Author’s Note: A New Chapter
Hi everyone,
This is a turning point for Forward but Never Forget/XOXO. Not an ending... but a rebirth.
I began this fic in 2022, thinking it would be a small character study of Silco and Jinx: grief-stricken, volatile, twisted. But the story grew. It became a chronicle of power, loyalty, and the quiet violence of love. Over three years, I poured myself into it, rewriting, layering, and imagining until the world outgrew its skin.
Somewhere along the way, Zaun was no longer Zaun.
It became something else.
That world is now called Raptoraem.
✺ WHY RAPTORÆM?
FnF/XOXO will always be where this began, but I realized I wasn’t just bending canon. I was building something entirely my own. During the course of this story:
I mapped new districts; I created original cultures, faiths, and uprisings; I envisioned rituals, politics, and histories that never existed in canon; I reimagined dynamics, relationships, backstories and wholly new characters; I designed a magic system rooted in memory, corruption, and transformation.
What I had wasn’t just fanfiction anymore.
It was a novel waiting to be named.
Raptoraem is that novel: a fractured, floating citadel torn from its empire, split into five corrupted straits with a molten, lawless heart called the Pit. A city of rot and reverence, where sovereignty comes at a price.
Its cast:
Erik Mordiger: a ruthless broker of power, haunted by betrayal and a broken bond with a fallen idealist.
Starling Blaskova: a half-anarchist, half-oracle, trapped between being a symbol and a weapon.
Many more: familiar echoes reborn with new scars, new stakes, and the same emotional weight.
Raptoraem is darker, stranger, and more surreal: where dieselpunk decay collides with mythpunk ruin, hallucinogenic storms swallow whole straits, and graffiti bleeds eldritch whispers through stone.
Raptoraem is a saga of survival, rebellion, and what remains when the revolution fails—yet the dream refuses to die.
✺ WHAT HAPPENS TO FNF/XOXO
I owe you clarity, and I owe you endless thanks.
This fic has lived because of you—your comments, your reblogs, your meta threads, your playlists, your late-night asks, your fanart. You’ve carried this world with me, brick by brick, until it became more than I could have built alone.
That’s why I will finish it, fully, before I let it go.
✺ THE PLAN
Act VII → November 2025
Act VIII → January 2026
Act IX → February 2026
Takedown → March 2026 (all fic, podfic, and extras removed from AO3 & YouTube)
✺ WHY A TAKEDOWN?
Because FnF/XOXO was the soil, and Raptoraem is the bloom.
I can only carry the new story forward if I also let the old one rest. This isn’t erasure; it’s closure. A ritual ending for a tale that has already given me everything.
MAL DE MER AND FROM THE ASHES (I RISE) WILL REMAIN UP AND OPEN FOR READING ON AO3 AND FFNET.
YOUR TIME TO RETURN
Until March 2026, everything will remain open for rereads, for downloading, for saving. I want to give everyone the space to say goodbye on their own terms.
After March, the fic will end permanently. Only the fanart (which belongs eternally to the wonderful, talented and generous artists) will remain.
I’d also ask, kindly, that after the takedown the fic not be shared in its raw form online. Let it rest. Let it transform.
MY PROMISE TO YOU
FnF/XOXO will be completed. I owe it that much—and I owe you that much.
Thank you for walking with me through its long chapters. Thank you for the patience, the encouragement, the persistent love. And thank you for carrying it far enough that it could transform into something new.
✺ ABOUT RAPTORÆM
Raptoraem is a nine-book dark fantasy series set in a mythpunk city of memory, transformation, and rebellion.
Every element—characters, factions, religions, histories, and the magic system—is wholly original and unique to this universe.
Disclaimer: Raptoraem is an independent work of fiction. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or related to Arcane, Riot Games, or Netflix.
It stands alone as an original creation with its own characters, mythology, literary voice, and world.
✺ A PERSONAL NOTE
I’ve been writing fanfiction since 2007. For years, readers, friends, and fellow writers have exhorted me to take the leap into publishing. This is that first step.
I’m still here on Tumblr for meta, headcanons, and general chat (because who would I be without super long weirdly specific Silco posts + spiraling in the tags with you?). But now I’m also building something I can truly call my own.
This story began with you: your comments, your reblogs, your late-night asks. And now, I’d love for you to walk with me into this next chapter, not just as readers but as allies.
Indie publishing survives on word-of-mouth. If you loved FnF/XOXO, help me spread the fire.
✺ HOW YOU CAN HELP
I’m publishing as an indie author, which means your support is everything. Preorders, wishlists, shares—those are the lifeblood of a project like this. If FnF/XOXO ever meant something to you, help me carry that fire forward.
Preorder Book I on Amazon KDP (launch: September 2026)
Explore more at www.raptoraemofficial.com
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Follow for teasers, lore, and art: Tumblr | Instagram
Join the Contraband Network newsletter for early fragments, artwork, and hidden extras
✺ FOR CREATORS
Fanart, playlists, meta, headcanons...these things have kept FnF alive, and they’ll keep Raptoraem burning too.
There will be a gallery on the official website to showcase artwork, lore fragments, and collaborations. The Instagram is already gaining traction thanks to the art that’s pouring in. And I’m currently collaborating with a few artists who carried me with their talent during FnF and continue to bring me joy in this new chapter.
If you’re a creator—artist, musician, writer—consider this an open invitation to join in shaping the world of Raptoraem. Your work is welcome, your vision matters, and there will be space made for it.
✺ FINAL NOTE
Thank you for carrying FnF with me from its beginnings to its rebirth. You’ve given me the courage to take this leap, and I can’t wait to share where the story goes next.
The city awaits.
Freedom costs blood. So does magic.
Coming soon: RAPTORAEM: BOOK I
