Dante awoke one morning to Erick's raised voice. He was talking to someone on the living room. Low quality as the building was, it made a decent work at muffling the sound enough for his voice to not be understandable. Still, he could perceive a lot of stress in his voice. Thinking best not to interrupt, Dante took a long shower.
Many days had passed since the Avalanche's infiltration. Still, Dante had been kept in the office once more. His partners had been sent, some repeatedly, in missions pertaining the information 'extracted' from the captured members. They sometimes brought him intel relevant to finding Sharpe, but overall, Dante was once more being left out of the loop.
It was understandable, given the recent events of Banora, but after the talk he had with Veld, Dante could only feel like they were treating him like something fragile.
He shut down the water and walked out of the bathroom. Erick was quiet outside, so he supposed the phone call was over. Dante started getting dressed and walked out of the room.
"Hey. Everything all‑‑Erick?"
The phone call was over. Erick, still in his sleeping shorts, was sitting on the couch, hands to his face and sobbing quietly.
"Are you OK?" Dante reached over, stamping his bare toes on the coffee table. "Ah, shit! Hey? What is it? Bad news?"
Dante squatted right in front of Erick. "Hey, you're scaring me."
The SOLDIER calmed down a bit and began explaining:
"Remember I told you I sent money to my mother and brother?"
"Yeah. They're still in Corel, right?"
"Yeah… She… She didn't quite know what I was doing here you know?"
Dante looked puzzled, so Erick continued:
"The company and Corel have a… Difficult relationship… After the reactor exploded and Shinra eliminated the terrorists involved, people didn't really trust them again. Many said Scarlet bribed the mayor and higher ups and that many that were killed afterwards had nothing to do with Avalanche."
Dante had seen the reports. He knew Scarlet a bit too well to think she had conducted a clean mission.
"Thing is, there were no jobs afterwards. People were being stubborn. Even working in the Gold Saucer was seen as a betrayal, because it is run by Shinra too."
"My mom, she called after the reactor incident. Asked me to leave the SOLDIER program. By then I had been working my way up. I was set to receive my first mako dose the following week. I couldn't bring myself to do it, you know? To abandon it all… But I promised her I would and get a new job here in Midgar."
Dante knew that was a pointless promise to make. There were no reasonably-paying jobs in Midgar that were not tied to Shinra.
"Then what do they think you've been doing all these years?"
"Construction. Thing is, they saw me in the newspapers. The Shinra press printed my photo from Junon, with the president and Scarlet around my arm hailing me as a hero of the company's interests. And someone at Corel saw it," his voice began to tremble again. "She just called. The entire town knows."
"Oh, Erick."
"She says I should drop SOLDIER if I even intend to go back home." New tears began pooling in his eyes. "And to stop sending her the dirty money I made selling myself to Shinra," at those words, Erick broke into quiet sobs again.
Dante was at a loss of words. All he could do at the moment was sit beside him and offer him some semblance of comfort. While the SOLDIER vented in his arms, Dante realized some things he had never considered: they were both about the same age, with Erick less than a year older. While they knew each other for little under two years by now, he had arrived at Shinra earlier than Dante, as he was already 3rd Class when they met. Even assuming fast promotions Erick should've enlisted when he was fourteen at most.
"I thought that over time she and everyone else would eventually move on from the Shinra-hating and that I would be able to come clean. That she would even be proud of all that I've achieved. Instead, it seems I only brought shame to our name."
Dante looked at Erick intently. "You know… Back when I was 14… I accidentally set ablaze a sunflower field, playing with materia. My parents wouldn't have any of that so they paid the problem off," Dante began. "You, on the other hand, were enlisting in the army and providing for your family. I think that's very noble. More noble than all I've ever done in my life. Don't ever think that you shouldn't be proud of yourself or your choices, because for what I've seen, they've all been for good."
Erick turned around to see Dante with a sad smile. One that hid a 'have they, though?'. His conscience still hung heavy due to his activities with the Turks, and knowing Dante was involved with them only made him question everything. Did he know? Was he OK with it? He knew he shouldn't jump to conclusions, but this ambiguity was burning him inside.
They sat together for a while, until they actually began running late enough to only have time for coffee. John the barista seemed to sense something was off, and thankfully, delivered their order with only the strictly necessary interaction.
"We'll talk later, OK?" Dante said in the hallway.
"OK. See ya later," Erick answered, his countenance sad.
Dante reached over and hugged Erick. This took the SOLDIER off guard, because they were usually very concerned about being seen together in public, much less in the middle of public displays of affection. Still, this little risk meant the world to him in that very shitty morning.
"I'm here for you," Dante whispered before letting go.
Dante arrived to the office just as Tseng and Balto began a summary of their latest findings and a complete organization of their available intel. At the end, everyone stood in silence at the grand conclusion.
"Are we absolutely sure?" Veld asked.
"From what we've gathered these days, the list of info stolen from Hojo and the compilation of what Hollander took, yes, we can arrive at that conclusion," Tseng explained over their cork boards, lined with pictures, strings of red yarn and sheets of paper with text.
"Hollander and Genesis are working on cloning. And Fuhito and Avalanche are doing so too by themselves and independently from the other two," Veld stated.
"Fuhito took a wide array of data, fundamentals and advanced alike. What Hollander took was more specific, like he only wants to fill in some blanks instead of starting from scratch," Balto pointed at some data spreads in the board.
"Moreover, Fuhito has already shown progress, while we only have incidental data from Hollander. The reports of multiple Genesis sightings suggest that he has been successful but not in the same way Fuhito was," Tseng concluded.
"So then, the pods we've been finding, at Banora and Kalm…?" Dante asked.
"Independently developed. Hollander's at Banora were far more advanced than Fuhito's more rudimentary one from Kalm," Cissnei said.
"And Fuhito got the initial data from Rufus," Freyra half-stated-half-asked.
Everyone let out a quiet sigh.
"Well, this is quite the mess, yo."
"Now. About Fuhito's associates," Balto began, flipping over one of their charts, and revealing their betting pool. "Oh, sorry." He flipped it back again and turned to the other board. "Sharpe, Shears and Elfe/Felicia"
Everyone shuffled a bit at the mention of the latter.
"Sharpe we know is into it to get back at us, more specifically at Dante. We only have incidental data on Shears, but it appears he's a middleman of sorts, doing things on Fuhito and Avalanche's behest. Elfe is more difficult to assess. She has been undeniably helping Avalanche; some communications we've intercepted even suggest she is the leader of the organization in general," Balto stated. "Nevertheless, we don't know her motivations or even if she knows who she was. Sorry chief."
"Don't. It's your job," Veld said.
"Well chief, how do we proceed?" Judet asked.
"We'll have to proceed as we have so far. Avalanche will remain our top priority. Any info regarding Genesis we'll transfer to SOLDIER. Only they can deal with enhanced individuals."
"But whatta'bout Fuhito's soldiers in black?" Ruluf asked. "Those're'nhanced too!"
"Not to the same extent as SOLDIERs. The one you defeated during the last attack is proof of that. Which reminds me, has Hojo finished the autopsy?"
"Nope. But we'll gladly pay him a visit," Rude said, pushing his glasses upward.
"Do so." Tseng ordered.
"What about that brat, Rufus?" Judet asked.
"What about me?" He answered.
"Ah!"
"Oh shit!"
"Whedidjacomefrom?!"
The Turks cussed and exclaimed in surprise at the hitherto unseen man.
"I've been sitting here the whole time!" Ruluf exclaimed, clearly angry at being overlooked.
"Well, I'm not sending him back to Junon. Besides, we need him to keep speaking, supervised, with Avalanche," Veld said.
"Next time we'll set them up," Cissnei said, no doubt already having a whole suite of phone-tracking devices at hand.
"That said, anything new to report?" Veld concluded.
Dante raised his hand. "Um, yes. I have found a few companies that have suspicious purchases of equipment and consumables that could be used for the clones." In the wake of the Turks' brief arrest, that information Dante gathered was unfortunately lost, so he had to retrieve it again from the Shinra databases.
"Take Alvis. Go check them out," Veld ordered.
"Yes, sir," Dante said, happy to finally be let out of the office, even if it was for running interviews in the city.
"Everyone else, continue with your work," Veld concluded.
"Dude, this is boring!" Alvis complained after leaving the building of the fourth company. So far they were empty-handed.
"Tell me about it. If the records were complete this would've been unnecessary!" All of the companies visited had perfectly valid reasons for buying the materials. One of them was actually a Shinra shell company, making the lack of information on the database all the more infuriating.
After having a late meal, Alvis and Dante began checking their next target. They had started on the outside of one sector, moved towards sector zero and now were planning to check a company on the opposite side of the city.
"Hey. How you holding up?" Alvis asked over his coffee cup.
"Huh? About what?" Dante said, not entire sure about what exactly he could be asking about, given that lately, so many things seemed to be going out of hand.
"The withdrawal," he said quietly.
"Oh. Um, fine I guess. I had a shitty week detoxing, and after that went back to regular remedies," Dante said. "And truth be told, with all that happened after I think I even forgot about it."
Alvis scoffed. "Lucky you."
Dante thought for a few seconds. "I think it's because it was not the same kind of stuff. Do you… Still get cravings?"
"Every now and then," Alvis admitted, his gaze distant through the restaurant window. "It's like a ghost that follows you around, you know? Even when you think you're in the clear, it creeps back, whispering in your ear." Alvis sighed heavily, setting down his coffee cup. "You know, I never really talked about this with anyone before. Not since I got clean."
"It's okay," Dante said, offering a sympathetic smile. "Talking helps."
"It's just…" Alvis began, struggling with his words, "Chuck… He was a good listener."
At the mention of their deceased partner, Dante immediately felt a lump in the throat.
Dante nodded, "Yeah, I think I get what you mean," he recalled his short conversation in Wutai before the bombing mission. Chuck had been concerned about Dante not knowing about Erick's whereabouts back then.
Alvis nodded. "Yeah, Chuck had a way of understanding without judging. He was the one I could always turn to when things got rough. Guess being rookies brought us together."
"I wish I had gotten to know him better," Dante admitted, his chest tight with guilt.
"Yeah," Alvis agreed. "We all do."
There was a moment of silence between the two.
"He really admired you, you know?" Alvis added suddenly.
"Huh?" Dante asked, genuinely surprised. He couldn't pinpoint a single moment where he had done something Chuck could've admired him for.
Alvis shrugged with a small, sad smile. "I don't know the specifics, but he talked about you often. Said you had this 'strength' that he admired. He was thankful that you were always honest and straightforward with him. Even when it was about bad stuff."
"You were right. Thank you"
The weight of Chuck's last words echoed in his mind and settled heavily on his shoulders.
Dante's chest tightened even further. He had somehow earned Chuck's admiration, and that immediately began haunting him. Partly because he regretted not knowing it sooner, but mostly because Chuck's perception of him seemed incongruous with the many doubts and insecurities that plagued Dante's mind.
They didn't speak any further about the subject. Alvis probably saw the somber expression Dante had and decided to not push the issue any further. Later, he decided to break the awkward silence while walking past Shinra HQ and towards sector 8.
"Ever seen that play? Loveless?"
"Nah. Read the book tho," Dante answered.
"Come to think of it, has that theater ever shown a different play?"
"Something different? In 'Loveless theater'? That sits in the middle of 'Loveless avenue'?" Dante asked sarcastically.
"Just asking! I mean… Are there even other plays-"
Gunfire.
Dante and Alvis immediately turned to face away from each other and began scanning the area, covering each other's backs.
Gunfire, this time fully automatic.
"There!" Alvis said. Dante turned around and saw people running away from one of the streets that crossed Loveless avenue.
They began running towards the area, near the edge between sectors 8 and 0. Dante had just opened his PHS to inform Tseng when the man himself called.
"Dante here."
"Where are you? There are reports of-"
"Gunfire near Loveless avenue? We are here."
"Loveless avenue? There too?!"
"Wait what?"
"There are reports of security robots attacking employees in Shinra HQ and in the reactors."
"Add civilians on sector 8 to that," Dante said, having visual confirmation of a Sweeper unit walking erratically and firing at random in the middle of a street.
"Clear the area and wait for backup. Trooper and SOLDIERs were just mobilized," Tseng ordered.
"Roger that," Dante shut his phone and relied the orders to his partner.
The Turks began rounding people away from the area and containing the machine with occasional shots to get its attention. Finally, a team of Shinra grenadiers, grunts and a SOLDIER 3rd arrived and began dealing with the rogue machine. Eventually, they resorted to destroying it, as any approach to try and reset it proved futile.
Dante and Alvis made their way back to Shinra HQ, destroying the occasional smaller robot that appeared on the street and eventually running into Reno and Rude.
"Ah! There you are, yo! Chief says you have to return to-shit!" Reno was cut short while talking to Dante.
They turned around to see none other than Genesis, casually standing at the entrance of an alleyway.
Dante heard Rude's voice from seemingly far away: "do not engage! Retrea-"
Dante couldn't hear the rest over his handgun firing at the SOLDIER. To his surprise, multiple bullets hit their mark.
"Yo, stop!"
Dante ran towards his target, and saw Genesis pull a small shotgun from within the confines of his coat. The Turk rolled away to take cover behind a dumpster. He felt the impact of the shotgun blast on the other side of the metal container, but none of the pellets managed to pierce through.
"Go!" Alvis yelled from the other side of the street, just as he cast Lightning from his EMR. Dante rolled out of his cover and aimed, seeing Genesis flinch from his partner's spell. Dante then cast Gravity right above the SOLDIER: the black orb began pulling at several businesses' neon signs and even the fire ladders and walkways of the buildings above. All of that came crashing on top of Genesis who was immediately pinned under the debris.
Dante began walking towards the pile, pointing with his gun at the place where the red coat could be seen. He holstered the weapon.
"Yo! What are you doing!?"
Before any other Turk could stop him, Dante had pulled his Wutaian knife and lunged against the SOLDIER.
"Dante!" Alvis exclaimed.
His knife pierced Genesis exactly where he had done so with Chuck.
"Fuck!" Reno yelled, pulling his PHS.
"Enough!" Rude said, pulling his partner with all his strength.
"Let go! I'll fucking-!" Dante trashed about, his knife slipping out of his grip with all the blood on the handle.
Alvis jumped on top of Dante to help restrain him.
"Hey! Calm down!" He then whispered: "they wouldn't have wanted this."
Dante finally stopped resisting, but still felt his body fully tensed under his partner's grip. He caught a glimpse of Genesis: he looked sickly; his skin was dry and peeling at places and a myriad of gray hairs had appeared on his head. There were a couple bullet holes through his coat, which on closer inspection, wasn't even the usual leather one.
Reno was on his PHS. "Hey, Ciss, can you help us out with a… Huh? But you were just here with- what? Extra slashes?" Reno turned a bit and made brief eye contact with Dante. "Oooh. I see. Ok. I'll have Tseng send someone else."
Dante finally calmed down enough for Rude to let him go. The waited for the COVER ops to dispose of the body, which was to be immediately sent to Hojo, along with…
"What the hell?!" Dante exclaimed, seeing into the truck where they were loading the corpse: it was filled with bodies of Genesis.
"Yeah. Tried to tell ya, partner," Reno said. "It appears Hollander did succeed with the cloning."
"Big time, too," Rude pointed.
The Turks returned to Shinra HQ, were several news reporters were amassing in front of the bullet-hole-filled building. White sheets covered the many Shinra troopers that had died in the line of duty. PR spokespeople were busy talking with the media while a few other security officers were running about, collecting bodies.
Inside, multiple robots lay in pieces, some with deep gashes on their armor. Cissnei and Balto were inside, talking with some officers. Among them, Dante spotted Erick, his uniform stained after a tough battle. They made brief eye contact and exchanged soft smiles, but otherwise, both continued with their duties.
The office was in complete disarray. Balto and Freyra were typing hurriedly on their computers, while everyone else had their hand on one of the many phones of the office, except Veld, who had two. The fax machine was printing papers like crazy and to top it all, the smoke alarm was beeping uncontrollably for some reason. Not waiting to be told what to do, Dante and the others began helping their partners.
It was well past midnight when everything quieted down. Everyone was at their wit's end and ready to fall asleep on their desk. Still, Veld gave them one more order:
"Let's pay Hojo a visit."
"Can I tell him 'I told you so´?" Reno asked.
"If needed."
They took the private elevator into the Science Department. The inside was bustling with activity, even more than the Turks office had earlier. Interns and scientist were running around, some in bloodied surgical gowns. Several wounded civilians had been taken there and were being looked after in a room labeled 'Reunion'. After walking through the maze of corridors and rooms, the Turks arrived at a control desk, where Hojo himself was issuing instructions to his subordinates.
"No, no! I said sample diagonally, otherwise you will lose tissue and damage the rest!"
"Professor Hojo. We want answers," Veld said, no pretense of diplomacy or formalities.
"Ah! Veld, you come at a most productive moment!" He said, overflowing with a joy that creeped everyone out. "Today's events have provided us with so many samples! I can barely process them all!"
"And what have all these 'samples' revealed so far?" Tseng asked.
"Much! Come here!" Hojo stood up and led the Turks through his lab. In one of the rooms, he had a Genesis clone lying on an examination table.
"This one looks like Genesis, but he is in fact one of the missing SOLDIERs from the mass desertion!"
"What?" Judet asked.
"More specifically this is Cuvier B., former SOLDIER 3rd Class," Hojo said, reading from a page inside a folder. "It appears G-series SOLDIERs can transplant their phenotype onto a donor via transference of modified cells. The collapse of the receptor's ego, mediated by mako within a copying pod results in a-"
"In English, if you'd please," Veld interrupted.
Hojo, looked at Veld with disgust at the request. "Genesis passes his cells onto weaker-minded SOLDIERs, and they become like him," he scoffed, annoyed of having to use plain language.
"Let me see if I get this straight: every Genesis we've seen is a missing SOLDIER, and every missing SOLDIER could become another Genesis?" Freyra asked in horror. She had run interviews. She knew just how many potential assets Genesis had.
"No. Only within Hollander's G-series SOLDIERs. My S-series would not be caught dead with such a flaw. Just imagine! Anyone copying them in modified air fryers. Which leads me to Fuhito."
Hojo led them to another room: a cold storage for bodies. He opened one of the doors and slid the covered body out.
"This is the body of his so called 'SOLDIER copy' from Kalm, and as you can see," he unceremoniously uncovered it to reveal, of all things, that Dante himself was lying on the rack, "it is no SOLDIER."
The Turks let out a generalized gasp. Seeing himself, or someone that looked exactly like himself, dead on a morgue, with a hole that ran through his torso to the point he could see the rack below, was a bit much for Dante. He had slowly backed out a few steps until his legs failed him and he fell on his backside.
"Why on Gaia were we not informed of this?!" Veld exclaimed while Rude and Balto helped Dante regain his footing.
"You see…" Hojo began. Everyone leaned in waiting for what surely was a big revelation. "I had a theory…"
Everyone groaned in exasperation.
"This is absurd!" Tseng yelled, "there are terrorists cloning-"
"-copying," Hojo corrected.
"-whatever- agents and SOLDIERs and you didn't tell us right away!"
"What did you intended to prove with this?!" Veld asked.
"I don't expect you to understand it, but if I must: I needed to observe just what exactly is the extent of Fuhito's experiments. Besides, I thought it would be a delightful surprise for you all."
"Oh, you sick fuck!" Ruluf cussed.
Veld's expression showed an anger never before seen in the always-collected chief. "Surprise? You consider the endangerment of our operatives and of the entire company a surprise?"
Hojo waved his hand dismissively, already walking to another door in the morgue. "Operatives come and go, but scientific progress is forever! Besides, when you gave me the second enhanced individual, from the infiltration, you helped solve the puzzle!"
Dante, still shaken from the sight of his own apparent corpse, held his breath as Hojo slid out a second body, not knowing what to expect. This time it was just an unknown man with gray hair. His face and skin showed damage very similar to Genesis' copy from earlier.
"You see, Fuhito is trying to replicate the copying protocols, but missed some important elements. First, he used your agent's DNA, thinking him a SOLDIER, alas, it was bound for failure, because he has a poor tolerance for mako!" Hojo said triumphantly, showing a copy of Dante's SOLDIER rejection papers. "Second, he is still missing the cells that actually do the copying: The J-cells all SOLDIERs have. Without them in both the donor and receptor, the experiment is pointless and will lead to poorly made copies," he said, pointing to Dante's body, "and to half-baked, off-brand-SOLDIERs that degrade at a fast rate!" he waved dismissively at the second body.
"Yo, but again! If Fuhito is only missing these J-cells you speak of, it's only a matter of time before he gets his hands on them and completes the experiment!" Reno said.
"What are J-cells anyway?" Balto asked.
"That," Hojo said with a condescending smile, "you don't have the clearance to know".
Veld stepped forward, his fists clenched. "You will answer for this, Hojo. Not just to me, but to the entire board."
"Oh, don't come with empty threats. You forget, Veld, that I am invaluable to Shinra. You cannot touch me without risking the very foundation of our many advancements and the entirety of the SOLDIER program. Well, I informed you everything you need to know. Now remove yourselves. We have much to do in here."
With that, Hojo turned and walked away, basking in his untouchability. The Turks exchanged frustrated glances, knowing that pressing Hojo would likely be futile.
"Um. Question. Just when exactly did Fuhito get his hands of Dante's DNA?" Cissnei dared ask.
"That's a question for another time," Veld replied, his voice frustrated. He was sure they were just hitting the tip of the iceberg.
Veld dismissed everyone, seeing that their approach would have to change. They would start planning new strategies to deal with Fuhito's experiments first time in the morning. Everyone was well-aware of the effort it took to deal with a single supposedly 'half-baked' SOLDIER copy; they'd have to act quickly to get rid of him and Avalanche before they were overrun.
Dante returned to his apartment in a haze, still not fully over seeing his body on that examination table. Erick was inside, he had already ditched his armor and was busy cleaning his sword.
"Hey."
"Busy day, huh?" he said with a lopsided grin. "Wait! There's blood on your sleeve! Are you OK?" He stood up and half-tripped to examine Dante's suit.
"It's not mine, I just had to… I'm OK," Dante finally said. He stepped away to remove the suit's jacket and his holster. "I do have to clean the knife, though."
Erick saw Dante unclip the knife: the handle was brown with dried up blood, and his shirt was stained from when he reached to sheath the blade. The SOLDIER connected the dots.
"You saw them? The Genesis clones?" Erick asked.
Dante stood in silence for a moment. "Yeah."
Erick's concern deepened as he heard the Turk monotone once more. It still couldn't hide the tension in Dante's jaw and face. He approached Dante slowly until he was a couple steps in front of him.
"Dante, are you alright?" Erick asked softly.
Dante hesitated, his gaze distant, even though he was looking at the bloody knife in his hand. He replayed the disturbing scene in his mind.
"I... I don't know," he finally admitted, barely above a whisper. "When I saw him there... Having him within my reach, it was... It's messed up, Erick."
Approaching Dante cautiously, Erick reached around to embrace him.
"I'm, sorry. I can't imagine how difficult that must have been for you. But you're here now, Dante. You're safe."
Dante began trembling. His grip tightened around the blood-stained knife, his knuckles turning white. "It's like... it's like I can still feel their presence, you know? Chuck... Emma... It's like they're still here, watching. And I'm doing jack shit for them!"
"Dante. It wasn't your fault," Erick repeated, tightening his grip.
Dante's grip on the knife loosened slightly "But I could have done something. I could've saved them."
"You did everything you could, Dante," Erick said softly, "you fought with all your strength and were the for them in the direst of moments."
They stood in their silent embrace for a while.
"Come. Let's clean it up."
Erick led Dante by the hand to sit in the small living room and guided him through the process of cleaning the knife. They removed the materia, took apart the handle and meticulously cleaned every nook and cranny in the blade itself and the sheath. After assembling it, Erick examined the weapon, which now was good as new.
"You know, first thing they teach us in weapon maintenance is that even the smallest bit of dirt can end up damaging a blade. No matter how high quality it is, any impurity can lead to corrosion over time and rust it away." He handed the knife back to Dante. "It's hard you know. Keeping them clean. So if you ever need help, I'll be glad to help you out," he punctuated with a warm smile.
Dante looked down at the newly-cleaned knife. Somehow, it even felt lighter. He traced his fingers along the handle, feeling its texture and the bumps created by the materia slots.
"Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Erick leaned in and kissed Dante. "Good news: you won't ever have to find out. I'll always be here for you."
Erick continued cleaning his sword. "And who knows? If Shinra collapses or goes bankrupt, we may have a future in the sword-polishing business!"
Dante chuckled. "The what now?" He said with a sly smile.
Erick gasped in realization. "No, wait!"
I think I went overboard with the sap in this one!
Have you played through Rebirth? I simply loved it!
The problem I face whenever part of the Remake comes out is that I'm tempted to add elements of it into this story. Since I haven't fully committed to all aspects of the ending, I'll refrain from complicating things further.
Again thanks to those that review or DM me about the story! Your comments mean the world to me!
Thanks for reading! See you next time!