#(receives an ask not about freak fortress at all) how do i make this about freak fortress

[800db-cloud]

Humbly asking for more Sniperspy🙏🙏

“ this is just getting started... ”

(blood/gore alt under cut)

you got blood on his... mask 😕

[papergirllife]

Down The Rabbit Hole

Xiao De Jun (M)

🎃Happy Halloween,everyone.🎃

*gif credits to owner

*masterlist is pinned at blog.

warnings : unprotected sex, high sex, choking.

Alice in distress,

may the Cheshire cat be blessed.

Community service your mom said, it’ll be great for publicity, which is all she cares about. Your mom is the part of the community of your neighborhood, and let’s just say she loves fulfilling her duties so much that it’s become an obsession of hers to be seen on the local papers for the activities she attend, something like a minor celebrity. Sadly, the moms here all love her, your mom wanted to work a reputation up, since your father left her for someone younger, your mother needed something else to fill the emptiness and lack of accomplishment she’s felt because of him. Hence why you’re trekking in the forest of your town, trying to pick up as much rubbish as you could that were thrown by irresponsible hikers.

“This is all you fault Y/N, if it weren’t for you, we won’t be stuck in this shitty hike in such a cold weather.”

Becca was part of the so called ‘friend group’ of this neighborhood of yours that your mom forced you to make friends with just because she was friends with her mom. You don’t bother answering her nor the deathly glares from her clique to you, you didn’t have any real friends in this town, other than one or two boys you played games with.

It was until the middle of the hike when your mom called for a break, the community members all started to sit down and have a picnic.

“Remember to clean up after yourselves,” your mom said.

You chewed on a sandwich you packed begrudgingly, wishing you had hot food instead, cursing at yourself for not packing food into a thermos. When you finished, you decided to venture further away on your own, unable to stand the not so silent whispers behind your back. You decided to sit underneath a sturdy looking oak tree that looked older than any other tree here. Once you leant back, your back started falling, for some reason, the stem of the tree opened up and swallowed you in, the hole you fell in closing as you fell deeper into the hole. You didn’t scream, you were too scared, you knew you would be dead once you hit ground, so you closed your eyes and waited.

Instead of hitting ground, you fell into something that felt softer than cotton, with a blue glow like the clouds on the sky. Were you dead? You looked around, you were still in the forest, but the forest looked different here. Were these the unexplored parts of the hill?

“How graceful, Alice has nothing on you, sweetheart.”

You screamed, trying to get out of the ‘cloud’, but all you could do was trash in it because of how it’s too soft and big.

“Easy, don’t panic. I’m right here.”

Suddenly, a man around your age appeared next to you, his smile bright and somewhat familiar looking. That’s when the memory came back to you.

“You’re just like the Cheshire cat in Wonderland. Where am I? And who are you?”

“You’re in the other side of the forest, or the whole world, depends on how you see your position geographically. I’m Xiao De Jun, but you can call me Xiao Jun, and I’m a fairy. Oh and another detail? I eat humans.”

“Wait what? What do you mean the other side? What do you mean fairies eat humans?”

“Well, let’s just say fairies aren’t all Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, those stories are told just to induce naive humans like you to fall in our traps. But you’re a pretty one, and you didn’t scream like a darned banshee just now, I might just keep you.”

“Keep me? Get us out of this thing, who said I was an object?!”

“I’ll get us out once we reach my palace, now hold on tight sweetheart, and please don’t scream like a mad woman, or I’ll eat you up in a gulp like the others.”

Xiao Jun booped your nose with his index finger before he leant back with an cynical smile on his face. The cloud floated up high, letting you see the scenery below you clearly. There were cities just like the human world, but instead of metal and blocks, these were held up by wood and magic, because there was no way a building as tall as the Eiffel Tower require no bolts and nuts, and you doubt its transparent like bubble had any glass panes.

"It’s beautiful.”

“It’s nothing compared to the beautiful lady beside me.”

You could feel your cheeks heating up at his flirty remarks. You quickly thought up of something to divert the topic, not being used to receiving compliments out of the blue.

“You said you have a palace? Are you a prince?”

“I’m a king, my father just passed away.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Xiao Jun.”

“For a human you’re quite sentimental, cleaning the forest, not threatening to kill me even though you have a knife in your pocket, and not screaming at me like a mad woman. You’re quite different from what I expected.”

“What do you...

“That’s our stop, less chatter and get a move on, or no mint chocolate ice cream for you.”

Calling Xiao Jun weird would be an understatement, his personality was like a cross of between Marry Poppins and Willy Wonka, and his palace was nothing far from that either, fortress painted with pastel tones, and that fountain was definitely chocolate, the windows looked like panes of thin candy, while the draw bridge was shaped like a milk cracker. The swimming pool at the back looked like it was filled with different flavours of fanta.

“Are you the witch from Hansel and Gretel?”

“Do I look like an old hag?”

Instead of entering from the main entrance, the cloud took you to the back of the castle where there was a balcony which overlooked the pool and the garden. Once you landed, the cloud disappeared beneath you, but Xiao Jun’s quick reflexes caught you before you fell on your butt.

“Welcome to my chambers. I forgot to ask for your name sweetheart.”

“Y/N,” you said as breathlessly, still in shock from your near fall.

Xiao Jun’s room was huge, the walls were mint green while the furniture were all made of dark oak with gold accents, just like his favourite ice cream flavour. You looked up to see a beautiful chandelier that defied the laws of gravity. The candles as well as the whole structure of the chandelier was shaped like an overturned tiered cake, each tier turning at its own pace with different colours flickering on the candles. The bed was just like the cloud you travelled on, just bigger and in a shade of pastel pink that made it look like cotton candy.

“You must really like your sweets.”

“The only human food that actually tastes good. Make yourself comfortable, it’s not like you’re leaving.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m keeping you.”

“You can’t do that! I don’t belong to you!”

“It’s written in the stars that you’ll be my queen, and I don’t have to force you. You’re going to stay.”

“Why would you know that?”

“Because I’ve been watching you and your fate in our stars, you lead an unhappy life in the mortal world, living like a balloon which lost its string, wandering aimlessly, slowly deflating just like your personality. When was the last time you truly enjoyed yourself without your mother giving you disapproving looks? What happened to your dream of being a writer? What happened when you said you wanted to go out for your birthday? What happened when you told her about your anxiety? Oh right, she called you a freak.”

Xiao Jun wasn’t shouting the words in your face, in fact it was gentle like an angel’s singing, yet what he said drizzled into your heart like sweet poison. You let out a chocked sob, you felt naked under his scrutinisation. Xiao Jun observed your life under a microscope, knowing you better than yourself.

“How do you know all of this?”

“I’ll show you.”

Xiao Jun wiped your tears with his expensive button up, the tears making the blue silk turn inky black. He then took your hand in his, guiding you out of his room into a room down the same hallway. Compared to the other odd looking fancy doors, this was bare of any jewels or gold. Xiao Jun turned the knob and led you in the dimly lit room, the room only had a large mirror with red candles on its sides.

“Show me, Lee Hyenji.”

That was your mother’s name.

The mirror flickered a few times before showing you the image of your mother.

“Where is that dumb girl? Always day dreaming and never getting things done. Wandering on her own, I’m just waiting for the day she leaves me like that useless father of hers.”

“Show me Becca Park.”

“I’m soo glad she’s lost, we don’t need to deal with her just to make our mothers happy anymore. She didn’t like hanging out with us anyways.”

Xiao Jun’s eyes flickered to yours to see your reaction, instead of holding sadness like he thought it would’ve been, your eyes were empty, the images on the mirror reflecting in your eyes like shadows in a murky lake.

“Why aren’t you angry?”

“Because they’re right.”

“No, they’re not. Mirror, show me Saved Memories.”

The mirror played images of you working on your short stories, snippets of you singing along your favourite song, as well as videos of you learning a dance.

“You shine like the brightest star in the galaxy sweetheart. Don’t let ducks call a swan ugly. They’re not even in your league, darling.”

“Am I?”

“You don’t need my confirmation, you can see it as well, maybe a flicker here and there, but those little flickers will grow into a  flame if you leave that life of yours. Don’t think too much about it, come, have a shower, I’ll show you to your room.”

Xiao Jun took you down the hall into your room, which was in front of his.

“I made it just like the bedroom in your world, so there shouldn’t be a problem with figuring out the shower. That laptop is yours, as well as those books, they’re the ones you already have and ones that you always wanted to read. The internet’s password is your birthday, yes we have internet access here. I painted the walls with the shade of blue you love, the bed is lilac, since you love that colour as well. There’s clothes from your own wardrobe as well as our clothes, it might be a bit fancy, but you might like it.”

Xiao Jun turned into such a sucker for you, the ‘I eat humans’ was such a front, you couldn’t help but smile at his dorkiness.

True to what Xiao Jun said, the shower was just like a regular shower, and the clothes in the wardrobe were nicely prepared to fit your size, making you wonder how he knew even these little details.

You went out and knocked on his door, Xiao Jun was out by the third knock, his hair now in yellow curls.

“What’s with the hair?”

“This is my natural hair colour, didn’t want to scare you too much just now. Though we really do eat humans, just the hearts, the hearts taste exquisite, according to the old fairies, and only if they threaten to develop that piece of forest. We used to eat humans all the time, until my father put a ban on it, didn’t want to look suspicious.”

There was a look of horror on your face.

“Trust me, only the old fairies eat humans, we prefer animals most times.”

You let out the breath of air you were holding in.

“This is my own private dining room, and tonight we would be having steak and ox tail soup, no humans.”

You manage to let out a laugh at his odd humour, starting to feel more at ease in his presence.

The two of you ate and drank wine, talking about his life as a royalty in his fairy kingdom.

“My mom told me I would have wings, I was so scared I checked my back every night before I slept, until I realised no one had wings and that it was just something made up in the tales.”

After dinner, the two of you danced ungracefully, the wine making your head light and footsteps a mess, giggling at each other’s mistake. After the two of you got tired, Xiao Jun carried you into his room.

He placed you on top of a couch, taking a seat beside you to admire the beautiful stars in the clear night sky.

“Would you like to try fairy dust?’

“It makes you fly? Like Peter Pan?”

“That is only one usage of fairy dust, we eat it as well. Wait let me show you.”

Xiao Jun took your hand and led you to his walk in wardrobe, it was just as big as the room he gave you, but what caught your attention was a mini pool, but instead of liquid, it was filled with swirling sparkling dust.

“Oh my god.”

Since you were drunk, you did the dumbest yet most logical thing ever, jumping into the pool. The dust made you bounce on an invisible force.

“Why am I not flying?”

“You have to give directions in your head, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that, I wouldn’t want to call medic when you hit your head.”

“Right...Jump in, join me!”

Xiao Jun shook his head in disbelief, but jumped in with a smile on his face regardless. Xiao Jun walked to your direction, stopping right in front of you.

“Breath it in.”

You did as he said, the fairy dust making you feel happy and free, as well as a warm feeling in your stomach that you can’t put your finger on once you look at Xiao Jun,, your eyes scanning his beautiful physique. Xiao Jun breathed in the dust after you, his eyes diluting into a darker shade of brown, his senses picking up little things about you that he didn’t before, like the plump of your lips, the curve of your hips under that tight skirt.

“Y/N, I want you.”

Xiao Jun kissed you with fervour, his tongue dipping into your welcoming mouth. Instead of pushing him away like he thought, you kissed him with just as much passion, your hands starting to linger under his shirt. Xiao Jun started to unbutton your top, throwing it out of the pool.

“No bra?”

“This isn’t the mortal world, there aren’t any sex predators here.”

“What about me?”

“This is for you, my king.”

Xiao Jun didn’t know whether this was you talking, or the fairy dust in your system. Xiao Jun marked up the length of your neck, purple flowers blooming in his wake as you started taking off his shirt and pants.

“Why the rush, love?”

“I need you, please.”

The amount of slick flowing onto your legs was too much to be normal, you didn’t know what side effects the dust has, but you just needed relief, and only Xiao Jun could give that to you. Xiao Jun took off your skirt and panties, smiling at that pretty piece of ruined silk in his hands.

“Wonderful.”

Xiao Jun let his hands travel southwards as his lips engulf your breast in his mouth, nibbling and sucking away like a new born, as well as leaving a mark near your nipple, the slight possessiveness sending shivers down your back. Your hands curl in Xiao Jun’s soft locks as he pushes a finger into you, when he could feel how wet you were, he decided to push two more in, curling his fingers at your sweet spot, making you cry out his name breathlessly. 

“Xiao Jun, more please. I need you inside me.”

You grinded onto his bare cock, his pre cum smearing over your slit, egging him to slide inside you.

Xiao Jun, pushed inside you in one go, your wet walls welcoming him. The action made both of you moaning in sync, lust filled relief washing over the both of you, making both of you crave for more. He started moving once you adjusted to his length, you could feel every vein and curve of his length as he bottoms out inside of you. Xiao Jun pushed himself closer to you, feeling you nipples against his own as he thrusted inside of you, the friction making your head spin from pleasure. Xiao Jun couldn’t believe it, after so many years of waiting, he finally had you in his arms, withering under his pleasurable touch. Xiao Jun slides a hand from your hips down to your clit, rubbing quick circles over it. Whimpers of his name fall from your lips like a beautiful piece of music, you were nearing your high as you felt the build up of an orgasm as your toes start to curl, your legs wrapped tighter around Xiao Jun’s waist as your head falls onto his shoulder, the overwhelming pleasure binding your body with his as he continues his thrusts, pace quickening once he felt you nearing the edge. Xiao Jun lifts you higher to thrust into you at a better angle, his tip hitting your sweet spot with every thrust, making you scream his name as your nails dug down his back, the pain mixing with the pleasure fuels Xiao Jun’s desire to absolutely ruin you under his touch.

“Cum for me, Y/N. I know you’re close.”

When you didn’t answer his request, Xiao Jun snapped his hips against yours at an even quicker pace, the speed of his thrusts inhuman, making your head swirl in pleasure as little bits of saliva drip from your lips down your throat as you throw you head back, the sight of the marks Xiao Jun left behind from earlier pushing his need for release. Once Xiao Jun wrapped a hand around your beautiful neck, you lost it. You couldn’t even scream as the pleasure was overwhelming all your senses, blinding white light behind your closed lids, your mind chanting his name like a mantra. Xiao Jun let out a beautiful moan once he felt your walls closing around his length in a vice grip, sending him over the edge as he paints your walls a milky white, his pearly white teeth biting down your shoulder to muffle his noises.

Once your orgasm subsides, you collapsed into Xiao Jun’s arms, energy drained completely by the handsome fairy. Xiao Jun carried you into his bed with the assistance of fairy dust, glad that he didn’t need to wobble into bed supporting your weight as well as his. He adjusted the pillows and blanket to accommodate your comfort, slipping in beside you once he was done, taking you into his warm embrace. Only one thought in his head.

‘You’re going to be with me for eternity, and nothing is going to take you away from me, my love, just like what the stars told me.’

[aecs-multy]

I'd make the devil prostrate before you

Summary:

When Merlin wakes up and Arthur is not by his side, he know that he's going to have to get him back. The bandits aren't the ones that should be scared of him, it's the king who should be for being such a reckless idiot and going to fight them alone instead of bringing Merlin with him.

---

Merlin was going to murder him. Screw destiny, screw Albion, screw everything. If the bandits didn’t kill Arthur, he would. More than once. He was going to bring him back to life time and time again and he would kill him in every possible painful way he could come up with.

When he had been informed that the king had gone missing and no one knew where he was, Merlin had already come up with a thousand ways of making him regret the day he chose to ignore the sorcerer’s words.

“That idiot never listens to me. Become the court sorcerer. People will listen to you. You will have influence,” Merlin muttered under his breath while he packed some essentials for the trip. “Well, all that is worthless if the freaking king goes and doesn’t listen to me, that clotpole!”

Merlin was aware he was receiving weird looks from the stable’s boy, but he couldn’t care less. He was bristling with energy, his whole body vibrating with the magic that cursed through his veins, alert, ready for anything he commanded it to do.

He mounted his horse and went in the search of Arthur, begging to The Triple Goddess that his love was alive. He wanted the privilege of murdering him for himself.

Merlin would be lying, though, if he said that he wasn’t afraid. His heart seemed to beat too fast and too hard for it to be normal. He was feeling cold all over even under the heat of the summer sun. His hands trembled in the reins of his mount.

Despite the paralyzing fear that he felt, the sorcerer put on a brave face and hung on to the almost-blinding rage that had been fueling him since the news of the king’s disappearance. No one would touch Arthur and live to tell the tale as long as he walked the earth, even if he had to burn the world to ashes to find those who had brought harm to his other half.

oOoOo

“The mighty Arthur Pendragon,” The man said, circling around him and hitting him in the stomach, making him groan and loose his breath for some seconds before being able to look back up at the man with all the hatred he could muster. “Defenseless against me. The king of Camelot rendered powerless without his knights and his precious sorcerer.” The man’s laugh echoed around the room. “You’re nothing without them, poor little boy.”

As if to prove his point, his last word was accompanied with a blow to Arthur’s face, and soon the coppery taste of blood blossomed in his mouth. His shoulders and arms ached with the strain that came with being chained to the ceiling by his wrists. That was nothing, though, compared to the pain that he felt on his side, where he was certain that he had several broken bones from the maze used to torture him.

“At least I’m above the lot of you, so scared of one man that you have to chain me. Afraid that I’ll humiliate you in a fair fight?” Arthur mocked with ragged breath, earning himself another hit. He should have learned that talking back was of no use, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t, let them break him. His body might be mauled, but his spirit was intact.

He just had to wait for Merlin, and that scared him more than this bandits ever could. Just the thought of it made him shiver. He was in big trouble, and that had nothing to do with being kept captive by some bandits. He feared the moment Merlin came to save him, certain that whatever the sorcerer had planned for him was a million times worse than this.

Arthur should have listened to him. He knew better than to come here alone, but he just couldn’t let the bandits trade for the life of his sister as if she were an object. As soon as he had received notice that the bandits had captured Morgana and asked for him to come unescorted to pay for her ramson he had had to do something.

Obviously, Merlin was against the idea, but he slipped away in the darkness of the night and went to the location the captors of his sister had told him they would be waiting. To his surprise, they didn’t have Morgana, but now they had him.

Merlin was going to skin him. He almost wanted to ask the bandits for protection against his court sorcerer. Maybe he would even have, but soon something seemed to shake the whole room. Hell, the whole building seemed to tremble. Several guards fell to the ground when they lost his footing and even the leader hat to grab Arthur’s chained arm to avoid falling.

Shit, Arthur thought. Merlin was here. He sighed and closed his eyes, accepting the fate that awaited him.

oOoOo

His magic was flowing out of him, surrounding the small castle and searching for Arthur. Bandits tried to stop him, but they barely took one step before they were thrown away with enough force to make cracks in the walls they collided with. He could sense the vibration of the ground beneath him, reacting to all the energy emanating from him.

An arrow flew towards him, but stopped a mere meter away from his head. He reached for the core of his power and with just a thought, the rest of his magic inside of him exploded, sending everything and everyone flying.

When his magic recognized Arthur, he walked that way, leaving a trail of unconscious bodies behind him. Soon, only a door stood between them and his magic burst them open without a problem. Dust was floating in the air and falling from the cracks in the ceiling with every tremor of the castle. Right now, Merlin was the one that kept it from crushing to the ground.

The expressions of the bandits were full of fear, terror dripping from them in waves. Good. His power lashed out and made them all fall to their knees, pressing them down and down until they were lying motionless, unable to move even an inch.

When his gaze focused on Arthur, stronger tremors shook the castle as his magic flowed from him like the waves of the ocean crashing against the shoreline. At least the prat had the decency of looking apologetic. Well, apologetic and about to empty his bladder in his torn pants if the panic in his face was anything to go by.

Merlin’s heart softened and ached when he finally noticed the state his lover was in. Several bruises and cutes adorned his body, the sight making his magic reach out to soothe him. He could see how the tension in Arthur's shoulders ebbed slightly and how his eyes became glassy as a small smile appeared on his face.

He went to stand in front of him and softly cradled Arthur’s face, his thumb brushing carefully over a bruise that was starting to form in his cheek. The king bowed his head and said, “I’m sorry.”

Merlin used his magic to make the chains disappear and held Arthur against his body when his legs gave out after hours of being held on his toes. He pulled him into a hug, with Merlin’s arms around his waist, and Arthur hid his face in the crook of his neck.

The sorcerer felt how Arthur’s arms moved to circle his neck as he returned the embrace.

After restoring the building enough to be sure it wouldn’t collapse, his magic slowly retreated to circle around both of them, making sure that Arthur was safe, alive. With a content sigh, Merlin started focusing on healing the body in his arms, noticing how Arthur sagged against him more and more with every injury that he healed.

“You’re in so much trouble that you’ll need your whole life to make it up to me, but right now, you’re safe. I’m here, love, you’re safe with me,” Merlin said, kissing Arthur on the top of his head.

oOoOo

Arthur’s heart swelled with emotion at his words and found himself speechless. He knew he was safe with Merlin. His arms around him were like a fortress, keeping the threats of the world away from him. He had never felt safer that with Merlin, and not only because of his magic but because Arthur had given him his heart, and the sorcerer protected it with everything he had, making him know how loved he was.

Even when the castle seemed to be about to crumble down, Arthur had known that nothing would happen to him. Merlin’s magic was like a hurricane, able to destroy everything that would dare approach him, but it worked as a shield too, because he kept those he cared about in the eye of the storm, where they were safe from the winds that would crush anyone that wanted to cause them harm.

For a moment, he forgot where they were when lips pressed against his hair and just enjoyed his rapidly recovering body and the man that held him, but that didn’t last long.

“Look how cute, the princess needed to be saved,” The leader of the bandits said.

Arthur stiffened when he remembered where they were and took a step back sharply, as if he had been jerked awake from a good dream.

He looked at the man and the bandit’s eyes were full of a hatred that he returned tenfold. Before he could say anything, Merlin stepped in front of him.

“It seems like you are the one that needs saving,” Merlin said, and Arthur smirked when he heard the venom that laced with his words. “You know, after the ban against magic was lifted, I finally was able to learn a lot of things about my power. There are many spells, but I can think of one that I’m sure you’ll love.”

Arthur loved the way the man’s face paled even more. He knew what it was like to face Merlin’s anger, having been there before, and it would make even the bravest of men run away in fright.

“I will bind you to this castle so that you can never leave its walls, condemned to stay here for the rest of your life.”

“What? No! Please, have mercy, please!” The bandit pleaded, but with a movement of Merlin’s wrist, no more sound came out of his mouth.

“Adiuro vos in loco isto ut non numquam etiam,” Merlin said, and with a flash of golden in his eyes, the spell was cast.

oOoOo

They camped half way to their home because Arthur was too tired to make the trip in one go. Merlin had healed his body, but he could see how the captivity had affected his king, so he decided that resting would be the best.

Now that the worry had faded away after rescuing Arthur, he had started to feel relief, but also the anger that he had felt before. Merlin knew why he had done it, but it also hurt that he had been left behind, especially when he could have helped and all this problem would have been avoided.

Arthur was silent, sitting beside him, his focus on the flame before them. Merlin could actually feel the guilt that emanated from him, but it did nothing to dissipate his anger. Several minutes passed where the only sound that they could listen was the sound of the fire, but then Merlin heard Arthur sigh.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

He kept quiet for a long time, pondering everything he wanted to say, all the arguments he had come up with during Arthur’s search, but when he spoke, it was only to say, “Why?”

Arthur looked at him with his head tilted to his side, his emotions clear on his eyes, and Merlin saw the flicker of confusion at the question.

“Why did you leave without me?” Merlin clarified, and then Arthur looked away, a blush of embarrassment clear in his cheeks even in the night.

“I… I just- I don’t know, I-” Arthur stuttered, but then he closed his mouth and run a hand to his hair, clearly distressed. Merlin waited, but Arthur didn’t attempt to say anything again, so he decided to do it instead.

“I told you to wait until the morning,” he said, barely over a whisper, but in the silence it almost seemed too loud. “I told you that we would both go there to help Morgana. I know how worried you were because she is like a sister to me too, but I knew that going to get her in the middle of the night wouldn’t solve anything because we needed to rest. You sneaked out ignoring everything I told you.” His voice had started to get louder, more irritated as his emotions took hold on him. In the distance, lightning struck. “You got captured because if you had waited until morning like I had told you, you would have discovered that she escaped and was back in the castle before the sun rose. All you did was useless because there was no one to save! You got yourself tortured for nothing!”

Merlin stood up and started pacing, not trying to control himself as he ended almost yelling, the fear and worry he had felt when he had woken up alone in their chambers coming back to him. “I could have lost you! Do you know how worried I was? I knew where you were, but not if you were safe, not if I would be able to arrive in time. If you were going to go anyways then you wake me up and we go, together-”

“I’m fine now, I’m alive, so stop shouting at me! I know I made a mistake, but everything is alright now, so stop worrying, I’m not a kid you need to take care of!” Arthur yelled, standing up too and standing in front of him.

“Then stop acting like one!” Merlin yelled back, his voice cracking. The tears he hadn’t known he had been holding back since he had woken up finally spilled and run down his cheeks. “I know you’re alright now, but I didn’t know that before, when I was riding in your search. I didn’t know what they would do to you, and I was scared, Arthur. You’re the king and you have a responsibility to your kingdom, but you’re also so much more to me, my partner, my best friend, my everything, and I couldn’t bear to lose you.” He said softly, his anger deflating until there was nothing left in him but such a deep ache that came with the knowledge of how wrong things could have gone. “I love you, so much that it hurts to even think of being apart from you. And it also hurts that you would leave me behind, because I thought we were past keeping things from each other and going behind each other’s backs since you discovered my magic. Guess I was wrong,” he finished, and now that he said it out loud, he noticed that most of his feelings revolved around that, about Arthur not trusting Merlin enough to tell him that he was going to go anyways.

He felt drained of all his energy and he sat down back again, cross-legged, with his elbows resting on his legs and his face hiding behind his hands. Merlin didn’t hold back, letting the tears flow freely as his body shook. He guessed he deserved it, after all, he had hidden his magic from Arthur, so it’s only normal that Arthur would hide things from him too.

He had been so foolish thinking that things between them would be alright, but how could they when Arthur didn’t trust him? It was all his fault. He should have told Arthur, but fear had stopped him, like something had stopped the king from asking Merlin to come with him.

“You’re an idiot if you think I don’t trust you,” he heard Arthur say, and he lifted his head to look at him.

oOoOo

Arthur felt something squeezing his heart when he saw the miserable look in Merlin’s face, and soon he was blinking back tears of his own, but he continued talking, regardless of how difficult it was to get the words out when his throat had seemed to close up.

“I trust you with my life, with the life of everyone in my kingdom, with the future of Camelot, with my heart. What I did wasn’t out of a lack of trust, it was out of fear. I thought Morgana was in danger, and I couldn’t let any harm come to her,” he said, but when he tried to open his mouth to speak again, Merlin cut him, his voice so weak that it hurt to hear it.

“But why didn’t you bring me with you?”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t like it and that you would argue. You had told me to wait, but I couldn’t and I didn’t want to waste any more time,” he said, desperately trying to make Merlin see why he had done it.

“You could have taken me, you know that if you asked me I would move the mountains, conquer the sky and tame the sea for you. If you had told me how you felt I would have helped you without a word,” he said.

“I…” Arthur knew that, but in that moment all that he could think about was rescuing Morgana, he didn’t think about anything else, and that was the problem, “I didn’t think, I just acted.”

Tense seconds of silence passed where Merlin looked at him with so much pain in his eyes that Arthur wanted to hit himself for being so stupid. He could almost feel Merlin’s pain as if it were his own, because he knew how he would have been if the roles were reversed, if it were Merlin that had disappeared in the middle of the night.

Arthur would have gone mad with worry, no matter how capable Merlin was of taking care of himself.

“I’m sorry, I really am,” he said, crouching down in front of the sorcerer and taking his hands in his. “Never think that I don’t trust you, because I do, more than I trust myself. And you’re right, we’re past the hiding and all that, and I should have told you, for that, I’m sorry. I never meant for it to end like this, I just wanted to help my sister and I forgot that I had you by my side.” Arthur kissed his knuckles and smiled sadly at him. “Come on, I’ll let you call me a dollophead without sending you to the stocks.”

That managed to get a chuckle out of Merlin and with the sound some of the tension in the air dissipated. “You really are a dollophead,” Merlin said, and Arthur could hear the fondness in his voice.

“I don’t know what I did in my other life, but it must have been legendary because I certainly haven’t done anything worthy in this one to deserve you,” Arthur said, moving to stand up and pull Merlin with him by the hands.

“You’re right, I’m too good for you,” Merlin laughed wetly, sniffing and brushing his tears with his forearm, not letting go of Arthur.

Arthur gaped at him through his smile and said, “You can’t address me like that,” remembering the words he had said the first time they met.

Merlin didn’t disappoint when he answered, “Sorry. You’re right, I’m too good for you… my lord.”

“You were such an idiot back then,” Arthur laughed, throwing his head back, feeling lighter than before and dizzy with relief, knowing that they would be alright.

“You were such a prat back then, although, now that I think about it, you haven’t changed much, have you?” Merlin mocked, both of them chuckling, and Arthur shook his head.

“I love you so much,” he said, his heart so full of affection towards the man in front of him that he felt like it would burst any moment now.

“I love you too,” Merlin replied, a smile on his face that didn’t reach his eyes. “but if you pull something like that again I swear the torture methods they use will be nothing compared to what I’ll do to you.”

“Well, you can always bind me to your bed, can’t you?” he whispered next to Merlin’s ear and enjoying way too much the shiver that run through the sorcerer’s body.

“I- Wh- I-” Merlin stuttered, his eyes wide and dark, probably having imagined the situation. “Oh god, you’re in so much trouble.” He finally said, a grin so wide in his face that it might split it open.

They kept staring at each other and soon they were resting their foreheads together, slowly moving to embrace each other. Arthur drank in the feeling of being in Merlin’s arms again like a thirsty man seeing water for the first time in days.

“Never leave me again, please,” Merlin said, his breath tickling the skin of his neck, his tone full of vulnerability.

“Never again, I promise, love, never again,” he said in earnest, vowing to himself that no matter what could happen in the future, they would deal with it together.

[4dtk]

stuck with you

pairing: enemy!journalist!haechan x journalist!reader

genre: angst, fluff, humour, enemies to lovers (hope i did the trope justice tbh TT)

warnings: cursing, f words lmao, i mention stranger things a lot in this??? mainly bc i just finished watching it w a friend. i also only use ‘haechan’ when narrating the story so i don’t get confused! the timeline for this is Very Weird as well bc like i didn’t consider how long a pandemic would last…… so Uhm. pls just excuse the weird ass time sequence. also referenced yangyang’s bastard child behaviour from dream plan where he packs his things messily and kun had to mf intervene and yangyang had the audacity to go like “see, this is how u get ppl to pack for you, now i don’t have to do anything” 💀

word count: 8k (a headache to proofread...)

A/N: first time trying an e2l trope and im not sure if it was done ok??? i didn't want it to feel too rushed so i tried to spread out the days as much as i could!! i also included small snippets of their life w the other so it won’t seem like the fic is just focusing on the e2l concept! was inspired tons by the lyrics of stuck with u by ariana grande and jb, so that song is definitely something you can listen to if you read this! hope you enjoy ^^

[day 1]

"you're insufferable," you groan, reluctantly handing over the remote control for the hotel's television after some unsuccessful scrolling.

hotels never exactly had much range anyway. 

you were very much already dreading the time ahead with the male, sadly having been stuck in quarantine not even half a day with haechan. 

offering to go to a neighbouring country to report on the rising covid-19 situation, you didn't expect your rival to tag along, no doubt seeking to craft up a better story than you would.

and so, you were now nudging the remote control into his waiting palm with a roll of your eyes. you hoped it emphasised your annoyance with him even a little, standing up to prepare a cup of tea before bed. 

"are you going to keep watching television while i sleep?" you ask a genuine question, peeking at him through the mirror of the vanity that sat outside the bathroom.

he just shrugs with a tired sigh, turning his attention back to the cartoon playing in front of him. 

"okay, well, keep to your side of the bed and i'll stay in mine. we need to be social distancing, anyway."

there's a hint of "okay, loser" mumbled under his breath, but you pay it no thought as you finish your tea and brush your teeth before you skillfully set up a fortress made out of pillows.

"ow! what the hell?" 

"your leg was in the way, jeez! move it, and i'll stop annoying you," you said, putting up the last of your requested pillows beside where haechan currently sat. 

taking one last glance at haechan, you wondered when the lockdown in your country would last before they start letting people fly in. for now, you were trapped with the nightmare himself in a sad hotel room, with only a bed to share.

"goodnight," he tells you, but the sardonic way he says it irks you to the point where you settle for silence instead. the only thing that drones on are the voices of the cartoon, soon fading as you feel into a dreamless sleep.

[day 4]

"this virus thing is probably driving me insane by day, and you, lee haechan, are adding on to it!"

"no headlines, no idea what style to write in, minimal pictures-" the doorbell to the hotel room interrupts your current rant, prompting you to storm off to answer the call with an annoyed look. 

"what now?" taken aback by your quick response, the housekeeping girl retracts with downturned eyebrows and a voice hesitant to speak. your roommate comes to the rescue almost immediately when he's heard the commotion.

you watch as he sends her a smile and a wink, deflating when he's let her in to clean up the room. you're not sure why you can't keep your eyes off the both of them as they converse, blaming it mostly on your hatred for the male.

with the last of her duties fulfilled, you offer to help her with the cleaning supplies as an apology, but she cuts you off almost immediately. there's a linger in her step, however, as she walks the short hallway to the door, evident in wanting haechan to send her off as he received her.

turning back to call him, he holds up a hand as he types down his opening lines to an article, prompting you to shoot the housekeeper girl another apologetic look.

"sorry again," you mumble, letting out a sigh at how this was all playing out. day four and you were already making enemies with the hotel crew.

"maybe day forty-one is where i fall in love with lee haechan," you scoffed, perhaps listing down all the unfortunate things that could happen while you were in quarantine.

one of them was catching feelings for your rival.

rolling your eyes, you settled on the bed to catch a few Zs as he continued to work on his article, though you weren't exactly sure about the weight your words held.

[day 9]

"haechan, what is this?" you ask with an eyebrow raised, his dirty boxers barely hanging off your finger. 

haechan only groans at that, knowing you were relentless in the laundry. even in a pandemic, he was sure you'd prioritise your clothes first.

"jesus! don't go picking up my underwear just like that!" he snatches it from you, folding it neatly and placing it next to where his luggage sat. unfortunately, yours was right beside his. 

"you think just because you're doing the laundry you're able to look through a man's prized possessions-!"

your jaw drops, "it was near the sink, haechan! i don't want to look at the checkered pattern on your boxers when i brush my teeth. i don't want it near my face either." 

haechan groans yet again, running a hand through his hair in frustration before turning back to the computer, a blank document opened up in front of him.

despite gathering findings, interviewing healthcare workers and serving the public alongside frontline staff, he had deleted every attempt at writing.

there's a rumble from the bathroom, perhaps from your upset stomach or the choked pipe, but sometimes they sounded too similar he couldn't tell it apart. haechan stifles a laugh when there's a "fuck!" echoing behind the door, though unsure if he should help you or not.

when haechan hears another crash, he comes running without hesitation with a face morphed into furrowed eyebrows and a tilt of the head.

"don't just stand there, you moron!" 

haechan snaps out of his daze to assist you off the floor, swiftly helping you even more off the floor as he carries you to the bed with a stiff one arm. you notice his other hand hanging awkwardly, probably not knowing what to do with it before you feel the soft sheets under your butt.

he gets to work within a minute, fishing for an ointment and some bandages his mother forced him to bring. he remembers it as he always has: a caring mother looking out for her son, maybe a little too much sometimes. 

haechan is thankful for his mother, now, for the stray bandages laying around in his pouch.

you watch in silence as he cleans the cut with alcohol, wincing when his hand hadn't even touched your skin.

"my hand isn't even on your skin yet! jeez, calm down." 

you shake your head, holding onto his bicep to halt his arm, "just use water, please."

exhaling in exasperation, you wonder if you've pissed him off tenfold when he leaves for the bathroom with a side-eyed glance, though not hostile.

"problematic," haechan whispers, dabbing a wet cloth over the wound carefully before applying the ointment and securing the bandages. 

"your words contradict your actions so much, haechan. i never know what you're thinking." sighing, you pull your leg away from his hold after he's done with the bandages, making your way to the bathroom and leaving him in his thoughts.

"why do you want to know?"

haechan gets silence; the lock of the bathroom audibly turns to signal another wall put up between the two of you. with another frustrated groan, the boy plops down on the chair to work on his article with the right words forming in his mind.

even if he was the one who asked, he wasn't sure if he was ready to tell you.

[day 13]

"stranger things is freaking me the fuck out, man!" haechan whispered, ignoring your pleads and groans to continue writing. 

"haechan! give me the damn laptop! i don't even know why you brought an HDMI cable when it doesn't work with the television system here!"

"well, we got one that matches it, didn't we?" he said, eyes peeled to the screen that showed the young boy, will, in the upside-down.

"you mean you did!" you shoved him, ready to disconnect the devices before haechan held you back, clearly entranced by the next sequence of eleven being able to see will in a pool of salt. 

"ugh, god, i don't even know why people watch the show!" you spill with sourness, knowing the show was praised for its excellent acting and writing.

haechan raises an eyebrow, turning to you with a strangely slow speed. 

"stranger things have received multiple awards, and you didn't give any other reason. are you scared?"

when you struggle to find words, haechan laughs at his revelation, hiding his pearly whites behind his hand as he continues to make fun of you.

"yeah yeah, i'm scared! so what?" 

"'oh haechan! oh no~ i'm terrified, would you care to provide some comfort?' jeez, don't worry, man, i'll protect you." there's a cheeky glimmer in his eyes and a cocky smirk on his face which you very much want to wipe off with the disinfectant in the toilet.

"it's not all that bad, c'mon! give it a-" turning back to the tv, the sudden attack of the demogorgon lashing out at the camera has the male screaming, hiding behind your body in fear.

"you were saying, mr superman?" you deadpan, unlatching his arms around your waist as you sink deeper into the sheets with your phone in hand.

[day 17]

haechan thrashes in his sleep, almost knocking the wine glass you had in your hands when he crosses over the pillow barrier you made. 

"what in the hell-" you winced, keeping an eye on the male should he have any more outbursts that would ruin both wine night and the stuff you were working on for the article. 

with tipsy hands, your keyboard keys unconsciously write out a letter of disdain and confusion regarding haechan, the boy sleeping next to you with a cute drooling face and curly hair.

with beautiful tan skin like that, you wondered why he didn't model instead. with a voice as impressive as his, you wondered why he didn't sign a contract. with natural hosting capabilities, you wondered why didn't fucking get the place of a talk show host. 

because man, he can get pretty bothersome sometimes.

[day 20]

the next few days pass by with a breeze.

despite not knowing how the current pandemic will turn out, you find haechan more bearable, his habits being dumped in the past with a wave of a hand.

petty arguments occur, of course, until one of you brushes off the matter like nothing.

today was one of the days you won't back down.

there's worry evident on your face, eyes scanning through every last document on the stupid laptop. fingers travel fast over the keyboard as the realisation slowly dawns on you. 

with slumped shoulders, you take a deep breath before turning to the male.

"what do you mean you accidentally deleted my article? i know we're sharing the damn laptop, but we established that you stay on your files and i stay on mine."

the other waved his hand, "i did not touch any of your files, (y/n), i'm not sure what happened."

"how could you not know? what the hell? i had good content on it, but now i have to spend more hours reorganising the news and interview answers and everything else in my notes. thanks, lee haechan."

"maybe if you weren't so caught up in me trying to sabotage your place in the publication team, then you would've believed me." he shrugged, taking a seat on the one bed like nothing.

you scoffed, arms crossing across your body. "funny how you mention sabotage because a villain never reveals their motive. that's why you came with me, didn't you?"

haechan stuck his tongue out to the side of his mouth, eyes blinking and rolling like an 8-ball that it sickened you to the core.

"villain? i'm the villain?"

"was i not clear?" you hiss, stepping closer to the male.

"no, make it more precise, please. i wanna hear it word for word. spit it out, coward."

with every word, you plunged your finger into his chest, looking deep into his eyes. "you're set out to take my place for department editor, where you know i'm best at."

"and that department would be...?" he crossed his arms, looking down at you with scorn you wished you could slap off his face.

"the..." you gulp with his face all up in yours, eyes boring as he awaits your answer, no doubt losing confidence at your realisation.

"the world depart...ment? you love to travel, right?" you trail off, biting your lip in anxiety when you remember how he was on the plane. you don't exactly remember whether he was more excited or scared.

"wrong! try again."

"politics?" you propose.

haechan's face contorts into disbelief, with his mouth twisted with perplex and eyebrows furrowed. "me? politics?"

your mouth runs dry at the roadblock you've faced, and as that annoying, stupid smirk grows, your hatred for him increases by the charts.

"naming departments i'd rather die than join, running your mouth, accusing me of deleting your files..." haechan shakes his head dramatically, rolling his eyes and letting out a fat sigh.

"you think i wanna be stuck here with your infuriating ass? god, you're so entitled, aren't you? aren't you?!"

"talking like you own the place, talking like you're the only one in this world, talking like- mhfh-"

within three angry steps, you were across the room.

within three booming steps, your hands were on his face.

within three significant steps, you were kissing lee haechan.

"you never learn to shu..." with horror, you're brought back from the trance with widened eyes.

"oh, god, sorry. what. what the hell. what the fuck?" you whisper, pushing the boy away with both hands in a panic, trying to highlight your scorn for him by wiping your lips on your sleeve.

had you liked it?

the other scurried to the balcony in a frenzy while you collected yourself in the bathroom, although no amount of water could calm your nerves. 

with shaky words in bed, you both agreed to never talk about it again.

[day 25]

"hey, i can see your damn annotations on my article, (y/n). will you stop it?" haechan whines, making you second guess if he was joking or not.

for the nth time that day, you roll your eyes and proceed to sip from your cup of gin tonic that haechan desperately wanted you to try. it was... a refreshing taste, but hell, you wouldn't drink this even if it was the last beverage on earth.

"i'm just giving my feedback, be thankful i didn't bring up that stupid kiss five days ago. bleugh." 

haechan falls quiet at that, fingers lingering over the keyboard as he typed out some note with the speed of a sloth's. 

"hey, call me donghyuck. that's my actual name," he mumbles, glancing at you through his bangs while he awaits your reply.

"donghyuck? is haechan an alias?"

the boy shrugs, "i don't know, maybe. my friends gave it to me when i was younger, and i just stuck with it."

"full sun? your friend gave it to you, sure." you grin with a gesture of your hand, almost spilling the gin in the clear glass before breaking into small laughter with the other.

[day 28]

"hey! hey, what the hell?" you whisper, feeling the boy huddle up to you in lightning speed. 

"what is wrong with you?" you whisper-shout, nudging him off your body as his phone screen remains as the only thing illuminating his face.

"sorry, i- i was watching stranger things while i was shitting and after i cleaned up... i heard something and bolted out of there."

"so now you're butt naked? hyuck, ew!" you groan, thankful for the sheets that were covering your body and his junk. his reluctance to get off you didn't seem to bother you as much as earlier, but you still wished he wasn't literally naked against you.

"go put on your underwear, you big baby. i'll be here when you come out. no demogorgon is going to come out, for real."

"no no, i was watching season two and it was that big shadow thingy that freaked me out. can't you feel this poor boy shivering?" haechan sighed, eyes never leaving the corridor that led to the bathroom.

"i can, and i also can feel your dick. please get dressed, or you're sleeping on the floor," you mumble, pulling the sheets to cover your freezing body.

[day 31] 

your face hits something soft, cuddling into it even further because of its warmth before you realise there was only one other thing that would be warm in the room.

haechan.

your breath shakes, and your eyes widen as you pull yourself away from his embrace. your subtle movement leaves him thrashing around, though, and his arms tighten around your figure slowly and endearingly.

gulping, you will your hands to stay in their place, opting to freeze to death although there are hints of heat crawling onto your face.

when you wake up, you find that his hand's in yours and maybe you were searching for one wrong thing. an anomaly, an exception. it fit in yours perfectly, however, his tanned skin glowing lightly under the rays of sun filtering through the curtains.

you hoped he didn't realise the small shift of your fingers as they enclosed around his hand.

[day 32]

"what are you doing out here?" haechan asked quietly, peeking around the sliding door before joining you on the chilly balcony. it wasn't much, but it was still different and refreshing from the old, stagnant aircon air that was blowing in the hotel room.

"can't sleep," you whisper. you had your arms around your figure cautiously, as if it could protect you from all the bad, evil and terror in the world. at this point, you weren't sure what was it that you were feeling, but it sure didn't involve entertaining haechan's teasing. 

luckily, he bit his tongue from making the usual snarky remarks.

"it's two in the morning, what's up?" 

you shake your head in reply, watching the empty streets as the last light in the apartment across you switches off. sure, at two in the morning, pavements were dusty clean, and the birds were sleeping, but there would always be younger boys smoking along the road, or a drunken group of friends laughing about a past memory. 

now that the pandemic forced everyone into their homes, everything was pretty much dead. there wasn't that excitement you felt when you saw a late-night kiss shared between two lovers or the snug hug of a child to his father who was working overtime that day.

"nothing's up, hyuck, it's fine. you can get back to sleep if you want."

maybe today you two were the one causing the ruckus this time, though. haechan may have let his words slipped, and at that moment, you knew you regretted that bloom in your chest when his lips met yours.

"you're so hard to read, (y/n). i want you to be able to trust me, tell me what's going on."

"why do you wanna know anyway? so you can expose me of my bad habits and weak points?" you whisper, eyes trained on the flickering lamppost a few yards away.

"there you go again! again with the sabotage?" haechan scoffed, exiting the small space and stepping back into the room of mixed emotions.

"is this just about your feelings for me?" 

haechan laughed, "my feelings? might i remind you that you were the one who kissed me full on the lips twelve days ago? what was that all about? i wanna talk about it, even though we said we wouldn't! i wanna talk about why you hate me so much. i wanna talk about why your emotions are so contradictive!" 

your mouth hangs open as you sputter out a heated reply, but instead gets interrupted with a knock on the door. 

"keep quiet, you damn teenagers! i don't need your petty fights at two in the morning!" with padded feet, the guest returns to his room and slams the door to emphasise his complaint. swallowing, your mind goes blank as it focuses only on one question.

"why do you want to know so much lee haechan? what are you gaining out of this? if it's not sabotaging, then what is it?!" you whisper, standing your ground as with the first argument. 

your throat is clenched up, and your fists are balled up tightly with nails digging into your palm. your heartbeat races like a fast car and your breathing's laboured in the cold room. there's no movement for a second, though they feel like minutes on end as haechan struggles to answer your question.

"what is it, lee donghyuck?" you cry out again, the sparkle in your eyes shining brightly from the tears of your never-ending dispute. he wished it was from the moonlight, instead. he wished the two of you were laughing over the rim of wine glasses and sharing the mischievous glimmer of the moon in your eyes.

"it's nothing. don't mind it." the other turns to catch up on sleep, leaving you to bite your lip.

"now you're doing it, now you're the one doing it. just tell me, you dumbass!" you mumble, pulling on his pyjama sleeve and tugging you to him.

"i like you, okay! it's out there now, i like you a lot, but you make it feel like a crime to do it," haechan whispers, "whatever. fuck this."

"no- what- no, we'll talk this out." you propose, adjusting your grip on his wrist with the curl of your fingers.

the male shakes his head and snatches his arm back, "no, forget it, and i'd prefer if you left me alone, (y/n)."

even with the warmth of his body next to yours, your body felt frozen and stiff. even with the thick duvet cover over you, you felt out of place in the stale hotel room, with colour becoming black and white, they merge into grey as the moonlight shone without a care for your problems.

there's action on the balcony when your eyes flutter open in the morning, noticing the quiet way haechan observes those rushing to work as well as social distancing officers making their rounds.

his eyes look hopeful and youthful, different from the tired ones the night before, or rather, this morning. you hadn't forgotten the angry neighbour banging on the door, and you definitely hadn't forgotten about how much you've wounded haechan this morning.

with a soft knock, you let him know of your presence and you just miss the way his eyes soften at your bed hair and messy appearance. his gaze turns hard in a second as he turns back to the apartment across yours, the balcony door showing your reflection of how hesitant you were.

haechan wished he could take your hands in his and accept your apology in a heartbeat, but he stayed seated and waited for whatever you wanted to say.

"don't run off, please." there's a shameful hand on his shoulders, and he's dying to get up when he sees your downcast eyes in the reflection across the street.

"i was too caught up in getting department head that i... didn't consider other possibilities. even the possibility of you uhm... liking me. it's still a weird concept to me, especially with how much we bicker."

"i'm sorry i didn't stay to hear out your feelings and rather, i just talked over you instead. i'm not sure if you want to accept this or not, but i want to open up—about this, about your feelings and... i don't know how much i've masked my emotions, i just know that we need to communicate."

the doorbell interrupts your apology, but you internally thank the housekeeping for bringing breakfast for the two of you.

with silence over breakfast, you weren't sure how the other felt as he scoffed down the croissant and almost burned his tongue with the coffee he ordered.

[day 33] 

the boy barely watches the television and instead, reads over the article you were working on. seeing as it was already there when he logged on, he skimmed through it out of curiosity, finding that you were rephrasing the messy typos and sentences frantically on your notes.

haechan never forgot the way you were typing away on the laptop, eyes reading and rereading the sentences to make sure they made sense, to make sure they were clear to the reader. 

the argument had taken a toll on you, too. he sees it in the way your eyes sink when your words turn out choppy and lacking, he sees it in the way you lug your body to the bathroom after a late night, he sees it in the way you struggle to hold your smile while attending an interview. 

'haechan. you confuse me. i'm not...' the note below it trails off, piquing his curiosity at what it had in store.

'haechan.' big and bold letters it wrote, with a few dozen question marks below it. your writing skills shine through even in an informal note about your self-proclaimed rival, each line prompting the other to read more.

'you confuse me. i'm not sure what you're at but, it doesn't seem natural for you to tag along with someone you hate, right? that's what i was thinking too.'

'jeez, i remember hating when suyeon told me you were coming along. i didn't believe her one bit until she showed me your plane ticket and the hotel rooms next to each other. god, and when i came here, it was a day of interviewing before the damn government decided to close flights and force us into a room together.'

'i heard that other people had to be separated. i didn't know why we were the unlucky two that had to be put in a room together. i wished we didn't, almost. of course, you annoyed me when we first moved in. hogging the tv to no end, leaving your dirty underwear everywhere, running your mouth just like at our workplace.'

'i couldn't take it, maybe. sure, my brother has similar antics, but there was just something about you that just set me off, you know? i wouldn't have thought it was the opposite, or at least, i think so.'

'i'm counting the days. day 17 and i'm not sure why i feel this bubbling feeling inside me. of course, there's anger—i'm sure it's there, but there's also this other thing i get whenever i look at you.'

'my heart clenches up, and my hands become clammy, but it couldn't be a crush, right? i would've wasted my breath shouting, and my strength whacking your shoulder.' that makes haechan chuckle and look over at you where the soft light dances over your face.

'and then i started imagining. how would your arms wrap around me? how would your infuriating laughter, which somehow turned out to be so contagious, feel in the crook of my neck? yikes, that was cheesy.'

'what would it feel like if we fell in love for one night? where would you bring me and what would we eat? would we make out in your car like unruly teenagers?' 

'what would it be like to love you? it's dumb, isn't it? i don't know. i've liked this bickering thing we had going on, and it's amusing to see you one-up me. i'm not sure if i want that to change and i'm not sure if you want us to, either.'

'maybe i'm wrong, and i'm the only one in this thing. this is so stupid, writing while he's sitting next to me. i'll regret this, maybe. goodnight.'

haechan sighs, closing the device in thought, confused at the words he wasn't exactly supposed to read. had you done this on purpose? he was sharing the laptop with you...

the boy brushed it off, placing the laptop on the vanity before adjusting your side of the duvet, hoping he could find the right words. with hesitant steps, he keeps to his side of the bed, thinking, thinking, thinking. 

when he couldn't no more, haechan fell into the spell of slumber in the comfortable hotel room.

[day 34]

"tea?" he asks from the bathroom as the door clicks behind you, returning from the short hotel walk with a new keychain hanging from your sling bag.

"yeah sure, thanks." 

the water runs as he fills up the kettle as the constant whir of the aircon and the conversation on the television keeps you company in the vast quietness of the room. 

you weren't sure if you should say anything, but when you saw the dishevelled appearance of your roommate, you knew you had to bring up the argument and apology.

"haechan, about our... feelings. do you want to talk about them?" you whispered, a reply reaching your ears in the form of his spoon against the porcelain mug.

haechan hands you the drink wordlessly, sitting on the chair at the vanity before sipping cautiously at the tea. there are unexchanged glances between the two of you before he sighs at your expectant hand tapping the sheets.

"i think it's about time we did," he mumbled, dragging the laptop off the wooden table with anxiety. the other opened it without saying anything, catching you by surprise when the mouse hovers over your note.

"hae- donghyuck! no! what the hell?"

he holds up a hand and clicks on it anyway, making your heart drop to your stomach as he turned the device towards you.

"read the bottom." haechan whispers as you pull the laptop closer to you, settling it on your lap as he observed your expressions carefully.

'i read it, i'm sorry.' you look at him and lift up a hand to prepare to whack him, a defeated sigh escaping you before you carried on.

'was it wrong to read it? of course, and i cannot apologise more for doing shit like that when we still have unsolved tension between us in this small ass room. it was incorrect, but.'

'do you feel the same as me? is bickering all we have to do? why can't we work anything out? they're the questions i keep asking myself after i read your letter.'

'i guess i was too caught up in the fight and not wanting to be the loser that i... can't deny that i've never thought about wanting to get to know you, even if you were that sought out to be my destined enemy.'

'when we fought earlier, you kissed me. i know we said not to mention it, but, uhm, it was good. i liked it. i'm not sure if the reason why you did it was because of the reason you mentioned in the note, but at the time, i assumed it was to shut me up. i thought something would happen after, though you pushed me away and apologised right away.'

'it was a far off dream that i had, but i think it was after i bandaged your foot. you said that you didn't know what was going on in my mind, and i told you.'

'it was like, i was granted an insight into an alternate world, another universe where you didn't feel the strain, where you legitimately assumed i was going for your position.'

'you scoffed when i confessed, right then and there, on day 9. i was counting, too, and it was a scary, confusing dream. i think that's why i held it off as long as i could until your words puzzled and angered me further because you just didn't get it.'

'you scoffed and told me to get lost, pushing on my shoulders where we fought on the balcony for everyone to see. you never spoke to me, you never mentioned my article nor the interviews. we never joked over wine, and we always kept to our side of the bed.'

'i was convinced that heaven wanted me to stay away from you and your heart. maybe it was broken too many times, and you had someone up there looking out for you.'

'i feel like i'm copying off the textbook of some greek mythology starter pack, but i'm for real! no kidding.' you smiled, looking at him with nervous eyes at the small joke he put in.

'i guess whoever put that dream in my sleep really wanted us not to be together because i think i would've told you i liked you on the spot itself. i let my conscious get the best of me.'

'i know this is a lazy way of conveying my feelings, and i wished i could do it with words, but i feel like you wouldn't believe me otherwise. i rushed it this morning when you went on your morning walk around the hotel and when you let me know of your stroll in a soft voice, i wanted nothing more than to get you in my arms as we wake up to the housekeeping service.'

'i didn't want any more tension between us, and i didn't want to be interrupted by your alarm while we avoid each other more. it hurts seeing you escape the room in haste. you said it was weird for me to tag along with someone i hate, too, and that someone was you. i guess you found out why.'

looking up, you found him right in front of you, mouth dry from his reply to your letter. with a gulp, you leaned forward to meet his lips halfway.

"i'm sorry to whoever's up there," he whispers, prompting a grin and a laugh out of you.

the laptop is forgotten on the bed as haechan situates himself over you, clutching your shoulder gently while his lips move quickly, fast to make up for lost time. 

"wait wait, wait, you're not playing me, are you?" you mumble in return, reluctantly pulling away while witnessing the way his eyes soften at your guard still up. haechan shakes his head forlornly, tongue pressing up against the side of his mouth nervously.

"no, i'm not, (y/n)," he says quietly with as much sincerity he can muster, removing his hand from your shoulder with a forced smile. 

"okay." there's a shakiness to your voice, but when you bring his lips back to yours, it gives you a rush of confidence. your skin is burning up, and your hands can't stop wandering as his lips capture yours, repeatedly moving against yours like a trance.

you grant haechan access to your mouth with a whimper, melting into his embrace as his arms wrap tighter around your figure. his eagerness lingers when he pushes forward, straddling your lap as his leg nudges the laptop.

"wait, hyuck, wait, the laptop!" you joke, placing the device on the floor before getting back into the kiss with just as much fervour. within a minute or so, the other breaks away to say the words you so hated to hear:

"we... we need to talk. we can't just kiss the fight off, although i very much like to," haechan murmurs the last part, making you stifle a smile. 

you nod quickly, repeating the word "okay" like a robot. your hands naturally travel from his arms down to his fingers, and you clutch them like your life depended on it.

"we have... established, that i like you, correct?" haechan whispers, scooting closer as his tea-ridden breath surrounds you. from here, you could even smell the buttered croissant he ate this morning.

it made you smile, something simple as that.

"why- why are you laughing (y/n)?" he asks anxiously, eyes darting to find the reason why you found this so funny.

"no. no no no, i'm thinking of... the croissant you ate just now, and," you sigh, resting your head on his broad shoulder. 

"i'm thinking of the way your eyes light up when you show me the articles you idolise so much, and i'm thinking of the way you cuddle up to me whenever we watch stranger things." 

"i'm thinking of the way you thought i wouldn't give you a chance, even though i've been pondering on the same thing as you. i'm thinking of the things that make up lee haechan, lee donghyuck. yes, you like me, and yes i like you, but i guess i haven't told you the reason."

"i hated you, i really did. i found every reason to convince my mind to hate you. gaining trust, signing up for events you didn't know shit about, sucking up to the seniors, stealing my friends when they didn't know your personality. the personality i didn't even want to know because i was too busy in my little bubble."

"assuming you'd want to get department head was the cherry on top, because why else would you want to tag along? that was the factor that convinced me and confirmed my suspicions from day one."

you grunt in opposition, clearly not liking the truth that was spilling from your lips. haechan deserved to know, however. you kept your eyes trained on his lap where his hands were holding yours in support, crumbling from the blindness that caused your hatred. 

"so from then, the plane ride, immigration, the cab to the interview place, the cab back, the hotel room, my hatred for you boiled over." you listed, voice breaking as you looked haechan in the eye. 

"it was stupid of me to assume, to assume the worst of you when i didn't even know you. i wasn't even sure why i felt so bitter looking at you, but the way you acted, the way you whined, worked me up so much that i figured that was how you were."

"now when i'm sitting here with the curtains drawn, i can see why you're so attractable and easy to talk to and easy-going and bright that my friends keep talking to you."

"i can see why the seniors turn to you because you're reliable and hardworking without uttering a single word."

"i can see why you wanted to hop on this flight with me because you're always curious about the world and how you can expand your skill set."

and as you said word after word, haechan observes you with a soothing hand against your forearms. his eyes shine for a different reason, for the lost time he could've had if the two of you didn't have this massive barrier. a massive barrier that's been up for the longest time. 

brick by brick, the wall is being torn down. as you hold haechan's face in the stillness of the room, you feel closer to him than you've ever felt and his tears match your frustrated ones. 

choking on sobs, delayed apologies were all you could whisper.

"i'm sorry, i'm sorry, really. we fought so bad that day, and i was so goddamn insensitive..." you sigh, swallowing a lump when his hand reached up to wipe the tears. with a blocked nose, you breathe shakily as housekeeping interrupts the moment. 

you nod towards the door as he stood up slowly to reveal the same housekeeping girl. she cleaned up the bathroom and wardrobe quietly as the two of you stood awkwardly in the small space. she had left the sheets since everyone was practically stuck in, anyway.

haechan nudges you toward the door with a shove, shooting the same housekeeping girl a small smile and a bow as an apology to the previous run-in.

"he confessed his feelings?" she inquired softly, noticing the tear marks on your face.

you bit your lip, "yeah."

"that's good, he's finally not a coward." she laughs, folding the used towels and placing them with her.

you leaned against the door, asking for an explanation with your puzzled look.

"he was someone i liked, before. we had classes back in high school. it was just a dumb crush, honestly." the housekeeping girl shrugs, resting her head on her fist in thought.

"i think he liked me, and i did too, but we didn't do much except for exchange looks and flirt because both of us were just too scared." she shakes her head and adjusts the disinfectant spray bottle, fidgeting with the nozzle.

"i'm glad he had enough courage to admit his feelings." 

nodding along to her statement, she bids you farewell as her figure fades with each step, leaving you with a sense of calmness to the end of this situation.

[day 38]

"is... is this okay?" haechan asks, arm hovering over your body while waiting for your confirmation. you smile and nod, sinking into his side as you venture in the third season of stranger things together. 

"don't you think we should be working on our articles?" you whisper, looking up at him from where you were with raised eyebrows.

the boy opens and closes his mouth in thought, gesturing to the television with an exaggerated expression. 

"stranger things, ma'am."

you click your tongue and sigh with a smile, turning back to the show as you try to relax for an online interview in a few hours.

[day 39]

"what do you say about my set-up?" haechan nudges you, proud of the hangout area he prepared on the balcony. although small, he had no trouble making it look comfortable. 

with a smile, you pop open the wine to celebrate the last scheduled interview for the trip, clinking glasses with haechan in the setting sun.

the country you were supposed to return to was slowly opening up flights for those stranded overseas and as refreshing as a different environment was, you missed home and the warmness of it.

you missed the office and your desk. hell, you even missed the mediocre coffee from the pantry.

with the last of the wine finishing, haechan pours half into your glass and the other into his, clinking one last time before you one-shot the beverage.

the high of the alcohol is gradually brought down by the mellow atmosphere and colours of twilight. as pink and orange cross over on the horizon, haechan mumbles a low "c'mere" to you in the darkness.

you hum in response and get up from your seat, bringing a pillow with you as haechan shifts to make space. sinking naturally into his arms, you sigh while you try to contain a smile full of content.

"this is nice," you admit, the corners of your lips disobeying your command, prompting you to shoot him a smile. haechan nods against your hair, a comfortable arm around your waist while you trace the tan skin of his arm.

the other taps your waist repeatedly, turning in response as he whispers out a question that makes your heart melt.

"can i kiss you?" you grin, slipping a hand around his neck and pulling him in right away. haechan's caught by surprise, laughing into your lips and striving to savour the moment as much as he could. 

a shout from across the hotel distracts you from the kiss. looking up, you realise it was the apartment resident opposite you shooting you a 'rock on' gesture.

"you guys are not fighting anymore! congrats!" you both stifle a snort as you wave back to the resident, sighing in relief when their balcony door slides shut.

"should we go inside, m'lady?" haechan giggles, replying in the form of a nod, cleaning up the area while you head in.

[day 41]

"i didn't think they'd be letting flights in so early," you mumble, folding your clothes neatly as your vision shifts to haechan... shoving his fair share of apparel into his luggage.

"donghyuck... what the hell?" you roll your eyes, shoving the boy softly as you took over the task at hand. switching personalities almost immediately, haechan fakes an interview segment with exaggerated tones.

"see, everyone, this is how you convince someone to do the work for you," the boy lays on the bed with a satisfied expression, "now i don't have to do anyth- ow!"

"if we ever live together, maybe i should punish you by doing the laundry and then folding it," you grunt, working at the speed faster than you expected while you fold shirt after shirt.

"are you proposing we move in together?" haechan peeks through an open eye, curiosity dripping from his tone. he tried to feign nonchalance but awaiting your answer felt like a weight on his heart.

your next words lifted that weight, a seemingly invisible force bringing his upper body off the bed as he stares at you in shock.

"maybe, not now but... in the future, maybe," you mumble the last part, focusing on the clothes to prevent the male from seeing the fluster on your face.

"for real?" haechan sits up, biting his lip to contain his excitement as your confirmation. 

"we'll be all stupidly domestic and shit, and i'll say i love you five years from now before you go off for work if you want that and stuff," your voice goes lower and quieter, especially towards the end, biting off way more than you could chew.

"aw! i love you too!" haechan gushes, bringing you into an embrace as your hands go limp, scrambling to explain your emphasis on the 'future'.

"d-donghyuck, i meant the future, not now..." you manage to spit out, hoping you need not answer his queries any more. your mind blanks out at the current situation, wishing you hadn't said those dumb things.

he grins into your neck, "i know, i'm just answering for future me."

you groan and escape the hug with a roll of your eyes, "yuck, too cheesy!" the boy just lets out a laugh, watching the way you fold his clothes despite your initial annoyance.

[day 42]

suyeon switches between the two of you in disbelief, finger crooked at the ambiguity of "we like each other".

"wha-" suyeon doesn't get the chance to finish the sentence before you shoot her a thumbs up, grabbing haechan by the arm and your stuff with the other.

you were happy to leave the office after a quick debrief since you two had reported to the office right after arriving at the airport, relieved when you heard he'd spare a few more days for your articles to be cleaned up.

"so, (y/n), what would you like to do now?" haechan looks at you through the reflective material of the elevator, observing the nervous wringing of your fingers.

you're glad for the material protecting your face because there's a smile that you struggle to keep as his soft, gentle voice carries through the quiet space.

the anxiety ends when the lift sounds, prompting your eyes to trail down his arm. your hand moves on its own accord, grabbing his last finger with yours as you proceed into the lift sheepishly, not missing the way haechan's eyes show his bright smile behind the mask.

"maybe i'll get to know you more, lee donghyuck."

haechan lets out a gasp, "have you not learned about me enough? scandalous." 

you feign a punch in his direction, the luggage beside you tripping over its wheels due to your swift movement. the only response you get is a giggle from the other as he tightens his pinky around yours, pressing a soft kiss to your cheek right above your face mask just as the elevator doors open.

"man, i really do want to punch you now," you mutter as you let haechan lead you, wanting nothing more than to rest in the arms of your enemy-turned-friend? enemy-turned-someoneyoulike?

you weren’t exactly sure.

he doesn't answer during the walk to the main road, nor the ride back to your home, the only constant thing being the way he admires your profile in the taxi, shrugging when you counter with a playful "what?". 

"nothing," haechan grins.

[there are more days to come]

sure, day forty-one may not have been the day you fell in love with haechan, nor the day where he outwardly claims you as his lover.

but, taking it slow never hurt anyone, either.

you know it in the way he tells you he can't go in unless he's invited and you see it in the way he asks if he can switch the television on while you prepare some drinks.

like the hotel, you know it in the way he asks if he can kiss you and the way he deepens his kisses with caution.

you appreciate it in the way he quickly apologises for a personal question, while visibly relaxing as you brush it off with a smile.

with hours pass, day forty-two becomes day forty-three, and haechan remains as chivalrous as always.

days pass, and you submit your articles. weeks pass, and you get to know the boy more and more. months pass, and you feel his love in the way he plays with your fingers in the dark and pulls you close under the sheets.

even if you hadn't acknowledged the love between the two of you, that note you wrote half-drunk matched the way you felt now—with how your heart clenches up and with how your grin never leaves your face with haechan around.

there are more days to come with lee haechan, lee donghyuck, even if it meant getting stuck together in a hotel room with unsaid words.

[malarkay]

Inside the Wire - Chapter 1

During their final battle with the Storm Hawks, Cyclonis is stopped just short of destroying the Dark Ace. Victory, however, eludes them. With Cyclonia fallen, and escape to the Fareside cut off, they're forced to confront the consequences of their actions.

How had it all gone wrong?

 She'd spent a considerable amount of time asking herself that question over the last month. Admittedly, her memory of the final battle was a bit hazy in places, but she had had precious little to do except think about that day, piecing all the details back together.

 Her anger had gotten the better of her after Piper and the Sky Knight achieved Perfect Attunement, saving themselves from what should have been certain death.  Actually, that wasn't quite right.  She had been angry at the Storm Hawks, yes, but her anger hadn't gotten the better of her until Dark Ace spoke.

 "Do something, you arrogant witch!"

 Yes, that's when her control had slipped, emotion overriding intellect.  How dare he speak to her like that!  She knew that he had been growing increasingly frustrated of late.  How could she not?  He didn't bother trying to hide it.  Still, that didn't give him the right to spit commands and insults at her!

 But he was right about one thing.  She had to do something if they were to avoid snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But, unfortunately, her own innate power was no longer a match for her two opponents, which left her without many options.  And so, she did the first thing that came to mind.  She drew power from the giant Farside crystal that kept her terra afloat and protected and bound it to the Dark Ace.  

 It wasn't enough.

 "More!" he demanded, and she obliged.  Still, he wasn't satisfied.  "More! More!"  She sent a steady stream of crystal energy into him until he screamed with the power of it.  Vaguely she heard Piper yelling at her to stop.  The concern in her voice made her grin.  She should be concerned!  Just a bit more power, and Dark Ace would be unstoppable!  A crackling nimbus of red energy began to surround him.  Just a little more.

 Piper was yelling something else, but she paid no attention.  All her focus was on Dark Ace.  They were so close!  So very c-

 A shockwave blasted her back, breaking her connection with the Farside crystal.  Her back collided with the solid rock of Cyclonia a millisecond before her head did, and she crumpled to the ground, dazed and winded. It took her a moment to recover enough to stagger to her feet and retrieve her staff.  She spotted Dark Ace nearby, lying unconscious, before glaring at Piper and Aerrow, who were blasting away at the Farside crystal, trying to destroy it.  Her vision was blurry, making it look as if there were two of each of them. Fantastic.  With the Dark Ace out cold, it was time to pull back and regroup. Pointing her staff at him, she levitated them both and flew, a bit wobbly, toward the fortress proper.  They would retreat to the Farside, where they could take their time to recover, gather new forces, new technology, and plan a new attack on Atmos.  This battle may be lost, but the war wasn't.  The war wasn't over.  The war would never be over until the people of Atmos finally accepted her sovereignty over them all.  That was her birthright!  Why did they have to make things so difficult?

 Behind her, a large explosion sounded.  They had succeeded in destroying the Farside crystal.  No matter, there were more where that came from.  She was halfway up the stairs to the doorway to the Farside when a streak of blue zipped past her, and suddenly Aerrow stood at the top of the stairs, daggers drawn and pointed at her.  

 "Going somewhere?" he asked lightly.

 She dropped Dark Ace and pointed her staff at Aerrow, aiming at his heart.  "Get out of my way."

 "You know I can't do that."

 The crystal on the end of her staff began to glow as she powered it up, preparing to fire.

 Something tapped her on the shoulder, and she glanced over to see that it was Piper's staff. "I wouldn't try that if I were you. Surrender, Cyclonis."

 Her grip on her staff tightened, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Aerrow. "You can't win," he said reasonably. "We have you surrounded, and any minute now-"

 The fortress shuddered, and Aerrow continued with a victorious little grin, "The guys are going to take out the pontoons. Cyclonia is going down."

 A second, more violent shudder followed closely on the heels of the first, and she looked outside to see that Cyclonia was, indeed, beginning to slowly sink toward the Wastelands.

 She, however, would not be going down without a fight. They were stupider than she thought if they expected her to surrender peacefully. She might as well tie her own noose while she was at it to save some Atmosian hangman the trouble.

 The only path forward for her was through that doorway. So she fired the burst of crystal energy she had charged at the Sky Knight and bolted for the door before he had even begun to dodge out of the way. She wished she didn't have to abandon the Dark Ace, but she had no choice. He'd understand.

 But she only made it a couple steps before she was hit from behind.  She fell, muscles seizing up as electricity coursed painfully through every nerve in her body.

 Vaguely, she heard Aerrow ask, "You got this?"

 And Piper answered, "Yeah.  Go deal with the Dark Ace."

 "Oh, Piper, you stole my trick," she said through clenched teeth when Piper finally let up. Once able to move again, she flipped onto her back, bringing her staff up to block Piper's downward swing.

 "I've been waiting for the chance to pay you back after that demonstration you gave me on Terra Tundras."

 "You know, that offer I made you then still stands. It's not too late to join me. The Farside really is quite the sight to behold. Come with me and see for yourself."

 "Tempting," Piper deadpanned. "But I think I'll stick with the side that isn't literally crumbling down around us."

 With a twist of her staff, Piper disarmed her. She flung out a hand, willing her staff to return to her, but Piper dealt her a sharp clip to the temple, breaking her already wavering concentration.

 "It's over. Now get up. Our ride's here."

 "No. I'm going down with my terra."

 "That would sound a lot nobler if I thought you meant it, but the door to the Farside is still active, and there's no way we're letting you run off and plan a second invasion."

 Reaching down, Piper grabbed her by the forearm and hauled her to her feet before herding her to where the Condor hovered just outside. Aerrow was already there, forcing a barely conscious Dark Ace onto the ship.

 "You let me go through that door, and I swear to you there will be no second invasion. You'll never see me again. C'mon, Piper, we can both get what we want."

 "No," Piper answered with grim finality. "You have a lot to answer for. And you will."

 Cyclonis rolled her eyes. Must the Storm Hawks be so insufferable all the time? Slowly, subtly, she tried again to summon her staff. A sharp jab from Piper's staff staggered her. "Don't," Piper warned.

 Once onboard The Condor, Piper kept her staff leveled at her. "Crystals. On the ground. Now."

 She slipped a few crystals out of concealed pockets and set them on the ground.

 "Good start," Piper said with amused exasperation. "Now, the rest of them."

 "It hurts that you don't trust me," she said, pressing a hand over her heart.

 "Finn," Piper called to where he stood, aiming his crossbow at Dark Ace while Aerrow bound his hands behind his back. "In my room, on the shelf above my lab table, is a lead box. Can you go get it for me, please?"

 "Uh, sure," Finn said and ran off to do as she asked.

 "Keep your hands where I can see them," Piper told her. "And no sudden movements. I'd hate to have to zap you again."

 "I'm sure."

 Momentarily, Finn returned with the box. Piper flipped open the lid and withdrew a metal cuff studded with a small purple crystal. Grabbing her hand, Piper closed the cuff around her wrist, twisting the key that was already in the lock and pulling it out. The key itself was strange, with dual tines possessing different bittings, suggesting a locking mechanism that was decidedly more complex than what you'd typically find on a shackle.

 As for the cuff itself, a cursory study of the crystal revealed it to be a leecher.  Of all the diabolical...

 Her carefully cultivated nonchalance evaporated as she yanked at the cuff, trying to pry it off, but it fit too snugly, and the lock was too sturdy.

 "Relax," Piper said with a smug smile. "The leech crystal's so small it will only interact with crystals that are within arm's length of you.  So, you have nothing to worry about. Right?"

 Cursing under her breath, she rid herself of the rest of the crystals she had hidden on her, dropping them to the ground and taking a few hasty steps back to put a safe distance between herself and them. This day was disastrous enough. She didn't need to lose a hand on top of everything else.  

 "Your invention?" she asked wryly.

 "Built specifically with you in mind."

 "How shockingly sadistic of you."

 "Glad you approve."

 Honestly, she would appreciate how ruthless Piper was being if she weren't the one on the receiving end of it.

 "Are you two done with," Finn slowly circled his hand, gesturing to the space between her and Piper, "whatever is happening here? Can we lock them up now? I think, uh, Stork will feel more comfortable once they're locked up. And Radarr. You know how much she freaks out Radarr."

 "Almost," Piper told him before turning her attention back to her. "Hands behind your back."

 "That won't be necessary," she replied.

 "That's really not for you to decide. Don't think I've forgotten that you're still a threat, even without crystals."

 "Am I? I seem to recall you saying that I fight like a girl."

 Piper narrowed her eyes at her. "Hands behind your back. We don't need you trying to cause trouble. Or freeing Dark Ace so he can."

 She raised her chin imperiously and uttered two words that were, in hindsight, foolhardy under the circumstances. "Make me."

 In humiliatingly short order they did, indeed, make her.

 Hands tied behind her back, she was slung over the shoulder of the team's Wallop, who carried her to the room they were to be held in until they could be handed over to the authorities on Atmosia. Dark Ace walked behind them, his face a carefully impassive mask. Aerrow brought up the rear to make sure Dark Ace didn't try anything.

 Once in the room, they were sat on chairs, back-to-back, and another rope was secured around them both. Someone had been watching too many cheesy old action-adventure movies. The Storm Hawks left, and the door closed and locked behind them.

 She turned her head to look at Dark Ace, but he was staring straight ahead, making his intention to ignore her clear. To be fair, she didn't blame him for having nothing to say to her. She couldn't come up with anything to say to him, either. Nothing productive, anyway. It had been a long while since either of them had had anything kind to say to the other.  They sat in uncomfortable silence, the only sound the ticking of the clock on the wall.

 She sighed after a while. The light was too bright, and her head was throbbing in time with the ticking of the clock. She leaned her head back against him and closed her eyes, only to have him flick a finger against the back of her hand, hard.

 "What?" she asked, annoyed.

 "Don't go to sleep."

 "Now you're issuing me orders, too?"

 He made a frustrated noise and fell silent.

 She leaned back against him once more, only to have him lean forward as far as the rope would allow. Admittedly, that wasn't extremely far, but it made him a less comfortable headrest. "I mean it. Your eyes were glassy when they brought us in here. Did you hit your head?"

 "Yes, but it's nothing. I'm fine," she said, shrugging off his concern.

 "No, you're not; you're probably concussed. So, like it or not, you're not getting any sleep for the next few hours."

 "What does it matter? They're just going to execute me, anyway."

 That shut him up for several minutes.

 "You don't know that," he finally said.

 "It's what I would do."

 "But you didn't."

 "Only because I had the crystal prison. That was meant to be a fate worse than death."

 "Still, don't borrow trouble."

 She shrugged. "I'm being realistic."

 "You're being morbid."

 "Since when does that bother you?"

 "It's bothering me now. Are you even trying to get free?"

 She wasn't.  Even if they managed to get untied, they were still locked in the room, on board the Condor, without their weapons.  No Talons.  No Nightcrawlers.  And she couldn't access any crystal energy with Piper's infernal cuff on her wrist. Well, she could, but…there would be unpleasant consequences.  It could be worth it if escape were assured, but the odds were currently stacked against them.  

 Still, no doubt managing to untie themselves would at least irk the Storm Hawks.  After enduring their petty pranks for the last six weeks, it could prove at least somewhat gratifying.  And it would pass the time.  Silence fell between them once more as they worked to loosen the ropes that bound them.  Eventually, Dark Ace broke the quiet by chuckling to himself.

 "What's so funny?" she asked, glancing back over her shoulder at him once more.

 He shook his head.

 "What?" she pressed.

 He turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye and, smirking, said, "Make me."

 She could feel heat creep into her face. He was making fun of her, was he?

 "It's not funny," she said defensively.

 "It was," he argued. "In fact, I can't decide what was better: The fact that you said it, the looks on the faces of the Storm Hawks when you did, or the look on yours a split second later when you realized that you had just made a grave miscalculation."

 "I'm delighted to hear that my pain amuses you," she said with all the sarcasm she could muster, which was considerable.

 "Oh please, the only thing that was really hurt back there was your pride. And you have more than enough of that to spare."

 "Ah yes, because I'm an arrogant witch?" She scoffed. "You know, it's not like you have any room to lecture others about excessive pride."

 He didn't immediately respond, and she caught herself grinding her teeth as she waited for him to say something. She forced herself to relax. It was a stupid nervous habit she'd tried many times to break, but she had never had much success.

 "You should know better than to take anything said in the heat of battle to heart," he told her.

 "That's not a thing. You just made that up."

 "At least I didn't warn you not to face Piper in battle lest she slip through your fingers again. Right in front of her, no less."

 She winced slightly. Her response to his request to fight Aerrow one last time had been needlessly cruel. There was really no excuse for it. She drew in a deep breath, steeling herself to apologize, but her jaw clenched again, and her throat felt too tight, and the words refused to materialize.

 She released the breath slowly, took in another, and tried again. "Well, given our current predicament, maybe you should have," is what came out of her mouth instead.

 They were both terrible at apologies.

[yukiwrites]

End of One, Start of Another

Thank you so much for the support and patience as always, @breeachuu! The boy!! He grew!!! sobsss

Summary: They were right at Enbarr's doorstep -- the war was almost over. Wolfie would be able to finally put that terrible chapter behind him while thinking about writing the rest of his life with Caspar.

Commission info HERE and HERE!

__________________________

For all that Wolfram thought that it would be alright no matter how conscious he was of his feelings towards Caspar, he did a pretty terrible job at acting like normal once he went to turn in for the night at their shared tent. Having Caspar’s broad body close enough to be touched by the slightest reach; having his excited huffing as they talked about this or that before being claimed by sleep… Wolfram’s heart could barely function well as his cheeks reddened the longer they spoke.

Thankfully, it was dark. Caspar kept talking like usual; about how he knew Fort Merceus’ layout and where the ‘strong stuff’ was being kept and how he had been entrusted by the Professor to lead a battalion through their attack. He was excited to conquer the place he had always thought impregnable, though there was a layer of relief in his voice as he said that Count Bergliez’ forces had been replaced by the Death Knight’s.

Apparently, fighting the embodiment of death was still preferable than fighting his own, extremely scary, father. Besides, he had been wanting to give the masked man a wallop since a long while ago, so he was excited to lead his team to that unforgettable brawl.

Despite the certainly dangerous and rather brutal topic of conversation right before bed, Wolfram simply watched as Caspar blabbed about punching stuff (while punching the air) with a lovestruck gaze. He simply hummed whenever Caspar spoke, closing his eyes as though he was being lulled to sleep with his crush’s deep voice, which was even deeper as they were trying to be quiet and speaking in whispers.

When he woke up, Wolfram felt terribly embarrassed about having been so oblivious to his own feelings for so long and for indulging in their usual skinship with now impure intentions. Now he held hands with Caspar knowing why he wanted to, so he felt more nervous than usual as they walked from one place to the other, wondering if his hand was sweating.

Regardless, even if it was, it went all over Caspar’s head as he just took it all in stride. The shorter man simply led the way through camp before they went their separate ways to prepare to battle.

Byleth noticed how nervous Wolfram looked as she inspected the units before deploying them and poked the half manakete, “are you alright, Wolfram? Should I have you wait in the reserves?”

“O-oh, no, I’m okay, Byleth! Don’t worry about me.” He waved both hands in front of his face, startled. Then, he lowered his gaze and scratched the back of his neck. “... I was just wondering if I could be deployed with Unit 3…” he spoke in a small voice, just above a whisper.

Blinking, the Professor looked up for a second to think before nodding. “Alright, then you’ll be the liaison between Units 1 and 3.”

Wolfram’s face lit up immediately, as though he was a child being given their favorite candy. “Thank you, Byleth! I’ll work hard.”

Byleth simply smiled and nodded, giving Wolfram his leave. They divided the group that was going inside Fort Merceus in three after receiving information from their pegasus knights regarding the enemy’s forces. Unit 1 would go straight to the middle, towards one of the demonic beasts stationed in front of the Death Knight’s post. Unit 2 would head to the right to deal with the ballistae while Unit 3 would head to the left to take care of the second demonic beast guarding the Death Knight’s flank.

Wolfram usually prefered to fight monsters rather than people, so although he would go to the thick of battle, he wasn’t as apprehensive as he had been at the beginning of all that fighting. For one, he had Caspar with him, which somehow gave him much more confidence in himself and in the results of the battle.

Once they were sent out, the hectic fighting made it only possible for Wolfram to see what was in front of him, so he did his best to comply with all of Byleth’s orders and fight to the best of his abilities. After Caspar had fought that Titanus barehanded back in Fhirdiad, he had gotten a lot more prone to just smashing things with his fists rather than with the gauntlets Byleth always gave him.

For some reason unknown to Wolfram, but innate to Caspar, fighting barehanded enhanced his own style, which made it possible for him to strike just as much as if he had been using a weapon. It was incredible how the bones of his knuckles were still intact after punching through armor and hard scale all day, but Caspar seemed to get more and more fired up instead of exhausted as the battle raged on.

It was an inspiration, honestly. The battalion assigned to him had their morale through the roof after they defeated the demonic beast once they had cleared the left side of the fortress. Wolfie focused on healing his team while Unit 1 had advanced towards the Death Knight’s location, scrambling to run after Caspar who was excited to punch the masked man on the face.

After the battle, however, Wolfie regretted following Caspar there, if only because of Mercedes’ grief for losing her brother for the Empire.

It was like a wake-up slap.

It had only been a day since Wolfram had realized his feelings towards Caspar, so he was still drunk in that happiness bubble of looking at everything through pink lenses, but the reality of war was still gruesome. He went alongside Annette to stay by Mercedes’ side as she cried over Jeritza’s body, holding Caspar’s hand. Some of their classmates offered Mercedes to give the Death Knight a proper burial, if only in her consideration -- especially since Flayn and Seteth were openly hostile towards him due to happenings of the past.

Wolfram didn’t realize he was crying up until he felt Caspar’s rough hand patting him in the shoulder once they returned to their camp. “You really like crying, huh? Hey, were you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine…” Wolfie shook his head, drying his tears with his free hand as a faint smile grew on his lips. “Thanks for being there with me, Caspar. I know you’ve been wanting to kill him for a while, so it might’ve felt, I dunno-”

“Nah, the man’s dead. No need to hold grudges about that after he was defeated. ‘Sides’, he still made Mercedes cry, so he deserved what was comin’ to him.”

This time Wolfie simply nodded, tightening his hold on Caspar’s hand. Finding the taller boy somehow more huggable than usual, Caspar wrapped his hand around Wolfie’s waist, bringing his head down to his own shoulder. “Mhm.” He grunted, suddenly clogged for some reason.

Still a bit too fragile to freak out over the hug, Wolfie closed his eyes and enjoyed his friend’s warmth, letting his body sink onto Caspar’s as all the tension left him.

Only Enbarr stood between them and Edelgard, so it was no wonder that although the Kingdom army was high in morale, they had to prepare more carefully than usual. That being so, they returned to the monastery while keeping a considerable force behind at Fort Merceus so they could prepare more thoroughly.

The ‘last battle’, so to say, would happen all at once -- they wouldn’t have time to rest between taking over the capital and infiltrating the castle to defeat the emperor, so they would need to be in perfect shape.

Returning to the monastery after a while also eased the classmates’ minds for a beat, which helped increase their morale. Caspar and Wolfram naturally went to their shared room on the second floor, as being together was already the norm for the two of them.

Wolfie didn’t even think too much about it, though perhaps he missed sleeping in the same tent since they were placed more closely than when one was using the bed and the other, a sleeping bag.

However, that slight distance made Wolfie able to observe Caspar more accurately, clutching his chest as his eyes trailed through his friend’s masculine features. He hid his head under the cover to hide his face from his own thoughts that went haywire whenever he looked at Caspar.

Should he ask for the hair? Should he pour these strong, hot feelings into his fire to make Caspar’s jewel? But then, how would he explain it?

Surely Caspar would just rip some hair on the spot should Wolfram ask, but he was still nervous about the slight possibility of being asked what it was for and how to properly explain that it was a, well…

His face almost exploded with heat as he recalled a term Nidra talked about with displeasure as Henry cackled loudly when mentioned. A term a fellow soldier from the time Nidra was in the Shepherds used when ‘studying’ her behavior.

But what could Wolfram say in response to it? It was the truth!

Still, saying that the precise kind of jewel Wolfram wanted to make was part of the manekete’s ‘mating procedure’ was just as mortifying as Nidra had made it seem like whenever Henry poked fun at it from time to time.

Feeling suffocated under the blanket, but still intent on not showing his head to the outside world, Wolfie squeezed his eyes shut, wondering if the swirling thoughts inside his head would just fade before he finally managed to sleep.

However, after a few more minutes of agonizing thinking, Wolfie sprang up with a determined face.

Flying!

Yeah, stretching his wings would do him good, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He nodded to himself as though he was talking to someone else before quietly slipping out of the room. Even if he didn’t have any more reasons to hide his dragon half, he still didn’t want to wake anyone up, so he tiptoed to the stairs before running down to get much-needed fresh air.

Even though he didn’t think he would be able to come to a conclusion in one night, just being able to fly around with his eyes closed and enjoy the night was already enough to help him clear his mind of doubts. He was going to ask for the hair, yes, and in the near future, definitely, but he still had to come up with a plan of attack.

For some reason, Dorothea’s face popped up in his mind when he thought about who to run for help with this, so he pulled a string of memories involving the diva and remembered how understanding she had been in the past whenever he wanted to talk her ear off about Caspar. Surely she would be just as willing this time, as well.

To the surprise of no one, Dorothea gladly welcomed Wolfie to her room once he approached her, fidgeting and unable to voice the reason for his visit. Well, she could mostly tell even if he didn’t expressly say it, so she just smiled widely as she poured a cup of tea for the increasingly red Wolfram.

Be it out of nervousness or some sudden dragon-like resistance to heat, Wolfram gulped down the tea all at once, which somehow helped clear his mind enough for the words to come out of his lips. “Um, it’s about Caspar.”

Dorothea’s eyes glistened as she rested her chin on both of her hands. “Yes? Go on.” She sing-songed, her lovely voice helping Wolfram relax.

“There’s this, ah… custom in my family. Well, in my species, to be more precise.” He scratched his cheek, “about asking someone for a lock of their hair to make a jewel with our scales and hair that intertwines our fates together.”

As he spoke, Dorothea’s eyes widened just as much as her smile.

“Ah, I wanted to ask for your hair at some point, too,” Wolfie added as though in passing, receiving a confused frown from Dorothea.

“Me? Wolfie, I’m flattered you feel this way, but-”

“Yeah, I gave Dimitri one since he was my first friend in this world. I’ll ask Dedue, too.” Wolfie bobbed his head to the sides; speaking about his other friends managed to make him calm down considerably.

Dorothea tilted her head to the side. “As ‘intertwining fates’ you didn’t mean only in the romantic sense, then?” She asked and he immediately widened his eyes in surprise, flushing his cheeks visibly.

“Eh- no, it’s not only in that way! Gosh, did you think I was- oh my Naga.” He fanned his face before hiding it in his hands. “I love you, but it’s not like I love-”

The words were stuck on his throat. He gulped as Dorothea smirked teasingly.

“Like you love Caspie?” She nudged, enjoying how he flinched and dug his face deeper into his hands. He simply nodded, then banged his head on the table as smoke seemed to rise from his face.

“Heeheehee, oh, Wolfie, you’re so cute!” She patted Wolfie’s silver hair, now free from the bandanna. “Did you come here to brainstorm how to ask Caspie for his hair? Ah, I can give you a few strands now if you want…” She trailed off. “Though I don’t think I can cut anything too much.”

That made Wolfram lift his gaze instantly. “Oh, it doesn't need to be a lot! A few strands from your hair brush will be enough, yup.” He nodded as she smiled sweetly.

“Alright, I’ll give it to you before you leave.” She took the cup with warm tea to her lips, then placed it gracefully on the saucer. “Now, about Caspie…”

Wolfram gulped, nodding and straightening himself on his seat.

“I’m going to be blunt about this, okay, Wolfie? Usually I don’t talk like this, but… this is a very serious case.” She spoke in a somber voice, making Wolfram feel cold sweat drip down his back.

“S-serious case?”

“...” Dorothea took a moment to look down before looking at Wolfram’s eyes with the most serious expression she could muster. “Of stupidity.”

Wolfram blinked in surprise, taken aback by her words. “W-what?”

Dorothea sighed. “Caspie has a really thick skin, so if you truly want to pursue this path, you have to be prepared to deal with his, ah, well, stupidity.” She tried to sugarcoat it, but there was really no other way to talk about it. “About the hair, you can really just say it’s a custom from your people that I’m sure he’ll just pull from the middle of his head and give himself a bald spot without hesitation.”

Flabbergasted, Wolfie opened and closed his mouth, ultimately nodding. “Yeah, that… looks like him.”

“Right?” Dorothea smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry to say this, Wolfie, but if this is the path you chose… you’ll have to take the initiative on everything.”

“E-everything…”

“At least for the first few times, yes.” Dorothea nodded solemnly, then looked up in thought. “I think I can ask Yurikins to get something for you, so count that as a getting together present once we come back to the monastery after the war.”

Still shook from the revelation of having to take the first step on everything, Wolfie looked up at Dorothea with shaking pupils. “Eh? Present?”

“Don’t worry about it for now, sweetie. Now, I think I can give you a few pointers on some things…”

Talking to Dorothea was truly enlightening in its own right, as Wolfram spent at least a week completely out of it. He did all of his usual tasks and participated in classes on auto pilot, just following through the motions like he wasn’t truly there.

Since he still smiled and followed Caspar around as usual, the short man didn’t notice a thing, which only cemented Dorothea’s words even deeper into Wolfie’s mind.

He had to take the lead on everything.

From what he had heard, however, it seemed that he could have a really big chance of his feelings being mutual. Of course, since Caspar was the embodiment of cluelessness, one couldn’t really tell unless they prodded, but still, just the amount of skinship they shared was something that was on a higher level of what usually went through between normal friends.

Whenever he thought ‘Now's the time to ask’ about the lock of hair, he completely froze up and felt his face, ears and neck all heat up in embarrassment.

It was a mess.

He was even more of a mess whenever his fingers brushed with Caspar’s by accident -- which startled him much more than when he was mentally prepared to hold hands. Touching him without meaning to; watching how Caspar trained with a huge grin on his face and realizing how his own legs always trembled; feeling the sun beat inside his chest whenever his gaze met Caspar’s…

Being in love was both painful and rewarding.

Sometimes he would catch himself smiling as he patted his own chest, as though congratulating his heart for surviving yet another day of constant abuse. The fluctuating emotions were all so new to Wolfie he couldn’t help but relish in them, even though he agonized over how to word himself properly.

He also kept a close watch on the moon, wondering if seeing her close to being full would help with his resolve to ask the question more quickly.

It felt like the days dragged on and passed in the blink of an eye at the same time. During the day, as he fought a battle with his heart to just keep himself breathing properly, it was unfair that night passed quickly enough not to allow him to gather his energy for yet another day of being in love.

Still, time did help him come to terms with asking the question -- soon it would be the day they would need to leave for Enbarr. Wolfie knew how stressful all of that was going to be, so he had to take this step now, before the war was over.

A few days before they were to leave, Wolfie was waiting for Caspar to finish a random brawl he started at the training grounds, now all too used to this strange way his crush had of making friends.

“Oh, Wolf! You were there? I didn’t see ya.” Caspar walked over to Wolfram, pulling his shirt up to dry the sweat from his face.

Of course, his abs were in full view, which made Wolfram sputter before faking a cough.

“Hey, you okay?” Caspar asked, patting Wolfie’s back with his free hand, his bare, sweaty and glistery skin still in full view.

Wolfram was openly ogling, which was bad. But he couldn’t take his eyes off of-

He coughed for real at the way his thoughts were taking, receiving heavier pats on the back from a frowning Caspar.

“Get it together, man!” He almost slapped Wolfram’s back after the coughing fit slowly drew to a close.

“S-sorry, I- choked there with nothing.” Wolfie cleared his throat to scratch it from the inside.

“Yeah, I know the feel. You cool? Let’s go eat, I’m starving.” Caspar wrapped his arm around Wolfie’s shoulder, making the tall young man bend down to his stature. But Wolfram stood in place, making Caspar look up at him. “What’s up? C’mon.”

“I… There’s something I wanna say, Caspar.”

“Yeah? I’m all ears.” Caspar tilted his head to the side.

“There’s this… um, custom back home. Well, in my family, more specifically.” He blabbed on under Caspar’s unwavering gaze. “We, um, make a jewel to give to people who are important to us.”

“Oh damn, you MAKE one? Must be hard to do it from scratch. Buying it wouldn’t do?”

“N-no, it’s a special kind of jewel. We need a lock of hair from the person -- well, and one from us, too -- and some scales…”

“That’s dope.” Caspar nodded, seeming truly impressed.

“...” Wolfie bit his lower lip, noticing Caspar really wasn’t going to offer his hair. “I have to take the initiative, I have to take it…” He mumbled under his breath in a tone so low, not even Caspar, who was basically gluing their faces together, heard.

“Huh?”

Wolfram tried to take a deep breath, but his body was shaking so much he barely managed to inhale. Instead, he just started running his mouth.“Um, I wanted to ask, um, well… can I have a few strands of your hair? I wanna make a jewel for you.”

“Oh, that’s it? Sure, man!” Caspar let go of Wolfram’s shoulder and reached out to pluck a lock right from the middle of his head just as Dorothea had said he would. Wolfie tried to stop him, but by the time he realized what was going on, Caspar was already handing him a tuft of light blue hair. “That enough? I can pluck more if you wanna!”

His hands shaking, Wolfram accepted the over the top amount of hair with both hands, as though accepting an offering. “Y-yes, that’s enough. Thank you.”

“Dope. How’re you gonna make it? Down at the forge?”

“Oh, no, it’s with my own fire.” Wolfie replied instinctively as he focused on placing the hair inside a neatly folded handkerchief.

“YOU CAN SPIT FIRE TOO? Oh man, can I watch?”

“N-no!” Wolfie shot him down right away. “It’s something really intimate, so I need to be alone.”

“Intimate?” Caspar frowned. “You gonna be naked, or something? But we bathed together already.”

Wolfram froze in place as the memories he had purposely repressed resurfaced. “Well, yeah- but- I, um, ah…” He babbled, his face beet-red.

Caspar crossed his arms in confusion. “Yeah? You really okay, man?”

“A-anyway, you can’t watch!” Wolfram squeaked out before running away, unable to look at Caspar’s general direction.

“Hey, wait! Where you going!!”

To say that it would take only death to erase the mortification from that night was no exageration. Wolfram thought he could be a functioning member of society even after realizing he was in love, but remembering those… very well defined things… and firm body…

It! It was making him slowly go insane.

Could he pour such… impure thoughts into his fire? The moon wasn’t on the right rotation yet, so that was a relief, but still. He could barely look Caspar in the eyes before his face exploded in embarrassment and he had to spend the rest of the day fanning himself to calm down.

That was no mood to march to war, that was for sure.

Of course, once they were right by the gates of Enbarr, the war drums and sounds of battle all around them made Wolfie able to finally focus on something else for once, which he was unconsciously thankful for. Caspar had been nervous during the trip down south, wondering if his father was going to be part of the forces defending the capital, but his fears were unfounded.

Count Bergliez wasn’t in Enbarr. That fact alone made Caspar’s fighting smirk sprout on his lips -- making Wolfie’s heart skip a beat in the process -- as they were stationed to battle.

There were a large number of demonic beasts around, so they had to tread carefully. It also meant that Wolfie had a lot to focus on while still bearing in mind that he had to conserve energy for the battle inside the palace.

Everything was happening all at the same time at once -- there were monsters, fire, battle cries, wounded people, crumbling buildings… it was all too much, so Wolfie was having a hard time just doing what he was supposed to.

Which was why he was surprised to hear Dimitri’s roar from the frontlines.

“The way to the palace is clear! Let’s move!” He shouted atop of his lungs as the Kingdom army all bellowed behind him.

“Are you okay, boy? Let’s have you rest here now.” Wolfie patted Aquilo’s neck, prompting it to land. “I’ll fly with my own wings from now on, so go to the forward camp and wait, okay?”

Aquilo whined, but ultimately concurred as it was too tired to take on another battle right after this one. Wolfie followed the soldiers storming towards the gates, finding his classmates centered on Dimitri.

He spoke of the war and how close they were to finally ending it all.

How they had suffered for five years without hope and how they all came together under his and Byleth’s banner. Now it would be the time to finish it all.

Wolfie was about to also say that he would fight to the end with the friends he made, but he suddenly felt something sickening coming from the palace. He frowned as he covered his nose with one hand, his stomach churning.

What could that be? It felt somewhat revolting.

If he hadn’t been so wired after the battle and worried about the next one, he would’ve managed to link that bad feeling with the one he felt all those years back in Remire village, or just recently at Derdriu. For that moment, however, he was someone who had to protect Byleth and Dimitri, so his entire focus was on the battle at hand.

Soon after entering the palace, however, he found the reason for that revolting feeling: Edelgard herself had turned into a demonic beast of sorts as she still retained her human-like form and ego.

Wolfie was terrified out of his mind once he made eye contact with the soulless monster, but he wasn’t the same as he was back when he first arrived in this world. He stomped his foot down and fought with everything he had, using every single spell he had learned as well as all lance arts he had perfected under Byleth.

This was it.

This was the reason for him being brought into this world. To watch over the Heart of Immortals and protect this world from its demise.

Besides, now he was facing a monster, so his fighting prowess grew exponentially.

It was a formidable enemy, however, have no doubt about it. All of the elite soldiers on their side had to attack at once to be able to finally strike it down -- and Dimitri himself dealt the final blow after trying to extend his hand to her one last time.

Once Dimitri walked out of the throne room, his hand in Byleth’s, Wolfie felt his legs give out.

“Is it-” he murmured, his voice drowned by the increasingly loud shouts of joy from the soldiers all around him. “Is it over?”

“Hahaha!” Laughter echoed left and right, amassing itself with its neighbor and turning into a large snowball of happiness that spread across the hall, the palace, the capital… and through Fódlan.

The war was over.

Wolfram breathed in, as though that was the first time in five years that he had done so.

The air, that was supposed to be heavy from the remains of the battle all around him, was clean and pure. He could breathe in as far as he wanted, being filled with something much more meaningful than just air: hope.

The crisis was averted; his mission was completed.

“Oh, Naga,” he clasped both hands in prayer, tears spilling down his cheeks without stopping. “I did it. I can’t believe, I- it’s over…” he bent down to pray, sniffling with his now clogged nose. “It’s- it’s done…!”

He felt a quiet laugh in the air, mixed with the loudness of the explosive joy around him, though he could discern Naga’s chuckles from anything in the world. He felt a warm hand patting his head, much more clearly than he had ever felt Naga’s touch before, as though She was transmitting his own Mother’s hands that congratulated him from persevering.

Wolfie’s sobbed loudly, his body shaking inside his prayer. “M-Mother…” he sniffled, allowing the dam he had built around his heart to finally break down and allow himself to miss his family in full. “It’s done, everyone… Wolfie did it!” He giggled as he imagined how each of his family members were going to congratulate him once he came back, his tears flowing endlessly.

However, a sudden hand on his shoulder to force his head up startled the boy out of his prayer. “WOLF! You okay, man? You’re all hunched down- lemme carry you to the healers!” Caspar quickly pulled Wolfram into his arms, princess carrying him towards the room they had set up to the infirmary.

Wide-eyed, Wolfie’s tear stained gaze fixed itself on Caspar. “I’m okay!” He laughed, wrapping both arms around Caspar’s neck. “I’m alright, Caspar! Don’t worry!”

“Muh? But you were all hunched over- and you’re crying-”

“Hehee, I cry a lot, remember?” Wolfie nudged his wet cheek on Caspar’s, still high on the joy of it all.

Caspar’s shoulders sagged as he stopped midway to the healer’s room. “Oh, yeah, that’s tr-”

“Hey, Caspar.” Wolfie adjusted himself on his crush’s arms, holding his shoulder with one hand as he used the other one to pull Caspar’s chin towards him. “I love you.”

“Me too, man. You’re cool.” Caspar replied immediately, completely oblivious to the true depth of the random declaration.

“Heehe,” Wolfie giggled, then laughed loudly, throwing his head back. “Nyahaha! Oh my Naga, you’re so stupid.” He gurgled the words through his laughter, stroking his thumb on Caspar’s cheek.

“Hey, what’dya mean by that-mmmph?!” Before he could even retor, Wolfram dove his soft lips into Caspar’s, making the shorter man widen his eyes in surprise.

Honestly, if it had been up to Wolfram, that confession would never happen, what with his overthinking.

But it did because it was now. It did because it was Caspar.

It did because it was them.

Of course, the kiss was but a peck on the lips, as Wolfram had no kissing experience, but that was enough to let his point across. Once he pulled away, he saw Caspar’s dumb-looking expression, with gapped mouth and wide eyes -- tinged with red cheeks.

“OH, I get it now! Man, okay that was really dumb of me.” Caspar blabbed, adjusting Wolfram in his arms before sitting him on top of a fallen column and placing himself in the middle of his legs. “Alright, now we can continue.”

Wolfie didn’t have the time to get embarrassed as Caspar’s tongue invaded his mouth, ravishing it all in a way that he knew only Caspar would be able to.

He didn’t get to hear the response to his confession, but that was something he would demand… later. Perhaps after fifteen more of these kisses.

[helis97]

TFA: CyL? _ Finale

I think it’s about time that I close this unfinished project that I so unfortunately lost the will to continue. The reasons why I can no longer continue this project is listed at the end of the synopsis of how the story is supposed to end.

From personal experiences I know that being left with an incomplete comic/story is rather annoying, especially because you might want to know “What happens to the characters? What happens to the story?”

So I have collected the courage to write down HOW THE STORY WOULD HAVE GONE immediately after the appearance of Tarn!

(A little disclaimer: English is not my first language, I make a lot of typing errors and, while I did my best, I’m really not used to write complicated text in English so there’s probably plenty of errors in here. If you find them you are very welcome to notice me and I’ll be happy to add the needed corrections.)

We are left here with Tarn, Strika, Sockwave and Red Alert in the control room of Sentinel’s space ship. -> www.deviantart.com/elis97/art/…

Shockwave cleverly pretends that Red Alert is an Autobot who have defected and that is now on the Decepticon’s side. Red Alert plays along with Shockwave’s lies and Tarn puts her down.

While Shockwave is trying to find a good excuse to leave the spaceship with Red Alert, Waspinator makes his entrance with Jetfire and Jetstorm captive.

Tarn wants to kill them, but Red Alert is able to save the twins by telling the Decepticons that the two were implemented with the unique flight mode ability that only the Decepticons posses, making them very close to an actual Decepticon.

This convinces Strika to pick a side and claim the young boys also adding that it would be nice to have youngsters around again (as almost all Decepticons are now very old).

Tarn is suspicious thought, and asks Red Alert to tell him where the AllSpark is being kept on the ship, which surprises Shockwave to a whole new level.

Red Alert with a perfect poker-face tells him that she was not made aware of the presence of the AllSpark and that she was surprised as well when Sentinel, in order to scare away the Decepticons, told them that he had it and was going to use it.

Tarn gets way too close to Red and Shockwave puts himself between the two trying to calm his friend down, only to realize that, despite having known Tarn since he was Glitch, the but he now sees is a chilling monster.

In the end Waspinator convinces Tarn that it would be quicker to hunt down Sentinel rather than wasting time with them.

The scene changes to the infirmary of the spaceship with Red Alert trying to take care of the jet-twins that are now accusing her to be a traitor like Shockwave.

Shokwave asks her if the AllSpark is actually aboard the ship, Red simply tells him that while she is not sure, the Sentinel could be that stupid.

Shockwave beliving to be able to convert the doctor to his faction, turns into Longarm and thanks Red for letting him go thus giving him a chance to live further his life.

Red Alert jams a bestiary in Longarm’s aye that makes him scream and quickly turn into his real form.

Red Alert is furious, screaming at Shockwave to have some respect for her and stop mocking her.

To Shockwave’s pain, confusion and horror, Red Alert’s eyes turn purple.

A Tarn shaped shadow gets closer to the infirmary door.

Shockwave scared to ask Red Alert if the purple eyes are a result of the truth about Longarm’s identity, but she starts laughing.

Red tells Shockwave that she got the purple eyes during the war against the Decepticons, so many years ago. During a time where she believed she could make a difference, use her abilities to save as many lives as possible, she quickly realised that she was forced to put down way more bots that she was actually saving. That horrible realization, the feeling to be helpless and sacrificable (because all cogs in the big Autobots machines are replaceable like actual charges are) made her desperate, insanely desperate.

Because Cybertron doesn’t have an institution for mental help and support, she was unable to ”heal” from the stress and the trauma of the war and the purple eyes cronicised; all she could do was hitting them with medicines and, sometimes, electronic-paint.

Shockwave realises how much damaged Red Alert actually is as he starts feeling guilty. He tries to hug Red to comfort her, but she back away right into Tarn’s arms.

Shockwave stops dead in terror as he fears that Tarn might have realized the truth about the Autobot, but Tarn is thinking something completely different.

Tarn cuddles and comforts a very freaked out Red Alert, revealing to her that he as well was left scarred and insane by the Autobots and the Decepticons’ war.

He asks with sweet, but insanely purple eyes if she doesn’t have a good idea of where the Allspark might be. Shockwave tries to talk to Tarn but is struck by a kick from the giant Decepticon. Wasp quickly comes by and immobilize Shockwave on the ground. Asking for help is useless, because everyone else is away looking for Sentinel.

Red Alert asks Tarn what he intends to do once he gets to the AllSpark. A soft look from the murderous boy accompanies his words, he wants to kill every Cybertronian in the galaxy, and will use the AllSpark to do so in one single big strike.

Red Alert looks at Shockwave and tells Tarn that the Allspark is in the hangar.

Red Alert and Tarn are walking tours the hangar with Shockwave and Waspinator behind them. Shockwvae tries to talk Tarn out of his madness, but he warns him to shut up or his vocal box will be removed.

Red Alert gently asks Tarn how he will deal with the other Decepticons as they discover what he’s trying to do, but Tarn is not worried, as soon as he gets the Allspark it will be over. That gives Shokwave an idea: opening a transmission between himself and the other Decepticons aboard the ship, he hopes that Tarn will say something that will make Strika and the rest of the team to realize what is going on.

Red Alert continues her conversation with Tarn who starts telling her the story of how he lost his sanity during “The battle of Kaon”, a battle against the Autobots. He explains that all the Decepticons forces were holding their ground inside the fortress of Kaon, trying to fend off the Autobots from entering inside. They were using energy cannons that were running out of steam.

Since the cannons were taking power from a main furnace Megatron ordered to throw inside every scrap of Energon in order to keep them running. Tarn tell that he and Lugnut were in charge of keeping the furnace lit, but when every last battery of Energon finished Megatron ordered the wounded Decepticons to be thrown in.

Tarn didn’t want to do it, but Megatron made it clear that if had he refused the order he was going to be thrown inside as well.

After every single screaming wounded Decepticon was tossed inside the furnace the attack was not over, and so Megatron ordered Tarn e Lugnut to get the weakest Decepticons and use them as well.

For every single soul that got devoured by the flames Tarn lost a bit of his mind, for every time Lugnut precede the death of his comrades as the greatest honor of all, Tarn had to stop himself from screaming in agony.

Shockwave listen in horror and remembers that durung that faitfull day he was at the command of one of the cannons that keept shooting away the Autobots. Deep down, he knew what had appened to those missing decepticons that day, but refused to actually believe at his own tought.

To the other corner of the transmition Strika starts sobbing incapable to believa that his Lugnut could have been part of something so heinous.

After that Tarn continuously revisited that event in his dreams. Endless nightmares of him jamming bolts into the furnace, unable to free himself from the nightmares he became addicted to that horror. Incapable to put his mind to rest, he started to feel the urge to kill.

Tarn is sure that Red Alert can understand how he feels and that’s why he will let her live after having turned her into something similar to Waspinator, as by doing so she will not be hurt by his attack.

Not receiving feedbacks from the other Decepticons aboard the ship, Shockwave is close to panic now that he’s aware of how far Tarn is willing to go, but a glance from Red Alert makes him realise that she has something in mind.

Red Alert tells Tarn that, if she was hesitant to follow his plan at the beginning, she now realises that there is no saving for her specie, that even the younger generation will be corrupted and destined to suffer, so, now that they are in the hangar, the AllSpark is in that box, near the hatch opening.

As Tarn approaches the point with blood thirsty eyes Shockwave realises the plan and with a martial art like move, takes by surprise Waspinator and makes a run for the controls of the opening of the hatches.

Tarn realizes the trick a second too late and the doors opens.

The wasp is blown away immediately as Shockwave grabs onto something to avoid the same end.

He quickly starch out an arm to Red Alert, but not before Tarn is able to catch her free arm.

As Red Alert realizes that Tarn is not going out that easily, she gives a last look at Shockwave who begs her not to do it. Before Tarn is able to get a better hold she lets go of Shockwave’s hand and jams a syringe in Tarn’s arm. They both disappear out of the hangar.

As Shockwave is slowly loosing his grip, Oil Slick has arrived just in time to shut the hatches close.

The two rush to the control room of the spaceship, meeting along the way the rest of the Decepticons that had rushed to help them.

Shockwave directs the ship towards the direction where Red Alert was blown away, saying that Red Alert probably injected the fake death zero into the Tarn and that she’s probably unhurt because the zero takes effect in seconds. Oil Slick grudgingly tells him that a second is more than enough for Tarns to kill someone.

As the headlights find the targets the horror takes shape.

Tarn is frozen and gray, with eyes glaring at the void, her head in his fist, surrounded by spilling Energon that floats around them in a macabre dance.

Shockwave falls on the ground, unable to lie to himself anymore.

The story moves forward a year and several months later, Shockwave is laying on a bed. He talks about when he and Oil Slick got inside Red Alert’s body that, while still had its colors on, the head was squished to a point that the facial features were no longer recognizable. Had he been able to warn her that the other Decepticons were coming to the rescue, maybe things would have gone differently.

His invisible interlocutor answers him that, despite everything, Red Alert still survived even if her memories and a good portion of her personality were wiped away.

He jokes about the fact that the AllSpark was never aboard the ship, but the Sentinel was arrested for violating major protocols, putting in danger his crew and causing the death of Safetrap. -> www.deviantart.com/elis97/art/…

Shockwave becomes sad again, saying that while he’s no longer hurting so much he still wishes thatsRed could remember the good times they had together. While the interactions between Autobots and Decepticons have improved, he still feels lonely and lone like when he was undercover as Longarm.

After a minute of silence the voice reminds him that he’s not lonely and that he will go for a walk with his friend that evening.

The voice reassures Shockwave that every person need his own time to cope with traumatic events and that, despite how he feels, he’s doing a good job.

The session reaches its conclusion and Shockwave says goodbye to his therapist, a tiny human with round glasses.

On his way out a guard checks Shockwave’s documents and, reading that has been authorized to leave the asylum for the evening, lets him out. Oil Slick is waiting for him and happily greets him.

As they walk in the street of Cybertron Oil Slick asks Shockwave how he’s been doing, but Shockwave is quick to change the subject and asks instead how he and his team are doing now that they are back on Cybertron.

Oil Slick tells him that after the accident with Tarn, Strika was furious and wanted to hear the truth about The battle of Kaon from Lugnut and flew the Autobot ship back on Cybertron. He and the rest of the team weren’t allowed to go inside the prison, but Strika went in escorted by Optimus Prime and got her confirmation from Lugnut him. When she got out she was heartbroken and struck a truce with Optimus Prime. From then on there were lots of commotion between the Decepticons lines, some wanted to return to Cybertron and were positive about the new leadership of Optimus Prime, some others weren’t happy and riots rose in all Decepticon’s outposts.

The two get in line to enter into an amusement park, guards at the entrance are making sure that no weapons are introduced inside.

Oil Slick asks Shockwave if he feels weird about the fact that a human was put in charge of his reformation.

His friend answers that it’s called therapy, not reformation, and that since it never existed on Cybertron a system to give boys psychological support, it was only logical to call a species more expert in the field.

Suddenly a familiar voice captures Shockwave’s attention.

A peculiar femmebot is talking to the her friends about the many things that the new Magnus, Optimus Prime is putting in action: amusement parks, innovative distributions of powers, unheard institution were tiny aliens take care of bots with problems, inviting other species to visit Cybertron…

Altought she no longer looks the same, Shockwave recongises Redalert’s voice and way of talking.

He spies her talking some meters in front of them, she’s with Arcee, Ratchet and Ironhide. She looks happy, carefree, full of life.

Oil Slick seems to understand the situation and asks his friend if he wants to go to talk to her, but Shockwave refuses.

At the entrance of the amusement park the guards look at Shockwave with suspicious, asking for his documents again. Not finding anything wrong, they let him in.

Shockwave tells his friend that Red Alert got her memory wiped away and, as a result, the purple eyes disappeared an she became a happier but, he doesn’t want to be part of her new life, not yet and maybe not ever again.

Oil SLick notices that Shockwave’s eye is now purple and realises why he was housed in a mental asylum rather that in a prison. He asks him if Redalert was the reason he got purple eye.

While departing from the rest of the crowd, Shockwave reveals to his friend that after the accident with Tarn he chose to personally bring both Red Alert and Tarn to the hospital, fearing that the Autobots would have been too incompetent to help them without his lead.

As a result, he got arrested and sent to prison. The voice of him being affiliated to an Autobot and a traitor spreads truth the prison, and from that moment, every single Decepticon inside the prison started hating on him.

Oil Slick incredulous asks why Megatron didn’t take his side, considering that he was his most loyal servant.

The fact is that Strika’s intervention put in a bad light Megatron’s leadership. When Shockwave tried to explain to his leader the whole story, Megatron directed his follower’s attention away from his own horrible actions and focussed them over the fact that Shockwave wasn’t able to keep vital information away from the Autobots. So while not directly calling him a traitor he was still accused of such.

Similar to Wasp, after months of being lonely, hated, humiliated and ignored when trying to explain himself, Shockwave developed purple eye. But unlike what had happened to Wasp, Optimus ordered his displacement and had an expert take care of his condition before the purple eye becomes chronic.

Because of this Shockwave is in debt with the Autobots and believes that, leaving Red Aler alone, is a way to pay back the Autobots.

Oil Slick has a different way to see the thing, in his opinion, it’s the Autobots that are paying back Shockwave for having him tortured by Lockdown.

Shockwave doesn’t answer, instead looks back at a now very far away Red Alert.

Turning back again, he tells Oil Slick that he will never forget his gesture of friendship. Oil Slick smiles then, pointing to a stall with his finger, tells Shockwave he hadn’t had cotton-Energon since he was a sparkling. Shockwave giggles saying that he as well, hasn’t had cotton-Energon in a long time.

Red Alert turns her head around to see Shockwave and Oil Slick having cotton-Energon, she smiles tenderly, then returns her attention to her friends.

                           -----------------------------------------------

Now that the story was told I would like to take a moment to simply talk about why I could no longer continue the comic. There are a couple of reasons, one of them is the amount of time that would have taken to finish the bloody thing! And I swear to you that I tried my best to keep it at its bare essential exactly for the fear of it becoming too long.

Another reason is that I didn’t enjoy drawing the characters. As surprising as it might be, I started this project believing that once familiar with the design I would have been able to draw them with ease, which didn't happen. Aside from Shockwave I don’t particularly enjoy drawing TFA style and I bloody hate to color the character because I was always feeling bored and frustrated every time I forgot a particular. That created some major inconsistency in the pages. (and yes, that bothers me a lot)

I believe that the most important reason that prevented me to finish the opera as I wanted is the fact that this story kept changing every time! Aside from the first Chapter the rest kept evolving, changing direction, changing the ending and I was never happy. In the end the biggest problem was simple: I just couldn’t make a happy ending. I really wanted Red Alert and Shockwave to be together, but I simply couldn’t do it, no matter how much I kept changing the story I was never able to make it work, and I have only myself to blame.

In the end, I could never finish the story because I never knew how it was supposed to end, and I passed so much time in between that I simply grow interested in other things, other fandoms, other stories in general.

Life in general was also in the way… as always.

Anyway, while I will never be able to put this story in comic pages I’m happy to be able to tell you how I decided to end it. I am very thankful to all the people who follow the story and left a nice comment under every page and for those people I’m truly sad that I was unable to deliver the whole story in comic format.

Since I know many things were left out in this synopsis, if you have any questions or clarifications, feel free to ask me and I will do my best to answer it.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Dragon Dancer IV: The Snowman

I woke up in the middle of the night to the smell of something cooking. I sat up in bed. Mingfei wasn’t in the bedroom with me. Ru’Yi was still asleep in the travel crib.

Concerned he might be out drinking again, I stepped outside the bedroom but Mingfei wasn’t there. He’d just left the empty bag of chips on the table. I sighed in disappointment. He probably did go out to drink. I slipped on a shirt and pants and went to go look for him.

When I opened the front door, the first thing I noticed was what appeared to be snow on the ground. As I approached the grass, however, I saw the glittering balls of hail scattered in a thin layer. A light drew my eyes to the side of the porch. I saw Johann and one of the priests sitting under the overhang, eating grilled chicken skewers next to a charcoal fire.

Johann stood up, looking nervous. I held my hands out. “It’s okay. Sorry. I... I won’t freak out again.”

The priest raised a skewer. “Would you like to join us? The young master said he was hungry.”

I smiled. “Sure.” 

The night was still cold and damp but it was nice next to the fire. I sat next to Johann, at what I hoped was a comfortable distance from him. The priest handed me a skewer with some meat on it. I tilted my head giving a bit of a smirk. “I thought Buddhists were vegetarian?”

The priest smiled back at me. We both knew the shrine was a front. These weren’t actually priests but the elite forces of the Hydra, the best of the best, like the Yakuza version of Navy Seals.

Johann looked back and forth between us.  He spoke, hesitantly.  “Ms. Carli...” “You ... seem to know a lot of people in Hydra.”

I turned to him. Ms. Carli? Hearing him say that made me want to throw up in my mouth!

I didn’t want to tell him what he should remember. It would only make him confused. “Can you.. tell me how you grill your chicken so well?”

“It’s already marinated so just hold it over the fire for about six minutes per side.”

“Ah.” I held the meat over as instructed, feeling as if my heart was the one being held over coals. I had to resist another tearful eruption. But I couldn’t suppress my smile at him. He didn’t look at me but even this small interaction was a dream come true. Johann was here, sitting next to me.

“I know I can’t talk about what I remember... but can I tell you something else? Just so you relax and don’t think I’m a crazy lady?”

He gave me a nervous look. “Sure...”

“I remember a picture of you. You were really little about six or seven. You had this cute little blue hat and blue coat and blue mittens and you were just losing your mind over a snowman. You were smiling so big!” I turned to him. “Do you remember that?”

Johann smiled, genuinely, and I felt my heart skip. “Yeah. I remember that.”

I leaned toward him laughing. “Why were you so excited?”

“That was the first time ever seeing snow.” He said, his low voice humming in my ears, comforting my restless heart.

“Oh that’s right. It doesn’t snow where you live.” I said.

He blinked his smile disappearing. He looked at me again, a bit more focused.

I met his gaze. Yes, I knew where he lived. 

He shifted his gaze away. “Dad... he.. He took me to see it.” His shoulders slumped.

I chewed my lip. Even years after, Johann Chu never talked about how his father died. I remembered how much he struggled to talk about it as an adult, holding all those memories inside so effortlessly, letting them be the furnace that powered his every decision... until that Christmas Eve when he had almost told me.

I knew that time travel wouldn’t let me change the past. I’m not sure what had happened to take Johann Chu back to his fifteen year old mind in an adult body, but here was an opportunity to talk to this inner child.  

I held in mind the memory of when I received the news of Robbie’s death when I rested my hand on his arm and spoke to him in quiet Chinese.

“请节哀顺变。”

“Restrain your grief, accept fate.”

I saw the tension rise in his back. Tears appeared on his lower lids.  He held his breath, trembling.

I was not being cruel or unfeeling by saying this. This simple statement of fact was as common as, ‘I’m sorry.’ when it came to phrases of condolences. But in this case, it fit better than anything I could say in English.

In truth, if this whole thing didn’t work out and Johann never recovered his memories of me, I would have to tell myself those words.

“What are you doing?”

We both turned at once to see Nono in her pajamas, staring at me with an acid glare.

“Eating chicken... ah! I forgot to turn mine over!” I quickly flipped it.

Johann didn’t say anything, keeping his eyes on the fire with a dull expression.

The priest explained. “Mr. Saeki ordered us to protect our guests 24 hours a day. It’s not just me, all the priests are fully armed and stay on guard.”

The priest snapped his fingers and at least twenty men in priest attire emerged from all corners of the courtyard. There was even one on the roof with a heavy sniper rifle.

Once all was well, they slipped back into the shadows. This was more of a fortress than a cemetery.

 “You should really try the chicken!” I said, trying not to laugh. Nono really had no idea about these guys. She just knew something was up. Feeling peeved at her glare, I wasn’t about to tell her the truth I knew.  Did she think I had lured Chu Zihang out here? I blew on my skewer, bitterness rising. Heaven forbid, I want to hang out with my own husband.

“We often have late nights like this.” The priest agreed as he continued to try to calm Nono.

He just attracted her ire. 

Her glare shifted to him. “You always prepare chicken here?”

“Well...” The priest scratched his head, looking bashful. “I know people believe all we eat are rice dumplings but sometimes we get tired of bland food too!”

I squinted. For a Hydra operative he was being a terrible liar right now.

“Then you still have an empty house here, with Miko clothes hanging on a wire hanger.” Nono said, seemingly out of the blue.

How could she know about Erii’s room? Her Soul Skill must be directing her there!

“Uh yes... we do!” The ‘priest’ appeared a bit surprised. “You want to see it?”

“Yes. Take me there.” Nono took two steps before turning to Chu Zihang and I. “After eating, go back to sleep.”

I huffed. “You can’t tell me what to do...”

“It’s best to do as Sister asks. I shouldn’t stay up late.” Johann said, finishing off his skewer.

He stood up and looked down at me giving a little bow. “Thanks for reminding me of that day, Ms. Carli, I’d forgotten it.”

“Don’t call me Ms. Carli!” I snapped, annoyed that he was being so meek. “I don’t like that.”

“Then... wh-what should I call you?” He asked, looking down like he was expecting some sort of scolding.

I turned back to the fire, fighting tears and biting into my chicken skewer. He should call me Meixiu. My name was what he gave me! “Think of a name. Think of a good one. And call me that.”

[aweebwrites]

Allies Ch7

No gore and nothing horrible here. Proceed.

“Back up! Back up!” Kai yelled as he ran out of the ice fortress carrying his frozen partner holding the shurikens of ice as he did, the angry roar of the ice dragon following them.

Nya, Cole and Jay quickly darted away from the entrance as the ice dragon’s head ended up lodged there, roaring angrily and spitting ice.

“Zane! Is he ok?!” Jay yelled as they regrouped.

“How the heck are you even carrying him?” Cole asked Kai who held Zane stuck in a block of ice over his head.

“Well-” Kai was cut off by the weight of Zane catching up to him, making him collapse into the snow and his frozen partner falling on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

“Kai!” Nya yelled as Kai wheezed under Zane, Cole lifting him off with ease.

“Could someone get me out of this ice please.” Zane says from inside the ice, his voice muffled but audible.

“Right away.” Cole says, setting him down as Nya helped Kai up.

Cole breathed out before he moved, striking the weak points of the ice with the sides of his hands, leaving the ice to fracture then break around Zane who still held the Shurikens of Ice.

“Thank you.” Zane says then looked down at the Golden Shurikens, sensing their power.

All at once all four Knights looked around, wary.

“Did you see anything?” Nya asked, on alert with their sudden tension.

“No. It’s just this is around the time they’d make a move…” Kai says with a frown, seeing no-one.

“I’m not picking anything up.” Jay says, using his electroreception.

“Me either.” Zane says, his glowing blue eyes brighter now as he scanned the area.

“We shouldn’t let our guard down though.” Cole says with a frown. “Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.” He told them with eyes narrowed at the horizon.

“We shouldn’t dally either. That dragon won’t be caged there for long.” Kai says, gesturing to the structure where the dragon was clearly clawing its way out.

“Let’s go.” Zane says, releasing the Shurikens and they vanished, awing the group.

“They’re about to move. Go get the others.” Kozu told Cryptor who nods before shifting back down the hill.

Inside the hollow of the cave Lloyd had somehow managed to fall asleep sitting up still, his dream but a memory.

“I’m a General for the Devourer’s sake. Not a babysitter.” Pythor huffed as he slithered out of Lloyd’s room, the 9 year old watching him go with wide red eyes before he grinned widely.

This was his chance! He jumped up on his feet then climbed up to the high windows, his claws a big help for that. He then unlatched it and stared out at the horizon. In that direction, was Fulgor. A place with green plains and hills, with shimmering lakes, with blue skies and amazing animals. Far better than Penumbra. There were only dark, jagged rocks, bleak red skies and pools of Dark Matter. He wanted to go there… And this was his chance! He’d be quick! He’ll be back before anyone knows it! With that, he jumped out, shifting into the emerald scaled fledgling he was, flapping his wings as fast as they could go. He had to be quick. Kozu and Cryptor will come to check up on him soon. Flying as quickly as he did for as long as he had was exhausting but he made it, to Fulgor. He shifted on the border, back to his human state so he would blend in more. Dragons weren’t common on both sides of the border after all. He walked further into Fulgor, red eyes wide as he took in the amazingly blue skies, the vivid green grass that reminded him of his scales, the birds, flowers, everything! It was all so amazing! But then the scent of something really good had led him to a small village. Jamanaki village. What he had smelled that was so amazing was something he never had before: sweets. Cotton candy to be specific. He hadn’t thought about currency then. It was something he hadn’t needed to concern himself with as a Prince. So when he had walked up to the candy stall and had taken up one of the cotton candy without paying for it, trouble was sure to follow.

He had just taken a bite out of the light, fluffy sweet tasting treat that had blown his mind- when the stall owner had noticed him.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing kid?!” He had yelled at Lloyd, startling the young boy.

He hadn’t thought, he just ran- which caused the man to chase him- which caused him to gain a whole lot of attention. Someone had grabbed him by the arm tightly and another had done the same to his other arm, hurting him and everyone was yelling and- and he just… He lashed out, digging his claws into one of the large hand gripping him and his fangs into the other. Both had let go with a yell of pain but he was surrounded, he was blocked off and prevented from leaving.

“What the hell?” The man who received the full force of his small but sharp claws said, holding out his bleeding hand, showing the slashed flesh there- and the people started really paying attention to him then.

“Why are his eyes red?”

“He has claws…”

“Are those fangs?”

“He isn’t human!”

“He must be Umberian!”

“But he doesn’t have gray skin…”

“We should take him to Emperor Wu…” That scared him.

Emperor Wu would no doubt kill him. He had to get out of here!

“L-Let me go or else my dad will come beat you all up!” He yelled out, trying to pry himself away from their hold.

“You stole my cotton candy you brat! I’ll give you a beating!” The vender yelled at him angrily, walking towards him with intent and Lloyd was terrified.

He didn’t want to get hurt! He can’t transform or else they’ll hurt him more! He’s sure!

“Y- you can’t do this to me! I’m a Prince! You better let me go before Kozu and Cryptor find me or else-”

“Two of the Penumbrian Generals!” Someone gasped and it hit the village people then.

“He’s the son of Garmadon!” Someone yelled and the people looked fearful and horrified then.

Lloyd’s mistake was that he thought he could use that to make them let him go.

“That’s right! My dad’s Emperor Garmadon so you better let me go before he gets really mad!” He yelled at them, a grin on his face.

That grin quickly fell as their expressions grew dark.

“Demon spawn!”

“His father killed my family!”

“He’ll grow up to be just like him!”

Lloyd cried out once their hold on his arms got tighter before he was lifted off his feet, the crowd yelling angrily as he was carried away.

“Let me go! Help! Help!” He yelled, trying to squirm free from their hold.

Going to that place… Was his biggest mistake yet…

“Prince Lloyd.” Lloyd blinked his eyes open before glancing over at Cryptor, pushing down the residual fear he felt from the dream, from the memory down.

“They’re moving?” He asked him and Cryptor nodded.

Lloyd stood.

“Good. Let’s go.”

________

“Jay-”

“Eeep!” Jay squeaked once Cole’s hand touched his shoulder, lightning charged in his hand and he barely dodged the bright bolt of electricity.

“Oh, Cole. You scared the heck out of me.” Jay sighed, slumping on the back of his horse.

“Clearly.” Cole says, looking back at the scorched rock nearby. “What has you on edge Bluebird?” He asked and Jay gave him a dry look.

“Oh jee. I don’t know. It couldn’t be the fact that we're on a mission to find literal god tier weapons that will either save us from this never ending war or destroy us while being chased by a four armed indestructible golem, a Nindroid with magic, an invisible snake and some kind of Umbrian on steroids or anything. Nope. Definitely not any of that.” Jay says sarcastically and Cole looked at him flatly.

“You know what I meant spark plug. Leave sarcasm to me.” The Earth Knight says as they continued towards the storm on the horizon and Jay sighed.

“Sorry but it just bothers me that they didn't show up back then. Makes me think they’ll jump out any second now.” Jay says warily, eyes darting around.

“Jay has a point for once.” Kai says, ignoring Jay’s ‘hey!’. “What’s their plan? Why only steal one weapon and not the other? Are they waiting until we gather the rest? And if so, what would be the sense in that? Surely they would know that we’ll be stronger with three of the weapons on our side. They won’t even be able to use the Scythe of Quakes.” He says, glancing across at Zane for his opinion.

“I am not sure myself.” Zane says as he looked down in thought. “The arctic region isn’t the easiest terrain to travel. Perhaps Pythor is the reason why they hadn’t attacked. He is serpentine after all and they are cold blooded.” He suggested.

“Yeah but what are the chances of them stopping for another teammate? Every soul from Penumbra only cares for themself and Garmadon’s word, and if Garmdon’s word is to bring the golden weapons, I think they’d get it done, even if it means leaving someone behind.” Nya says from her place behind Kai.

“True but perhaps they’ve noticed that you joined our numbers, putting them at a disadvantage. It would go against their aim to leave someone behind then.” Zane pointed out.

“Yeah and lets not forget Stone Soldiers and the Nindroids from Penumbra are generally heavier than the average person. They’d get slowed down by the height of the snow.” Cole added.

“What I want to know is if we have to worry about them jumping out any second now or what.” Jay spoke up, no less jittery than before.

“I think it’s safe to say that they’ve been delayed by the icy terrain.” Zane says after a moment and the freckled brunette sighed, relaxing. “But. We shouldn’t let our guards down. Those Generals have always been crafty, on and off the battlefield.” He added and Jay tensed up all over again.

“At least we don’t have to worry about Ultra Violet.” Nya added as a consolation.

“Oh definitely.”

“That would be most troubling.”

“She’s freaking crazy!”

“That General is definitely a basket case.” The Knights agreed, the idea of her being apart of the team hunting them down terrifying.

They’ve all faced her at least once on the battlefield before and knew she had crazy stamina. Injuries don't even slow her down! They just hope the poor dragon that most likely ate her didn’t get some kind of disease…

Yards back, the team of Generals and their Prince followed the Knight’s path, Lloyd’s eye focused ahead as the other throbbed with pain he ignored. It always hurt once those memories get stirred up and worse still in the cold. That day opened his eyes to the ugly truth behind the beautiful land of Fulgor. Back then, he used to reason that a place like that couldn’t be all that bad… And he was right. Fulgor was never as bad as they say. He tightened his grip on the reigns of his cougar, his eye glowing brighter with his bitterness. It was much worse. He blinked then, pulling his Cougar to a stop.

“What is it my Prince?” Cryptor asked, all three Generals on the alert.

Lloyd looked around, sensing something. Something familiar. He then snapped his head upwards to the sky, eyes narrowed there. Kozu could pick up the deep, rhythmic whooshing sound moments later and narrowed his eyes, knowing that sound well.

“That sounds like a dragon.” He says, reaching for his katana, holding onto it as the sound grew louder.

“It can’t be the Knights. They’re scouting ahead.” Pythor says with a frown, staff gripped tightly.

“Dragons are Emperor Wu’s thing. He must-”

“No.” Lloyd says as it came into view. “It’s not Wu. That dragon is corrupted by Dark Matter.” He says then narrowed his eyes further then relaxed.

“It’s Ultra Violet.” The fifth General laughed as she brought the dragon in for a landing, her Cougar trailing behind her as she gave a trilling war cry.

“Ultra Violet is back!”

________________

(Ok so we've gotten to the first piece of what happened back then and more will begin to uncover itself. I think you get the gist of what happened then... Thanks for reading!)

________________ Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6

[brachyurans]

tw3 moods, part 4

BASE GAME GWENTE QUESTE COMPLETE. I AM KING.

you know how i was saying i wanted to use a Nilfgaard deck for the aesthetic well i played a bunch of practice rounds against merchants and put together a good Nilf deck and won the passiflora running Emhyr the Relentless and it was great

i think i might try a Monster deck for the BoW and HoS gwent quests but that’s pretty far in the future.

also, i managed to hit 100 hours on this game without doing a single main quest in skellige lmfao

i learned how to install w3 mods so i could put in Always Full Exp. i waited so long for skellige that nothing was giving me any exp anymore and seeing ‘received: 2xp’ after quests is kind of not fun. now i’m enjoying crossing contracts off again! overleveling is a fake gamer lie.

i figured out the incredibly hilarious fact that geralt’s honey-collecting method involves setting the entire beehive on fire and waiting for it to drop to the ground. geralt hasn’t been friends with bees since he was torturing them with jugs as a witcherling and he’s not about to start now. i haven’t yet figured out what i’m meant to do with all these honeycombs but i sure do got ’em!

the bit where geralt gets put in skellige prison made me chilly. they made him go barefoot :( on the other hand, geralt interacting with what passes for a justice system on this world is fantastic and heartbreaking, he is embittered and impatient and he wants everyone to hurry up and just tell him exactly how bad he’s going to get fucked over today

the way geralt’s face fucking DROPS when eredin shows up in the cave of dreams. [MUFFLED SCREAMING]

also, the way blueboy lists off the herbs everyone’s gotta take—hemlock, henbane, nightshade, etc.—and geralt is like whoa that’s gonna be a hell of a trip like FHSKFJSK of course mr. i-drink-poison-for-a-living knows exactly what kinda trip they’re gonna have. and he’s still just like fuck it this may as well happen to me today.

hjalmar’s quest was actually a tremendous amount of fun, i was kind of putting it off because i don’t enjoy boss battles, but it reminded me a lot of being a kid and how much i loved reading the bits with odysseus and polyphemus (and rereading. i swear i read the polyphemus sequence over twice as often as any of the rest of it). the odyssey was one of my favorite books as a child. yes i was that child. getting folan from the rock trolls was also a lot of fun and having him around for the rest of the investigation was nice. (amazing he could fire a bow with those burns on his hands tbh.) i’m always ten times more willing to wander into horrible dark caves when i have an npc around to be friends with.

i would smooch cerys an craite. geralt should not, that would be weird, but i would.

I PUT THE BABY IN THE FUCKING OVEN

i don’t even have fucking words for this quest i was like ok cerys i support you and then. oh my god. i SCREAMED. i almost missed the timed choice i was too busy freaking out. like. THIS?? THIS IS THE FUCKING CONTEXT FOR THAT???

obviously after all that i crowned her queen. who the fuck picks hjalmar over cerys when she’s obviously the superior candidate like crach says he has no preference but the only point he can give in hjalmar’s favor is “skellige wants a monarch who’ll lead them to battle with nilfgaard” like ok sure crach but i’m gonna back the monarch who won’t immediately fling the isles into emhyr’s maw. may the reign of the first queen of skellige be long and prosperous.

CIRI!!!! IS!!! GAY!!!!!!

i thought lesbian ciri was just a reasonably popular fanon but no you can look a naked woman straight in the eyes as ciri and say “actually, i prefer women,” i love & support my lesbian daughter

the entire last wish sequence killed me FUCKING DEAD

geralt when he says ‘agh, no, not another portal’ and yen tells him to stop whining 😭😭😭

me: ok geralt lets try for a repeat of the unicorn scene [selects dialogue]

geralt: you wanna fuck on the top of a mountain in a dead guy’s bed?

yen: no.

yennefer, darling and best-beloved as she is to me, actually super needs to stop reading geralt’s mind without permission it isn’t cute or funny. it is also, as far as i can see, an invention of the games. bad cdpr [whacks with newspaper]

i’ve now let both the succubi go so i can never make a succubus decoction. rip me. the uncraftable recipe in my alchemy tab is gonna bug me but i just won’t stab women for the crime of being Horny if i don’t have to is that so wrong

i absolutely could not bear to kill any more fucking sirens so around this point i went to get uma. i still have sidequests and Witcher diagrams to get in skellige but sirens and mountains are annoying.

emhyr: i give you leads as fresh as morning dew and this is what i get?

me: well after running around the continent on fifty different side quests the leads were all uh... slightly less fresh.

“forktails this close to the fortress? someone’s been slacking off” go on just drag eskel for filth why don't you geralt

time for everyone to go on their Life-Changing Field Trip with Zuko Geralt

omfg the illusion child with the foglets that Lambert said was copied from his cohort is fucking TINY. it’s probably a reused model because the trainee witchers must have been close to full-grown when they did the trial of the medallion if they were going out on the Path right after but still like... thas bad. witchers are tragedies.

that geralt and eskel’s idea of quality time is dissecting a katakan together (or rather, eskel dissects a katakan and geralt eats an apple...i desperately hope he got the apple out of his pack because it kind of looked like he grabbed it off the nasty-ass katakan table and that’s Gross, geralt)... these guys are fuckin nerds

eskel managing to radiate mom friend energy while practically black-out drunk is extremely powerful

if I was yennefer witnessing three men twice as big as me squeezed into my nice dresses i would have had MUCH harsher words for all of them. those dresses would be unwearable afterwards. also i made the mistake of taking everything off in order to wear yen’s pants which meant geralt woke up on the floor completely naked while everyone else was already busy having their shit together while fully dressed. embarrassing.

vesemir is an extremely fucked-up old dude. ah yes, you know how old people are, nostalgic for their torture tables, just can’t get rid of those. lambert is right about everything

emhyr may be a grade-A douché but geralt’s a little bitch. what’s wrong with morvran leading a banner to kaer morhen, i thought we liked morvran. he’s a horse girl and he’s always polite to us. you don’t even know how to command a company of nilfgaardian soldiers geralt. oh no emhyr will have intelligence about kaer morhen if morvran comes!—he would get the same if it was just the soldiers you think his companies aren’t full of spies??? suck it up and play nice for ciri we need bodies in that castle!! suspect geralt went to ask emhyr literally just to lord over him that he was going to do some fancy magic stuff with ciri that emhyr could never, smh

i have to stop main-questing now and Prepare i want at least three more levels and all of my Witcher gear in order before i head out after ciri

which means i gotta go kill some more sirens.

fuck.

[mariposalass]

Deep Pain, Deep Sorrow

Summary: The day he died the first time has come, and Philip is having nightmares of reliving the events in his mind. It is not really great, not great at all.

Setting: Mari and co.’s house in Daly City, California, present day midnight; Weehawken Dueling Grounds in Weehawken, New Jersey and the Church family house in New York City, New York, November 20-24, 1801.

Notes: Written up in the last minute in commemoration of RL Philip Hamilton’s death by gun dueling on this day 218 years ago. There are Hamilton musical spoilers and mentions of death, guns, & blood loss along with slight mention of alcohol & hate speech against Alexander Hamilton: if you’re not comfortable with any of them, then skip this and finding something more cheerful instead. Although the ending doesn’t end on a sour note though… Also tagging @husband-of-lucoa​ since I’m basing this on a RP we had on Discord with Marina’s old life dilemma before as a main theme.

Tags: character death, mention of guns, salty language, mention of blood and blood loss, existential crisis, Defying Time, Renewed Potential, Hamilton: An American Musical, Hamilton spoilers, implied mention of alcohol, hate speech, George Eacker bashing (if this is a thing), real life history

It all started with a speech, a goddamn speech on the Fourth of July nonetheless. Bloody Eacker had all the nerves to bash his father like that: no respect to the man who had to work hard from a rough life of illegitimacy and having one parent died & another far away to help bringing a nation out of the shackles of Great Britain’s control, in front of a bunch of people wanting him dead literally or otherwise, poor Theo’s figuratively blind and ambitious father included. Surely, if that fool had known the man personally much longer, maybe it have been less abrasive, but no, he was a foolish twat. 4 months had passed since that slanderous speech and he & an old friend, Stephen Price, had confronted him, both younger men being under some alcohol for some reason, in the Park Theater about that rancid work of words. A verbal fight has borne out of this confrontation and the final straw came in the form of that bastard calling him and Stephen ‘rascals’, which had the young men to challenge him in a dueling match.

Back then, most men, even the smartest and most noble of the lot, wouldn’t simply settle things in a calm and logical manner; with pride on the line, they dealt arguments with small death machines, guns loaded with bullets that could spell death to the unfortunate person on the other side. Eacker would take on Price first a day after, then him on the next day. Four shoots were heard across in Weehawken, but no one died that day. The next day came, and it was him against the foolish twat; with some advice from his father, he had started it with a delope, throwing his first shoot, a move that would ultimately cost him life. Eacker had done the same, for a fool like him, it too was a smart move then.

A minute later, neither one dared to make a move, but then, Eacker aimed for him and shot him above the right hip and into the left arm; he did shot back, but the bullet was useless. The fired bullet from Eacker’s gun was lodged to his arm, spasms came in involuntarily. Everyone was wondering and panicking while Eacker was blindly soaking in this false victory, yet he knew that the victory that fool was enjoying is fleeting and was trying his best to remain calm and collected as Death is slowly arriving at his doorsteps and he was bleeding profusely. Soon, word was spread of the duel and he was then rushed to Aunt Angelica and Uncle John’s house in the city center; Angelica, while still shocked by her nephew’s misfortune, wrote that his attitude during this trying time was unbelievably remarkable for a 19 year old nearing Death.

Horrified by the news of what Eacker did to his firstborn son and rocked by anxiety & worry like every responsible caring parent would, Alexander rushed to Dr. Hosack’s home to ask for medical help, only to learn that the good doctor was already ahead of him at the Church residence by this time, staying with his family to recover before heading to his sister in law’s place. By the time he and Eliza reached him, he was paler than the moon itself, his face ashen from the near loss of blood, almost haggard in appearance.

The older Hamilton was in despair, sobbing and clutching Dr. Hosack by the hand & salted tears running down from his watery eyes, and the middle Schuyler sister, pregnant with her final child at 3 months, even more distraught than she would let on. Pulse was faint, but still heard by Alexander, and yet time was running out for his eldest son. They had stayed by his side all the night along, 14 hours and a confession of faith later however, Death has taken Philip Hamilton away from the world and from his family at 5 AM. Only 19 years old.

He had bolted up from his bed after so many flashes running across his mind, waking up screaming and causing his roommate Ahkmenrah to wake up from his slumber as well. His horrified screams could be heard all over the house, alarming everyone trying to get a good night’s rest. The former pharaoh was startled by the stressful look in his friend’s face and checked if he was okay. Philip honestly couldn’t hide how he was feeling, but didn’t explain it to him fully until everyone else went inside their shared bedroom.

Mari has never seen him this stressed out (beside crunch time on news article deadlines and getting confused over modern day things) in the 11 months they have been together, she had sat beside him and sheepishly held onto his hand as a calming measure. Kirby, saddened to see him in the state he was in, flew onto his bed and hugged him by the side of his torso.

“Hey, what’s happening to you, mate?” Harry questioned him, sensing that there must be something that left him this freaked out.

“Yeah, we want to know why,” Kairi chimed in.

“Come on, Philip, there is never a bad thing to admit it,” Mari gently reminded him, “We’re all ears for you.”

“Nightmares, those nightmares of that duel, agh!” he groaned in agony, “I never thought of reliving those awful memories of it all over again. I didn’t expect it to send my family on a downward slope after that. It was horrible to think about it in your sleep.”

“Well, you told us all about it many times for a long time now, still there is no need to hold back just because of some a-hole trying to peg down your dad like that and shoot you in return,” Mari sighed, not knowing what else to say in return and trying to fight back in tears from her eyes.

“Philip, please don’t feel bad about that. I know that it was very foolish of both you and that Eacker guy to try to shoot each other over a speech and just sort those issues out yourselves, but honestly, I didn’t think that it was all your fault,” Issa tried to reassure him, “Besides, he’s already dead and probably regretting that he shouldn’t harass your father with that speech in the first place.”

“Your father sounds like a very important man indeed, Philip,” Ahk pointed out, “You and your siblings must have looked up to him so much. He have done some messed up things in the past like that affair thing, yes, but never a horribly terrible person at all. I would have loved to ask him questions about how he helped out in freeing and growing this nation and independence with several like-minded men.”

“Poyo...” Kirby sniffed in sympathy as he cried.

“Look, Philip dear. The past is the past, we know that we couldn’t turn back the hands of time to stop it from happening, even the Doctor couldn’t stop it in a couple of cases whenever he goes time-traveling. But it doesn’t mean that you should never be defined by those events. You got this second chance in life and you can still enjoy life even more than ever, so you shouldn’t worry about everything the second time around,” Mari calmly reassured her dearest beloved before remembering something similar that had happened to some friends a year ago, “Funny enough, this whole situation you’re in is quite similar to Marina’s case: Dyl’s friends at the Fortress Team found her unconscious by the sea and couldn’t find anyone willing to pick her up and look after her until Dylan and Lucoa (and later Lady Palutena) stepped in and took her into their large family. Even she was struggling with recovering from her past mistakes for some time, but since you came back and befriended her, she doesn’t have to worry too much about them. She still gets nightmares once in a while, but beyond that, she is doing well.”

“Well, I suppose that I should follow her example then?” he meekly asked her and everyone else in the room.

���I don’t see a problem with that, Pip,” Issa smiled back in response, “She was the first person to reach out to you since you made that public reveal of your return, so she is likely to listen all about it.”

“Since you did in a way helped her recover from her past mistakes and get help from her folks, perhaps we can contact Dylan, Lucoa, and Lady Palutena by morning and see if she can drop by to help you out as well,” Harry added, “Or you can talk to me as well. I have been through a lot of trauma in my life as well, especially with the Killing Cruse, the Horcrux Hunt, the Battle of Hogwarts, and after I disown my canon realm for good. Seriously, if you have some nightmares again, just let us know: we’re all here for you and Mari is always there for you as much as you’re always there for her.

The kind support and reception he is receiving are too overwhelming yet welcoming as everyone gathered around him to give him a warm hug, Mari’s being the tightest of all. He never felt this much closer to home than with this unlikely group of people, animals, and what have you, but it is probably true in a way. It might tempting to ask Ahk to bring his folks back to the world of the living, but that would too much hassle and trouble to ask for. The whole 11 months felt like quite a wild ride for sure and yet it is the most fulfilling he has ever lived through, and he couldn’t ask for more than find his place among these strange modern day waters and have an amazing life with his new unlikely ‘family’ and his beloved darling.

The End

[dailyaudiobible]

02/12/2020 DAB Transcript

Exodus 34:1-35:9, Matthew 27:15-31, Psalms 33:12-22, Proverbs 9:1-6

Today is the 12th day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it's great to be here with you as we move through the center of the week and toward the back half. And we will continue in the book of Exodus today with the drama that is taking place in the desert - God giving the laws, people building golden calves and worshiping them and claiming they were there Redeemer, broken covenants, all kinds of stuff happening as we watch the turmoil of something new being created. And that something new is the culture surrounding God's chosen people. So, today Exodus chapter 34 verse 1 through 35 verse 9.

Commentary:

Okay. We have a really interesting contrast between old and new Testaments today that will help us understand the Bible, the story that we’re telling here, but will also help us look at our own lives and understand some things. So, Moses has been a top Mount Sinai he's come back down with some newly freshly hewn tablets of stone with the covenant upon them and when the people see Moses his face is glowing, it’s radiant. He's been in God's presence and his face is radiant. So, the people are kind of freaked out about that and he puts a veil over his face because of this radiance. This veil, this particular one in this particular story is a really important piece for the apostle Paul. He talks about it and essentially his conclusion is that God gave a perfect law that subsequently was read through a veil, which is how the people much later in the New Testament times could miss that God incarnate, was among us and miss it to the point of killing him. So, let's pause here for second. We’re reading through the book of Exodus, lots of rules and regulations and stipulations and instructions. All this kinda stuff is going on. And, so, we can read some of these instructions ago, like “I don't like. I don't even…how do you…I don’t even know how I can obey that command. It's such a strange thing.” And that's us kind of reading our modern culture into an ancient text. These people all understood what was going on. But what we often miss and what the apostle Paul claimed that the Hebrew people were missing, this veil, is that underneath the rules, underneath the law, is the spirit of the law - a reason that the stipulation should exist and that way for that stipulation to point back to why it exists, right? So, that’s sort of confusing but let's just take a stop sign because this applies today. The spirit of the law of a stop sign is that if you indiscriminately drive through intersections you will one day kill somebody or yourself. If everybody just knew and paid attention to that then we would always slow down and we wouldn't need the law or the sign. But since we drive all kinds of places that we don't necessarily know or understand we know that a stop sign is informing us for our own safety and everyone else's safety to stop. If you forgot that or if you forgot the reason or if you were never told the reason, then you would question the rule and maybe ignore the stop sign to your own peril. What God is doing in the book of Exodus as He begins to lay out these instructions and organize his people in a certain way is to initiate in every rule and regulation something that points back to who they are and who He is. It's being woven into the culture so that all that they do is centered around being the chosen people of God, a nation of priests to minister to the world to show all of the nations who have given themselves to the lesser lower false gods who the most high is. And, so, all of the things that they're being instructed to do is baking this into their culture so that they are constantly reminded. Okay. So, that's this spirit of the thing. But if we ignore the spirit…the reason for these things and just look at these rules, yeah, we can look at them and go, “what…like what…what a strange rule for an ancient people”, but we can see that over time they lose this plot and it becomes about focusing upon and deciphering and dissecting exactly how to obey these rules. This is the veil that Paul’s talking about - the letter of the law, obey the rules, find the perfect way to obey the rules as opposed to the spirit of the law, why these rules exist and what their purpose is, because their purpose is to order life in such a way that everything reminds us of who we are because the world will take that away from us. And these rules are here to show us who God is because there are many competitors.

Okay. Now we zoom forward into the book of Matthew today and what do we see besides Jesus on trial, instigated by the religious leaders, the keepers of the law. And, indeed, Paul's analogy would be right. They were veiled, they were worshiping the law. They were worshiping the rules and the power that came from that and missing that God was before them in person. Okay. So, you can go, “that's pretty cool. That…like…that’s…that's an understanding that connects some dots. That's helpful. What does that actually mean for like my life though besides just a…like an understanding?” I mean when you think about your faith, certainly yes, more of God's presence and…and a deeper…deeper relationship. But how is it that we often think that that could be achieved? Don't we look for the rules to follow? Don’t we look for somebody who…who appears to know what they're talking about to tell us what we’re supposed to do to get God on our side? And then often we’ll get into communities like that and we’ll find that there's differing opinions about different ways of obeying these rules. And, so, we get doctrine wars because it would be much too scary if we have something wrong. We’ve gotta defend what we think we've got right when underneath it all, no matter what rules we’re trying to obey, when underneath it all, there's the spirit of why they exist. And they exist to remind us who we are and to who the most-high God is. When we lose the plot here then we’ll go to battle with one another over the rules and then we’ll start resembling Pharisees and Sadducees. And we can get so enmeshed in this that all we’re focusing on is everybody else's sin and wrong and maybe missing that God is standing right in front of us, or maybe even worse, criticizing what God is doing in somebody else's life because it doesn't measure up, or fall in line with our own lives. It’s a pretty start picture we’re looking at in Matthew today. Jesus, God incarnate, stripped, wrapped in a purple robe and beaten senseless. If humanity can do that to God then, yeah, there's a veil. We’re not seeing clearly. And isn’t that what Jesus kept saying throughout the book of Matthew, “I’m looking for those with eyes to see.” And what our eyes are seeing in the book of Matthew is humanity doing the lowest, lowest, basest animal thing we will ever see described in the Bible, an attempt to kill God. So, we need to practice grace and mercy toward each other to love each other as ourselves to begin to remove this veil. We need to understand that the rules that God would give us are there to lead us to Him and they flow from wisdom. They are wise. But it's not about the rule, it's about the reason for it. The reason is to bring us and remind us in everything in every way who we are and who God is because if you hadn't noticed it gets confusing in the world. These rules are not because God needs control of your or anyone else's life. God is most high. He is all powerful. Everything flows from Him. He doesn't need control, He has control. And often the rules or the disciplines of our lives are intended to show us that, that we aren't in control. That's an illusion. The religious leaders of Jesus time were a little freaked out that Jesus could get too much momentum and upset this tenuous power share that was going on between Rome and the Hebrew people. They didn't surrender to God. They crucified him. And the sad thing is you can read it and go like, “I would never do that”, but we are all capable, especially when we lose the plot.

Prayer:

Father we’re trying our…our very, very best to stay focused in here and really, really receive from You the instructions that Your word gives us because we need that. It's murky to live in the world but try to not be of it. It's complicated as You well know. And we confess we lose the plot every day. We forget who we are and who You are all of the time. It can happen many times in a day because so often we’re just reacting, we’re just reacting to whatever comes our way, as opposed to this deep sense of abiding wisdom and the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, which helps us to not be reactive. Come Holy Spirit. May we see the voice of wisdom crying out from every corner of the globe at every intersection. May the veil be removed from our eyes so that we might see clearly Your kingdom in this world and our place in it. And we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and it is ,home and it is where you find out what's going on around here, what's burning around the Global Campfire at any given time. So, yeah, stay tuned and stay connected there.

What is immediately going on around here is that the tomorrow is departure day. Tomorrow we will get on the big plane and start flying across oceans making our way into the land of the Bible where we will be meeting for the first time as…as the group in a few days in Ashdod by the sea in ancient Philistine, a fortress city by the Mediterranean Sea that's now a modern city in Israel. And that's where it all begins for the pilgrimage. And, so, as I’ve been saying for a couple of days, we’re raising the canopy a prayer over this and we’re not gonna. I mean, I’m doing the asking and I'm asking you to pray for us. We’re gonna be praying for us too and we’re gonna be praying for you too because that's just part of the rhythm of…this community is a community of prayer and man, we do that…we do that well. We do that well. And, so, I'm asking to raise a canopy a prayer over everything about this that has to happen to pull off an adventure like the one we’re gonna be on. So, we want to pray specifically for travel, vehicles, stamina, health, jetlag, technology, patience, long-suffering, everything that we would need to go across the world and travel together as a family for a couple weeks. That's what we’ll need. So, thank you for your prayers over that.

I've mentioned several days this is a virtual community and this is…even though we will physically be there in the land of the Bible and many of us will be there physically, we’re taking you along. I don't go anywhere without the Daily Audio Bible. It’s like attached to…to my life. So, we go everywhere together and that helps me, especially when I have to travel alone to not be lonely, but we’re going together. And, so, if you haven't…if you’re not following say for example the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page or Instagram, this is a good time to do that, you can find all of the links in the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com because we’re gonna posting things and posting pictures and videos and stuff as they happen. And, of course, I'll be sharing what we’re doing each day on the Daily Audio Bible. You can be there as it's happening to just see the different places that we’re talking about as we move through the Bible. And then next Saturday, it's the…it’s the 22nd of February we’ll be doing a live broadcast from the Sea of Galilee. Kinda gets us near the halfway point of the trip and we just debrief, we get together, but turn the cameras on for about an hour and…and just…and go live. And it just allows us interaction. The time difference is weird because we’ll be doing that at night and back in the United States it will be…it will be daytime. So, for example, we’ll be doing our live broadcast at 7:30 PM on the 22nd but back in Nashville here where I live, that’ll be 12:30 PM. So, just like lunchtime or that would be like 1:30 on the East Coast and 10:30 AM on the West Coast of the United States. And I don't have a time difference calendar in front of me right now, but all you have to do is just kinda Google the difference between where you are and Tel Aviv, Israel and find the hour difference and then you can kinda work it from there and that's when we'll be going live. So, make plans for that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link and it's on the homepage and I thank you profoundly for your partnership. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer…prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that is it for today. I am Brian I got a lot of packing to do so I’m gonna go do that. I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi my name is Rodney and I was listening to the podcast and I think it was the 29th, I’m a little behind, but there was a young lady who had been dating someone for a while and they broke up and she just can’t seem to…to experience freedom from that relationship. And from someone who was in many relationships and hung onto them out of fear or out of loneliness when I should’ve been hanging on to God and realizing that He has my best in mind or connecting and fellowshipping with other believers, that cost me significantly, significantly and a lot of other people as well. So, I would encourage and just pray that you experience freedom if that’s what God wants you…I guess you never know if you will end up with this person but for right now it’s…if he’s with somebody else I just pray that you will experience freedom and joy and use this time for the good that God has for you, working on yourself, enjoying life, growing closer to Him, enjoying time with other believers. God loves you. God loves you and we love you and just pray for you that you will have joy in your heart. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family my name is Vera and I’m new this is my first year I started in January due to Diana Davis, my sweet sister. I just wanted to let you know because I know all the prayers that have gone up for her and her family, her dear sons Michael and her…her dear son Elijah, but she has gone home, has gone home to be with our Lord Jesus. She’s totally healed now. Praise God and there will be a celebration for her life there because she’s impacted so many people. I just felt like you all needed to know because you have all prayed for her so much and the family and I know you all love her so much. She is a dear, dear friend and a dear, dear sister for all of us and she loved you all so much but like I said, she’s gone home to be with our Lord. And I thank and praise Him all that He’s done in her life and worked around her during this time. It was very hard, and I just thank you all for your prayers for her and I know Michael will probably let you…talk with you when you can. We love you all and…and thank you for your prayers and God be with you. Thank you, Brian and Jill for all you do because it really impacts so many people’s lives.

Good morning DAB family it’s Thursday, January the 7th. Today I want to pray for those who are trapped in religion that is not a knowledge of the heart of God. And my prayer is for freedom within the…within the framework that God has provided through His word. So, here goes. Heavenly Father my prayer today is for all of those who have been brought up in religious institutions where service to a ritual is followed as the way to your heart. Father, we know in Your word that You have set forth boundaries, guidelines, rules even for our own benefit, for our own protection out of Your love, but Father that is not the way to Your heart. So, help us to love You passionately and freely and with all of our heart soul, mind, and strength. Bring us together Father and help us to love you as little children should love a father and I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is Becky in Orlando. I would like to brag about my Lord Jesus Christ this morning. 11 years ago, I want to share the story with you for all those that are new listeners and perhaps those that have not heard my story. 11 years ago, I became a Christian. I was raised an atheist and I married somebody who was a believer. We were unequally yoked and he used to give me stories about Jesus and I would fall asleep to every one of the stories but I…we went to church and I enjoyed listening to the music and I liked watching the sign language interpreter because I had a background in sign language. And…and then I started thinking during of his church services about how…and afterward…how maybe that…maybe God caused the Big Bang and I started thinking about all this. I had been also told at 35 years old that I needed my…my baseline mammogram and I put it off I procrastinated and during that year while I was procrastinating and thinking about the big bang theory at all that good stuff I had a tumor that popped out of my hand then I needed to get my gallbladder out and then when I finally went in for my baseline mammogram at 36, guess what? They tell me that I had breast cancer. And I was so scared and I was all by myself with my husband in a state in Florida that I didn’t have any family in. And, so the morning before my surgery I asked at church, I asked my husband can we please go down and pray with the pastors, I’m really scared. And I’m going to tear up right now because I’m so thankful. I went down with the pastors, they put their hands on me. In my head I was praying to God and I thought, “oh my gosh. I said I’m so sorry if I…if you’re there and You are there and I haven’t believed in you all these years and I…

Dear DAB family calling from Europe wishing you a blessed 2020. I’ve just finished reading and listening to Brian’s wonderful words from seventh February. Brian you spoke about acquiring wisdom better than promotion. And you know what, this is where I am now. I had my year’s review with my boss who was asking me about promotion and moving along and the words I could only think of that came out of my words were “I need to train myself in God’s words and deeds.” I need to do a part-time schooling in that area. I’m not ready for a promotion. Also, I’ve been thinking __ what’s foolish in me __. Brian, that’s exactly what I had in my mind since January. Thank you very much and God bless you and family. I pray for Diana Davis and her boys. Thanking William for giving us news of his mother. Although it doesn’t look good, the Lord is asking us to continue praying and we’ll not cease. Harold, you’re my running buddy in Christ. I do very long runs twice a week and early in the morning around 530 you’ve been trying be it cold, snow, or rain. And you know what? I concentrate the first 5K of my running to God, listening to DAB and praying. I’m so elated afterwards that I do not see the time pass and finish my runs with praises to our God. I will put you in my prayers. God bless you all. Amen.

Hi Daily Audio Bible friends this is Leslie from Washington state and I’m calling today with a confession and a request for prayer. I recently got back from vacation and while I was on vacation I feel like I just did not put Christ first. This is my second trip through the Bible and like Brian says that each trip through really changes you. And I didn’t like who I was on vacation when I didn’t bring Jesus with me and bring them into my daily life. I still listened to Daily Audio Bible, but I did so in a halfhearted kind of perfunctory way – “I’m like having trouble sleeping, so I’ll just listen.”. Anyhow todays Scripture about the three servants really hit me hard. I defaulted to the third servant attitude again, where I’m motivated by fear of punishment instead of reaching and striving for God and due to morality and obedience for its own sake instead of for God’s sake. Anyhow friends, I’m facing a lot. I’m dealing with daily stress including a sick cat who I just can’t get away from and is crying in the background, my apologies. Anyhow, I’m sorry Lord, and I wanted to confess before my DAB family that I have failed, and I want to do better tomorrow. Thank you for changing me so profoundly last year. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

[kurtty-drabbles]

Mulan au (missions)

N/A: This idea came to me a few nights ago. Let´s see if I can do it right.

@djinmer4 @dannybagpipesarecalling @sailorstar9 @discordsworld @bamfoftheundead

In Genosha, there´s a law that prevents anyone to do any harm to the natural beauty of the place, which, as much is noble is a bit hypocrite as Kitty Pryde knows what Magneto did to achieve this Utopia. He did far more than behead people.

Maybe, the reason Kitty can´t be more vocal with her judgment is how the citadel where most of her family lives did have the fair share of blood, while it works in harmony with the nature(in Zaorva´s name always) no one found a home without sweating and people did persecute her family(and Kitty has no remorse in killing all those religious freaks that deem "you´re one of us or you die!")

Her lovely stroll in the natural park of Genosha is a courtesy that few people can receive, Magento can be an excellent host if you can provide something for him and truly, Kitty Pryde the greatest Monster Slayer that ever lived(not her favourite title, but, words have power in her profession)  warrant his best behaviour that extends to her son as well.

However, her stroll is not being made alone as someone else is accompanying her, and this time is not her son, Michael(the man has to make a call to his family, his mother need help to fix the seal of lighting), but rather, the evil necromancer that 10 years ago she did win in a combat and stop his stupid invasion.

"Kurt, do you like mother nature?" Kitty asked once her head lift slightly to see a bird flying by and a gentle wind is touching her hair as if combing her fluffiest Jewish hair making even more fluffy.

"Well, I´m not against mother nature, if that´s what are you implying, I´m a necromancer and waste not  is our motto" Kurt wisely adds wearing his famous scarlet robe and people, the few ones that dare to use this route are staying far away from him. "And you, Miss Pryde, your beauty enhances the natural beauty of the park, I can see why the faes are so fond of you" Kurt finishes smiling charmingly.

Kitty shakes her head. "Silly elf,  Zaorva is the one to make all this beauty, so, if anything the faes workship her, plus, my deal with the faes is far beyond beauty, but, thank you are a smooth talker," Kitty said and Kurt primes himself to be an excellent actor because he controlled his shiver perfectly(as Kitty show her start od Davi and the symbol of Zaorva telling how she meet the faes, never a secret story, Kurt is so proud of himself for not give away how scared he is of Zaorva, even if her name is only mentioned twice in this story)

"And that´s how the faes and I are in this friendly partnership, now, you, Mr Necromancer what makes you be the necromancer?" she asked looking at him a bit smug and Kurt gives the abridge version ("Because I´m really good at that")

Kurt Wagner looks at her dress and knows is not her typical dress because is the one that Genosha favour above all fashions, in fact, no one but Genoshianos can´t wear this dress. Kitty seems to read his mind and replies about the dress.

"Your daughter made me this dress," Kitty said and even twirl to show all the details "she is a great seamstress" Kitty concludes and Kurt is frowning at this, sure, Kitty´s dress in that ball was old, but, make a dress to her can be seen a rude gesture, again, it seems Kitty is reading his mind as she explains again the situation. "It wasn´t a rude gesture, I asked if it was possible for me to wear one and she made for me, I´m very grateful for this"

Kurt seems more relief. "Well, you look very lovely, but, sure the Magneto is not letting you wear a pretty dress just to prove fashion"

"You are right, I know what Magneto wants" Kitty speaks calmly "is not different from what everyone else wants, but, the problem is that Magneto thinks he can control me, that I´m a weapon...and I obey to no one"

"If he has bothered you...I can make him stop" Kurt promises honest and Kitty shakes her head saying is not need yet.

"He is trying to make an alliance, and so far, he is helpful...Magneto gave me the address of the last remaining members of the Ravens" Kitty has now a serious look on her face "I was looking for this group for a while and is curious how Magneto knew all along..."

"He was helping them" Kurt mutters as if trying to understand the big picture. The Ravens are a group of ex-monarchies that are sent into the mercenary life as they lost the civil war and the restoration to get power fails. "You are leaving now?"

"Not now now, but, yes" Kitty explained sighing "and you? have any mission to do? Any battle?" her tone is not calm, is tiresome and Kurt can say she dislikes wars. A naive mindset, but, he can understand that not everyone enjoys war.

"Not this time, I´m called to solve a baldness problem" Kurt now whisper as he wants to tell a secret "I created a cure for baldness and a family is cursed by an evil witch to be bald forever"

"Now, I´m impressed, you really invited the cure?" Kitty asked knowing some of her "son's" friends will love this. "Is too expensive?" and Kurt wants to smile thinking her husband is bald (and is thinking in mocks names for said husband, but, he is not going to do in front of Kitty)

"If you want the cure we can talk, I´ll make the fee expensive for that family as their stupidity should be punished, well, they call the evil witch bitch and said she was too ugly for their son" Kitty seems to understand his words and Kurt is pleased with the talk. "I´ll have to go now, but, we can talk later if you want"

"Well, when you are back we can talk about this cure, Mr Necromancer as I have to finish business with the Ravens" Kitty promises and Kurt inwardly is ecstatic.

________________________

The Ravens can say they bet on the wrong coin and lost everything, so, now, the remains members of Ravens are located in the fortress plotting their next move and still dreaming with glory. The archer is on the only small tower of the fortress to signalize any enemy, it was supposed to be no enemy after all Magneto is hiding them, but, the archer spot a woman wearing an armour of the old ages and it makes his blood got cold.

"Enemy approaching, get on your positions NOW!" the archer screamed and didn´t waste time to shoot arrows at the woman, his arrow hit the woman in the neck and he saw the gruesome scene. For a brief moment, he thought it´s over(maybe that wasn´t THAT WOMAN, maybe, she is an innocent bystander)

But, as the woman lifts from the ground and removes the arrow, the archer can only scream in horror. It´s indeed THAT WOMAN. And, shoot another arrow, this time, the arrow only phrases through her.

The woman phases through the portal without a problem. Some of the men are shaking, of course, they would, they know her reputation. Words have an important role in her profession. "I´ll not die!" she repeats and one of the men drop the sword and surrender(Kitty Pryde is not thirsty for blood, she is known for showing mercy if the enemies surrender)

But, one of the women decides that the dream of fame and fortune is worth, or maybe is more than that, maybe she wants the prestige of defeating Kitty Pryde all to herself.

The woman has a strong built and carries a sword and immediately cut Kitty´s torso. Her smiles play a victorious smile as she used a fire spell to burn the body. "See? I´m the leader of this group now and you all must do what I say" and she is heaving in the pure ecstasy of her action.

However, the horror expression of the others prompts the woman to turns around and see as Kitty Pryde emerges from the flames unharmed(even her outfit, while, the outfit has suffered some minors damages) and repeat the same line she used before "I´ll not die"

Kitty is quick to retaliate and cut the woman´s head off and heads to the group, maybe, 4 men and 4 women are looking in terror at Kitty as she repeats the same line again. "I´ll not die"

And this infuriates one of the men prompt him to use a spell, well, his first mutation, lasers being throw from his hands, along with a spell to enhanced the damage, but, it was pointless.

The only thing he got is a ticket to meet Death earlier and the same line. "I´ll not die" and now looks at the survivors. "Surrender and let the justice arrest you or face me and you all know Death"

"We surrender" they are quick to speak. Kitty still has those lights in her eyes.

"Than set free all the prisoners you take, now!" Kitty order and they agree and there are only 3 hostages/prisoners(important figures that should help in their cause financial speaking, but, instead, it only provoke the powerful nations to send Kitty Pryde after them)

____________________________________ Officials of Utopia and other countries are called to rescue the hostages and to take the last members of the Raven away. Kitty Pryde is free from the mission having received the payment and many thanks, all the while, the last members of the Raven are saying how Kitty is a monster from hell. A real demon.

Nothing pleasant. Nothing new.

But as the woman is in the city of Ardadrell, taking her time to get a nice hotel and after taking a nice bath, the woman meets the none other than Kurt Wagner.

"Mr Necromancer?" Kitty asked recognizing the man as he seems surprised in seeing her.

"Kitty? " and invites her to eat something, which the woman agrees, "and the mission with the Ravens?"

"I killed people there, I hate doing that, but, I must. Have you ever but cut down and burned alive? It sucks"

"Tell me about it, once I was burned down in my house, very rude," Kurt told and notices how she is not talking about her husband and this is great news for Kurt.

[phylophe]

Quotable Quotes and Memorable Moments

“From NVMN (& co.) in The Harrowing:

Character: Mikyur / Player: Laz @lazzuderp

Character: Neith / Player: Kiyo @waffuruki​

Character: Nergui / Player: Deej @djkalis​

Character: Velis / Player: Kimi @kimlime-pie​

GM and all mentioned NPCs: Yours Truly

In approximate chronological order: 

Quotes

Neith, all the time: “It’s good craftsmanship.” (Also Neith, at one particular moment: “I guess you can say... it’s good cardsmanship.”)

Velis, at the start: “I am a librarian.” Neith and Mikyur, every chance they get: “Aren’t you a libraaarian?” “Shouldn’t you know about that, Mr. Libraaarian?”

Mikyur, oftentimes: “Here comes INSPI-YAAAAAHHH COURAAAAAAAGE!!!”

Brambleson: “I’m Brambleson. Who are you?” Mikyur: “Mikyur!” Neith: “Neith.” Velis: “I’m Velis.” Nergui: “Peter.”

Brambleson: “I got there late though, so I only got to eat [Sonnorae’s] feetsies...” The Party: “.........” *silent horror*

Neith: “Hey Brambleson, you wanna try some of this?” *holds out infinite hipflask of mead* Brambleson: “Ooohhh...” *opens his mouth and tilts head up* Neith: “...” *pours some directly into his mouth*  Brambleson: “OOOH it makes me tingly! I like it!”  *later, upon a separate encounter* Brambleson to Neith: “You got more of that drink?” 

*Going to Barrow Island*  Nergui: *flies over* Neith: *climbs the steep slippery banks with cat-like reflexes* Velis: *slips all over the mud, barely managing to scramble up to the top of the banks, his invisibility ruined as he is now covered in mud* Mikyur: *critically fails to climb the banks, slips and almost slides under the end of the drawbridge into the water*

Barrow King: “Are you here to mourn?” Nergui, with zero hesitation: “NO.” The rest of the party: “WHYYYYYY.” GM: “Roll initiative.” 

Velis: *shows that he can fight, sneak attack, inflict bleed damage, use poison, go invisible, etc.* Neith: “What kind of a librarian fights like that?” Velis: “Well, being a librarian isn’t my only job--” Nergui: “Are you a bandit?” Velis: “No, I’m n--” Nergui: “It’s okay to be a bandit.”

Mikyur: *wanders off in the Prophet’s Garden* Velis: *throws a rock at him to get his attention, dealing maximum damage* Mikyur: “OWW WHY DID YOU THROW ROCKS AT ME???!!!” *flips his shit and throws rocks back at Velis, missing three times before giving up and sulking* 

Sonnorae: *gets baleful polymorphed into a frog, still clings stubbornly to Mikyur’s face* Everyone else: *tries to pull her off with no success* Mikyur, with tears in his eyes: “Guys, guys! Just stop!”

Sonnorae: *screaming way too much and too shrilly as a frog* Nergui: “Do you want me to turn her into something quieter...” Mikyur, getting a lightbulb moment: “Can you turn her into... a mole?” Nergui, clicking his fingers: “Done.” Sonnorae: *turns into a golden mole*

Mikyur and Laz: *literally cries*

Neith: *finds some drawers hidden in the walls of the Nightpeddler’s machine room*  Kiyo: “I open a drawer.” GM: “You hear *demented shrill moaning and crying* and see this.”

Kiyo: “I slam the drawer close.” 

Nergui: *casts Blood Biography on blood and gore on a bed* “...These are birthing fluids.”  Velis: *recoils in visible disgust* Nergui: *holds his soiled finger out towards Velis* Velis: “Touch me and you’ll lose that finger, boy.” 

Nergui: “You know how... clerics get powers from their deities? Well, I have my own, lesser-known god, and I get my powers from him or her.” Neith, without missing a beat: “So you’re a swamp cleric.”

*After the Eclipse event* Neith: “We destroyed the moon.” Neith: Neith: “Now there’ll be no night.”

Anyone other than Deej, after an enemy dies: “hOW diD yOu DiE?” [see Actually Dramatic Moments]

Neith, as Eleith and Nergui speak Auran to one another: “Get a room!”

Neith, holder of multiple extradimensional items, after learning about the consequences of putting one bag of holding into another: “...Oh.”

Mikyur, looming over Jocob’s shoulder: “Do you have any insects?” Jocob: “Uh, I have this--” *pulls out a dried dragonfly in a jar* Mikyur: *snatches it*

Mikyur, looming again: “Do you have peanuts?” Jocob: “I have boiled peanuts--” Mikyur: “Don’t want it. I want roasted peanuts.” 

Velis: *seriously considers how to most brutally sabotage the Nightpeddler’s wares* Velis: *sees caged cockatrice chicks amongst his wares* Velis: 

Mikyur: *shoots a lightning-charged bolt from between Rogg’s legs, hitting an Ogre Guard in the thigh, while the lightning travels to zap the ogre’s testicles* Brambleson, watching all this up close: *covers his own testicles* 

Everyone: *watches Eleith tear the succubi apart brutally*  Algon: “I hope no-one is enjoying this.”  Brambleson: *pulls his ears down* 

Mikyur, after misunderstanding Essessol’s insult to Agrasug as directed at him, moving to a spot outside of the line of fire, Messages Essessol: “Stupid bitch!”

GM: “Algon uses Smite Evil! ...How does Smite work again--” Kiyo, instantly: “I FUCKING KNEW IT!”

Neith, from inside a blue gem: “Hey Velis you look kinda blue.”  Velis: *internal panic, checks that he still has his disguise of human skin colour over his blue tielfling skin* 

Nergui, after a battle with shadow demons involving Magic Jars: “That wasn't too bad.” Mikyur, with smugshit face, having called it: “Uh-huh, having your soul sucked out of your body seems pretty bad to me.” Nergui: *closes the door between himself and Mikyur* Mikyur: *bars the door from the other side*

Mikyur: “What did I telllll you, huuuhhhhhh? Oh iT’s NOt A cULt, aSmODeuS dOESn’T Do CuLTs-- *continued unintelligible petty ranting*”

Velis: “There you are. I was about to find some rocks to throw at you again.” Mikyur: “Well I don't need to find rocks, I'll just have Rogg throw some at you!”  

GM: “Are you going to bring Eleith?” Deej: “Uh, no.” Neith to Nergui: “Gonna leave your girlfriend behind?” Ongaur to Nergui: “You got a girlfriend? Congratulations, boy!”

Zassrion: *roars in rage as the party enters his Grand Library* Neith, in Draconic: “FUCK YOU!”

All players: “Sonnobitch.”  All players: “Brambleboi.” All players: “Algon will be all-gone.” All players: “Ongaur Bongaur.” “Uncle Ongaur.”  All players: *ships Algon x Barrow King*

Clown Shoes Moments

Nergui buying forty full-sized pretzels and stuffing them all into his bag of holding. Bonus: Neith actually witnessing such act. 

Mikyur continuously failing to recall the details of his conversation with Rumul, the young Dwarven wizard, from two years ago.

Neith being in constant denial of magic. Everything is just “good craftsmanship”. 

Velis piling on lie after lie about his identity and putting in massive effort for his disguise, while the party remains suspicious the entire time and just don’t bother questioning him.

Nergui sucking at conferring information from his divination, often causing unnecessary panic or leaving out vital details.

Nergui eating nothing but pretzels (and the occasional frog or grub) for almost the entire duration of a week in the Harrowed Realm, and using pretzels to barter with Brambleson and Embor. 

Mikyur obsessing about seeing a Unicorn over the course of several sessions after seeing it on a card; by the time he actually gets to it, he becomes distracted by a pear tree instead.

Sonnorae --> Sonnobitch --> Sonnofrog --> Sonnomole

Nergui getting distracted by a frog while helping the others lift the healing berry plant out of the ground, and proceeding to literally drop everything to pounce on the frog.

Nergui accidentally putting the healing berry plant into a teapot with Tokens in them, and having to dig them back out discreetly.

Neith and Nergui trying to hastily restore Marzalee’s wax statues that they had broken on their way in, getting it all wrong (limbs on backwards, in the wrong places, extra/missing parts) in their panic.

The party really knowing how to make comfy camps.

Velis working out a way with Neith to store all the books he wants to take with him. It involves holding fees.

Velis trying and failing to set anything on fire at the Nightpeddler’s Camp.

Mikyur and Velis freaking out over cockatrice chicks.

Velis getting very fixated upon an expensive rug in the Nightpeddler’s tent.

Mikyur getting actually triggered by 1. Balimar’s fireball, 2. Nergui setting the Fortress’ Courtyard plants on fire, 3. Lamashtu’s statuette, and 4. the thought of cultists.

Brambleson having front row seats for multiple Striding Fortress fights, simultaneously being completely in the way.

Algon and the Barrow King always stepping past / beside / over one another. [Hence shipping.]

Neith and Mikyur literally bathing in the pile of coins.

Actually Cool Moments

Neith bursting through the tent of the Midnight Circus most dramatically, getting an intimidating jump on Bernaditi. 

Neith and her gun-fu.

Mikyur placating the Barrow King and the Grasping Dead by way of a critical hit with his lightning-charged crossbow, causing the electricity to radiate over the ground, eventually also winning the Barrow King’s favour and receiving his blessing.

The party, especially Velis, unanimously getting sick of the Unicorn’s condescending shit and deciding to murder him.

The party giving Algon an existential crisis, eventually leading to an alignment change.

Velis having just the right thing (Ticktock Man’s eyes) to trade Marzalee for her token.

Mikyur narrowly surviving Balimar’s fireball.

Nergui dominating Balio, giving him a sickle to kill himself. Balio, in rabid fury, swats away the sickle, and tears his own throat open. (Nergui, being spiteful, uses Blood Biography on him, asking him “How did you die?” to rewatch the violent death.)

Nergui straight up cutting the gangrene out of a sick slave’s leg with a dagger and no anaesthesia.

Eleith slowly tearing several succubi limb from limb, while everyone else watches on and offers the occasional ranged attack to help end the poor succubi’s misery.

Neith and Nergui succumbing to Magic Jar; their bodies overtaken by shadow demons, their eyes opening to black voids and bleeding smoky tendrils.

Nergui erecting a Blast Barrier just in time to block Zassrion’s lightning breath directed at Neith and himself.

Ongaur hacking Zassrion apart, and Algon somehow dealing the killing blow despite having lost his powers, rewriting his fate in the most dramatic way.

And finally, something memorable, funny, and awesome all at once...

The party making allies along the way, increasing the group to almost three times its initial size, and bringing a whole village to kill Zassrion in 24 seconds.

[autumn-maple13]

Lost to Time - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Heading for Caem

Amara and Ignis awoke long before the guys did, dressing quickly to steal away to the café they had visited so many days before. The owner had welcomed them warmly, making sure they were okay as she made them coffee and breakfast, and even joining them while they ate – though she did leave them to their own devices when Amara produced the map of the locations of the Royal Arms.

And yet, despite the time they spent there, they still returned to the hotel before everyone had awoken, arriving just in time to say goodbye to Talcott before Monica and Dustin took him and their luggage to the Cape to begin their side of the preparations. Iris met them in the lobby, smiling at them before she took a moment to let Ignis know she would be riding with them, as the Guards had only enough room for Talcott once everything was loaded. Amara cringed as she thought about the amount of room the Regalia's backseat actually had with Gladiolus and Noctis hogging it.

"You could ride with me instead, so you don't have to be so cramped," the redhead offered, making the Amicitia look at her in concern.

"Do you really think Gladdy would let me ride on your motorcycle?"

"I think he knows I'm a very safe driver, so why not?"

"Safe, but a tad unpredictable at times. Perhaps it would be better for her to take one of our spots in the Regalia, while one of us rides with you instead."

"Have fun Specs!" the trio turned to watch the other part of the group come down the stairs with all their bags, including Amara's from her room. Noctis smirked at his advisor, not even trying to hide how amused he was. "I don't think any of us need to get near her after yesterday."

"Noct, as your friend and a Glaive fully capable of kicking your ass into next week, shut up." Amara smiled sweetly, "Unless of course, you want me to run off to Altissia ahead of you and spill everything to Lunafreya. I'm sure I could find some way across the sea, just for the sake of embarrassing you."

"Speaking of, don't think I've forgotten that I need to find out what you've already told her."

"My lips are sealed."

"Ignis, I command you to find out for me."

"Sorry Noct, but this one is above my paygrade as either a Crownsguard officer or your advisor."

"Don't you outrank her though?"

"No, she's actually currently one of the only four officially ranked officers left. Our activities with the Guard are more for practicalities sake since we're technically both your first and last line of defense. Gladio is the only one among the three of us with a rank, though he doesn't have an officer's title."

"You have to actually fulfill Crownsguard assignments to gain rank, and he didn't have too many opportunities since he's your Shield." Amara nodded, smirking in triumph for a few seconds before something hit her. "Hey, wait, what do you mean after yesterday?"

"Wait, were you just threatening me without even paying attention to why?"

"It's kinda just force of habit to threaten embarrassment upon you at this point. I heard 'I don't think' and just kinda zoned out on the rest."

Gladiolus grinned, walking over so he stood beside the duo and leaning into them. "He means the way Ignis acted when he found out you might be on the base."

Amara flushed brightly when a glance to the side showed Ignis fidgeting slightly, suddenly very interested in the lens of his glasses, before she began glaring at the taller man and then at her snickering former classmates. "You two can it."

"Ah, it's good to hear her fussing again," Prompto laughed, walking over and slinging an arm around Amara's neck. "Come on Ams, I'm sure you already know we were all freaking out trying to get you back."

"Of course, she knows, Ignis isn't the only one around here that cares about her," Noctis added, pulling the blond's arm off the woman. "Let's get going already. Specs, you ride with Amara. I'll drive the Regalia."

"Alright, but just so you are aware we should make a stop at Malmalam Thicket on the way there to procure another of the Arms."

"Alright."

It only took a few minutes for all of them to make their way to the vehicles and re-stow everything away. Iris was the first to get settled in the Regalia, taking Noct's usual seat in the back. Unusually, all the guys were quick to buckle up once they took their own spots, leaving Amara and Ignis to exchange amused looks before climbing onto the redhead's motorcycle. The man wrapped a steady arm around his partner's waist as she turned the engine, letting her wave to the others before heading up the ramp and out of the parking area. Noctis was quick to follow her out of the city, though Ignis was chuckling in her ear about the distance he was keeping between them.

Heading in the direction of the waterfall tomb, the little journey looked like it would be smooth sailing for them all the way to the Thicket – until a buzz filled Amara's ear. Looking up, she growled at the sight of one of the Empire's flying fortresses coming in above them. The sound of the Regalia's engine roaring closer was the only interruption, with Noctis pulling alongside them with a grim look. Ignis shifted slightly behind her.

"We should find a spot to pull over," his hand tightened on his partner's hip, no doubt reminded of the news he had received the previous night.

Amara nodded, glancing at her friend's. "Old Lestallum is just ahead! We can stop there!"

Falling back behind the Glaive, the group looked ahead of them to the small town that was quickly approaching. They were quick to pull into the parking lot of the hotel on the main street, parking there and asking Iris to stay put while they went to take care of things. Deciding to take the Regalia, despite her previous 'capture', the group hopped in with Amara behind the wheel, letting her take them out of the city towards the old Lucian base the Fortress had landed in.

"Surprised to see them this far out," Noctis grumbled, adjusting the bracer on his arm and making Prompto sigh.

"Leave no plot of land unconquered."

"Those aren't conquering numbers," Gladio pointed out, a growl to his voice.

Ignis nodded, looking over at Amara as she gripped the wheel a bit tighter. "Likely building a supply line it would behoove us to cut."

The redhead agreed, turning down a street that led away from the Base's entrance and following the tall walls as the guys made a few comments about how the base looked. Pulling over not far beyond the wall's uphill curve, Amara sliced the wires acting as a guardrail before climbing back into the car and maneuvering it carefully off the road. After a quick (and careful) disguise job, the group was following the Glaive up the hill, through the brush. Heading quickly up the slope Amara soon found an unwatchable part of fencing that acted as a makeshift wall between the base and some of its supply pipes, cutting them a hole in the shadow of the inner walls and motioning towards a concrete slope that stretched upward some feet in front of them. Looking up they could see a guard tower situated on the upper level and looked to Amara questioning.

"Noct and I will take out the guards, the rest of you stay out of view for now." She was speaking quieter than they had heard in some time, motioning for everyone to follow her, then at Noctis when they reached the crest. The King threw the first warp, taking out a sniper on the stairs of the tower as Amara threw one of her Kukris, warping over to take care of a Trooper in the tower's shadow. Hearing the sound of metal hit the ground made the other few troops in the area show themselves, only to be taken out with expert precision before they could ever fire off a shot. The others joined the duo soon after, and followed Amara up the stairs to the lookout, sharing a few curses and groans at the sight below them. The base was already much farther set up than anticipated, with the fortress's tail acting as a conduit to spread the MT generator's power across the area.

Noctis sighed, looking over it again before turning to his friends. "So, what's our plan?"

Ignis took a moment to think, then looked at Amara. "Find the base commander and take him into custody. Targeting metal men will yield little in the way of reconnaissance, but bones bend easily. We'll split into two groups."

Amara shook her head. "No, three. I'm going to head for the generator."

The men looked at her for a moment but nodded when they saw her glaring down at the machine. Ignis sighed softly, shaking his head.

"Prompto and Gladio can generate a diversion."

"Aw, yeah! Making a scene's what I do best." The man laughed, cracking his knuckles.

The taller blonde smiled for a moment, then looked to his King. "Noct, are you prepared?"

He got a nod in response, making Prompto smack his friend's shoulder lightly. "Operation: To Catch a Commander is go!"

Amara looked at the guys but only took a moment to wish them luck before losing a kukri down to a sheltered area behind some shipping crates. It had taken them a bit longer to get to the base than she had realized, she noticed, as she slinked through the shadows that were growing darker by the minute. She didn't want to risk checking the sky to confirm her suspicions, so hoped the guys were being careful to avoid any demonic distractions the Niffs had held on several bases she had infiltrated in the past.

Slipping beneath a tarp when she heard metal clad feet getting close to her, she willed herself out of sight using Noct's magic as she had been trained to do with King Regis's, and tried to ignore the slightly more red tint bleeding into the purple edging the crystalline fragments surrounding her from the magic.

Not moving until she was sure she was in the clear, the woman snuck back out, dispersing her magic so she wouldn't drain herself further as she slipped through the shelter of more supplies until she found herself nearing her target. Watching for any patrol before making her next move, she slipped along the edge of the inner wall, ducking behind what she could to avoid being lit up by the harsh lighting of the center of the area. Heading quickly up behind the Generator when she was close enough, she set to rigging a Firaga flask to its base, then warping herself up onto a platform before she threw a lower level flask at it, igniting it with a loud explosion that sent a shock through the base – setting off alarms and awakening a large MT armor that she hadn't realized was manned, but the Generator stayed running, though it was fluctuating wildly.

Realizing they must have re-enforced them somehow after the last base was taken out of commission, she was happy to hear the guys joining her before she dove headlong into attacking the MT power supply, letting them handle the armor. Hacking at it with strong blows of a broadsword was enough to dispatch it after the explosion had weakened it, so she found herself quickly warping in to help the guys. With Gladio and Noctis attacking the armor's legs and Prompto sniping its joints, she set to disarming it – though she and Noctis were warping after it when the surprisingly agile armor leaped into the air and landed several feet away, perfectly situated to rain missiles on them.

The duo were quick to remove the launcher from action as their grounded companions moved in, and were successful in setting one of them off directly in the face of the armor – making it succumb even faster despite themselves barely missing being caught in to close range explosion. Between the four of them, it didn't take much longer, leaving them darting out of range before it exploded itself.

Hearing the laser gate locking them in with the armor die out, the group turned to watch a peeved Ignis approach, frowning as he looked at them.

"Glad to see you lot were successful."

"Does that mean you weren't?" Noctis almost sounded shocked, with agreeing expressions on their faces as they looked in surprise at the advisor. He made some sort of motion at them as he shook his head.

"I placed our captive into the Hunters' custody, but I've just been informed he's fled… He lives to die another day."

"And I'll gladly help him with that," Noct growled, rubbing his shoulder. "For now, let's head back to town."

The group muttered their agreements, following the Advisor back out of the area and heading for their exit.

They had hardly made it into the open when the sound of a grunt from above them left the guys looking at Amara in shock when she summoned a crystal barrier over their heads and a sword to her hand. Jumping in front of Noctis she blocked the incoming spear of a woman clad in Niff emblemed clothing, letting her barrier dissipate when the woman kicked herself free, only to launch another blow that locked them close together.

"Hey pretty girl," the woman seemed to purr before launching herself backward and away from them, landing gracefully a few feet away as she laughed. Gladiolus darted in front of the King as the redhead dissipated her sword to draw her kukris, looking at the Niff female with a smirk.

"Hey Aranea, long-time no ass-kicking."

"Oh, so you remembered me? How sweet! Unfortunately, I'm not here for you today Glaive."

"You're not getting Noctis." She was aware of the others jumping in front of their charge, though she didn't risk a glance to see who was where.

"Well, let's see what you can do!" Aranea had hardly finished speaking before she shifted her weight and darted around the group at an incredible pace – directly into her target, who was lucky to warp through her strike and avoid it. Knowing his fighting style wasn't suited to dealing with the Niff's heavy dragoon lance, Amara used one of her old tricks and left Gladio trying to not fall on his ass when she leaped up onto his shoulder, then off of it into the air where she summoned her own lance.

Quickly balancing herself, the redhead brought the full force of her body weight down with the lance between the other woman and the King, cracking the ground from the force of it. Warping through the enemy's attacks, the Glaive dispersed her spear and switched back to her kukris, using the small blades to knock away the lunges of the lance trying to hit her. Aranea was getting angrier by the second, and finally shoved her away before leaping high into the air – hovering there long enough to begin spinning quickly as she rest her foot on the hilt of her spear, building up speed and torque that would be sure to do a lot of damage.

Realizing what was at stake, Noctis and Amara both warped after her and left the others to deal with the MTs that were starting to arrive on dropships no doubt alerted by any number of alarms on the base. They were cleared out easily enough as the duo chased the bigger threat through the air and from platform to platform, at one point managing to slam her face first into a metal beam, until she finally managed to knock both back to the ground below, only to perch rather unimpressed on another platform above them – looking like she was checking her watch of all things as she peeled her helmet off.

"Aw, is it that time already?"

"What time?" came the question from the more than confused king as he rubbed his wrenched wrist, looking less upset by the whole situation than he had earlier.

"Quittin' time," Aranea shrugged. "Sorry, but this girl doesn't work after hours. I could, but there wouldn't be a single gil in it for me. Hey, we should play again sometime, pretty girl."

Amara tried to come up with a retort, but the Niff had already leaped high into the air, and into a waiting dropship that was an oddly bright shade of red. As it took off from the base, Noctis couldn't help but look over at the Glaive with an even more confused look.

"Who the hell was she?"

"I'll have to explain later, for now…"

Prompto sent a nod her way, turning to his friends. "I'm still worried about Iris."

"I imagine she's fine," Ignis didn't seem particularly concerned, instead using a potion on his liege then tossing one to the redhead, but Gladiolus seemed a bit more worried.

"But we shouldn't keep her waiting."

It was a quick agreement before the group was hurrying from the base, pausing at the edge of the lights to look down at the dark expanse separating them from the Regalia.

"Amara, I don't suppose…?"

"Prompto, you and your flares are coming with me this time."

"What? Why me?!"

[zephyrthejester]

Code Geass Deadblog: Episode 47

Only one episode covered this time, for a specific reason... Long story short, I’ve changed my mind and I’ll give episodes 48 and 49 the full liveblog treatment, in addition to the finale! More info at the bottom.

To no one's surprise, Lelouch's first action as Emperor of Britannia was to destroy Britannia. Tore down the mausoleum housing Emperors and Empresses past, up-heaved and dismantled all manner of noble cliques and stations... And who was to oppose him? Essentially every important political figure had just fallen under his supreme command in one fell swoop. Everything seemed to be going well, and the rest of the world looked upon Lelouch's actions with favorable eyes. The Black Knights, the sole people who knew Lelouch was once Zero, were caught in a rock and a hard place and didn't really know what the hell to do.

Aaaaaand then Lulu went full tyrant. Squashing out all possible resistance from other nations, and Commanding entire rooms full of soldiers to become his "slaves." His words, not mine! Yeah, I suppose that Lelouch no longer has any reason to make a world for Nunnaly, right? At this point, I guess Lulu decided to kick up his feet, have some fun, and make a world just for himself. Oh, and then he prepared to "spill an ocean of blood" in order to make Euphemia's massacre all but forgotten. Clearing her name, in a very very very twisted, fucked up way.

It was at this point I started sweating nervously. Perhaps the most distressing aspect of this plot was Suzaku, who was totally onboard. It's like... Dude! I know you gave in and decided that ends do justify means, but HOLY SHIT, THESE MEANS ARE HARDCORE, MY DUDE!

Almost to prove that point, Suzaku next proceeded to kick the asses of four former Knights of the Round, who flew in to attack the Imperial Palace, citing their loyalty to the late Charles. Man. This felt like watching the apocalyptic bad ending to a video game. Indeed, the Lancelot Albion, a 9th Generation KnightMare Frame, broke the Knights of the Round like they were toys. Two nameless Knights died in seconds, while Gino was spared (but sent hurtling to the ground below). Suzaku found actual challenge in facing Bismarck, whose Geass power let him... See the future! Wow, a Geass power that actually doesn't do anything to other people? That's a first!

And man, I gotta say, it was supremely cool how Suzaku managed to defeat him. Suzaku gave himself over to Lelouch's command to Live. Suzaku's geass-controlled auto-pilot, therefore, broke the rules. Bismarck couldn't see Suzaku's future because him doing so would make Suzaku die, but... Suzaku couldn't die! In fact, I wonder if Bismarck simply misunderstood how his own Geass works. He said he's only ever used it once before (against Marianne, as a matter of fact). Perhaps it was the case that he didn't so much as see the future, but saw people's intentions. That would definitely make it a bit easier to understand.

Regardless, Suzaku killed him in style and Lelouch took the opportunity to broadcast it to the world... Then followed it up by announcing that Britannia was immediately joining the United Federation of Nations. Therefore, the world would truly be united under one banner. What a baller! The sweet, sweet cherry on top was Lelouch's declaration of where the negotiations would be held... On a certain neutral ground, not controlled by either side... Japan. Specifically, Ashford Academy. BECAUSE OF-FREAKING-COURSE.

Once I saw the massive crowd of people around the Academy, and saw Lelouch's suspicious plan to go there alone with naught but C.C. and a few guards by his side, I recalled Lelouch's promise to spill an ocean of blood. It was at this point I started sweating uncontrollably, flooding my apartment with ankle-deep water. Before a slaughter, though, a little heartbreak: Kallen received Lelouch, and per his will, they took a detour and managed to speak alone. Kallen managed to ask every question she could have wanted to ask. Asked what she is to him. Asked why he told her that she needed to live. Even surprised him with a kiss on the lips... But Lelouch's stone-faced silence was an answer that rang clear. "You mean nothing to me." With finality, they both left with the knowledge they'd never speak to each other like that again.

The negotiations took me by surprise. Kaguya, Tohdoh, and Ohgi spoke to Lelouch with conviction, stating that due to how votes for laws and other such matters were made based on the percentage of population in a nation works, Britannia joining them would mean Lelouch would control the majority of the world's votes-- and therefore, all of it. Lelouch was given a choice between two disadvantageous outcomes to help balance that, but instead, Lelouch posed a whimsical question. What is the most important trait of a ruler? Destruction, he said. The will to destroy everything... even oneself. Uh... Uh-oh.

Naturally, Lelouch promptly declared war on the entire world. Because of course he would. The Lancelot rocketed into the room and held the world's leaders at gunpoint, and Lelouch kindly asked them to begin the democratic voting. What a stand-up guy! Elsewhere, his main forces began moving in on Japan, and Nina, carrying some manner of technology with her, was apprehended by some Geassed citizens. That's PROBABLY for the best. Seriously, has Nina done one good thing this entire show? Stop her before anything starts!

The episode ended with what had to be the most "this show is such ridiculous bullshit, and I love the fuck out of it" moment it has ever had. Schneizel made a move of his own... The flying fortress, the Damocles, three kilometers in size, nuked the Imperial City/Palace with a massively powerful FLEIJA. Not a single trace of the city remained. But you know what the utterly absurd, ridiculous, amazing, and stupid, and stupidly amazing, amazingly stupid cherry on top was? Schneizel paged through to Lelouch and revealed that he had someone with him who he wanted to make the true ruler. Nunnaly. Nunnaly, who promptly declared herself Lelouch and Suzaku's enemy.

I knew exactly who it freaking was the moment Schneizel made the slightest hint that he was talking about someone other than himself. And I immediately launched into a mad cackle, because I knew that the show WOULD be willing to ascend to such levels of cheesy bullshit... Boy. This show really is the best kind of stupid. It really is.

It's so twisted and perfect, it really is. Lelouch had no morals to cling to, did his thing, then went off the point of no return in a grand scheme. Then, the MOMENT he did so, Schneizel pulled the rug out from under him and revealed that-- oh, hey-- Lelouch's moral compass and reason for living is, in fact, still alive. And she just got every reason to freaking loathe him and become his enemy.

What a trip. In fact, the show has become such a trip, I think I’m going to change my plans! Due to the meaty content of the last few episodes, and the inspired turn of events here, I think I want to give the final three episodes the full Liveblog treatment! So I hope you’ll join me for that!

Other Notes:

There was a bit where the show lingered on a three-story staircase in Nina's lab room, and Rivalz arrived at the top with pizza, and then with a camera cut he apparently walked down all those stairs in a flash. Was kinda funny.

Lelouch got himself a snazzy hat. I'm so proud of him.

Tamaki remains MVP. I loved his flip-flopping on Lelouch, between undying buddy to hate. I also loved how he shut up someone who also complained about him; Only Tamaki gets to insult his worst nemesis-buddy!

Schneizel openly stated to Lulu that every single FLEIJA warhead is stocked on the Damocles. Therefore, that is clearly not true.

Gino's fate was left unanswered. Might he swoop in as an unexpected ally later? Suzaku's words did have him questioning his own motives and loyalties, swaying to the side of Lelouch and Britannia... Meanwhile, Anya was spotted chillin' with Schneizel and Cornelia, casually updating her digital diary, so I guess she's her old self still.