"Urgh…" Law tried to sit upright, something quite difficult given the ringing through his skull. There was a slight pang in his left temple… which probably meant that he'd knocked it against something at the sharp deceleration. But he was alive, which was all that mattered. Even if he felt like shit.

"Captain!" Bepo's fuzzy paws reached to tentatively help him to his feet. "A-Are you alright?! You're b-b-bleeding!"

"I'm fine." Nothing a bit of gause wouldn't help patch up. This wasn't a concussion he didn't think, and even if it was… no one but him would be able to tell. "Everyone else," Law raised his voice, "Sound off. Is anyone dead?"

A flittering of murmurs echoed around the room as everyone checked and double checked that no, none of them were in fact dead. Or even majorly injured. Law had gotten the brunt of it by being in the front it seemed.

With trembling fingers, Law reached forwards and snapped the emergency Room shut. He'd never opened one of these underwater before, let alone one as big as this. But he hadn't thought of any other choice. It was either send the Polar Tang somewhere else with Shambles or let them be smashed against the thin rocky outcrops that Marineford was built upon. A big shift, especially considering he'd had to consider the mass of the people inside the Tang as well, but a necessary one.

May that fish he'd exchanged their place with rest in peace. Better it than them.

"Are you sure you're alright, Captain?" Bepo asked as he deposited Law into the (now re-righted) desk chair. "That looked like it took a lot out of you. How far away did you even take us?"

"A few hundred metres? Maybe more?" Law's arm dropped slack as he shifted his weight into something that could actually keep him upright. "I wasn't exactly paying attention." His eyes flicked to the empty space on the desk. "Where the hell's the transponder snail?"

The small scrimmage that caused amongst his crew to find the damn thing was enough to give him some space to properly breathe. Since fuck. That had… haaaaah… Leaning his elbow on the desk, he ran a supporting hand up his face until it almost dislodged his cap.

That single Room had practically drained him. He'd grown so complacent with small, house sized domes for interpersonal combat that he'd thought… he'd assumed… FUCK!

Slowly he bent forwards to rest his entire forehead against the desk. Making doubly sure that no one could see his face as it grimaced in utter disgust for himself.

He had to get stronger. To make changes like this effortless. Improve his stamina. So that whenever he was in a literal warzone he wouldn't leave one of his crewmembers stranded on the surface like this! What would happen if Eustace-ya had learnt of this? Or worse, Straw Hat. They'd think he was pathetic! A weakling!

The disgust turned to rage.

He was better than this. Way better.

Strauss-ya was good at developing stamina right? He'd have to ask her for… ugh, he couldn't believe he was doing this… advice when she got back. And yes, that was 'when', not 'if'.

A hand with a very shaken up transponder snail emerged from the body pile behind him. "FOUND IT CAPTAIN!"

Since mark his words- Law steepled his fingers with a murderous expression- they would all make it out of this war alive. Mark his words.

.

Purupurupurupuru… Purupurupurupuru… Purupurupurupuru… Purupurupurupuru…

The ringing seemed to go on and on and on. Although that could partially be due to the way minutes were ticking like hours right then. Every single dial tone stretched longer than Strauss would have ever thought possible. With nothing to interrupt it. Not one person, despite the sheer number of people crowded around one tiny snail.

Purupurupurupuru… Purupurupurupuru… Purupurupurupuru…

The longer this went on, the deeper the furrows in Law's brow were getting. Primarily because there was no knowing if Doflamingo was even going to pick up. If he really had resigned… which honestly Strauss didn't fully believe he did, then there were bound to be several hundred urgent and panicked calls he needed to take care of.

Purupurupurupuru… Purupurupurupuru… Purupurupurupuru… Purupurupurupuru…

Around her and Law, the Straw Hats were standing tense. Most of them Strauss wasn't fully aware of given the intense focus on Law and the snail, but she knew they were all there. Even Kin'emon and Momonosuke were hovering in the outskirts of the circle. Part of her knew that Sanji was somewhere behind her, but she didn't want to look. At that moment she was wound up tighter than perhaps she'd ever been. And any moment of kindness would compl-

Ca-cha!

Her breath stopped. Everything stopped. Hearing that one click sent shivers down her spine.

"It's me."

And hearing that cold drawl turned her body to ice.

"I resigned from the Seven Warlords."

Strauss barely heard the various screeches of the more animated members of the Straw Hat crew in that moment. They were just hums.

Focus… she needed to focus.

Even if that voice scared the living daylights out of her.

"Doflamingo?!" Straw Hat's own yell was the one to snap her out of her senses. Particularly when Usopp tried and failed to shush him. "Hello?!" Luffy snatched Law's hand to shove the transponder receiver closer to his face. "I'm Monkey D Luffy! I'm gonna become the King of the Pirates!"

Seeing the way Law's hand was beginning to shake, Strauss reached in and began detangling the rubbery fingers from around his wrist. Which… was impressively tangled.

Luffy, however, continued to cling on. "Oi! Mingo! Are you stupid, old Caesar's boss?! He gave Brown-dude and the children hell!" Usopp at this point decided that words were no longer enough and tried to yank his captain away. Failing miserably. "We'll give you back Caesar as we promised, but if you do that again I will BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU!"

"Straw Hat Luffy."

Strauss managed to detach Law's hand from the knotted mess, which he quickly retracted to safety. Leaving Luffy to hold the receiver himself.

"You went away for two years after your brother died." The snail's smirk deepened. "Where were you, and what were you doing?"

Luffy strained against Usopp's choke hold, "I WON'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT IT!"

A sinister but distorted laugh rang through the air. "I wanted to see you."

Silence. Luffy stopped struggling. "H-huh?"

"I have something that you'll want very badly now. Both you-" The snail grinned toothily- "and the young Valentino."

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Since… what did she and Luffy both want? And badly? They had next to nothing in common (save for Sanji). Hell, the last time she'd properly interacted with him before this was all the way back…

Her eyes widened. Painfully so.

…to the war.

The devil fruit hung heavy in her pouch. A devil fruit that had once belonged to the dead.

"Something… that I'll want…" Straw Hat still hadn't gotten it. Not that he would, when he didn't know devil fruits could regenerate. "Very… badly?"

"Strauss-ya." Law's voice hissed in her ear. "Get yourself together, he's just saying this to get on your nerves."

"It's his devil fruit. He has it."

That was enough to draw him short. "Are you sure?"

"He was the only connection both I and Straw Hat had that was public information. Well…" She hesitated. "Aside from…" And furtively tilted her chin towards the blond figure behind her.

His lips tightened into an even finer line.

Straw Hat was yelling something that faded into the background. Although the slight sliver of drool from his mouth let Strauss know that whatever he was thinking of was far more pleasant than the actual truth.

"It's probably a bluff." Law eventually said. Leaning just close enough for him to breath the words into hear ear. "Don't get drawn into his pace. He just wants a reaction."

But he didn't fully believe it. She could tell from how his shoulders were still tensed. Since if there was something the two of them both knew well at this point, it was bluffs. And this just didn't sound like one. It was too… gloating. As if he knew he'd won.

The sensation of a familiar presence behind her made her shoulders momentarily relax. "What does he have? Since-" Sanji's hand settled on her shoulder. There, but unobtrusive- "you know… don't you. What he has."

"It's… fine Sanji." She turned to face him, ignoring the way Law was inevitably rolling his eyes like he did with any form of public affection. Control the muscle. Let her face fall slack. "Nothing that can…"

But she couldn't finish the thought. Since it wasn't nothing. It wasn't nothing at all. It changed so, so, much in the long run.

"Exactly." Her captain pushed past her to retrieve the receiver from Luffy's excitable grip. "Cut the crap, Joker," he hissed into the line. "We'll hand over Caesar to you as we promised."

"Oh? Does your crewmate not have anything to say after what I just said?" The snail smirked sickeningly. "I would've thought that young Valentino would have been… quite affected."

Law arched a brow. "So I take it that you don't want Caesar to be returned…?"

"Heh. You never did know how to have fun, kid. Oi!" The volume increased to a yell. "I know you're listening, Va-len-ti-no!"

Her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to force out that horrid singsong of her own name.

"You know I asked Monet to keep a close eye on you. She said you'd be perfect for us. It's not every day that someone is as perfectly suited to servitude as you."

Rolling her eyes she elbowed Sanji sharply in the ribs before he had the chance to snarl a retort. Exchanging quips would do nothing, especially with such a pitiful taunt. She stepped forwards to stand next to Law. "If you truly do not want Caesar I'd be more than happy to toss him overboard."

"Hmph." The snail groaned, albeit playfully. "You are both as bad as each other. In either case, you'd better honour that promise." His voice lowered to a growl. "If you try to run away with him… you know what will happen to you guys."

Strauss and Law exchanged wary looks. So tense that she could see the cogs turning in Law's head.

"Fufufu! Now," the smirk spread over the snail once again, "can I hear my precious business partner's voice?"

"J-JOKER! I… I'M SORRY!" Caesar started wailing, scooching as fast as his ass could scooch him towards where Law held out the receiver. "You… You resigned from the Warlords for me!"

She leant close to Law's ear as Caesar's piercing voice echoed through the air, muttering, "Maybe you should double check my shoulder soon. Since I think all of this would be a lot better with some-" Her hand went to the pouch- "cooling off."

The line of his jaw tensed that much more. Raising his voice again, Law yanked the receiver away from Caesar's teary grasp. "Did you hear him?"

"Yeah." Doflamingo's voice shrugged. "He sounded fine."

"8 hours from now. At the beach on the southeastern side of Green Bit, that lone island to the north of Dressrosa."

Fuck. He was losing it. Strauss could tell. There was a glint in Law's eyes that she did not like, and it was getting sharper. More savage. His mask was slipping in the face of victory, a victory that she didn't even fully know about, and if he wasn't careful Doflamingo would play him like a fiddle.

"We'll leave Caesar there at 3pm. Go ahead and pick him up."

Even the rest of the Straw Hats had notice. Luffy himself was now staring at Law with a look that she knew her captain would absolutely despise if he'd been even a little bit aware of it. But he wasn't. Which was the scariest part.

"Then this will all be finished."

"Oh that's too bad," the transponder snail crooned, in an edge that justified her fears, "I wanted to have a drink with both of yo-"

"JUST HANG UP!"

WHAM!

A beat of silence passed as everyone stared at Luffy. At his hand which had just slammed the receiver back into the now snoozing snail. He was panting heavily, a trickle of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth either from the sheer force of gritting his teeth or (more likely) from the way Usopp had been slamming his head into the ground.

He let out a long, long breath. "That was close."

A bead of sweat dripped down Strauss's brow as she noticed the ravenous look in his eyes.

"You almost got drawn into his pace."

"Your eyes! YOUR EYES!"

At least his crewmates could see the irony in the situation. Although…

Strauss glanced over to Law. Who… still hadn't fully recovered. On the surface he probably seemed fine, but as someone who'd become used to the various levels of impassivity her captain displayed the signs were there. Some were physical, like the tightness around his jaw and brow, and the others… Her lips pursed. They were implied.

"Hey, wait." Sanji took a step forward to stand directly in front of Law. "You didn't tell him how many men he could bring."

Something like that. Which Law would typically want to make doubly certain of, given the severity of the situation. Strauss's lips thinned further into a fine line. Perhaps telling him about Ace's old devil fruit had been a mistake. It had just set him further on edge.

"So?" Sanji continued. "What are we gonna do if he brings his entire crew?"

"It doesn't matter," muttered Law from under the brim of his hat. "Caesar's handover is just a part of our plan. It's just to lure them."

It… what? That didn't… Strauss's jaw clenched. Was that actually the plan or was he just deflecting again? She couldn't tell anymore. The thin slivers of information that Law had given her hadn't accounted for this. And it wasn't like she wasn't used to reading between the lines. That skill was probably why Law even let her come with him to Punk Hazard in the first place.

But if he never told her anything…

"You mean… destroying a SMILE manufacturing factory while it's unguarded is our main goal?!" Usopp gaped.

"Yes." Law moved past her without even a second glance, making his way towards the galley. "But we don't know where it is."

"Something's not adding up."

He stopped mid pace. And turned. "Want to share your thoughts, Strauss-ya?"

She held his gaze flatly. Making sure she was telegraphing the annoyance on her face in a way he would actually understand. "You said that Doflamingo had resigned from the warlords to get Caesar back."

"I didn't say that, he di-"

"But he didn't sound panicked in the slightest." A beat of silence. "If anything, he was goading us."

"That's just the way he is," Law fired back. "I told you that he has a knack of sounding in charge of the most precarious situations."

Strauss kept her attention directly towards her captain. "And I don't doubt that. It's something I would probably think nothing of if there wasn't more things that didn't make sense." She shifted her weight. "Just consider it for a moment, if we managed to catch on that you didn't mention the number of men for him to bring, what's to say that he didn't."

"You think it's a trap." Zoro crossed his arms.

"Yes." She resisted the urge to grit her teeth. "I do. Or at the very least, this is a deflection of ours." Her hand curled around that pouch. "He has a massive bargaining chip that he had no hesitation in throwing in our faces when he thought he'd have an audience… but from your reaction, Law, he hadn't even mentioned it during your negotiations regarding his warlord status."

"You mean the meat?" Luffy's mouth began drooling yet again.

With a level face Strauss unclipped the flap of the pouch.

Law's brow furrowed. "Don't."

"He's going to find out sooner or later. Do you want to spend your energy course correcting after his reaction?"

"And you have to do it this way because…?"

"I feel they'll get it faster if they have evidence."

"H-hey, hang on a minute." Nami stepped forwards, not quite in between both of them but in their peripheral vision. "What evidence? What are you so worried about Luffy's reaction for?" She gestured towards the horizon. "In case you've forgotten, this wasn't our plan. We're helping you with this because of our alliance. We need all the information we can get our hands on."

"I wholeheartedly agree." Strauss cocked her head minutely to one side as she still gazed at Law. "There are too many moving parts in this plan for… us to manage by ourselves."

It wouldn't look good if she alienated her captain more than she already had. The Straw Hats might be fine with it, but her dark years had taught her how easily morale could crumble if a leadership figure was to be publicly outed.

That didn't mean that she couldn't hint at her displeasures though. Being told that she was 'suited to servitude' by a literal puppet master made her stomach churn.

Law's face tensed in confusion as he caught the emphasis in her words, but he didn't vocalise his concerns. Instead he paused, tapping Kikoku's grip against his shoulder thoughtfully. Until- "Fine." Crossing his arms he gave a terse nod. Somehow managing to look in control and uncomfortable at the same time. "Just… don't let it out of your hands."

He didn't need to tell her that.

Strauss sucked in a breath, turning towards the increasingly restless group of Straw Hats. "To begin with," she said, "yes, we think we've got a good theory about what Doflamingo has. Because, well-"

Her fingers closed around the irregularly shaped fruit in her pouch. Feeling the strange divots and swirls under her skin. Before lifting it and displaying it to the array of shocked faces.

"-we have one too."

~0O0~

Sanji's knife moved so fast it trembled the chopping board beneath it. But… could anyone blame him? He'd just been dropped with the news that not only did Strauss have a devil fruit in her position, but that Doflamingo possibly had the Mera Mera no mi… the Flame Flame fruit itself.

The knife thunked down across a hard boiled egg, a few precious millimetres out of place. Gritting his teeth, Sanji chose to ignore it and instead moved onto preparing the onigiri.

What the fuck was he supposed to do with this information?! It was… he couldn't even wrap his head around it properly. He supposed Strauss didn't technically have to eat the fruit she had but if she did…

It was a devil fruit. And a Logia type at that. It would change her, even if she didn't mean it to. Or something… he hadn't actually seen someone both before and after consuming a devil fruit before. But gaining the ability for your entire body to disintegrate into snow wasn't exactly a minor change. And as for Ace's old devil fruit…

He sighed, hands stilling for just a moment.

No wonder she'd been worked up. Her… close friend's devil fruit was being dangled in front of her face like a carrot. Hell, he'd be pissed off at that if it was him. But why did he not feel her anger with her? Why was there something inside of him that was… more like sadness than anything. He should be supporting her in what she wanted to do dammit. Yet that had become so, so, so hard recently.

God he was a shitty friend.

"Need a hand serving that out?"

Sanji wasn't surprised to hear her voice from behind him. No matter how focused he was at something, he always could sense where she was around him. It was almost like how he was aware of his limbs and their position even with his eyes shut. Sort of similar to his own crew really. Sort of.

"Just take a plate and set it out," he replied, hoping he was keeping his voice level. "I'll leave you to give Trafalgar his onigiri… our damn swordsman might try to swipe a few though."

"He won't if he values his fingers. And that's not a threat from me." Strauss reached for one of the heavily laden plates of breakfast sandwiches on the counter next to him, pausing for a moment before she actually took hold. "I'm sorry for not mentioning it earlier by the way. About the fruit."

"Hm?" Sanji blinked, cocking his head momentarily, "Oh, that's fine. It was pretty obvious that someone-" he rolled his eyes- "didn't allow you to talk about it."

To his delight she barked out a laugh, "Yeah he can be pretty trying at times." Then her face fell. "Although I can't exactly argue with his reasoning."

"I know the feeling." He often had it when Luffy actually made sense for once. Although he was difficult in the exact opposite way to Trafalgar Law. "So-" he pressed the umeboshi plumbs into the divot he'd made with his thumb before smoothing the layer of rice over- "are you… When are you going to… well… eat it?"

"Right now?" Strauss's face fell perfectly neutral in the way it often did when she was deep in thought. "I'm under strict orders to only consume it in case of emergency. Because of-"

"Your shoulder?" The trip to Dressrosa had been extraordinarily fast due to the odd currents of the New World. But even then her healing process had also been extraordinarily fast.

She smiled tiredly, rolling the injured thing experimentally. "Yeah. It's pretty much there to be honest. These things heal pretty quickly if you've got someone who can put you back together again like a jigsaw. He gave me the all clear, so no worries. Which reminds me…" Teeth gnawed on the inside of her lip. Deliberating. "I've got a favour to ask you."

"Of course." Sanji set down the finished onigiri on the dish, fully turning away to lean against his work station to at her properly while wiping down his hands. "I'll do whatever I can."

Strauss rolled her eyes, "You really should wait before I tell you the favour before you go ahead and say yes to it."

He arched a brow. "Why wouldn't I? It trust you." There was no way it was going to be something unreasonable. And even if it was… he'd still go ahead and do it without thinking. Anything to keep her around.

"Haah..." She shook her head in mock irritation. "You and your kind heart."

Oh this wasn't kind. Far from it. If she had any idea at how selfish and possessive he was about their time together she wouldn't have ever called him kind.

"The favour?" He prompted, arching the eyebrow higher..

"Oh." The humour immediately fell from her face. "Right."

Well that simply filled him with confidence. "Is this something I should really be worried about?"

"Hm?" Strauss blinked a moment as she tried to parse that through. "Oh, no. Not at all. In fact, this is something that'll probably happen after we're through with all this Dressrosa business."

Sanji could feel himself getting confused, especially as she produced that damn devil fruit she'd shown them earlier, "Strauss…?"

"Would you, y'know… be up for trying to cook with it?" An idle hand scratched at her cheek. "This isn't about the taste mind you, you should know I don't care about that, but I just wondered if you would… like to try. It's not every day you can cook with a devil fruit after all."

He pursed his lips, words not quite coming into focus. Cook a devil fruit? He must admit, that had never once crossed his mind. Could it even be cooked. Or was this a 'raw' situation. Before he could stop himself, he found his hand outstretched towards the oddly shaped thing. "May I?"

She winced.

"I don't have to!" He whipped his hands up in the universal pose of surrender. "It is a pretty personal thing to just hand over like that. I get it."

"No it… Haaah…" The sigh was long and heavy, framed by Strauss reaching to pinch the bridge of her nose. "You know what? It was a dumb promise anyways." And her arm stretched the fruit towards him. "Knock yourself out."

"H…" He blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh I just made a spur of the moment promise to not let this leave my hands. Which was more to placate Law than anything else to be honest. So go on." She gestured with the fruit again. "Go for it."

He reached out for a moment, then hesitated. "You sure? Trafalgar wouldn't chew you out for it?"

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him. And besides," She looked at him with a disdain that he would have been scared of if he didn't know it was targeted towards somebody else, "I think you're trustworthy enough for me to ignore it just this once."

Still… while he was at least a little bit glad about having been more important than Trafalgar's orders, part of him felt guilty at having to make her break a promise. She might not say it mattered, but she always did like having a structure and order to things. But he did want a look at that fruit. So… maybe…

He reached out until his hand hovered over hers. Then moved to inspect the fruit as it rested on her palm.

"Wha-" She almost flinched at his lingering touch. "What're you doing?!"

"It's not leaving your hand right? So you're not breaking your promise." Why had she twitched? And why was he so close? He didn't need to be, but the closeness was intoxicating. He couldn't move away if he tried. Which was weird, since he'd definitely been physically nearer to her before. This just felt… more intimate. "I-I…" He gulped down the lump in his throat. "I can take a look at it from here, right?"

"Ye… Yeah." He watched the muscles in her neck tense as she gulped down air. "If you really want to I guess."

He did. He really did.

He was barely acknowledging the devil fruit anymore, even though there was still curiosity bubbling inside of him. No, most of his attention was on Strauss's hand. At the callouses and the scars. At her slender fingers. And noticing the way she seemed to shiver when his fingertips brushed against her skin.

The devil fruit seemed impossibly cool, but that just made her skin feel warmer. The way the strange spirals and points of this strange white blue clementine complimented the lines on her palm.

Sanji placed his other hand underneath hers as if to add extra stability, but really he just wanted the additional contact. Her heat. His heart was pounding faster than he'd ever known it, especially as he heard her own shallow breathing mere inches away from his skin. She was as flustered as he was.

"A…" Her voice came faint and shaky. "Are you even looking at the fruit?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "What would you do if I said… no."

A swallow. "Then… I'd ask why you're still holding onto my hand."

"And I'd tell you that it's… because I want to."

Those deep green eyes shot up to meet his gaze in a strange mix of panic and… hope? Was he reading that right? The thought made hope of his own shoot through him, although he didn't quite know the cause.

"And why…" she continued, lips very… lips. "I don't understand."

"To be honest, I don't think I do either."

Fuck. Now that he'd noticed her lips he couldn't look away. Was he staring? He hoped he wasn't staring. But they were so… Strauss. Small and slightly downward turned and… Strauss. He forced his eyes up to meet hers to try and stop himself from thinking of this stupid and garbage thing that was so completely ridiculous that he really shouldn't… Only to find that her own eyes were mirroring his. Staring at… his mouth…

Oh.

He realised he was leaning in closer. And… she was too. As if they were magnetised to one another. Their foreheads touched. Noses brushing past each other. Breath entering each others lungs.

"I…" He didn't want to speak. He didn't want to ask. But at the same time… he needed to know. "Is this… something you want? I don't want to hurt you, Strauss."

The laugh was noiseless, a mere exhale of air, as she reached up with her free hand to rest against his cheek. A touch he practically melted into. "You can never hurt me, San-."

"SANJIIIIIIII!" Crash! "WHERE'S THE FOOOOOOOD!"

Ow!

Sanji recoiled backwards as his forehead and nose began throbbing in agony. Particularly his nose, which was beginning to feel very… ugh. "Luffy!" He hissed, while producing a handkerchief for the nose bleed. "The hell're you… knock next time? We were going to come get you when it was all ready."

"Hm?" Luffy cocked his head obliviously. "We?"

"Yeah me and…" Sanji straightened to gesture to where Strauss was. Only to find empty space.

Them being so close. Sharp pain, even though he was nowhere near the door. A door which was now wide open.

And a woman who could run faster than the eye could track.

"...shit."

Sanji ran a hand down his face, a hand which a few blissful moments ago had been pressed against hers. Now that the air had been disturbed, he suddenly realised how insane that wave of emotion had been. Completely overwhelming. And he'd just gotten caught up in it all and almost… And she'd…

He curled. Bending over despite the bloody nose to tap his head against his knees.

"...shit."

"Sanji? Is everything alright? Is the food ready?"

"Luffy… if you keep talking, you won't get any food."

A/N

Hahaha you didn't think I'd be that nice did you!? (Mostly because it was all I could do to not self destruct writing the end of that chapter since wow that was EMOTION I COULD NOT PROCESS!) Especially since it did come out of literally nowhere. But I figured I owed you something for the extended wait time. Since uni has been pretty rough and there's been a lot of life stuff I've had to deal with in the past few months. Sorry about that.

Fun fact, I have had to cut another 1k from this chapter AGAIN! So blame that if you want to know why it was late. I had to remove an entire scene... again. Which is fun. At some point I should do a deleted scenes special, since I do have them all saved. I can't be asked to edit them all to make them cohesive though... oh well.

I really need to sleep right now since I have spent all of my energy banging out the end of this chapter since AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. But again, thank you all for sticking with me and for reading! I really don't know what I'd do without all of you liking and enjoying this fic and I am so sorry the updates have been getting scarce recently. Having 3 fics to update simultaneously kinda drains you. On top of the uni stuff. I hope that wherever you are in the world, you are safe, and are able to make it through the day. You've got this gang!

Thank you so much! I'll see you with the next update.