Chapter 13: You Know What You Are

Cinder was angry. Rather, 'angry' was a very subtle, and maybe understated way of describing her current mood. If she were to describe it herself, she would say that she was absolutely livid. That's still putting it mildly. She wasn't angry at any apparent failings, either. If nothing else, her invasion of Beacon seemed to be going off without a hitch. However, it appeared to her that Ozpin, Glynda, and their former students, simply refused to die.

These children, for that's all Cinder could see when she looked upon team JNPR, were dominating every soldier that assaulted them. Ozpis and Glynda were fighting as well, but his former students seemed to be doing most of the work. Cinder glared at the six of them. "How much longer are you going to prolong the inevitable?" she asked smugly.

Jaune smiled as he glanced around. Team JNPR had just dispatched what seemed to be the last of Cinder's guards. "I think we're winning," he stated.

"And what would make you think such a preposterous notion to be true?"

"See for yourself." He motioned to his left and right. From his left, Blake was approaching with Gambol Shroud at the ready. Her clothes were dirty, and there were tears in her legging and boots, but her face displayed pure determination in the face of destruction. Ruby, Roman, Weiss, and Penny approached from the right. They were in as much of a distressed state as Blake, with the exception of a flawless Penny.

Cinder's glare shot daggers at Penny. This, to her, was actually a surprise. The red haired girl had been in Cinder's control for months, since her original master met with an unfortunate 'accident'. Cinder gave the girl a new life and a new purpose, yet here she stood. "Penny," she said coldly. "Just what do you think you're doing with the enemy?"

Penny seemed nervous to Ruby at first, but she mustered up the courage to answer. "Ruby is not my enemy," she stated flatly. "Ruby, Weiss, and Blake are my friends. These," she pointed at team JNPR, Ozpin, and Glynda. "Are my friends' friends. I don't want to hurt any of them anymore."

"Oh?" Cinder asked, a trace of her rage seeping into her voice. "And why is that?"

"Because I don't want to hurt my friends!"

Cinder wanted so badly to destroy them all right then and there, and likely would have if it weren't for the fact that she still wanted to use Penny. She hid her anger once more and put on a mask of dissapointment and sadness. Placing her left hand on her forehead as if to rub away a headache, she shook her head and said, "Tsk, tsk, Penny. And after all I did for you. Remember when you found your master's body and you didn't know what to do? You were scared and alone, unsure how to carry on living without someone to take care of you. But I found you, didn't I? I've taken very, very good care of you, have I not?"

Penny looked unsure as to how to answer. "Y-yes...but..."

"All I asked in return was that you help me achieve my goal. It's a simple goal, and one I could have done without you, but I asked this of you as a favor to repay my kindness. Is it really so hard to do what I ask?"

Penny was feeling scared. She didn't want to anger the person who had taken care of her, but neither did she want to do as Cinder said to and kill her own friends. She cared to much for Ruby and the others to do that. Ruby stepped up and placed a hand on Penny's shoulder, giving her reassurance that this was the right thing to do. Penny looked to her friend and gave her a weak smile before nodding.

Ruby nodded in return and stepped up to speak. "Cinder Fall," she said, using a commanding tone that few had ever heard her use. "I accuse you of crimes against Remnant. Your destruction of one of the few bastions of safety and complete disregard for the sanctity of life prove that you are not taking the Grimm threat seriously, and that you believe humanity and faunus will make it out of this without having to fight back. You are wrong. We will all die if no one can fight back, and you are destroying that which stands up against the Grimm!"

Cinder scoffed. "The Grimm? Seriously? They're just beasts! The way I see it, its supposed to be a huntress's job to hunt them down and eliminate them before a crisis like this ever arises in the first place. The Grimm will go away in time. Of that I have no doubts. I just decided to take this opportunity to destroy my enemies. The Grimm shrink our own population just enough to allow me to get by with it, and you're too distracted to be able to prepare yourself properly. It's a win-win situation for a woman in my position."

"All the same," Ruby replied. "We're going to kill you." She spoke with a dark, serious tone. Yet again, this was a tone that many had never heard Ruby speak with before. Jaune and the others of team JNPR were appalled, but quickly covered up their reactions; this fight was about to get more serious than it had been moments ago.

Cinder stared at Ruby for a few seconds. Several emotions seemed to pass over her face; anger, intrigue, and finally amusement. She tilted her head to the sky and roared with laughter. All of them watched her, not sure what to expect. "You are going to kill me?" she asked, still laughing. She calmed down and looked at Ozpin gravely. "I don't think you fully understand the situation you're in, kids." Raising her hand, she created what appeared to be a spear made of fire. "You seem to have forgotten who you're dealing with!" She threw the spear at team JNPR, hurdling it at Nora.

Team RWBY was caught off guard, and couldn't react in time. The spear was moving too fast for Nora to dodge, and she was already too exhausted to raise up her aura; it was going to hit it's mark. Fearfully, she shut her eyes and waited for the searing pain. She heard a grunt, followed by several gasps of horror, but felt no pain or heat. Slowly she opened her eyes. Before her was a sight that was worse than death; Ren had stepped in front of the searing spear. The fiery instrument faded from existence, and the green shirted young man collapsed to the ground. "Ren!" Nora screamed, rushing to his side. His chest was smoldering and his eyes were closed, but he didn't express any pain. "Ren, open your eyes! Please! Please, say something!"

"N-Nora," he whispered, struggling for air. He barely opened his eyes as he reached up to stroke the red head's cheek. "I love you."

Nora smiled as tears welled up in her eyes. "I know, Ren."

"I...didn't want to regret not telling you, either. I...love you, Nora."

The tears flowed freely. "I...know," she choked. "You never had to say it, Ren."

His eyes closed. "Yes, I did." A slow breath exited from his nose, but he never inhaled another; he was gone.

Nora yelled as she cried. None could tell if there were any words in her scream or not, but they knew the message that the shout held. Finally, she went silent, and everyone stood still and watched. "Come back," she whispered after what felt like an eternity. "Please...come back."

Ruby shifted her eyes back to Cinder, who erupted with laughter just seconds prior. "You monster!" she cried. "He wasn't supposed to die! He's one of the survivors!"

Cinder laughed even harder. "A fine job he's doing," she stated between her fits.

Ruby took a step forward, Ember Rose in hand, and she prepared to fight Cinder. She was stopped, however, by the strong hand of Penny who held her still. Without a moment's notice, Penny deployed her blades and charged Cinder at a speed that rivaled Ruby's. Silently, the red head seemed to fly at the flame with, and she was fully prepared to end Cinder's existence. In the blink of an eye, however, Cinder seemed to flash out of existence and back in, holding penny's right arm behind the girl's back. A quick tug of her arm caused Penny to gasp in sudden pain.

Cinder glared down at Penny, squeezing tightly on her arm. "It's such a pity. Such an expensive piece of machinery is going to waste, simply because it refuses to do what I tell it to do."

Penny's eyes went wide. "N-no!"

"No?" Cinder asked, almost sarcastically, before laughing. "You mean, they don't know?" She motioned to Ruby and the others. "You never told them?" She laughed even harder than before. "Oh, this is rich! You say that they're your friends, yet you won't even trust them with the truth!"

"They, AH! Didn't need to know!"

Everyone looked nervously back and forth to each other, unsure of how to get Penny back to safety. "Didn't need to know what?" Ruby asked, ever the curious one.

"N-nothing!"

Cinder pulled tighter on Penny's arm, eliciting another cry of pain. "Don't lie, Penny. It's rude to deceive your friends. So, go on. Tell them! Tell them about how you're not real."

"No!"

"You're just a tool designed by an eccentric. You entire existence is based upon a series of equations and a pile of scrap!"

"No!" Penny denied again.

"A doll! The plaything of scientists! Just a puppet on a lonely string, destined to be forever a freak! Even the pain you feel right now isn't real!"

"No!"

Cinder smiled more maliciously than ever. "And to beat it all, you're a malfunctioned product. If your maker hadn't been killed by me, he'd likely have dismantled you to build a better model!" She raised her other hand, lighting a ball of fire in it. "And like all malfunctioning parts, one must remove it!" She brought the ball of fire down onto Penny's right shoulder and began to pull even harder.

Penny screamed. The pain was like nothing she'd ever felt before. The heat was intense, burning through her shirt and flesh. She could feel her arm growing softer as it warmed, and finally lost all feeling beyond her right shoulder as Cinder pulled tighter and tighter. Finally, she ripped off Penny's arm; molten metal and melted cables sprayed into the air, along with burning lubricating oil.

Cinder spun around and kicked Penny in the gut with her right leg, sending her flying backwards before landing right in front of Ruby. "Penny!" Ruby yelled, rushing to her friend's aid. She knelt and lifted the girl's head up off the ground and gently smacked her cheek. "Penny, are you okay? Penny?"

Her face was covered in tears and hot oil. She opened her eyes and saw Ruby. "I...I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry. For everything."

Ruby turned her head to look at the place where Penny's arm should have been, and what she saw surprised her; robotic joints, ball bearings, small hydraulic pistons, and electrical cables poked out of her torso, melted and warped due to the heat. "Penny," Ruby started. "You're a robot?"

Penny nodded. "I didn't want you to think less of me because I'm not a real person."

Ruby teared up. "Penny, that's ridiculous. Saying that you aren't a real person is like saying Blake isn't a real person. You're just different. Aren't we all?"

"But...I'm not normal."

Ruby tried to smile. "What is normal?" She grabbed Penny's left hand. "Can you stand?"

"I...I think so. Thank you, Ruby." She stood up, and the two glared at Cinder.

"See," she said. "Admit it, Penny. You know what you are! You're just a disposable piece of trash."

"If that's what she is," Blake interjected. "Then I'd hate to see how people will describe you."

"Ruby," Nora whispered. Everyone turned to face her. She was still knelt down with Ren's body. "She tried to kill Penny. She tried to kill Ozpin. She tried to kill me." Slowly standing, she held Magnhild. The sound of it transforming into hammer mode was ominous at best. "She did kill Ren." Turning her head to face Cinder, everyone saw the pain and anger in her eyes. "Let's destroy her."

Cinder began to laugh. "I'd love to see you try!" Her laughter continued, which made her oblivious to the next sound; howling.

Ruby felt a chill run down her spine. She readied Ember Rose and looked around, waiting for something to happen. What the hell is going on? The others were reacting similarly. Nora, fueled by rage, didn't look worried; she was looking for something to crush beneath her hammer.

"Hm?" Cinder said as she stopped laughing. "Oh, the howling has you scared, does it? That's the least of your worries. It's only a few Beowolves. They smell the blood of your comrades, and they've come to feast. And what a buffet I've lined up for them. I'll kill you all and be on my way well before they ever enter the campus."

"Not likely," Ruby stated coldly. She turned to face Cinder, and her eyes went wide. "No," she whispered.

Everyone else followed Ruby's gaze and gave an audible gasp. "What? Am I really that intimidating?" Cinder asked smugly.

"I think not," a deep, almost demonic voice answered.

"Huh?" Cinder turned to look behind her, where the voice came from, and directly behind her was something's right paw. It was massive, and the sight of it frightened her. What's it attached to? she thought, fearful. She gazed up and met the three heads of Cerberus baring his fangs.

"You've done well, witch. Now, the feast can truly begin."

Cinder stepped away from it. "Wh-what the fuck are you?" Without answering, Cerberus swept Cinder up with his left paw, almost as if he was cradling an infant. Tossing her into the air, he opened his mouth. "No!" she screamed in the air, frantically trying to do something, anything, to get away. She fell into the middle of his three great mouths. "No~!" was the last thing the warriors of Beacon heard from her as Cerberus closed his jaws tightly. Her right hand was held up moments before the teeth shut, and upon closing it was severed. Gulping, Cerberus swallowed her whole without chewing.

Everyone looked on in horror as Cerberus shifted his gaze to them. All except for Ruby and Nora, that is. Nora's grip on her hammer tightened, and Ruby started to shake. Weiss approached, barely aware of her own actions, in attempt to ease Ruby's fear. She was about to put a hand on Ruby's shoulder when she saw rose petals floating around her leader. That's when Weiss noticed Ruby's eyes; blood red where the irises, and a rage that would burn a nation resided within. Ruby wasn't scared, but furious.

Cerberus laughed, pleased by the varied reactions. His right and left head reared to the sky and bellowed a howling war cry, which was answered by the howls of Beowolves just outside of Beacon; they were close. The middle head parted its lips and yelled, "Feast!" Beowolves leapt from behind the wall and entered the school; the huntsmen and huntresses who were exhausted from Cinder's army were once again fighting for their lives, and the surviving members of the witch's army were forced to defend themselves in place of attacking the school.

Ozpin stepped forward. "Penny," he began. "Are you truly sorry for what you've done? Do you regret killing my former students?"

She recognized his voice of authority and stood straighter. "Yes, sir," she replied.

"Then repent. We are fewer in number now, and we are exhausted and stretched thin. Protect as many of us as you can and fight off the Grimm. We'll handle Cerberus."

"Roger!" she answered, going into mission mode. She would have saluted, but she remembered in that same moment that her arm was gone. She nodded to Ruby, and with blades deployed she launched into her new battle to defend her friends.

"Everyone," Ozpin adressed the others. "Fight well, and fight hard. This battle is a turn in the road of time that has not been taken before. We must meet our unknown fates with courage and honor."

"Amen," Roman said. He looked up at Cerberus, and the only thing he could think of was The Inferno. Without realizing, he recited a verse from memory. "I discern new torments, and new tormented souls, whithersoever I move, and turn, and gaze. I am in the Third Circle, that of eternal, accursed, cold, and heavy rain; its law and quality is never new."

Blake smiled. "Canto VI. A classic."

"Not meant to be a book club meeting, I'm afraid," Roman retorted. "We can talk about Dante later."

"Enough sitting around!" Ruby yelled. Revving up the heated blade, she charged the three headed beast. Weiss poised herself for combat and used her Glyphs to match Ruby's speed. Blake split Gambol Shroud into its two blades and charged with them. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora leapt into battle without a second thought.

"Glynda," Ozpin started.

"Yes?" she asked, prepared for battle.

"Help the students. I'll fight here."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Go." She gave him a brief hug before leaping away to fight Beowolves. Ozpin watched as his former students engaged Cerberus. "I'm done with hiding from you monsters," he whispered. Cane at the ready, he noticed Roman still standing with him. "Ready?"

Roman smiled. If he still had his hat, he'd have tipped it. "Always." The two men raised their weaponized canes and charged the field of battle.

Ruby leapt up and slashed at the beast's heads, burning at its flesh with every slice and tear of its dark skin. The others assaulted it as well, but Ruby paid little mind to them. This was the monster that was responsible for Yang's death. It may not have killed her itself, but it commanded the Grim that did kill her. That was a crime that Ruby could never forgive. To her, this wasn't just any ordinary Grimm in the sense that it was a monster. As extraordinary as Cerberus was, Ruby saw it as the Devil himself. The only difference was that, unlike the Devil, she knew that Cerberus could be killed. She wasn't at the mission where Beacon's huntsmen and huntresses killed it in her premonition, but she knew for a fact that after heavy casualties, the beast was brought down. She just had to do that same thing.

And in her rage, she was convinced that it would only be a matter of time.

Cerberus seemed only mildly annoyed initially, but was soon feeling the pain of being bombarded by so many at once. He decided, in that moment, to begin eliminating the hunters. With a swat, as though at a fly, he knocked Pyrrha and Blake down and unconscious. The others continued to attack ruthlessly, and Cerberus became more annoyed. He used his right paw to smack Jaune away mid-jump, breaking his sword arm. Weiss attempted to attack it from behind, but Cerberus's tail shoved her to the side and disarmed her. Ruby, Nora, Roman, and Ozpin were the last one's still fighting.

Roman and Nora stood side by side, firing at Cerberus with everything they had. Nora yelled a ferocious battle cry all the while, and Ruby and Ozpin charged at Cerberus, ready to try and bring the beast down. They leapt, weapons at the ready.

Cerberus laughed with its middle mouth. Bringing both paws up, it knocked Ruby back to the ground while simultaneously grabbing Ozpin between them. There was a sudden, loud cracking sound, followed by Ozpin yelling in sharp pain; his ribs had been broken. The middle head continued its laughter for a few more seconds. "Feast," it said coldly.

"Is that all you know how to do!" Ozpin spat, defiant in the grip of his enemy. Angry, the middle mouth opened its gaping maw and plunged Ozpin's head into it before clamping down as hard as it could. Ozpin's aura flared to life, stopping the teeth just inches away from his neck. The others raced to try to help him, but Cerberus used his other two heads and his tail to fend them off expertly.

"Feast!" it repeated, clamping down even harder.

Ozpin wiggled and struggled, trying to break free. With every movement his ribs hurt more, and his aura weakened a little bit. He saw that this was his final moment. "Ruby!" He yelled, attempting to keep his voice calm in face of death. He was short on time, and so he didn't wait for her to reply before he said, "You haven't failed. Not yet. So long as you live, you have a chance to change the future. You can still save Remnant." He closed his eyes. "I'll tell Yang you said hello."

Ruby's eyes went wide. Not him too! "Ozpin!" she cried, extending her arm out, reaching for him. In that moment, Ozpin's aura completely failed, and Cerberus bit off his head. Satisfied that his foe was finally dead, Cerberus tossed the headless corpse to the side and laughed.

Ruby was enraged.

Penny was tired. She'd never felt tired before, but she assumed it was the loss of lubricating oil that made her feel this way. Much like humans and faunus needed blood to function, without the oil her limbs would seize up and she would collapse. But that would be a problem for later. Cinder was right, she did know what she was. But that wasn't going to stop her. She had to redeem herself and protect the other the rest of Beacon. Even for just a little bit of time, she had to make her body work.

It didn't matter that she was a doll anymore. She realized that know. You can dress it all up and try to pretend, she thought. But you can't change anything. Just accept it, and be stronger for it. With that mindset, she felt as though she could single handedly destroy all of the Grimm that attacked her. She knew she wouldn't be able to, though. There were far too many of them.

If she were human, she'd likely have been killed and eaten by now. In all honesty, she wouldn't have survived having her arm ripped off if she were human, but that was a different matter altogether when you looked at the Grimm she was fighting. Decapitate that one, disembowel that one, dice this one; they just kept coming. Surviving members of Beacon attempted to fight back as well, but they were too tired or too injured to be effective. Penny saw only one option. "Everyone," she yelled. "Get away! Take cover!" Surprisingly, they obeyed and fled from her without knowing what she had planned.

Penny stood still and stared down the Grimm. Anytime one tried to chase the fleeing hunters, she would stop it with her blades. "I am you only opponent," she challenged. In her mouth, she wiggled her tongue around until she found the switch hidden under one of her back teeth. Using her tongue, she clicked the switch. In her head, she could see a countdown timer. She confirmed her decision with her pass code, and the timer started to count down.

Five.

Penny leapt at the Grimm and swung with all her might with her swords, killing many of them.

Four.

Two Beowolves jumped on her and began biting her remaining limbs. Ignoring the pain that was being simulated, she kicked and cut them off before charging at them and fighting their brethren.

Three.

She was preparing herself mentally. Killing as many Grimm as possible that were this far in while chasing and luring the others away from the campus center was difficult, but she was managing well enough. She smiled, knowing her plan was working.

Two.

She silently regretted not being a real living creature. Sure, she accepted her difference now, but the fact was that she was as soulless as the Grimm she was killing; there would be no afterlife for her. All that waited for her was the void of nothingness.

One.

Still, she could be happy with the life she led. She only wished she could have seen Yang once more. She looked around amidst the chaos; she had successfully lured most of the Grimm to her and was tactfully fending them off, though she'd normally be unable to kill them all. Not without this little feature of her.

Zero.

"I'm sorry, Ruby," she whispered, closing her eyes just before the bomb detonated. The explosion destroyed what was left of her body, and obliterated all of the nearby Grimm. Penny was happy to help. Odd. She could still be happy? She shouldn't exist anymore. Where was the lack of sensation? Where was the nothingness? She opened her eyes slowly and saw a beautiful figure.

"Hello, Penny," Yang said. "Thank you for helping my sister."

Penny was shocked, but she felt a warm sensation, and happiness welled up in her being. "Yang?" she asked.

She nodded. "Come on," she said. "It's time to rest." She held out her right hand.

Penny looked to her own right and saw that she once again had her arm; whole and undamaged. She smiled and accepted Yang's hand, and the warm feeling spread to her entire being. Penny was ready to rest.

Ruby heard the explosion, and she turned to see what it was; she immediately knew that it was Penny. She was fighting over in that area. Her eyes cooled to silver for a split second of sadness, before rage returned them to red. She charged Cerberus. "You bastard!" she cried. Cerberus laughed. This puny human would barely harm him, and her allies were running thin. There was no way she could do any damage to him.

Or so he thought moments before she sliced off his left head. Shocked and appalled, Cerberus became enraged. "You small, little creature!" he yelled insultingly to Ruby. "I will feast upon you!" Roman and Nora once again opened fire to distract him. "You little beasts! I am the Destruction! I am the Chaos! I am the Hunger! I will feast on you all!"

He felt a pain behind him. He turned his right most head and saw that Blake had recovered and cut off his tale. She smiled weakly as he glared at her. Ruby jammed her serrated blade into the right head's eyes and ripped them out before stabbing into its brain, destroying it. Cerberus screamed in pain. Landing below Cerberus, Ruby leapt up and hooked the blade on the neck of the final head. "Burn in hell!" she cried before heating up the blade and slicing through the bone and sinew as easily as butter.

Cerberus's body stumbled around headless for a moment before it collapsed and twitched. Then, like all Grimm who die, the body began to decay and dissolve. The Beowolves who were still alive felt the presence of their master disappear, and they howled painfully before fleeing like cowards; they would bother Beacon no more. The surviving huntsmen and huntress began to congregate, as well as a few surviving soldiers of Cinder's army, and they watched the body of the great Glutton dissolve into nothingness. Ruby glanced around. Many had died in the battle, but she was still happy to see that they still had over half of the school's population left. It was still, however, quite a hefty loss.

"Now what?" Weiss asked as she watched the hulking body fade.

"We rebuild," Glynda said sadly. She glanced over at Ozpin's headless corpse. "I...I guess I'm in charge."

"You'll do well," Ruby said. "You've done it before, from my perspective."

Someone in the crowd gasped. "L-look!" Ruby and the others looked at the fading corpse of Cerberus, and what she saw shocked her. Laying on the ground, missing a right hand and coughing up Cerberus's stomach fluids, was Cinder. She survived being swallowed whole.

Ruby's eyes flared to red with anger again and she slowly approached the woman. Cinder crawled weakly on the ground. Being eaten whole by Cerburus weakened her aura; she would not be able to use her semblance. Ruby approached with Ember Rose in hand. The blade glowed a burning orange as she twisted the handle, prepared to make the final step to ending this battle. She raised her scythe above Cinder; the woman had never felt so afraid in her entire life. Here, a young girl of fifteen was about to end her existence as though she were a fly. Ruby held the scythe for a moment, filling Cinder with even more dread, before she began to bring the hot blade down. "Wait!" Nora cried, using her hammer to block the scythe as she jumped in the way. "You don't have the right, Ruby!" she growled, angrily.

Cinder breathed a sigh of relief. "S-she's right! You have to keep me alive! When this Grimm epidemic dies down, you'll have to put me on trial for my crimes! You can't kill me!" She almost laughed as she said those words. Ruby, without batting an eye, simply nodded to Nora and stepped away. Nora watched as Ruby moved away. Turning to face Cinder, she saw the woman on her knees, thanking the red headed girl. Nora, unflinching, raised her war hammer high over her head. "W-wait! You said she didn't have the right!" Cinder cried. Nora brought the hammer down with all of her strength onto Cinder's head, not letting another word exit the witch's mouth; not even a scream of terror.

Blood splattered the muddy ground. No one said a word as Nora stood over the corpse of Cinder, hammer still embedded in her skull. "That was for Ren, you bitch," she whispered. Everyone knew that Nora had been right. Cinder didn't hurt Ruby, so Ruby didn't have the right to kill her. She had, however, taken away Nora's love. She felt pleased, knowing that Ren would rest easier in the afterlife. The Battle for Beacon was over.

Song: You Know What You Are-Nine Inch Nails

Author's Note

Some parts of this chapter I'm not overly fond of. I feel like I could have written some of this alot better, but I'm still pleased with how it turned out, and that's all that matters. I felt the need to have our bubbly, adorable, and innocent Nora bash in Cinder's skull. It just seemed right, what with her being glued to Ren (God rest his soul) and her choice of weaponry. What did you guys think? This one (including the previous chapter) has been a long time in the making. I would even say that this might be the climax of the story, or at least close to it. There's still a bit more to go, but not much else. I have 20 chapters total planned, which means we only have 7 more to go. I hope you stick around until the very end. Also, when this is over with, I'll be sure to write the sappiest, and most adorable ship fic ever so I can cleanse myself of such a dark and disturbing fic.

For those of you who have stuck around and intend to continue doing so, I thank you! I love you guys, and I feel like you should know it. No homo. You've been very supportive of this story while I have worked myself unto exhaustion over it, but its all been worth it so far. Don't worry, I always write to the point of neglecting my health. It's how I tick.

Fun Fact: My foot is healing up quite nicely. I haven't missed a day of work for it, which is very good. Though, it does itch now where the skin is healing back together. That's my least favorite part of healing from any cut or gash. Oh well. A few more days and I'll be right as rain.

Fun Fact 2.0: I hope you American readers will have a nice 4th of July. I'm going to a cookout that day myself! To you non-American readers, at least its on a Friday! That means you've got the weekend to look forward to!

Till next time, and as always...I'm so, so sorry.