I don't think I've ever been prouder of a book than I am right now. Yes, I've felt deep pride with my other Together As One adventures, but this book is not only my very first Casey Jones-centric fanfiction, but also the first one with an intricately-woven plot and an air of mystery, mixed in with a possible ship pairing that doesn't actually end up together in the end.
What other firsts? First gay couple, first OC of a completely different ethnicity (the closest I got before was Taylor, who's Mexican), first adopted main character, first asexual main character, and first fanfiction that focuses heavily on the platonic relationship between a male and female. That's a pretty good list, if I do say so myself.
I wrote this story in an arc. It was my plan right from the beginning. The story would begin with a funeral. It shows Casey Jones watching as his father is lowered into the ground, expressing his grief about the situation to the curious reader.
As the story progresses, Casey has a few more bumps and bruises before he meets Zilla. Slowly but surely, as the story gets nearer to the middle, he slowly forgets his grief and starts acting like the good 'ole Casey Jones that we all know and love. Zilla makes Casey happy, despite her pessimistic views and tendency to irk him with her mysterious ways.
On the topic of Zilla, when we meet the Spanish shadow, she's a lonely, broken mutant with no aspirations or views for the future. She's, to be blunt, a pessimistic pain in the ass. But just as she changes Casey, he changes her. He makes her feel needed, however small that feeling is, and actually gives her someone to trust.
But, of course, it takes a sudden downwards spiral, and we end off the book with Casey standing at another funeral. In many ways, he's back to where he started, except now he's been affected by a girl with a different outlook on life and a different way of going about things.
Chapter one and chapter forty begin with the same sentence; "Casey Jones hates funerals." I thought that would just be a cool way to end the story the same way as it began.
Where does the series go from here? Well, let me just tell you.
From this book, there are two options.
1. Head back to Together As Mutants and start off from after "During These Years". Read through that scenario-written story and continue on to Legacy of the TMNT, where the next generation of Hamato kids face their own battles.
2. Head off to End of Mutations, an alternate ending to the events of this story. How did one little moment change just enough that, instead of moving on and starting their own families, the Hamatos and their loved ones are left in the chaos of WWIII and the mutant-human civil war? You'll just have to find out.
I hope you guys enjoyed this book! I'm certainly proud of it! Thank you so much for sticking with it!
Love you guys so much!
~ Hope <3