Dark Before Dawn, Act II Special #1: Psycho's Path
Let me tell you a little something about violence, the whole she-bang! Murder, endless murder! Oh, the blood that spills daily, why, it's a miracle the earth's oceans don't run red with the blood of the dead. Okay, you wanna know? Here it is.
It won't ever stop.
LOOK AT MY FACE-
"Lois?! Lois, put down the knife!"
"Play with me, mommy! Play! I- I'm- I'm gonna-"
I mean, it starts rather small at first, and I've come to realize that it's so damn common that we normalize it. We turn into the stuff of nightmares, we become the very beasts we fear, slowly shifting from the base human form when we started living!
I SAID, LOOK AT MY FACE. LOOK AT THESE SCARS! I LOVE-
"LOIS!"
"POKEY POKEY! POKEY POKEY, PLAYTIME!"
You ever been bullied? I know I have! They've make fun of my braces, have been at it since I can remember. It wasn't my fault I was made this way. I can't control it, I figured they'd understand. But, they're simply human- or maybe they're not human at all. They mock, they insult, and then they never stop. They might not ever get told enough of what is good, and what isn't, and by that reasoning, were they loved enough to be molded properly? Then, I look at myself and wonder that odd question; am I an angel? Or had I been beginning to see into a window that did not appear to others?
If the latter, what kind of girl did that make me?
I CUT MYSELF TO SHOW HOW DEFORMED THE INSIDE OF ME LOOKS LIKE! DADDY! TELL ME YOU LOVE YOUR DAUGHTER, DADDY! I FEEL FREE, I FEEL-
"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
"What's wrong, mommy? Don't you wanna play anymore?"
I figured, shoot, maybe I've become a devil girl, already held captive by that particular darkness. Unsurprisingly, there are a whole lotta violent shows that air on television. For sure there had to be children and teenagers who emulated that sort of stuff. I looked into it, and the results didn't surprise me at all, but were horrifying to learn in general. Kids before my generation, before my time, were killed for the fun of re-enacting fictional crap from movies. Chucky. Slenderman. Pennywise. Ghostface. Idols that sick people worshipped to a degree. Were these the very same type of people who would go around and bully other people? Or maybe, this would be their future?
Has there been different kind of foul people alive? I did more research on it and came across serial killers of past and present. Dahmer. Bundy. Wuornos. Old generations, up until the fourth one I discovered; Luan Loud, one such woman still on the run, leaving a blood trail. More information on her revealed she was a pro-prankster and had a YouTube channel filled with comedy content. Interesting, and it made me think. But...
What did I know? I'm just a fourteen year old girl with some big boobs, and nowadays, I get more stares from horny boys than the teasing. Still, fat Fred joked about him not wanting me to suck his peepee for I'd scrape it like a sausage with my "railroad tracks". Fuck Fred and fuck his Tic-Tac dick.
I AM ALIVE AND I LIVE TO LIBERATE PEOPLE VIA HARM!
"L-Lois... Why?"
"Unchained, mommy. Be free."
Society, society isn't perfect. Is it maybe corrupt? Hey, have you heard? Freights were born! You can count on them to devastate the world one building at a time. The media calls them terrorists but there's been some talk, words not even the news reports can't say, for they'd be biased. These words, they came directly from the Freights; it was said they were on a mission to wake people up from their comfort zones, that no one was spared from tragedies, but also that no one would help these poor souls. There was some truth to that; Uncle John died, we all went to the funeral, but literally no one, apart from his direct family, had given a hand to his widow and the kids he left behind. Tje family only did so out of mandatory obligation, that I knew. They had to because of family rules. In other words...
They were bound to that.
This, it made me click with the Freights' ideals, and it was rather insane for me; I actually fucking sympathized with them. What I understood of it was that they had the goal to free people from the common reality, those very boring and insignificant lives they lived, merely using their so-called terrorism as the cover. At least, that's exactly how I interpreted it as. I got it, they apply the heartbreak and fear onto people so that these said people can jump right into the madness. It was a weird concept, didn't understand why they would want to pull people into their own hell. Then again, it wasn't anything new at all. It never was.
A gunman could enter a restaurant at any given time and shoot the place to shit, that alone was a crime, I knew that, but the families of the victims they'd kill- Well, those would be the ones who had their lights switched off. The concept of God closed on them, the happiness and perfect illusion of a normal, peaceful life to be forever deteriorated, never mending back into the perfect life. One dead child, or a dead wife, that was basically all it took.
All it took to free them from the worldly deception.
Kill, hurt, mentally scar.
KILL! HURT! MENTALLY SCAR!
"Kill all your friends... Hurt the collective... And mentally scar the witness and subject them to trauma! Come on, come on, recreate these people, these... Mindless, happy drones. These poor fellows who have yet to learn what true pain is!"
Tell yourself-
THAT YOU HAVE A REASON-
"There is an agenda at work! Kill for this, kill for that! Find reason, find solace, find your true self in the murders of-"
Did I tell you I started with animals? Kittens and baby chicks, of course! I drowned them, just underneath the bridge where a river ran through. This was usually done right before dark, and I made sure that no one-
FOLLOW ME, SLAVES OF MANKIND! DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS YOU'RE MISSING?! FEEL ALIVE FOR ONCE! I PROMISE YOU THIS WON'T KILL YOU!
"People have to know, I have to spread it... My voice must not be silent."
Somewhere along the way, it made sense to me- and gradually, I think I lost my mind. No, wait, I know I did. I mean, come on, this is a chapter thought up by me, Lois Harrison. I opted to go around and be that freak of nature I'd see on the news. Kid me would have never imagined I'd become what I become today.
Without a doubt, I am one sick, disturbed individual corrupted not by the violence, but by being a curious girl. I guess, in a sorta sense, I'm childish that way, I can admit that. But hey... Is being childish a bad thing? It certainly differs from immaturity- Well, I think it does. Asking prominent questions is essential, but these kind of thoughts? I make myself sound like RainCourt of the very fandom you're in right now- And don't even tell me you've never heard of him! He likes Girl Jordan, wrote a fic about her. Can't blame him, she's a nice girl... Nice enough to strangle and slice, that is. Hey, can I meet her? I know you have plans for her here, D! I'll meet everyone! ...I hope.
ONE KILL, A BUNCH OF FREED HUMANS WILL NO LONGER BE CONFINED!
"Hey, hello... I'm here... And I'm- A-alone again. Hello? Hello, I-"
I could have been wrong all along. After all, I'm only human, and I might as well have only fallen into the psycho's path, where my thoughts were wrong and I was just an idiot all along. I'm not the smartest, but I saw the escapism and I willingly tossed myself just so I can have it. By that logic, I wanted it for some reason, right? I wanted to break away from the norm, and there is a reason behind that.
I'LL BASH MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL! UNBELIEVABLE NON-FICTION DREAM MATCH WITH-
"Anyone? G-guys? I'm here... Did you not like it? I thought this was truth... Why are you scared of it?"
"Why does it scare them? That is such a good question. I mean, they choose to believe the lie. Do they even know? Are they forcing themselves into buying it? Or maybe.."
"YOUR MIND IS BREAKING! MIXING UP THE GRAMMAR! STOP, FOCUS! Focus... Concentrate..."
Am I wrong?
Am I wrong?
Am I wrong?
Lois Harrison, your average female two thirds Caucasian and the minority third being German; she knew nothing too much about that side, only apart from the fact that her ancestors on mother's side were immigrants, fleeing the country around World War II. A girl rather curious by nature, she wondered much, because she read much because she was alone, an outcast made not by her own hand or decision. She simply had no voice, with what being the shy girl with the voice as loud as a mouse.
It felt forever for her before she had begun to look outside the box and see a sort of truth she didn't expect to see. The world wasn't all rainbows and unicorns, she had known this; but she had not looked too closely at everything until she'd gone weary of the bullshit harassment.
Two lines set; the weak and the strong. She was made to be the lesser, but it wasn't what she wanted to end up at for the rest of her life. But she was a firm believer of non-violence, meaning that there had to be ways to diffuse and disassemble these troglodytes. The world of today, words amounted to less and less with each and every day that passed, dictated by physical action, and you know the old saying, right? Actions. Actions speak louder than words, an expression, timeless forever.
Maybe there wasn't an innocent, clean way. Maybe her fists, or tools, had to knock a devil down to size- the last resort she'd ever choose. At least, she'd have agreed that it was back then. Now, she was changed, and not for the better; Lois had become a free-thinker, adopting the dangerous idea where shackles kept the world bound, either placed by each other or through predestined means. She was afraid of that dark side, that life that affected people in one way or another, however small it would kick off from, whatever tiny thing, the snowball that ran down that hill, would start the end of heaven's gold path.
It was maybe the fear that kept her down like this, that was an idea that came from the inability to do nothing. To put it simply, she was suppressed, refrained from acting against the strong. She felt herself to be shackled this way, a poor, voiceless beauty of a teenager, a victim of one form of worldly cruelty. Bound no more.
FREEING YOU FROM THE CONFINED TIGHT SPACES OF YOUR LIFE! DO NOT BE WEAK, DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO FALL TO THE MANIACS OF TOMORROW!
FREE YOU! BE FREE!
LET THE BLOOD OF YOUR ENEMIES TURN THE RIVERS RED! STAND UP! STAND UP AND RISE TO THE OPPRESSION!
I'm only doing what I think I'm supposed to be doing, turning the tables on them. And why stop there? The weak should have the power! The silent should be loud, and I should wake them up! All of them, I can do it!
It started with the deaths of mother and father.
I WILL BE THE ONE, ONE IN A MILLION. CHANGE STARTS NOW! CHANGE.
Starts.
"NOW!"
Dark Before Dawn, Act II Special #2: Prophecy
August 4th, 1986 - New Mexico
The archaeological dig site had been set up since the previous week. Tents went up, surrounding the entrance of the cave, and some old-class jeeps and RVs covered the backside of the site. Today was a hot afternoon, but the digging waited for nobody.
The group consisted of twelve people, half of them being experts on the field, and the latter being here for other reasons, including the coverage for a story, being there for someone who was part of the team, or to advise what it was they'd find.
Thirty feet into the cave, which ran down into the ground after ten feet or so, and the six experts had already been brushing their way around the layers of the cave.
Ten minutes in, Marlene Wilson, a short-haired brunette of a short 5'4, unearthed an artifact in the form of ancient hieroglyphics. "Adrian!"
Her husband, the man whose last name she had taken, came jogging lightly to her direction. He was older than her, only by three years, and was a man of almost a full six feet and short blond hair. "What did you find, hon?"
"I've come across this-" Marlene pointed cautiously with the toothbrush in her hand. "I found this, I get the honors! Hold that lamp up to me, would ya?"
Adrian did as she requested, taking the shine to the cave wall, taking a closer examination to the material of interest. "Hieroglyphics? Here?"
"I'm just as surprised as you, babe," Marlene shook. "Looks like they've missed something after all. Lucky us, right?"
"Leland! Garrett! We've got a discovery here!"
"Not so loud," Marlene warned. "Here, let me just-" She continued to clear out the dirt that hid the drawn images. "I'm seeing it- Hold on-"
"Is that-?" Adrian either had to get his eyes checked, or it was just as he saw it. "This has to be a like, right? Maybe some kids-"
"Get the historian, Aid!"
The man rushed back to his colleagues while Marlene, squinting her eyes in bewilderment and a dangerous curiosity, tried to make sense of the entire painted image; drawn right on the wall, there was a figure, a likely girl, in a red dress, and the figure was looking up from the ground level, attention set on a second person painted wholly white, and this figure was floating in the air. This was then followed by some ancient text Marlene did not recognize. From what she can determine, it seemed like a brawl between these two beings.
Minutes Later
"Mmmmm..." Professor Norman McAlister took a magnifying glass to it- right after having the others turn off the lamps and bring out the glowsticks, rendering the tunnel green. "This isn't some kid prank, nor was it freshly made, that much I can say. However..." His words began to slow, and the croaking of his voice was audible, just barely. "There certainly has to be more, if we found a piece here-"
The professor began to smoothly brush away to the right of the drawing, believing there was more.
"Hey, 'fess, what dialect is this?" Leland Jameson wondered, rubbing a finger on the lines. "Surely the Mayans-"
"No, this..." Professor McAlister shook his head at Jameson's guess, "This is nothing familiar to me. I have never seen such a- A new, primitive language before..."
"What?" Marlene blinked at the idea of having discovered a new group of ancient natives. "If this ia true, then we've just made a bigger discovery-"
"Or good old Prof here doesn't know all the ancient languages," the jokester Wade Garrett mocked with good intention. "Oh, hey, I'm just saying."
"Didn't fake my way here, son, I can assure you of that."
"Goddamn it, Wade."
"Sir?" Adrian awaited for the further instructions from the historian/college professor, one of which had been his own a few years back.
"This is literally beyond our comprehension..." McAlister announced. "Yes, I can see it now. This place may just become the perfect landmark for tourists, and- Oh dear, I seem to be getting way ahead of myself."
"What's the number for National Geographic?" Garrett teased. "I am going to look my best when they send the photographer down here."
"There's gonna be a whole lotta talking around this, guys," Marlene thought. "I mean, a new language as you say, that's gotta be a challenge if one were to try and translate it. Professor, are you absolutely sure this really is new?"
"Miss, I've been teaching for well over twenty years, and that required me to learn a whole lot of history," McAlister lectured personally, "why, I cannot believe one of my old students just so happens to be doubting me!"
"Erm..." She choked. "Sorry, prof."
"At least I'm fairly certain I do not recognize it," he admitted. "I'm not getting any younger, if you all need to be reminded."
"No shit, pops," Garrett wheezed.
"Why'd we let him tag along?" Jameson whispered to Adrian.
"Drews was out on vacation," Adrian responded softly. "It was Wade or Kyle."
"Aw, hell..." Adrian rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"Keep dusting this out, for all we know, we might find a panorama of events before the next hour-"
Without a faint warning, a bright white glow further down the unexplored area of the cave had caught their attention, and this was immediately followed by an ominous, chittering sound that sounded like crackers being crushed underneath a horde of shoes. The light grew closer, and the source of both it and the sound grew alarmingly closer.
"What is that, another party?"
"Can't be..." McAlister focused their light to the other side. "Hello! Who's there?"
Trembling had taken the cave by surprise, horrifying the group when this earthquake had started. Dust came crumbling down from the newly formed crevices, the group stumbling on their knees while coughing and covering their mouths. Adrian acted as Marlene's shield, professor McAlister slid into the edge of the wall, hugging it, and idiot Garrett picked up Jameson as his own protection. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER, YOU!"
"Steady! Be steady-"
They had been fearfully distracted with staying alive that they had all taken their eyes off the illuminating light. The thing behind it, a rather large ant-like creature, had come crawling towards them, blinding them horribly. The rumbling stopped as the creature had, but the light it strongly emitted did not go away.
"What is that?! Can anyone see it?!"
"My eyes!"
"Too bright-!"
"Its the Russians!"
"Shut up, Wade!"
The life-sized ant clicked its antennas together, projecting blue lightning to strike upon the painted wall, and then it worked to zap the five people in front of it. "Let me show you the prophecy..."
Unknown
Black. The atmosphere was black, and there was nothing in sight, not for miles. All they could see was each other and nothing more. Marlene and Adrian tried to pat their way out, thinking that they'd been caved in, the only two of the five to be attempting to escape.
"Hey, why aren't you guys-?!" Adrian berated them.
"Humanssssssss... I bring you the utmost of greetings..." The deep, telepathic voice of the ant-creature echoed through the pitch darkness before it appeared to them, this time appearing as big as a bridge, hovering right above them. Its light source, the very skin it wore, had not been as blinding as it was before. "I am a Chromite, hailing from the Silver Legion."
"The what from the what?"
"I have laid dormant for long periods of time until visitors-" The Chromite thing connected its antennas again, sending a lightning bolt behind the gang, revealing a floating image of the cave drawings they unearthed. "-Arrived and discovered the only artifact of a story that must be told. A prophecy, if you will."
"Puh-prophecy..." Marlene found herself being drawn towards the floating visual of the cave drawing. "Prophecy of what?"
"Dear heavens, I have lost my good mind," the professor muttered, patting his head.
"Children of The One, open your hearts and minds, and look into the artifact," the Chromite urged pleasantly. "A horrible destiny awaits the future of humanity..."
"Horrible...?" Adrian joined his wife, looking deeply at the floating drawing. "What is this pertaining to? What's this-?"
The two tiny figures began to change before everyone's eyes; they rendered from their drawn form to actual people, and the being in red had transformed to a little girl in a red dress. She looked to be a regular girl, with her brown hair set in a pretty bun. The glasses on her suggested her very nature to be associated with a nerd, or close to it. But she looked grim, a faintly angry, brooding expression that intrigued Marlene herself.
As for the second figure, it was a blonde woman at first, with an elegant pink tank top and brown yoga pants. Her hair reached all the way down to her neck, but there was nothing to say that she was some sort of being of interest. At least, not until she took on a new form, a deadlier form that looked like a silver light was applied to her character. The gang of five were soon quick to notice that the silver skin of the blonde woman glowed heavily and ceased, as if she were a light bulb going on and off. And at the times she didn't glow, her silver skin was reflective, almost like a metallic surface. They were able to see their own faces within the body.
"The greatest battle of the universe is but invisible and secret to many worlds... It is written and known even by the ones you call gods."
"What...? I'm sorry, I have trouble understanding..." Jameson rubbed his eyes. "Greatest battle, worlds, I-"
"The endless battle of free will, of which you are not bound by anyone or their ideals-"
Lacy. Liby. Lupa. Leia. Lyra. Lois. Lynn Loud III.
"-Versus predestination, that which must be followed with no question."
Lynn. Lincoln. Lynnette. Lisa. Lola.
"This girl in red is the representation of free will, and will be born to restart a new battle. And here, this woman is the representation of predestination. Her goals are ambitious, corrupt and purely selfish by the time she acquires the power of gods. It is her who restructures the balance of our universe."
"This sounds divine and scary..."
"Why are you telling us this?"
"We cannot interfere in these affairs, humans. The Allfathers are in mortal danger of falling to... Lola Loud. It has been pre-written in the stars above, and under the circumstances, this must not be prevented for it will entangle with the space-time continuum."
"Sounds like this huge insect wants us to kill this person, or maybe-"
"Lola Loud will be born on the sixteenth of September, in the year 2009. That will be long from now, but sufficient time to prepare."
"This... This is a joke right?" It happened too fast for them to process this, even for the young woman. "A big bug just shows up out of the blue and asks us to kill someone who hasn't been born yet! Is this right, or am I way off track? I hope I'm wrong."
"That last comment..." The professor had analyzed the Chromite's words. "It can't be prevented, that's what you claim, so why do you think we can change it? What is really the fine print of the rules here?"
"We are unable to act, this is true, but you guys are expendable and inferior to us."
"Oh. I see..."
"What? What is it saying?" Adrian tried to get on their level hopelessly.
"Our ant friend wants us to break the rules so that they won't have to. This... Assassination attempt, let's call it that- It means altering the written future and ensuring nothing happens. Of course, those who carry it out will all pay for it."
"What... No, screw that! Helping you just to be changed by otherworldly beings?! Nope!"
Marlene looked up to the Chromite. "What are the consequences if we ignore this?"
The Chromite changed the imagery before them; now, the image-Lola had her hand raised up, and above her palm was the entire world. This meant to suggest that she had achieved world domination- but that was what they all thought. Then, the global sphere disappeared along with Lola. "This world will be destroyed, only for it to be...-"
The sphere appeared again, only for it to explode, and several large chunks drifted away from the blast, with each of them shifting into their own sphere. The Wilson couple gasped at it, seeing how intense and perilous the doom was- and they had no longer any sort of skepticism in them to suggest this was a huge lie, some cruel ruse that had ulterior motives attached.
"A new multiverse will form in its wake."
"I... I can't kill anyone! That's crazy!"
"You're talking about a baby! There has to be another way!"
"The death of Lola Loud instantly guarantees success in the prevention of the worldbreak. However..." The Chromite gave the five a look into the future, a city that looked war-torn and desolate from one look. Buildings were burning and devastated on the outer paets; cars were flipped over, damaged beyond repair and rusted out; not to mention the bits of wildlife that had grown, suggested by the grass that grew through the cracks and crevices of the sidewalks and roads. Then, the sky was also filled with black smoke, ensuring the sun would not bless its strong, bright rays upon this once beautiful, busy city. "This has always been the choice the past excavators have chosen, well over the death of one baby girl."
"Can't imagine why," Garrett joked again.
"Lynn Loud III will be born in the era of World War III-"
"W-World War III?"
"-She is to survive long enough through the war to make a very special trip, and until then, that is where you can enter and guide her until that very point. Her survival is key to the entire galaxy's survival."
"Wait, you... You said Loud was both of their surnames," Marlene pointed out. "They're related?!"
"Wow, fucked up family, yo."
"Wade, shut up already!"
"T-time traveling? Accepting this means you will... Displace us to the future- This worse future?"
"The obstacles and trials will not be so dangerous as long as you avoid the forces this war concerns. There is a perfect window where Lynn Loud III is alone after a personal matter occurs. Tell me now, Children of The One, do you accept this mission?"
"Guys-"
"Jesus!" Marlene placed her hands over her head and fell on her knees. "This can't be real, Aidy. This can't be."
"The fate of the universe..." Adrian acknowledged. "I wanna say it's... Too much... Crazy, even! But... If this is all true, and if there's a chance that maybe this Lola person can be stopped without, well, killing her-"
Her stomach felt queasy enough that she wanted to vomit, but Marlene held it in. Adrian bent down to her size and rubbed her back gently, to which she tried to calm her shaking breath. "This was not how I wanted to spend this day."
"I cannot accomplish such a task," Professor McAlister dropped. "It does not meet my-"
The Chromite emitted its blue lightning from the antennas, shocking McAlister to return him back to the cave. It focused on the remaining four others. "You are free to do as you please, the choice is yours, but the clock is ticking, and the window is closing before the Fragmentation occurs."
"I say yes..." Adrian decided. "This is insane, but I'm in... I'll help this girl until this trip happens, whatever it is."
"Hey, no, you can't-" Marlene protested.
"Babe, come with me," the brave husband implored. "Will we ever have a chance again?"
"Y-you crazy bastard! No, I-"
"Marlene..." He pulled her in as she turned around and hugged her tightly. "It can be our only chance. Our only chance."
There was a sudden fluttering change in her facial expression. Her eyes glittered with visible pain, pupils going unfocused when meeting his steady eyes, lips quivering from the thought that was born in the dark of her mind. The upsetting revelation that affected her settled life with him, the one man she wanted to be with forever, and sure as hell long enough to start a happy family with. "Oh, God... Oh, my God, I'm sorry- I'm so sorry-"
He watched her break and cup her mouth, eyes already closing when her pain and the sense of being the lesser than the ideal wife had done her in completely. But he loved her nonetheless, and her infertility, the inability to reproduce, was just a minor flaw he could not ever hate or frown on.
Here, what this Chromite presented, was the closest chance for the both of them to know what it was like to be around a kid, namely a girl whom the large and had hinted would need guardians. He accepted it because he saw a nice perk. And now, so did Marlene.
She changed her mind. "Yes, we're going! Take us!"
Jameson and Garrett remained silent, agreeing that they would not follow the couple.
"Very well, I give the most gratuitous thank you to the both of you, and I trust that you will not find trouble along the way. Anything you need to know, you will come to find in the future. Once the girl leaves your grasp, you may be brought back to this year and you can live the rest of your life together in perfect peace and harmony."
It zapped both Jameson and Garrett back to the cave, and then the couple, redirecting them to a darker, broken future, both of them ready to seek out the nerd girl in the red dress.
AN: Going everywhere here, that's a given! Oh, more extraterrestrial lore is expanding here, we've just hit the iceberg on that baby! Chromites, the time-traveling insects that reside in the same world as the Silverheads/ Silver Legion! Now, for the life of me, I don't know where I've shared this about them among the past works. Maybe it was with curious fellers through DMs, been long.
Anyways, I've just dropped the ball on the main conflict of the Loudiverse, meaning many of the fics; free will versus the idea of predestination, which is what Lynn Loud III and Lola are supposed to represent. This battle has carries out in past works, if anyone were to look closely at it, like, Survival of the Sinner's Lacy and Liby were acting on their own, trying to change what Lynn and Lincoln were trying to keep regulated. Estrangement's Lyra questioned God's methods, wondering why Loan had to go. It's not clear in all cases, you'd have to look real closely at where it lies.
This battle here, it hasn't started yet, but when it does...
The prophecy, written by natives who have encountered this Chromite, right after it had showed them a vision of the two Loud girls and their destined battle.
Next time you see the Wilson couple, they'll be aiding Lynn Loud III. Noted, this is a D fic, which means don't get too attached, you hear?
To MasterCaster, yes this is a reboot, to put it simply. And then it's not. Well, more like what Brotherhood is to the 2003 Fullmetal anime. Fic here combines the trilogy in one, changes/expands what I've established. Bahaha.
Take care, good day to you all.