This weekend is mine. I intend to finish FADOF once and for all. I need to get it out of the way so that I can finally push my attention towards a fic that has been waiting in the wings for four years. Once FADOF is completed, it will make its debut.
I don't know yet whether FADOF will finish in one or two chapters but I can assure you that they will be posted together. Expect the chapters by the end of the week, along with a small account of my absence for the last couple of months, a response to your posts and a brief introduction to my new fiction if you are interested.
I will see you all very soon.
Take care and thank you for supporting this fic after all this time.
All the best,
WS
XxX
Water Spirit....man, what is there really to say?
Um, this has been an absolutely amazing ride. I can't even really put it into words. I am happy it will finally have a conclusion, but at the same time, I sit here misty eyed (pun not intended). This fic, was pretty much the single reason I still visited SPPF. Every time I come on here, I always hope to see the PM from you saying a new chapter is up, in fact, I still have them all, I never deleted them, for memories I guess.
I believe I came to this fic the first time at chapter 2, and I am very positive that of the ones still here, I have been here the longest. To put in perspective, when this fic started, I was the #1 Poster on SPPF, now I wonder if I am still top 20? As the server became more and more fickle, I came to this forum which was once quite literally my life less and less. But one thing that never changed, was the hope that Water Spirit had added another incredible chapter to Fate and Destiny of Friends.
As time passed, I still wanted AAML to happen, but it became less important to me. Now I don't even rank it #1 anymore, if given a choice between JD and Elliot from Scrubs getting together in the finale this year, or Misty and Ash getting together, I believe I would choose JElliot 95 times out of 100 easy. Now, of course, there is nothing wrong with that, I became older, I cared less about what happened on an anime. But even so it is a little sad, since it was Ash and Misty Love that brought me to this forum in the first place, and to get where a point where I would choose anything else in fiction over it, it makes one wistful of the previous times. So how ironic that at the time I read this fic will be ending in the next 7 days, is one of the very few times lately that I would pick Ash and Misty over anything. Today I watched Gotta Catch Ya Later for the first time in ages, and I remembered why it was that Pokeshipping brought me here in the first place, why I have had spent countless time and energy looking for hints, analyzing, defending and arguing, why I care so much about the young and mostly one sided romance of two fictional young teens that will in no way change my life. See, right before "Misty's goodbye", I cried, not bawling or anything, but teary eyed, enough to cause me to pause it throw the headphones on the ground and curse myself for caring this much about a darn anime though.
I had not cried for any reason since my graduation in May 2006, even when UK was eliminated from the NCAA tourney last year, for the first time in my life I did not cry. I had finally matured past that, we lost, life goes on. So the shock I had tonight was huge. I was watching, and once she said, "you know, without me", I actually had tears. And I questioned how I could ever want anything else in fiction more than them together. And the fact is, I can't. I know I am too old to care like that, but for some reason it got to me, and reminded me of thought I thought long since past.
And now I come here and see we have finally reached the end of an era. One reason I cared so much about this fic, was that the characters are just extraordinarily in character, the other reason is it helped me get though a couple of the hardest moments in my life. My Grandmother's passing, and my impending graduation and losing all my school friends. I doubt whether I could have possibly got though that first one without this, you can never know how much it helped, and I can never thank you enough for it, I needed something to get that off my mind, and this worked like a charm.
This fic ending will be the very definition of bittersweet to me. It is great that it will finally get the ending it so deserves, but knowing there is no chance to ever see a new chapter will still be heartbreaking. So, with this, the final chain that linked me to SPPF breaks. All my old friends are gone, Misty has been gone for 6 years, there were days I had more posts then I had all last year, Serebii no longer remembers me, I am no longer a Champion with the increased post count requirements, and the old Pokeshipping thread was locked. Now this story ends. I really can't believe it.
I never even thought of it ending to be honest. I was always looking forward to new chapters, but I never actually thought of a final chapter, that it would end someday... somehow never crossed my mind, which is insane, of course it has to end. But I never thought of it.
I will give my final review after you post it of course, though I have 10/10'd them all, I see why this will be no different.
I know you are closer to Bryan, and that he of course helped you alot, but do understand WS, I care just as much as he does, I may not have conveyed that this much till this post, but is is the truth. And Bryan, thanks for sticking it out the whole time too, it has been a fun ride, huh?
I look forward to one last time reading your masterful work, I am sure the last chapters will give me much joy, happiness, pain and many oohs, ahs, laugh, scares, surprises, and yes, for once even tears. Thank you Water Spirit, for so much.
Sincerely,
Michael Clark (Cloud Strife)
PS. Mods, this the longest post I have made in 2 years at least, and the most heartfelt one I have made ever. If there was some rule broken there (I don't think there was) PLEASE don't erase this post immediately, at least not till WS sees it. Give me whatever penalty you see fit or more if you want. But please PM me before you do, please.
