Hello there readers. Now I normally don't make these 'author notes only posts,' in fact I was never going to make any of these type of posts. I always thought it was bad for a writer to do this, since it's a fake tease unless they have a preview of the story in it. However, under these terrible circumstances I will make an exception for this one time. That is why all the words are in bold, it's an author's note post. While I will talk about this story later on in this post, there is some troubling news I need to tell you all.

It pains me to say this, but we have lost one of our own. Freedom Guard, whose full name is Salvador R. Balleza has passed away. On the 5th of August he had went through cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest is a sudden stop in blood circulation due to the failure of the heart to contract effectively or at all. When Freedom Guard went through it, they were unable to resuscitate him.

We have lost a great writer. Salvador had written forty-three stories, two concept ideas, and one story challenge. He had a vast knowledge of several categories, ranging from Halo, Mass Effect, Justice League, Marvel, G.I. Joe, Vandread, and so many more. With his vivid imagination he was able to expand on those categories' and write his own works of fiction. Sure his characters weren't always in character, and he had some run-on sentences, but damn it he had a natural talent of capturing someone's attention. Freedom Guard wrote in the third-person point of view in all of his stories. He did a wonderful job in writing characters' thoughts, opinions, and expressions in his story.

I was able to see how dedicated he was to writing and to others inspiring to write. When he posted a chapter, it had a numerous amount of pages worth of content, all up in a short amount of time, much quicker than I can ever hope to be.

Yes to some they will be losing a writer, but to me, and few others, we are losing a colleague and a dear friend. If you look up in the author's notes in most of my chapters, you will see Freedom Guard's name up there, and how I thank him for helping me. With almost every problem I ever had, whether writing related or even personal, I came to Freedom Guard and he was happy to lend a hand. He was there to offer advice when I needed it, and bounce ideas off when I felt creative. Every writer usually hits that old problem 'writer's block,' but when that happened to me, Freedom Guard would write out examples how an idea could happen, making writer's block all the more easier to breeze through. He was even able to look over my chapters before I posted them, whether he asked for them or I asked. He was practically my own Beta-Reader, and one of the best I ever had.

One of the things he taught was how to manage my stories. I, like many writers, have ideas just begging to be written down. Freedom Guard showed me that while it's good to have that light bulb flashing, you got to keep yourself in check and not overwork yourself. Looking at all of his stories, he told me how having so many made it extremely difficult to update them all and satisfy the readers. So now I write down any ideas on my profile page so I can eventually get back to them. And when I post a new story, I make sure it's entirely thought-out so I don't stop abruptly.

Without Freedom Guard, I bet I wouldn't even have half the amount of chapters posted now. And the ones that would be posted would lack some creativity. Did he make me the type of writer I am today? No, I can't give him all of that credit. But he was a part of the ones that did. I know for a fact he was also the one who inspired many more writers to be at the computer, and he was there to help the ones who asked. Sometimes he would actually seek out others that could use the help, which was how we met. He came to me when I was writing my Halo/Mass Effect crossover. I was brand new to fanfiction, and a terrible writer at the time. But he messaged me telling me I did a good job for a beginner, and have a lot of potential. He helped me reach some of that potential. And we have been friends ever since, for many years.

Freedom Guard, you may be gone, but you will not be forgotten, not by me at least. You may not be here anymore to give me advice, but I will always think 'what would Freedom Guard do?' With your stories out there, I hope others will take some inspiration from them. In this life and the next, you will always be my friend.

Rest in peace, Freedom Guard. With all of the work you did for fanfiction and others, you deserve that peace.

Now regarding the story, man it feels selfish saying that after the dedication to Freedom Guard. But here it goes.

I am still continuing my Halo/Tomb Raider crossover, in fact Freedom Guard was the one who was looking over my newest chapter for the crossover. I know I will never get it back. Now I will always wonder what he was writing down. I gave him a lot of time, so I know it was going to be really good. He was/would going to make the chapter ten times better I bet.

I will get back to the chapter and hopefully get it posted.

See you all soon.

Rest in peace, Freedom Guard.