"Mand'alor! There's more battles than there are Mandalorians to fight them, we can't stop all Cultists from reaching your position." Marcus's voice reached him through the comm link in his helmet just as the doors to the cathedral swung open to grant them entrance. He'd been correct to assume that the cultists would act, as before they were even halfway to their current location, they came under fire from small arms and anti-armor weaponry, not only that, but they brought out IFVs of their own. The city was enraptured in battle within mere moments, with Crusaders, loyal hunters and Mandalorians coming to blows with cultists and their own hunters across streets, alleyway, in the buildings and in the skies.
And as carnage unfolded, he saw those remaining Grimm move in to capitalize on the unfolding bedlam, scaling the walls and bursting through the gates within mere minutes, joining in on the carnage. Cultists, Crusaders, Hunters, Mandalorians and Grimm, all caught up in the chaos of the battlefield, all fighting for supremacy. However, as re refocused his attention on his surroundings, he made note that this Cathedral was anything but secure, as Cultists and Crusaders made battle all around. A third of the chandeliers had been dropped and were warped out of shape, their candles either snuffed out or tipped over, pews shattered and thrown about, some ablaze, all knocked out of place to make room for those who battled within these 'sanctified' walls.
Setting Ruby down as she could now stand on her own, he whipped out his new shotgun and fired off the grapple into a pillar of to the left center section of the room. With a small burst from his boots, he launched himself forward, disengaging the hook and drawing the grapple back as he flew through the air. With one fluid motion, he stowed the shotgun on the small of his back and unsheathed his gauntlet blade, burying it into the chest of the cultist he slammed into feet-first, effortlessly piercing the weak aura and biting straight out his back. Rolling forward and ripping the blade out of the dying man's chest as he did so, he swung upwards diagonally, bisecting an unsuspecting opponent before spinning on his forward right foot and slamming his left heel into the next one's gut, throwing him to the floor while ducking low to avoid getting slashed by a cultist that leapt at him from ahead.
He dashed back as soon as his boot slammed against the floor, launching a Cryoban impact grenade into the group as another three dog piled in on where he was, freezing all in a blink. Dashing right, he allowed his flamethrower to blast their frozen forms with incendiary dust gel while he launched a thermal detonator ahead to blow up a couple more cultists that busied themselves hacking a crusader caught isolated to pieces. A shrill battle cry echoed to his right, noting another black-clad lunatic rushing him with what looked like a chainsaw. He didn't waste his time trying to kill him in a dignified way, simply blasting him with his Disruptor and picking up the now ownerless chainsaw and giving it a brief once-over. It had a mag-lock, which worked just fine with him as it allowed him to easily stow it on the exterior of his backpack, which he proceeded to do after leaping over a burning pew and sawing a cultist he caught slipping in two from shoulder to abdomen, effectively painting his entire lower half crimson from the gore and viscera.
Drawing out both blaster pistols as he reached the stage upon which their sermons and the sort were held, he scanned over the room for any stragglers, picking off a few loose and scattered fools himself, though for the most part the Crusaders managed to defend their holy grounds fairly well. He nodded to those he'd arrived with, signaling to them that it was safe to move up while he stood overwatch. It was only when they all made it to the front where he was that the cultists renewed their attack once again...
"They will begin summoning demonic thralls soon enough... we cannot hope to hold a place like this secure for long, so we must do this-" the Rep began, before being interrupted by the ceiling above the entrance caved in, letting in some avian Grimm to accompany the Devil weirdos. In response, Midnight just let rip with both blasters, swatting down Grimm and man alike with icy precision faster than they could pour in. The protective fury of a battle-hardened veteran of a hundred battlefields unleashed was a sight to behold, even somewhat scaring the very child he was protecting...
And yet, the moment he stepped off the stage, things appeared to go south, as a large, gaping hole opened up in the floor, leading to a sort of flat sublevel. It was completely open and exposed, but the attack seemed to halt as he landed in a crouch, raising his head up to look straight ahead. A lone figure stood in black robes holding a staff, the icon at the head of it perfectly resembling Ruby's own sigil...
"Well, you and your lot have certainly made a mess of things." He growled angrily, tapping his staff against the floor a few times. "This operation was five years in the making, and thrown completely awry by one man's actions and order. The vessel is here, just as it was prophe-"
He was cut off as a blue bolt raced through the dusk and gloom, spearing straight through the man's head and killing him in an instant. He wasn't about to waste time with some dumb monologue, and didn't regret it, even as the body liquefied upon the floor, swirling up and around, a blood red smoke and hellish lights arising from the vortex as two massive, clawed hands ascended from the floor. The hands pulled the body they belonged to up from where he could only assume, up until an utterly gargantuan bipedal behemoth stood alone upon even ground with himself, with twin bull horns upon either side, pasty white skin and void-black markings, horns and claws. Two beady red eyes followed his every movement, and a maw filled with razor sharp fangs cackled with deep, booming laughter as it marched on towards him.
"Juggernaut! They've summoned a Juggernaut!" The rep screamed in clear horror, although not necessarily phasing Midnight in the slightest. He noted that a few priests or whatever they were had arrived and began surrounding Ruby, but kept his focus on the immediate threat right in front of him. The rep had provided enough validity for his claim, now his job was simply to hold back the assault.
He opted to just blast it with his disruptor, but raised a brow in slight confusion as it simply absorbed the blast... his blaster pistol still had some effect however, so it seemed that it must've just been the way Disruptors generated their bolts. Cracking his neck to both sides, he pulled forth his new shotgun, and met the charge...
Marcus didn't know what these new enemies were, but was nonetheless annoyed when he found Disruptors didn't do anything. Didn't necessarily make em any more difficult to kill, he just had to adjust his approach. Blaster bolts and bullets, fire and ice, blade and fury, and a healthy application of raw brute force worked just as well. Nevertheless, these ones were nimble things, and presented a much greater threat than the droves of cultists.
He didn't necessarily mind, as it presented a greater challenge. He'd counted about a hundred cultists dead by his hands, maybe twenty obviously Hunter-trained, about sixty of the new enemies, and about two hundred of various Grimm that dared to take him on. He'd had similar reports in from every other front, though to his knowledge he was leading the pack in the race for kills. Of course, he wasn't necessarily fighting alone. At least two teams worth of hunters he'd rallied together to drive back the attack. They did their job well enough, but had to practically babysit them to keep the flank covered. A clear difference from the standard he held other Mandalorians to, and very clearly lacking in comparison to their veteran counterparts.
He was just about to cut down another cultist, when his sixth sense for danger kicked in, prompting him to burst back with his jetpack instead. Sure enough, a massive blade protruded through the man's back and out his chest. The body was thrown aside with ease, the blade ripped out of the body with one fluid motion, revealing the new threat...
"Oh you gotta be kidding me..."
"Thought I sensed a familiar aura in this storm. Even if it's utter chaos here, I can't just let an assassin like you roam free. I think it's high time we even the score, don't you, Marcus?" It was him. The walking conduit for bad luck, like random jetpack failures. In loose, worn in clothing with a short, tattered crimson cape to accompany jet black hair and a notable stubble, was the man who'd practically made it his personal side-quest to bring him in...
"Qrow... this really isn't a good time to be doing this! The city is ablaze, and these regs aren't enough to defend it, you know that!" He argued, though only received an annoyed snarl in response.
"You think I don't know that? Oz already gots a whole strike force of Black Ops hunters on the way to control the situation. Just give up, you can't win against odds like that." The declaration brought an honest chuckle out of him, as he drew forth both blaster pistols and gave them a simple spin on his fingers as he lowered into a ready stance...
"Y'know... you'd have a point... if I wasn't wearing my Beskar. I think I like my odds." He confidently droned, before blasting upwards, unleashing a precise barrage of crimson bolts towards his new opponent. Qrow met the barrage with notable struggle, blocking, dodging and deflecting almost every bolt, missing a beat with every other glancing blow. Marcus didn't bother raising his aura against the return shotgun fire, as with his armor it was effectively a non-threat to him. His confidence was well placed, as no matter how bad his luck got, luck had no play in how one material beat another, the pellets of Qrow's weapons pinging harmlessly off his pure Beskar armor.
Deciding to swap up his strategy, Marcus rushed directly down at Qrow, taking closer aim at the hand holding onto his blade. Sure enough, the sword was blown out of his hand in short order, knocking the weapon away several paces. Flying over in its direction, he sprayed a wall of flames between Qrow and his weapon, forcing him to leap back a few more meters to avoid the conflagration.
Dashing left a half dozen meters with the assistance of his jetpack, Marcus dug his boots into the asphalt and let fly his whipcord launcher, wrapping around his opponent's furthest wrist. With a rough pull, he yanked Qrow in whilst retracting the cord, ducking under the man's blind jab and driving his knee into his gut, forcing him to double over. Immediately he threw his leg back, breaking into a wide spin as he pulled on the cord again, pulling Qrow down face-first into the ground.
Keeping alert of his surroundings, he fully retracted the now-loose whipcord, throwing himself right and shooting up to the top of a nearby bus stop just in time to evade the blast of an incoming missile. He made sure to keep his touch light, and blasted off again as soon as he touched down as the glass shattered beneath him. His opponent's semblance was kicking in now, not that he was surprised. Bad luck was unpredictable, but as long as he stayed aware of all his surroundings and kept in mind his secondary options with equipment failure, he could keep the advantage.
Turning back to his foe, he only just leaned back in time to have Qrow's blade just glide over his visor. He drew his own aura blade from it's sheathe on his left hip, slashing Qrow across the chest and prompting him to leap back to gain a little distance. Not wanting to lose any momentum he had in this fight, Marcus burst forth once again, descending upon Qrow in an instant and dropping a heavy overhead swing down upon his opponent, shattering his guard before releasing his left hand from the hilt and smacking Qrow upside the jaw with a savage backhanded uppercut. Halting in place, he used a quick burst from his jetpack to launch him forward just another foot, slamming the dome of his helmet against Qrow's nose just as he was recovering, forcing him to recoil once more. Using the opening, He raised his blade overhead, and swung downward...
*CACHING!*
His eyes widened in shock as his blade was blasted out of his hand by a pointblank shotgun blast, and wasn't prepared for the diagonal slash across his breastplate that threw him back. He groaned, trying to pick himself back up but a boot to the face knocking him right back down on his side. With a frustrated groan, he raised his right wrist, allowing the wrist mounted twin-blaster to blast the blade he held overhead away just as he'd done mere moments ago to his own blade. Using the man's momentary shock to his advantage, he pushed the heel of his right palm into the ground, coiling his body up like a spring and kicking off with all the force he could muster, successfully rolling himself up into an upright crouch facing his enemy. Without hesitation, he rocketed forward, slamming shoulder-first into Qrow's chest and wrapping an arm around him, carrying him out of the current battlefield and slamming him through as many obstacles as he could muster, before finally the man regained his focus, flipping Marcus over and slamming him down into a large patch of rocks and gravel. Both warriors rolled a few meters, eventually halted by their bodies hitting rocks larger than they could just roll over...
"Ugh... Damn it all... Why- ACK!" Marcus grunted painfully as his opponent kicked him in the face, throwing him right back though to Qrow's surprise not putting him on his back as he just stumbled back. Nevertheless, Qrow didn't miss a beat, rushing forward and punching downward across his left cheek, following up with a heavy kick across the gut, sending the dazed warrior tumbling into the stream just below. However, as if that kick had instead forced his faculties back into him, he fired his whipcord around his opponent's ankles as he fell, dragging Qrow into the water with him...
He didn't want to admit it, but this opponent was tough. He'd expended a fair amount of ammo simply killing it's smaller kin that constantly tried to swarm him, but the big brute, this... "Juggernaut" was as of yet barely affected in the slightest. It infuriated him that any enemy could run him ragged as this one did, but what did and did not anger him was rather irrelevant in this matchup. All that mattered right now was weathering this flood of expendable enemies so he could have a proper 1v1 with the big one.
Vaulting over a broken pew the Juggernaut threw at him, he stomped down upon a scrawny demon's chest, driving it to the ground while burying his wrist blade in it's face, ripping it out as he rolled forward, holding the blade up to block an incoming clawed swipe. reacting as quickly as he could, he grasped it by the wrist and put his opposite arm behind the elbow, snapping it the wrong way with little effort, before shifting his left hand to push the heel of his palm against it's own, stabbing the bone straight through it's left eye and slamming to a stop against the back of it's skull, killing it in an instant. Moving his right hand behind it, he pushed it back and spun around, allowing it's disintegrating form to absorb a few fiery projectiles while he drew on the demons ahead of him and blasted all eight through the chest and dropping all without too much trouble.
Refocusing on the big one, he dashed right as it slammed an open palm down upon where he used to stand, hopping up and launching forward once again, slashing through skin and muscle and yet seemingly doing nothing to actually phase his opponent. Holstering his right pistol and drawing his shotgun as quickly as he possibly could, he reached out and fired the Grapple off into a more distant Demon, pulling himself to it and just narrowly avoiding a backhand from the Juggernaut. Beskar or no, he doubted he could survive a direct hit from something that monstrous.
He blasted the demon with the 4 gauge shell at pointblank range, reducing it's entire upper body to bloody, tattered chunks and a crimson stain across the floor, before rolling over it and snapping up, blasting a notably larger, beefier and more muscular demon in the face, reducing it's head to more of the same. Braking open the barrels, he slotted two more shells in, before hopping over another pew rolling his way, boosting himself just over the claws of another demon and using his dash to fling himself over to a piece of rebar that hung horizontally over the arena. He grasped it with both hands, using it as an effective means to swing further and descend like a hawk upon more demons, chainsaw revved and whirling in a violent, murderous arc that easily sawed two more in half before burying itself in the chest of another, before being ripped out through it's shoulder.
He swung it back and locked it against his pack while dashing right, just narrowly avoiding being smashed by the Juggernaut's fist. Ripping his shotgun out from its slot on his back, he jumped with the assistance of his boots up to head-level with the beast, dashed forward to close the distance and blasted it pointblank in the face with two 4 gauge shells. The abomination's face exploded in a cloud of gore and viscera, but he failed to realize until it was already too late that he was completely exposed. The Juggernaut realized this, and capitalized on his moment of weakness, throwing a heavy punch into Midnight's torso...
Within an instant, the horrid sound of bones being shattered reached everyone's ears, and the very Mand'alor himself was sent reeling through the air. He smashed straight through a marble pillar, collapsing in a heap upon something akin to a sarcophagus that caved under him. The corners of his vision were darkening, but despite the incredible amount of damage he'd suffered, his entire body felt numb. He tried to move, but felt himself pinned under... something... he wasn't too sure...
"MAND'ALOR!" She heard one of the commandos guarding the circle cry, drawing her attention away from pretty walls of light surrounding her and the pretty symbols in the floor. Her curiosity turned instantly to despair as she watched him smash through some thick pillar and crumple down in some sort of stone box.
Her eyes widened as the world around her began to blur and her hearing dulled everything out to a low roar, blending together to something incomprehensible to her little ears. She felt her voice catch in her throat and a sharp, burning sensation within her eyes as she fell to her knees and pawed against the light, desperate to reach out for him. She watched the demons close in all around him as he lay unmoving, and she felt a tightness in her chest as she felt her tears running down her face make themselves known...
"P-please... please get up..." She pleaded quietly, shaking violently as she balled her hands up into fists. She weakly smacked her fist against the light wall blocking her from her guardian. "Y-you promised me... you promised you wouldn't leave me..."
She raised her eyes again to see him again, plead with her eyes, narrowing in to see the demon in perfect clarity among the blur, raising its fist overhead to flatten him. Clenching her teeth, she mustered all her desperation, all her fear and rage, every ounce of herself, and let out a scream to pierce straight through whatever was catching her words in her throat...
"DADDY!"
*BOOFP!*
With the slam of the demon's hand, the world was silenced, a cloud of dust burst out from the impact. Stillness, nobody moved an inch as the dust settled and the deed finished, a look of triumph displayed against the demon's face.
But as the dust settled, it's face morphed into an almost unsure one as it beheld what must've just been an illusion. It's hand... it was shaking, and it wasn't completely flat on the ground...
"You..." a low, menacing growl rumbled out from under its palm, drawing a look of pure shock and awe from the demon. "GET THE HELL OFF ME!"
In an incredible display of might, the Demon was violently thrown back, a massive gash in its hand that cut down to the bone. Midnight, all his armor not Beskar shredded and his entire form stained crimson with blood, stood upright with blade drawn, weapon systems primed, and shotgun upheld with a single hand. A burning blue light burned within his left eye behind his black visor, noticeably taking the horde of demons aback...
Without warning, he kicked off and dashed through the mob of devils, bisecting a dozen with a single swing before bursting up into the air, firing off a thermal detonator further ahead while belching flames across those closest to him and freezing those between. He physically tossed another detonator into the frozen mass while firing off his grapple through the smoke of the first explosion, launching himself forward with a blast from his boots and racing through the black, trampling another demon underfoot and smashing its head like a cherry against the floor with his boots. Lacking even the slightest hesitation, he stowed the shotgun and drew his chainsaw in one movement and began swinging on anything g and everything that got near him.
Shrill screams filled the air as the arena was engulfed in a veritable hurricane of shattered bones, blood, gore, severed limbs, bodies tended in two and head divorced from their bodies. The Mand'alor seemingly hadn't been weakened even in the slightest, rather, it was like his strength and speed had swelled unbelievable levels. They could all feel it, despite the whirlwind of powerful emotions and the darkness of the demons, this man's rage unquelled was pouring off him in waves, practically a tsunami among common tides.
Among his foes, he was unstoppable, turning aside blow after blow and giving many times more than he took. He smashed, slashed, ripped, tore, shot, stabbed, brutalized and eviscerated everything in his path with unchecked fury, until finally, at long last, it was just him and the Juggernaut. It gave a savage roar his way, but didn't phase him in the slightest.
Midnight didn't bother with words or declarations. Actions spoke far louder than words, and his only concern now was riddling this so called "Juggernaut" with so many holes that there wouldn't be enough left to bury in a shoe box. Whipping his shotgun up, he slammed two more shells into the barrels and fired his grapple into the chest of the beast.
He raced towards the beast at incredible, almost unnatural speeds, bounding over the demon's fist at the last second and blasting a huge chunk out of the demon's head. At the last second, he dropped his shotgun and grasped the demon's right horn as he flipped over it, using it to pivot himself midair and change his course, slamming his boots against the back of its neck. He stabbed a dozen times in a second with his gauntlet blade, before dropping down to avoid getting slapped and whipping his chainsaw back out, swinging diagonally down its back, ripping through from shoulder to glute before hitting the floor boots first.
And with such incredible damage, the abomination fell to a knee, unable to stand, never mind fight. Leaping back up on it's back, Midnight swept one last time with his chainsaw, successfully parting its head from its body, and finishing the fight. He proceeded to rip a horn off the beast, a trophy taken from a worthy kill, before turning back to the sealing ritual above him.
Ruby looked utterly exhausted, but had a relieved look upon her face stained by tears. She was sobbing what he could easily tell was tears of joy, as the walls of light finally dissipated and she came tumbling down into his arms. She wrapped her own, so tiny compared to his, around his neck and buried her face in his bloody shoulder as he knelt down to set her on her feet. He gave a low sigh, returning the hug and patting her on the back a few times as if to reassure her, to say he was fine despite his tattered state...
"I-I was so scared! Y-you hit that thing, and then y-you wouldn't get u-up, a-and I thought you had l-left me, a-and-" she was bawling her eyes out his shoulder, drawing a small, sad smile out of the soldier as he gently pat her back a bit and used a thumb to wipe her tears away, while removing helmet with his opposite hand. He let it drop to his side as he looked her in the eyes, his face a bloody mess as a few cuts had been opened up on his face alongside a gash running at a low diagonal slope along the left side of his forehead. His 5 o'clock shadow was as of yet, however, just as perfect as always...
"I'm fine, Ruby... I'm not going anywhere." He reassured the child as he held her tight, lifting her up in his arms as he usually did while lazily picking up and holding his helmet in his free hand. "But you certainly gave me a scare there, kiddo. I don't know about this whole devil business... but do you feel okay?"
"I-I'm a little dizzy... they had to unlock my aura, and then when I called out to you, I-I felt like all my energy was just... it was there, then it wasn't... b-but I'm fine! You're not! You're all bloody and beat up and-"
"Ruby..." Midnight sighed, smiling and shaking his head a few times. "I'm fine. Right as rain." He looked over to the approaching priests, nodding once to them as if to tell them to lay it all on him.
"We were successfully able to apply the seals. That she exhausted herself like she did thankfully made it far easier..." the Rep began, stepping up and setting a hand on his shoulder, pulling it off as his palm was instantly stained crimson with his blood. "Oh dear... that's a lot of blood..."
"Focus. I'm fine, what about Ruby?"
"Oh... yes, that's right. We applied five seals to lock down the Devil's power... it is unfortunately at the cost of the child's natural aura quantity and strength. Hers and the devil, Astaroth's, aura have for the most part merged, so much of her natural strength had to be locked up as well. As it stands, her aura is remarkably fragile, even for a child so young, and even more remarkably low. Most children her age with unlocked aura in measurable quantity have about fifty, but she's only just barely above two... I'm sorry, there was no other way." He lamented, but Midnight just waved it off, looking back to the corpse of the Juggernaut...
"Is there any way to strengthen it? Can it be trained?"
"Y-yes. It's like a muscle in a way, the more it's strained and worked, the stronger and larger it'll grow."
"Then her training will begin as soon as we've weathered this storm." Midnight declared, before extending a finger from his hold on Ruby and touching his comm link on his right gauntlet. "Marcus, what's the status of the broader battle?"
He growled angrily as there was no response. Marcus always immediately responded...
"Marcus, respond." Still no answer. "Marcus, come in. What is your status?... Marcus?"
He only just barely pulled himself out of the water when he felt something hit him upside the head, knocking his helmet off and sending it clattering away against the rocks. He regained his faculties with the strike, raising his gauntlet to stop Qrow's attack at the wrist, but failed to notice him stabbing at his abdomen around his armor with a sharp rock. Gritting his teeth with a fierce snarl, Marcus unsheathed his wrist gauntlet, and slashed his opponent across the abdomen before he could cut any deeper.
"ARGH!" Qrow screamed, being shoved down rather easily as he clutched his gut. He hit the floor with an unceremonious thud!, groaning painfully as he did everything in his power to hold his guts in. Both warriors were a bloody mess, worn down through battle... but unlike his opponent, Marcus could still stand, still fight. Which meant he was the victor.
"D-damnit... bastard..." he growled through the pain, meeting his gaze with a spiteful glare. "Well? What the hell are you waiting for?! Finish it! You've never put me in this state before, I'm an easy kill! Just end this already!"
"N-no... no, I don't think I will." Marcus managed to get out between gasps, surprising his opponent beyond anything. "This battle shouldn't have happened, this bloodshed is pointless... I returned to my roots as a Mandalorian to redeem myself for straying so far from The Way... the Canons of Honor."
"What the... what the hell are you?" He gasped, looking with even more confusion as Marcus patched the open wound on his abdomen, and dropped the rest of the medical kit on Qrow's chest. "I... why? Why, Damnit?!. You're not at all like the Marcus I know... why?!."
He didn't regard Qrow with an answer, simply picking his helmet up, turning it over so the water could fall out, and sliding it back on...
"Mand'alor... I'm still alive. What's your status?"
"Marcus?!. Thank goodness you're still alive! I've been trying to reach you for awhile now, what happened?" Midnight's tone was actually... concerned? It was a refreshing thing to hear the care in his voice, but he pushed the thought back and refocused on the mission.
"A fierce battle... but it's over now. How can I assist you, Midnight?"
"I've issued orders for all Mandalorians to withdraw back to our HQ. We have injuries across the board, many serious. The enemy has tasted Mandalorian blood today, but as of yet there are no fatalities."
"What about you, Mand'alor? What's your status? Your voice, you sound..."
"I'm fine, I assure you. The child is secured, that power sealed. I'm headed back to the hideout with Ruby in tow now. We must lick our wounds for the time being, though I fear this whole fiasco will delayed our timetables." Midnight sighed over the channel, allowing Marcus a moment of quiet to recollect his thoughts. If the timetables were being delayed, then it would put them not only in danger of continued attacks from all those after them, but it would put them right in the sights of Ozpin's men... though at the same time, those two forces may well clash against each other in the search for them, so they could use the chaos as a sort of cloak...
"Mand'alor, I have some information you may find interesting."
"Well, lay it on me. After all the things I've seen today, a little news of the mortal variety sounds pleasant." He honestly couldn't blame him for saying such, but something told him that he wouldn't like what he had to say...
A/N: Hello everyone! I'd just like to thank everyone who's stuck with this story so far from the bottom of my heart for all the support
I may not actively acknowledge every one of you guys' reviews, and that I may not always respond to every PM, but just know that I do take the time to read every one of them and always appreciate it greatly when you guys take the time to leave your feedback!
Once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for the good times so far, and for those bound to come