#tho this is too short to be put on ao3 (the site's currently down anyway i think)

[firecrackerroot]

Dear DC3, here’s the answer you deserve....

Once again, my friend, once again you manage to make me tear up at work and spend an entire day thinking about how to reply to you. But I’m going to try. AS best as I can without starting to cry again ahahaha everything you said is in bold and my answer will be bellow each part. Here we go....

Your mind? Unmatched. Your writing ability? Flawless. Hotel? Trivago.

Okay, so two three things first:

1. I’m not sure if you can see my email (I had to put it on the form to submit this), but just in case you can I want it to be known that middle school me did not know how horrible a person real life Randy Orton is. I have since come to my senses and no longer stan.

- I completely understand because I too have an embarassing email and it’s too late to let it go ahaha

2. I’m sorry this took a century to get to you. My only excuse is a winter storm that the States had wrecked my internet connection (and my will to do anything productive, tbh). To make up for it, I shall share my thoughts on both chapter 10 and the epilogue at the same time so it doesn’t take me another hundred years to message you about the last chapter.

- I would’ve waited another century, don’t worry :) as for the storm, I hope the only thing it damaged was your internet connection and that other than that, everything else is okay. And just like your internect connection, I hope your will to do anything productive has been restored!

Sidenote: I’m finishing writing this at 4:30am where I live, so I’m going to go ahead and apologize if most of this has spelling errors or doesn’t make sense. I’m going to try and go back over this before I submit it so you don’t have to read a whole mess………. but also I’m tired so….. sorry :D

- 4.30am??????????? On a week day?????????? Holy shit! Thank you for your bravery, truly ahahaha 

Anyways, onto my favorite fic ever…

- *blushes*

I love how you were able to explain The Marine 6’s plot in a way that didn’t take away from the story you were telling. I believe that even if I never watched the film, I would still be able to understand what was going on… but since I did watch the whole thing, I greatly appreciated how you structured this chapter in a way that you didn’t explicitly need to recap everything that was going on in the movie. It made for a much smoother read, so thank you.

- Phew! I’m glad to know that, both those things. The structure and the plot. Because I struggled a little bit with making sure everything would fit and make sense and I had to keep thinking about the movie and plot holes where I could fit my story so.... It was a lot of juggling. And fun fact: I tweeted the director of the movie about how long he thinks the action of the movie took, just to be sure my hours were correct but he didn’t get the questions and told me how long it took them to shoot the movie so I just went with my calculations ahahahaha

“In fact, had Maddy stayed in their apartment another minute or two, Cassie would’ve been on her knees pleading for her not to go.” I love this sentence because of how easily you were able to express Cassie’s love for Maddy in four short words: “on her knees pleading.” Picturing tall, strong Cassie so willing to show that type of vulnerability to Maddy is just so… i can’t think of the word… idyllic? idk… it was just a really gentle moment between the two. I genuinely enjoyed that simple sentence.

- Now that you mention it, I’m actually picturing tall strong Cassie on her knees begging Maddy not to go and it hurts. But I get what you’re saying. Is a type of vulnerability not everyone is willing to give/feel and we don’t get to see every day. But those two? They’re on that level.

Also, I love how you were able to insert your own universe in actual movie events without it being a reach. For example, having Cassie be the reason the boat and Cat showed up was a really nice touch and such an effortless way to express how much Cass looks out for Maddy.

- Cat actually shows up because Maddy asks one of the guys to ask her to return and bring the rest of them but, while Cat is driving there, she can still tell Cassie what’s happening. As for the boat, it felt so random in the movie that I had to explain it. Like......... She’s supposed to hold Sarah hostage in the building and then leave so why would the boat be there? Makes no sense ahahaha

I’m not sure if I’ve ever properly addressed this (and I’m still not sure how to word it correctly), but I love how your foreshadowing(?) comes off almost offhandedly? Like, you mentioned once about the significance of Cassie’s name in Greek mythology and then you subtly had that theme pop up in Maddy’s musings about her in past chapters… and if you weren’t paying attention I feel like it’d be easy to overlook those little tie-ins you so seamlessly include. I think it’s referred to as a motif? I’m not really sure, though, I never really spent time trying to understand that stuff in school and now I’m kinda regretting it lol. But anyways, I believe this is the first time you outwardly used that mythology connection to Cassie’s “predicting” an event in this chapter à la the drowning nightmare she had after watching a scary movie before bed. And that’s not the only thing that you would reference to in a past chapter and then repeatedly tie into something going on in the current chapter (like the life-changing car ride moments, the knife, etc.)… This story was so connected and thought out it blows my mind because I feel like that’s the type of writing I usually see in actual books and not fanfiction.

- Tbh I have no idea what it’s called either ahahahahaha but....... I truly like full circles. In shows and movies and books. And when they’re, like you say I do, easily overlooked, it makes everything more awesome because whenever you go back, you find something new. And I like that so.... I write that................. One thing about Cassie’s predictions tho. The mythology about her said no one believed her predictions and Maddy didn’t believe she shouldn’t go and, well, look what happened.

You’re such an intelligent writer and I’m not sure if I just never paid enough attention to other fics before or what, but I feel like I haven’t seen the same amount of time, dedication, and thought you put into your work be replicated in the same success in anything else I’ve read on ao3. And that’s not to say that other stories I spent time reading on that site weren’t good or the author didn’t spend as much time as you did on their story… but idk dude, there was just something so special about your fic that I had to say something. Honestly, I think that’s what made me reach out to you, to begin with. I just needed you to know how fantastic this story was because it touched me in a way other fics haven’t. But lemme stop this ramble here because we have more of the actual story to discuss…

- *insert photo of Becky, crying, holding her title close to her chest after the Last Woman Standing match* 

I’m not sure if it was how I was reading it or if you meant it this way, but once Michael helped Cassie provide Maddy another means of an escape through water, I feel like Cassie’s panic over the situation skyrocketed and that feeling was replicated in the way you wrote her thought process. I even started to read the chapter a bit faster to find out what was going to happen next, which caused me to miss things; I had to go back and force myself to slow down and absorb your words properly- something I feel like Cassie was also doing as to not prematurely freak out over a situation that hasn’t happened yet. So that was kind of cool “bonding” moment I had with Cassie there lol.

- I love that you bonded with Cassie for all the wrong reasons ahahahaahahahahahahhahahahahaah but yeah, I meant it like that. The fact that Michael sent the boat didn’t help Cassie calm down. It only worsen the situation for her because all she could think about was her dream and it was suffocating her.

“This time, Cassie’s heart was sinking lower and lower in her body. To a depth she had never reached.” STOP WITH THE DROWNING REFERENCES IT HURTS MY HEART!!!

- I’M. SORRY.

“IF YOU DON’T CALL IT, I WILL PICK UP THAT PHONE AND I WILL MOVE HELL IF I HAVE TO.” I imagine if this was a movie that this would be the part where the audience would cheer the main character for not sitting idly by and letting the love of their life die and also where the gays would weep because "they love each other so much” 😂

- True and every true ahahahahahaahhahahaha

“I’m not going to lose the love of my life because of someone who never loved her enough.” Okay, wow, the power of that statement hurt but also YASSSSS CASSIE. It’s ridiculous how much you’ve made me love these characters. Like I feel actual happiness that Maddy has someone like Cassie to love her that perfectly (and i’m a lil jealous because why can’t I find my own Cassie?)

- Confession: I had to stop writing after that line because I started crying about it. And that was one of the lines I didn’t have planned. I was doing my thing, thinking about that dialogue and suddenly I hear Cassie’s crying voice say that in the back of my mind and I had to sit down because well, shit. (you’ll find your Cassie unless...................... you’re Cassie!)

Also, it is so refreshing to have a healthy parental relationship being shown here. Honestly, the fact that Michael, without question, gave up a favor with the coast guard all based on Cassie feeling that something was wrong is HUGE. Michael could have used that favor if something went wrong in a deal and they had to hide evidence in the water or something… like it could have been a “get out of jail free” card and he didn’t even blink when deciding to use it on Cassie’s whim. I’m so, so, so happy Maddy found the Knox’s. She deserves this level of  love after the bullshit her father has put her through… When you expand this universe into little one-shots, I would love to see the Knox family dynamics where Maddy is concerned. Like the process of how each member fell in love and accepted this broken Irish girl into their family and the maddening moments where they could tell Maddy didn’t understand how important she is to them. I can just imagine how many headaches her obliviousness gave the Knox’s throughout the years.

- Michael might be a mob king but he’s a very Soft man. And not only did he knew how much Maddy meant to Cassie, he also wasn’t willing to lose Maddy. Which means that if he could do something to save her, even if it meant giving up a “get out of jail free” card, as you say it, to help? Then so be it. Also isn’t it painfully interesting that Horus destroyed Maddy’s life in more ways than one but at the same time, he was the one that gave her the Knox’s? Makes you think.......................................... As for your wish, consider it granted. Title of the story? “Michael and Beth: 2 times they realized they loved Maddy and 2 times they wished she understood.”

When you switch back to Maddy’s POV and she basically says she deserves to die because of the choices she made, I wanted to grab her out of the water and strangle her myself for being so DUMB to believe she deserved it and for how SELFISH she was by giving up because Cassie doesn’t deserve a dead girlfriend!!!! Ugh, I love her so much but sometimes I really want to ram Maddy’s head against the wall lmaoo.

- Same, my friend, same ahahahahaha when I imagined the scene and proceeded to write it, I remember laughing because c’mon Madssssssssssssssssssssss, the girl is waiting!

“Beth, her mother, was waiting by the hospital door and no one seemed to be around. Strange for that time of the day.” Ah, I see the “great lengths to protect” Maddy conversation we had on tumblr came to play here. Again, I’m so glad she has this family in her life.

- That’s exactly it. Michael emptied that aisle of the hospital just so Maddy could be taken in without being seen.

Also, did the importance of the mausoleum ever come into play? Maybe I’ll answer my own question when I reread the epilogue to write my comments on that… Speaking of, I can’t believe how long this post already is and I’m not even on the epilogue yet.

- Not explicitly, no. Since the Hayes left when Nora was killed, her body was left behind for others to bury. Others being her family that never approved her marriage to Horus. So, obviously, they’d bury her on their terms, with her name. It was also a little bit of foreshadowing that Maddy too wouldn���t be buried in the mausoleum.

“To know it was real and that she hadn’t been fed false hopes only to crumble to her knees by a hospital bed.” Hmmmmm, is this a subtle nod to earlier in the chapter where Cassie was going to drop to her knees and beg Maddy to stay? ‘Cause then you do the same thing with the, “Everything was calm. The storm had already passed. And they both reached the shore. Safe and sound.” lines. Tying it back to the beginning of their relationship where a storm was roaring until they stopped being stupid and gentle rain awarded them after they finally embraced. It’s poetic really.

- I didn’t meant that kneeling to be a subtle nod to the beginning of the chapter but I did mean the storm passing one. Good eye!!!!!!

I don’t even want to talk about the following paragraphs that lead to the end of the story. They’re too perfect and heartbreaking and there’s nothing for me to say because you already have. Brava, my friend.

- I feel you but let me just say that I felt a little bit of pride with the last two lines Michael and Beth said. The whole “we’re asking you to marry our daughter”.

–

Onto the epilogue…

Honestly, I’m not sure I’m going to have a lot to say on this because this whole chapter is just so perfect to me. You couldn’t pay me to come up with a better ending than this… Everything just came so full circle, it’s beautiful. I can easily picture the epilogue being an end credit scene of the film where you think the hard parts are over and haynox is living an idyllic life out in Ireland, just for the ending seconds of the film to close out on the two kicking ass and being the badass partner in crime duo we know them to be. I love it, I love it, I love it.

- Yeeeeeeeeeees, that’s what I meant for it to be. End credits, wrapping up everything. And when it all looks nice and smooth, the fire starts to burn and our partner in crime duo start to be badass again!

“But you love and respect your wife so…” Ahhh!!! it’s so weird seeing them call each other that, but (if you couldn’t tell) I love it! It’s what these dummies deserve. Also, I have a feeling it might have gone over my head, but is the necklace metaphor about their love/Maddy not being able to slip away? Like the necklace is tying down the ring so it can’t do something stupid like, say, DROWN IN THE WATER? 😂

 - Huahahahahaha Maddy feels the same way, she’s also not used to the new term but they’ll get used to it. They have a lifetime to do so after all. As for the metaphor, it’s two things actually xD The first one you’re very close. I don’t know if you watched Jennifer’s Body but the only reason why Jennifer doesn’t die when Needy stabs her is because of their friendship necklace and when Needy rips it off, she dies. It’s like she’s tied to life by it. And the same can be said about Maddy and her necklace + ring. (it also means Cassie has Maddy by the throat which relates to their bedroom shenanigans but lets leave it at that ahahahah)

Also, the whole funeral scene was gold. From Cassie wanting to burn Horus alive and then realizing Hell will do that for her to Maddy being an idiot for considering leaving the car but allowing Cassie to have the control in confronting her father and finally ending her story with the Hayes. Ugh. Genius.

- Initially, I had planned for Cassie to set his car on fire and then drive away but as a I was writing, it sort of happened this way and I like it much better ahahah And we all know Maddy is an idiot but Cassie avenged her properly so it was all good.

Speaking of, you handled the time jumps so effortlessly and I could see you going back to certain events in your side stories- like Cassie helping Maddy through her fear of water, their first Christmas together as a couple, Maddy realizing that she was wrong before and that warm home she didn’t believe she could have again in Ireland was always possible with Cassie by her side… so many possibilities. (Also, I’d 100% be content with just playing them out in my head, so don’t feel obligated/overwhelmed to write them!)

- All of these have been added to my to-do list ahahahaha but I’m on vacation right now so unless you want to talk about certain parts of that before I start writing, we can. If not, starting February 22, I will HOPEFULLY make it rain again.

Okay, so the reasoning behind Maddy’s new name is perfect and everything I never knew I needed. And I totally see Maddy in you with the “…was more than what you thought you deserved. And more than you could ever thank them for.” bit. Newsflash, my friend, you and Maddy both deserve what this story has given you. I hope that one day you both can accept how wonderful you are and how much you deserve the praises you get on the world’s you create.

- All I can say to this message is thank you and I truly hope you’re right because in this moment? I can only vouch for Maddy when I say she deserves the world. Can’t say the same about myself. But I appreciate your words, all of them and I’m forever thankful for them. I hope you know that.

Weird coincidence, but I recently stumbled upon the song “Call Me” by Shinedown and have been kind of obsessed with it so when I found out that the pub and shop are called Sinners and Saints I was shooketh™ because that’s literally a line in the song… Anyways, I love the name of the buildings. I feel like that fits who they are so perfectly, you know? They are not one or the other, hot or cold, in or out, they’re always a perfect mix of both.

- I just heard that song and it’s preeeeeeeeetty cool and can actually fit Maddy, if you think about it. The names of the buildings actually came from the song that names the chapter because I feel it perfectly recaps the story. But yes, they’re a mix of both and isn’t that the best place to be?

And my god, we do not deserve Cassie. Her buying the shop? Painting the door green? Doing the research to find out the name of the pub that Maddy herself forgot? Having an auto shop be RIGHT there????? It’s fate. The red string theory. All the people and events they had to go through brings them right back where it started because that’s where they belong. It’s beautiful, so, so beautiful.

- When Cassie bought the shop, she asked for the history of it, previous owners and all that to get the information about it. And the auto shop was built from scratch because it wasn’t there. The red string theory always comes into play and especially here because, if you think about, they would’ve met at the pub even if Maddy’s left hadn’t changed. Think with me. Maddy would keep working at the pub, unknowing about the rest and one day Cassie and Michael enter to greet Horus and say their brewery is branching into Europe. It would’ve happened anyway.

I love that you showed Maddy calling Michael. She finally has a father that not only cares about her but is someone Maddy feels like she can go to and express herself to. And I love how you wrapped up her life in America. I can’t remember what chapter it was in, but I know you mentioned that even though Maddy does bad things, she always tries to make sure the innocents are spared so they don’t have to experience what she had to. So to see Neptune, the shop, and the rest of her employees being taken cared of instead of just forgotten after her “death” is perfect and such a Maddy thing to do. I’m thrilled you included that small bit.

- She could’ve called Beth but she wanted specific information only Michael could give. And yes, she finally has A Father. That’s her motto. That and the fact that it was never about the money. So she always paid her employees handsomely and if they needed help with a children tuition of something, she’d gladly pay for it. Knowing about that dependency, she would obviously leave them her car shop money if anything was to happen. Which she did.

I also love that haynox didn’t have to give up everything they wanted to be safe. In fact, they got everything they ever wanted- they’re married and in love, Maddy has her car shop she worked so hard for, Cassie has the brewery that she gets to build from the ground up, they’re both still involved in the crime business, and they both get to live in a place they consider to be “home.” You could not have written a more perfect ending.

- Everything they ever wanted is their, so long as they work for it. And they did. And now it’s time to enjoy every second of it. Together. 

You gave them paradise.

- And you gave me many reasons to smile. I’m beyond thankful for the day that you decided to follow my story and felt so............. compelled by it............... that you decided to reach out and overwhelm me time and time again. Thank you. So much. For everything. I hope you stick around for more and I hope you know how awesome and kind and giving you are :)