Gifted | Sleepy Bois Inc

Happy The End (Gifted edition)

"Inky- what are you-"

"..."

"Did you just-"

"..."

"Did you seriously just kill all your characters again...?"

"...maybe..."

***

It's that time again, guys :'D

Yep, Gifted has officially reached the end of the tracks I had laid out for it. Looking back at this, I'm kind of surprised I made it this far. I was so close to discontinuing this and focusing on other books, but I decided against that snap decision and carried through.

And look at me now, at thirty chapters, a finished story before me.

Funny how quick it happens, isn't it?

I'm actually quite proud. Each chapter was around 3000 words long, which is triple the length of Entwined. I'm improving :D

Alright, to clear things up in case you didn't get what happened:

- Naida was the associate. Niki and Tommy were to throw you off. Clues were that Smiley thought Naida was a girl based on the name alone, which was said to be one usually given to females (means water nymph); Naida was the only one to survive an encounter with Smiley, though that was said to be because he wasn't a Gifted; Naida had been there when Smiley got out of Tryxel. How did he do it? That day, he had a locket around his neck. Inside would be the key, which would pass metal detectors because the locket itself is metal. He had been the one to kill all the hunters there. When Smiley has his knife to Niki's throat, his blade is clean and free of blood.

- Tommy was there when Smiley killed Wilbur, standing behind a tree. He followed Smiley when he noticed strange behavior and got to witness the death of his idol/friend. He didn't want the same thing to happen to Techno, and that was also when he realized just how dangerous Smiley was.

- Tubbo got the scar on the back of his neck (mentioned when Techno learned of Rojo's death) from Tommy (vigilante) in all those fights Tommy had sprung on him. Smiley had tasked Tommy with keeping Tubbo at bay. Techno hinting at Tubbo's past as a wild child was about him being a bounty once too, because his father had also been a shapeshifter Gifted who caused a whole bunch of problems and Tubbo inherited that side from him. Techno had been the hunter tasked with catching him, but when he did and saw how young the boy was, he decided that fate was cruel and became his friend again (Tubbo only allowed this to happen because he got defeated and he acknowledged that Techno was stronger, so he stopped being so chaotic).

- Smiley both is and isn't Dream. As shown in the epilogue, he is Dream's soul brought back, sort of like Ghostbur/Revivedbur for Wilbur. He was the third time George attempted to bring Dream back, and at the very end of the story, George got the call that the fourth attempt had appeared in the world of the living.

That's about all, I believe. Unless you guys have any questions for me, that's all I can think of.

Smiley was never supposed to be Dream. It started as a stand-in name, but slowly morphed to become him. Interesting, huh?

I wanted a modern story after Entwined and Empowered, and I wanted Sleepy Bois Inc, which is why this story came to be :D I worked around with a whole bunch of different ideas before I came to this one, which is part of why I was so uncertain about it at first.

So... the question probably on your minds: INKY?? BOOK TWO??????

Book two is a probably. Not a no, but a definite maybe. I'm going to be working on TFE book 3! :D That'll be on my alt account, InkytheGhost, and if I do write a book 2 for Gifted, it'll also be there. It'll also definitely stop at two books. But hey, I'm not done with this world yet ;)

Abrupt ending that I've been wanting to do for a long time now? Check.

George/Sap scene as epilogue that I literally thought of when this story started and had to refrain from writing until now? Check.

Death? Check check checkcheck---

I don't understand how you guys still trust me at this point xD

But with TFE b3, I promised Akira that I wouldn't kill the main three. "There's more painful things than death," in Akira's own words. I'll be really striving to deliver a good story there, better than the first two books! I need to make up for the cringy ending of book 2, haha.

When I get around to book 2, I'll post a teaser chapter here as well as announce it on my message board, so hopefully you guys haven't lost interest by then :D

Story complete? Check :)