Okay guys, I wonder how many of you have noticed that I literally start nearly every authors note off the same way.

So does anyone else feel like all the years since 2019 have been going by way too fast? I can't believe 2022 is almost over. And I sure as hell can't believe that in a few more weeks that 2019 will be four years ago.

It makes me feel even older when I realized I joined the army in 2017...which will be six years ago in a few more weeks.

Where the hell did time go?

It had been about a week since Whitley had joined their little family. Jem had already moved everyone to a different part of Mantle. It wasn't in the extremely rich neighborhood, but it wasn't in a bad area. He figured it was a lot like Rockford, one minute you're in the nice Beverly hills like neighborhood, and then the next thing you know you make a right on Martin Luther King Boulevard and suddenly you're in Iraq. Every city had that type of layout. It was sad. He could remember when Rockford was ni-

...

...

Well okay, Rockford was never really a nice place during the entire time he had been alive. But it had been less shitty. Which was about the highest standard you could get for Illinois. You could live in the cleanest room in a crack house, but at the end of the day you're still living in a crackhouse. Jem never went into Rockford without a gun, it was getting that bad. But that was in the back of his head right now. They were all settled in and Jem was relaxing on the couch. Whitley was off at the farm again. And Jem was glad that so far he seemed to be doing relatively well. Whitley wasn't exactly thrilled about working on the farm. But he hadn't been disrespectful since that first day with Jem. He also hadn't been too thrilled that Jem had taken all of his fancy clothes and replaced them with common work clothes. Jem explained that it was because he couldn't wear them on the farm anyways. But in reality he was doing it to humble Whitley. He had been in a very sheltered environment his entire life, it was time he learned a little bit about life on the outside.

Luckily, The Indigo's daughter had been a great instructor. She absolutely towered over Whitley, like the rest of her family she was a cattle faunus, and she was as strong as a bull. It had been funny the last few days trying to see Whitley and his noodle arms try to keep up with India's jackhammers. Jem wasn't a small guy, but he was actually a little jealous of that family. He worked on a farm most of his life but his muscles never got that big. Only defined. It was BS.

"Dad, is it okay if we go for ice cream?" Nala asked as Jem nodded.

"Sure honey, but make sure to ask your mom first." Nala cocked her head at him.

"Er yeah, about that, Mom said it was okay with you, but she didn't want to go with." Jem was a little confused at that.

"Really? Why not?" Jem wasn't sure what made Winter want to stay behind.

"Uhm, she said something about 'strawberry season'." Oh.

Never mind.

"Er, thats something you'll learn about when you're older Nala...unfortunately." Jem didn't want to think of that.

Nala was his innocent little girl, he would be DAMNED if he even had to think about having that talk already.

"Okay!" She said as she went over to go put her shoes on.

"God please...don't let Nala grow up so fast. I don't think I could handle that." Jem may not have been there for Nala's first step, but she was his daughter through and through, and the last thing he wanted to see was her grow up so fast after she had only recently gotten the chance to be a kid.

He would be damned if she hit that moody teenager phase already.

"You okay Dad?" She asked as Jem shook himself out of his thoughts.

"Yeah no problem." He said as she took his hand.

Well at least she didn't feel too old for that yet. So he let a smile come on his face. He had nothing to worry about.

"We should probably bring your mom something back though, I think it will help with 'strawberry season'." Jem already had a plan.

Midol, Chocolate and Cuddles.

As was tradition.

Robyn's camp

"Robyn? It's Fiona." She was knocking on the door trying to get Robyn's attention.

Ever since her loss, she had been in a deep depression. It wasn't the fact she had lost to Jem, it was the feeling that she had lost the trust of the people. That was the worst part. For so long she had been their most ardent defender, and yet it still wasn't enough. She had lost fair and square. And she had to live with that. She knew she should have been happy Jacques was not going to come to power. But she couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach at the thought of Jem going to the council. He wasn't even from Mantle! The people had elected a stranger. A arrogant and pigheaded stranger!

"Robyn, you need to come out, we need to get you out and doing things again." Fiona said as Robyn was just sitting at her desk looking like she hadn't been sleeping properly.

She had been doing the basics, eating, sleeping and drinking, but she hadn't been taking care of much else lately. And the media had caught onto it.

"Miss Hill has not been available for questioning ever since her upset defeat to Extremist Jeremiah Cotton." Lion Skelter would say and it just pissed her off.

While the media had been attacking Jem for the most part, they had also been insulting her over her 'refusal' to challenge him after the election. She could suddenly see why Jem spent his time insulting the moderator and MSM. They were assholes even to the people they supported. Luckily she was comforted by the fact that she didn't lose by much. So she was certain she wasn't as hated as her dark thoughts had led her to believe.

"I know, its just been rough." The last week hadn't been fun for Robyn.

She had to look at the faces of her biggest supporters every day. They weren't angry with her. They were disappointed. And that was much worse of a feeling than anger. She felt like she had let them all down. While they acknowledged that she did her best, she still couldn't forget the feeling when the results were all counted. Her Happy Huntresses had been furious.

May and Joanna had been the most vocal critics of this whole situation. Robyn couldn't help but feel they were a little too hypocritical in calling him dangerous considering the Happy Huntresses themselves were considered vigilantes going against the system. But it was a part of the venting process. They were going to be like this for awhile. Fiona had been awfully silent about the whole situation.

The truth of the matter was she was afraid to tell Robyn, but Joanna and May had been hostile to her when it came to the situation. They would remind her how she had been 'friends' with that idiot. And she couldn't help but feel that they were taking some of their anger out on her. She could understand it, but she didn't think it was fair.

"Yeah, I think we just need to go out and do something nice..." Fiona said as Robyn stood up.

"In that case, I need to shower." She hadn't bathed in a few days, and she was starting to smell a little ripe.

"Well, hurry up stinky! Lets go do something!" Fiona teased lightly as Robyn laughed a little.

"Okay, okay."

Maybe they were overreacting and things would be okay after all.

They just needed time.

Jacques

The head of the Schnee Dust Company was not in a good mood. His wife had been missing for two weeks. Ironwood refused to give him any information. Winter had blocked his number. His security teams wouldn't risk spying on Winter. And as one more nail in the coffin for his bad mood. Whitley had also disappeared. He expected Willow to try to escape but why would Whitley go with her? He had been grooming the boy to be his replacement! Why in the hell did he go?

Jacques was furious. First he comes in dead last in that council race. Then he has to deal with all of Jem's supporters sending him 'F you' letters. Then some of Robyn Hill's supporters had even been making fun of him online. And finally he was dealing with the fact that his supposed family had all gone missing and he had no way of finding out where they were.

"Everythings gone wrong!" He said as he took a sip of vodka.

He had challenged the results of the election. But every time they did a recount, it would appear that his numbers only seemed to go lower while Jem's and Robyns grew. He couldn't tell if that was a flaw in the technology or if he had really lost by that much. Jacques was an egomaniac by nature. And to be so throughly beaten in something he thought would have been a breeze had been very detrimental to his sense of self importance. And now he was already trying to plot his vengeance. But how?

He didn't have any way of getting back at Jem!

He couldn't bribe him, he certainly couldn't use his daughter as a bargaining chip, and the man had no interest in his money. So how was he to get back at him?

"Klein, tell Goldenrode to meet in my office." Jacques spoke into the intercom.

Goldenrode was a slimy little snake. But he had his uses. The man was a private investigator. He had briefly been a detective but found there was more money to be made in the private industry. He was mostly famous for investigating cheating spouses. But the man was slippery and could sneak up on anyone with a pulse. Jacques had recently been employing him for dirt on his rivals. He had bought out a construction contract because he had concrete evidence that the man he was competing with had been cheating on his wife. So that man had backed off quickly when the idea of him being exposed as an adulterer had come to the table. His loss had been Jacques gain. But this wasn't a slimy business rival he was dealing with. He would have to take a simpler approach.

"You wanted to see me?" Goldenrode said as he had been enjoying his free time.

Jacques had given him a private room in the estate. It made it easier for him to hire him in a short and timely manner.

"Yes." Jacques said as he handed Goldenrode a folder.

"Jeremiah Cotton?" He asked with an amused smirk.

"He's got no record of any kind in Mantle. The only thing I can find from public archives is that he moved to Mantle months ago, but his life before that is unknown. All we know is what he's said publicly of being from a different kingdom. I want you to find out as much as you can about him." Jacques said as the man grunted.

"You're not really giving me a lot to work with here are you?"

"I'm certain you'll find something."

Meanwhile in Mantle

"Heres your order sir!" Melania said with a smile on her face as her customers had been wondering what had gotten her back to normal.

In reality, killing Jem had brought some piece of mind to her. Now that he was gone, she had no reason to be angry with being in Remnant. While she could no longer indulge in her furry fantasies, she could still enjoy the memories she had as well as her private collection of art she had been keeping on her computer in her apartment. She just hoped Daisy never came across it, otherwise her roommate would think she was a racist pervert.

However she noticed that the news was playing in the shop for once. Usually the owner didn't like the news playing since it seemed pointless to have something stress inducing in a coffee shop where customers were supposed to relax. But he said he needed to for the recent news.

"And in other news, Jeremiah Cotton will be assuming office in two weeks time."

CRASH

Melania dropped the coffee cup she was cleaning. And the other customers grew worried for her. Sure she had been in a funk for a few weeks, but even then they had never seen her drop a cup. Melania's eyes looked up in horror to see that Jem's face appeared on the tv screen, a very ALIVE face.

"NO! NO! NO! NO!" She felt her hands shaking. She had to contain herself.

"Uh Boss! Bathroom!" She said in a panicked tone.

"Er yeah, go!" He could tell it was urgent.

The customers were comforted by the fact that Melania must have just been having a bad case of stomach virus. That must have been why she was acting so weird.

Melania went straight to a bathroom stall and sat down trying to compose herself.

"How is he still alive?! I saw him fall! Nobody is that lucky! And how the hell did he get to Mantle?! AND NOW HES BEING ELECTED TO A SEAT ON THE COUNCIL?!" Melania could feel the rage inside her growing.

Her only comfort over the last few months in Remnant had been that she killed Jem. And now she didn't even have that. She was back to square one. But she couldn't lose her composure here. She took a few deep breaths to get herself under control. She would have plenty of time to get over this later and make future plans to deal with this problem. But now she had to focus on work. She continued to take long deep breaths as her heart rate started to go back to normal.

"Okay, work now, kill later." She said as she looked at her whip gauntlets on her arms.

She started wearing them under her uniform for muggers, but now she would have an even better reason for it.

She walked back out as she got ready to take her next orders. She put on a smile as she walked back to the counter.

"Hello there! What can I get for you!" She asked a group of huntresses.

"I'll take a black coffee." The one with lighter blonde hair said.

"I'll take a Valean Cream Cappachino!" The shorter one with sheep ears said.

"Whatevers sweet and not bitter." The blue haired one said.

"Surprise me." The tall one said.

She saw the group take their seats. She started preparing their drinks when she heard a raised voice.

"Well look at that! Someone finally decided to show their face!" She turned to see a man going over to the group who just ordered.

"Sir, we're just-" Fiona tried to talk but he cut her off.

"Can it! It's your fault we're about to be run by an idiot!" The man said as he pointed to Jem on the screen.

"If you all had just pulled out and let Jacques Schnee handle it, everything would have been fine! Instead we got a fascist in office and its all your fault!" The man said as Melania was confused.

Fascist? Jem was a lot of things, but he wasn't that. Even she wasn't dumb enough to say that.

"Sir, we're not going to comment on the s-"

"Oh yeah, but you sure had plenty to say during that debate didn't you! What? You lose and you go running back home with your tail in between your leg! Good! You should feel guilty for all the people who are going to suffer under this guy!" The man said as Melania spoke up.

"Sir, if you're going to harass my customers, please leave." She said as he turned to glare at her.

"Mind your own business Missy!" That made Melania narrow her eyes.

"I'll leave after I'm given these folks a piece of my mi-" The man suddenly felt like it was hard to breath.

Mostly because Melania had her whip around his throat and was pumping a small bit of electricity into it. It wasn't on kill setting, it was just on taser setting.

"Ill say it again, stop harassing my customers and get out!" She said as the man freaked out and ran out of the building.

Melania finished the groups drinks and brought them over.

"Sorry about that ladies! I hope this helps you feel better!" In reality that helped her feel better too.

She got to take some of her aggression out.

"You didn't have to do that." Robyn said as that was a bit of a crazy situation.

"No its okay, that guy was a jerk." She said as she set the drinks down.

"We really appreciate it though, its nice to see some people in Mantle still have our backs." May said as Melania gave them a smile.

"Would you like to join us?" Fiona offered as Melania looked at the clock.

"Eh, you know what? Why not, I'm on my break." She sat down with the group.

"So, what was that all about?"