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Hi guys,
So you may have noticed the chapter count shrink and a finished notification pop up (if you're signed up for that). This is because I felt like the last two chapters (now deleted) did not serve the story I've been telling so far with this series. I was unsure about Reigen's family arc in the first place, and based on the reception, I was right in feeling that way; it didn't click with the rest of the storyline, and I decided it wasn't an arc I wanted to explore within this specific universe. I hope some of you aren't too disappointed by that.
As for the whole "finished" thing: I am not sure I will ever be altogether done with this specific AU (and I do eventually want to write a Mob/Teru bit for it, since I know some of y'all wanted it), but I am not at a place in my life where I can continue it. This will likely change in the future, but for now, I didn't want to leave people thinking it was getting updated any time soon. So, for anyone who likes to reread this, there may come a day when the chapter count suddenly becomes an unknown again as I pick it up and/or add a thing or two, but for now, I'm stepping away from it.
For those of you wondering why the sudden shift has come about: I lost one of my little brothers to suicide earlier this year, and recently another has been hospitalized for an attempt. I don't want to get into the reasons, so please respect my privacy on this matter. But, I am finding grief is a complicated thing to navigate and I am not in a headspace to continue a story like this at the moment. This turmoil, as well as my impending return for my final 2 terms of uni, means that I have begun devoting a lot of my writing time to personal/professional projects.
The fanfics I currently have planned are on the more mature side of life. I have one in the works (that will likely not be seen for quite some time, but has been in the planning process since last year) which revolves around Possessed!Reigen and deals with themes of childhood neglect, self-hatred, and loss. However, the one currently receiving my attention is for Alex Rider (a fandom I recently got back into) and is centered around themes of choice, nature vs. nurture, morality and government corruption (as well as trauma recovery and mental health), which is estimated to be around 500k+ words in total for the series (my biggest undertaking yet). I'm telling y'all this so you don't worry that I'm going to disappear off the face of AO3. I know I have a few loyal readers, and I wouldn't want to abandon you or make you feel abandoned. It just might be a little while before you see anything new from me.
And this is getting long, so I'll end it here by saying thank you so, so much to everyone who has read this series, commented on it, left kudos, bookmarked it, and/or shared it. Even if I haven't replied to everyone, I read all of your comments and treasure them (I even reread them when I'm having hard days, so they mean the world to me). Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me through this series, as well as the new readers who haven't shared the journey of waiting for an update but appreciate the story just as much! I love you all and pray everyone has a wonderful rest of the year.
Thank you again, and I'll see you in the next story. Be kind to each other, and yourselves
Love,
Badonkadank (or Alex. Alex is cool, too [and no, it's not a fandom reference name, just a funny coincidence, lmao])