Filling In The Blanks

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy IX or any of its characters.

Chapter 82: Step by Step

"We're still so close to Treno that I'm honestly surprised they didn't keep chasing us…"

Zidane and Ruby turned to their comrade whose front was still facing the flickering lights of Treno, his hand scratching his bald head.

"We got lucky, I guess," Zidane decided, even though all of them knew luck had nothing to do with it.

Under the cover of the fading sun, they were able to escape from Treno and continue along the mountains. In the race against time, Ruby discovered a small divot in the in the jagged rocks that they squeezed behind, clasping their hands over their panting mouths as they waited for soldiers to run by them. It happened soon enough, but they continued to wait as silence settled in the dusk until the soldiers clanked back to Treno with their tails between their legs. Their quick search had proved ineffective against the tricks of Tantalus.

Cinna, Zidane and Ruby knew, however, that the only reason they didn't search longer and perhaps more thoroughly, was because an organized party would be arranged in Treno. They'd witnessed during their walk, the dramatic change in weather around them and knew that Kuja's attention, along with his magic, was on their escape from Treno. That meant they needed to be careful. If he was calling the shots now, who knew how long they had to find the cave.

The blonde's stomach churned uncomfortably. Had he made the right decision leaving Vivi there? His heart raced when he thought about the mage, no one around him to even tell the rest of his allies that he'd been captured. The genome didn't know what he would do with himself if his lapse in judgment was the reason Vivi got killed.

And yet, he forced himself to give the mage more credit. Though Vivi lacked the self-confidence needed to be an extremely powerful force, that natural talent and skill was still there, and he would know how to use it – he had to… his survival mode would kick in. Zidane shuddered. He didn't want to think of it even coming to that.

"Ya'll comin'?" Ruby asked suddenly, her voice gentle. She flicked her blonde bangs from her eyes, not used to hair hanging in front of her face. "We should keep movin' if we wanna find this place…"

"She's right," Zidane nodded, pushing off of the stone, feeling like he forgot his pack before realizing he'd never brought it with him in the first place, "let's go…"

"So." The fact that Cinna didn't trail off and drag the word out meant that he was shifting into a lighter tone to make his companions feel better about the situation. No matter what came out of his mouth, the two blondes would appreciate his efforts. "What are the odds of finding something to eat in this cave?"

Ruby groaned and smacked her forehead before rolling her eyes towards the skies. "Ya'll have gotta be kiddin' me!"

Zidane grinned, "Cinna, we're being chased by the most powerful force in the world… And all you can think about is food?" The smile never left his face.

Said thief snorted, tossing his nose up into the air. "Okay… two things to think about here, Zidane… Number one – we are the most powerful force in the world. When the time comes to see Kuja face to face, we are going to kick his fucking ass!" The two snickered at his arrogant boasting. "And number two – there is really no better time to think about food. If you were being chased by an evil guy, wouldn't you want maybe one of the last things you have on this earth to be a good meal?"

"Okay, well really… I am being chased by a crazy, power-hungry guy, and I'm not really thinking about my favorite foods. You sound more like Quina!" He stuck his tongue out at the now-pouting Cinna. "But I guess I'll humor you?"

There was a short pause before the bandit spoke again. "So what do you think the odds are, if you're humoring me of course?" The thief grinned, rubbing his belly as though to emphasize the question.

"Shitty, that's what I think they are," Zidane chuckled, watching as Cinna turned away from him, angrily dejected. It was all in good fun even though the blonde was serious about his answer, and Cinna knew this.

"What do ya think this place is gon' look like?" Ruby asked, changing the subject. She would never admit it to the boys, but she was starving. While they'd had lunch hiding out from the guards, she was forced to change her entire hairstyle from color to cut. "Vivi didn't say much of nothin'!"

The two Tantalus members batted around ideas as their feet ghosted across the long blades of grass, shambling up never-taken paths dusted with sand and peppered with rocks. Zidane kept his mouth shut, knowing mostly what they were expected to find, simply because Vivi had explained his entire house to the blonde before.

It wasn't a big secret that the genome and mage were close. After all, they had technically, since this whole dreamer ordeal had started, known each other the longest, and the two counterparts were the only ones who knew what the other was going through when it came to flashes of memories, wandering if the people you'd met were real or not, and having to relearn your life from experience all over again. After the treacherous outcome of Zidane's quest into the undergrounds of the Alexandrian castle, it was almost a mutual agreement between the two dreamers that they wouldn't discuss much of anything with anyone. If Vivi told Zidane something about his life before Kuja's men extracted him from his home, he didn't have to tell the blonde not to say anything to anyone else, and vise versa.

It was different with Zidane, though… His life was, in a strange sort of way, an open book. All of these different people knew different sides of him – Blank and the rest of Tantalus knew his past, Vivi knew his time in their dream Alexandria, and others knew the many sides of his ever-growing personality. For instance, Steiner knew the rowdy teenager while Dagger knew the protective, passionate side of him.

He forced his thoughts about the whole situation to stop right there. Pain rippled through his chest with enough force to make him subconsciously clench the fabric of his shirt over his heart. Any thoughts about Dagger were enough to kill him.

He was worried sick about the girl, and guilt was ever-present, looming over his head for something that he still wasn't sure was the right decision. Every ounce of him wanted Dagger to be happy, even when he was gone… because the odds of him staying alive through the entire expedition of the war – whether it be on this mission that he died, or in the fight with Kuja, or by some freak training accident – were incredibly slim. He didn't want Dagger to have to deal with losing him if they were openly together – openly in love. But there was more than just a tiny bit of his mind telling him that they'd gone in too far for it to matter now… and he should cherish the time he had with her while it still lasted.

His stomach continued twisting painfully. His chest heaved a little, but he clamped down on his lips to hide the heavy breath while he wondered if breathing through his nostrils was producing any quieter of a sound. Luckily, Ruby and Cinna were too wrapped up in their guesses of Vivi's home to realize Zidane and his minor panic attack.

But being so wrapped up meant that they weren't looking as hard as they should have been. Zidane's sharp, azure eyes picked out a dark curve in the rocks ahead of his teammates' banter. As they bobbed every closer to this strangely shaped rock, he realized with a smidge of impressiveness that if one wasn't looking for the cave, it was virtually invisible coming from Treno. The peculiar curvature of the opening was odd, but he couldn't really confirm it was the mouth of Vivi's home until they were almost on top of it.

"Guys!" He burst in front of them, breaking dramatically between the two to easier gain their attention. "There's the entrance!" As if on cue, thunder crackled in the distance, lightning illuminating strange angles in the clouds.

"I don't think that's natural," Cinna commented as they hurried towards the cave.

"Kuja must be ready as a rabbit to take his soldiers out for a lil' walk!" Ruby shook her head. "I hope the rest of the boys are okay!"

"They'll be fine, Rubes…" Zidane nodded as he led the way into the ominous dark that suddenly stretched out ahead of them. If Vivi had been away for about six years now, who knows how long it had been since his Grandpa left… and who knew what could have moved into the dwelling since then.

"Let's just worry about us right now, huh?" Cinna mumbled, though his voice bounced out in front of the trio, making it seem like a long, endless tunnel… one that they were blindly about to step into.


"You're Cierradonna?"

Her eyes narrowed at his surprised – more than surprised really – expression. "Who were ya expectin'?"

He blushed, realizing how rude his comment sounded. Here was the mother of the girl he was in love with, and he wasn't making a very outstanding first impression on her. The redhead bit down on his cheek, hard. Now was not the time – he was here for Ruby, whether her mother liked him or not.

"I just meant…" He shrugged, trying to keep his calm. "I didn't think I'd be meeting you… But it's a pleasure… You look…" Like every regular boy tried to do, he was attempting to salvage the conversation. "A lot like your daughter."

The hard, protected expression melted off of her features instantaneously. "Really? I do?" She whirled around to Aster, and in the sketchy lighting, the thief was shocked to see her eyes sparkling with tears. She twisted the handkerchief in her hands as she stared at the man. "My lil' Ruby looks like me…"

He gave a rugged smile before turning his attention back to Blank. Gone was the man who laughed at him and threatened him earlier, and here now was someone who held the same sort of look in his eyes when speaking to Cierradonna about Ruby that he remembered his parents having when talking to each other about him.

"What else can you tell us about her?"

"What can you tell me?" Even Blank himself winced at how fierce the words left his mouth. "I risked a lot coming here to find out a little about Ruby's past; I need to know that it was worth it."

"Child… I will tell ya most anythin' ya want so long as you tell me a lil' somethin' about my baby girl…"

"What do you want to know?" He asked slowly, feeling a little unsure about the situation.

"What has she been doing all these years? Especially in this war…" Aster asked for the both of them. Blank almost could have laughed at the way the two leaned forward in suspense when he took a breath.

"You know when Ruby left Treno in search of her father…"

A flash of pain and rage flitted across Cierradonna's face before she composed herself again. "Yes…"

"She went to Lindblum, going off of the only clue you had given her and she ran into us…"


It was wet outside.

It wasn't just a regular moisture that came along with rain… It was like Lindblum was turned into an entire river. Sheets of rain came down in streams from the heavy clouds that hadn't lifted for what seemed like years.

Years at least, to a ten year old who couldn't train until it cleared up.

Blank stared with a more intensive anger than usual. Even his peers (minus his almost airy, blonde best friend) knew to avoid him today, though they knew very well what the problem was.

Baku had been gone on a mission for a whole week, leaving the small group of trainees underneath him to wreak havoc on the town. The moment he stepped back into the Tantalus hideout in the Theater District of Lindblum, his pupils were on him like flies on rotting food, bothering him to train. He hadn't even put down his backpack yet.

He scattered them with his rough voice, the young kids scampering away, but they weren't giving up. Wide, sad eyes stared at him from a distance, following his every move until he gave an exasperated sigh, then a cursing shout.

"Lay off you little shits, we'll go out in an hour."

The team, consisting of Blank, Zidane, the Nero brothers, Marcus, Cinna, and a couple of others who would eventually be transferred to more a more suitable sector of Tantalus, thought they'd won the battle. Until, fifteen minutes before their first session of the day, the rain started.

This disastrous weather didn't even start slowly and lead up to the tremendous lake that was forming in front of their door… no, it started heavy, and hadn't really stopped since.

Baku refused to go out in that, and his team couldn't convince him – not even with all of the alcohol in Lindblum – to go out and train anyways.

That first instance had happened four days ago.

It had been over ten days since Blank had worked with his dagger; his skills were already shaky and really didn't need the extended lapses between practices. They'd just gotten weapons for the first time – Tantalus was very keen on teaching new recruits their acting disguise and basic defensive and offensive skills before training them with a weapon.

To say he was pissed was a complete understatement.

"Blank!" however, Zidane was never deterred. "How's it goin'?" he piped, his mood suspiciously chipper.

"Swell." The sarcasm was harsh, but the genome didn't even flinch. The redhead had to give him credit for that, no matter how irritated he was.

"Well I have something that's going to make the day even better!" He laughed when Blank whipped around with enough force to almost knock him over.

"What?!" He demanded.

"Ah-ah! Are you going to stop dissuading people from the door with your force field of a bad mood?"

"I'm not even by the door!" He argued with a mean glare.

A smug look twisted onto Zidane's face as he cheekily pointed to the window. "But you're at the window… And that's only four feet from the door."

"Your force field of pissiness extends further than four feet!" Cinna threw from the loft, sitting up and scratching his long hair.

Blank threw him a glare, "When are you going to cut off that disgusting animal?!"

"My hair is beautiful!" Cinna tried to run a hand through his long dark locks, but his chubby fingers were caught too often in snarls.

"We all agreed you'd look better with no hair, than that hair, Cinna…" Zidane began, agreeing with his best friend. "You really should shave it all off – you know… for something different. But that's beside the point… Are you going to stop moping around enough to hear what I have to say?" He leaned forward, his sapphire eyes sparkling and a lopsided grin overtaking his face.

Blank watched his face carefully, unsure if he would regret switching off his bad mood. "You drive a hard bargain, Tribal."

"I try," he smirked wider, showing off the tooth that chipped in training and still hadn't been fixed. "Now let's go!" He threw a cloak at the redhead, and then proceeded to swing one around himself.

"Where? Outside?"

That same twinkle continued to shine in his mischievous eyes. "Baku's got a mission for us."


Zidane refused to say anything more until they got to the Business District. From the lack of excitement since they'd left the house, Blank had rising suspicions that his friend refused to speak because the mission wasn't at all what Blank would have agreed to if it meant going out in the rain for a stupid reason.

They dove under the cover of an awning, though it was raining in every angle possible, and the flapping material didn't offer much coverage anyways.

"Why the hell are we out here, Zidane?" The redhead barked, feeling unnaturally irritated at the blonde. Secretly, he was always grateful that his best friend managed to stay so chipper and unaffected by Blank's bitterness – but the secrecy and air-headedness was really starting to piss him off.

"Baku wanted us to get some supplies," he let on a cheeky grin, silently saying that there was even more of a hidden meaning than before.

"What kind of supplies?" He almost growled.

"Well now, this wasn't my mission –" Zidane scratched the back of his head before Blank stalked away from the other Tantalus member, unable to stand too close to him. "- Can you just cool it, Blank? We were all trying to get you to feel better! I know you're going stir crazy but that's no reason to be a jack ass –"

"We aren't doing anything!" He groaned back, fully aware but trying to ignore the fact that he was whining and it was childish.

"That's exactly why Baku asked me to go grocery shopping for him and to take you with me!"

Emerald eyes widened like he'd just gotten the shock of the century. "We're… We're grocery shopping for Baku?!"

"We all need to eat, and nobody wanted to go out in the rain –"

"I'm going to kill him!" Blank howled, whipping around and sprinting off in the other direction. The rain pelted his face like ice, but his skin was becoming accustomed to the cold – or maybe just incredibly numb.

The blonde's shouts were lost in the rain, fading back with the rolling thunder. Idiot… Why would he think that Blank wouldn't be mad about having to do Baku's bitch work? Why would he even think that it would be right to trick the redhead into doing that?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and the harder he ran. His shoes squelched underneath him, and part of the back of Blank's mind wondered how he hadn't slipped and toppled over yet. But still he kept running, meeting hardly any resistance due to the lack of traffic. Nobody else wanted to be out in the rain either.

He wasn't really sure where he was going – he just wanted to get out of the rain, but not go back home. It was the same mundane thing over and over – that's why he wanted so much to train… to be better… to be the best.

It irritated him more than he would ever let on to anyone that he wasn't the best. His parents raised him for six years telling him that he would be the best of the best with enough practice, but still… Marcus' skill, Zidane's speed, and Cinna's force still outweighed his own. He didn't have a special talent except for being considerably shorter than even the girls his age, and it was beginning to irk him more than it probably should have.

Blank didn't really notice when he began to slow down. The sound of rain was all around him, and his eyes, blinded by the red rage before, slowly started to tune in to the things around him. He realized he wasn't as familiar with this part of the city and was maybe a little impressed that he'd ran so far.

"Hey!"

The sharp yelp caused him to jump. He wasn't expecting to be addressed, especially when he looked this angry. He wasn't used to it.

"Are ya just gon' stand there bein' rude, or help a lady out?"

His jaw almost dropped. Just who did this girl think she was? He studied her carefully, his emerald eyes unshyly taking her in.

She looked maybe just a little older than him, soaked to the bone with one small bag, and a tough expression. But somewhere in those brown eyes – looking sullenly darker with the sheets of rain curtaining around them – he saw a heartbroken girl who had nowhere to go, and nowhere to turn back to.

"Don't have such an attitude, and I'd be glad to help," he grumbled just loud enough for her to hear. But he moved towards her anyways and heaved her bag over his shoulder with a cringe. It was far heavier than he suspected by its small size.

"Aren't ya just a little ball of sunshine, huh Sugar?"

He scrunched up his face as though he tasted something sour. "Don't call me sugar."

"Well what do ya suppose I call ya then?"

"The name's Blank," he said roughly, although he couldn't completely bite down the smile threatening to smear over his face. He sort of liked her attitude and the way she wasn't afraid to bark back at him.

"Ruby," she said, though he hadn't prompted her to reply.

"What are you doing out here in the rain?" He asked, gesturing around, "Surely you aren't here for the view."

She snorted, "I was lookin' for someone…" The sigh at the end of her sentence told Blank she didn't really want to discuss it.

"Well…" He bit his lip, knowing that he couldn't hide this from Zidane. The blonde would know instantly that something happened to calm him out of his angry stupor, and if he knew that the redhead just abandoned this lost girl in the middle of Lindblum, he'd have a fit. "Why don't you finish looking once the rain lets up? We've got some food to spare and some warm blankets…"

"I wouldn't want to be a bother…"

Despite the fact that for the next several years, all Blank and Ruby would do was fight with each other, something about her made him stop and stare up at her (like always; damn his shortness) with a smile that wasn't quite tender, but not nearly as rough as all his other challenging smirks. He shrugged his shoulders in that same nonchalant way that she would grow to know and love before sealing the deal, "Believe me… with my chivalrous company – you'll probably fit in better than me."

And she let out that accented laugh that he'd never quite be able to shake.


"She joined Tantalus – our team anyways. Baku was the only one who was taking on more recruits at the time. He had her start training with us for plays – memorizing the classics, and we found out that she was really good at it."

"Why did Tantalus teach acting as an alibi?" Asher cocked his head to one side, leaning against the splintered countertop behind him. He inclined casually, but stayed always-alert.

"As you guys could probably guess, acting teaches a lot of footwork that we can use. How to step quietly, how to move your body to conceal stuff from a certain direction –" he shrugged, "- thief stuff."

"Thief stuff…" The woman started fanning her face with her long, slender fingers. "My baby went on ta be a thief."

Blank narrowed his eyes, waiting for her over-dramatic mother to get over the hysterics of learning about her daughter before he continued. He spoke briefly – never quite delving into too many details about Tantalus and what they had been doing (and still were doing) in the war. He did pass on some details about Ruby's fighting style, her charm, and the way she captivated people on and off of stage. He talked about the resistances a little hesitantly, still not sure he could trust these people but realizing if Ruby was part of it, chances were that the two adults wouldn't rat him out.

"Tell me one more thing, child…"

His eyes swept over her quickly, trying to ignore Asher's intense gaze on the side of his cheek.

"Did Ruby ever find her father?"

The redhead shook his head almost instantly. Shifting from one foot to the other slowly, stretching out the tense muscles in his body as his hand brushed over his dagger in a reminding fashion, he sighed. "Once she joined Tantalus officially, Baku offered to sneak her back into Treno to stay with you, but she said that she'd be losing too much by leaving, and that she never found what she was looking for."

Cierradonna fell back into the chair she'd been sitting in before Blank had entered the bar. "Thank goodness…"

"Do you know who he is?"

"Of course I do, child," she snapped, glaring at him. His eyebrows shot up, hiding in his bangs though she couldn't see it. "Are ya implyin' that I'm a tramp?!"

"Not at all!" He held up his hands in the universal stop sign and shook them faintly back and forth. This woman was a stubborn one. "But you see… why wouldn't you tell Ruby? I know it still eats away at her…"

"When I was pregnant with Ruby, I was too young to be worryin' 'bout a child. Now don't get me wrong, I loved that pretty lil' thing to death… But my heart was in my actin', and nothing was gon' change that… Her father was a charmer… I'll give him that much. He lured me out on date after date, raving on about his son! I met the boy once… He was a quiet, bitter thing… This awful, gangly red hair that his daddy said he got from his mama and was the reason he wasn't worth nothin' – couldn't steal or fight on account of somebody recognizin' him right away… Soon as I found out I was pregnant with Ruby, he was gone faster than a jackrabbit in the summa' lookin' for water…"

Blank narrowed his eyes, hoping she would spill some more information about this man and his son.

"I didn't want my baby Ruby to find out she had a terrible man for a daddy, so I'd ignore the topic, and jump inta' my actin'! I never wanted to answer her 'bout him at all, and now that I'm old and the actin' part of my life is over, I realize that all I want back now is my baby girl."

"She's doing something amazing with her life…" Blank nodded, trying to console but feeling like he was maybe rubbing it in… just a little. "What was her dad's name?"

"Name was Amant… Amant Coral," she shook her head with a bitter bite in her eyes. "I'd never forget the man that ruined so many things…"

Coral… Coral… Where have I – Blank's thoughts skidded into each other and collided into a stop. He blinked a few times before his mouth opened, as though he was ready to speak but couldn't find the words. "His son?" He knew how urgent his voice suddenly sounded. "What was his son's name?"

Both Asher and Cierradonna's brows furrowed, as though they didn't see the relevance behind his question. She shrugged anyways. "I don' know… I never knew… Amant called him Red, but I ain't ever heard his real name."

Red… This time his jaw dropped, and he stared at the woman with large, skeptically surprised eyes. "Are you sure?"

"What's it to ya?"

He shook his head, uncharacteristically blurting out the answer. "We know him."

"What?!" She gasped, leaping up. Asher caught the chair before it clattered to the floor.

"His name is Amarant… We met him… Well that's not important, but we know him!"

What were the odds that they found him? Surely this couldn't be the same Red, right? Amant, Amarant – same last name and hell, their personalities kind of sounded similar as well. The cringe-worthy red hair and the bitter resentment… It was all starting to make sense. But how? How could they have met each other, and not known that they were related? Blank blinked. They looked nothing alike!How were they related?!

His head started to spin when he finally shook it to clear his mind. "Ya'll can't tell her!"

"What? Why? This is crucial! She'd want to know that she's got more family –"

"Ya don't understand…" Cierradonna shook her head, wisps of grey hair falling from the messy bun it was all piled into. "He was bitter 'cause of his mama… He didn't want nothin' to do with his daddy, and I don't blame him… But I am not about to expose that same bitterness to my baby girl. If I have done nothing else for her in life, than I am going to continue protecting her from the monstrosity of a family she's got because of my mistakes…"

"She has a right to know. She knows nothing about her family!"

The woman was quiet for a long moment, studying Blank to the point that he was uncomfortable. "What'd ya say yer name was, boy?"

"Blank," he said roughly, narrowing his eyes and squaring his shoulders, as though he was prepared to physically fight the old woman about the topic. Asher raised his eyebrows in amusement. He knew exactly what Ruby's mother was about to say.

"My daughter's better than me in so many ways… The first, startin' with you."

He deflated. What was that supposed to mean? He voiced this out loud in the same demanding, off-handed voice that rung out in his head.

She guffawed and then couldn't quite contain her smile. "She knows how to pick 'em handsome and strong… Just the kind of man she needs to keep her safe."

He couldn't believe it, but a blush was unwillingly starting to sprout underneath his cheeks. "What are you talking about?!"

"She's sweet on you… and ya'll know it too…" She winked, "I can see it in the way ya stand when ya talk 'bout her…"

"You know nothing about me…"

"Darlin' I was an actress for many more years than ya'll have been alive… I know love when I see it."

He ground down on his teeth, trying not to let his fingers twitch at his sides. Asher let out a low chuckle. "She's just tellin' you that you better protect her…"

Realizing that he was caught, and knowing that these two people were the closest things to family that Ruby had left besides the people in the resistance, he nodded slowly, letting his flaming attitude temporarily disappear. "I will… I promise…"

"Ya did good, comin' here, Sugar…"

The redhead thought again about the first time he ever met Ruby, and a mesmerized grin spread across his face. He tilted the cover around his eyes up, so he could really look at Cierradonna and the man who she was not so secretly in love with – the person that Ruby should have grown up with, instead of wandering aimlessly in the world to find a man nobody wanted her to meet.

"Don't call me Sugar…"

"Blank," she correctly, the sass dying away from her old figure. A motherly look spread over her face and a certain weight looked as though it was lifted off of her shoulders.

She knew that her little girl was safe. If with absolutely no one else in the world, she was safe with the short, redheaded, teenage thief standing in front of her. And besides, she already knew, despite not seeing her daughter in over eight years that he was what made her happy, and that's all she could hope for.

"Good luck on your resistance mission," Asher stepped forward, shaking his hand. "We'll be sending help whenever we can, and silent support in our prayers."

"Send any help you can find to Quan in Qu's marsh… He'll know what to do…" Blank pulled back on his cloak that he shucked amidst his many stories about Ruby. "Thank you for everything you were able to tell me…"

"Thank you for telling me that my daughter is still alive."


A/N: I wasn't planning on stopping there, but then again, I didn't think this part with Blank would be quite so long. So there you have it, folks! I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you liked finally hearing the big news I thought of so sneakily way back when Eiko first talked to Amarant on their way to Cleyra!

I know this doesn't follow the game, but any more drama I can add in, really the better… And who knows – there is such a lack of side-characters' pasts that they really could have been half brother and sister and they wouldn't even know :P

Anywho, leave me some love, sugars… I hope you're still enjoying the small twists I've got for you! Now back to the storyline!

Also, I wanted to leave a thank you to those of you who read my author's notes to a few new reviewers who are re-catching up with the story! Your words are always encouragement to continue with this story. Without small comments like that, this story would be gone, and being where I am with it today (about 20 chapters ahead of what you guys are reading) that would have been the biggest mistake of my measly writing career! So thank you so much for your support :D

-zesty-