14 [Arc 01 - Perturbation, Part Ten] <rev. 09.14.2014>
With a crash, Fluttershy burst through a castle window with the red blur, tumbling to the floor in a heap of wings and hooves before sliding to a stop against the far wall.
Everything was silent a moment, the sound of heavy breaths filling the room as the storm’s din slowly faded.
Coughing and sputtering, Fluttershy shoved the red silhouette off angrily, it trotting away a few steps before looking back at the huffing pegasus.
Wh-why would you… how could you do that? she thought, the words subsumed in frustration.
“Why did you all take me away from her?!” she yelled at the silhouette, voice shrill and broken. “Why did you abandon them? Why did you make me abandon them?!”
The silhouette didn’t reply, simply cocking its head to the side as it stared past her at the magenta silhouette on the other side of the room. The unicorn’s focus was on the stairwell entrance, however.
The throne room again.
Dusty, dirty, empty… a void…
It seemed as though it had never been touched.
Any damage from the previous battles forgotten by the ancient walls, restored to—what one could only state with bitterness—its former glory.
“Why did you…? Why?” the yellow pegasus mewled softly, her eyes welling up with tears as the anger faded away, the dark weight of defeat settling upon her.
“Indeed. Why?” the voice boomed from the entrance, Fluttershy diving instinctively behind the magenta unicorn. “She was so much happier… how could you do such a thing? Separating a child from its mother like that. Haven’t you a heart, Elements?”
Fluttershy cowered behind the magenta silhouette, shivering as the beast manifested. Darkness bled through every crack and crevice around the entrance, its draconic form soon filling the room entirely, the red silhouette taking to the air.
“She would have been so much happier.”
It was hurt, body suffused with decay. The shadows that comprised it seemed to drip away into nothingness in a constant cycle as the shadows around them flowed into it as if a lifeline.
Even its mocking laugh seemed pained now.
“But you had to ruin it, didn’t you? A joyful reunion of mother and daughter…”
With an audible growl, the red silhouette shot like an arrow at the beast, slamming into the side of its head, sending it crashing down into the wall.
It lay, stunned for a moment as the stony structure heaved and crumbled beneath its weighty impact. With an unheard roar, the red pegasus came around for another blow, but as the silhouette came around, hooves at the ready, it was snatched from the air by a shadowy claw formed from the aether, a wispy tendril of darkness linking it to the beast.
“You think me defeated, elements!” it roared out its frustration. “We have only just begun, younglings.”
“Let her go!” Fluttershy cried out, adrenaline flooding her veins as she lept from behind the magenta unicorn.
“You think you may command me, weak little pegasus?” It smirked and smashed the red pegasus into the floor.
It lay there, unmoving as the dragon turned to her.
“Do you think yourself in control here?”
“I… I…” Fluttershy sputtered as her courage quickly drained away.
“You think you have the strength? When so much of it has been borrowed?” the beast inquired as it drew closer, picking the red pegasus up and slamming it back down with each and every step.
“St-stop!” Fluttershy cried out as she watched the limp red form being driven hard into the stone.
The magenta silhouette slipped between Fluttershy and the nightmare, much to the beast’s amusement.
“Borrowed from the Elements… from your friends… from these fleeting memories…”
Fluttershy ducked down, unable to bear the nightmare’s gaze even as a shimmering shield materialized about them.
“What will be left when they are all gone.. when you are truly, utterly abandoned.” It paused its stride momentarily, dripping grin growing wide. “I do wonder… what will be left of you?”
The magenta silhouette stood strong, hooves planted firmly as the shield glowed brighter.
“Let us see then—”
Dropping the red pegasus, the beast raised a clawed fist and brought it down on the shield with a thunderous crash.
“—what—”
Once more, the shield held as the ground began to crack and bow beneath them.
“—is—”
The ground crackled and the shield began to splinter and crackle, the magenta silhouette falling to them ground, horn sparking as it struggled to maintain.
“—left!”
The shield burst apart, the magenta silhouette crashing into Fluttershy, the pair tumbling onto their backs.
Fluttershy groaned as she struggled back to her hooves, staggering to the unicorn’s side.
“No.. don’t leave…” she gasped out as she grasped the motionless unicorn before it crumbled away in her hooves.
“Let us finish then, young one,” the beast stated in a tired, exasperated tone. “Let us be done with this nonsense.”
It raised its clawed fist to strike but suddenly found itself knocked back by a blur of red streaking back through the window. The beast growled from the ground as the red silhouette lit upon the ground just before Fluttershy. It postured itself against the beast, forehoof scraping at the floor in threat.
“Such persistence, Element. Must we continue?” the beast asked blithely, lifting itself from the ruins of a column with a rumble of frustration. “What do you hope to gain?”
[o-0-o]
“Time…”
“Beg yer pardon?”
“Time… we need time…”
[o-0-o]
Trembling, Fluttershy watched the red silhouette dodge the nightmare’s swiping claws, circling to strike the nightmare with a rising hoof to the jaw.
Quickly, the silhouette retreated from range as a blade of shadowed flame sliced down from the ceiling. It waited for an opening and charged the beast, looping around a stream of flame before crashing right into its exposed throat with a shoulder. The nightmare choked, fiery blast ceasing as it collapsed to all fours before the red silhouette sent it crashing back with a well-timed blow to its chest.
The silhouette flipped back in the air, looping towards Fluttershy and looking by all accounts ready to deliver a final Strike before, with a whiplike crack, the nightmare’s tail sent the red shade retreating once more before the back of one of the beast’s claws caught it, sending it crashing through a window.
“And now, little one,” it hissed, drawing closer on trudging claws to Fluttershy’s corner of the room, “this can be over.”
The nightmare slunk along the floor, lower half breaking down into incorporeality as its top half seemed to bend and ripple.
Even with it weakened so, Fluttershy could only cower, tendrils of shadow pressing her to the stone.
“Now…” it gasped out through gritted teeth. “Submit.”
I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t… she repeated over and over in her mind.
“Submit!” the nightmare demanded as she felt the cold of it closing around her.
No, no, no… she replied silently, curling around herself as tightly as she could.
“SUBMIT!” the beast roared, not in words, but in Fluttershy’s head as her hind hooves kicked at the suddenly missing floor, desperately trying to flee. “SUBMIT!”
“NO!”
Her eyes snapped open as she felt something coming. The tower had faded, an all-consuming dark everywhere, but as she peered into the dark, she saw the bright flash of red cutting through.
She saw through the dark, through the nightmare.
The red struck the nightmare full force, the nightmare’s form shattering before her eyes. The darkness swept away as the red pegasus skidded along before her, a pair of familiar eyes staring at her from beneath the red light.
“It’s time to wake up, Fluttershy…”
“Rai-Rainbow?” she whispered hoarsely.
“C’mon, Fluttershy… you can do it…”
“Is it… are you…?” She reached a hoof towards the other pegasus, but something caught her eye.
A coil of shadow… snaking across the floor…
“It’s time, Fluttershy…”
Fluttershy felt cold, all the colors fading away, the red of the element the only light as the beast molded itself into a familiar form.
Rainbow… please… please… please… she begged silently, body stiff and unmoving. Please…
It struck, shadowy fangs piercing through them. She felt the burn once more, watching as red light poured from the newfound wound.
She couldn’t breathe.
She couldn’t think.
She could only watch as the light bled away. She grasped weakly at the silhouette, at the cyan pegasus, at her friend as they lay on the floor.
Distant voices echoed, unintelligible and unwanted as her hoof grasped for the other mare.
“Rainbow? I’m sorry, Rainbow… Please don’t go…” She cried softly as she clutched at her friend, something thick and wet pooling between them.
“Fluttershy?” came the soft whisper.
“I’m… I’m here…” she replied, eyes dimming as the color drained from the other pegasus.
“No…nopony else…”
“What?” Her eyes fell shut, feeling so heavy. Her breaths coming in staggered gasps as she drew her friend close with weak hooves, unwilling, unable to let go.
“Nopony else needs to hurt.”
Fluttershy’s eyes snapped open and her blood ran cold.
“Nopony else needs to be hurt because of you.”
Fluttershy watched as a twisted smile crept across the pegasus’s monochromatic face. The usually rose-colored orbs a dark gray, the pupils shrunk to tiny pinpricks.
“Nopony needs to be hurt trying to protect a sad little weakling like you.”
Fluttershy scrambled back, her wound sealed as they were returned to the throne room once more.
“I would have thought that this would have made you happy.” Rainbow shook her head as she walked closer, shadows bleeding from its abdomen, fomenting in the back of its throat to lace each word. “Where’s your Kindness?”
Fluttershy simply stared in shock at her friend, pressed back as her innards twisted with the urge to vomit.
“How cruel it is for you to keep doing this to your friends… Tsk-tsk, Fluttershy…”
Then something broke.
“To lead them so foolishly…”
Something deep inside.
“To give them up so selfishly…”
Something deep inside her simply—
“To sacrifice them.”
—snapped.
“How could you—”
The gray pegasus didn’t finish as she was slammed to the floor by Fluttershy, her hide glowing a deep, dark pink.
“How dare you!” She lifted the other pony up only to slam her down with a snarl, stone cracking beneath the blow. “How dare you do any of this to anypony!”
She raised up, face twisted in a mask of rage, anger seeping from every fiber of her being.
“I hate you!”
She slammed down, forehooves pressed together, on the other pegasus’s face, hooves hitting home with a sickening crunch.
“I hate you!”
Again.
“I hate you!”
And again, the feel of cracking bone reverberating up her hooves.
“Just go away!”
A final time her hooves came down before she collapsed, sobbing beside the mangled mash of her best friend.
I… I…
She couldn’t think as she stared at the body.
Its face was unrecognizable, a gaping hole set in the center of its abdomen from which shadow still pumped.
She felt suddenly hollow. She felt so empty as pinkish motes of light blew from her by some unfelt breeze.
I can’t…
She didn’t move as she felt the familiar cold sweep about her.
I can’t anymore…
She let it invade her until she was awash in it, an ocean of darkness.
I just ca—
Her thought was interrupted as a sudden wave coursed over her.
Followed by a familiar, earth-shaking noise.
That’s… familiar…
She watched it through the window, a rainbow wave of light coursing towards them, lighting the dark.
Why is it so familiar…?
She watched as it hit the room. The stones disintegrating beneath its might, tearing the throne room to pieces.
It’s so beautiful…
Then it hit. An indescribable pain shot through her. It felt as though she was being torn apart, every hair and feather ripped from her at the root.
She was cast down, falling into the pit of infinite blackness. She felt something lift from her, the cold seeping from her.
Flying away, passing back just behind the wave of light as it abandoned her to the dark.
Why are you going?
She could hardly think, her wings wavering at her sides as she plummeted towards infinity, yellow feathers twisting up through the air as they peeled from the rapidly diminishing limbs as if to mark the way back.
Why do I feel so sad?
She watched in confused fascination as a trail of tears whipped from her eyes, flowing upwards with the feathers as her vision began to fade.
Oh… Who are you?
The last thing she noticed—
Where are we going?
—a glowing, pink pegasus plummeting towards her, its hoof stretched towards her.
[o-0-o]
[End Arc 01]
[o-0-o]
[Epilogue]
[o-0-o]
“Ughh.... my head...” Rainbow Dash groaned as she rubbed her aching skull with a forehoof. She could only stand part way before a sudden twinge of pain shot through her abdomen and she dropped to a crouch.
Well... that hasn’t gone away...
Gently, she was hefted to her hooves proper by a stone-faced Applejack. Glancing over to where Pinkie and Rarity lay, she found them half-conscious on the floor of the large bedchamber turned hospital room.
Twilight, on the other hoof, was already at Fluttershy’s side, eyes darting across the pegasus’s prone form.
“That had to work, right?” A nervous tremble coursed through her as she tried to shift her weight onto her own hooves, the necklace hanging heavy around her neck. “The Elements certainly took enough out of us.”
Applejack merely rolled her eyes, shifting the cyan pegasus closer before helping her limp towards where Fluttershy lay, still tucked into her bed, still unconscious.
“Did it work?” Twilight asked suddenly, voice devoid of emotion.
“I... I do not know,” came the worried reply. The moon princess looked on, the royal sisters having stayed to the back of the room during the operation along with their advisors.
“Fluttershy? Can you hear us, Fluttershy?” Rainbow croaked out, brushing against her hoof.
But Fluttershy was silent. Still silent.
Rainbow pressed her head to Fluttershy’s, whispering softly.
“Wait... what’s happening?”
With a surge of excitement, of hope, Rainbow rose up to find that something had indeed happened.
But not anything good as the color drained from the unconscious pegasus.
“Tha... that can’t be right,” Applejack remarked, voice cracking as she stared at the line of gray that seemed to be slowly, but surely making its way across the pegasus save for one spot.
It’s... it’s working... Rainbow stared as the Element of Kindness glowed a dull pink, Fluttershy’s usually soft yellow complexion remaining, if only just there. Isn’t it?
“Princess?” Rainbow turned to face Luna, eyes pleading for something, the merest shadow of a hope.
But Luna simply watched, the silent observer, her expression remaining impenetrable.
Rainbow turned back to her friend, hoof brushing against the golden surface of the element, touching another hoof to the element about her own neck.
“Fluttershy?”
Please, Fluttershy...
“Please, Fluttershy... please wake up...” Pinkie whispered, the pink pony appearing beside Rainbow, a bleary-eyed Rarity at her side.
They stood in silence, five friends locked together by failing hope as a pall of helplessness was cast over them all.
“A moment...” Luna cast a shield spell, gently pressing back the five elements from their sixth.
“What?” Rainbow demanded, her voice missing the edge of anger and indignation she desired.
“Jus’ do like she says, Rainbow...” Applejack said, hefting the cyan pegasus back.
“I... but... okay,” Rainbow mumbled, feeling the defeats accumulate.
The moon princess passed into the bubble she had created around the bed and to Fluttershy’s side, bending her head down to the unconscious pegasus.
“Fluttershy… if you can hear us… we have something to tell you…” Luna trailed off into whispers, eyes focused and determined as the rest could simply look on.
Slowly, the shield spell collapsed to a single point of blue light at the tip of her horn as she touched it to the Fluttershy’s chest.
“Princess Celestia?” Twilight murmured as she watched, her mentor slipping to her side.
“Yes, my student?” Celestia replied, voice seeming detached as they looked on.
“Have…” Twilight choked on her words, swallowing the lump lodged in her throat before continuing. “Have they failed before?”
Celestia was silent a moment, content to simply place a hoof on her charge’s shoulder. “Yes…”
“Time...” Luna finally spoke aloud.
“Beg yer pardon?” Applejack asked as the five friends crowded back around the bed.
“Time… we need time…” Luna replied, looking forlorn as she stared at Fluttershy, hoof tapping at the edge of what remained of Fluttershy’s color.
“Well, how do we get more?”
“We…I do not know.”
“C’mon, Luna, think!” Applejack demanded with more anger than she’d perhaps intended, pushing.
“We are playing at powers beyond your comprehension, Lady Applejack,” Luna hissed in reply as she pressed back against the earth pony. “It... It is a will I can scarcely comprehend either...”
“I… I’m sorry. We’re all worried... An’...” Applejack tipped her hat back, trailing off into silence.
“Wait…” Luna murmured, her horn lighting once more as she took a few steps backwards.
“What? What’s happ—”
Twilight was cut off as her question was answered as the Element of Kindness burst forth with a blinding pink.
A beam shot from the element, striking each of its peers in turn—Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Magic and finally Loyalty—before the magic arced back its beginning: the Element of Kindness.
“The hay!” Applejack cried out as they were pulled roughly into the air, the room alight with a familiar kaleidoscope of colors before the five dropped to the floor in a chorus of painful thumps.
The room faded into darkness before something audibly burst, dust filling the air.
Rainbow coughed, sliding along the floor towards the nearest pony, a hacking and sputtering Twilight Sparkle.
“You alright?” the pegasus asked, tapping a hoof to the unicorn.
Twilight choked down a cough, but nodded her head before calling forth her magic, an arcane wind blowing through the room to clear away the dust. The trio of windows along the wall bursting open with the aid of yellow magic as the fading sunlight streamed into the room alongside fresh air.
A combination of light and dark blue magic brought the magic-powered ceiling lights back to life, the ornate chandelier flaring brightly before settling on a more normal luminosity.
“Everypony okay?”
“Everypony seems to be in one piec—” Rarity cut herself off, letting out a gasp as her eyes trailed towards Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow, ignoring the aches of her body, hurdled Twilight to grasp the pegasus. “You’re awake!”
“It worked!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly as the quintet crowded the conscious and confused pegasus.
“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy whispered, looking down at the rainbow-colored mane buried into her chest.
“Yeah, ‘Shy?” Rainbow twisted around to look up.
“You smell.”
“You really could use a bath, darling,” Rarity replied, voice giddy as she hugged the yellow pegasus tight before her nose wrinkled as well. “The both of you actually.”
“Baths later! Hugs now!” Pinkie declared with a joyful giggle, her seemingly elastic hooves ensnaring the whole group.
From afar, Luna watched with a genuine smile plastered across her face, a familiar wing closing over her.
“I... I am so, so very happy, sister,” Luna whispered, pressing into her elder sister as joyous tears fell.
“I know. I am as well,” Celestia replied, nuzzling her younger affectionately, wiping away the tears with a wingtip.
Behind the royal sisters, a deep grimace upon his face, stood a grey-blue unicorn with a disheveled, silvery mane that belied his noble dress.
As he watched on in rapt fascination, what remained of the Element of Kindness floated away on the evening breeze.
[o-0-o]
The cave was alight with the crystals’ strange glow.
Set into the walls, they formed orderly rows and, though they were all at of differing levels of growth, there was an intentional quality to their arrangement as they cast an strange pink hue over the cave walls.
Once upon a time, the cave had been a natural formation. Its purpose left to the wonts of time. But now, it was orderly and new, its luminosity only growing in the presence of its guest.
Meanwhile, the mare stared at it, a gouge into the stone wall of the cave, a wound torn deep within the earth. It rippled and bent before her eyes as she walked forward on unsure hooves stung by the coolness of the cave floor. Curiosity and caution wrestled in the depths of her mind as she drew nearer to it.
Slowly, deliberately, the wound expanded and she spotted something beyond it, shining in the darkness. She reached a hoof, feeling something resisting her.
She drew back, examining her hoof as the shadowy appendage rippled before her eyes. She turned towards the crystal-covered walls, catching the barest hint of her reflection, a pair of glowing eyes glinting off its polished surface.
Turning back to the hole, she pressed her hoof to the barrier, staring nervously at the point of contact. Screwing her eyes shut, she pressed through first her hoof and then the rest of her before she felt it...
The warmth… the light…
She opened her eyes to find herself standing on a sandy peak, an infinite desert spreading before her.
In the far distance, a spire reached up, up into the brown sky, its tip aglow with a warm, beckoning light.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Shortbread · 3.1k words · 16 0 · 934 views
- TDarkchylde · 34k words · 70 4 · 4.5k views
- knightcommander · 4.7k words · 49 2 · 3.5k views
- Professor Piggy · 9.3k words · 127 4 · 5.9k views
- Earl Grey · 21k words · 41 2 · 2.3k views
- Little Solarflare · 5.8k words · 74 2 · 5.1k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.115 seconds
Total duration
731 users online
779,216 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
THIS STORY IS EVIIIIIIIIIIL!
The thumbnail reminds me of Limbo.... O_o
The background and noir scenery did it in for me...
Tentative reading will be taking place
Definitely worth the wait. I've been enjoying this story since the beginning and can't wait for the second arc.
Woah. The EoK sacrificed itself to save 'Shy? That... might prove problematic. Especially if the nightmare was just stripped from Shy, not destroyed.
1173736 Hunh... seems that the exorcism was a waste of time then.... there goes 50 bucks down the drain...
1173774 And since the background for it actually is from LIMBO, that makes much sense.
Hopefully I'll be making that make sense (within the story) sometime.
1174651 You are an inordinately patient fellow. You may have this author whip (now with shards of glass embedded in it!) for your troubles. Be gentle... or harsh... y'know, whatever.
1175472 ...dangit... now I really do need to edit this HARD... especially them closing scenes...
1175618
You mean I'm confuzzled? No wai, that never happens. Not like I couldn't decide for a year if the story moved to Shy's headspace at the end of chapter 1 or chapter 4 or anything, nope, nosiree...
I'm a little lost as I kinda forgot what happened previously when I started on these new updates :(
1175634 NO WAI, GAIZ!
? Yes... that will do.
You are close though... so very, frustratingly, tantalizingly close...
As for the second bit... well, there was a hint regarding that in this update, but it should be clear once the next arc starts (whenever that actually happens... blarg *deskheads*). I do appreciate you covering up for my foibles with headcanon though.
Oh wait... already used that emote today... perhaps a
1175635 And after so many months, I can't say that I blame you for this.
1176301
A big part of my hesitance in forming conclusions comes from not really being sure what the physical paramaters for your setting are. The story started pre S2 but references S2 events. Not sure if the ponies are incarnations of the Elements or spiritual bearers, or attuned weilders (as per canon) for instance.
1175618 Have no fear, I'm gentle. We're a bit in the same boat when it comes to this. I am super slow at producing new content, lacking the proper "mood" or somesuch. And then when I do have the time, I look back at my old stuff and what did I really write this no way this is horrible this must be fixed now. So I understand completely, and when it's good quality like this I'm more than happy to wait.
1176435 This is something I do intend to explain somewhat explicitly in Arc 2, though I am hoping to avoid having plot exposition theater when I do so... I can safely say that some of the things you've mentioned are true in some combination of said things ( or rather "A little from column A and a little from column B").
As for the S1 v. S2 thing... well, once things started dropping from S2, they were awfully tempting to put in (especially since most of them didn't violate my plans as some other bits of canon have (see: Rarity's parents with regards to Simply Rarity). Still kinda working at aligning it to S2 canon as it is though). At any rate, it seemed best to incorporate what I could... hopefully things don't get too wonky with S3...
Crystal Ponies, you worry me...
1176705 Bleh... writerly moods, why are you so very elusive?
Got that "oh, gah, why aren't you better?" going with Arc 0 currently too.
I still honestly have no idea how those error-strewn first chapters landed on EqD...
1177629 I... um... alright? Sorry? Glad you... uh... somethin'...
1179158
I'm considering tying you up and "motivating" you to write more.
G3 & 3.5 R34 motivating enough?
This was fantastic. I don't know how else to describe this fic: it has left my mind blown. Few fanfictions- nay, few stories in general- have so completely captured my attention and then refused to let me go until I finished it, damnit! It had twists. It had suspense. It boggled my mind, left me confused at the end of each chapter, but I loved it so! I commend you, author, for writing such a work, and words cannot fully express my gratitude to you for helping me stave off boredom with such an amazing story.
One last question for you: Is there more in this arc yet? If so, I would very dearly like to read it.
This was painful to read just because human comprehension is limited when it comes to more than 4 dimensions.
And I swear this story happens in the 10th dimension...
1179261 Hm... well, considering that I've borne witness to changeling porn being used as "motivation," I dunno how well this plan shall work... unless, of course, we're talkin' about doing this Clockwork Orange style...
I fear the dry eye...
1179761 Just remember, there might be a 3 in there somewhere. Or even, dare I even speak it, a 1!
1179912 I think that a good half to ninety percent of my comments seem to claim confusion... so, um... success?
Anyways, this should be it for Arc 1 (though I am considering adding a scene to the epilogue to better transition/explain things (Edit: And I did...)), so the next part will be the interlude then we get to move on to Arc 2, the finding things arc.
And, because I have an affinity for obtuse hints via song, have a thing.
1184424 Well, I suppose I should apologize for apparently BLOWING YOUR MIND!
Y'know, I honestly don't intend to write things that are so confusing... it just sorta happens. Oh well, perhaps it will push for the evolution of 5th-dimensional perception in humans. If Pinkie has it, why not people?
Does anyone else have no idea what happened? I really need to reread the hole thing...
Nope...I have no idea what's going on (and I haven't since the giant snake golem thing). I remember now why I call this story "The Mindscrew Story" (and that's saying something, considering I've read Double Rainbow, aka "The story that not even Steven Moffat could understand").
1624797
[youtube=d-diB65scQU]
This story has done enough tugging at my heartstrings that until it's either completely abandoned or finished, I just can't read it. The suspense is absurd, and I just can't leave myself hanging like this story manages to - it is written amazingly, so I only hope that it'll someday be finished and I can enjoy it properly.