Static.
The hissing, cracking, blare.
The white noise was all she could hear after his message had gone out.
Her son, Oscar. Her baby boy who she would give anything for just announced to the world that he is going to end it all. That it's humanity that needs to be cleansed. That the world needs to start over.
She doesn't understand. How can he think this is okay? How can he just decide to throw away everything for the so-called 'greater good'?
Humanity isn't something that should just be 'reset.' As if they're all nothing more than a failed experiment.
She is tired of being an experiment.
Edith sprints through the power plant, seeing the Imperium officers standing and watching in horror and uncertainty of what Oscar is doing under the building. None of them can get in. None of them can do anything to stop him.
All of the people they had once considered their enemies now stand with them on equal ground. It's no longer them against the Imperium or the Hexes or the entire conglomerate.
Now, it's just them with the world against Oscar Stewart.
He wouldn't do this.
Would he?
She remembers holding him for the first time. Laying in the hospital bed, she cradled her newborn baby boy with tears in her eyes.
How could something so innocent and pure go so wrong?
She rushes past the officers with one arm around her stomach. Her movements are slow and sporadic and her trembling only makes it harder to make it to the door that will bring her below the building, but as she walks, some of the officers hurry to help her make it across the room.
She struggles to stifle her shaking enough to enter the code into the panel beside the door, but she manages. She clicks each number and hits 'enter,' making the door immediately swing open and she rushes in with help from the officers.
Some of them seem hesitant about letting a wounded pregnant woman enter the chamber of the nuke, but they know that only an SRL can get to Oscar now. Even with that, they see the look in her eyes and know better than to try to stop her.
Her eyes hold a fire despite the way her body breaks.
Edith races through the decontamination chamber, giving the process no time to run before the officers break down the metal door for her to hurry to the next room.
Through the tinted windows lining the wall, she sees Oscar standing below in a hazmat suit, tampering with the massive device that could bring the end of the world at any moment.
She looks around to see that no hazmat suits remain, just as Jules had warned them of. She looks back to see the officers hesitantly backing out of the room. Some stare through the window while others watch her cautiously.
Edith takes a deep breath, tightens her hold on her stomach, and enters the chamber of the nuke.
"...Everything is going to be okay," she whispers to herself as the heat surrounds her. She can feel the energy radiating from the center of the room but luckily, being an SRL protects her from the radiation. "Everything is going to be okay..."
She may look human, but her skin is still synthetic. She may feel human, but her heart is still metal. The door closes behind her and she has to brace herself against the railing to keep herself standing as she starts slowly making her way down the stairs towards her son.
"...Oscar!" she calls out his name feebly.
He stops what he's doing for a moment to look back and see her atop the metal staircase and he growls, pulling a gun from his belt and shooting at her. She yelps as the bullet bounces off the railing with a loud 'ting,' but she takes another step forward.
"Leave," Oscar demands as he turns his attention back onto the device. "You have a chance to walk away now so you can spend these last moments with your friends, if 'friendship' is even possible for a machine," he blocks her from his view and his mind.
Edith staggers down the stairs and stops with her hand still on the rail. "Oscar, please listen to me!" she rasps against the dryness of her throat from her crying after the last time they spoke. "You know you don't have to do this!"
He violently shakes his head and whips his gaze back to her. "No, see, that's what you don't understand!" he barks. "I do have to do this!"
"Why!?"
"Because no one else will!" he takes another shot at her and the bullet grazes her shoulder, but her weariness prevents her from giving much reaction and she just takes another step towards him, letting her hand fall from the rail so she can stand on her own with her arms hugging her stomach.
"The Director was a fool for thinking it was possible to 'fix' humanity!" he shouts and turns to face her without leaving his place by the nuke. "The Lost Descendant – Regan – is an idiot for believing there is any hope of redemption for us!" he fires at her once more and the bullet goes through her shoulder, making her yelp and drop to her knee for a moment.
"The only thing left for the world is to start over! You and everyone else on this fucking planet are cowards who refuse to accept that this is what needs to happen!" he exclaims. "With the world free from barriers and control, it's finally time to set things right!"
"This won't make things 'right'!" Edith shouts as she slowly rises to her feet again. "If you do this, what's to stop the next generation of humanity from starting another conglomerate?! From making the same mistakes we did?! What then?!"
Oscar shakes his head. "Then the cycle continues," he states. "We're born. We live. We die. That's the way it is for every single one of us, and that's the way it will be for the world. Trying to prolong a life that's served its time is defying the very thing you claim to fight for. Mortality. It's time for us to die as the world starts anew," he snaps.
Edith shakes her head and feels her EPC start to burn but she blocks it out as she takes another step closer. "That may be true for humanity, but the world doesn't work that way. The world will end one day, yes, but it doesn't have to be today!"
"Why?!" Oscar barks. "So you can go back to your pointless lives? So you can live out your days and watch every one of your human friends wither and die?! Is that what you'd prefer?!" he exclaims and watches her take another step.
He takes another shot at her that almost hits her stomach, but she moves out of the way so it grazes her back instead. "All of them will die! Peace, Liyah, Regan and Cree! Everyone but you and Colin! What I'm doing is mercy and you for some reason refuse to understand that!"
"Because I'm trying to protect you!" Edith screams with her tears fighting against her will of resistance. "All I've ever wanted was to protect you! When I thought you were dead, all I cared about was finding a way to see you again! I didn't care what it would cost! And I'm not going to give up on you now that I've finally found you!"
Oscar's face hardens against his burning anger. "You're just a machine! You can't care about me!"
"And yet I do!" Edith exclaims as she steps closer. "Oscar, listen to me!"
He growls viciously and shakes his head. "No, you listen!" he steps towards her and bashes his gun across her cheek, making her yelp and drop back to her knees. "You're not my mother! You're just a copy of her! I was fine playing along with Corbin's game of acting like you were real, but Corbin has fallen! The Imperium is disbanded! My mother is dead so nothing a fucking machine says will stop me from doing what's right!" he rages before turning around to step towards the device again, when Edith jumps off the ground with what little strength she has and grabs his arm in a feeble attempt at pulling him away.
"When I woke up, you were all I cared about! I watched you grow! I was there when you took your first steps! When you said your first word! Your first day of school! And I was there the moment you died!" she bellows. "You are my son and I made a promise that I would protect you!"
"NO! My mother made that promise!" Oscar shoves her back and shoots her in the leg, eliciting another pained cry but she keeps holding onto his wrist. He kicks her wounded leg and she pries the gun from his hand as she drops back, dropping it and making it skid across the stone floor.
"She lied! My family died because of the Dominion, and the Imperium turned it all into a sick fucking game!" he shakes his head. "And I'm done playing."
He presses a button on the nuke and a countdown timer starts.
'4 minutes.'
Edith's eyes widen and she tries getting up, but her wounded leg trembles and she collapses to her side. Her EPC burns more and her shoulder bleeds heavily and she returns her arms to wrap around her stomach. She turns her pleading gaze up to look at him. "Oscar, stop and listen to yourself! You can't honestly believe this is the right thing to do!"
"There is no such thing as the right thing to do!" he exclaims and kicks her in the stomach, but luckily he only hits her forearms that shield her baby. "I'm doing what the world calls 'wrong' in order to make things right! Would you prefer Corbin's way of uniting the world?! Or Sarabeth Blackwell's way?! Athemar's?!"
Oscar glares fuming daggers into her eyes. "Unity will never exist so long as abominations like you walk this earth." He turns away from her to keep tampering with the device to try making the countdown go faster.
"Oscar... please," she cries as she keeps begging him to stop, but with the burning of her EPC, she can feel herself growing numb once again. She almost fell Insentient once already, she can't let that happen again.
Not now.
Not with what's at stake.
'3 minutes.'
Edith stops her pleas and shakily turns her gaze back at the window to see the Imperium officers watching in terror. In fear of knowing that if she fails to stop him, they will all be dead.
She would die too, but she's unable to feel any fear over this thought.
She lets her gaze fall from the window and onto the floor as her tears stain the ground, but the emptiness of her EPC restricts her from crying more than a few small tears.
And as her vision clears, she sees the gun on the floor in front of her.
She weakly turns her focus back onto Oscar.
She isn't afraid to die. Her fear is in failing to protect her son from himself. That her words mean nothing to him. That all of her efforts to save him since the moment she woke up in the DRF will be for nothing.
The moment she woke up.
The moment she met CLive.
She's taken back to the first time they danced in Sage. The first time she truly saw him happy and relaxed. His wide smile as they held each other in their arms. As they listened to the music from the tavern of Sage.
How blind she was to how she felt back then.
How she couldn't see that she was falling in love.
She can't believe how furious she was with him when she found out she was an SRL. He only wanted to protect her. He saved her again and again.
She sees his smile. His kind green eyes staring back at her in the dim glow of the fireplace of his home in Mortal. His soothing voice as he sang to her the night they first told each other 'I love you.'
"We will never... age."
She remembers CLive leading her out of County Dominion and to the dock, where she first saw Cree Tyrell.
She remembers how angry he was with the world. How his friends would find joy in teasing him. How he used to hate her. He used to hate Regan. He used to hate everyone aside from John.
She sees an image in her mind of Cree and Regan holding Reela. Their daughter. Their family. She also remembers that last night John was alive. How she, John and Cree were laughing and drinking, singing as they just lived in the moment.
She remembers meeting Regan. How carefree he was back then feels so foreign now. But however he has changed, however far he has come, he never stopped loving his friends. He hasn't lost sight of himself.
She remembers Peace and Data. How Data went from a DJ at a nightclub in Yastra to helping Peace lead an army to defend the city John had given his life for. The cause he cared so deeply for that he made the ultimate sacrifice to protect it. To protect his friends and family. To free the SRL.
And they were freed.
She remembers Madhavi saving her and CLive from those Marauders. She remembers the last night she had with her when she saw her smiling as she danced to the music she couldn't hear.
She remembers the faces of every one of her friends.
Their families. The people they love.
The people she loves.
How far they've all come.
How beautiful the world is because of them.
In this moment, she wishes she was in Colin's arms. She wishes she was wrestling with Cree over a good romance novel. She wishes she was having tea in Sage with Regan while Thor lays curled up on her lap. She wishes she was at CyberIllusion with Peace and Data.
She wishes she was drinking with John at the Free Watchman. She wishes she was joking in sign language with Madhavi.
She wishes she was holding hers and Colin's child in her arms.
Instead, she pulls the trigger.
And as she shakily lowers the gun, she sees Oscar freeze where he stands.
He just looks down at the bullet wound through his chest, and with a shudder, he collapses to the stone floor.
'2 minutes.'
Edith drops the gun and brokenly pulls herself across the ground on trembling arms. She can't even breathe amidst the tears burning her throat.
She pushes herself up and leans her back against the nuke as she pulls her son into her shaking arms.
His chest bleeds and he fights to stay awake as he reaches up and with trembling hands, pulls off the helmet of his hazmat suit. He stammers over his choking breaths as blood trails down the corners of his mouth.
She cradles his face as she tries to fight back the way her body tells her to sob.
Oscar looks up into her eyes with fury in his fading gaze. "...what... have you done?" he chokes out.
Edith shudders and gently rubs her thumb against his cheek. She blinks to keep the tears from blurring her view of him, however much it hurts. "...I couldn't let you do it..." she shakes her head weakly. "...I'm so sorry, baby..."
He coughs out some blood before deepening his burning glare. "...you've ruined everything," he hisses as his voice grows weaker. "...you are not my mother..." he seethes.
"...I hate you..."
Edith softly brushes his hair back to plant a kiss on his forehead where he still has a faded scar from a bullet. She feels him grow still in her arms which only makes her hold onto him tighter as she finally lets herself sob.
"...I love you, Oscar..." she whispers against his forehead.
'1 minute.'
She closes her eyes as she can no longer see. She cries until she is unable to cry anymore. She chokes over the air until she can no longer breathe.
She then slowly opens her eyes to dryly turn her gaze up to the nuke.
She weakly pushes herself off the ground, gently setting Oscar down as she reaches up and presses the 'cancel' switch on the control panel.
She hears the Imperium officers cheering through the window but she just drops back to the floor and hits her head against the nuke, closing her eyes so she can rest.
She wakes up in Colin's arms as he carries her out of the power plant.
"...Colin...?" she whispers in a meek rasp.
He looks down at her and shows her a pained smile. His eyes are dim and tired, but she can feel his relief in her heart.
"...You did it, doll... It's over."
Another small tear escapes her eye and she shudders before closing her eyes. Colin plants a kiss on the top of her head. "...We can go home now... We can finally be done with all of this."
She sees sunlight hit her eyelids as he carries her out to the crisp fresh air of Eutria.
"...We're going to be okay, doll," he says softly. "I promise."
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After resting for about an hour, Edith returns to her friends where they're all gathered at the dock of Espheral. Nisha stands aboard her ship, getting ready to depart while the others go over their goodbyes.
Colin smiles wistfully at May and J. "Will you two be alright on your own?"
J snorts and crosses her arms. "You say that like I'm not still gonna give you hell, Loverboy," she winks, then sighs. It's a strange sight to see genuine compassion in her eyes, but J has always been unpredictable. This is just one more layer. "Just... don't be dumb, alright? I can't easily 'poof' to another fucking continent to save your ass," she states.
He chuckles before rolling his eyes and pulling her into a hug. "We'll be careful if you are," he says softly. "Despite... everything, it really was nice to meet you. Well... it was definitely interesting. Fun?" he shrugs as he fails to find the best word to describe their 'experience' with J.
She holds up a finger. "I think the word you're looking for is 'all of the above.'"
"That's four words," May deadpans. "Don't worry. I'll keep it under control," she squints her eyes at J. "Maybe."
Colin snickers as he wraps his arm around Edith and pulls her against his side to kiss her forehead and she meekly smiles but it instantly fades.
Naomi stands in front of Kitty, seeing the way she fights to not cry. With a sigh, Naomi pulls her into a hug. "It's going to be okay... You know you can come with us, if you want," she offers. "I mean... I'm sure Nisha's got room for one more on her ship."
Kitty softly chuckles with a sniffle. "So you're really turning to a life of piracy with your neko girlfriend? You continue to confuse and amaze me. No wait. Never mind. Just confuse," she lets her go with a soft punch to her shoulder. "But I think I'll go with the idiots to Utopia, at least for a bit. I guess I kinda grew attached to the insane centaur kids and if they're staying in Sage, I might as well look after them," she says and lightly shrugs with a small smile.
"Well, should you ever need me, I'll be there in a heartbeat," Naomi says and wipes her eyes with her sleeve.
J turns away from Colin to sharply point at Regan where he stands with Cree. "You! Twinkie!" she exclaims, making Regan jump.
"What...?"
"Be nice to leather daddy!" she huffs. "And tell your weird fetus elf baby that I say hi. Oh, and..." she sighs and pulls that terrifying taxidermied rat with seagull wings and a tiara out of her backpack and hands it to Regan. "Give her Bartholomew. But only when she's not a fetus anymore. It's high maintenance."
Regan hesitantly takes it from the psychopath, and seeing his grimace, Cree sighs and takes 'Bartholomew' instead before turning to J. "Sure thing..." he rolls his eyes. "And stop calling me 'leather daddy.'"
"Then stop being a leather daddy," J scoffs and punches his shoulder, only to end up hurting her hand.
From the ship, Nisha whistles to grab everyone's attention. "Hey, cucks, I'm all set. If you want to get home soon, we should set sail now. Still got a ways to go," she calls down to them.
Colin looks down at Edith to see her weary nod.
"We're ready..." she says weakly. "...Let's go home."
After saying their last goodbyes, Edith, Colin, Regan, Cree, Kitty and Naomi board the ship and they set sail for southwest, heading back to Utopia after so long of being away.
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The night falls over the pirate ship, but Edith can't sleep. She stands at the bow of the ship, leaning forward on the railing and just staring off over the waves and the moon and stars reflecting off the ripples of the deep blue ocean.
As all the others sleep, she stays up to watch the stars.
But she should have known she wouldn't be the only one awake at this time.
She hears soft footsteps approach her from behind and faintly smiles to herself before glancing back to see Colin walking towards her with a nervous gaze and a smile of his own. He reaches her and wordlessly wraps his arms around her from behind and she leans back into his touch.
"Can't sleep?" he asks in a gentle whisper.
She nods with a small chuckle. "How'd you guess?" she says before looking down with a sigh. "I still can't believe it's over..."
"Me neither," he says. "But here we are..." he lightly clears his throat. "Together."
Her smile slightly grows. "Yeah... together," she slowly nods.
Colin is silent for a moment, when he takes a deep breath and she hears him whisper under his breath 'deactivate intellectual processing,' which gets her to quickly look back at him, just as his mind shuts off and his heart takes over.
"Colin? What are you doing?" she asks.
He meets her gaze for a moment before he clears his throat and glances at the floorboards. "I..." he starts and she can already hear his noir accent comes through fuller. "I... was hoping to be more calculated about this, but... I know myself," he softly chuckles. "I don't 'calculate.' I overthink," he smiles and meets her eyes again, but she says nothing and waits for him to continue.
He takes another deep breath. "Doll... I honestly never expected any of this to happen when I went to the DRF that day to find you and wake you up. I don't know what I thought would happen, but this sure as hell wasn't it."
"Colin, to be fair, I don't think anyone could have predicted this," Edith snickers.
He lightly laughs with a slow nod. "You're not wrong... but still. I'm not just talking about getting thrown into other continents and having to take down corrupt governments. I mean..." he takes her hand gently in his own. "This was something I never could have imagined coming from that choice of mine to wake you up."
She smiles up at him and stays silent as he continues.
"Falling in love was one thing, but..." he smiles brighter. "But a family... is more than I could have ever asked for. And honestly, I didn't ask for it."
Edith shrugs. "I mean, you kinda did back in Sage," she teases, getting his face to tint pink.
He slowly nods with another chuckle. "Yeah... but... you know what I mean. You didn't have to let me be here for you as the father, but you did. I wouldn't have blamed you for shutting me out of your life, but you kept me around."
Edith reaches up and cups his cheek. "Colin, of course I did. I love you and I know you love me. And I know you love our child," she brings her hand to her stomach and as she glances down, she sees his hand reaching towards his pocket.
She looks up at him and her smile slightly turns into a smirk. "Since the moment I woke up, you've been here for me. Even if I didn't deserve it. We've had our moments, but in the end, we're still here. And I can firmly say that I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else," she also chuckles. "Especially considering that we don't age," she winks, getting another small laugh out of him but he stops with a confused head tilt as he realizes she's stealing all of his lines.
"Doll...?"
She no longer hides her smirk. "Colin, you mean the world to me. Which is why I want you to shut up and propose already," she states and has to fight to not burst out laughing at seeing the visible confusion grow on his face.
"I..." he shudders. "...What?"
"Regret deactivating your mind?" she teases which gets a small, absent chuckle out of him.
"I... guess I can't hide anything from you, now can I?" he rolls his eyes with a smile before pulling the ring out of his pocket and timidly meeting her eyes. "Doll... Will you—"
"Yes," she grabs his face and pulls him down for a kiss and he happily wraps his arms around her to melt in her embrace. To hold on to her and never let go.
To make one final promise to her that he knows in his heart he will be able to keep.
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Six months later.
Since returning to Utopia, Sage has already begun to feel like home for both Edith and Colin. They didn't need a grand estate like Regan's house. All they needed was a small home across the street from the tavern to be happy. Thor sure as hell loves the winter air and open space of Sage.
Now, in the guest room of Regan's house, Colin and Cree watch Edith with panicked gazes as Regan works at the terminal to monitor Edith's EPC levels as well as the baby's heartbeat.
Colin sits at Edith's bedside, watching with sympathy written across his face at seeing her pain. "Deep breaths doll, you're almost there," he says and glances back at Regan. "Right?"
Regan lifts his head from the screen and winces, making an 'iffy' hand gesture over the top of the terminal.
Colin clears his throat and throws his smile back on as he looks down at Edith again. "You're doing great."
Edith whines and throws her head back into the pillows and Colin reaches up to gently brush her hair out of her face as beads of sweat linger on her skin. "Do you need anything?"
"Water," she rasps and points to the table across the room that has a glass of water next to Romeow. The cat looks at her, narrows his eyes, and slowly pushes the cup off the table.
Before it can hit the ground, Achilles swoops over and grabs it in his talons, flying over to Edith and dropping it onto the bedside cabinet. Edith grabs it and rapidly drinks without pause for breath, emptying the glass and setting it back down to resume her labored breathing.
"Doll, do you want to hold my hand?" he asks, getting Edith to squint her eyes open.
"I'd rather hold Cree's," she points at Cree where he's leaned against the wall across the room with his head down and his arms crossed so his fingers can tap anxiously against his arm, but hearing her say his name gets him to lift his gaze and innocently point at himself in question.
Edith nods shakily. "I'm less likely to break his hand," she says to Colin before she sucks in a sharp breath and Cree shrugs before walking over.
Colin huffs. "Hey, my hand is technically metal too."
Cree nods as he grabs Edith's hand. "Yeah but I'm less likely to be a baby about a dent."
Colin prepares to throw in a retort, when the terminal starts beeping and Regan rapidly types on the keyboard before rushing over to the bed to steady Edith by her shoulders.
"Just a little more, Edith, you're almost there," his anxiety lingers in his voice, but over it all is confidence that may or may not be feigned for Edith's sake, but he succeeds in remaining calm and collected as he helps his friends deliver their child.
With a final push, the pain stops and Edith's vision goes dark for what felt like just a moment, but really turned out to be a few minutes.
When her consciousness returns, Colin is at her side once again and now Thor is in the room and laying across her lap with his tail weakly thumbing against her leg. Colin is lightly rubbing her knuckles and watching for her to wake up, smiling wearily as he meets her eyes.
"Welcome back, doll," he whispers.
Edith looks around through tired eyes to see Cree once again leaned against the wall, only now his focus is on Regan.
Turning her gaze to Regan as well, she sees his misty-eyed smile beaming as he slowly walks towards them with a bundle of blankets in his arms that at the center has the pink round head of the baby.
Edith and Colin are silent as he reaches Edith's side.
"Edith, Colin..." Regan whispers. "...Meet your daughter."
He carefully passes the bundled child down to Edith and she cradles her in her arms. She stares at the sleeping baby's face and has to blink back the tears that sting her eyes as Colin crawls onto the bed next to her to wrap an arm around her and also peer down at their baby girl.
Regan wipes a tear from his eye as he quietly backs away, letting the two of them have their moment with their child. He stands at Cree's side to see that he's staring at Edith and Colin in complete silence with unblinking eyes.
Regan smiles down at him before returning his attention onto Edith and Colin. "What are you going to name her?" he asks softly, getting Colin to look over at him while Edith keeps her full focus on the baby.
Colin blinks back his own tears and smiles coyly. "Well... we talked about it a bit..." he lightly chuckles which gets Edith to finally lift her delirious with joy gaze to him to show him the slightest nod.
"...'The hope of the people' brought us here, so..." Colin bites his lip.
Edith looks across the room to meet Cree's eyes with a soft smile.
"Hope."
Cree's eyes instantly mist up. "You fuckers..." he mutters past the tears before he quickly looks away, making Regan laugh affectionately and wrap his arm around him while still smiling at Edith and Colin as they both look down at their daughter once again.
Edith lightly brushes her thumb over their baby's cheek, when Hope blinks her eyes open and they see her emerald gaze that makes Colin's own fill with more tears.
It almost feels like nothing more than a bad dream.
The world was so simple when it was just them in Utopia. Just them standing together against whatever was thrown their way.
And now, at the end of it all, things are once again simple.
They braved the wonderful new world together.
And finally, after everything.
They're finally home.
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Notes:
So... yeah. That was a thing.
I honestly don't know when my dumb idea of one book about robot people, a telepathic dog and an fruity eccentric Shakespeare-enthusiast doctor turned into probably the most personally sentimental series I've ever written and honestly let consume my life more than I feel the need to admit, but I guess here we are.
No doubt thanks to my homie Aloe, the enigma legend itself, the real-life Kitty Garcia and the rightful creator of Data-Li, Rod Hod, Nesosa Val'Dernak, that one centaur prostitute from chapter 26, and J - who I literally couldn't get rid of no matter how hard I tried. And believe me, I tried.
Aloe - you dumb fucking idiot - for some dumbass reason gave me the motivation and so much goddamn inspiration to get me through this series, but thank you for everything. Our dumb dumb brains combined somehow pulled this out of our conjoined ass. The first time I asked you for help with this series was to describe a fancy fence and now your characters are running like wild fucking animals through my books, pissing on the carpets and carrying the story.
And thus, carried it to the end
But, if you know me then you know that I'll never be actually done with this series. I have a "few" ideas and some drafts made for a follow-up story that follows an 18-year-old Reela on an adventure of her own. Along with this, I have plans for two character backstories.
With all of that said, I guess this is it for now. If you for some reason stuck around for this long then you must be a psychological masochist or something, but regardless I want to sincerely thank you for enjoying this series enough to see it to the end.
-Sincerely, your Meds.
P.s. haha just kidding there's still an epilogue about leather daddy ;)
-J, aka the main character