GUESS WHO POSTED THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE SEQUEL TEN SECONDS AGO! DOUBLE SURPRISE YOU GET A CHAPTER EARLY TWICE IN A ROW!!!!!

I just wanted to say personally how much of an honor it's been. This is the first fic I've ever written (minus a few ones so embarrassing I deleted them shortly after writing them), and to get so much support from so many people is... amazing.

I started writing this fic in the winter of 2014, exiting the hospital after a suicide... not attempt, I never hurt myself, but (without getting too graphic) got close enough that one simple action could've end this all. The fic was only meant for me to work out the turmoil I felt through someone I already defined as "the man I'm in love with, despite him being fictional, gay, AND my half-brother".

I published the first chapter on the 26th of April, 2014, Sara and Fairn beta reading for me, thinking no one but a few would ever see it. I had 35 of the then 37 chapters written, and decided that I might as well publish the story in case it helped others going through what I did. After seven weeks and seven chapters, my computer broke and I headed off to a summer program at UVA. When I got back, I'd lost access to my Google Drive account due to a virus, and had to stop publishing.

I went to a program at UVA that summer, and, while there, got big news: a musical I'd written, "Living the American Dream," was being considered by a friend of my ex-voice teacher's, who'd casually mentioned it. A few weeks later, I was told they'd put it in pre-production. I remember thinking that the support from this fic--then much smaller, but still larger than anything I'd ever experienced--was the only reason I was confident enough to give them the okay on another working-through-issues work. I'd written it in response to Tumblr finding out I was a religious Jew and bullying me via anon for believing in "the invisible man in the sky" until I had to leave the site. It took me a long time to even admit that happened to anyone... but, because of this, I was able to give up such a personal baby before even admitting my inspiration.

At the end of July, I somehow got access to my drive again, and could keep publishing. But, one of my beta readers, Fairen, could no longer read for me, so I found Giulia and decided to get back to publishing by Thanksgiving (the third Thurs in Nov for my non-American readers). Which I did... except, the Monday after Thanksgiving I got deathly ill with a violent flair up of Ulcerative Colitis. I lost six pounds in a month and was out of school until Christmas, which meant I had to make up five weeks of in-two-APs Junior work over December break. My specialist was a two-hour drive away, and I was hospitalized often during those weeks. I didn't leave the house until New Year's otherwise. This fic and your support became one of my only connections to the outside world.

And now? I'm still struggling with my UC, but obviously I've left the house and I'm no longer super sick, thanks to these infusion injections I get every six weeks or so. "Living the American Dream," now "A Deadly Game of Chess," is in full production and is set to premier June 30th. Of course I'll have a link to the YouTube page and website when it goes live later this month. I'm still struggling with my mental illness, of course, but it's a million times better than it was when I started this fic five years ago.

Everything that's happened to me is because you all have said nothing but support and kindness, and pushed me to be better. In an internet with such horrible discourse, I'm astounded in the best way that I got so lucky with my audience. None of you knew what I was going through, but you offered me exactly what I needed out of the goodness of your hearts.

English doesn't yet have a phrase to explain how I feel.

Gam zu l'Tovah.

Sincerely,

Lissy "Melody" Rose

Hey guys! It's me, Sara the Beta. I've been lurking in the shadows since chapter one of this fic, but i just wanted to say thank you all so much for sticking with it and for supporting Lissy, and through her, me and Giulia. So thank you again and see you all in the next fic Lissy writes (hopefully), assuming you're in that fandom!

Yo guys. Giulia here, half of Lissy's beta team. I've had a boatload of fun reading and betaing this story. Working alongside Sara was a blast. You'll of course recall our top-notch bantz, and I've never laughed so hard while reading. And then, of course, the real kudos goes out to Lissy. She's worked super hard on this awesome story, juggling playwriting and classes, and she was just a great writer to collaborate with. And finally, thanks to you, dear readers, for putting up with tough scheduling and for sticking with this story until the end. In summary, this whole experience was awesome. The story was great, and I know I'm going to go back and read it all from the beginning, just to see how far we've all come together. I hope y'all enjoyed it as much as I have.

Beta out. Peace.

(Let's not talk about how much longer mine is than theirs...)

Go read The Ghosts of Millennia now! See you guys there!