One Year Later

Cynder gnashed her teeth together and her tail lashed behind her in agitation. Her claws began to knead into the stone beneath her as she scanned the gardens around her. Part of her felt a bit guilty for marring some of the garden's beauty, but the rest of her was growing too anxious to really care. Where was Ember? The pink dragoness had agreed to meet her almost half an hour ago.

The minutes that had passed could have been used to help Cynder work through her current problem, the one whose importance she had emphasized to Ember. A wave of relief washed over Cynder as she spied a spot of pink in the sky. As Ember landed, Cynder let out a huff of annoyance.

"Where were you?" she said sharply. Cynder's eye twitched. "We said to meet here over half an hour ago."

"I know, I'm sorry!" Ember said apologetically. "I just couldn't get away from Flame. He can get so clingy sometimes!"

"Better that he's clingy than not really there at all," Cynder muttered.

Ember looked at her friend, eyes filled with concern. "Wait, what's going on between you and Spyro?" she asked, understanding the meaning behind her words.

The black dragoness opened her mouth to say 'nothing' but caught herself before she could. It was a force of habit. Normally, the only one she would ever voice her problems to would be Spyro. She had never let anyone else know what was bothering her, not even the Guardians. But this was a special circumstance. Spyro wasn't here to listen to her troubles, in fact…

"Yes," Cynder replied hesitantly. "It's about Spyro."

Ember adopted a new demeanor different from her typical cheerful attitude, one of seriousness and determination. "Come on. Let's find someplace to sit and you can tell me what's up." She started walking towards a large patch of shade in the grass by a large tree. Cynder trailed behind her and soon the two were seated comfortably. Ember folded one paw over the other and eyed the dragoness intently. "Alright. Lay it on me."

Cynder offered Ember a small smile of gratitude. Already the fire dragoness was proving to be an excellent person to confide in. "He's been a bit distant lately," she began. "We haven't been spending as much time together as we used to. And when we have been together, he's always so tired. Our one year anniversary is coming up soon too."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?"

She shook her head. "No, I haven't had the chance to."

Ember tapped her chin. "Do you have any idea why he might be acting like this?"

"I'm not completely sure, but he's been spending a lot of time with this mole he met a few months back."

"A mole? Do you know who it is?"

"His name's Aedric, but I've only met him a couple of times." Cynder recalled the few encounters she had with the mole and visibly bristled. She slammed a paw onto the grass, flattening it. "Ugh, he's so infuriating."

"Are you talking about Spyro or Aedric?" Ember asked, confused.

"A bit of both," Cynder half-joked. "But mainly Aedric. Every time I saw him, he was so rude. He kept making jabs about Spyro or dragons or how terrible everything was. And the thing is, Spyro didn't even care. He even tried to defend the mole when I called him out on it! The only time Spyro did anything was when Aedric made a comment about me."

"What did he say?" The black dragoness whispered something into her ear, causing Ember's eyes to widen. "Oh. At least you know he still cares about you," she said, trying to calm Cynder.

Thankfully, it worked and Cynder simmered down. "Yeah, I guess…"

"Something doesn't add up though," the fire dragoness said. "In the time I've known Spyro, he'd never let someone just walk all over him like that. There has to be a reason for why he's acting so strangely. When did you say he met Aedric again?"

"I think it was during the festival when everyone was celebrating Malefor's defeat."

"Wasn't that when you went to that one bar with Spyro and got really, really drunk?" Cynder's face reddened. A devilish smirk spread across Ember's lips. "You never did tell me what else happened that night. Did you two have drunk sex? How was it?"

Cynder swatted the pink dragoness who then cried out in mock pain. "Hush! We did not have drunk sex! We didn't have sex at all that night actually. Spyro was too sweet and decided not to take advantage of me like that."

A memory of the morning after resurfaced in her mind. While the two mates certainly hadn't done anything the night before, that hadn't stopped Cynder from taking exactly what she had wanted earlier from the male as soon as she regained consciousness. He did, after all, deserve a reward for being such a good drake. She had made sure to show her appreciation.

Realizing that her thoughts were now within the realm of the less innocent, Cynder shook her head to try to clear her mind. Unfortunately for the dragoness, she was still with Ember who had the annoying habit of bringing up unrelated thoughts.

"So what happened the next morning then?" Ember asked cheekily. It was as if she was reading her companion's thoughts.

"Enough! I asked you to come here so I could have someone to talk to about Spyro, not about our sex life!"

The pink dragoness raised up her paws in defense. "Sorry, I was just curious. So, is there anything else you know about this Aedric?"

"Well, Spyro mentioned he likes drinking. I also know he's a blacksmith and that he has a wife, but that's about it."

"Wait. This guy has a wife?" Ember asked incredulously.

Cynder shrugged. "I don't know how he managed to get her to—what do those moles call it again?"

"Marry?" the fire dragoness supplied.

"Marry him, right. Thank you. I could barely stand a few minutes with him. I couldn't imagine what spending a lifetime with him would be like."

"It would be pure torture."

"Agreed."

A period of silence emerged between the two dragoness as they drifted towards other thoughts. Cynder focused mainly on her issue with Spyro and tried to figure out the reasoning behind his behavior lately. So far, she and Ember had discussed when the drake had started acting strangely which had led to Aedric.

She strongly suspected the annoying little mole was the cause of it, but she had no concrete evidence to back it up. While earlier she had said she hadn't had the chance to question Spyro directly, Cynder doubted she would get a straight answer out of him if she did ask him. She couldn't ask Aedric either for obvious reasons. There was no one else she knew who could possibly help her out, leaving the dragoness with only one option.

"Hey, Ember," she said. "What if I followed him around?"

"Spyro? I'm not sure. Maybe you could figure something out. It could work, but if you get caught…"

"I know, but it's the only idea I have right now."

"Well, if you really want to know what's been causing Spyro to behave differently, I guess that's what you'll have to do."

Cynder gave Ember a grateful smile. "Thank you so much for coming here, Ember. I really appreciate it."

Ember returned the gesture in earnest. "What are friends for?" The two dragoness stood up and Cynder unfurled her wings, preparing to take off. "Oh, wait! There's one thing I wanted to talk to you about!"

The black dragoness looked at her curiously. "What did you have in mind?"

"Earlier, you said that Aedric mole had a wife, right?"

Cynder nodded. "And I talked about how anyone could possibly marry that mole. Where are you going with this?"

"I was actually thinking about that mole custom—marriage. Have you ever thought about marrying Spyro?"

Cynder's mouth opened, but nothing came out. She was still processing Ember's question. Would she marry Spyro? It sounded like such an odd idea, carrying out a mole tradition. Dragons already had their own rituals to become mates. She and Spyro had performed those already—and rather thoroughly too, Cynder thought to herself with a hint of embarrassment. After another moment of contemplation, she figured there was no real reason why she wouldn't.

"I haven't thought about it until now. We're already mates, but I don't think I would be against marrying him." She then redirected the question back at the fire dragoness. "What about you and Flame? Would you marry him?"

Ember rubbed her chin thoughtfully. It was hardly a second before she came to her own conclusion. "Only if he proposes with a nice, big ruby ring."

Cynder couldn't help but chuckle at her response. The dragoness waved Ember goodbye and proceeded to take off, heading for the room she shared with Spyro. As she flew through the air, Cynder began to formulate her plan for tailing the purple dragon.

Cynder sighed contently and snuggled closer to Spyro. She buried her muzzle in the crook of his neck and inhaled his musky scent. "I love you," she said.

She felt his lips brush against her cheek, bringing a smile to her face. "I love you too," he replied. She rotated her head to look at him face to face. Those beautiful lilac eyes of his stared into her own and drew her in. Cynder leaned towards the purple dragon and shared a passionate kiss with the male. As the kiss ended, she pulled away from him. She expected to see that large grin of his she had become so accustomed to, but only saw a frown full of regret.

She shot him an accusing look. "You're leaving again," she said flatly.

Spyro nodded once. "I'm sorry." He leaned in to give her another kiss, one of apology, but Cynder pushed him away.

"Don't." She stepped off their shared cushion and moved onto an empty one nearby. She heard Spyro get up and walk over to her, his paws scuffling against the stone floor. He placed a wing over her, but Cynder quickly shrugged it off.

"Cyn, please. I know I haven't been spending a lot of time with you, but—"

Cynder whirled around. "But what? What's so important that you have to do with Aedric?"

Spyro wore a strained look. He opened his mouth to say something, but immediately closed it. He licked his lips hesitantly. "I…I can't tell you—not now anyways. I just need you to trust me on this. Just for a little longer."

"How much longer?! Our one year anniversary is next week!" Cynder shut her eyes and turned away from him. Her heart ached from the neglect.

"I know," Spyro said softly. "But I promise you that everything will be fine by then. I won't let you down. You mean everything to me."

"Then why are you spending more time with Aedric than with me? I don't even know how you can stand being around him."

"He isn't so bad once you get to know him," he said. Cynder gave him a pointed stare. "Okay, he can still be pretty bad," Spyro admitted. He tried flashing his mate a brief smile, but the cold shoulder she was giving him wiped it away. "But seriously, he does have some good traits."

"Such as?"

"Uh, he's a good blacksmith?" the purple dragon offered. Cynder rolled her eyes. Why would him being a blacksmith mean much anyways? "And he, uh, knows some good drinks. Maybe he could suggest something for you."

She scoffed at him. "I don't even want to talk to him. Especially not after what he said that time."

"He won't ever say anything like that ever again," Spyro said in a low tone. Cynder could hear the anger in his voice as he spoke. It brought some comfort to the dragoness and softened her heart if only just a bit. He leaned in towards her and rubbed his cheek against hers. This time, Cynder didn't react. "I'm sorry," he said again. "It'll just be one more week. I promise."

The dragoness looked up at her mate. She could see all the love he had for her in his eyes and how sincere he was being. She sighed and buried her face into her wing. "Let's just go to sleep."

"Okay." He moved back to the cushion they had been sharing earlier and plopped onto it. "I love you," he said gently.

Cynder simply kept quiet and closed her eyes, trying to drift off to sleep. She wanted nothing more than to return those words back to him, but right now she just needed rest. Tomorrow she would find out whether or not he truly did care for her. Tomorrow she would follow him throughout Warfang.

The next morning Cynder made sure to wake up early. As she got up and stretched, she glanced over at Spyro's sleeping form. He looked peaceful with his head tucked into his wings and his tail wrapped around him. She let out a small sigh before heading out for a quick breakfast.

The sun was still low in the sky when the dragoness exited the temple. She briefly scanned the streets to find hardly anyone walking about. There were a couple cheetahs, some moles, and one dragon up. She ignored all of them and soon found herself in the Great Hall. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the delicious aromas of freshly cooked meat.

The chefs were surprised to see Cynder so early in the morning, but greeted her politely all the same. They handed her a plate of deer and she thanked them for it. She took her meal to a nearby table and quickly scarfed it down. She didn't want to risk missing Spyro wake up and leave the temple, possibly going somewhere else where she would never find him.

When she left the Great Halls, a fair number of people were out and about in the streets. Cynder felt a brief moment of panic before looking up and seeing how low the sun was still. The purple dragon wouldn't be up for a while longer. This was one of the few times she was glad Spyro was lazy.

Cynder flew over to a building nearby the temple with a good vantage point. She would be able to track Spyro's movements the second he left. From there, she would dip into the shadows where she wouldn't be seen and watch from a distance. Cynder was determined to find out exactly what he was doing.

After some time, Cynder spotted a purple figure emerge from within the temple. The black dragoness perked up and focused her gaze onto her mate. Spyro turned onto the street and made his way to the Great Hall with Cynder following closely behind and out of sight. He walked into the building and she waited patiently for him to finish his breakfast. When he came back out, Cynder could just make out a bit of sauce along his jaw.

She rolled her eyes. Typical.

The dragoness continued to follow him throughout Warfang. She noted the different streets he walked down and realized that he was heading to the crafting district. He was heading to Aedric's forge. She knew he was going to wind up there are some point, but knowing that didn't make her any less disappointed. Soon, Spyro arrived at the forge and a small mole stepped out of the door. He yelled something at the drake that Cynder couldn't make out and the two disappeared inside.

Cynder looked around, watching out for anyone who might see her. When she spotted an opening, she darted across the street and into the forge. Immediately upon entering, she could easily feel the heat from the large furnace used to heat up metal. She spied a stack of barrels in the corner and hid behind them. She erupted from the shadows and sucked in a large breath. She panted quietly. She hadn't used her shadow element so extensively in a long time. It was exhausting.

An unexpected shout caused the dragoness to jump. Her battle instincts drove her to bare her teeth and claws, but remembering the situation she was in, Cynder forced herself to calm down and peeked out from behind the barrels. Aedric was scolding the purple dragon again. To many others, it would have been an amusing sight to see the savior of the realms submitting to a creature a quarter of his size. But for Cynder, it only worsened her view of the mole.

The drake and the mole stood beside a long, short table with various tools scattered across it. Aedric pointed at something off to the side out of Cynder's view. She listened closely to what they were saying, but only caught the end of it.

"…do ya lose something like that?" Aedric said. "At this rate, it ain't gonna be finished by next week!"

A frown was on Spyro's lips. "I can go out and get another. And I will finish it. I promised that I would. It'll be ready by next week. Finding another and setting it won't take that long. You've at least taught me well enough for me to know that."

Aedric huffed and dismissed him with a wave of his paw. "Ah, whatever. It's yer funeral if ya don't get it done. If ya need me, I'll be in the back drinking."

As the mole vanished from Cynder's sight, Spyro called out to him. "Isn't a little too early for drinking?"

"Not with ya around, it ain't!" he shouted back.

Spyro shook his head and turned around. He passed by the barrels Cynder hid behind and walked back out of the forge, picking up a satchel on his way out. Their conversation lingered inside her mind. It raised several questions. What did Spyro lose and what did he need it for? She needed to know more. Cynder sank back into the shadows and followed Spyro once again.

As she tailed him, she felt some measure of satisfaction. So far, her plan had proved fruitful. She now had some idea as to why her mate was spending so much time with Aedric. The mole had been instructing the drake in something. Likely in the art of blacksmithing, but she couldn't figure out what Spyro could possibly do with that knowledge. Why would he ever bother making something?

There was barely any time for Cynder to ponder that any further as Spyro stopped by a different building a moment later. It appeared to be some sort of jewelry shop. Inside, Spyro was talking with a cheetah. The two quietly conversed and Cynder strained herself to catch some words.

"Do you have one in stock?" she heard Spyro say.

"I have a few left over. Let me check." The cheetah disappeared from view. The purple dragon stood alone in the shop and looked around. His eyes wandered over to where she was hiding and he stopped. His gaze lingered there for a moment, bringing a mixture of shock and panic to the dragoness. Spyro took a step forward, but the cheetah returned before the drake could further inspect her hiding place.

Does he really know me that well?

Cynder dismissed that thought and refocused at the situation at hand. The cheetah had something in his paws when he had come back, but she had missed what it was. She darted into a different patch of shadow to get a better view and immediately saw several large rubies spread before the purple dragon. She watched him pick up each one and study them. What he was looking for exactly, she couldn't quite figure out. Since when did he know anything about jewels?

Aedric must have told him what to look for, she decided. After another moment, Spyro picked out one of the rubies and reached into his satchel. He pulled out several gems, the currency used in Warfang, and handed them over to the cheetah. With a nod of satisfaction, the shopkeeper pocketed the money and gathered the rest of the rubies and left the room. The purple dragon stored his new purchase within his satchel and left.

The black dragoness prepared herself to take off after him until he started walking towards her previous hiding spot. He examined the area briefly before scrunching up his face in confusion. She heard him mutter, "I swore I saw something here…" With a shake of his head, Spyro resumed his trip to Aedric's forge. He didn't stop at any point along the way and Cynder silently thanked the ancestors for not letting him be sidetracked again.

When they arrived at the forge once more, Cynder waited a minute before following the drake back inside. She hid back behind the barrels from earlier and saw Spyro with the ruby he had just purchased in his paw. Aedric walked into the room a moment later with a rather large sword in his paws. The small mole stumbled a bit before heaving it onto his work table. He wordlessly, to Cynder's surprise, took the ruby out of Spyro's paws and held it above the sword's pommel.

"Aye, this'll work," she heard him say. Aedric handed the ruby back to the drake as well as the sword. "Ya take care of it then. I'm goin' back to my drink."

Spyro sighed and rolled his eyes, but said nothing. Instead, he turned to the sword and the ruby and inspected them individually. With ruby in paw, he looked at the sword once more before grabbing something off the table and slipping it onto his claws. It looked like a glove of sorts that would fit over a dragon's paw. The tips seemed to be reinforced with some metal. Spyro brought a reinforced claw up to the ruby and began to whittle it away.

Cynder glanced between the stone and her mate and watched him work at the gem with a sense of awe and fascination. A mask of deep concentration covered Spyro's face as he carefully cut away at the ruby's surface. She had rarely seen him so focused on a single task since the war ended. In the other things she'd seen him do, he had always done them with a mild interest. But with this, he gave his work his undivided attention.

She felt a pang of guilt as she recalled their conversation from the night before. He had tried being sweet to her while she had just given him the cold shoulder. She hadn't entertained the idea that he actually enjoyed spending time with Aedric, time she now knew he had spent learning blacksmithing. He was happy and she was selfish.

Now feeling like a terrible mate, Cynder dipped back into the shadows and spared the purple dragon one more glance. A smile was on his lips as he examined his freshly cut ruby. She turned away from him and left Aedric's forge.

The next week passed by rather quickly and to his word, Spyro had made the effort to spend more time with Cynder. Unfortunately for the purple drake, his mate hadn't been very receptive. Every time he had suggested they do something like visit the park or go on walks together, Cynder was distracted and kept thinking back to the other night. As a result, she was the one who became distant.

Spyro, however, had not let this behavior discourage him from attempting to show his dragoness his feelings for her. He had shown the same eagerness he normally did months ago before any of this had started. And Cynder felt even more guilt.

On the day of their anniversary, the black dragoness had woken to his handsome amethyst eyes gazing down upon her lovingly. "Happy anniversary," he said softly.

Not wanting to ruin this day for her mate, Cynder pushed back the negative thoughts she had been feeling recently into the recesses of her mind. She gave him a small smile and licked his cheek. "Happy anniversary to you too."

He boasted a large grin on his muzzle. "Let's go get breakfast."

And so they left for the Great Hall, tails intertwined. Cynder pressed against his warm flank and Spyro draped his wing over her in response. She nuzzled him softly as they slowly made their way through the streets. His familiar scent helped further push back her guilty feelings and comforted her.

When they received their meals, they sat down next to each other at an empty table and silently conversed as they ate. They discussed some of the various events occurring throughout Warfang and some of the people involved.

"So the fabric-weaving guilds in the crafting district are actually coming together to prepare a large banner for the upcoming tournament," Spyro said.

"Really? That's interesting," Cynder replied.

"Yeah, Aedric said that, uh—nevermind," he finished as he noticed his mate's expression upon mentioning Aedric. "Just forget I said anything." Spyro picked at his food.

"No, it's fine," she told him quietly. "Please, continue. I want to hear more."

"Are you sure? I thought you didn't like me talking about Aedric."

She stared at her own plate. "I don't, but this last week, I've been thinking about what I said that night…" she started. Cynder matched her gaze with his. "It's okay if you like spending time with him. I should be supporting you, not getting upset with you. It was selfish of me to think that you should be spending all your time with me."

He shook his head. "You had every right to be upset and it's definitely not selfish to want to spend time with your mate. If anything, I should be the one apologizing for neglecting you for so long."

She placed a paw on his cheek. "You've already apologized and more. The whole week you've been nothing but good to me. And I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"For what? You've done nothing wrong."

Cynder bit her lip and looked away. "I have a confession to make. Last week, the day after we had that talk, I followed you around." She looked at him from the corner of her eye and saw his confusion. "I saw you go from Aedric's forge to that jewelry shop with the cheetah and saw you buy that ruby. I was what you saw in the shadows that day. And I followed you back to the forge and watched you work with that ruby. I haven't seen you look so focused in such a long time and I didn't even think that you might have had a hobby you enjoyed. I'm sorry."

At this point, the dragoness's eyes were wet. Tears were threatening to form. She felt so terrible for not giving the one she loved a chance. Suddenly, Cynder felt his strong paw along her jaw. She looked up at him, expecting anger, hurt, or disappointment. But the only thing she saw was the same love he always stared at her with.

"Cynder," he said quietly. "You don't have to be sorry for that. I could never be upset with you and I don't care if you followed me around. You wanted to know what I was doing and I wouldn't tell you—I couldn't tell you. But now I can. Come on. I need to show you something."

Spyro began to lead her out of the Great Hall, causing the dragoness to feel a bit perplexed. "But I already saw what you were doing that day."

He turned back and smiled at her, chuckling. "That wasn't what I've been doing these past couple months. That was me just owing Aedric a favor. It's finally time to show you what I've really been doing."

Cynder stayed silent, processing the new information. She had been wrong. He hadn't been taking up blacksmithing as a hobby for the last several months it seemed. But what else could he have been doing? She was about to find out.

Within minutes, they arrived back at the temple and Spyro ushered her down the halls and back to their room. She just watched him run over to a small bookshelf over on one wall. He retrieved a medium sized box she hadn't noticed from behind it and rushed back to her.

"I got you a gift."

Cynder looked at the box then at him. "How long has that been there and how did I not see it?"

"A few days," he replied. "And you didn't see it because you haven't touched those books in weeks. You've gone through all of those at least twice, so I knew you wouldn't bother looking there."

Once again, he had a grin on his muzzle. It was incredibly infectious and Cynder found herself smiling back. "You really do know me that well."

He nodded and gave her the present. "Open it."

Nervousness coursed throughout the dragoness's body as she slowly slid the top off. Inside was a silver necklace with grey swirls along its surface which came to a stop around a large emerald set in the middle. She gasped. The craftsmanship was phenomenal compared to the jewelry she had normally seen in the marketplace. "How much did this cost?" she asked breathlessly.

"Months of spending time without you," he answered. Cynder didn't comprehend his response. Noticing this, he continued. "The real reason I haven't been spending so much time with you for the last few months was because Aedric was teaching me how to make jewelry. I made this for you, Cyn."

Cynder was absolutely blown away. She couldn't form words. It was almost a minute later before she could say something. "You never told me he knew how to make jewelry."

"I figured that that little detail might have given me away."

She sighed. "I don't deserve this," she whispered.

Spyro stepped forward and gently pressed his forehead against hers. Their eyes locked. "Yes, you do. You deserve anything and everything I have to offer. You were there for me when nobody else was. You stuck by me no matter what happened and I love you for that. I love you for everything you are."

He reached around the back of her neck and undid the clasp of her choker. He set the dull metal onto the ground and picked up the necklace. He grasped the two ends of it not yet connected together and slid the piece around her neck. She felt his hot breath against her cheek as he secured the clasp on the necklace and he stepped back.

Cynder looked down at her new gift and then at her smiling mate. She turned to a nearby mirror and walked up to it. It was amazing how well it suited her. The gem in the middle matched her emerald eyes and the silver and grey of the necklace contrasted well with her scales. She studied the necklace in her reflection more, tracing its intricate patterns. She hardly noticed Spyro beside her until he wrapped a wing around her.

"Happy anniversary," he said again.

She turned to him as her eyes glistened once more, this time for a much different reason. She gave him the most lovingly smile she could muster, but it quickly faded away as she realized one thing. "I didn't get you a gift," she said in disappointment. Since she had been so preoccupied with what Spyro had been doing for the past week, she had neglected to get him a present.

"You don't have to get me anything because all I need and want is you."

His words repeated themselves in her mind and caused her heart to flutter. How lucky she was to have such a wonderful drake like him. Another thought occurred to Cynder. There was most certainly a gift she could give to him after all. One they could both thoroughly enjoy.

She leaned in and nuzzled him affectionately. "You've been so good to me and I haven't done anything for you at all."

"Cynder—" he began, but she cut him off with a forceful shove that caused him to fall onto his back.

She stepped over him, her legs on either of his sides and wrapped her tail around his. She wore a large, mischievous smirk. "You deserve a very special reward for all this."

Now understanding her intent, he flashed his own naughty grin. "Is that so?"

"Oh, yes."

Without another word, the two mates began to celebrate their first anniversary in the very best way.

And this marks the first year (for Spyro and Cynder) since the beginning of this story. This is also now the longest chapter I have ever written, the last one being chapter 2. Unlike chapter 2, I am very satisfied with how each part of this chapter turned out (though I may change my mind some time in the future) even if some parts, mainly the third where Cynder was stalking Spyro, lacked some interaction. I went pretty heavy with the description there, so I hope I didn't bore any of you for that piece. I do think it was necessary as Cynder needed to come up with her own (wrong) conclusions about Spyro's time spent.

For those of you who paid attention to my last author note, you might also figure out that I lied. Finals week has not even started and I wrote yet another chapter. As soon as I started writing, I went on a roll and wrote out each section one at a time. With this out of the way however, I can easily focus on the upcoming exams I have. Part of me does feel like I might end up writing some more though, but that would mean having another idea for a new chapter. I do have a very, very small idea that would likely result in a very short chapter, but I might just hold out on that one for a bit. If any of you have good ideas, feel free to leave them in a review.

Thank you again for reading this story and thanks to those of you who leave reviews.