A/N: I told you guys I wouldn't give up! This story is going to go strong until the very end (which is rapidly approaching, scarily enough.) I'm absolutely terrible with deadlines, so I won't guarantee one, but it'll be finished. Thank you all for sticking around! Every follow, favorite, and review makes me so happy. It's intense knowing you have an audience, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for keeping this story on your radar.
The walk to the Medbay was a quiet occasion, most of which Robin spent staring at the ground behind the lenses of his hastily placed domino mask, knowing that two red heads were stealing glances at him warily and unwilling to meet their worried glances.
He knew the Mountain well enough to pick up the slight tinge of sterilization products when it began to mingle with the air, could see from the corner of his eye where the rough walls melted into plates of metal and cutouts of glass, could feel the ground shift slightly as the dropped a narrow incline and descended into the lower level medical facilities.
So he didn't look up.
He knew where he was going- hell, he'd woken up here countless times himself, having been dragged unconscious by Wally or lifted effortlessly by Supey when he'd been too stubborn to admit he was hurt- and he knew who was currently admitted, so he tried to push those thoughts away in favor of others.
Robin thought of his team, who he hadn't seen in full since the day before last. They had been having a lazy, post mission movie marathon day, huddled on the couch sipping sodas they weren't supposed to have. M'gann had mentioned in passing something about zombies, which had sent Wally into a tangent about films she'd yet to seen, peaking her fascination with Superboy's annoyance and Kaldur's amusement. Artemis had groaned at the redhead's mention of 'Dawn of the Dead' and started an argument- one that Robin himself had broken up by suggesting 'Shaun of the Dead' as a compromise.
They had spent hours in Mount. Justice's den area huddled in tangled blankets as screams echoed around them in the dark, screams that elicited laughter rather than action for once.
Robin had snuck his candy stash for the occasion (hidden in the rafters, to avoid snatchy speedsters) and the snapping of Twislers between teeth had soon mixed in with the snapping of bones and the tearing of artificial flesh.
Kaldur, their designated disk switcher, popped out one disk and traded it for another dutifully, sending the teens through classics like 'Night of the Living Dead' which Robin and Wally playfully reenacted, KF clicking his teeth menacingly while Richard shrieked like the actresses and squirmed behind Artemis to avoid being "bitten" all the way through present time releases like 'Warm Bodies' which M'gann took to with squeals and giggles.
He and Wally had just started their Tallahassee quote off when his belt started flashing.
"Hey Babs!...Um…yeah! No, no, don't worry about it. Bats wanted me to head back for the weekend anyway. Yeah, I can meet up. No worries."
"Are you sure? Its fine if you're busy" He remembered her stating over and over, slightly monotonous as her tone colored with the disappointment of him staying with the team.
He had looked back to the couch he had just wiggled away from, trailing his cocoon blanket onto the ground behind him. They were inky splotches in the dark, but their silhouettes came to life when the TV flashed and illuminated their features, expectant and waiting. KF had leaned across the back of the couch, waving his arm with a slight smile. 'Go.'
And he had. He went and so had Babs and where was she now?
Richard sighed heavily, wanting at that moment nothing, except for some impossibilities which included his friend lacking one gunshot wound, his parents lacking some broken bones, and his life lacking its constant bevy of unfortunate trauma.
"Rob…you don't have to-"
"Yes he does." Roy's subtle timbre echoed slightly, cutting off the speedster with a meaningful narrowing of his eyes behind their lenses. Wally huffed, bringing a hand up to rub his neck. He knew that, obviously, and he also knew that Robin was a pretty stable kid and he could handle pain and bad news and sadness and all of those others pleasantries, but the redhead was always one for postponing the inevitable. Moving too fast had taught him that.
Red Arrow marched dutifully behind his young charges, winding his fingers into bundled fists absently as they turned corners. The older teen towered at least half a foot over Wally, and a whole foot over Dick, so it wasn't difficult for him to scan the doors over their heads and count down with the tension in the air.
"Straight ahead, guys." Roy mumbled, dropping a hand on both of their shoulders and nudging them onward. He could feel the bones quivering in one of their shoulders, and he didn't have to look to guess who it was.
They stepped down, and the hallway narrowed. This was one of two corridors in the Mountain, packed with medical supplies and equipped with enough resources to handle the take down of an entire team, as it had proved before. This afternoon all was quiet, spare the shallow beeping of one machine, hollow behind a metal door at the very end of the hall.
Heavy plated doors lined either side, titanium strength and secured via Tornado's authority based system, ensuring the protection of those injured and/or incapacitated during their stay, however long it may be.
Wally lifted his eyes from Robin's face briefly, watching their blurred forms shift and distort vaguely across the surfaces of the doors before he was meet head on with three colorful blobs, splashed across the reflective surface of the beeping door.
The three heroes tensed instinctively when the door slide open, revealing two women with sunshine hair, one splattered in blood and the other jittering anxiously.
They both moved fast though, shoving the redheads out of the way and pulling a startled acrobat into tight hugs.
Doctor Leslie grinned maternally at Robin when they let him up for air, smoothing loose bits of hair back into her ponytail before sheepishly folding the sleeves of her scrubs back to hide some of the staining that the hero was trying very hard to avoid looking at.
"Robin, how's the Bats been? I haven't seen you two in a while, luckily." The woman winked comically before her amusement melted into a careful frown, noticing the slight flinch elicited from the acrobat at Batman's mention.
"Haven't seen him…I tried calling…before..."
Black Canary shoved an elbow into Leslie's side before grabbing the teen's arm protectively. "Green Arrow and Flash went to get him a little while ago. From what I heard, they should be back soon."
Robin's head shot up, hope flitting across his face. "They found him? Is he okay? When can I talk to him? Does he know about..."
Canary sent her son a fleeting look. Roy nodded, grabbing Wally by the back of the shirt and towing him in the opposite direction. This wasn't going to be pretty.
"Rob! Dude, let go- Robbie! Don't worry about it man! Bats is strong, and so it Batgirl! Everything's gonna be fine!" KF called over his shoulder, squawking at Roy between breathes.
Red Arrow let go when they turned a corner. He groaned inwardly when Wally rounded on him, slapping his bicep in disbelief.
"Dude! Are you kidding me?"
"I know." The older teen sighed harshly. "Canary knows how we get. She sent us away because we freak out and worry, and I listened to her because I know how she gets, and I enjoy having the ability to listen."
The shorter ran a hand through his fiery locks harshly. "We're his friends dude. Brothers. We're not supposed to leave him like that."
Roy clamped a hand on the freckled boy's neck comfortingly. "I know. But he'll be okay. We can help later."
…
Doctor Leslie stood quietly behind Robin, watching the rigidness in his back and the blanched hue of his face.
She didn't blame his apprehension, of course, because Barbara was something akin to a corpse in her current position.
Richard twisted a hand around his wrist listlessly, cataloging injuries from the side of her bed as he held his breath, scared to breathe the wrong way and break her.
When Canary had entered her pin and allowed the door to swoosh past them, Robin new that he couldn't have donated his blood then because it felt as though it had evaporated clear out of his body, rushing out of his face and out of his chest and right out of his veins.
All that was left of him was cold, empty limbs that moved themselves forward despite his lack of consent.
And suddenly he was at her side and Black Canary was telling him that she had scheduled the entire team for conferencing, including him first and foremost, but that she would start with the others if he wanted to wrap things up here. Her heels were clicking away before he could even remember how to move his mouth; the silence informing her that time would most certainly be needed.
Barbara was placed precariously in the middle of a starched bed, a crisp white blanket covering her midsection. Through the thin sheet Robin could make out the bulky bandages, under her purple civie tee shirt. Her hands were curled in loose, protective fists, her arms decorated with pock marks from failed attempts to find her dry veins.
Robin swallowed heavily, looking to her face and noticing how translucent the skin on her cheeks seemed, how papery, how fragile. There was a slight pucker to her brow that held her features in permanent perplexing, and if she hadn't looked so close to death, one would believe she was simply napping.
Leslie reached up and split her blonde ponytail before pulling the ends taught. She knew he would want the rundown, and as soon as the kid curled his hands around the metal sidings of the patient bed and turned towards her wearily, she knew his reluctance to hear the details had shifted away.
"The bullet went clean through her stomach, so there wasn't much poking and prodding to pull out fragments. Our main issue was plugging the wound because she lost a lot of blood, but you know that much."
Robin gave a strained hum, and the women continued, doctor mode taking over.
"We stitched her up as fast as we could, but by that point she had mostly bled herself out. The bullet was a clean through and through, but it hit some pretty important things on its way out, which caused some tearing and excess bleeding. I went in and did some internal stitching, sewing up the organs that got clipped, and then we closed up the entry and exit spots. After that…"
Leslie moved forward, pulling a chart from the end of the bed before coming to stand next to the docile girl lying dormant in the bed. She flipped a few pages while she began pointing.
"Blood transfusion," her finger led a trail in the air from the inner corner of Barbara's elbow to a crimson bag clipped to a hook. "We went through multiple bags, which took a minute to track down because I had that Lantern guy helping me, and let me tell you, he doesn't understand the concept of "run" or "the left cooler."
When the corner of Robin's mouth flickered faintly, Leslie cheered internally.
"We have an IV hooked up to her other arm, because losing blood tends to correlate with loosing fluids." Her finger jabbed to a clear bag pumping liquids from the other side of the bed. "Hm hm hm, what else. General heart monitoring is always important." Her hand motioned to the colored cords tangled over the edge of the bed. "Breathing tubes, feeding tubes…catheters, blood iron content, pain medications yada yada. All the usuals involved with being-"
"Comatose" the raven haired boy filled in. "Did you induce it or…"
He let his question hang a moment. Leslie sighed.
"We didn't really have a choice, kiddo. She flat lined a couple times, and we weren't pumping her blood in fast enough and she wasn't fully responding to the general Anesthesia It was the only way we could stabilize her."
"So she's out." The boy's knuckles tightened around the frigid metal.
Flipping the pages back over the chart, Leslie gripped Robin's shoulder comfortingly.
"Unfortunately, yes."
He looked at Barbara for a long moment, watching her chest rise and fall with shallow breathes, taking in the tubes crawling from her nose and mouth, and studying the vibrancy of her hair against the pallor of her skin, flaming locks licking the pillow propped under her head.
"And you don't know when she'll wake up."
Leslie sighed. "Unfortunately, no."
She watched him uncurl a hand from the bars before carefully placing it in the redhead's still one. The contrast of cream tones in Robin's small hand should not have been so startling against the paleness of Batgirl's, but it was. Robin studied that as well, for a while, before she heard him murmur 'I'm sorry.'
"I'm going to go see the Commish."
Leslie squirmed; recalling the death glare Black Canary left her with, knowing she had promised to send Robin straight to her office when he was finished here.
"Um, I talked to him a little while ago. I don't think he's in the best-"
"Doctor Leslie. I'm going to see Commissioner Gordon." Deadpanned, no nonsense Batman voice. The kid was getting good at it.
"I know that." Leslie scrubbed at the fringe resting across her forehead. "I know you are kid. And I know if I told you not to you would go anyway."
Robin shrugged. "Probably."
"What do you do about getting there?"
"I'll take the zeta."
"What about the team? They're in conferencing now."
"I can talk to them when I get back. I don't want to freak them out."
"What are you gonna tell Commish about his daughter?"
"Exactly what I've been told."
"What about Batman?"
Robin stiffened.
"It doesn't sound like he's gonna be free to talk anyway."
Leslie's expression softened. She was tasked to set up Batman's room in the medbay while Robin was in conferencing. Ribs, leg, bruising, possible concussion or drug induced alteration, some lacerations. Kiddy place for the Bats, she knew, but he would need to be knocked out when he was forced to a place where Robin and Batgirl weren't.
It was going to be hell.
"And you'll go straight to the precinct."
"Yes."
"And you won't stay long. Back as soon as you can."
"Uh huh."
"And you'll take Speedy with you."
"…sure."
"And you'll be careful."
"Always."
The doctor groaned heavily. "This is why I don't have kids. You teenagers and you're outings. So stressful."
Leslie wrapped the boy in a tight hug, smiling when she felt his arms wind themselves around her neck.
"What do I tell Canary?"
Robin stepped away somberly, stealing a glance to the door.
"Tell her I'm sorry."
The older woman frowned. "You've been saying that a lot lately."
She watched him make his way to the door, knowing that he would turn that corner and run- run to his room for his uniform, and then to Red Arrow, and then to the precinct, and then back, and then straight to Batman, and then Batgirl again, and then to Canary, and then make the rounds to his team members, and then to the computers to talk to Alfred, and he would just keep running and running and running, trying to solve problems faster than he should be able to and knowing that there really was nothing she could do to stop him.
Because he felt like it was all his fault.
He disappeared as his stealth allowed, but not before he heard him reply, voice soft as if he were speaking more to himself than to her.
"And I don't think that'll change anytime soon."
xXx
"My hand." Barbara breathed in wonderment, feeling pressure curl around her fingers and knowing it was Robin.
She smiled when she looked to the tall tree, noticing the Robin take flight and missing the longing glance her companion gave to her own palm.
XxX
They raced across the building tops with the sun melting orange at their backs. Robin had the lead, cape fluttering wings of black and gold as he leap from corroded tin to flapping shingles.
The Gotham City precinct was in the seedy (or seediest) district of the area, which made for efficient response time to any call from drunkard wielding broken bottle to lunatic swinging tree branch in the convenience store, to blade stabbing maniac dripping blood on the public transit.
The building itself was nestled inconspicuously among the bevy of abandoned factories lining the Cities perimeter, because an incognito building of the law in a crime riddled city was far better than one dropped right in the middle. That's not to say that the big baddies didn't know where it was or anything because they had proved many times that they did, but they had no audience to show off to by waging a war on the men in blue.
That's not to say that they never did, of course, because they still did that too. Just not as often.
Roy grunted when they dropped hard onto a lower building, his knees taking the impact where the balls of Robin's feet took his. The kid was off like a shot when he gained his footing once more. The redhead stumbled after, cursing his bulky frame for once as he tried to keep up.
The sun was gone by the time the glow of the precinct rose from under them, icy air whipping Robin's cape back to flash its golden underbelly. They were silhouettes in the dusk, looming over the lip of an Ace factory like disembodied shadows, looking to the building enveloped in a cover of soft light and somehow knowing that the sight would be different on another night. Somehow knowing that the precinct wouldn't seem so godly if they hadn't run for an hour and watched the sun abandon them, knowing that they had a mission and treating the glow like a clue in a videogame, screaming go here!
Roy found his hands full suddenly, covering cool metal before they were sailing through the air, feeling Robin's hands wrapped around the straps on his shoulders and knowing that the kid had shot of his grapping hook and passed it right off to him.
And damn if it wasn't startling as hell because that had never happened before and they'd always taken the long way, the non-grappling way, the less terrifying way, and they hadn't been sneaking.
And damn if Roy didn't scream a little and damn if it wasn't worth it when he heard Robin cackle for the first time in days.
They went through the usual mechanics when the ground met their boots and the hook shot itself back into the gun casing.
Squeaky door. Whelming coffee bean air saturation. Overbearing secretary clacking her gum in unison with her heels. Flickering fluorescents. Nervous rookie feeling the need to stumble out of his chair and solute. Paper shuffling, keyboard clicking.
And finally, Sergeant Clane, looking rugged and tired and shoving a handcuffed man forward as he shook out a smug sentence.
And that's when things started getting a little less like the usual mechanics, because the man had dirty blonde hair and oil spots and stubble and navy blue eyes that met Robin's covered ones and flickered with…content.
And then Clane was yelling and everything got pretty chaotic because the man jerked hard and knocked himself right into Richard, drawling a single sentence in his ear, spewing words in rapid succession before Roy had slammed the man back and suddenly he was on the ground and Robin felt a little dizzy.
But the man quirked a grin from the side of his face that wasn't smashed on the ground, and once he was lifted from the pile of officers thrown across his back he nodded the slightest bit Robin's way. And Robin felt a little like a deer in headlights and a little more like he was waiting for the car to smash right into him but it was mostly Speedy shaking him and Clane pulling him towards the Commish's office door, which was open and leaking the burgundy color of a streetlamp through a dark window and it was only then, when he focused in on that door did Robin remember why he was even here.
And it was all a little slow and a lot a bit like liquefied hope had just been plunged into his soul with a forearm sized needle.
And when he saw Commissioner Gordon standing guard in the dark, gun in hand even though he knew all twenty of his officers would have handled the situation before he even stepped out of his office, Robin couldn't help flash the brightest smile he could muster.
Because he had something a hell of a lot better to say about Barbara Gordon than what he had rehearsed for an hour, flying through Gotham.
xXx
"Kaldur. What would you like to talk about?"
Black Canary was situated comfortably in her counselor's office, poised in her chair with the tip of her pencil already pressing the legal pad, ready to deal with emotionally scarred teenagers out the wazzoo, whatever the heck that was.
Said teens were currently plopped unceremoniously on the floor in the hall, lined up in the order they had argued in hushed tones and waiting to get their meetings over with. Leader Kaldur had been elected to go first.
Said leader was as ridged as ever, sitting straight backed in his chair and aiming steady, steel colored eyes her way.
He leaned forward. Canary's pencil drew itself a bullet.
"I would like to know of Robin's condition."
Black Canary put her pencil down.
…
"Artemis. What would you like to talk about?"
The archer raised an eyebrow.
"I would like to talk about my teammate, who none of us have seen, except for freaking Wally West and he won't tell us anything new."
Canary trailed the eraser of her pencil casually over the preemptive bullet point.
…
"M'gann! What, would you like to talk about?"
"Robin, of course! Is he okay?" The green skinned girl asked with widened eyes.
Canary felt a dull throb in her temple.
…
"Superboy. What-"
"Robin."
Canary chucked the notebook and the pencil into the trash bin.
…
"Wally. Wally, Wally, Wally. Do I even have to ask?"
The teen grinned sheepishly, freckles darkening slightly with embarrassment.
"I didn't know Robbie's condition was some giant secret. I mean, Roy didn't swear me to secrecy or anything…"
The blonde women sighed. "We aren't supposed to influence the team by talking about certain topics that would distract them from others. It alters their emotions and then I can't do my job. You know how this works."
"Oh… Sorry. They would have talked about Batgirl first, but Doctor Leslie already talked to us about her condition. She omitted Robin, and that made everyone nervous. You know, 'cuz they saw him get carried in unconscious and covered in blood in all and he…didn't come back out of the medbay…"
Something flickered on the redhead's face then, briefly, and Dinah felt a pang of suspicion rise in her throat.
"Wally. Where is Doctor Leslie?"
Emerald eyes flickered to the side, studying the wall.
"Um…setting up supplies for Batman when Uncle Barry and Ollie bring him in."
Canary narrowed her eyes.
"Uh huh. You mentioned my son. Where is Roy?"
Wally fidgeted.
Ah, shit.
And then the screeching started.
"LESLIE! I told her to send Robin here! The team would have seen him if she sent him here!" She rounded on Wally, eyes filled with lightning and fire and other horrible things that made the speedster gulp and cover his ears slowly.
"Didn't come out of the medbay? Didn't come out of the medbay- he did didn't he? And YOU, you distracted the team while Roy snuck out with Robin! And he didn't swear you to secrecy about Robin's condition because he'd ALREADY sworn you to secrecy about where they were going and you three have some rule about one secrecy swear at a time."
Wally cowered back in his chair.
"WALLY WEST YOU WILL TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE RIGHT THIS INSTANT."
The redhead opened his mouth for the briefest of seconds, and then he was a blur of motion, flashing right out the door before she could make a grab for the back of his shirt.
"DAMN IT!" The blonde stomped her heel on the ground, hard.
Slowly, the team poked their heads in the room from the hall, cautiously waiting until M'gann nudged Artemis forward.
"Um, Dinah? What's going on?"
Batman,02 Green Arrow 08, Flash, 04
"Are you kidding me-"
And then Doctor Leslie went tearing by, yelling excuse me's as she barreled past the teens, shooting one, sheepish look through the office door before the doctor jargon flooded out like the dam had burst.
Canary screeched.
Oliver, shouldered Batman's right arm and most of his dead weight, slapped a free hand to his forehead. Because that was the "Roy's in deep shit" screech and the only time Roy puts himself in stupid situation is when he gets hit with a pair of certain puppy dog baby blues.
Speed walking to the medbay, Green Arrow sent a look to Flash. Barry face morphed into a squint of pain, because Ollie had just confirmed the "Roy's in deep shit" screech, and that meant the Wally was covering and or directly involved.
And that screech snapped Batman right back into consciousness, because he knew that screech and that meant Robin had roped Roy and Wally into helping him do something that he knew would end badly for him, and that was never a promising sign.
So Bruce did the first thing he always does when Dick's in trouble.
He freaked out.
xXx
Sergeant Clane prided himself on being a nice guy. He liked to believe that he was generally level headed, and decent at keeping certain things from hitting the fan when situations got hairy.
But when that punk got in the kid's space like he was going to take him down…Clane was blinded by red.
Well, literally because Red Arrow had grabbed blondie faster than anyone else could react, but metaphorically too.
When the hallway cleared and two officers lead the dirt bag back into his interrogation room (weasel had asked for a piss break) Commissioner Gordon motioned for Robin to come into his office, and when Red Arrow made the move to follow, the raven haired boy whipped around and hugged him around his middle, clearly startling the redhead.
"What's up, kid?" the older teen asked, demeanor doing a one eighty from what it had been mere minutes ago.
"Thanks for bringing me. I think I should talk to the Commish alone."
Roy was conflicted, ready to argue, but then he realized he was in a police precinct, with guards and guns and people Robin had grown up around.
The redhead nodded, and Richard disappeared behind the blinded door, not before mumbling something Roy picked up as "I'm sorry."
Crossing his arms, the bulky teen strolled a foot away before crossing a leg over his foot and leaning back against the wall, looking like he was settling in for a long wait.
Sergeant Clane stuffed his hands in his pockets quietly. He would be lying if he said he didn't admire the fast action the redhead had displayed. He was impressed.
"So, you want some coffee?"
Roy raised an eyebrow under his domino mask.
"I don't drink coffee."
Clane nodded, studying the ground casually.
"oh, oh. Gotcha."
"…"
"You were…pretty fast back there. Avoided something bad. Impressive speed."
Roy nodded. "Thanks."
"…"
Sergeant Clane sighed, before rushing out a sentence. "You wanna go knock blondie around or what?"
As if the switch had flipped, Red Arrow smirked, pushing himself off the wall before clapping Clane on the shoulder.
"Thought you'd never ask. Lead the way, Sarg."
xXx
Commissioner Gordon motioned for Robin to have a seat but the hero ignored the gesture, wired like he had always been, before the night before.
Jim plopped himself down in his own chair, reaching for a coffee that was no longer there and scrubbing a hand over his face wearily. Robin watched his glasses shift under his hand.
"I went up to Mount Justice, before. I worked up the nerve after Leslie told me she was out of surgery. Comatose…" He squeezed his eyes shut.
"I couldn't stay long. Took one look at her and saw ten year old Barbara, crying over a broken arm. The times have changed for us huh?"
Robin nodded.
Commissioner Gordon studied the raven haired boy behind the hand he leaned his face on.
"You're okay, right? I heard the commotion."
Robin nodded.
The boy was unnaturally still, standing there, staring and waiting to be prompted.
Jim sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll bite. What's on your mind?"
Richard took a careful step forward, then back, then forward again.
"How much do you trust me?
Jim sat up. "You know how much I trust you. You're like a son to me."
Robin grinned.
Commissioner Gordon felt a flutter of hope tickle his insides.
"Then let's go."
In the room's illuminated, the man watched Robin pull a chair across the room. He stared hard, for a long time. Then around the room, and then to the crumbled photo of his family propped up on his desk. If there was a chance, he had to take it, at any cost.
Even if that meant blindly entering a battle with a thirteen year old kid and two night's worth of sleep deprivation.
He grabbed his holster, then his gun, which he balanced in his hand quietly before stuffing it away. He pulled open a drawn and grabbed a flashlight, clipping it to his belt, filled a pocket with extra bullets, a clip's worth, and finally, snatched his cruiser keys from the back of the compartment.
By the time he'd situated everything, Robin had already crawled out the window.
xXx
Reviews
Batgirlfornightwing- I'm excited that you're excited! Yay, mutual excitement! Updates are slow, but they do happen. ;) Thanks for your review!
TheImaginativeFox- Thank you! The visit has happened. I hope it was okay. I mean, she was kind of unconscious so I didn't have much to play on…but, angst. Yes, the batclan is back! Just not…united. Haha. Cool! I'm glad you liked that bit. I do a lot of jumping in the chapters, because there's a lot going on, but I like to try and make it as interesting and cohesive as possible. Awh, thank you. That's really nice... and I'm awkward with compliments, but I seriously appreciate it, and your continued reading! You are awesome.
IrisLillyRose- Hi! Thank you for your reviews, and apologies for the delayed update. I blame school. Always. Haha.
Guest- Thank you, I will definitely keep going, no worries. Hm Hm Hm… that's a… fair guess. Ambiguity shall remain though, so you'll have to wait and see :D mwah hah hah.
Robinfan72- Haha, I see what you did there. That made me laugh. Definitely chalant.
Guys. We are five reviews away from the big 5-0. That is killer. Thank you all so much.
Until next time
-Arrow.