Author's Note: GUESS WHO’S BACK! That’s right, starting now By Chance is returning to its regular monthly update schedule. And I’ll be darned if I didn’t miss this story just as much as you guys did! Leaving it alone for so long was really a pain, but I went through a period where I just couldn’t write anything good for it at all. Believe me, you don’t want to see my attempts to continue this during that time. -shudder-

Seriously, though, we’re back. I mean that. :)

By Chance Or Changing Course

Chapter Eleven: History Repeats Itself

“How well do you know Roy, lieutenant?”

Riza delicately flipped to the next page of the tabloid, curbing the urge to turn and give Hughes a questioning look. She was normally as far removed from a tabloid-reader as she was a florist, but recently the first lieutenant had been obligated to play the part of the ‘quiet, starry-eyed city girl’ as long as she had an audience, as she did now.

“Well enough.” She said, curious to see where Hughes was going with such a cryptic question but keeping her voice barely above a whisper. Conversations between the separate parties had become difficult to pull off on the crowded train, now that they knew they were being watched.

He laughed softly, turning a page of his own copy of the same tabloid, masking the sound of his amusement with the crinkle of paper. “Then I guess that makes two of us.”

It was a risk they had to take, but although Riza was well-versed in the virtues of stealth and avoiding the prying eyes of civilians, she preferred to avoid them as much as she possibly could for fear of being found out. It was important that every conversations be short and to the point, to be more informative than a note slipped under a door (the usual agreed form of communication between them) and yet elaborate only when needed. Riza didn’t have time to indulge Hughes with small talk, and to see a higher ranking officer disobeying that unspoken rule irritated her, however much she also believed he had a purpose behind the transgression.

“Get to the point, Hughes.”

He sighed. “Alright, alright. But you can’t blame me for trying to have some fun on this funeral procession of a rescue. My point is, I just heard from a very reliable source that he’s…”

Riza waited for him to finish the sentence, but after roughly ten minutes had been sacrificed to his dramatic pause, her patience was growing thin. “Hughes-”

“…On vacation!”

For another ten minutes, the rattle of the moving train and mumble of the other passenger’s discussions was the only noise to be heard in the dining compartment. The relative silence was interrupted momentarily by the piercing train whistle.

“On vacation.” Riza repeated, vaguely noting that she had read the same sentence four times already.

“Yup.” Hughes proceeded to turn another page, appearing thoroughly engrossed in an article about the rumored visitation of an esteemed Xingian diplomat, obviously reveling in the lack of decent plot development.

Riza had no choice but to cover her face with one hand. Eventually, she composed herself long enough to offer her thoughts on the matter. “It’s been half a year since the last real update-“

“Uh huh.”

“-Arktos has been finished school since June-“

“Mmhmm.”

“-She has a weekly job that pays decently, renewed interest in the fandom, renewed interest in the story, and has conquered her writer’s block-“

“Definitely.”

“-And you’re telling me that the twist ending is that he’s on vacation?”

Hughes folded up the newspaper neatly, having finished it during the course of this exchange. “That’s the long and short of it.”

There was a pause, this time less out of dramatics than utter bafflement. Finally, Riza gathered the courage to ask the one question everyone wanted to know.

“Then the winter of 1903 was-“

“A cheap ploy to keep people reading.” Hughes replied, shaking his head and gesturing wildly. “You’ve seen her profile. We could almost make a drinking game out of how many stories she’s finished. Take a shot for every story that hasn’t been updated in at least a month! Take two for how many she’ll probably never finish!”

Another awkward silence descended on the pair of military officers, until Riza decided to announce her conclusion about the whole mess.

“…I hope this is a parody chapter.”

“Without any fanservice? I doubt that.”

Thankfully, Hughes doubted wrong, because at that moment Envy vowed never to kill another human being for fear of fangirl wrath.

Attention readers! Your regularly scheduled By Chance should return within the week, including revisions on older chapters (but hey, no worries, you won’t need to re-read them for plot changes. They’ll just be ten-times better written.) and actual NEW chapters that will not be parodies.

Thanks for sticking with this story despite the ridiculously long hiatus!

-Arktos