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And onto tonight's wonderful tale…~Voltegeist

Ignore him, I haven't given him a sock yet ~ Twisted

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Below him, through the viewing port beneath his feet that allowed he and other Helljumpers to see where they were going - for as little as it mattered, given the positions they would be in - was the great, blue jewel of Earth. Humanity's birthplace, the Covenant's most coveted target according to anyone with sense, and now that the Covenant had found it, probably the last battlefield on which the existence of the Human race would be bet.

"All or nothing, and the house looks like it's cheating. And not in our favor." He grumbled to himself, looking down at the great blue ball.

Or, well, the great orange one more like right now. With the sun edging around the horizon and bathing the sky he wasn't even in yet in a warm orange glow, the clouds tinged in reds and pinks from the light washing from one end to the other, the varying moisture levels and cloud densities causing the light to refract and fragment into a dozen colors that cast themselves on the clouds. Like the world was putting on a lightshow, guiding them all down welcomingly to fight the invaders bathing it in blood and plasma.

Red lights flashed on, bathing him in the warm light, and he took a breath. His fingers flexed along the grips to either side of himself, the Gunnery Sergeant's voice coming through the speakers around him, "Alright, ladies, Romeo and… other ladies, I guess, get ready to drop in one. See you in the thick of it."

He tuned out what Romeo said in return, eyes closing instead and right leg bouncing in time with a count in his head. An old habit, and a bad one by a lot of people's assertions, but not one he was going to even bother trying to stop. He had a million bad habits he could have chosen, and this one wasn't giving him cancer or killing his liver and kidneys. Not that climbing into a small metal coffin and dropping from low-orbit was any better, really.

Sixty seconds, and it was clever quips, red ready lights, and everything else that 'Troopers did before they dove into hell in 'Pods or Pelicans both.

Forty-five, and Buck ordered another weapons check no one needed. Not a single soul closed their pods without checking their gear, and Buck knew that. But it was better that to occupy the time than silence and droning beeping in his ears. It would only make everyone even more anxious.

Thirty seconds, and his knuckles began to ache from how hard he was gripping the handholds, knuckles almost definitely white under his gloves. His jaw clenched and his heart raced, blood pounding in his ears. He took a deep breath and held it, then let go a few seconds later to calm himself. This was nothing compared to facing down a charging Hunter or a rampaging Brute, after all, and he'd done both those things, and then later he'd run from a tactical warhead. A little fall wouldn't kill him.

He hoped, at least.

The two view screens on the door of the pod flickered on, staticy a bit but more than workable, and Dare spoke first, "Latest intel reports Covenant troops are massing beneath the Covenant carrier."

"They're falling back?" Buck asked, sounding as surprised as they all did at the news. Covenant didn't fall back, not normally, and when they did it was usually bad from Rook's experience. "Why?"

"We're not going to find out way up here." She answered sharply, definitely more than she needed to be at such a simple question. Whoever she was, she and Buck knew each other or something, because there was something there.

"Troopers!" Buck started, ignoring her entirely and proving that something was going on there. "We are green, and very, very mean!"

A moment later, their pods began detaching from the ship they were in, hurtling into freefall high above New Mombasa. They hurtles through the soundless void just above the atmosphere, or high enough it didn't cause any sound or friction yet, and Rook looked out at the crest of the Earth's round shape. Every planet was the same, in a single view, when you looked at the curve of the planet itself bending away from you.

"I take it back," drew his attention ahead of himself, Rome's voice sounding sickly amused as the ruined and burning hulk of what looked like a frigate came into view probably miles from them, "Navy got its butt kicked."

"Hey Romeo? Remember when I told you to shut your mouth?"

"Yeah?"

"Consider that a standing order." It looked like Buck didn't appreciate the humor any more than Rook or the others probably did. Whatever his opinions, Romeo didn't respond after that, so it seemed like he at least followed orders.

"Captain, this-" He lost the rest in static for a moment as they transitioned into full atmosphere and the pods adjusted. Buck and the others looked to be below him, so they'd passed the transition zone, which was why they were talking.

"Stand by to adjust trajectory." Dare, according to her helmet at least, answered whatever Buck had said. His eyes locked onto her polarized visor and narrowed questioningly, but one of the others spoke for him. "On my mark."

"What'd she just say?"

"Mark."

The pods ahead of him jerked a split second before his did, angling to the side of the carrier now, at the city's heart instead of the carrier's. Again, one of the others spoke his complaints for him, "We're way off course!"

"We're heading exactly where I need to go." Dare answered cryptically, and John's stomach tightened. A spook, then, it had to be and that explained the unexplained course adjustment, the odd looking helmet, and why she'd tagged on to the squad at the last moment.

"But we're gonna miss the carrier."

"Radiation!" Another barked, and now he was wishing he'd memorized names to voices instead of counting on helmets like he had as a Marine and in his first unit of ODSTs, who he'd been with for weeks before dropping with them.

"Covenant set off a damn nuke?"

No, they didn't use nuclear weaponry, which meant an impossibly unlikely and insane Insurrectionist attack, or-

"No… The carrier is going to jump." Dare filled out his thoughts before he could follow them, and now the young Helljumper was scared far more seriously. "It's a Slipspace rupture, you need to-"

"EMP!"

Static washed over his comms for a moment, but he caught Buck's, "-and pop your chutes, we're going in hard!" Before one of the pods slammed into his, and then he slammed into another's, grabbing the handle on the door in front of him and fighting against gravity, momentum, and whatever gods existed to keep it closed lest he be flung into open air to smear against the ground far below.

He saw the ground below, then a wash of purple as he hurtled towards the ship, and then the sky overhead before his vision darkened from the G-forces being applied to him now. He saw another blue, this one bright enough to hurt even with his visor polarized against it, and his eyes widened.

He was hurtling into the 'rupture, and that was very bad.

Inside the 'rupture, the world he found was a mix of all different colors, swirling in his sight almost mesmerizingly. It lasted only a moment, though, before the weightlessness gave way to gravity again and the world was a black night's sky, unfamiliar stars and a rocky surface beneath him visible through spider-webbing cracks all along the surfaces of his pod's viewing panels, if he could see through them at all.

Something slammed into his pod and jerked it to the side, but whatever it was hadn't pierced the armor and only succeeded in altering his course towards some kind of plateau, all grey stone and metal structures from what little he could glean with all the spinning his drop pod was currently doing.

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"Vega, move front and attract their fire. Vakarian, find a position and look for targets, support Vega while you're at it." Shepard ordered, sprinting far to the left towards one of the small shed-like buildings the Turian defenders had set up to use as cover and shelter. "I've got left flank."

Her left shoulder slammed into the cover and a Turian above her barely spared a glance to confirm that she wasn't a Husk and then turned back, putting suppressing bursts onto several of the Marauders on the far end of the wide open are in the middle of the camp. The creatures spread out well enough, a couple of Cannibals scattered among their number, using scattered boulders and crates both as low cover.

"Target down." Garrus called over the coms as one's head exploded and it fell back, legs twitching. "Vega, Cannibals are-"

"I know, Gilipollas." The man snarled, rounding the corner and putting two heavy blasts from his Katana into the Reaper. It screeched as the first hit, sprawling wildly on the ground before the second carved into its face and ended it entirely. A Marauder nearby saw this and fired a burst towards him, but he was in cover far before the rounds hit the metal crate he was kneeling behind, "How about you do your job though, Genio."

"You know, Vega, we have translators." Shepard cracked, leaning out with her Avenger and sending a burst into a Cannibal's back, staggering it. It turned to snarl at her and she sent another burst into its face, just under some armored plating, and watched it slump to the ground before she slid back into cover, "If you're gonna call us names, saying them in Spanish won't help you too much."

"Habit, Commander, I was raised on it so-"

"Commander, I am registering something incoming on your position." EDI's voice interrupted him, the woman turning from the fight and stepping further into hard cover to hear her better. "Scans indicate it is a small, metallic item, but not of Reaper origin."

"Debris from the space battle?" Unlikely, but she had to ask.

"Negative, the metal is relatively solid on a structural integrity scan, and the Turian forces are not contesting this airspace currently with capital ships." The AI answered back simply, "It also was not on sensors before, and suddenly appeared in atmosphere high above you moments ago, along with an… Odd spike of radiation I am unfamiliar with."

"Radiation?" Odd, but she shelfed that concern for the moment and turned to scan the battlefield again, asking, "Where is it going to land?"

"Approximately seven feet ahead of Lieutenant Vega, and two more to the left, in under ninety seconds according to current speed."

"Son-of-a-bitch, Vega! Fall back, we have an unknown coming down near your position, sixty seconds out." Shepard stepped out of cover to cover the man's retreat as he himself stood and bolted back, unloading the rest of her Avenger's clip in the direction of anything that both moved and didn't look quite Turian enough for her taste.

True to EDI's word, ninety seconds after she'd warned them what looked and felt like a missile slammed into the ground behind the Reaper's defensives lines, crushing a metal crate under its weight and hurling the various Husks to the ground around it on that side of the battlefield. The Turians flinched at the arrival too, freezing for the briefest of moments possible, before they resumed firing at the remaining Reaper units. Several Marauders and Cannibals staggered as they rose, wounded from the object's arrival but still alive, and rounds from Shepard's Avenger scythed into two of them and drove them down in burts of old blood and bits of flesh and metal, the Turians matching her opportunistic viciousness.

The last couple of Marauders fell to the combined fire of the Turians present and herself, and then the plateau fell very suddenly and very uncomfortably quiet around them.

It was short lived, before she lowered her rifle and called out, "Vega, Vakarian, check in."

"Status green." Garrus answered, striding up behind her as she moved towards the massive oval of what looked like armored metal, a dent on one side where something had struck it with more force than the ground apparently had. "Little low on ammo, though. What is this thing?"

"Status green." Vega chipped in, holstering his Katana on the back of his waist and getting closer to inspect the thing while the Turians went about securing weapons, ammunition, and wounded. Several started the arduous process of hauling Reaper corpses away as well, and at her request, one ran off to find the new Primarch, Victus. "Looks like… A life pod, maybe? But not one of ours, definitely."

"Ma'am." Shepard turned, a thinner than usual Turian in dirty and scorched red armor carrying an Avenger like her own ran up to her, quickly rattling out, "General Victus is waiting for you, Ma'am. He says he will be ready to depart momentarily, he's issuing standing orders and last dispatches before he goes."

"Understood." She nodded, grimacing as he turned and jogged away again, sighing tiredly and sadly. "They'll probably lose this moon without him here to lead them, won't they, Garrus?"

"We will, yeah." Garrus answered, voice a low tone she knew meant he was hurt by the thought. She looked to him, and for once saw a Turian instead of Garrus, gazing at the great orange spot on Palaven he had said was once his home and understood. But he moved on quickly enough, rolling his neck and raising his Mantis, "Gonna do a few last calls of my own, if you don't mind, Shepard."

"Bring General Victus back-"

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"-with you when you are done, we need to get out of here." JD coughed, pressing a hand against his side and groaning lowly while he listened to one of the only two voices he could understand. Bruised ribs all along the side of his chest, and he hated bruised ribs. Hurt just enough to be annoying. "And see if he has heavy gear, if this thing is a lifepod we need to see if the occupants survived."

He couldn't make out what the others were saying, all he could hear was a series of odd clicking sounds that he wasn't sure weren't his coming from his frankly ruined drop-pod. But it had received answers before, as muted as they had been especially in the sounds of combat that had briefly followed his rather hard landing on… Whatever planet or moon this was. The UNSC forces here were obviously engaged against Covenant forces and unable to call for help or rescue, because they wouldn't be here instead of at Earth if that wasn't the case. The UNSC had done an almost complete recall of forces to defend the homeworld, and he doubted some rocky moon would be exempt from that order.

Carefully, he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up so he was sitting on the back of his chair, grabbing first his M6C and checking its integrated sights. Satisfied when they worked, as disorienting as the impromptu check was for the briefest moment when he zoomed in on his leg, he holstered the weapon on his thigh and reached for his M7S, running the same check on it and ejecting the magazine as well to check the rounds were intact and seemed safe enough to use. The last thing a 'Trooper wanted was to drop, move out, and when they engage their gun blows up in their hands.

Satisfied, he reached up to press the emergency release buttons on his pod, small green lights sparking to life before he hit the last one. Readying his M7S, he took a breath, and the door launched into the air and away with a loud whoosh. Rookie followed it, rising in one fluid motion and raising his submachine gun readily, facing the sound of a woman's voice barking orders as those around him scrambled away.

Two humans stood closest, one in heavy armor and the other in at best a recon set of some sort, rifles pointed at him. Around him, odd aliens clicked and hissed at each other, spreading out and pointing rifles of some kind at him - though many had the same as the woman in front of him. That implied affiliation, maybe even an alliance.

Rebels and some Covenant race he hadn't seen, maybe?

No, this was a battlefield as clear as any he had seen before, so this was a combat race. They'd have been deployed at some point, and the way the creatures moved - disciplined, circling him, weapons steady and none speaking save two in heavier looking armor - spoke of strict military discipline, hard training, and experience together after both had been instilled in them properly.

"Hold fire, hold fire! It's a human, and that's not Cerberus as far as I know." The woman, her voice and body shape - lithe, but the strong kind born of combat and experience, and easily seen under her armor as close as it hugged her - ordered, and his eyes narrowed when the aliens seemed to listen to her. Heads turned slightly when she spoke and one in blue armor clicked something at them or her, the woman spoke to him directly, her hand moving from the grip of her rifle into the air in a show of peace, "I'm Commander Jane Shepard, Alliance N7 Operative and Council Spectre! Who are you?"

"John Doe," she snorted, but he continued in the same low tone, "Lance Corporal, Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, squad designation Alpha-Nine, serial designation 11282-31220-JD under standard United Nations Space Command military designations. Code name Rookie." He spared the unknown aliens a glance and returned his gaze to the woman's mask, eyes visible through a small and clear glass visor above her lips and over her nose, "I don't recognize your unit designation."

"Which one?" She asked carefully, eyes searching his polarized visor for something. The blue alien said something to her, and she shook her head, "No, Garrus, I don't… I don't think he's Cerberus. The insignias he has don't match any of theirs I know of."

"Any of them." He answered her question, and after a second he clarified for her, "Spectre, Council, Alliance, N7. These designations are unfamiliar to me. Are you under ONI jurisdiction?" It would explain the aliens, but only partially.

"United Nations Space Command is unfamiliar to me, too, you said Rookie was your designation, right? I assume you'd prefer I use that?" He nodded, and she lowered her rifle marginally, "Look, I don't know what is going on, but we're in a warzone. I can't keep the Turians from shooting you forever, Rookie."

"Turians?" He gave the aliens a look, searching odd faces and dark-visored masks for anything that would betray something of note. His grip tightened on the M7S' small grip, and the 'Turians' shifted anxiously, but none moved to defy the woman, Shepard. Something caught his eye off to his right and he turned slightly, and froze.

A world on fire, great orange spots raging, and a massive ship of some kind lumbering in the distance, lances of red lasers like streams of molten steel carving out and across the ground, great gouts of explosions sounding behind it in a trail of destruction. Around the plateau, a dark landscape of black stone spires and fields of rocks stretched out, fighters of two types buzzing over it and blasting each other out of the air, and entrenched positions - destroyed and still fighting - dotted the landscape wherever the terrain was most suited.

A missile from the ground soared into the air and slammed into the titanic ship, the thing sagging only slightly before it turned, and a lance of that red and orange attack carved out and through it in a shower of molten metal and sparks. A moment later, munitions or fuel caught light and ignited in another shower of sparks, molten metal and destruction, flying through the air and peppering the ground around it.

"Where am I, and what is happening?" He asked, lowering his weapon and clambering out of the pod, dropping to the ground uncaring of the weapons still trained on him. "And what," he started, pointing a finger at the ship carving scorch-lines across the terrain miles away, "is that?"

"Menae, a moon orbiting Palaven." The woman answered, waving a hand at the aliens. Most lowered their rifles, and Blue chittered something that made them all stand down and return to whatever they'd been doing. He didn't react to either name, standing relaxedly in front of his pod, and the woman sighed audibly, "Menae is classified, but Palaven didn't mean anything to you?"

"No."

"It's the Turian homeworld." The woman said, gesturing at Blue when he and the hispanic looking soldier joined her and stood to either side protectively. "And that is a Reaper. They're carving it up like a Thanksgiving Turkey, just like Earth, and we need to-"

"They're attacking Earth?" He snapped, taking a step towards her as his pulse spiked. "What about the Covenant?"

"I don't- The what?" She asked, and he ignored the two half-raising their rifles at his sudden movement. They wouldn't shoot him unless he made a more hostile move, the discipline shown here proved that to him. "Not important right now- Look, yes, Earth is under attack, just like here. I'm here on a classified operation to extract a VIP in hopes of assembling a force to counter-attack in furtherance to emergency galactic pursuit of systems defence."

"Understood." He nodded, snapping a salute and coming to attention, the woman flinching at the sudden action. "Lance Corporal John Doe, reporting for duty in the defense of Earth as per standing Winter Contingency protocols and orders. Until I can ascertain what has happened to me, I place myself under your command as the ranking Human officer, Ma'am. Pending a review of the matters at hand, of course."

"What the hell…" The hispanic man shook his head, looking at the woman and sighing, "Commander, your call, but this reeks of somethin' a bit more off than I would be comfortable with."

"I-" several of the Turians started clicking and hissing again urgently and she turned, looking back at a half-ruined wall as the defender leapt down and tried to bolt. The wall slammed down before the alien could though, pinning it, and a massive claw slammed down and ripped the alien in half as a creature lumbered forward.

"Reapers!" The woman called, the warning was less than necessary though, the Turians were already moving behind crates for cover as several synthetic looking Turians - or he thought they were, at least - began spreading out behind the creature, using it as armored cover to advance. "Defensive positions, Vakarian, Vega, defend the Primarch and pull him back."

"Ma'am." Vega, now named, responded along with something like that from the Turian, turning and hogging off towards a cluster of other Turians swarming protectively over one in dirty armor and heavy cover.

She slammed against a crate and Rookie followed, each on a corner of the massive thing while she spoke, "Look, gonna assume you've been living under a rock and don't know shit about shit, because I don't want either of us dying, okay?" He nodded, and she took a breath, "Reapers bad, Turians good. Primarch needs to stay safe for the war effort. That big one is a Brute, it has heavy armor. The little ones are Marauders, they have shields and command roles, I think. The rounder ones are Cannibals, don't let them get to their fallen, and they don't have shields so they're easy to kill. Roger?"

"Roger." He answered, flicking the safety of his M7S back off and looking over his shoulder at her, "Permission to engage and ROE?"

"Granted, fuck it, go wild and kill anything that looks like those three." She answered, slamming what he assumed to be ammunition into her rifle and, "I'll let you know if any new kinds of Reapers show up. 'Til then, kill anything that looks like those. Good?"

"Understood. Engaging." He stood without another word and stepped from cover, sighting down one of the Marauders with his M7, putting the circle-sight on its torso and opening with a long burst of automatic fire.

The creature stumbled under the fire, turning and returning several shots while it sparked, and the Rookie stepped to the side suddenly. The rounds passed by harmlessly as its shields died, and the next several ripped into its upper chest and throat, killing it. A round glanced off his chest-plate and he slammed down against a crate, quickly running the angle through his head and rising again inside a few seconds. The round shape of a Cannibal was the first thing he saw, and a quartet of rounds into what he guessed was its head that sent it careening against the back of a Marauder firing on the massed Turians.

"Husk!" He heard the woman roar from behind him, turning to see a vaguely human thing leap off a crate at him and dropping his M7.

He reached out quickly, grabbing an arm and yanking down to slam it into the ground and drawing his SOCOM in his off hand. A round to the head finished it, and he raised the sidearm to sight another one rushing around the crate, perforating first it and then two more with a pair of rounds each and kneeling on instinct when he didn't see any more of the creatures.

Several fiery rounds lanced over his head while he reloaded the sidearm and placed it back on his thigh, retrieving his M7 and doing the same. Firing bursts as she moved, the 'Spectre' moved from her cover to his, sending short bursts downrange as she went while rounds sparked off her chest harmlessly for several seconds, the woman kneeling before her shields - and didn't that cement that he wasn't in Kansas anymore - dropped entirely.

"Two Cannibals at nine, a Marauder at twelve, and that Brute is closing on the Primarch. Can you handle them for me so I can deal with the Brute?" He nodded and she sighed, looking at him, "Got any grenades?"

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To her surprise, he held up two small, green grenades that looked like something out of an old war movie. She took them, though, sighing and asking, "How do I set these, and what are the detonation times?"

"Depress the buttons and throw them." He answered simply, shrugging his armored shoulders when she tilted her helmet in clear question at him. He sighed, and continued in a tired tone, "It won't detonate in your hand or the air. It has to strike the ground or a hard surface, and then it will detonate."

"Huh." She plucked one from his outstretched hand and stood, pressing the small, red button she found on top of it and flinging it towards a couple Cannibals. It bounced of one's back and hit the ground, rolling an inch before it exploded in light and shrapnel, ripping the two Cannibals to shreds along with the corpse they had been feasting on. Taking the other, she stepped out of cover and holstered her Avenger, drawing her Carnifex instead, "Cover me, would you kindly?"

She didn't wait for his answer, raising her Carnifex to snap a shot into a Cannibal that noticed her and then bolting towards the Brute's back as it charged at Vega. The large hispanic man managed to leap back as his cover was crushed, coming up in front of the line of Turians that were pouting fire onto the beast, but the Brute raised its claw high to crush Vega, the cover, and the Turians in one. The Turians, at least, scattered but Vega had nowhere to go.

Which meant she would have to, she just hoped Rookie could cover her properly as she holstered her Carnifex and brought up her Omni-Tool. The Tech-Armor program wasn't hers, but it would work, and she keyed it up as she ran. The holographic armor, condensed Omni-Gel forming armor plating and routing power and processing systems in her 'Tool into the defensive measures, deflected the single round a Marauder managed to squeeze out before she looked and saw it collapse under a lance of fire from the Rookie's suppressed weapon. A Cannibal next to it rounded on her as well and suffered the same fate, and then a second Cannibal met it as well as it leapt down off the roof of one of the Turian deployed structures.

Three steps from the Brute, she made a fist and made a twisting motion, the standard motions to trigger the Omni-Blade program that military 'Tools came prebuilt with now. The glowing blade sprang to life just as she reached the Brute, she leapt onto its back, surprising the Reaper abomination.

It snarled and staggered under her weight, and she tried not to be offended at that but burying her Omni-Blade into the shoulder the claw-arm was attached to felt satisfying regardless. Planting her knees on the small of its back while it bucked her, trying to throw her, she shouted, "Get back, I'm deploying explosives!"

Vega clumsily leapt onto the crate as the creature turned back to him, warbling angrily, and he bolted when she raised her other fist with the grenade and depressed the trigger. "Here goes nothing smart!"

She pitched the grenade under the Brute and crouched down on it, eyes scrunching shut anxiously. The grenade went off and the Brute stumbled to the side and then fell silently, the woman on top rolling off and drawing her Carnifex warily, levelling it at the creature and taking a deep breath. The creature shook for several seconds, and then went still, and she heard the all clear cries going out around her.

"Joker, get a damn shuttle down here for the new Primarch." She watched the Rookie rise, coming towards them all, and sighed, "And advise the others, I'm coming with two more guests as well. Have Liara run searches for me on 'United Nations Space Command', 'ONI', and a squad 'Alpha-Nine, if she can spare the time for it. We have a weird one."

When she turned, the Rookie was just behind her, standing in his relaxed stance, and she sighed tiredly, cocking a hand with a hip on it, "Heard that?" A nod, and her brow rose, "Are you going quiet because I called you weird."

"No." He answered simply, "I don't like talking if I don't have to."

"Uh huh." She shook her head as Vega and Garrus joined them, the dark armored man taking a step away from the alien. "Well, you better get ready to do a lot of it, because I have as many questions as the Reapers have… Bad ideas, I guess."

"Great analogy." Vega chuckled, wincing when she shot him a look, "Uh, Commander?"

"Come on," she sighed when she saw the Kodiak coming down, searching for a landing zone. She already knew this was going to be a long, long conversation with Hackett when they got back.

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Credit for the story idea goes to a story titled Prepare to Drop, by an author on Archive named Adrasos, and written with the permission from said author to use their initial idea. All credit for the inspiration goes to them, please give the original story a read and support him/her as well.

Thanks for reading.

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