#*i am internally screaming with the widest smile on my face because it is after 2:30 in the morning and I dont want to wake anyone up*

[a-neverending-dream]

I FOUND THIS AGAIN!!! I spent so long looking for this and had given up and have just stumbled on to this in Warriors tag!!! I absolutely love this fic and your writing and I'm so happy you posted this!!!

A primary rule of stab wounds: don't take out the blade. Or arrowhead, if applicable. Bleeding out was the main way Warriors had seen soldiers die if they survived the initial attack. Infection was a close second. Neither was a good way for a soldier to die.

Warriors scowled at the arrow sticking out of his thigh. He felt the stone metal head shift in the muscle every time he moved his leg.

He didn't know where the others were. The portal had dropped them off somewhere. Warriors guessed it was somewhere in Wild's era based on the wide open fields and the mountains in the distance. He didn't know where Wild or the others were. They entered the portal together and when Warriors stepped out, his only company were bokoblins on horseback.

The bokoblins were now dead, and a placid mare now stood in front of Warriors. A quick and easy way to search for his companions.

But first, Warriors had to deal with the arrow.

It had gone deep. The bokoblin had shot him at short range. With their flimsy bows, it wouldn't have meant much if the bokoblin was further away, but it had shot him as it rode past. Warriors had allowed himself to be distracted by another bokoblin. Amateur mistake.

Now he had an arrow in his thigh, shredding the muscle with each movement. Warriors couldn't move with it there. It needed to come out.

Warriors tried not to let the sheer emptiness of the field bother him as he pulled medical supplies out of his bag. This was going to be bad. Blood already seeped out from around the arrow, and dizziness threatened. Riding on the horse was only going to make things worse.

How had the others done this alone? How had the others cared for their wound and safety without soldiers and companions at their back?

The arrow needed to come out, and Warriors was alone.

He breathed in deeply and grabbed the shaft. His hand was red and sticky with blood. Warriors wouldn't bleed out, but he knew he was in for a miserable day.

"Here we go," Warriors whispered. He tightened his grip and tried not to miss Time's soothing presence and Twilight's comforting words and Hyrule's healing hands. He tried not to feel desperately alone.

"Dammit," he breathed. He bit his lip and yanked.

Blood began to pour.

[skiyoosmi]

– caramel frappucino ch. 27

marga’s notes. AHHH hello my loveliest readers; i cannot believe we have finally reached this end (well, not really the last chap ‘cause we still have two epilogue-like chaps coming up but yeah)… i hope you enjoy this part!! PLUS LISTEN TO THE SONGS CAUSE AHHHHH THE. MOOD. FITS.

♪ CHAPTER THEME ♪

on the train ride home by the paper kites | quiet eyes by axel flóvent

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 “Do I look okay?” you asked, head turning to your cousin who was casually lounging around your room. For the umpteenth time of the day, Tetsurou released an exasperated sigh, looking away from the game he was playing on his mobile phone and glaring at you while lying on your neatly-folded bed.

“That’s what you’ve been asking for the past hour and I keep telling you yes,” he grumbled as he adjusted his body so he now laid on his stomach, continuing to scroll through his phone and at the same time, muttering some stuff about how he hopes you miss the fireworks show. Seconds later, he let out a loud yelp as he felt something hit him right on the back of his head. He scowled in your direction upon noticing the missing pink hairbrush that was previously in your hand, now on the floor.

“You brought me into this situation so don’t curse on me now. This… is your ship sailing,” you gestured to your face that was fancily styled for the night out. You only rolled your eyes when he childishly stuck his tongue out as a reply, going back to fixing whatever still needs to be fixed.

A few more minutes of doing unnecessary things passed before a knock resonated through your apartment’s front door. Tetsurou immediately jumped up from his position on your bed, giggling when he passed by your form before skipping his way downstairs to open the door for your guest.

To say that your heart was beating loud is an understatement – hell, you could almost swear it’s about to burst out of your chest from its pounding. Stop sweating, doofus! You’ll ruin your makeup, you silently screamed at yourself, feeling the dampness slowly beginning to form around your forehead and neck out of extreme anxiety.

“Y/N! Get your butt downstairs. Your date’s already here,” the teasing and boisterous voice of your cousin echoed throughout the apartment, followed by another giggle after a few seconds, probably because Sakusa replied to his rather embarassing comment. Despite not seeing the two, you felt your face flush; it wasn’t like you’re denying that it was a date… it was just unusual to hear especially when your date was someone like Sakusa.

After gathering enough nerves to face them, you took a deep breath and looked at your vanity mirror for the last time, hands smoothing down your red floral yukata for any crease that formed. Soon, you found yourself bashfully standing in front of the two tall men as Sakusa’s eyes shamelessly scanned your figure. Although he himself was wearing a simple navy yukata, you couldn’t fathom what he was thinking seeing as his face was adorned with his usual mask that was, for some reason, black this time.

“You look nice,” he nodded at your direction while you smiled, returning the compliment you have surprisingly received from him; you knew that your face was red as hell right now based on how your cousin was biting his lips to keep himself from laughing.

“Now, go! Enjoy yourselves and remember to make the wish,” he winked, pushing you both out of the door with his hands on your lower backs. You both gave him a glare that he only ignored, waving goodbye as you went on your way.

“I hope he understood what I said about making the wish though.”

“I’m sorry, he really didn’t mean to,” you profusely bowed your head at the man almost twice your age who was glowering at your companion who, in return, remained unbothered. On the ends of the said man’s feet were his spilled strawberry and milk kakigōri which Sakusa, coming from the old man’s words, knocked over when he bumped into him while walking beside the food stalls.

“Young miss, instead of apologizing when it’s not your fault, you should teach your companion how to be respectful to his elders,” he shook his head from side to side in a mocking disappointment, as if to annoy Sakusa further.

“Are you implying that I am disrespectful?” Sakusa countered, hands clenching a little bit as he tried to calm himself down. He doesn’t need a nameless man almost ruining both of your nights right now. Still, his pride didn’t let him let this one go; he couldn’t give this man the satisfaction when he clearly knows to himself that he didn’t bump into him a while ago. If anything, it was the older man who purposely bump into the two of you – probably cause you kind of looked a little too beautiful tonight.

Sure, he won’t deny that he found you pretty right from the moment he met you, one of the main reasons he decided to keep on talking to you and befriending you instead of loathing you for spilling the caramel frappucino on him. For some reason however, the way you styled yourself tonight made you even more gorgeous in his eyes, if that was still possible.

“Just drop it, ‘Omi,” you harshly whispered, fingers grabbing a fold of his yukata and tugging on it to stop him from engaging into an unnecessary fight. In addition to that, you were pretty sure the fireworks show will go off any moment now; you had to find yourselves a decent place where you can watch the much-anticipated event or else you will seriously sulk into a corner until next year’s festival.

“Apologize,” the man ordered but to no avail, Sakusa still stood his ground; even going as far as grabbing your hands with his and pulling you into the opposite direction. From behind you, you could hear a noise of protest and a ‘you little s–‘ before it was cut off. He kept on pulling you despite your arguments about how he should’ve just lowered his pride and said he’s sorry.

“Why would I say sorry when I didn’t do anything? It’s clear as a day that he’s just trying to prolong the conversation so he could take more look of you.”

“W-what…” you stuttered, not really being able to understand what he was trying to say. As if he was able to read your mind, he let out a frustrated sigh after removing his black mask.

“He had this disgusting look that screams he wants to take you out despite him being older by so much. I’m saying it’s because you look too pretty tonight,” the last sentence he told you immediately caused your face to flush a deep red; you were just so thankful it was nighttime or else you wouldn’t be able to live off the embarrassment of being so flustered from a simple compliment.

A few seconds later, it dawned upon you that he brought you to a rather secluded place by the top of the small hill where you still had a good view of what was about to come. Observing the area, you began to think Sakusa also watches the yearly event, judging by how he knew that this kind of secret place existed. People usually crowded by the bridge since it has the widest space and the clearest view which also meant that on this hill, you two were alone together.

He then took out a large piece of clothing that he laid on the ground, sitting cross-legged and patting the space next to him as he gestured for you to sit as well. Following his request, you gently sat down and looked ahead the reflection of the moon by the river.

“Are you feeling alright these days?” you only hummed in reply, too entranced by the night’s beauty. Ten minutes from now, the fireworks will make it even more beautiful.

“I’ve never pestered you about your… situation with Iwaizumi-san, but I felt like I needed to ask how you are,” he explained upon catching your eyes that were filled with wonder and curiosity due to his sudden question. Your mouth formed a small ‘o’ before giving him a small smile.

“I’m really okay, don’t worry. I just feel guilty sometimes, you know? In my mind, there are just some thoughts that pass by… things like I wish I’ve known so I didn’t hurt him that long,” you let out a quiet sigh, folding your arms over your knee and placing your chin on it. The quiet cricket of the night bugs adding more solemnity in the air as you both talked.

“Do you wish to go back to that time? And maybe be in a relationship with him?” you immediately shook your head ‘no.’

“No, no… not that kind of regret. I wouldn’t have agreed to be in a relationship either way. I was too young and too dumb; I know it won’t work out between us. I mean… I just get that feeling that we won’t.”

“Then why do you feel sad?” you mulled over his question, trying to form the right words that will truly explain how you really felt with everything that has happened.

“It’s something like… I wish I’d known so I could’ve rejected him right away? Is that cruel? I mean, maybe if I did that, we wouldn’t have gone through such pain for such a long time, get rid of the false hopes we had for each other. Hell, I don’t even remember anymore what it feels like to be really happy without thinking of such thoughts,” you sadly chuckled before shrugging and leaning back as you saw the people from faraway beginning to take their phones out, signaling that the fireworks show was almost beginning.

You felt Sakusa scoot closer to you; something you didn’t expect since you knew he never liked getting close to another person. You were sure as hell by now that all throughout the night, he was acting really weird; something different compared to his usual demeanor – not that it freaked you out though. If anything, you liked his slight clinginess too much… but you didn’t need him being weirded out so you opted to not saying anything.

“Is that your wish?” he quietly asked, making you jump out of surprise for his sudden closeness. His nimble fingers were on your chin, turning your head so you could look at his eyes that screamed a thousand feelings.

“W-what?” you breathed out, internally cursing because you didn’t even know how many times you’ve stuttered tonight.

“I’ve read somewhere that if you make a wish and… give the person beside you a kiss, it will come true so I’m asking you, is that your wish? To be truly happy,” he whispered, eyes flickering from your eyes to your lips. If this was any other person, you were pretty sure you would’ve slapped the wits out of him due to his statement’s ridiculousness but for some reason, you couldn’t move away from him.

“I… I think so,” you meekly nodded, gulping as he seemed to have no plan on moving at all. You think you can hear the fireworks crackling as it began to light up the sky, booming over the night sky as it tried to get your attention 

“I’ll try my best to make you happy then.”

… but the feeling of soft lips crashing into yours as soon as he said what he wanted to say was enough to leave you distracted. It wasn’t like anything you have imagined before; this – this was full of love, magic and adoration, something you have missed when you often wondered what it felt like to have a kiss. Heartbeats powering the sound of the explosions and sparks as he intertwined his fingers into yours, panting for breath when he released himself from you.

“Y-you.... kissed me... you hate germs... and I missed the fireworks,” you mumbled, feeling rather lightheaded from kissing him too long. He lightly chuckled, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, leaning over to give you another peck.

“I think we can let those slide just this once.”

[pilyarquitect]

War for Genius - 4.- I’ll never fail you again

And as I promised, here you have chapter 4, I hope you'll like it!

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Fenton was in pain, it seemed that there wasn’t a single part of his body that wasn’t screaming in pain. What had happened? Oh yes, the explosion, it was luck that he was self-ejected just before the artificial processor exploded. If he hadn’t, the explosion would have killed him.

But everything else hadn’t been so lucky. Despite not receiving the direct impact of the explosion, the shock wave was enough to make him collide on the water’s surface. He bounced across it several times like a skipping stone before he finally fell and sank under the sea. Any other duck might’ve been carried away by the current or would have given up. But Fenton wasn’t going to give up. He had to get to the shore. He couldn’t leave his mother alone.

Swimming as hard as he could with the pain, the Hispanic duck managed to reach the pier and laboriously climb the ladder. Once he managed to reach the platform, his strength failed him and he collapsed. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was one of the reporters and the boy who had helped him take control of the suit.

Slowly, Fenton's eyelids parted, and a hospital room appeared before his eyes. Looking to his right, the duck saw that his mother was there, asleep next to him. How long had he been in that position? In a raspy voice, indicating that he hadn’t used his vocal cords for quite some time, the Hispanic duck spoke:

“¿Mamá?”

Instantly his mom woke up and straightened, when she looked at him, her face alighted with radiant joy. She excitedly exclaimed:

“¡Pollito!”

Fenton looked forward again, while his mother rose from the chair, and said:

"I think I was fired,”

And after a few moments of silence added:

"I was definitely fired.”

His mom kissed his head and softly told:

“Just rest right now. Someone sprung for the best VIP hospital suite.”

A sudden voice joined the conversation saying:

"Need a word with you.”

Mother and son looked towards the door and there they saw the richest duck in the world. Imposing, leaning on his cane as usual. Fenton saw him and spoke surprised:

"Mr. McDuck?”

His mother sounded more excited when she said:

“Scrooge McDuck? Oh, I’ll leave you alone.”

And picking up her belongings she walked towards the door. Scrooge took off his hat to say goodbye, but the woman turned to her son and whispered:

"See if you get money out of it, he's loaded.”

Those words provoked a disapproving look on Scrooge's face, although the woman didn't notice. Fenton smiled apologetically, not knowing what to say after what his mother had just done.

Scrooge suddenly returned to his serious expression and walked towards the window of the room, saying:

“You know, I spend a lot of time abroad I won't always be here for Duckburg…”

Then he turned to Fenton and picking an eye, said:

“I need someone to make sure this place is still standing when I get back.”

Unsure what he could be hinting at, Fenton stared at him question ally. Scrooge seemed to understand his bewilderment, because suddenly he turned to the door and shouted:

"Gyro!"

The scientist entered with a canvas bag in his hands. Dropping it on the ground he opened it and took out the helmet of Gizmoduck's suit, saying:

"Mr. McDuck is very impressed by my hero armor and he feels that despite literally every conceivable piece of evidence to the contrary, you are the best person to test the new model.”

He put the helmet on the bed and added:

"The armor is self-contained using your brain as the core processor, arg, go ahead.”

Fenton looked at the helmet and then he said the words that activated the armor:

“Blathering Blatherskite.”

Instantly the helmet flew over his head, making him laugh with happiness, the rest of the armor's pieces were also placed in place, which caused Fenton to exclaim:

"I think I need a new plaster.”

When he finished his transformation, Fenton stood up and looked at Scrooge and Gyro with a radiant smile on his face. Scrooge nodded and said:

"Looking good lad, you work for me now, I just need a name to write in the paychecks."

While smiling, the Hispanic duck answered the question by saying:

"Call me Gizmoduck!"

Another nod from the main duck before he responded:

"It's good that it's Gizmoduck."

Gyro closed his eyes and shook his head. Fenton knew that the scientist disliked that name, but what could Fenton do? It was the first name that came to his mind and so it stuck, apart from the fact that he did like that name.

Gyro opened his eyes again and spoke:

“Anyway, I'm leaving.  I’ve a lot of work to do, and don't forget that even if you now work for Mr. McDuck, you're still my intern. I want to see you in the lab as fast as you’ve the medical discharge, understand?”

Fenton swallowed nervously and replied:

"Yes Dr. Gearloose.”

With that said, Gyro left. Fenton saw him leave, and when Scrooge and himself were alone, Fenton sighed. There was something he’d to say to his new boss, so, in a serious voice, the Hispanic duck spoke again:

"Thank you very much Mr. McDuck, but I must be honest, none of this would have been possible without someone's help."

Scrooge raised an eyebrow and spoke, although his voice seemed more curious than angry:

"Oh yeah? Whose?"

Fenton fiddled with his thumbs and replied honestly:

“A boy of about ten years old with a red shirt and a red cap over his head.”

Scrooge grinned. Why did he seem happy with that news? Was there something Fenton had missed? Scrooge asked then, with a hint of fun in his voice:

"And what makes you think that without him ye wouldn't have achieved it, lad?"

Fenton sighed, lowered his arms on both sides of his body and explained:

"It was him who came up with the idea of using my brain as the central processor."

Scrooge nodded and simply said:

"I see, I like your honesty."

Then he looked back at the door and called:

"Ye can come in now.”

Fenton looked over in surprise and then he saw him. The same duckling he’d been talking about. He was standing at the doorway hesitantly, unsure of whether he should come in.

As soon as he recognized him, Fenton turned his body completely to face the boy and exclaimed:

"It's you!"

The boy took a deep breath before venturing into the room. He said:

"Hi, Fenton... I mean GizmoDuck, I'm Huey."

Scrooge moved to stand beside the duckling and placed a hand on his shoulder. He told Fenton:

"GizmoDuck, I introduce you to my grand-nephew Hubert Duck.”

Fenton stared at them both, the boy... Huey, had called him by his name, did he know his secret identity? How? Who told him? Looking at the rich duck beside him, Fenton asked:

"Did you tell him who I am?"

Before Scrooge could respond, Huey came forward and spoke quickly:

“No, I figured it out on my own, but I promise to keep the secret. Junior Woodchuck word.”

Scrooge then explaining:

"Huey insisted on coming to thank you for saving his life."

That said, the older duck replaced his top hat and said goodbye:

"Well, I leave ye alone, I think ye’ve things to talk about.”

Scrooge left the room closing the door behind him. After this, the two ducks were left alone. Fenton encouraged Huey to sit in the chair beside his hospital bed. Once this was done, Fenton scratched the back of his neck nervously and asked:

"So... you wanted to thank me? Why?"

Huey smiled kindly and responded:

"For saving my life! And for saving everyone's life there in Waddle."

Seriously? Was that what he wanted to thank him for? If Fenton considered everything that happened that day as a failure. If he hadn’t agreed to work for Beaks, there would’ve been no disaster to begin with. And, in fact, if they had managed to get out of it alive, it wasn’t thanks to Fenton, but precisely thanks to the duckling that was now sitting in front of him.

Sighing, Fenton closed his eyes and replied:

"But I... I don't deserve that thanks, really. It's me who should thank you, Huey.”

Huey looked at him with the widest eyes Fenton had ever seen and said:

"Thank me? But I didn’t do anything.”

Fenton giggled and responded:

"Nothing? You were the first person who truly believed that I could be a hero! Not to mention how you were able to connect the suit to my brain.”

Huey smiled slightly at the mention of the last part, and responded:

“Yes, I’ve a small and painful memory of that moment.”

Fenton’s eyes widened in horror. He had forgotten that the boy had been electrocuted when he rewired the suit. In a slightly anguished voice, the older duck asked:

"Are you okay?"

The duckling hurried to answer:

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, it was nothing too bad."

He offered the Hispanic duck a sincere smile. Fenton in turn also smiled. That boy was too kind to him. Looking away at his hands, the older duck said:

"Let's make a deal, I accept your thanks if you accept mine, okay?"

Huey's smile widened and replied:

"We have an agreement!"

And after this he threw himself on Fenton to give him a hug. Fenton was surprised by the sudden action. The rapid movement made him groan in pain, because at that moment he remembered that despite wearing the suit he still had several parts of his body seriously damaged.

Huey immediately pulled away, fearing that he’d been responsible for harming Fenton, although the other duck assured him that it wasn’t his fault.

With Huey's help, Fenton took off GizmoDuck's suit and put it back in the bag. As the adult duck had anticipated, he now needed another plaster. While he was calling someone from the hospital staff, he asked Huey to hide the bag in the closet. He didn't want anyone else to know that he was GizmoDuck.

The duckling immediately did what Fenton had asked for and when he finished, he checked the time on his phone and announced that he had to leave. But before doing so, he asked Fenton if he could visit him again. The Hispanic duck smiled broadly and assured the duckling that he could come whenever he wanted. This brought a smile to the little duck and promised that he would visit again soon.

Fenton was left alone again until a nurse arrived who, seeing Fenton’s state, screamed in horror and called for more staff to help replace the broken plaster of the badly injured duck.

When the nurse asked how that had happened, Fenton simply replied that he tried to move and ended up falling out of bed, which caused a good part of the immobilizations he was carrying ended broken.

Fortunately, hospital staff seemed to buy his excuse, so no one in that environment would know how the plaster actually. His secret was safe.

Several days passed and Fenton recovered quickly. Huey came to see him whenever he had time. The duckling was very considerate and affectionate in that sense, always trying to bring the adult duck things to entertain himself; or telling stories of his adventures or ideas of how to improve the suit...

Actually, that boy had very good ideas. Maybe it’d be good if Huey could present those ideas to Dr. Gearloose. Surely, they'd be good implementations for his suit. But in addition to all those ideas, Fenton was mostly pleased with Huey’s kindness and generosity. Of all the times he came to visit him, not once did Huey do anything of his own interest. He always tried to satisfy him as much as he could. To Fenton, it was a truly admirable character trait, and Fenton secretly increasingly felt that the real hero was Huey, and not him.

When he was finally discharged from the hospital, Fenton actually felt a little sad. He’d become accustomed to Huey's almost daily visits, and now he couldn’t enjoy the company of the duckling anymore. Unless he came to see him at the laboratory, but that would be a different environment. They would no longer have the chance to speak in the same way as they did in the hospital. But on the other hand, being finally out of that building, allowed him to start his hero duties as GizmoDuck. He was willing to do the best he could. He didn’t want to disappoint anyone, especially, not the first person who believed in him.

When he went out into the street, with the canvas bag hanging over his shoulder, he breathed the outside air for the first time in several days. Fenton felt strengthened. He’d missed walking down the street. Suddenly, a car with some Beagle Boys passed in front of him, the police got in pursuit. That made him smile. It was time to start his new job. Moving behind a corner, the Hispanic duck left the bag on the ground and shouted:

"Blathering Blatherskite!"

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And this is all for this week, I hope you liked both chapters. If so, please don't doubt on share your thoughts.

Just one thing more, this translation wouldn't be as good as it is without @empro-8's help. I'm really, really thankful to her!!!

[mizu-writes-kumo]

@myinvisibleescape​ I wrote more for your Shance Soccer AU, because its cute, grown on me, and I am pumped for the World Cup final.  I hope you enjoy.

Here is Part 1 of this AU for anyone who hasn’t read it yet.

----

Lance’s ankle was badly sprained.

Sure he was told to keep weight off it for a month or so while it healed.  And he’s got crutches to get around for that time, before he’s given a boot to walk around in.  And he’s got to keep his ankle elevated whenever it swells, and ice it when it hurts.

But it’s no big deal.  

Hardly even the worst injury he’s ever gotten from playing.

He can more than handle himself.

But to his mother, it was like he was bedridden for the rest of eternity, with no one to properly care for him.  Or like he’s leg is just going to fall off randomly.  And she couldn’t have that.  Like one let bit, for any of her children, but especially her baby, Lance, in a whole other country so far away.  She just has to be there to take care of him while he recovers.

Which is a bit much.

But Lance is not stupid enough to tell her to go away.  

He does not need a lecture, about how he can’t take care of himself when he is hurt.  Or he’ll fall over and die trying to prove that he can, because, well...he currently isn’t seeing anyone.  He keeps his mouth shut about it and let’s his mother fuse over him.

That and he gets like a whole month of homemade meals made by his mom.

Lance might be independent, but his mother’s cooking beats everything else he cooks.  He’ll take it any day over anything else.

Naturally, his mother has to tag along with him everywhere.

Including practices.  

Which Lance technically doesn’t need to attend because he’s out on injury.  But he always goes anyway.  

It’s good for moral and team building.  He can still give little tips and pointers here and there to some of his teammates even if he can’t kick a ball at the moment.  Pidge is always a joy to have bother, when she doesn’t have some idea’s on how to improve Lance’s playing.  And sometimes fans get passes in, and Lance is a popular player on the team (the Lions have no one star player, or anything like that) and he likes meeting them.

And besides, the team loves his mom.

So they don’t care.

Lance watched as his mother tasted something from a container Hunk gave her.  He knows it’s probably like one of Hunk’s twenty-thousand attempts at recreating one of her recipes.  Lance just wasn’t sure what it was.

It was something Hunk did after eating some of her cooking.  Partly because he wanted to.  And partly because Lance melted at the idea of having something that tasted like home more often than when his mom was there.  So Hunk was always trying to recreated it perfectly, going of recipe he found online and general memory of flavors.  And he was always eager for Lance’s mother’s opinion when ever she visits.

Judging by the slight shake of Lance’s mother’s head, it’s still a little off.  Hunk frowns for a second behind his water bottle.  But that doesn’t really seem to deter him too much.  Because two seconds later he was smiling again.

“How’s the ankle?”  A voice suddenly asked behind Lance.

Lance squeaks in his seat where his foot his elevated on some equipment no one was using at the moment.  He turned sharply in surprise, to find Shiro standing a few steps away from him.  Peering at Lance curiously.

And Lance by some miracle doesn’t have a heart attack.

Because the Takashi Shirogane is talking to him...again.

“Oh, hey Shiro,”  Lance beamed with a breath of relief. Before awkwardly laughing.  “Sorry, I didn’t notice you there.”  He said with a wave of his hand.  “My ankles...better, thanks to you.” A faint dusting of pink spray’s across Shiro’s cheeks at the words, but Lance is sure it’s just the heat or something. “I mean, it still hurts sometimes but the swelling doesn’t get as bad anymore.  I’ve been following doctor’s orders to a T.”

A small smile grew on Shiro’s lips.  “I’m glad to hear that.”  He said simply.  “If you keep at, you might be able to get back to playing by the end of August.”

“God, I wish.  Coran probably won’t clear me till like early October, if I’m lucky.”  Lance rolled his eyes with a pout.  

“That sounds like your being dramatic.”  Shiro stated.

“I’m really not.”  Lance said with a laugh.  “Keith dislocated his shoulder once, and Coran didn’t clear him to play until five games after.  All they had to do was pop the shoulder back in.”

Shiro fell quiet for a moment, and look of ‘oh yeah’ kind of fell over his face.  His gaze flickering over to where Keith was running drills with another player, then moved back to Lance.  

“Yeah, I remember that.”  Shiro said easily.  “Keith was really annoyed by that.”

Lance nodded in agreement.

Even though the statement was really putting how Keith felt lightly.  Like to an extreme level. That was just how Keith was.  But it was nice for Lance to dominate their scoring competition for those five games.

“Oh, um...hello,”  Shiro suddenly said with a small kind smile, looking just past Lance.  Clearly at someone who’s approached them in their conversation.

Lance turned to find...

His mother standing there, holding a container of some pastry looking things, looking like her brain just stopped working.  To the point where Lance can almost hear the sound of like dial up internet trying to connect.  Her gaze fixed on Shiro with wide eyes.

And oh no...

She recognized Shiro.  

Lance knows she only gets like this with player she recognizes.  As Lance played plenty of friendly matches with a handful of national teams.  Only to have his mother short circuit out when a name player so much approaches them to talk to Lance after.  Usually just to complement on a game well played more than anything else.

But this is a little different.  Because she knows who Shiro is, and what he means to Lance.  How his general existence in the world of soccer pushed Lance into the life he was in.

Shit!

“Oh, Ma, there you are!”  Lance declared breezily, despite his internal panic.  His voice pulled her attention away from Shiro just enough.  Lance gave her the widest look of ‘please don’t say anything’ he could manage.  “What’s Hunk make this time?”

“Guava pastries,”  She stated simply, before her eyes flickered back to Shiro, then back to Lance.  “Mi hijito--”

“Oh, Ma, this is Shiro!”  Lance declared loudly, as he gestured to Shiro on the other side of him.  He had a feeling he knew what his mother was going to say, and until he was sure of Shiro’s Spanish levels, he’s rather she not say anything around him at all.  “He’s a new full time medic for the team.  He was the one that treated my ankle.”  Lance turned to Shiro, who was blinking down at Lance slightly.  “Shiro, this is my mom, she’s my...mom and she’s kind of the reason my ankle exists in the first place.”

Oh that was really smooth.

Just go with it McClain.

“It’s nice to meet you,”  Shiro stated, holding out his hand for his mother.

Lance’s mother peered at Shiro’s hand for a second, then Lance, and back to Shiro’s hand.  Lance was doing his best to give of as strong ‘please don’t say anything to embarrass me’ vibes as he could managed without Shiro knowing.

“Same too you,”  His mother smiled out easily.  “Thank you for helping in taking care of my son’s injury.”

“It’s nothing.”  Shiro waved her off sheepishly.  “It’s part of my job.”  Then someone on the other side of the field, motioning him to hurry over when he turned to the sound.  “Sorry, I need to go.  Nice meeting you Mrs. McClain, and Lance, I’ll see you around.  Keep off that ankle.”  Shiro called as he turned to hurriedly jog across the field.

Lance watched him go in an effortless jog only soccer players and skilled runners could pull off.  Bounding across the field in what seemed like twelve steps.  Before seeming to start talking with a small group of other staff members.

Suddenly something hit his shoulder.

Lance turns to see his mother staring at him with wide eyes.  The familiar look she got before ranting off was an underlying layer of her face.  But Lance still felt like he had little warning for the rapid fire Spanish rant that came out of her mouth the moment he made eye contact.  A small blessing was she was hissing it more than screaming it all.

It’s a whole jumble of words, Lance and maybe like three other players of the Lions could coherently understand.  Nothing more that a mix of motherly insults, and complaints.  All of which basically translated to ‘why didn’t you tell me you worked with your idol?’

“Ma...I know.”  Lance stated simply when his mother gave him room to.  “I get it.  Honestly thought I died when I first saw him tending to this.”  He lifted his ankle to prove a point.  “I know...and I’m sorry I forgot to mention it.  But to be fair where exactly was I suppose to fit that in.”

“I don’t know, while we were having dinner.”  His mother shrugged, as she moved to seat down next to Lance.  “Or while I was cooking breakfast this morning.”

“Oh, yes, perfect time, when I am all groggy, just go ‘Oh by the way, the Takashi Shirogane is on the medical staff for the Lions, we might see him today, oh look bacon’.”  Lance said dramatically before crossing his arms and look at his mother.  “Yeah, I doubt you would have believed me.”

His mother mutter something under her breath.

“You’re forgiven,”  Lance beamed with a wave of his hand.  Before he lunged slightly for the container in his mother’s lap, that she institutionally moved out of his reach.  “Now, give me the container, I don’t care if they’re not completely right, anything Hunk makes is good.  I want one.”  He added making grabbed hands at the container.

“Mi hijito, you’re diet!”  His mother reasoned weakly.

“Went out the window the day you arrived.”  Lance countered, leaning his head on his mother’s shoulder.  “Please, I am injured.”

His mother just shook her head at his antics.  But she opened the container anyway for him.  Holding it up for him to select which treat one he wanted.  Naturally he went for the biggest sliced on he could find in the little container, ignoring the way his mother shook her head at him.

And Lance happily munched away at team run practice drills.

--

Once Lance was healed enough, his mother went back home to Cuba.  But not without stocking up Lance’s freezer with a collection of home cooked meals for him to just reheat whenever.  And a promise to visit again soon when Veronica and the kids came up for vacation.

And also, she apparently also made sure to make Shiro like a whole container of cookies.  Present them when she thanked him thoroughly for all he had done for Lance.

Something Lance only found out when Shiro told him to thank his mom for the cookies she gave him.  As they were delicious and very thoughtful, and he’s always little short bread cookies.

And Lance is very sure he’s soul left his body for the whole ten minutes the conversation happened.

Thanks mom.

----

AN:  I don’t really know.  I was thinking up headcanon ideas for this, cause it was stuck in my head at the time.  And I had the idea of Lance’s mom finding Shiro and dragging him over to Lance like “Look who I found” while Lance was like “OMG Mom put him back!”  and dying of embarrassment.

And Shiro may or may not have eaten seven of the cookies he was made in one seating.  And he totally was not territorial of them at all because it was Lance’s mom that gave them to him, and made them just for him, so stop trying to eat one Keith.

[youngerdrgrey]

"Would it hurt you to tell me exactly where we're going?"...

anon, I hope you like The Good Place because that’s where this prompt took me.

or, the time Eleanor comes to a different conclusion to much of the same results. // spoilers for the end of s1 at least + read on ao3

Chidi huffs. “Would it hurt you to tell me exactly where we’re going?”

“Yeah, pretty sure it would.” Eleanor yanks him after her again. This is what happens every time she slows down. He starts asking more questions, as if he doesn't ask enough already. Do all philosophy professors talk this much, or did she just find the most verbose one in the universe?

“Eleanor!” Chidi huffs again. “Are you even listening?"

“Not really!” She drags him around another corner and towards the giant river. There’s exactly one boat tied to the dock, and she might not know how to row, but neither does anyone else here.

“I asked, how could it hurt you to tell me?”

“Words have never hurt you, nerd?”

He rolls his eyes. “That hurt me.” Then he rolls his head on his neck. “Which, okay, that clearly proves your point. I—Eleanor, I need to get back before anything else happens to Aggie.”

“God, what kind of name is that anyway?” Eleanor drops Chidi’s wrist long enough to untie the boat from the dock. “Aggie? It sounds like something you hack up. Or somebody you’d go full Carrie on at prom.” Then she settles into the boat herself even as it rocks. “Not that I’d go to prom, but you know, it fits.”

Chidi shakes his head. “Eleanor, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t go on adventures with you. My soulmate needs me.”

“Yeah, well, she’s not the only one. You ready for this?” Eleanor stands back up, full height, which isn't much since he's on the dock and she's in the boat. Has she always been this short? It’s not cool, but it does tap into her love for height differences. He’s actually kind of cute from this angle. Focus. “Aggie’s not the only one who doesn’t belong here. None of us do. This whole neighborhood’s one colossal fork up on Michael’s part.”

“I—wha—that—no.” Chidi takes a step back. Eleanor reaches for him, and he swats at her hand. “Architects don’t make mistakes, Eleanor.”

She stalks forward on the boat. “I heard you and Aggie talking. She said that she wasn’t supposed to be here, and I’m not either. I’m not the good person they think I am.”

He groans! He scream-groans. “Stop lying! I don’t know why you would do this. You insist on—on torturing me like this. So, what happened? You overheard Aggie confess to me, and you figured that it’d be fun to mess with me too?”

“Whoa, Cheedster.”

“That’s not my name!”

“Chidi! Sorry.” She should probably get back out of the boat, but every time she moves, it drifts a little, and she can’t risk face-planting on the dock only to get swatted away again . “I’m not playing around. The first night we were here, I called you a burnt cheeto — rude, I know, hate me later — and the next day, it rained burnt cheetos. I’m a plague on this town. And Michael’s a new architect. I think he forked up the formula, and I don’t want to correct him. I don’t want to go back to being a shirty person with no prospects.”

Chidi still looks mildly constipated in his anger, but at least he asks, “What do you want to be then?”

She shrugs. Her neck gets itchy whenever she tries to be sincere. It’s like she’s allergic to real emotions. But real emotions seem to be the main way to get through to him. It’s so gross. So much for a man of science, or whatever.

“I don’t know. I want to be better, I guess, and something tells me that you’re the only one who could get me to be that way.” She has to scratch her neck. And her arm. And behind her ears. “Look, could you get in the boat? Please?”

He mulls it over with a few hundred glances behind him and back to her. His internal monologue’s probably still calling her a liar, but if she were a liar, why would she do all of this? Why would she intentionally mess with him? She’s new to the neighborhood too. Plus, she's been involved in every malfunction in the good place since they got to town. The only thing she didn’t cause was whatever Aggie claimed to be responsible for. And out of everybody in the town, Aggie and Nicole included, Eleanor's one of the only people who feels real here. Kind of like how he’s one of the only people who feels real to her.

Ew, even that fake monologue makes her itchy.

She bounces in the boat. “Come on, dude, I already said the best part of my speech.” She bounces again. Then, some current kicks in fromabsolutely nowhere, so her next bounce detaches her from the dock completely . “Whoa!” She stumbles back.

“Eleanor!”

Chidi jumps to grab her, and she snags his hands and yanks him the rest of the way onto the boat with her. Either she’s superwoman, or he’s heavier than she expected, because they fall right onto the bottom of the boat.

He is a little heavier. He is a compact, little nerd, just muscle and mind power and nothing else. Soft skin actually, he’s got that, and warm eyes when he isn’t glaring at her. His smile’s kind of crooked in a cute way that makes her want to cover his mouth with her mouth, and, holy fork, is she into him?

She’s not not into him, especially when he lifts himself up on his arm strength alone so he lifts his weight off of her. Their eyes lock, and their breathing seems to stop at the same time. She whispers his name like a forking Nicholas Sparks girl.

“Chidi?”

Then this guy — this dude who spent a solid twenty minutes debating which side of the two line pizza parlor to go to — swoops down and lays one on her . Like it’s nothing! Like it’s totally reasonable for him to make one decision since he got here and use it to kiss her in the bottom of this boat.

He jumps back, of course. Reels away with the widest eyes she’s ever seen that kind of look like giant moons on his face. The jumping makes him less coordinated, so he falls on her again. Her back slams into the wood of the boat. His head crashes into hers. It’s a clusterfork, and all she can think of is kissing him again.

“Eleanor, I am so sorry.” He tries rolling off of her. Scrambling really .

She lets him get up enough that they can both sit there. “I’m not. If anything, you proved my point. Michael messed up. And maybe , maybe you’re not even supposed to be with Aggie.” She shouldn’t have said that part.

“You shouldn’t say that.”

“See! That’s exactly what I thought. Dude, we are so in sync!” She scrambles up, which puts her knees on the outside of his. She could be straddling this dude in a second if it wouldn’t give him an aneurism. “What if the mistake isn’t only that I’m here? What if you and me —“ is it weird that she takes his incredibly soft hands in hers? He stares at her like it’s weird, and at least a little bit like he’s gonna puke. “What if we're the ones who are supposed to be soulmates?”

He is definitely gonna puke. “Oh, no."

“That’s all you got?” No sweeping declaration on his side?

“Oh, God.”

“Alright. Two word sentences. Can I buy a vowel?”

He blinks. “I—how would a vowel help?”

“It broke the cycle, didn’t it?” She smiles at him. “I’m not saying we have to figure everything out now. I just want you to know that Aggie’s not the only one who needs you here, Chidi. I think I need you too.” He gulps, which isn’t the weirdest part of that. Eleanor confessed to wanting another person actively involved in her life, and she’s still smiling . “I’m not itchy! Take that, words!"

Maybe they don’t hurt, after all. At least, they don’t hurt her. Chidi, though, he still might vomit over the side of the boat. Eh, you win some, you lose some.

.

.

[eyeofthewolfe]

Breaking Earth (Ninjago Fanfic): Chapter 6

Cole realizes that there may be a way to prevent his eminent doom. Meanwhile, Jay receives a gift he had never expected.

(Will try to add the other Chapters soon)

Chapter 6

“You know how to save me?” Cole gasped as he stood up quickly, staring wide eyed with disbelief at the woman.

Madge nodded, her black eyes lacking the twinkle but full of a cold seriousness that chilled Cole’s blood. “However, it might be too late. We must try.” She rushed to the ash-coated door before hesitating. “Young ninja, we must leave at once, or else my efforts of attempting to cure you will fail miserably.”

The Earth Ninja didn’t budge, but he stared at Madge dumbfounded and with his mouth slightly ajar. Finally, he squeaked a few words. “How will you cure me?”

She pressed her lips together tightly before answering, “It’s classified.”

“Then why should I trust you?” Cole instantly snapped, glaring at the figure dressed in black.

The woman took a few quick steps in Cole’s direction making him flinch in surprise. She narrowed her eyes like she was about to scream at him, but finally sighed. “You are right, you have no real reason to trust me. But let me tell you this. I came to this realm and framed myself to earn an immediate audience with the ninja, but especially you. I came here to collect you, because I know of your state and how dangerous it is. But I also know you Cole, as weird as that may seem, and I know that you will do and try anything and everything to not only save yourself but to save your friends, and walking away to die is the hardest thing you could ever do.”

Cole was speechless.

“So don’t run away to embrace your death, come with me to prevent it.” The woman finished, gesturing to the door.

The Master of Earth glanced down at his palms that were now internally pulsing with an orange glow beneath his skin. He looked up at a reflective surface on the wall and recognized his face, but was now almost framed with green cracks. One crack had emerged from the upper right of his forehead and was spreading dangerously close to his right eye. Finally, he turned to Madge, who was starting at Cole nervously as she waited for an answer.

“Fine,” Cole declared as he pushed up his sleeves to his ninja suit. “Where are we headed?”

Madge flashed a quick upturn of her lips as she spun to the door, gesturing Cole to follow. “We are headed to my home realm. There we will have the ability to fix you.”

The two quickly rushed out of the door and down the hallway. “Are we going to go get the Realm Crystal?” Cole anxiously questioned, trying to keep up with the giant lady.

They turned the corner and marched up the staircases to emerge on the deck. “No, that would be ridiculous. The secret entrance is within a day’s walk.”

The night sky was blanketed with stars. A cool breeze instantly hit Cole, and Madge’s high pony tail fluttered softly. Cole looked out on the shadowed horizon as he asked, “Where is the secret entrance?”

Madge lifted her finger and pointed at the mountain range sketched out in shadows in the distance. “The Wailing Alps.”

________________________________________________________

Wiping his nose, the auburn haired teenager slid his way back into the temple, thinking about how he was going to lay in his bed for the next three hours and forty-seven minutes waiting to say goodbye to his best friend. He didn’t even know what he was going to say or how he was going to prevent himself from crying. He made his way towards the stairs when a warm voice called out to him.

“Jason?” Nya’s mother spoke as she approached him.

“Oh, hi Miss Maya, you can just call me Jay.” Jay sniffled. The mother smiled, but then noticed Jay’s broken expression.

“Oh dear,” she brushed some of Jay’s hair to the side like she was his mother. “What is upsetting you?”

Jay sniffed again and wiped his nose. “It’s just…alleriges. The trees here must have a ton of pollen.” He chuckled through a sob making a loud backwards cough sound.

Maya raised an eyebrow then reached in her pocket. “Here, I think you deserve to see this.” She revealed a small square photograph of two women in their twenties. She looked at it with a nostalgic smile before handing it to the young ninja. Jay accepted it, looked down, and gasped.

The two women looked like the picture had been taken while they were laughing at the funniest joke they had ever heard. The lady on the right was clearly a younger Maya, she wore blue robes of an elemental master of water and her cheekbones were incredibly defined. She may be very pretty in the picture, but she didn’t have anything on the gorgeous woman standing next to her.

White blonde hair spilled onto her shoulders in perfect ringlets. Jay recognized his eye and nose shape in the woman, and the huge grin she wore could be an exact replica of Jay’s widest grin. She had electric blue eyes-even more vivid than his- and she was lovingly looking at Maya. She wore darker blue robes garnished with white lightning bolts.

“Is that..” Jay whispered, knowing very well who that was.

Maya wrapped her arms around Jay’s shoulders and looked over his shoulder. “That, my dear boy, is your brave mother. She was such a unique character…she was funny, brave, determined…she had the strongest spirit in all the elemental masters. Nothing could break her.

“However, one thing did affect her spirit.” She smiled as she handed Jay a small dusty picture frame. His mother stood proudly in a glistening white gown next to an incredibly handsome man fitted perfectly in a tux. Tears brimmed at Jay’s eyes. “It was such a wonderful wedding. Cliff was so incredibly handsome and nice, he was a starting actor you see, but the wedding was just magnificent. It blew mine and Ray’s out of the water.”

Jay wiped away a tear. “Miss Maya…thank you for showing me these.” He croaked as he brushed his fingers on the photograph as his bride mother.

She squeezed his shoulders like a mother and then pulled away. Jay extended the photographs back to the black haired woman. “Oh no, those are for you. Don’t worry, I have plenty more of me and my best friend.”

The ninja’s mouth instantly dropped. “My mother was your best friend?”

Maya laughed. “Our parents were very close. It always seems to happen, that lightning and water attract each other. Now, nobody predicted that I was to fall for the Master of Fire, but as he always says, the world works in mysterious ways.”

Jay glanced again at his new prized possessions. Ever since he found out he was adopted, he could only imagine what his mother could have looked like or been like. Now, he had images and even passed down memories of her, and everything was better than he could have ever imagined.

“Well, you should probably try and get some sleep before your shift to keep watch in four hours. I’m sure Cole will be dying to get some sleep at that point.” Jay flinched, and all the good feelings just went down the drain. Maya walked up the stairs a bit, then paused. “And,” she started as she turned back to Jay. “If you need any allergy medicine, come talk to me.” She gave him a wink and then disappeared up the stairs.

Jay looked down at the faded photographs of the two best friends. With a frown, he reached into his ninja suit and pulled out two pictures he always holds onto: one of him and Nya on their first date and one of him and Cole laughing together in the early days. His eyes slowly darted between the photographs of the best friends.

“History repeats itself, huh…” Jay muttered. “Life can’t seem to hold together the best of friends.” He glanced over his shoulder to where the Bounty rested on the floating land mass before tucking the pictures into his suit and making his way up the stairwell.

_________________________________________________________

It was hard to keep up with Madge with her long strides. The tall grass seemed to part for her as her black coat billowed behind her. Cole had no problem keeping up with her, but his weakening body tempted him to decrease his speed. He swallowed down his doubt and fixed his gaze on the mountain range ahead of him.

Once again, the feeling of pure power washed over him as he stared at the magnificence before him. The sky beyond the monstrous rocks was hinting at dawn but the still star speckled sky was etched from the jagged outline of the Wailing Alps.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Madge declared as she treaded onward.

Cole shook his head. “That’s not beauty, it’s power. A sight of that magnificence deserves respect more than compliments.” Madge didn’t respond to that remark, but she hid the small smile that grew on her face after hearing Cole say that.

“So the entrance to your realm is at the Wailing Alps, huh,” Cole thought out loud. “So you are from the Cloud Kingdom.”

The woman chuckled. “I am not a scroll obsessed monk, ninja. Do I look like a monk to you?”

“You could be on vacation,” he snickered, and to his surprise, she gave him a quick glance with a smile. “No, young Cole, this is my uniform. The Cloud Kingdom is our sister realm, and we actually are very similar in design.”

The Master of Earth quickened his pace to stride by her side. “So your realm has floating buildings on clouds too?”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t mean physically. The purpose of the Cloud Kingdom is to write the destinies of the people of Ninjago. The First Spinjitzu Master carefully crafted each realm as a refection or to serve a purpose to Ninjago, the home realm.”

“Huh,” Cole breathed as he raised a curious eyebrow. “Then what is the purpose of your realm?”

The woman didn’t skip a beat. “It’s classified.”

Cole dropped his jaw into a wacky grin. “Aw, come on! I’m headed there anyways, so I’m bound to find out sooner or later.”

“However, the knowledge of our practice is very dangerous, and can lead to destructive consequences.”

“Lady,” Cole started, using his most dramatic voice. “Right now, I am a destructive consequence.”

There was a pause as the two people trekked across the thick grass in silence. Cole looked up at her to see her expression, which was her narrowed pupils peering at her in the corner of her eyes. “Very well, ninja. We are the Realm of Creation.”

“The Realm of Creation?!!” Cole repeated excitedly. “That’s so cool! You all, uh, create stuff?”

“Like our sister realm who are the writers of the destiny for the people of Ninjago, we create the people of Ninjago.” Madge spoke calmly.

“Create them?” Cole gasped. “How do you create them? Do you like design them? Physically or personality wise? Who have you created that I know? How many-“

Madge rolled her eyes. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you. I cannot answer your questions, the process is far too greater for your understanding.”

The ninja pouted but fell quiet. They walked some more in silence, when a thought popped into Cole’s head. “Wait. Earlier during the interrogation you said that you were here to retrieve your greatest achievement.” Madge’s face reacted with a slight sign of panic. “You came here to bring me to your realm to save me, which would make me your greatest achievement.”

Madge sighed through her nose. “Cleverness is something that I did program into you.”

The Master of Earth froze in his spot. Madge walked forward a few more paces before stopping herself. “We cannot be halted at any point, Cole, we must move forward-“

“You created me?” Cole interrupted her. She paused and stared at the boy before slowly nodding her head.

“You…created…..me,” Cole repeated again, his eyes wide.

“Clever, yes, but I may have slacked some on your common sense. Now come on,” Madge snapped as she continued towards the mountain chain. Cole hesitated before laughing and then rushing after her.

“I was your greatest achievement?” Cole grinned. “I was the best person you ever created.”

“Yes,” Madge groaned. “Please, stop-“

“Oh, I bet I was the best because you were creating an elemental master!”

This time, Madge faltered in her step. Cole looked over, his smile fading. “What? You knew that I was going to be an elemental master, right?”

She looked him dead in the eyes. “You…you don’t know?”

Cole frowned. “Know what?”

Madge shot forward, leaving Cole behind. “I shouldn’t be the one to tell you-“

The Master of Earth caught up instantly. “Tell me what?”  

The woman turned to face him, her black hair flying upwards in the quick turn. “Cole, you are my greatest achievement because you weren’t born an elemental master.”

_________________________________________________________

Jay didn’t get a lick of sleep for the three and a half hours he laid in bed staring at the photos of his mother while meditating on the upcoming final farewell to his best friend. Those 210 minutes were the longest three and a half hours he had ever sat through, but when the time was up, he wanted more. Stuffing the pictures into his suit, he took off down the hallway, down the stairs, and towards the Bounty.

He slid to a stop in front of the door to the brig, and then took a moment to collect his thoughts and push down the tears. He extended his hand and pushed the door open with a creak.

It looked like a bomb had exploded in the center of the room. Some of the metal bars of the brig itself was completely gone, but the ones that remained were bent away from the center. The room was coated in ash and hissing orange cracks, a sight that was hauntingly familiar to the blue ninja.

Mouth ajar, Jay drifted into the room, shifting some ash on the floor. But one thing was for sure. The prisoner and Cole were gone.

Jay absent mindedly hit the alarm button on the brig wall before collapsing to his knees, making a cloud of ash rise and float around him.

Then he burst into tears.

[ecotone99]

[HM] Have a perfect day

The two men walked briskly side by side through the busy grocery store, while one gave instructions to the other.

“So, you see Declan, here at O’Malley’s, we value customer satisfaction over anything else. That’s why our motto is, ‘Have a perfect day!’

We may not have the lowest prices in town or the widest selection of name-brands; we may have what food critics call a subpar bakery, and our deli department may have received a D from the health department, because we may have a slight roach infestation, but what we lack in those areas, we make up for with dynamic customer relations.”

Declan listened intently to the manager, Brent’s, detailed analysis of the store's history and core values.

“Always remember to C.H.E.E.S.E,” Brent explained. “C.H.E.E.S.E stands for Calmness, Honor, Empathy, Encouragement, and Smile Entirely.”

Declan was noticeably confused.

“Listen,” Brent continued. “We may not have the most creative marketing team, and we may center our business around nonsensical acronyms; we may be hemorrhaging money internally and we may be moments away from bankruptcy, but what we lack in all those areas, we make up for with dynamic customer relations.”

Declan nodded his head in agreement.

“What’s our motto?” Brent asked quizzically.

“Have a perfect day!” Declan proudly answered.

“That’s correct,” Brent said. “And that’s not only our motto, but it’s also store policy.”

The two stopped near the cash registers. “Here’s your post,” Brent said.

Declan was eager to get started. He was in desperate need of a job and was grateful for any opportunity thrown his way. “Watch how it’s done,” Brent said with the confidence of Evil Knievel jumping a single semi-truck.

A middle-aged lady approached the register with a cart full of groceries. Brent greeted her with an enthusiastic, “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good,” the lady answered.

Declan watched in awe as Brett scanned all 37 times with the charisma of a Broadway actor and the pizzazz of a flair bartender. He was fast but considerate. Efficient yet attentive. “Someone’s ready to party!” He said while holding up a bottle of wine.

The lady laughed. “Oh, you know it!”

“How do you like them apples?” He joked while pointing to a package of Granny Smiths.

The lady laughed flirtatiously. “You sure are good at this,” She said with a smile.

Brent picked up a block of Brie, “Oh, this. It’s a bries!” He said.

She laughed again, even louder this time.

“Nuttin to it,” he said while holding up a can of Planters peanuts this time. “I’ll have you out of here in a Jiff, he added while scanning peanut butter.

‘Man, he’s killing it,’ Declan thought to himself hoping he could be just as witty when it was his turn.

Brent finished up ringing out the lady, handed her the receipt, and said, “Have a perfect day!”

“Oh, I am!” The lady responded while giving him bedroom eyes.

A voice boomed over the intercom, Brent, we need you in the bakery. There’s another raccoon in the pan washer!

Brent turned to Declan, “I’ve gotta go take care of something,” he said. “Do you think you can handle the register?”

Declan wasn’t sure that the 90 seconds of training he had just received was an adequate amount of experience, but he didn’t want his apprehensiveness to be viewed as weakness. “Sure thing,” he said with equal parts false confidence and trepidation.

“It’s easy,” Brent reassured him before walking to the back of the store.“Just make sure anyone who comes through this line is having a perfect day.”

Declan manned the register and was approached within seconds by a man with a few things in a grocery basket. “Hi, how are you!” Declan asked.

“Eh,” the man somberly answered. “I’ve been better.”

“Oh, it looks like someone’s ready to party!” Declan declared while drawing attention to a handle of Jack Daniels.

“Party?” The man asked with a puzzled look on his face. “Not quite. I just got laid off from my job.”

Declan was not prepared for that answer and had no idea how to proceed, but he decided that emulating Brent was the only solution. After all, things worked out fine for Brent.

“How do you like them apples?” Declan asked.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” The man sternly replied. “How do I like losing my job? Is that really what you’re asking me?”

Declan appeared confused. Even more noticeably than before. He picked up a block of cheese. “Well, that’s not Gouda.”

“Are you really making cheese puns right now?”

Declan began to sweat. This isn’t working out at all, he thought to himself. In a panic, he picked up the next item, held it up high, turned it towards him, and read the label, “Its all about the— Preparation—H.”

“Could you put that down,” the man said, embarrassed. “What is wrong with you?”

Declan wasn’t the most self-aware, but even he could tell that this customer wasn’t having a perfect day. All he knew was that it was up to him to fix it. He wasn’t about to lose another job. After getting fired from Chic-Fil-A for forgetting to say, ‘My pleasure!’ Declan learned that policies were a big deal. He looked the customer directly in the eye and said as sincerely as possible, “Have a perfect day!”

The customer was aghast. “A perfect day! A perfect day! Are you kidding me right now!” He yelled.

“I’m very sorry, sir. But, it’s store policy.”

“What is store policy?”

“For you to have a perfect day. It’s our policy.”

“Are you Fucking kidding me!” The customer screamed.

A group of teenagers nearby whipped out their phones and began recording. “World Star!” One of them obnoxiously shouted.

“What seems to be the problem here, Declan?” Brent asked after reappearing from the bakery with what appeared to be animal scratches all over his neck and face.

“This man won’t have a perfect day,” Declan nervously answered, sure that he’d likely be fired over this confrontation.

“This is so unprofessional,” the customer told Brent. “What kind of shit show are you running..”

Brent interrupted, “I’m sorry, sir, but is this true? Are you not having a perfect day?”

“What do you even care!”

“It’s our policy.”

The customer balled his fists up and began punching the air. Brent whispered into his walkie-talkie, “We need security at register 5.”

“Sir,” Brent implored. “This is your last chance. You need to have a perfect day!”

The customer erupted into laughter. Not cute or funny or infectious laughter, but sinister laughter. The type of laugh Jafar had after he turned Apu into an elephant just to fuck with Aladdin. “Let me tell you something, bud,” The customer started out. “Yesterday, my girlfriend dumped me, today I lost my job, and to top it all off I have a hemorrhoid on my ass the size of a golf ball. So, you’ll have to excuse me, but I’m not gonna have a perfect day. In fact, I’m having one of the worst days of my...“

“What’s the matter, Karen? You���re too good to have a perfect day?” An onlooker taunted. All the bystanders laughed.

The customer took a step back and realized there was now a crowd of about fifty people witnessing his meltdown. “Do any of you see what’s happening here?” He pleaded. “I just want to buy my groceries and get the hell out of here. Can’t a man just have a bad day?”

“Hey man, your bad day is your bad day. Don’t take it out on anyone else,” one onlooker shouted.

“Not cool, man, another one added.

“How about you quit being such a dick and have a perfect day already,” one of the meaner ones suggested.

The customer broke down in tears.

Brent gave Declan a concerned look. “What should we do now?” He asked.

“How should I know,” Declan answered. “I’ve only worked here for twelve minutes.”

Security arrived and ordered the customer to have a perfect day.

“No!” The customer shouted. “No, absolutely, no!”

Voices in the viewing pit became louder and more annoyed. Declan froze in fear. Brent did the same. As confident as he seemed 15 minutes ago, he sure seemed unsure of himself now.

“I’ve had enough of this shit!” The customer proclaimed while smashing the bottle of Jack Daniels on the counter and flipping over the candy bar and gum display rack. “Fuck this shit!” He continued while slinging packs of mints at people's throats like they were ninja stars. Finally, in a blaze of glory, he ripped the cash register off the counter and slammed it into the ground. Cash flew everywhere. The crowd went into a frenzy and police ransacked the place at that very moment. The customer was arrested and placed in police custody. You probably already read about that. It only happened a few hours ago. Since then, the video has been viewed a million times. People are saying he should serve life in prison. Some are even calling for the death penalty. Others say that’s too harsh of a penalty. One thing everyone agrees on is, that man was not having a perfect day

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