THE END OF THE WORLD - PART TWO
chapter iii
The Master is the most completely, utterly and most certainly frustrating being in the entire universe
Rose has given up, honestly, because that man-alien-timelord-thing is impossible and the fact is making her question why she even agreed to get in his blue box and travel with him in the first place. Because you want adventure and I'm adventure personified, that's why. Oh, bloody hell, her mind's got his posh southern accent spot on.
At first, she was sure this was just a dream or that the Master was just some kidnapper, a mad man in a blue box, but the moment she saw her planet's 'destruction-in-progress' outside the window of the viewing platform, all doubting thoughts were thrown out of the window. Definitely, he's still a mad man, that thought hasn't vanished yet, but then again, it's part of the adventure.
If the whole world ending bit didn't convince her that she really is here witnessing it, then the bitchy trampoline sure did.
There is no way she'd be part of any dream Rose has.
"Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy, down there." She raises an eyebrow, because Cassandra just said 'little boy' and she's a hundred percent sure that her title is 'lady' not 'lord'. "Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice. I'd have such fun."
"What happened to everyone else? The human race, where did it go?"
"They say mankind has touched every star in the sky."
"So, you're not the last human." It's not said as a question, but she sure hopes she's getting an answer.
"I am the last pure human. The others mingled." There's something about the way she says it that makes her think of Harry Potter, as if Cassandra was some Malfoy spawn who was calling everybody else a mudblood. Her flat face contorts in disgust as she continues to speak. "Oh, they call themselves New humans and Proto-humans and Digi-humans, even 'Humanish, but you know what I call them? Mongrels."
"Right." she says, "And you stayed behind."
"I kept myself pure."
Rose really, really wants to laugh, but she doesn't. "Tell me again, how many operations have you had?"
"Seven hundred and eight. Next week, it's seven hundred and nine. I'm having my blood bleached." Blood bleached? "Is that why you wanted a word? You could be flatter, Rose. You've got a little bit of a chin poking out."
She can't help but feel a little indignant about the chin comment, because she's fine just the way she is, thank you very much. "I'd rather die." She says it bluntly, meaning it completely. She doesn't intend to hurt Cassandra's feelings, but she doesn't intend to not hurt them either.
"Honestly, it doesn't hurt." Cassandra says, not noticing that Rose was very much serious about what she said.
"No, I mean it." she says, turning away from the view of her planet to face Cassandra completely. "I would rather die. It's better to die than live like you, a bitchy trampoline." She doesn't feel guilty about breaking promises to not cause any trouble because this is exactly something the Master would do, she's only known him for a day but she's completely sure of it.
"Oh, well. What do you know." Cassandra says in reply, trying to act nonchalant, but the atmosphere is too awkward to deny it.
"I was born on that planet, and so was my mum, and so was my dad, and that makes me officially the last human being in this room, 'cos you're not human." Her voice raises in volume and she doesn't really care that she's making a scene because this is her planet, dammit, and she's not going to have it represented by some mad flap of skin. "You've had it all nipped and tucked and flattened till there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin." She starts to talk softer, after she notices though black robot things turn to look her away. "You're just skin, Cassandra. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking."
She walks away faster than the trampoline can screech "Moisturize me!"
She's off to find the Master, of course. After all, he's the only person in this entire ship that could protect her and she's almost one hundred percent sure that the Adherents of the Repeated Meme are following her. She walks a little faster than she does normally, and goes through the different halls to try and find her designated driver.
"–share prices. Pfft. I know you lot. You've got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there's always money in land." She hears his voice and at the mention of the word 'forest', she immediately knows that he's talking to the tree. Jabe, she thinks, is her name.
"All the same, we respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below, and I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest." To think that one day the tropical rainforest could evolve into a living, talking tree is an interesting thought.
She doesn't interrupt them, half because their voice is still distant and she doesn't know which passageway they're coming from, and half because it might be good for the Master to have a friend besides her.
Wait.
Did she just consider him as a friend?
Their voices get softer and she tries to move towards where she thinks it's coming from. "...your ancestry, Master? Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left. I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species." Time Lord, she thinks. That's what he told her he is. "It refused to admit your existence. And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right. I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just wanted to say how sorry–"
Was the Master part of some endangered species or something?
"Shut up." His request is loud, and abrupt. "Shut up, so we can get back to finding out what the fuck is wrong with this ship. Shut up."
Both aliens become silent and Rose starts to walk in the direction. She's honestly worried that the Master's temper has caused him to use his shrink ray thing, and that Jabe is now a itsby bitsy tree.
That plan changes the moment her world turns black.
The last thing she sees is an Adherant's face.
When she wakes up, she can vaguely hear Toxic playing somewhere in the ship.
"Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending."
The voice sounds much like the robotic one that announces how close they are to earth death, and she doesn't really know what it means by sun filter, until a blinding white light starts to descend in the room. Slowly, the temperature rises, and she panics. This is her first adventure out of many. This is not the one where she dies.
(She never thought that her death's theme music would be Britney Spears. Too high, can't come down.)
She slowly stands because the sun filter isn't that low yet, and she immediately starts banging on the metal door, which doesn't seem to have a knob to turn or some kind of button to open it. "Let me out! Let me out!"
"Sun filter descending." It gets lower, and as a result, gets hotter.
(It's in the air, and it's all around. Can you feel me now?) "Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!" she continues to shout, hammering on the door.
"Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending."
She hears footsteps outside, walking past the room and she screams. It's high-pitched and loud and if that doesn't stop whoever it is in their tracks then she doesn't know what will. She just hopes that this door isn't soundproof. "Let me out!"
"A handful of people on this ship and you're the one who gets trapped in the room that's about to kill you." she hears them say, "Should've known, Rose Tyler." It's the Master, of course it is, because she's introduced herself to everybody on this ship and he's the only one who would still refer to her by her full name. God forbid she tell him her middle name is 'Marion', he'd probably say the mouthful each time.
"Open the door!" she shrieks.
"Actually, this is kind of fun." she hears him say from the other end of the door, "I'm your one hope for survival. How does that feel?"
"Bloody irritating if you're just going to stand there!"
"Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending. Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising. Sun filter descending. Sun filter rising."
(With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride. You're toxic, I'm slippin' under with a taste of poison paradise. I'm addicted to you, don't you know that you're toxic?) Britney Spears continues to blare through the speakers as the sun filter can't decide whether it's going up or down. "It's malfunctioning! Stop mucking about and open that door!"
"What if I don't want to?" he muses, "After all, I'm savage. I'm the perfect warrior. It's why they brought me back." She's so confused as to what he's talking about, but stops banging on the door to hear him properly. "I am death's champion and entire species is dead. The Time Lords, so great and powerful, all gone. Why should the life of one little human girl matter to me?"
She's breathing heavily, and she can feel tears are coming to her eyes. It all clicks. She's here to watch her planet die, because his planet is dead too. She succumbs to her fate but tries one last time, answering his last question. "Because we're both alone." She is, in a sense, her life is just one big story chronicling every person leaving her, but this mad man might just be the first person who takes her away with him on an adventure. "And alone is an awful thing to be."
"Rose Tyler." the Master says, "Step aside and get away from the door."
She does as told, grinning to herself as she walks with her back bended, because the sun filter is getting precariously close to the ground. "Ready!" she shouts.
The door immediately shrinks and the tiny piece of metal lands on the floor with a soft clang. She scampers to the door, finding him waiting expectantly with a slightly annoyed look on his face, like always. She smiles, tongue at the corner of her mouth and she doesn't say anything because her eyes convey everything she needs to say.
I knew you'd do it.
His eyes say everything he needs to say too.
Shut up.
He uses his shrink ray (the other night he told her it was a Tissue Computer Eradicator thing, really she doesn't know what it's called, but shrink ray seems to be the easier name) on some sort of opposite mode, and the door reverts to its original size. "What about the room?"
"What do you mean?" he asks.
"Metal melts."
"I'm going to say something that I'll eventually say a million more times as we continue to travel together. Your life depends on it." he tells her seriously, grabbing her shoulder and looking into her eyes. "Not our problem. Now come on, let's go find the TARDIS and leave. We'll go somewhere less hazardous. The past, maybe. We could visit Charles Dickens."
Rose struggles with it, really she does. This really isn't her problem. It isn't her people, her planet, or her time. He starts walking in the direction of the TARDIS, holding her hand. "You're saving them." she says instead. She attempts to drag him in the opposite direction. It doesn't work. "It's the right thing to do."
"I don't care about right."
"I do!" she exclaims, protesting. "And somewhere, deep inside, you do too, because you saved me. You. Saved. Me. It shows that you're not just some selfish bastard but deep down you actually care about other people's lives. Go and save those people just like you saved me. Go."
"Rose Tyler, I am selfish." he says, running a hand through his hair. "If you can't see that, then I've clearly underestimated your intelligence."
"If you're so selfish, then why did you save me?"
He's silent for a really long time. "I saved you because I'm selfish. That's all you're getting." he says, and she honestly doesn't know whether to be touched or annoyed, he grabs her hand and starts leading her in the direction of the TARDIS. "Come on, let's leave."
The Master is the most completely, utterly and most certainly frustrating being in the entire universe. But this time, Rose is not giving up. "No." she says, shaking off his hand and letting him go. "I'm staying and I'm going to save those people. You're welcome to join me, if you like."
He laughs because he doesn't believe her and grabs her hand again. "It's your funeral if you do." She yanks her hand away so that his meets nothing but air and she starts running in the opposite direction and she can vaguely hear him shout "Rose!". It's the first time she hears him using only her first name. She runs in the direction of Jabe's voice with a determined look in her face.
"The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of Platform One." Jabe says.
The bitchy trampoline speaks next. "How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall." Her voice starts to crack again. "Moisturize me! Moisturize me!"
"Excuse me," Rose interrupts, "What spider device?"
Jabe holds out the device and Rose sees what she means. "We found it in the engine room. Someone brought this on board. The Master said it was for sabotage."
The Moxx of Balhoon freezes, almost making a choking sound. "The Master?" he asks, "Jabe! Do not trust him so easily!"
"He is a Time Lord and he helped identify the spider device." Jabe says in reply, "I put my trust in this man." If only Jabe knew that he was probably centuries or galaxies away. Rose sighs.
"The Master is a renegade Time Lord." the Moxx says, "Us Balhoonians have heard of him. He's tried to kill those of his own kind, and when faced with the opportunity to save his planet he ran. He wanted his people to die so he abandoned them in their time of need." Rose wants to protest. She wants to shout that's not real, but this strange blue alien knows more than she does, and her voice falters, the sentence dying in her throat. Would he really do that?
Cassandra gasps, and is moisturized soon after. "Then it must be him who brought the spider devices on board!" she turns to Rose with an angry expression, "Tell me, child! You are his accomplice, you travel with him. What do you know?" The flap of skin is wheeled closer towards her. "Where is the Master?"
"I, I–" She hangs her head in defeat. "I don't know." She pauses again, her voice cracking with the next sentence. "He left."
The bitchy trampoline laughs. "He ran before he could get caught and now he leaves us all here!" Her lip curls in disgust. "What a monster."
"It can't be him." Rose says, not knowing who she's really convincing. "Give me that spider." Jabe offers it to her and she closes her eyes, hoping that her plan would work. She kneels down and sets the spider on the floor. "Go back to your–" She tries finding another word and fails. "–master." She winces, realizing that now, above all other times, her companion's name is stupid and should be changed.
It stays in place. The Moxx of Balhoon looks slightly triumphant yet somber at the same time. "It stays for its Master has left the spaceship."
Then, it starts to move.
Rose wants to do a happy dance here and now.
It starts crawling, the complete and utter silence letting its tiny footsteps echo throughout the room. It stops in front of Cassandra before crawling towards the Adherents of the Repeated Meme, and Rose suddenly feels like Sherlock Holmes. "See?" she says, a grin spreading across her face. "It's them. Not him. Not the Master."
She doesn't know why she wants to defend him so much, especially now that he's abandoned her.
Then, all of a sudden. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear." It's his voice and she nearly runs over there to hug him. She does, she runs over to him. Except, she hits him on instead.
"Where were you?" she exclaims.
"Waiting for the boring part to be over." His eyes look slightly pained and in that instant she knows that he heard the entire conversation with the Moxx. "The Adherents of the Repeated Meme aren't real. They're an idea which only means that if I do this it wouldn't matter."
"Do what?" Rose asks.
He looks at her and raises an eyebrow. She nods in reply, holding out her hand and she smiles when he grasps it with his. He smiles back and the grin on her face grows wider. I came back, the gesture seems to tell her, You're an idiot if you ever thought otherwise. Her head still has the posh accent spot-on, but this time, she doesn't really mind.
He drags her over to the Adherents of the Repeated Meme, like she has any choice because the grip he has on her hand is so tight, and with his other hand, he yanks out the arm of a Repeated Meme then the wires inside of it. All three representatives collapse onto the ground and the Master looks so smug, but Rose feels slightly proud of him. She just won't ever tell him that.
"Go back to your real master." he instructs to the spider, and soon, it starts to crawl towards Cassandra.
The flap of skin growls, really she does and it scowls at her and the Master. "I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed."
The Master laughs at that. "On the contrary..." he trails off and winks.
The Moxx of Balhoon is seething. "Arrest her!" He glances over to the Master and amends his sentence. "Arrest both of them."
He raises an eyebrow at that. "Arresting the only man on the ship with the capacity to save you sorry lot? Not a wise decision." Cassandra's attendants raise their spray guns and point them at her. "What are you going to do? Moisturize us?" Rose cracks a smile at that.
"With acid. Oh, you're too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face." she says.
"You're not a pretty face." Rose says at the exact same time the Master says, "You're not smart. Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside of it? Stupid and ugly."
"I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous. How did that old earth song go? Money, money, money, must be funny in a rich man's world. Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am the last human, Master. Me." She looks over at Rose, slowly wheeling over to . "Not that freaky little kid–"
The Master removes his shrink ray from his coat pocket and aims it at Cassandra and presses a button. Cassandra disappears and Rose looks at him eyes wide. "Did you just shrink her?"
"She's a bitchy trampoline." the Master tells her, "She deserved it. Don't worry, she'll die in a few minutes."
The Moxx of Balhoon is livid. "Murderer!"
The Master repeats his words from when they first met. "I've been called worse." he says, "Still, I did I just kill the person who was planning to kill you. I accept payment in the form of checks. Make it out to The Master of the TARDIS."
"Temperature rising." the computer's voice rings throughout the hall, "Earth Death in two minutes. Earth Death in two minutes. Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical."
Nobody in the room is doing anything useful. The Moxx and the Master are having some sort of staring, no, glaring contest, Jabe is talking with her fellow trees and the other aliens are busy doing their own little things, or panicking. Rose sighs. "EVERYBODY, QUIET!" she shouts, she clears her throat afterwards and adds, softer, "We need a plan. Is there a switch to cool down the ship?" A Cresspallion raises his hand nervously and she remembers what Raffalo told her. They need permission to speak. "Err... Go ahead, talk."
It points at the turning razor sharp fan. "It's on the other side of that, Miss."
She cringes, seeing the series of fans. "Any chance you can turn it off? Make it stop moving?"
"No, Miss." the Cresspallion says, "There's a lever, though, it slows the fans down."
She turns to the Master. "I'll hold down the lever and you go turn off the switch, yeah?" she says, ready to start moving. She suddenly feels a grip on her left arm, and turns around to see one of the solicitors of Jolco and Jolco holding her back.
"I don't trust the two of them together." the alien says, "If the things the Moxx of Balhoon said are true, then I'd rather not leave our fate in the hands of a monster and his accomplice."
She cringes at that and sighs. Jabe suddenly steps forward. "I'll take her place."
Rose looks hopeful and she breaks out into a smile. "Would you, really?" Suddenly she's pulled backwards from the Master, her hand leaving his, and she's handed off into the hands of the brothers Hop Pyleen. "Hey! Let me go!" The Moxx of Balhoon nods his head towards another room, and she feels herself being shoved inside. "Hey!"
The door is closed and she's suddenly aware of how hot it is inside. There's a glass at the top of the door and she looks out of it, shouting, and she feels like she's trapped, just like she was a while ago. She scowls and bangs on the door. "Get the Master over here!" she shouts, and someone hears her and brings the Time Lord to her. Really, it would've been easier to just shout 'Master!', but there is no way she's going to be calling him that any time soon.
"Yes, Rose Tyler?"
"Save the world or else."
"Is that supposed to sound threatening?"
She scowls at him. "Yes."
"I can't fathom how you expected that to work." he replies, "You're like a kitten."
Her cheeks flush and she convinces herself it's because of the heat. "Go! Now!" She waits inside the room, sitting down against the door as she waits for it to be opened. She doesn't bother banging on the door, or screaming anymore. This time's different from the last time. This time, she knows that he'll come through for her.
Suddenly, light bursts through the ceiling and starts cracking the glass.
"External temperature five thousand degrees."
The Master doesn't know why he's doing this. He looks over his shoulder, looking back one last time before continuing to walk towards the razor sharp death that awaits him and he sees his pink and yellow kitten's back against the glass. Right. Still, he walks with Jabe as the latter finds the lever and pushes it down. He looks at the series of fans, contemplating his next actions.
"Time's ticking, Time Lord." Jabe tells him.
Realization dawns on his face. "You're made of wood."
The tree smiles sadly. "Exactly." she says, letting go of the lever for a while. "Before you go in there, I just want to say, I forgive you for blowing up at me." She sounds sincere. Honest. "I can hardly imagine what it must be like to lose your planet, and I know you're not the monster everybody says you are." Everything's quiet for a few seconds before she adds. "Keep your wife around. She's good for you."
His wife? Oh, yes, Rose. He sighs, not really wanting to admit it. "I know." Jabe pushes down on the lever again, and the fans slow down.
He runs past the first. (The TARDIS says I need you.) The second. (It's always better with two.) The third. (I hereby deem you my companion.) The fourth. (We're both alone. And alone is an awful thing to be.) He hears an explosion coming from the way back and Jabe is no more. He shakes off the feeling and continues as the fans speed up. The fifth. (Save the world or else.) The sixth. (You're not just some selfish bastard but deep down you actually care about other people's lives.)
Finally, the seventh. (She's good for you.)
He flips the switch of the reset breaker.
"Earth death in ten, nine, eight..." he hears the computer say, "...seven, six, five..." He takes a deep breath sincerely hoping that it worked, because he's the Master, things work for him, because he makes things work. "...four, three, two, one." It starts getting colder in the ship and he lets out the breath he was holding in as the computer starts to announce. "Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair."
He exits the fan area and goes back to the main room, where a Cresspalion is letting Rose out of the room she was imprisoned in. She smiles at him from across the room and he nods, offering a silent condolence to Jabe's fellow trees, not willing to say the word 'sorry' out loud. He notices that the Moxx of Balhoon had died due to the heat and the corners of his lips tug up a bit at that. Good riddance.
"Shuttles four and six departing. This unit now closing down for maintenance." the computer says. All the different aliens go off, the end of the world is done, and Rose Tyler never got to witness the end of her planet, but she's still found a way to prove herself. This is his companion, he thinks, a slight twinge of pride adding to the array of emotions.
She approaches him. "The end of the Earth. It's gone. We were too busy saving ourselves. No one saw it go. All those years, all that history, and no one was even looking. It's just–"
He extends his hand for her to hold. "Come on." he tells her, "Now, we go back to the TARDIS."
Rose sits down with the Master in the living room of the TARDIS, drumming her fingers against the table in that one-two-three-four beat that the Master's gotten ingrained in her mind. She almost scowls at it, but the beat is somewhat comforting, as it fills the silence while he's in the console room.
"Hi." she hears him say, and she turns to face him.
She grins at him. "Hi." she replies.
He sits down opposite her, one on of the armchairs opposed to the couch that she's sitting on. "Everyone knows that everything has an end, you humans, most of all. It's always the world will end this and the world will end that, but one day, it'll really all be gone." He takes in a deep breath. "I remember what you said about no one looking, and I just want you to know that it went out with a bang. Just like how it started."
"What happened to your planet?" she asks, letting curiosity get the better of her. "The Moxx of Balhoon mentioned that it's gone, now."
He takes in a deep breath and suddenly he's the one drumming his fingers against the armrest of the chair. It's louder and it looks as if he's trying not to explode at her. He refuses to meet her eyes. "He was right." he says, "My planet's gone. I'm the only one left." She stops his fingers from drumming as she reaches forward and grabs that hand, smiling at him comfortingly, or at least she hopes. He looks up and smiles back at her. "You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?"
"No." she says, "I don't want to be alone, and neither do you."
"I haven't travelled with anyone in a really long time."
"I haven't travelled with anyone, ever." she admits, "What made you start traveling alone? Remember what I said earlier? I ask you something, you can ask me something. Now's your chance to take me up on that offer."
He chuckles softly. "There was someone who travelled with me. Ailla, was her name." he says, "Thought she was human, thought it'd be nice to have someone, turned out she was a spy." He tries to laugh it off, but she feels genuine sympathy for him. She's been betrayed before too.
"Ouch." she says, "Your turn for a question."
"Why'd you come?"
"For the adventure."
"Your life isn't interesting enough?"
She thinks about it, really she does. She thinks about her mum and Mickey and Jimmy Stone and her job at Henrik's. "No," she says finally. "It wasn't." She changes the topic quickly. "What's your real name?"
"The Master."
"I'm not calling you 'Master'."
"It's the name I chose." he says, shrugging. "What would you like to be called, Rose Tyler?"
"Y'know, you say my whole name every single time. Isn't it kind of a mouthful? Think of something else, if you like." He looks downright devious at the suggestion. "And you're not allowed to call me kitten or anything of the sort!"
"I like the sound of 'Rose Tyler'." he tells her, and she realizes he's being honest. "Has a nice ring to it, but I s'pose I could always call you Arkytior if I feel like some sort of variation." She raises an eyebrow. "Gallifreyan for 'rose'."
"Gallifrey?" she wonders, "Is that where you're from?"
"Yes." he replies, "But like I said, it's gone now."
"And you're all alone."
"And I'm all alone." he repeats, looking down again sadly.
"'Cept for me."
He grins at her, his entire face lighting up as he looks up, dead into her eye and she feels as if his smile could light up the entire TARDIS and it makes her smile in return. She is going to have an adventure with this man. This completely, utterly, and most certainly frustrating man, who's also the most bloody brilliant person she's met in her entire nineteen years of life, and she knows it's nothing compared to his nine hundred, but it means a lot ot her.
He isn't going to leave her and they're going to have the most wonderful time.
"Except for you, Rose Tyler." he repeats, "Except for you."
replies to guest reviews
*V:As Time Lords get slightly different personalities as they regenerate, somehow I like to believe that being a psychopath only applied to some of the Master's incarnations. I also like to believe that each regeneration's personality and traits are a result of the last one's time (Nine having a witty facade to cover up his pain from the Time War, which Eight went through. Eleven being more emotionally closed off because of the loss Ten went through, etc.). Right now the Master is broken. He didn't fight like the Doctor, he ran away, and he's going to keep on running, with Rose at his side, and though he loathes to admit it, he needs her to fix him. Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad you like it so far. :)) I'm really happy you think I'm staying true to character, it means a lot to me!
*Guest: This is for the guest who reviewed asking about the Doctor. Thank you! :))) And don't worry, the Doctor is coming and it's going to happen sometime soon. If everything goes according to my at-the-moment plans, then we'll get to see both Nine and Ten at some point of this story.
*Guest: This is for the guest who reviewed pointing out that thing. I'm really glad you like the story, and I hope you like this update! Thanks for pointing that out to me, and I try not to assume the worst, but the implication that somebody copied it did sting a bit (don't worry, I don't blame you, if anything I thank you), because that moment was really one of the ones I was proudest to write. :( Anyway, I guess there's nothing I can do about it. Thanks for telling me anyway, and thanks for reviewing!
AN: Thanks for all the reviews! They're wonderful and I appreciate every single bit of them. ~Bell