Sweetheart awoke from something cold and wet hitting her nose, she looked around, groggy and confused until she saw it in front of her. The first drops of snow were falling, and the clouds didn’t look to be letting up anytime soon.
“Awchie, cowd sky wawa. Need move.”
Archibald stirred awake as Sweetheart shook him, he took a moment to remember where he was, then he saw the snow himself.
“Cowd wawa nu gud, Fwuffies gu soon.”
“How wong tiww weach Pawka Famiwy?”
“Fwuffies cwose, bu stiww wong wawk, may-bee wun bwite-time, pwobabwy twu wiv bad weggie.”
“Sweetheawt nu swow Fwuffies down, wet’s gu.”
Sweetheart and Archibald composed themselves and returned to the tree where the foals were, all three were awake and had eaten some of their food supplies for a small breakfast. Ozzy and Peaches couldn’t help but grin when they saw their mother.
“Hab fun wast dawk-time?” Peaches asked coyly.
Sweetheart knew exactly what her daughter was implying and blushed. “Dat nun of babbeh’s bizness.”
“Nu wowwies mummah, Peechee an Ozee wike Awchie, happy yu wike him tuu.”
Sweetheart and Archibald looked at each other, this definitely needed to be a longer conversation another time, but before they could say anything else, J.D. scooted his butt over towards Archibald and held up his arms.
“Nyu daddeh?” He asked with all the innocence of a child.
Archibald took a moment to think, then happily bent down and nuzzled his nose into J.D.’s torso, letting the young colt hug his nose.
“May-bee, Fwuffies tawk wata. Wight nyo need tu move, cowd sky wawa am fawwing, nu can stay hewe or be twapped. Ozee, hewp Awchie git nummies away.”
Ozzy turned and started gathering the food together, Archibald picked J.D. off the ground and placed him on Sweetheart’s back, taken a second to nuzzle her face before turning back to help Ozzy.
Sweetheart and Peaches left, giving the guys some room to work together, the sudden drop in temperature caused Peaches to start shivering and cuddle up next to her mother.
“Mummah stiww need hewp wiv wawkies. Need Peechee tu hewp cawwy mummah, if tuu mush den teww mummah an take west. Nu wan tu tiwe babbeh out.”
“Peechee wiww mummah, happy to hewp cawwy yu. Keep mummah and brudda wawmsies together.”
Sweetheart smiled and licked her daughter head, proud of her helpful nature, at that moment Archibald and Ozzy stepped out of the tree, the pack secured to Archibald once more.
“Fwuffies weady?” He asked, answered by a series of nods. “Wet’s move.”
The group kept on the move even as the weather took a bad turn, luckily the temperature wasn’t too cold so the snow wasn’t settling on the ground but it did make for forest floor much more of a bog than it usually was. Archibald led the group to higher ground close to the main road leading towards the Parker’s neighbourhood, this put them closer than they’d like to the ‘metal monsters’ but they had little choice in the matter if they wanted to keep moving.
After walking for a while – Archibald suddenly stopped, he motioned for the others to get closer to him and pointed into the distance. Through the trees they could just make out a couple roofs, their edges just visible against the tree-line.
“Dat whewe Pawka famiwy wive, dat whewe home is, Fwuffies awmoss home.”
Ozzy and Peaches couldn’t help but cheer at the prospect of almost being home, J.D. danced on top of his mother’s back while Archibald lent in to nuzzle with Sweetheart. Peaches saw a look flash between her mother and Archibald, a look that screamed they wanted to talk, so she decided to let them have some privacy.
“Mummah, can yu wawk awone fow a wittew, need tawk tu Ozee bout… fings.”
Sweetheart understood what her daughter was saying and slowly lifted herself off of Peaches back, Peaches winked at her mother and ran off to join her brother, Sweetheart kept moving, though still limping, while Archibald kept close to her, making sure she was stable.
“Awchie be finking. If Awchie wong, an Sweetheawt am nu Spawkews, den Awchie no weave Sweetheawt an babbahs, wiww stay an pwotect tiww Fwuffies am safe.”
“Awchie stay wonga dan dat, Sweetheawt wike habben Awchie wiv hew. Awchie am gud fwiend, Awchie be speciaw-fwiend if he wan.”
Despite everything that had happened between them Archie was still taken aback by Sweetheart’s request, he hadn’t expected anything to come from last night – it seemed they both just needed to release some steam – but if she was offering, he wasn’t about to say no.
“Awchie wike tu be Sweetheawt’s speciaw-fwiend, wike vewy mush.”
“Gud, coz if Sweetheawt am Spawkews, den she teww mummah yu stay wiv hew.”
It was all Archibald could do not to burst into tears and hug her there and then, while he had survived on the streets for all this time, he was a domesticated Fluffy, he was suppose to be with a human family and love them as they loved him. The idea of having a home again was everything to him.
“Fank yu, speciaw-fwiend. Wub yu.”
Sweetheart smiled. “Wub yu tuu speciaw-fwiend.”
The pair went in for another cuddle when they heard it, a car coming down the road. They were far enough off the road that they weren’t concerned but just in case, the group all hunkered down and waited for the car to pass. Ozzy and Peaches were safe but as the car got closer, Archibald saw the puddle of cold water right next to him and Sweetheart.
“Speciaw-fwiend!”
He dove out trying to cover Sweetheart just as the car drove through the puddle, he was just too late, the two of them were suddenly hit by a rush of cold, dirty water that knocked them off their little feet.
Archibald recovered first, the food bag had taken the worst of the hit so he shook what water he could off his fluff but already he could feel the near-freezing temperatures hitting him. He looked over at Sweetheart, she’d badly hurt her broken leg in the fall but was otherwise ok.
“Speciaw-fwiend gud?” Archibald asked her, not even trying to hide his worry.
“Am gud, jus weggie huwties. No wike cowd wawa bu mummah an babbeh am… BABBEH!”
Sweetheart looked frantically around, J.D. wasn’t on her back anymore, he had been washed off when the puddle hit them. Archibald looked hard as well, but on the forest floor it was hard to see the brown baby anywhere nearby, by chance he saw the slightest movement just feet from where they were.
“DEWE, may-bee babbeh.”
Sweetheart caught sight of what Archibald was pointing at and rushed over, it was J.D. but he was in bad shape, he had caught the worst of the splash and was absolutely drenched, his little body already struggling with the cold was put into overdrive trying to keep warm, and he was failing.
Sweetheart knew her little boy was in trouble, she needed to get him out of the cold and fast. “Babbeh needs wawmsies, need tu git away fwom cowd wawa.”
Ozzy saw another tree-hovel, similar to the one they spent the night in. “Dewe mummah, brudda safe in dewe.”
Archibald quickly took J.D. in his mouth so that Sweetheart could focus on running herself to the tree, the group all dived in, thankful that the inside was still mostly dry but the cold air was still permeating through. Even with Sweetheart, Ozzy and Peaches cuddling up in a fluff-pile, Archibald knew that J.D. was done for if he didn’t get help soon.
Thinking quickly, Archibald pulled the string on his side to release the food-bag, dropping it inside the tree-hovel, the noise alerted the others to what he was doing.
“Awchie gun run tu Pawka house, git hewp for babbeh.”
Sweetheart shook her head, too scare dof losing her son and her special-friend in the same day. “Nu, tuu cowd, speciaw-fwiend nu can…”
“Awchie can, knyo way tu Pawka, Jay-Dee need wawmsies home, nu can gu ousside, nu can wait hewe. If Awchie don’t den babbeh gu fowaeba sweepie.”
“Bu, bu wha if Awchie…”
Archibald darted forward and wrapped his arms around Sweetheart, mindful of her broken leg.
“Awchie wetuwn, pwomise.”
He turned and ran before she could protest, the life of J.D. on a knife’s edge now and he didn’t have time to argue with her.
It was still a ways for Archibald to go before he even reached the Parker’s neighbourhood, let alone their home, but he had to make it, nothing else mattered. He reached the main road and bit off a piece of his own fluff, sticking it to a sturdy branch so that he could find it on the way back and find Sweetheart faster.
The cold, hard surface of the road felt like agony to his hoofs as he sprinted down the road, but Archibald ignored all the pain, he grit his teeth and kept running. He loved Sweetheart, he loved all her children, they couldn’t have come all this way just to lose, no they were going to live, each and every one of them, they were going to be ok.
His hoofs were already bleeding by the time he reached the neighbourhood, flashes of memories and happier times hit him with every corner he turned but he ignored them all, his focus was on the Parker house, and he was getting closer.
By the time he finally reached the house his little heart was about to burst out of his chest, but he didn’t stop, they weren’t safe yet. Archibald pounded on the front door, hurting his already damaged hoofs even more but he needed to get the Parker’s attention.
“MISTAH PAWKA! MISTAH PAWKA!”
Nothing, his soft hoofs barely made a sound against the door and his lungs were bursting from his run so he couldn’t shout loud enough.
Archibald looked down and saw a flap-door for a Fluffy to come in and out of, he tried it but it was locked. He tried tapping it, hoping the shaking plastic would make more noise.
“MISTAH PAWKA! PWEASE COME OUSSIDE, FWUFFIES NEED YU!”
Inside, Mulligan heard a strange noise coming from the hallway, she got up to investigate and heard a strange little voice coming from the door.
“Mummah, Muwwigan fink dewe Fwuffy ousside, heaw him thwough doow.”
Hannah Parker looked up and finally heard the tapping herself. “Oh don’t worry about it Mulligan, it’s probably just a feral looking for shelter, it’ll leave when it understands we’re not letting it in.”
“Muwwigan nu fink so, ousside Fwuffy knyos daddehs name.”
“What? Are you sure?”
Hannah got closer to the door, keeping an ear out for the little voice. As she got closer she heard him.
“MISTAH PAWKA! IT AWCHIE, FIND SPAWKEWS, AWCHIE FIND SPAWKEWS!”
Hannah felt her breath catch in her throat, there was no way…
“DAVE!”
Archibald had been gone for a while and now the Fluffies were getting worried, Sweetheart and Peaches took turns rubbing J.D.’s body trying to keep him warm, they’d thrown the good out bag and tried to use that but it was too wet.
At the entrance to the tree, Ozzy kept guard, his missing eye stung in the frosty air but he wasn’t moving, he knew that even in the cold weather there was dangers. Dangers with teeth, dangers with sharp claws.
Dangers with wings.
Two tawny owls circled the family, in the years since the Fluffy outbreak, several nocturnal birds had taken to staying awake longer to catch the little Fluffy bastards that were stealing their food supply, until eventually feral Fluffies became their food supply. And now this pair had found enough fresh meat to last them most of winter.
Ozzy watched the owls as they got progressively closer and closer, he snarled at them as they landed right in front of the tree, from here Ozzy could see that one of them was a light brown colour while the other was closer to white.
“GU WAY WINGIE-MUNSTAHS, NU HUWT FAMIWY! OZEE GIB MUNSTAHS SOWWY-HOOFIES!”
The owls paid no attention to Ozzy’s threats, they’d dealt with enough Fluffies to not pay attention to their bolstering. The white owl started skulking to the side while the brown owl stayed still, Ozzy tried to keep them both in his view but with his missing eye, his perception was skewed, and he feared the owls knew that as they kept moving further and further apart.
When Ozzy finally had to turn his head to follow the white owl, the brown one attacked, using its talons to scratch into his neck.
“AHHH, NU WAN SCWATCHIE HUWTIES!”
Sweetheart looked up towards the sudden scream of her eldest son, there she saw the owls.
“BABBEH!”
Forgetting about her broken leg, Sweetheart ran forward and slammed her horn into the brown owls side, the feathers took most of the hit but the force was enough to knock it over. She turned to her shocked children and yelled at them.
“GU INSWIDE, MUMMAH PWOTECT BABBEHS!”
With the little strength she had left, Sweetheart barricaded herself in the entrance, pushing her legs against the tree to stop the owls from getting passed her. The birds hooted and squaked as they tried to take down the barricade, tearing and biting into Sweetheart’s back, trying to get her to move.
The white owl peaked into her right leg and tore the skin holding her broken bone in place.
Peaches and Ozzy turned away and shielded their baby brother from the sight, blood was spurting from every attack on their mother and she was crying from the horrific pain, but she didn’t move, these were her babies and she wasn’t about to lose them as well. These winged monsters would have to tear through her to reach them.
Unfortunately, that’s what the owls were planning on doing as they started eating the flayed muscles off Sweetheart’s back.
All of a sudden, the pain stopped, Sweetheart couldn’t feel anything the owls ripping into her anymore, hell she could barely feel anything anymore.
She took a chance and looked behind her, the owls were gone, and in their place she saw Archibald and a human man rushing towards them, the man waving the birds away. She smiled at the sight, Archibald had made it, he’d saved them, they were going to be ok, her babbehs were going to be ok.
She could rest now.
Sweetheart didn’t even hear the Archibald’s screaming as her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground, her final thoughts on her children, safe and sound at last, the first moment of peace she’d ever had in her short, traumatic life.
Sweetheart woke slowly, the first thing she felt was warmth, it was unfamiliar, but enjoyable. She thought this was it, this must be the fabled sketti-land she’d heard so much about.
But if this was Fluffy paradise, why was she missing her front right leg.
“Hey, you’re finally up.” A kind female voice spoke softly to her, Sweetheart looked up and saw a human woman kneeling down to look at her.
The woman continued. “You’ve been out a couple days now, it was pretty touch and go there for a moment but we were sure you were going to make it.”
“Sweetheawt am awive?”
“That’s right, and you’re very lucky to be, that leg of yours was horrible, not to mention the blood loss, we had to amputate the leg so it could heal properly, but we tried to save as much as we could.”
Sweetheart looked down at her missing limb, there was still a decent stump, enough that she could still hug her children if she wanted…
Her children!
“Whewe babbehs? Babbehs need mummah.”
“Easy there, your children are safe, we helped clean Ozzy’s eye socket and we’ve kept J.D. wrapped in as many blankets as we could spare, Archie and Peaches have been looking after them all, and we’ve been feeding J.D. with Mulligan’s milk.”
“Muwwigan. Is dat… mummah?”
The woman smiled. “It might be, Archie explained everything to us, who you are, who you might be. Do you know who I am?”
Sweetheart looked at the woman but shook her head, a little upset she couldn’t place her.
“That’s ok, it has been a long time, I didn’t expect you to. My name is Hannah Parker, my husband Dave and I are Mulligan’s owners, our daughter Kathy is with your family right now. If you want I can take you to see them all.”
“Pwease Miss Pawka, Sweetheawt wan see babbehs su mush.”
“Then let’s go. Oh, but before I do I should tell you this. If Mulligan says you aren’t her daughter, if you are Sweetheart and not Sparkles, then I don’t want you to worry about not being welcomed. You and your family will have a place with us for as long as you need, we’re not about to throw out a mother and her foals in this weather.”
“Fank yu Miss Pawka.”
“Please, call me Hannah.”
“Ok… Han-ah.”
Hannah carried the fragile Sweetheart through to the living room, true to Hannah’s words, Sweetheart’s children were happily playing; Ozzy had an eye-patch over his missing eye and had a toy sword in his mouth while he chased Peaches across the room while Kathy watched, Archibald sat on the floor, his hoofs bandaged from the sprint he made to reach the Parker’s house,Dave was off to the side with a coffee, chuckling away and Mulligan was sitting on a cushion by the log-fire with a very warm and very happy J.D. feeding from her teats.
Hannah gently put Sweetheart on the floor and let her walk over to her foals, Ozzy and Peaches were overjoyed that their mother was ok.
“Mummah, mummah. Hab biggest heawt happies yu ok.”
“Wook Mummah, Ozee am piwate Fwuffy nyo.”
“Mummah so pwoud of babbehs, wub yu aww so mush.”
“Wub yu tuu mummah.”
The two older children hugged their mother then stepped aside to let her pass. She went up to Archibald next, his smile making her feel all warm inside.
“Sweetheawt wook so pwetty.”
“Nu feew pwetty.”
“Bu yu am pwetty.”
Archibald leant forward and nuzzled her, showing that he still loved her. Sweetheart turned and walked towards her final meeting, Mulligan.
Kathy picked Mulligan’s cushion off the fireplace and put it on the floor, giving the old Mare a chance to approach the newcomer, Sweetheart could see that, while her fluff wasn’t as vibrant as it used to be, Mulligan’s silver coat still shone in the firelight. Just like her silver undercoat was shining now.
Mulligan stopped in front of Sweetheart, a kind smile on her face. “Hewwo Sweetheawt, feew gud?”
“Wittew bit, stiww hab huwties, but happy babbehs awe safe. Fank yu fow gibben Jay-Dee miwkies.”
Mulligan looked behind her towards the sleeping J.D. still on the cushion.
“Happy tu hewp, Muwwigan wub aww babbehs.”
Sweetheart stared at Mulligan, trying to find the right words to say, thankfully the older Fluffy knew what she wanted to ask.
“Sweetheawt wan knyo if Muwwigan am mummah?”
“Pwease, Sweetheawt need tu knyo, gu thwough tuu mush nu tuu.”
Mulligan bowed her head and allowed Sweetheart to come closer, cautiously Sweetheart approached Mullugan, stiffing out her scent while Mulligan did the same for her. At first there was nothing, she couldn’t get a read on the silver mare, Sweetheart felt her heart sink… until, something sparked in her memory, something from long ago, something forgotton about, something that smelt like…
“Mummah?”
“Spawkews?”
“MUMMAH!”
Sweethear bounded into her mother’s arms and wept, wept for all the pain she’d suffered, wept for all the time they’d lost, and wept because she had finally found her again.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as the others watched this long overdue reunion.
Over the next few hours, Sweetheart, Mulligan and The Parker family swapped stories, Mulligan told Sweetheart about her father Lambert, about how she felt awful when he died before meeting his children, how Sweetheart and her siblings – she had two brothers and three sisters, all still living with friends and family of the Parkers – helped her to keep going, how losing Sweetheart so soon afterwards almost tore her apart.
Sweetheart told them about the Technicolor herd, about their run in with Josef and Crimson, about the death of the herd and of her adoptive father, of her imprisonment and forced breeding. Dave was ready to look up who this Josef guy was and rip him to shreds but Sweetheart couldn’t remember his surname and she was happy to be done with him.
As the family talked Sweetheart realised that while her and her foals were safe with the Parkers, she didn’t know about Archibald.
“Wha gun happen tu Awchie, is he awwowed tu stay?”
Dave looked over, he remembered the sweet little guy from Henrietta’s home across the street but that was a lifetime ago for a Fluffy, was he still the same guy.
“That depends on Archie, does he want to stay?”
Archie immediately tried to stand up on his damaged hoofs. “Pweae Mistah Pawka, Awchie wub speciaw-fwiend, wan stay wiv hew an babbehs.”
Dave turned and looked at Sweetheart. “And what do you want Sweetheart?”
“Wan Awchie tu stay tuu, babbehs need nyu daddeh. An…”
She turned and looked Archibald in the eye, a wide smile on her face and happy tears in her eyes.
“…tummy-babbehs need daddeh tuu.”
Archibald looked at Sweetheart stunned. “Tum… tummy babbehs? Sweetheawt am soon-mummah?”
She nodded. “Feew babbehs wen wakies, Awchie am gun be daddeh.”
Archibald ignored all the pain in his hoofs and ran over to hug Sweetheart, this was the happiest day of his life and he was determined to make every day from now on even happier. Ozzy, Peaches and J.D. cheered for their new brothers and sisters, finally born out of love.
“Awchie wub specaiw-fwiend, gub be bestesh daddeh fow babbehs.”
“Awchie awweady am bestesh daddeh.”
Kathy hugged Hannah, happy at the thought of more Fluffies to look after. Dave clapped his hands and laughed.
“Well I guess that settles it, Archie gets to stay here with Sweetheart, I don’t think I could tear them apart if I wanted to.”
Sweetheart turned and looked up at Dave. “Pwease Mistah Pawka, can ask wun fing?”
“By all means, go ahead.”
“Nu caw Sweetheawt nu mowe. Sweetheawt hab bad wife of huwties an saddies. Am Sparkews nyo, Spawkews hab happy wife.”
She noticed Mulligan crying on the cushion, her tears of joy matching Sparkles. It had been a long time coming but she’d found her home, and she found her heart. Whether she was Sparkles or Sweetheart, it didn’t matter, all that mattered was that she was happy, and that she was safe at last.
The lid of the sorry-box opened, Crimson was blinded by the light and turned away from the blurred vision of Josef, he’d been trapped in the box for days, maybe weeks by now, it was hard for Fluffies to tell the passage of time.
As his vision returned to him, Crimson noticed that Josef was holding something. His mobile phone, and there was a picture on it, a photo taken as part of a newspaper article.
“I know you can’t read, but tell me what you see in that picture.” Josef’s voice was cold, colder than even the sorry-box.
Crimson squinted his eyes and looked at the picture, there was a happy family, two parents and a daughter. The daughter was holding something, a Fluffy, an alicorn Fluffy.
An Alicorn fluffy with black and silver fur.
Josef took the phone away and read the head line. “Miracle Fluffy returns home after two year absence. Dave Parker and his wife Hannah are proud to announce that their missing pet Sparkles has returned to their home after being kidnapped two years ago. The Parker family have yet to discuss what happened to Sparkles in that time but have confirmed that Sparkles and her mate Archibald are expecting their first litter soon.”
Josef put the phone down and looked at Crimson. “Care to explain yourself?”
“Cwimson saw dummeh mawe faww in wawa, nu fink she wive.”
“You lived didn’t you?”
“Cwimson stwonga dan dummeh bitch.”
“I see.”
Without saying a word, Josef reached in and pulled Crimson out of the box, gently he stroked Crimson’s head and carried him inside and down into the basement.
“Am daddeh angwy at Cwimson?”
“Oh yes, I’m very angry Crimson.” Josef’s voice was unnervingly calm. “You’ve been a bad fluffy, and for that I need to punish you. From now on, you are never to leave the basement, you will never see the sun again, never feel wind or rain against your fur, you are trapped down here until I feel you deserve to be outside again.”
Crimson frowned but didn’t argue, he knew he deserved punishment. He looked over at Josef’s latest experiment a Fluffy trapped in a plastic box since he couldn’t trust the regular metal cages anymore, and thanked whoever was listening that Josef wasn’t about to use him for one of his tests.
“Cwimson undastan daddeh, hab been bad Fwuffy.”
“I’m glad you agree, because that isn’t your punishment, this is.”
Crimson looked up and saw Josef had taken him to the room filled with TV screens, before he could ask anything, Josef threw him into a chair and tied his legs down, Crimson was stuck facing the TVs.
“Daddeh, wha duing?”
“You’ll understand soon enough.”
And with that, Josef flicked on the TVs and left the room, playing on the screen was old security footage from a few years ago. Crimson watched a red Pegasus come on screen, almost certainly himself but he didn’t recognise the footage and something about him seemed different. The Pegasus attacked a blue stallion, knocking him to the ground and tearing off his genitals with his teeth.
The stallion screamed. “NUU! MEANIE WEX WEAVE SPECIAW PWACE!”
So the red Pegasus was Rex, not Crimson, so why did Rex look just like him.
As the footage played on, Crimson watched as Rex butchered four foals, raping one of them, all while a pillowed-mare – Alison she might have been called - watched. Once all the foals were dead Rex tried to help Alison only to be told the horrifying truth.
“Allason nu hab Cuck’s tummah-babbehs. Munstah Wex giv wowstesh-huwties tu own babbehs.”
Crimson almost laughed, the idiot Rex had raped and killed his own children. As he watched Rex choke Alison to death Crimson had to wonder what kind of punishment this was, so far he was enjoying the show.
After Alison was dead, Crimson saw Josef enter the frame and talk to Rex, now something felt familiar to Crimson, but he couldn’t tell why, until he heard Rex say it.
“Cwimson, fwuffy name am Cwimson.”
Then the footage restarted and played again.
Crimson looked on in horror, now knowing what he was watching, he was Rex, this was him in a different life. He was watching himself castrate the stallion, himself choke out his own mate, himself gib enfies to his own…
When Josef heard the screaming from the other side of the door he smirked and walked back upstairs, the footage looped enough times to last a couple hours, enough time for Crimson to get the message to sink in, that he was a monster and he’d never be anything else, all he had was Josef and he’d failed his daddeh.
Actually Josef didn’t even care that Sweetheart escaped or that Toughie was dead, he was doing this to remind Crimson that even with preferential treatment, he was still just a Fluffy in Josef’s eyes.
And Josef fucking hated Fluffies.
Ok so couple little behind the scene tidbits for you all.
1: I was so tempted to end this chapter right as Sweetheart fell unconscious and then have END Part 2 tomorrow, but I figured that would be too cruel.
2: I almost put in a different epilogue where we see Sweetheart and Archibald’s foals and find out that one of them is Cobalt from Family Bond. I decided against it since A) I figured Sweetheart probably warned her foals about Josef and B) She’s suffered enough, Sweetheart has her happy ending and I’m not taking that away from her.
Will we see her again? Maybe, but I doubt it, I think she’s earned a little rest from this series.
