the only acknowledgment he received was a small twitch from the shaking boy. "What is going on here, where are we?"

Slowly green eyes rose to meet white lenses. "I- I don't know. I came back and saw that someone clearly moved the bed and there was a hole in the floor I'd nevernoticed before, so I came to investigate."

"I see," Batman tried to keep his voice calm, it seemed to be working.

"What about the vibrating? Super speed?"

"Last week, I realized I could move, faster, than everyone else. I- I'd never done it before, I'm not even sure how it happened exactly."

Okay, something was definitely off there. One last question...

"Those moves, those acrobatic moves, where did you learn them?"

"W-what are you talking about? I've known them since I was a kid." Wally said with far more confidence than before.

"Fine, but that's not what I asked. Where did you learn them? Who taught you?"

"Why does it matter!" Wally snapped.

Batman narrowed his eyes, "it matters because you don't know."

"Of course I do!" Wally yelled, his breathing and eye movements becoming even more erratic.

"Then it should be easy to tell me." The Dark Knight pressed, trying to keep his rising exasperation out of his voice.

"I- I- I learned them..." Wally's brow creased as he struggled to answer, "I-"

He started shaking his head and ringing his hands, something Bruce remembered Dick doing a lot recently, as he continued to try to stammer out a response.

"Wally?"

The redhead shot him a glare.

"Renegade," he corrected with a sigh, "just admit it, you don't remember do you?"

"I-" Wally looked helplessly at the ceiling, "I don't. I don't know how I learned those moves. I don't know why I can run so fast. I- I don't even remember- remember..." he trailed off into silence, squeezing his eyes shut and pressing his temple against the wall.

Well... this was unexpected. Batman wasn't exactly sure how to proceed. Should he try and calm Wally down? Or was this all an act? But... no he seemed sincere, wait hadn't he thought that with Dick before too? Oh, why can't any part of this case be simple?! Why did their have to be so many layers? This was exhausting. He felt so tired. So...

Wait a minute. He wasn't tired. The hallway was filling up with gas.

Batman scrambled to get to his air filter, but it was too late. The gas was already affecting him. As blackness began to overcome his vision, the last thing he saw was Wally slowly sliding down the wall, his head lolling to the side.

Bruce slowly pulled himself out of the blackness. His head was pounding. He shifted slightly trying to gauge his situation. He was strapped down, to a chair judging by his position.

"Come now Batman, I know you're awake, drop the act."

Wait...

That voice wasn't Wally's.

Batman opened his eyes, looking around for the red head.

He was right. He was strapped to a metal, surgical chair in the middle of the room. A significantly larger room than the one above ground; in fact this one actually seemed to be a working laboratory, complete with a catwalk for observation running around the ceiling where a second floor would be.

He could hear typing to his right. Turning his head he could see several computer monitors against the wall, with a rather large chair in front of them. Turning his head to the left he saw what appeared to be the same high security door from before, and just to the left of that...

Wally!

Still unconscious and strapped to a chair just like his from the look of things, but still very much alive and seemingly unharmed. The only difference in their bindings Batman could see was the menacing, wired headband keeping the young man's head firmly in place against the back of the chair.

"Who are you?" he growled, turning his attention back to the mysterious figure in the chair.

The person in question let out a low chuckle. "Who am I? Honestly, Batman I really thought you'd have figured it out by now. But, then again I suppose my plan was more cleaver than even I thought... Bruce."

Batman's heart skipped a beat. Who- How- What?! There were weren't very few many heroes who know his secret identity let alone villains!

Unless... Dick or Wally had told them? But that was impossible! Wally clearly didn't remember who he really was, and Dick... well now that was possible.

"And before you jump to any conclusions, no, neither Richard nor Wallace told me who you are. I've known for quite a while. Of course I've yet to see the benefit of spreading that knowledge around so never fear, your secret's safe with me."

'Quite a while?' Okay that didn't leave many choices...

"But as interesting as it's been, I suppose it's time to remove the mask so to speak."

Slowly the chair spun around to reveal...

Hugo Strange

Batman's mind drew a blank, 'Dr. Strange? But, why? He wasn't a murderer, psychotic as he may be, he was a psychologist!'

"Strange? What... how?"

"Well, it's a long story, but" he checked something on one of the computer monitors, "I suppose we have time."

"Working as a psychologist in Arkham, I meet a lot of, fascinating, people. People who have committed the most atrocious of crimes. Of course, all of them have their own back story, their own personal explanation of what drove them to such lives of crime. Some even have a few different ones, I believe you're familiar with some of the Joker's favorites?"

Batman narrowed his eyes.

"Yes," Strange smiled "and of course he's not the only one. Your dear friend Harvey Dent? Such a tragedy that was, and Mr. Freeze..."

"Get on with it Strange," Batman snapped, he was in no mood for tangents.

"Alright, alright," Strange huffed, "my my my, caged bats can be so testy can't they. Anyway, working with all these individuals, each with different explainations as to why they do what they do, I started wondering, what really makes a villain? Do they choose it for themselves or can simply giving a person the memories of a murderer be enough to turn a good person into a killer?"

He stopped to gauge Batman's reaction, getting none he continued.

"Well, first I had to manufacture some memories. So I wrote the objectives of the perfect serial killer onto a device that, in simple terms, alters the mind of the subject. It doesn't change their original personality, it simply creates new priorities for them to carry out in their own way."

Strange paused to let that sink in. Bruce was confused, 'so Dick was being mind controlled? But, J'onn didn't detect any outside influence.'

"Once I had my program written, I converted it onto a chip. From there it was a simple matter of bribing our dear friend Mr. Crane, or Scarecrow as you call him, with the promise of escape if he'd kidnap Robin and plant the device in secret. After that I just had to wait for the murder reports to roll in. Once I was satisfied with the body count, it became a simple matter of changing the programing on the chip to set all priorities to killing you. I believe you know the rest." Strange finished, wearing a satisfied smile as he watched his captive's face for any signs of rare emotion.

For his part, Batman was doing an excellent job of keeping any of his inward struggles from showing on his face. He vaguely remembered that incident, but it had happened only a few months before all the trouble with Renegade had started so he'd practically forgotten about it. Scarecrow had kidnapped and tortured three members of the city council and Dick had gone out alone against Batman's orders. Bruce remembered his panicked search for two straight days before finding the boy, and the city council members, beaten and bloody in an abandoned warehouse near the docks.

But Dick had received thorough medical attention after that case, including several brain scans to check for a concussion which would've turned up any implants. Not to mention the scans Bruce had recently performed to specifically check for mind altering implants anywhere on his body.

"This... chip," he began, trying to keep the utter confusion out of his tone,"how did you manage to keep it's presence undetected by in-depth scans and mental probes?"

If Batman didn't know better he would swear that Strange had been taking smiling lessons from Cheshire with the look he was giving him.

"Ahh, yes, I was hoping you'd ask that. You see Batman, this chip I created isn't nearly as high tech as I think you believe it is, that's part of what made is so brilliant. The chip itself, because it isn't a mind control device, doesn't need to be actually planted in the mind of the subject. It only has to be close to the subject, for safety reasons I programed it with a very short range, so short the subject would literally have to be wearing it right next to their skin."

Batman's lenses widened slightly, realization beginning to dawn.

"Of course, I couldn't put such a sensitive piece of tech on any article of clothing. It had to be something that isn't frequently replaced, something only the subject would wear, and especially in this case, something dear Richard would never leave home without..." he trailed off, "can you guess what it is?"

Batman's lenses were blown wide by now, he could guess.

The belt.

Dick's utility belt.

The one piece of their costumes that they rarely replaced, only Dick wore it, and the first thing Batman had ever taught him, he never left home without it.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. When Renegade first attacked him in the cave two years ago, he'd been wearing the belt. Bruce had ripped it off him shortly after he'd restrained the boy and thrown it somewhere in the cave. It must've been lost in the confusion of the follow-up investigation. Dick hadn't been wearing it during the follow-up exams from the Scarecrow case, nor had he been wearing it during Bruce's recent tests in the Batcave. J'onn wouldn't have detected any outside influences on his mind because without the belt on, and Strange's device in range, there wouldn't have been any outside influences on his mind. In fact, the next time Bruce had even seen the belt had been when Dick tried to strangle him...

... and he'd been holding the belt when he tried to strangle Bruce in the Batcave, that was what triggered the sudden personality change to Renegade.

It all made sense. The pieces were starting to come together, forming a truly horrific picture. Bruce couldn't even begin to process the myriad of emotions coursing through him, but the two main ones were obvious. Relief...

and guilt.

Relief that Dick, his son, really was innocent. He wasn't a murderer, at least not of his own free will.

And guilt. Guilt that he had been so stupid and careless as to allow this to happen. Because of his negligence, his son had spent two years languishing in a prison built for criminals like the Joker.

And Bruce had put him there.

How- How dare he call himself a father?

'Mary, John I'm so sorry,' he thought, 'I- I don't deserve your son. I-' he couldn't even think anymore his emotions were in full control of his mind, bringing it to a screeching stop.

"From the look on your face my dear Batman, I believe the truth has dawned on you?" Strange chuckled from his perch at the computers.

"The belt." Batman whispered, his throat too tight to say much more.

"Hmm, yes indeed. That was Scarecrow's idea you know? And a brilliant one at that. Well, after he revealed himself and attacked you I knew you'd have no choice but to put him away. You brought him right to me. With Richard as my patient I had free access to do what ever I thought best to 'cure' him. Of course, even I didn't think you'd leave your own son in Arkham Asylum for two years without even a visit, but I decided to cover my tracks anyway. Without the chip in his belt of course he believed he was innocent, but it didn't take long for the isolation, cold, and hunger to take effect and he willingly wrote his confession; which I took the liberty of sending to you. After that it only took a few months of electroshock therapy with me to create a split personality of 'Renegade' in the boy's head. That way if anyone ever did come back for him they'd simply write him off as insane. Continued treatment had his memory so unclear that he probably couldn't tell you about his killing spree or what had happened in that prison if he wanted to. The shocks conditioned him to associate those memories of Arkham and Renegade with unimaginable pain, so any time he even tried to remember anything he'd only up with a magnificent headache."

'Well that sounds familiar,' Bruce thought back to J'onn's attempts to resurface Dick's memories as Renegade.

"Thus, unable to remember for himself, he was forced to accept anything I told him as fact." Strange finished his rant, looking terribly smug about everything. If Bruce wasn't still reeling from the onslaught of information he might've tried to attack the man despite the restraints.

"But," Batman paused to swallow, trying to get the lump out of his throat, "what about Kid Flash? How did you get access to him?"

"Wallace? Well, unlike you, young Wallace didn't abandon his best friend to the welcoming walls of Arkham Asylum. Unfortunately for him, when he came to visit Richard he ended up playing right into my hands when I invited him to witness one of Richard's 'sessions.' He didn't suspect a thing."

"Where did you put the chip though?" Batman was surprised that he was still able to talk with this throat tightened up like it was.

"The chip? Well, that's simple. After Dick actually made the memories the device made a copy of them which I downloaded onto another chip, which I then planted in dear Wallace's temporal lobe, giving him the memories of 'Renegade'. However, there were some, unforeseen, complications. Renegade's memories didn't fuse properly with Wallace's resulting in Wallace actually believing he was Renegade, and when certain events, like his super speed manifesting and when you asked him how he learned Renegade's signature attack moves, clashed with that reality, his mind couldn't handle the conflicting stories so it... shorted out so to say."

"I can't believe it." Batman muttered, looking over at Wally, who was still unconscious in the chair. "So what are you going to do with him?"

"Well," Strange sighed, "the experiment is compromised sadly, and I'm afraid he's useless to me now. So I suppose all that's left is to clean up the evidence."

Batman's lenses widened.

"No no no, I'm not going to kill him. I'm not a murderer after all."

Under different circumstances, Bruce might've actually laughed at the irony of that statement.

"I'm merely going to make sure he can't go around blabbing about our little adventures to anyone else, wouldn't want any loose ends with incriminating evidence running around you understand? You wouldn't want me to lose my job as Arkham's head psychologist now would you?"

Batman growled as he watched Strange turn to a different computer monitor, raising the levels of what he realized was an electroshock machine. He was going to electrocute that boy till he was braindead!

No.

He wouldn't let that happen. He'd already lost his own sidekick to this monster, he couldn't let Barry go through the same thing.

He had to think of a plan, he wouldn't let Wally suffer the same way Dick had, but how could he distract Strange long enough to find a way out of these restraints- wait!

Dick!

"What about Richard?" he asked, managing a fairly neutral tone that thankfully got the man to stop typing long enough to acknowledge him.

"What about Richard?"

"Well, you said you wanted to tie up loose ends, what about Richard?" As much as Batman hated to draw this psychopaths attention back to his son - no, he'd lost the right to call him that - his ward anymore than he had too, it was Wally's only chance. "Martian Manhunter's been working with him, and he says that with a little time he'll remember everything."

Okay so it was a small lie, but Strange's attention was completely focused on him for the time being.

Strange looked his captive up and down studying his expression for a moment before bursting out laughing.

"Hahahaha! Oh Batman, you really think you can fool me?!"

Batman stiffened, "what are you talking about?"

Strange took a moment to compose himself before his face settled back into that Cheshire grin from earlier.

"Batman, that chip of mine is still active, and I never altered the priorities from killing you."

"Yes." Bruce had kind of figured that out a while ago.

"And it also contains a tracking device."

"Yes..." he wasn't following, Dick was safe at home, sleeping in a cell in the Batcave.

"Well, it might interest you to know that according to this display," he indicated one of the other monitors, "our final loose end has been on his way here for the past half hour, and is now practically at our door."

This time Batman swore his heart really stopped.

Dick... here? How was that possible? And if the chip was tracking him then he must've been wearing the belt, he supposed it was possible for him to find it lying around the cave somewhere, but how did he get out of the cell in the first place?

Oh.

Alfred.

Alfred had made it quite clear how he felt about Bruce locking Dick in a cell. Bruce had left the manor so fast he hadn't had time to explain. If Dick had woken up without the belt, it wouldn't have been easy for him to convince Alfred with his - not completely fake - innocence and get Alfred to let him out. From there Dick would've wanted to come after Bruce in order to save Wally, and he wouldn't have left without the belt, which meant...

Renegade was on his way here.

Dick was on his way here.

Dick was about to walk right into a deadly trap.

He had to stop him, somehow he had to-

*BANG*

The double doors to Bruce's left blew open from the explosion with a thick cloud of smoke.

When the fog cleared, Bruce's worst fears were realized.

There stood Dick/Renegade in the doorway, knife in hand, wearing the same exercise pants and hoodie Bruce had left him in, but now he had his old domino mask secured over his eyes, and his belt, that stupid yellow belt, clipped securely around his waist.

Bruce fought to keep his expression calm as the two locked eyes, and a cold smile worked it's way across the former Robin's mouth.

"Well Batman, I've been waiting a long time for this."

End of Chapter 10

(A/N): There you go! The big reveal! So, out of curiosity, who figured it out? I really hope it wasn't a let down. Please let me know what you all think in the comments, it's especially important for this chapter so I know just how much more explaining I need to do for the next. If you have questions either message me or leave a comment, all questions will be answered! (Just maybe not until the next chapter ;))

Like I said before, I really am sorry about the wait. I'm going through a rough time right now and could use your prayers. Thank you all so much for reading and offering your support, and to all my reviewers/followers/favs a special thanks to you. There is one more chapter in the main story after this one and an epilogue, so we're almost done! Thank you again for sticking with me this far.

Just one more thing! To annprove: I can't tell you how honored I am that you thought this story was good enough to be entered into a contest. Perhaps one day I will submit it for something, but as it isn't finished yet I can't. But again thank you so much for your confidence in it.

See you in Chapter 11!