#AB obviously has a lot of courage to give the answers that she did

[the-physicality]

..

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 262: A Fierce Bad Rabbit

Previously on BnHA: The hospital raid squad, which had two jobs consisting of (1) not letting Ujiko get away, and (2) not letting any of the Noumu break free to go ravage the countryside, impressively failed at both of these tasks (or so I assume) in a remarkably short amount of time. The EndeavorZawaMicLock squad were all occupied with having a very destructive fight in the hospital lobby, leaving my girl Miruko, Goddess of Courage and First of Her Name, to do pretty much all the heavy lifting, which, fine!! Except that Ujiko remembered that he had a bunch of High End Noumus just floating there waiting to be activated, and he was all “!!” and fucking activated them, and like five of them went after Miruko all at once and smashed her into a bunch of machinery and glass tubes, which frankly should have killed her but it didn’t because she’s a fucking boss. But now it’s just her (and Crust, who might do something too, but for now JURY’S STILL OUT) against all these guys while Ujiko speeds off to grab Tomura and abscond. So basically everything that could go wrong has already gone wrong so UH. OKAY.

Today on BnHA: Miruko kicks ass. Then she checks her watch and sees that there’s still time for her to kick more ass, so she does. Then there is still time, because this chapter is all about her kicking ass! So she kicks even more ass!! It’s great!! I have no complaints!! She decapitates a man with her thighs!! That’s a thing that really happens!! Also she loses an arm but WHO HASN’T LOST AND/OR BROKEN THEIR ARMS IN THIS SERIES, REALLY. Everyone is doing it. Somehow she manages to make it look cool because Miruko. Miruko can strangle a man with a cordless phone. She can kill two stones with one bird. Miruko makes onions cry. Death once had a near-Miruko experience. Mirukoooooooo. Anyway the chapter ends with Skeptic warning everyone at The Ol’ Villain Hotel that the heroes are coming, so basically WELCOME BACK, EVERYONE, this manga is back with a vengeance.

guys I’m gonna try to do this recap fast because I’m seeing Heroes Rising tonight at 7:30! and I’m so excited! and for those that asked, yes I do plan on doing some kind of write-up about it, though it’ll all be from memory after the fact so we’ll see how that goes. but !! I’ve waited 84 years for this ahhhhh but anyway so in the meantime let’s see what new and creative ways our heroes are finding to screw this up even more

(ETA: I did it but this thing isn’t edited for shit lol. after I get back I’ll give it a more thorough readthrough so sorry if I missed any really obvious errors! also there are probably way more exclamation points than usual which may or may not be a plus or minus.)

look at this helpful announcement

High End Noumu approaching, everyone. you have been warned. just in case you somehow failed to notice?? IT’S RIGHT THERE Y’ALL LOOK OUT

lmao FINALLY

MORE HEROES. YOU ALL CERTAINLY TOOK YOUR FUCKING TIME, but hey welcome to the party. and none of that “I don’t see how that’s a party” sassy shit either. you all know what I’m talking about so get out there and have fun

so they’re standing there all “it’s a talking Noumu!” and YEAH. that’s what I’ve been fucking trying to tell you. thank god someone finally fucking said it out loud so that hopefully the EZML squad can finally take notice of this as well. like guys. bigger fish?! get to frying!!

so now Crust is all “there are more of them ahead, Miruko’s in danger!” which, again, thanks for finally letting everyone else in on this formerly exclusive scoop there pal. ‘preciate it

I... really do not understand Crust’s quirk at all. I’m just gonna own up to it

what is this. what does “zuga” mean fx-wise. why did those scale things on his arms get so big. what are they made of. what’s happening

oh it turns out that if you scroll and read more instead of pausing for ages to ask dumb questions, the thing you were asking about might actually be explained in great detail in the very next panel

but what are they made out of though. and why “Crust”?? ah well I suppose that’s a question for someone who actually cares more than I do

by the way the quality of this scan is actually really good so far, I gotta say. we’re only two pages in, true, but they either cleaned this up really nicely, or this was a much higher-quality scan than usual. either way I am appreciative!

lol this poor Noumu is shook

what did I name you two weeks ago, again? Rusty?? anyways he’s doing his best you guys. gambare my dude, though actually you do need to die, so that’s too bad though

Crust is all “you pitiful living corpse!” with tears in his eyes because he’s dramatic! but jokes aside I do appreciate that he has compassion for these monsters who are all still basically innocent victims at the end of the day

does anyone else actually hear that funny-sounding anime narrator guy in your head nowadays when you read panels like this lol

I can hear the voice so clearly and it’s great

only ten times the strength of a normal human, guys. that’s actually not that bad. I’m only half joking lol. because obviously your average hero is going to be much stronger than a so-called “normal” person too, yes? and I’m pretty sure Miruko has the strength of like 30 humans but I may be overestimating her just slightly but am I though

oh lol I apparently did not learn my lesson about doing commentary before I’m done reading hahaha

so High Ends are on a different tier of their own above even the “high” tier. well that’s just. yeah that sounds more like the “we’re still fucked” update that I was expecting

oh wait, seriously??

are you telling me that all of the High Ends were actually cultivated from villains? so maybe not completely innocent, then? is this Horikoshi’s way of trying to make us feel marginally better about the fact that the heroes are shortly henceforth going to have to exterminate these guys with great prejudice? I mean they’re still basically slaves to Ujiko’s programming now though so that sucks

also I missed this earlier but the narration here basically just confirmed that Noumu are all made from corpses. which I kind of suspected, but the still-very-much-alive Tomura would then be a glaring contradiction to that, no? or is that why he’s so special. anyway I do appreciate that we’re getting a lot of much-awaited answers in this Noumu arc, but some of this is also just raising more questions. gotta be patient I guess

speaking of Tomura, Ujiko’s back in the Tomura room, so. I assume some absconding is soon to occur

oh shit!! so there’s another panel explaining that “artificial transplant of quirks” requires surgery and then three months of stabilization time following that. sooooo I’m pretty sure this mofo just confirmed that he gave Tomura some shiny additional new quirks, so that’s nice! that’s real fucking great! I know we were all eyeing Tomura skeptically and thinking to ourselves “this is almost just right, but needs more death”

wait, what?

“I was already dead anyway” meaning that he knows there’s no way out for him? and so he doesn’t have a secret way out of the lab?? ??? can that really be true?? our intrepid heroes actually did their job right and the villains had no contingency plan?? oh my god I am so terrified of letting my guard down lmao I still refuse to believe this at all

and is that Tomura who’s at 70% stabilization? that would seem to fit with the timeline we were given. holy shit is he unboxing him early fsdfkjalsdk are we about to go from “fucked” to “exorbitantly fucked”

and why am I strangely excited about it sob!!

HAHAHAHA OH GOD

so this is how liberty dies. with a beep

also fuck you all, now it’s at 71%?! couldn’t leave it at a nice even number for us, could you? you just had to throw that extra percent in there at the last moment to fuck with us all

anyway did you all catch how fucking ripped he was there though? like boiiii whaaaaat. clearly his abs are already at 100%

OH MY GOD

DOES NOTHING FUCKING FAZE THIS BEAUTIFUL, RULE-BREAKING MOTH

HAHAHA

RIGHT??

HOLY FUCKING MOLY

friendly reminder that Dabi was all good and ready to throw down with both Endeavor and Hawks (who were admittedly weakened by that point) that one time a while back, but then Miruko showed up and he was all “lol nope I think the fuck not” and warped out of there. Dabi, whose quirk is so powerful that its only apparent downside is the fact that it roasts him alive as well. that Dabi took one look at Miruko and decided he likes having his spine intact and fucking vamoosed, because that is the smart fucking thing to do when this girl shows up smiling at you the way that she is smiling at these Noumu now

anyway. fucking Ujiko knew he needed at least five High Ends to even stand a chance of slowing her down, is all I’m saying. y’all better respect the FUCK out of Miruko, everyone. it’s the law

anyway. so. quirk: bunny. can smash rl gud

someone needs to ask Horikoshi the fuck kind of rabbits he has been hanging out with. applied that “and more!” part pretty fucking liberally huh. WHO DID YOU SAY TRIX WERE FOR AGAIN, CHILDREN??

NOBODY THROWS MIRUKO IN THE BRIAR PATCH AND GETS AWAY WITH IT

fffwhatttttttttt

that would be our good buddy Max Rebo. so that’s definitely not an elephant trunk-like thing then. we may need a new name for you

on a side note, I never thought we’d meet another character who looks more like Katsuki than Mitsuki does, and yet every damn week Miruko is proving me wrong. goddamn she is great

lmao wait maybe that wasn’t Max at all, but Jester. because this is clearly Max over here

so Girl!Noumu is a water bender, Jester can do... something weird with his hair, and Max can do anything an elephant can do if that elephant was also powered by steam. nice

HAHAHA BUT MIRUKO IS ALL “KICK!!!”

HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK!!!

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT. I WOULD READ AN ENTIRE MANGA OF JUST THIS LMAO THIS IS TOO MUCH ADRENALINE I CAN’T

JESTER’S WEIRD SPIKY ROCK HAIR IS SLICING HER ARM AND SHE’S ALL “THAT HURTS YOU JERK!!!!” AND GETTING READY TO FREAKING PILEDRIVE HIM I CAN’T, THOUGH!?

SDKFJLDKSJFLKJ

HER FATHER PEPPY TAUGHT HER THAT. BARREL ROLL ALL OVER THESE BITCHES!!

WHAT THE FUCK

FUCKING QUIRKS!!!! THOUGH!!!! WILLLLLLLLLD

SDKFJLAS;DHK OH MY GOD OH SHIT

real talk this is the scariest fucking quirk I’ve ever seen I was like what the fuck looking at her arm and then I saw him doing the twisty hand gesture and just. fuck. YOU’RE NOT CRIMSON RIOT AT ALL YOU’RE SOME PSYCHO TELEKINETIC BITCH AND I FUCKING HATE YOU!!

NO!!!!!

fuck fuck fuck. I’M SURE HER ARM’S GOING TO BE JUST FINE AND DANDY AFTER THIS GUYS, DON’T WORRY. THIS MANGA HAS SUCH A SERENE AND TRANQUIL HISTORY WITH ARMS. ISN’T THAT RIGHT DEKU

though on the plus side, if she does lose that arm we can count on her to somehow instantly become like 50x more attractive, which I’m pretty sure might cause the very fabric of the universe to unravel but it would be worth it

(ETA: SHE DID AND IT WAS!!)

MADAME PRESIDENT!! MY QUEEN

OH HELL YERRRRRR

fucking hell guys I’m running out of exclamation points and excited things to say here. AND SHE JUST KEEPS GOING! LIKE HER MOM THE ENERGIZER BUNNY BEFORE HER

I’M SORRY UJIKO DID YOU THINK FIVE HIGH ENDS WAS ENOUGH?! MAYBE NEXT TIME WE MAKE IT TEN, HOW ABOUT THAT. FUCK OFF

lmao holy shit I can’t stop laughingggg

well Crimson, at least you get to die happy. is she literally going to crush his face between her thighs. is this entire chapter just one big prank on me. if Miruko was the protagonist would this series have ended in the first chapter. trick question, the answer is it never would have started to begin with because she would have killed All for One years ago!! how much would it cost to hire Miruko to come kick away all of my problems for me

hello good afternoon everyone this is a real panel that really happened in this manga

I don’t even know what to say about anything anymore

sob she’s all “YEAH RIGHT” and SNAPPING HIS FUCKING NECK WITH A FUCKING TRIANGLE CHOKE, THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING, FUCKING LOOK!! AT!! THIS!!!

we’re not even gonna make it to 300 chapters. Horikoshi held off for as long as he could, but eventually Miruko couldn’t be contained any longer and he had to unleash her and she instantly went and reckt every last fucking bad guy out there until there was nothing left. who are the kids even going to fight. nobody that’s who. go back to school kids

SON OF A BITCH WHAT IS HAPPENING

THIS IS THE MOST VIOLENT THING I HAVE EVER FUCKING SEEN AND YET SOMEHOW I SWEAR I CAN HEAR ANGELS SINGING. RESPLENDENT

SOBBING!!!!

“S’POSE I SHOULD GET THIS ANNOYING THING CHECKED OUT BEFORE I BLEED TO DEATH OR SOME BULLSHIT.” WHAT AN INCONVENIENCE. JUST A FUCKING FLESH WOUND. NOBODY USES ARMS THESE DAYS ANYWAY

“IF THE ONLY WAY TO STOP YOU IS BY CRUSHING YOUR HEADS THIS WILL BE WAY EASIER THAN HOLDING BACK ON A NORMAL VILLAIN.” SOB THIS IS MIRUKO’S WORLD AND WE’RE ALL JUST BEGRUDGINGLY ALLOWED TO EXIST IN IT. MY BARONESS

DID YOU JUST TOURNIQUET YOUR DISMEMBERED FUCKING LIMB WITH YOUR OWN FUCKING HAIR ONE-HANDED FFCKCK KCKCLK JUST MIRUKO THINGS

Miruko also saw Horikoshi getting ready to end the chapter after 17 pages and was like “EXCUSE YOU THERE” and he backed off because he actually likes having a fucking head thank you very much

LMAO AND NOW OF ALL TIMES WE’RE CUTTING BACK TO THE OL’ VILLAIN RESORT. SIGH

Skeptic seems to have finally cottoned on to them being in some kind of trouble. huh

how does he know it was Jin who screwed up?? did he realize that Hawks betrayed them oh shit!?!

OOP HE’S SOUNDING THE ALARM

AND THE CHAPTER IS ENDING. BUT I’M NOT DONE SCREAMING. AHHHHHH well anyways I’m off to watch my children kick lots of ass on the big screen. assuming I can get this posted in time with zero editing whatsoever lol I’ve got like... an hour. WE SHALL SEE!

(ETA: we did it lol just barely! this whole thing is probably a giant mess but oh well! Mirukoooooo)

[guildedlily6]

You Plus Me Equals Soulmates Part 2 (Peter Parker x Reader Soulmates!AU)

Summary: 2nd part to You Plus Me Equals Soulmates.  Y/N doesn’t believe in soulmates, but she can’t help the feelings that are growing for Peter Parker.  Will she give in to her feelings or let her best friend, Liz, have Peter, regardless of the tattoos that might say otherwise?

Author’s Note: Hi also let me know if you like Part 2.  This one is a bit longer than the last one, so enjoy (to whoever might read this).  If you haven’t read Part 1, you might not understand Part 2 so make sure to click on the link down below to read Part 1.

Part 1

Word Count: 2,125

Warnings: swearing (that’ll probably just be common from now on).

POV: Point Of View.

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

“You know, I didn’t sign up for this.”

“Sure you did,” Liz says.  We’re walking down the concrete hallway, looking for the number of Parker’s apartment.  “You totally could have found another excuse and backed out.”

I had attempted to back out, but as I was forming my homework excuse, Ned had interrupted me.

“I tried to.”

Liz shrugs before knocking on the apartment door.  “Obviously not hard enough,” she states.

The door opens after a small pause.  Parker stands there with his hand on the door handle, a pencil tucked behind his ear.  I don’t think there are enough synonyms for “dork” that could help to describe this kid.

“Hey Peter,” Liz greets, breaking the awkward silence.  Again, why is he looking at me, not Liz?  I look away hastily, breaking the eye contact I hadn’t realized Parker and I were making.

“Yeah, uh, hi.  Come in,” Parker stammers.  He opens the door and Liz and I walk past him.  His apartment is cozy and there’s a fairly young woman in the kitchen.  Does he have a sister or something?

“Peter!  I didn’t know you were bringing girls over.  You never bring girls over-” “These are my friends Liz and Y/N.  We were just going to study,” Parker says, cutting into what the lady was going to say.  The chick gives Parker a look that's a calm equivalent to wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.  “Liz, Y/N, meet my aunt May.  Aunt May, meet Liz and Y/N.”

“Oh!  It’s so nice to meet you two.  I’ve heard a lot about you Y/N.”  Aunt May adds in the last part without hesitation, causing Parker to blush.

Heard a lot about me? But he’s going to homecoming with Liz?  What a creep.

“Yeah, uh...let’s go.  Ned’s in my room,” Peter says while leading us to his room.  The bedroom is small with light grey walls.  There’s a bunk bed but the top bunk is covered with clothes and a few boxes.  Other than that, the room looks nice, apart from being able to see the clothes and other random crap shoved under the bed.

“Oh, hey guys.  Sorry, I’ve already built half of the Death Star already.  But you two can help with the rest,” Ned says eagerly.  He sits on the floor in a pile of Lego pieces.

I plop down on the ground and take out one of my binders and a few pens.  “No thanks.  Like I said, I have homework to do,” I announce.  Liz shoots me a look that screams “don’t be a bitch”.

“Yeah me too, Ned,” Peter adds, glancing at me.  Ned looks at him, seeming a little confused.

“But you just said-”

“I said I have homework to do,” Peter says insistently.

I don’t know if they’re not normally this weird, or this is just something I should get used to.  Either way, I’d appreciate it if they could act like normal people. I look down and focus on my Algebra homework.  Although, it’s kind of difficult to focus while Parker is staring at me from his spot a few feet away.  I look up.

“What?  Do you need help or something?” I question.

“Um n-no.  I-I mean yes.  Could you, uh, help me on this one?” He points to a problem on his paper.  “I don’t really understand how to get to the answer…”

He’s on AB honor roll and takes a shit ton of AP classes and he’s asking me for help?

“Yeah sure,” I scoot closer towards him so that our shoulders brush against each other lightly.  I explain the problem and then show him what I did to get my answer.  I can’t help but get the feeling he knows exactly how to solve the problem, though.

I finish explaining the problem and look back up at him, only to find him staring at me, once again.  There’s a moment where we don’t say anything and I feel butterflies in my stomach.  His eyes aren’t chocolate brown.  They’re a dark oak color with streaks the color of honey carefully scattered around his iris.  My eyes dark from his eyes down to his right wrist.

After the loss of eye contact, he clears his throat and looks down at his paper. This whole time, Liz has actually been helping Ned with his lego Death Star.  But at this moment, she’s looking at Peter and I with a hint of jealousy and anger in her gaze.

I take my eyes off of Peter’s sleeve-covered wrist and continue to work on my Algebra assignment.

___________Peter’s POV___________ I clear my throat and look back down at my paper, trying to make myself seem more interested in this boring slim piece of dead wood rather than the girl sitting next to me.

That was full-on eye contact.  AND she didn’t immediately look away.  This is progress.  Maybe.

I’ve liked Y/N since the second semester of freshman year.  And she hasn’t noticed.  But now I’m stuck with Liz.  And now Y/N is at my apartment.  I sigh. But so is Liz.

Y/N, Liz, and Ned look up at the sound of my random sigh.  I blush lightly and pretend to have been sighing out of frustration at my homework.

Ned knows I like Y/N, not Liz.  Ned knows all of my secrets, basically.  He even knows I’m Spider-Man after that incident that included him destroying the first Lego Death Star we had made.

The whole situation when I ended up asking Liz to homecoming instead of Y/N was quite possibly number one on my list of dumb-things-I’ve-done-on-accident. 

I had been probably annoying Ned all day on my plans of how I was going to muster up the courage and ask Y/N to homecoming.  I mean, if I have the courage to literally jump off of buildings and fight actual Avengers, then surely I would’ve been able to ask a girl out, right?  Nope.

I had marched myself up to the both of them, Ned silently cheering me on.  Y/N had paid no attention to my appearance, but Liz’s face had lit up instantly.  At the time, I thought it was clear that I was asking Y/N out to the school dance, but when I think about it now, I was too busy looking at Liz and her happy energy for Y/N to notice that the question was directed at her. 

“The uh-the...ha, sorry...homecoming is coming up...you know...and so...would you go with me?  I mean you don’t have to you-”

“Yes!  Absolutely!  I thought you’d never ask, Peter,” Liz had answered enthusiastically.  It was at that moment I knew I had fucked up.  Usually, I’d never use words like that to describe anything, but I think it’s an accurate description for my thoughts and feelings during that moment.  Y/N had just sat and watched me ask out her friend in front of her.  And her friend had accepted it so cheerfully.  There was no way I could build up another mount of confidence to tell Liz that I was actually asking Y/N out.

All I did was let out an uncomfortable laugh as Liz happily embraced me in the middle of the hallway for everyone else to see.

So yeah, I messed up pretty badly.  The classic Peter Parker Bad Luck. Somehow, though, I’ll fix this.  Somehow I’ll show Y/N that I like her and not her best friend.  Maybe I’ll even get to see her soulmate tattoo; I’ve been waiting so long to find out if she’s the one.  When I look at Y/N, my chest physically aches with the desire to know if she feels the same way I do.  But in reality, I don’t think she even likes me as a friend.  The tattoo on my wrist means more to me than anyone could imagine.  To me, it means a guaranteed happiness with someone. Soulmate scientists have said that sometimes one half of the soulmate pair takes longer to fall in love, so maybe that’s the case.

Don’t say love.  What if she isn’t the one? 

I feel terrible.  Liz thinks I was asking her to the dance and then if I turn her down or disappear at the dance, most likely she’ll be heartbroken or worse, tell the whole school I’m an asshole playboy.  But if Liz isn’t my soulmate and I don’t feel anything for her, shouldn’t I reject her?

_________Y/N’s POV_________ An hour goes by as Liz and Ned finish making the Lego Death Star while Peter and I work on homework.

“Do you have any food?” I ask.  My stomach is grumbling and Peter hasn’t offered us snacks, even though it’s past 6pm.

“Oh yeah, sure.  What do you guys want?” he asks in return, standing up just as I stand up as well.

Ned asks for some chips and Liz requests water.  I look over at Peter, realizing that we both got up.

“Oh, sorry.  I thought I could get it for you guys,” Peter explains.  Oh god, it’s like their awkwardness is rubbing off on me.  What, did I think we were all going as one big party to the kitchen?

“Yeah, sorry,” I laugh it off, but as I’m about to sit down Peter speaks up.

“But maybe you could help me carry the snacks,” he offers it quickly, like he’s secretly been wishing for me to help him carry snacks or something weird like that.

“Uh okay, I guess.”  Liz looks between Peter and I.  She shifts uncomfortably and opens up her binder, abandoning the Lego Death Star for her English homework.

Peter and I walk out of his room and into the kitchen where Aunt May is doing dishes.  At the sight of both of us alone, she suddenly shoves a glass into a cabinet and utters something along the lines of “I have that thing to do”, and scurries out of the kitchen and around the corner.  Everyone remotely related to Peter, it would seem, is a little odd.

Peter gets a glass and starts getting Liz’s water from the fridge.  “You can look in the pantry for Ned’s chips.  Feel free to get what you want.”

I open the pantry and grab Ned’s chips and a bag of popcorn for me.  “Can I have some water, too?” I ask, as if he’ll tell me no.

“Yeah sure, help yourself.”

I open the cabinet I saw Peter get Liz’s glass from.  Immediately, however, I lose my grip on the cup.  But before the glass can hit the ground, Peter’s hand darts out of nowhere to catch it.

“Damn.  Some ninja-like reflexes you have,” I say, which is true.  Who the hell has a light-speed reaction time like that?  What kind of Edward-Cullen-meets-The-Flash shit was that?

“Uh y-yeah I guess I just acted on instinct,” he says hastily, pushing off some accusation that I didn’t even make.  He pours me a glass of water from the refrigerator and we head back into his room where Ned and Liz are sitting in silence.

The rest of the evening is spent in peace and quiet with the occasional glance between me and Parker.  I don’t know why I keep looking at him.

Did he always look cute while focusing on school work? Shut up, I tell myself.  Liz likes him and from what I can already tell, she doesn’t appreciate Peter and I constantly sneaking glances at each other like we’re in some kind of dumb cliché rom-com.

Eventually, Liz decides it’s time to go and we say our goodbyes to Peter and Ned.

As we walk back down the concrete hallway away from the apartment, she turns to me.

“Why’d you do that?” She says, her voice wavering a bit.

“Do what?”

“You kept sneaking cheeky glances at Peter, thinking I wasn’t looking.  And then you went to the kitchen by yourselves to go get snacks.  What are you trying to do here?”

“What?  Liz, I don’t understand.”  I actually did understand what she meant, but to admit it would make me look guilty when I’m not.

“Yes, you do.  I was so excited when Peter asked me to homecoming and now you’re being all flirty with him.  I want you to stop.  Call your mom or something to come pick you up.”  She starts walking away.

While she’s still in earshot, I reply to her claim, “I wasn’t flirting with him.  I didn’t even want to come, remember?  He’s still Peter-The-Dork to me and I wasn’t trying to do anything.”

Or was I?  How am I supposed to know what my subconscious was telling me to do?

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

Thank you for reading!

Part 3

[whatliesabove-blog1]

small, quiet room

Chapter eleven | ao3

It's Saturday night when Joyce finally musters up the courage to give Hopper a call.

The boys have migrated to their bedrooms, and after checking to make sure Will's tucked in nice and snug and Jonathan's situated with his headphones in, as per usual, she strides back into the kitchen and stands in front of the phone. It's simple, really. Pick up the phone, dial the number, wait for him to answer.

Simple, perhaps, if the state of her and her son's lives didn't ride on the outcome of the phone call in question.

Simple, she scoffs at herself. 

Nothing about this is simple. There are a number of adjectives she'd use to describe this situation and simple doesn't even breach the list. It's not even on the radar.

It's just after 10:00 and she knows he's off of work by now, knows he wouldn't already be asleep. There's really no reason at all for her not to call, other than her own fears, her own selfish pride.

Sucking it up she grabs at the phone, if not a little aggressively, and dials Hop's number. It rings once, twice, before he picks it up. A part of her was wishing he would be asleep, or out of the house, or something else that resulted in there being no answer.

"Hop, hi."

Keep it normal, Joyce. Anything else would be suspicious.

"Joyce? Is everything okay? Is it Will?"

She really should call him more, that way he doesn’t assume the worst when she does, doesn't assume the world is ending or her son has been taken again. The concern in his voice warms her skin, though. The slight edge tells her he's ready to run out the door if he needs to.

It’s sweet.

"Everything's fine," she assures him. She even manages a laugh, as if that's a ridiculous assumption. "What, a friend can't call her friend?"

"They can," he says slowly, and she wonders by the gravely tone of his voice if he was lying down. "It's just that you usually don't."

"I should."

"You should," Hop agrees. "So what's the occasion then?"

Taking a steeling breath, Joyce turns so her back is resting against the wall just beside the phone. The cord gets twisted around her arm but she doesn't mind, instead takes hold of it and twirls it around her fingers to calm her nerves.

"What's your blood type?"

There, it's out.

There's a brief silence. "I'm sorry?"

"Blood type, Hop. Do you know yours?" she asks, voice purposely light.

"You're not planning to murder me in my sleep, are you? Because I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be the one helping you hide the body and, well, I can't do that if I'm the body."

That pulls a genuine laugh from her throat, and she gives a little roll of her eyes. "I wasn't, but now that you mention it I did have a problem with the way you shoveled your truck out the other day. Very poor form."

"And that's obviously grounds for murder."

"Of course."

Hopper snorts. "I'm sorry you don't approve of my snow-removing technique."

"Apology accepted. I suppose the murder can be pushed back to a later date."

"Thanks," he grunts, but there's amusement on his end. She can tell. "Really, what's with the question?"

Karen's excuses in mind, she pulls her lips into a thin line.

"I saw something in one of Jonathan's school books about the rarest blood types," she says, aiming for nonchalance, "and I realized mine's super rare. Karen's is really common, so I was curious about yours."

"So you're... polling your friends' blood types?"

"I'm bored, okay, Hop? Not much goes on around here after 6:00."

He laughs, the sound soothing her to the core. "Okay, okay." He pauses, makes a low, thoughtful noise. "I'm... AB+, I think? So, how rare's that?"

She doesn't register the question as he asks it, just gets tunnel vision as soon as he says he's AB+. Lonnie's A- and she's B- so... they're all AB, B, or A, which means Jonathan's blood type should show to be compatible. Oh, thank god. Heaving out a sigh of relief, Joyce nearly slides down the wall before she gets caught in the phone cord and realizes what she's doing.

"Joyce?"

Blinking, she clears her throat. "Hmm?"

"How rare is that?"

"Oh—pretty rare, I think." She doesn't actually know, didn't really look at any of Jonathan's biology books, but she figures it's a 50/50 shot. It's either rare or it's not, and she's never known anyone else to have that blood type, so odds are it's gotta be rare, right? "Always got to live to the beat of your own drum, don't you."

Now that she's content Jonathan won't encounter any odd results, she can breathe again. 

He grumbles. "You know it."

When he lets out a long yawn, she tells him to go to sleep and get some rest. He objects, insists he's not tired, but at the second yawn she's having none of it and threatens to hang up on him if he doesn't just go already.

"Night, Hop."

He murmurs a goodnight into her ear and then she's hanging the phone back into place and clutching at her chest. Blowing out a breath, she leans back against the wall and allows her eyes to flutter closed.

That was close; too close for comfort.

But for the time being she can breathe easy, and so with a flick of a switch she basks the kitchen in darkness and patters down the hallway into her own bedroom for what will likely be the first restful night of sleep she's had in a while.

On Monday morning she wakes not with a feeling of absolute dread but one of contentment. Wandering into the kitchen she finds Jonathan working on eggs and bacon, and she walks up behind him, presses a kiss to his hair.

"Morning, Mom," he says, keeping his eyes on the pan in front of him.

"Did you wake Will?"

Jonathan turns for a second. "I heard noise in his room when I got up so I figured he was already awake."

She pushes back the instinctive panic that latches onto her throat and gives Jonathan a look. "I'll go check on him," she says a little hastily, sprinting down the hallway and to her son's bedroom. Broaching the door, she gives a little knock before easing it open. "Will?"

Her chest loosens at the sight of him, standing at the foot of his bed with his school bag propped up. "Morning, Mom," he smiles, shoving the final contents into the bag. "I forgot to pack it last night."

Joyce chuckles as he joins her in the doorway, tugs him into her side and ruffles his hair. "It's okay, baby," she says, squeezing his shoulder. "Give me your bag; I'll put it by the door while you eat your breakfast."

Will hands her his backpack with a grateful grin and skips into the kitchen, sliding into one of the chairs. He starts talking to his brother, something about a game she doesn't understand, and then Jonathan puts some scrambled eggs and bacon onto a plate for him.

"Mom?"

"Oh I'm okay, sweetheart."

"You have to eat something," he counters, fixing her with a look that's so very Hop it's almost startling. She's taken aback by it because she's not used to it; or maybe she's just never made the connection before, not when she was too busy relegating it to the back burner. "You have work all day, and we all know you won't make yourself lunch to bring in."

With a small laugh she acquiesces, bows her head in surrender as she joins her boys at the table.

"Thank you, Jonathan," she says when he puts a plate in front of her. He's filled it rather generously, as if she doesn't eat at all and this will be her only meal for the entire week. “Jeez, I'm eating for two here."

The two of them look at her oddly, and she pauses, fork halfway to her mouth. "What?"

"Mom?"

"What?" Putting the eggs down, she just stares back at them for a second before it dawns on them. "Oh. Boys, relax," she laughs. "I just meant that you put a lot of food on my plate, Jonathan."

Both of their faces tinge a light shade of pink, but she watches Will's shoulders relax and Jonathan shoots her a sheepish smile.

"Sorry."

Rolling her eyes, she lifts her fork back up and continues to eat her breakfast. She really has no idea where Jonathan got his cooking skills because it certainly isn't from her, and neither Lonnie nor Hopper, to the best of her knowledge, are any better than she is.

She picks at a piece of bacon. "Really, you two."

"Sorry, Mom," Will echoes his brother. "It'd just be... weird."

Her eldest nods along. "Really weird."

"Okay, well I'm not pregnant so this conversation can end right here," she says, pushing her seat back and standing. "Now let's go, you two are going to be late."

Her boys grin at each other but do as they're told, both of them getting up to put their empty dishes into the sink. Joyce hands Will his bookbag when he passes and pulls him into a hug.

"Have a good day, honey."

Jonathan follows not too far behind, and when she gives him a hug he says teasingly into her ear, "I'm glad you're not pregnant, Mom."

Shoving him out the door, she shakes her head. "Go learn something, please," she says, grinning at the sound of Jonathan's laughter that trails behind him. 

She stands in the doorway until the car is out of sight, waving to her boys.

Glancing at the clock on the wall she realizes she still has about twenty minutes before she has to leave for work, and so she opts to, for once, actually finish the breakfast Jonathan made for her. She sits back down at the table and chews on some bacon, finishes off the eggs. 

She'll be full for the rest of the day, that's for sure.

By the time she gets out of work she's dragging her feet, rubbing at her temples and dying to collapse into bed. Customers were insufferable today, she had the same woman complaining about 15 different things, and she had to re-stock some of the shelves, which means her back is on fire and her feet feel like they're ready to fall off.

Tonight might be the night to test out the heating pad she got for Christmas. Just the mere thought of lying down with it relaxes her the tiniest bit, has her closing her eyes and envisioning it.

The boys are out of school by now, but she's surprised to find Jonathan's car in front of the house. Usually he'll drop his stuff off and then he'll go over to the Wheeler's for a few hours to hang out with Nancy. Sometimes Will goes with him, but other times he'll stay home—it took a long time for her to be okay with Will at home by himself for more than an hour or so, but he’d pleaded and everything has been okay so far.

Walking through the door, she dries her shoes on the floor mat. When she looks up she notices Jonathan's sitting alone at the table.

"Jonathan?" she questions. He's staring at nothing in particular, and it's... a little concerning. "Is everything okay? Where's Will?"

He looks up, shakes his head. "Will's in his room."

"Okay," she says slowly. "What's wrong? Is something going on?"

Her son doesn't say anything for a few minutes and she almost wonders if he heard her at all, if he's not in his own little world right now. Putting her stuff down onto one of the chairs she waits him out, leans her hand on the table and places the other on his arm.

The contact seems to spur something and he lifts his head, looks into her eyes.

"Am I yours?"

Her forehead wrinkles. "What?"

"Your kid. Am I your kid?"

Oh. Her heart speeds up but she keeps her composure, squeezes at his shoulder. "Of course, baby."

He gives a slow nod, wringing his hands together on the surface of the table. "Okay. Then I'm not dad's, am I?"

Eyes wide, her mouth turns to cotton and she feels the sudden urge to throw up. Keeping her hand on his shoulder she slowly lowers herself into the chair; she needs to be sitting for this, right here, no matter now badly her flight response tells her to flee.

"Jonathan," she gives a small laugh, tries to keep calm. "You're—what would make you think that?"

Reaching in front of him, he slides a thick piece of paper stock from the other side of the table; she hadn't even noticed it, but it has four circles at the top and... oh. It's the blood typing test. Pulling it towards her, she stares at it. Two of the circles are more solidly filled in, the other two are a little spotty, but she doesn't...

"I'm sorry, baby, I don't—what does this mean?"

"It means my blood type is A+," Jonathan says, a slight edge to his voice. "I called dad to ask him his blood type when you said you didn't know it. He's A-."

She's a little surprised Jonathan called Lonnie to find out what his blood type is, but it shouldn't be a problem. This doesn't make sense. She's B-, Lonnie's A- and Hopper's apparently AB+. She knew Jonathan was A+, but that shouldn't raise any alarms.

"Okay," she says, trying to understand even as her heart hammers against her ribs. "An A+ baby is normal for parents with A and B blood types, Jonathan."

"Yeah, but you're both Rh-, Mom," Jonathan says, and she can tell he's getting worked up. Exasperated and frustrated and oh, this is exactly what she didn't want to happen. "Two Rh- parents can't have an Rh+ kid."

Joyce's face pales, every ounce of color training from her skin. Her hands feel clammy and she resists the urge to pull them away from her boy and wipe them on the fabric of her jeans.

It's been a long time since she took Biology and while she was never under the impression she was a star student, she did pretty well. Apparently, though, it would seem that everything relating to Rh in the blood slipped away with time. Shit. 

She didn't even think about that, doesn’t even remember learning it at all.

All she can do is stare just past Jonathan, avoiding his questioning eyes, his stoic face, and focus on regulating her breathing. It quickens with each passing second, and she has to swallow it back, force herself to glance at him.

"Jonathan..."

"Am I Lonnie's?" is all he says, his voice hard.

That he's already switched to Lonnie and not 'dad' tells her he's pretty much figured it out, just wants her to confirm it. It doesn't hurt as much as it should, probably, that her son is distancing himself from the only father he's ever known. Though truthfully, blood or not, Lonnie's never been parent of the year.

Science doesn't lie, she thinks mournfully, and there's nothing she can do to talk her way out of this one or come up with an explanation.

Gathering every ounce of courage she has, she looks Jonathan in the eyes and gives him a sympathetic, soft expression. She grabs hold of his hand, flinching slightly when his fingers twitch, as if he wants to pull back.

"No."

[avoryareinn]

Title: Courage of Love

Genre: Short Story

“Together.”

Have you ever wonder of having a love story that is much alike on Romeo and Juliet? How about the Titanic? Of course except on the fact about the sinking ship. Have you realized how they fought for their love on each other? It lead them to death, except for Rose because she was saved. And yeah, maybe now… no one would ever do that anymore. That kind of courage. Some people might say how stupid for you to fight for an impossible love story but who cares? You want it that way. You want it to win, you want victory because you believe that what you are fighting for is worth winning.

That’s how they define their love story, when Ms. Rude Rich Girl meets Mr. Poor Humble Guy. Their attitude are much more different from one another, obviously because Amyra is the only daughter of her father who owns a casino and almost had their savings account full in five different banks. How about Shaun? Well he was just a son of the eldest chef in their town and now he gets to be a delivery boy who always do part-time jobs just to help his sick father with their restaurant.

Amyra and Shaun met each other during a traffic jam, since Shaun needs to be in hurry he catches vacant spaces in front of other vehicles. Because of this, he accidentally hit Amyra’s car and they had clashed in the middle of the road. The impact between the two vehicles made Shaun mad because he was using a scooter only.

“Oh my gosh. What the hell is wrong with you?!” Amyra was so mad that she could speech right on that moment. She was still inside the car and blaming Shaun for being so irresponsible on the road.

“I’m not the one to blame for. Look on the green lights, you should have moved your freakin’ car!”

“This is obviously your fault!”

“You know what, you shouldn’t have been driving alone because you’re an idiot on the road” he kicked back. The other cars behind started to horn them to get out of the road, so Amyra went out of her car and took out her money.

“Forget that this happened. Go fix your bike and never show yourself anymore if there are still problems.” she threw the money on his face and went back inside the car. Shaun knock on her window from the other side, so she opened it.

“Thank you but I don’t need it. I might be poor but I don’t need money from arrogant rich people. Good day, miss” he pulled out his scooter out of the road as Amyra ignores him and drove her car away. She was riding on a Ferrari that was hit by a scooter of a poor delivery boy who doesn’t know what money could do. Poor creature.

The story of difference went on between the opposite lovers until one day, Shaun’s father passed away and the title of being a chef was passed on him. He doesn’t know that his father used to be the executive chef of Amyra’s family before. He was invited to cook for Amyra’s family on the coming engagement party with one of the sons of her father’s bestfriend and financial partner. Amyra disliked this kind of arrangement mostly if it was more of business purposes, she thought her father was selling her.

So she decided to run away, escape, and leave their house during dinner. She used the chef’s kitchen and was surprised to see Shaun spending his time alone since the food preparation was over.

“You again?” she asked him. Shaun looked at her and took the ladle that was used for getting soup.

“How are you not dead?”

“Why would I die?”

“Because your personality was so awful” he answered. Amyra scoffed, thinking that as if he was a nice guy.

“What’s so funny about that?”

“Nothin”

“Why are you here?”

“I’m the boss’s daughter. That makes me as your madam boss too” she said. Shaun put down the ladle and cleaned up his hands with the towel on his apron.

“Then what are you doing here in the kitchen? Do you want something else to eat?”

“Can I trust you?” Shaun was surprised to hear that. But why not she can’t trust him?

“Yeah sure.”

“My father’s arranging an engagement party for me. He wanted me to marry the son of his business partner, but I don’t want to.”

“Oh that is so bad.” he teased. Amyra frowns at him in disappointment.

“That’s not what I need to hear!”

“Okay then what? I don’t know what to give you as an advice…”

“Just… tell me what should-”

“Lady Amyra? Where are you?” Her father’s guards are looking for her. And for sure the engagement will proceed as soon they finds her. Amyra looked on Shaun with a begging eyes, he sees from her that she really doesn’t want this.

“Come with me.” Shaun held her hands and they ran away out of the kitchen’s back door. They started to run away going to the open field of her family’s vacant lot. As they ran further, it started to rain and so Amyra pulled Shaun instead as they reach a small cabin in the middle of the area.

“Okay now I’m soaking wet.” Shaun complained.

“That was a really bad idea. I’ll get sick now.”

“What do you mean? Aren’t you healthy? You’re a chef.”

“It doesn’t mean that if I’m a chef, I’ll get healthier than the normal people. My family has a history of tubercolosis and that’s how my father died.” he explained. He took off his chef attire and took off his wet shirt, revealing his fit body with two pack abs. Amyra wasn’t interested on what she saw but she was attracted in this kind of man. They stayed inside the cabin, seating on the opposite corner of the house. There’s no fireplace to light up and warm them, also the rain wasn’t stopping yet.

Shaun was looking up on the ceiling while Amyra was left bowed down on both of her knees. She’s freezing already and her clothes are wet too. She looked on Shaun as she called him, “Hey.”

“What’s wrong?” he looked at her. She gasped in coldness and so Shaun made the move going to her. He was hesitant at first, but what else can they do so she won’t be freezing?

“I know this is not the right thing, but I need you to cooperate.” Amyra looked at him, she was shaking because of the coldness.

“What?”

“I need to do a body contact with you so that you will be warm.”

“What the hell? Are guys always like this pervert?” she complain. He was surprised on what she have said.

“Hey excuse me, I’m not pervert. I just don’t want you to die here. I’m not really onto this type of act.”

“Well, think of anything else!”

“It’s cold to think of other else. Why don’t you do it?”

“I’m…freezing. Just do anything else, don’t touch any part of my body!” she yelled but for his ears, he was just hearing her normal voice.

“Fine. I’m gonna dry off my clothes as you blow some air on it, how’s that sound?” he asked with sarcasm. Amyra got mad and ignores him.

“I shouldn’t have asked you to help me. I didn’t know that this would be your stupid idea…”

“You’re welcome!” They were quiet for some time, ignoring each other. Beyond Shaun’s search inside the cabin he found a long cloth, must be a blanket. He took it and showed it to Amyra.

“I found your bestfriend” Amyra looked at him as he went closer to her and wraps her up with the blanket he found. He make sure that she would be warmed up in no time.

“We’ll just wait for the rain to stop.” Shaun went back to the other side of the wall, seats on the corner opposite to Amyra.

“They must be looking for me until now. I really don’t want to marry a guy which I don’t love.” she said.

“Yeah. You’re thinking right.”

“Anyway, I don’t know you yet.”

“I’m Shaun. And you are Amyra.”

“How did you know my name?” she asked. “You stalked me in the internet? Well I’m famous and being stalked by a lot of handsome guys, except for you.” Shaun was left out speechless. She is worse.

“Why aren’t you talking?”

“Okay. I just can’t believe on what you have said.”

“Why? You don’t admit it?”

“Yes I don’t. Because I’m not interested on rich people, plus I heard your name when your father’s bodyguard was calling for you earlier.” Shaun responds. Amyra was speechless too, what she said was just so shameful.

“Well, if you don’t like me… I don’t like you too.”

“Yeah. Now it’s fair enough.” Silence came in the cabin again. But Amyra was bothered when she stares on Shaun. He looked so different from the other guys she met, Shaun was like… a humble and simple man who fights with a girl using rude talks.

“What are you looking at?” he bothered her daydreaming time. Amyra came back to her senses and looked away. Shaun was just staring at her while smirking.

“Have you been in loved?” Amyra asked him, out of bounds. He smiled and looked away too.

“I thought about that too. How about you?”

“I don’t know what it feels to be in love so I don’t know how to determine it among my feelings.” Shaun gave her a final stare and stood up on his place going towards her. Amyra saw him as she got surprised when Shaun bowed down and kissed her on her lips. The time felt like it stopped, even the coldness she felt was gone. It changed onto a warm feeling and she felt butterflies on her stomach. She thought, is that the kind of feeling she kept on questioning? After the unpredictable kiss, they stare at each other.

“Now how’s that feel?”

“Pervert.” the only words Amyra have said. She was blanked and it made Shaun smirk at her. He knows that she liked it because it was new. It was the first. Since that time, the two became so close with each other. They even treated each other as bestfriends and Shaun gets to stay as Amyra’s family’s personal chef. They often meet each other on the cabin and get to tell some stories about the happenings in their lives.

Amyra waited inside the cabin until Shaun arrives. She gave him a hug that made him shocked.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I just missed you. I can’t talk to anyone else.”

“Wait I don’t understand.” he pulls her off of him. They looked at each other, Amyra was tearing up.

“Hey talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“The engagement was still on. I talked about it with father but he insisted and says that the son was interested on me and on the company too.”

“Your father’s using you as a bait.”

“I don’t want to live like this.”

“What else you want to do?” he asked. “I don’t know. I can’t leave this place because for sure father will be looking for me, no matter where I go.” she continued on crying. Now he knows his purpose for being there beside Amyra. He hugged her again as a comfort.

“Please stay with me…” she whispers. It’s really a miracle when you saw a cat and dog became bestfriends, or was it really just bestfriends? The cabin’s door suddenly opened and they were surprised to see Amyra’s father.

“So that’s what it was all about?”

“Sir, let me explain. It’s not what you think-”

The guards pulled off Shaun away from Amyra.

“No. Please don’t hurt him, father!”

“And you Amyra. You’re such a disgrace to this family. He’s the reason why you don’t want to get married?!”

“Yes! Yes he is. I love him and I don’t love the guy you wanted for me!” Amyra received the painful slap from his father. It made Shaun mad and wanted to protect her but he can’t.

“Starting today, this man is fired! Take him away from this place”

“No. I need him father. Don’t take him away from me, he’s the only person who understands me!”

“I won’t tolerate your ignorance anymore young lady!” her father pulled her out of the cabin and brought her back to the mansion while Shaun was dragged out of the area. The two struggle hard to save each other but it’s just the two of them. The odds are against them. One evening, there was another party in the mansion and it was a pool party.

Some of Amyra’s friends went to party with her same as the friends of Amyra’s fiancé which she don’t even love. She stayed alone on the pool but her fiancé disturbs her.

“Want me to cheer you up babe?” Amyra ignores her fiancé and walks away but he pulled her back and started to kiss her everywhere. She struggle on stopping him until she had slapped him really hard. The guy stopped and looked at her, seeing Amyra’s reaction who already had enough.

“You know what? The other girls are much more better than you. Because I could taste them whenever I want. They’re much more bitch than you. You’re useless!”

He left Amyra crying alone. Finally, it has ended and now she could have her freedom. She went on the pool and thought of Shaun, about what she really felt for him before they had separated.

“So was it true?” Amyra was surprised to hear a familiar voice. She saw Shaun who was on the pool, pretending to be a cleaner boy. He went closer to her and Amyra was still shocked.

“What you have said, what you told your father… do you love me?” he repeated.

“Why do I still need to confirm it? You said that you dislike me.”

“You said that you don’t like me too, but you changed it. Why can’t I change mine?” Amyra continued on crying silently.

“Fool. You believe on what I said?” she lied. “I pity you.”

“You’re the one who’s a fool. Because you got caught on the kiss I gave you.”

“Your kiss sucks. You’re not the best one I had.” she insulted. Shaun suddenly pulled her down on the pool and kissed her again, passionately. After the kiss, they stared each other deeply.

“Still not the best one?” Amyra was left out speechless as Shaun embraced her. The splash of the water made the others go out to see what happened and they saw what is happening between Shaun and Amyra.

“You son of a bitch. How did you get in here?! Guards!” the guards respond immediately, but Shaun and Amyra went on the other side. They started running away, wet from being soaked on the pool. The stupid guards were so careful of not touching Amyra violently and that’s their weakness though.

The couple ran away going to where the cabin is headed. They ran further until they reached the forest, the guards are too many even Amyra’s father was chasing them. Reaching the depth of the forest, they got lost and reached a dead end which was a waterfall. Shaun looked at Amyra and she was crying already.

“I know this is late to say but I love you too.”

“I know. I know… I feel it.” she continued crying. “I just wanted to be with you. That’s all.”

“Me too. You’ll be the first and last woman I’ll ever love. Remember that.”

“If ever they get to separate us with each other again, please never ever forget me. Because I won’t be forgetting that I had loved someone like you.” They kissed each other again. The unforgettable kiss they could ever have.

“There’s nowhere to go, Amyra. Leave him.”

They stopped and looked on the people chasing them.

“Why can’t you accept us to be like this? We love each other.” she cried on her father. He was a heartless man, he became numb after his beloved woman left them.

“That man doesn’t love you.”

“Yes he does. You’re the one who doesn’t love me! Because if you really did loved me, you will give me what would make me happy!” she cried.

“You don’t know anything about love, father!” Her father got impatient and took one of the guns from the guards and decided to shoot her but Shaun went over to cover her. Amyra hurriedly catches her beloved man as she embraced him. She cries again, it was a grieving one.

“No… no… no… Shaun. Don’t leave me, no please.”

“I’m sorry. I failed to save you, to protect you.”

“No. Shh…shh…”

“Take my…hand.” Shaun holds her hand as he looked down on the waterfall. She sensed what Shaun was thinking, so she held his hands tighter.

“I’m ready…”

“Together…” Shaun hugged Amyra tightly as her father took another shot on Shaun’s back and they fall through the waterfall of eternity. The last thing they did together shows how the courage of love affects people that truly loves each other.

[misssophiachase]

Castle on the Hill

So, I've finally come out of shock and put this drabble together. I was feeling so many emotions from that finale, mostly happy (WE ARE ENDGAME) but some kind of nostalgic too. I came up with this offering, I hope you guys like it! Just my little interpretation of what could be. Thanks Ed Sheeran as usual for inspiration... First Give Me Love and now this.

I'm on my way, driving at ninety... And I miss the way you make me feel, and it's real. We watched the sunset over the castle on the hill.

New Orleans (19 months post finale).

"Where is he?" Caroline demanded, as the door to the compound flew open.

"Well, good afternoon to you too, darling," Kol replied, raising his eyebrows in her direction. "Are you always this charming, or am I just lucky?"

"Nice to see nothing ever changes with you, little Mikaelson," she shot back. "I've been driving all night and am not in the mood. You also didn't answer my question."

"Nice to see nothing ever changes with those high strung and control freak tendencies, Forbes," he scoffed. "Plus, you're not doing yourself any favours on scoring an invitation inside."

"Kol."

"Fine, come inside, sunshine," he grinned, gesturing with his hand. Caroline stepped past him and made her way purposefully through the courtyard, realising only halfway that she had no idea where Klaus was and where she was going for that matter. "Can I get you something? Perhaps some AB positive or some much needed Xanax?"

"Kol," she repeated, turning around suddenly to face him. She didn't mean to be so abrupt but if she was being honest, Caroline was extremely nervous about their impending reunion and found that it was easier to be angry at Klaus and whomever was in her path because then she wouldn't betray her real feelings. "Where is your brother?"

"I'm right here but I have a feeling I'm not the brother you're seeking," his prim accent sounded out from the upper balcony, making Caroline look upwards at the familiar Original. He was just as she remembered, still dressed immaculately in a black suit. "Good morning Ms Forbes, it's certainly been a while." Caroline had to fight the urge to roll her eyes, why couldn't these people just answer a direct question?

"Yes and by the looks of it she's still just as annoying as when she was planning those school dances," Rebekah interrupted tartly from the other balcony. This time Caroline did roll her eyes, who was going to appear next? Finn, Esther or maybe creepy Mikael?

"While this whole Mikaelson reunion is absolutely charming, I need to find Klaus."

"What business do you have with him?" Elijah asked, always the protector.

"I'm pretty certain that's between him and I," she answered. "But let's just say I have something I need to give back."

It was burning a hole in her pocket as she said it, had been since she jumped in her car and finally made the journey she'd imagined the past nineteen months. It had taken her longer than expected but Caroline put that down to the fact she'd been busy with running her school and after what she'd been through she also needed time to process things. She was equal parts annoyed and confused and had every intention of sharing all of those pesky feelings with the Original Hybrid. When she eventually found him, of course.

"Enough with the drama, you owe me," Kol said, gleefully rubbing his hands together. "So, pay up Rebekah." Caroline whipped her head around and stared at Kol curiously. What the hell was going on? She always knew the Mikaelsons were different but this was just bizarre.

"Excuse me?"

"We had bets on when you'd show up in town," he explained. "Rebekah only guessed three months because she's always been a silly romantic and that desperate for male affection."

"I'm desperate," she shot back. "When was the last time you had a shag, little brother?"

"Seriously? Is this why you invited me inside so you could settle your silly bet?"

"I'm sorry, Ms Forbes," Elijah murmured. "Subtlety and decorum has never been something Kol or Rebekah fully understand."

"Says the guy who was livid about a certain $3m dollar donation made without his knowledge," he snickered.

"That's something I have every intention of rectifying," Caroline murmured, her residual guilt creeping its way back in again. She'd never expected his offering or asked for his money in the first place and that's why she had to return it. "But obviously I need to see your brother."

"Patience obviously isn't one of your best virtues, Caroline," Rebekah scoffed. "You'll find him at the property, like every other day of the bloody week."

"The property?"

"Let's just say it's an investment he's been working on the past year," Elijah shared. "I'll take you there if you like?"

xxxxxx

Caroline watched distractedly as the scenery flashed past the car window. After accepting Elijah's offer she'd been extremely quiet, trying to collect her thoughts. When she'd finally gathered the courage to drive to New Orleans she hadn't worked out exactly what she was going to say. After receiving his letter she wasn't in the right place emotionally to deal with its meaning and the familiar four words he'd expressed. Something that ran through her mind constantly. However long it takes.

The one thing she was certain about was she couldn't keep his donation, it wasn't right. She planned on sending it back but after such a grand gesture she believed he deserved it returned in person. Hence why it had taken her so long to make the trip, her nerves kept getting in the way. Caroline was scared about the emotions it would evoke seeing him. Their last time together had been in the woods and she still shivered at the memory of his touch.

"Don't listen to Kol. I was only upset about the donation initially. Once I found out about your school, I was supportive. It is a very decent thing you are doing, Ms Forbes." A noble future and virtous cause if she wanted to quote directly from his brother's letter. In fact every word he wrote was emblazoned on her brain, something she couldn't erase even if she tried.

"Thank you Elijah, coming from you that means a lot."

"The only thing that surprised me is that you haven't banked that cheque still," Elijah offered.

"I didn't realise you were the family accountant."

"Well, someone has to be given Rebekah and Kol's spending sprees and I've always been a stickler for the rules," he shared, his eyes firmly trained on the road. "You didn't answer my question this time." Caroline paused briefly trying to work out how she was going to reply given she had no idea what she was even going to say to Klaus at this point.

"I never had any intention of keeping the money, it's just taken me a while to get here what with the school and how busy it has been. But I'm trying to make it right now, Elijah."

"Niklaus obviously wanted you to use that money, Caroline."

"I know but I can't accept it," she conceded thinking back through their history, those familiar feelings rushing back as they did often. "What is this property he's invested in anyway?"

"You really need to ask him yourself," he responded mysteriously. They'd begun driving up a steady incline and Caroline was looking at her surroundings curiously.

"Where are we?"

"This is what they call Couturie Forest," he explained. "New Orleans is very flat in general but this is the highest point and home to some of the most beautiful flora and fauna, not to mention a stunning view over the city. New Orleans can be quite overwhelming at times and it is a peaceful place to rest and reflect." For some reason the fact that Klaus spent so much time here didn't seem all that unusual.

"It's beautiful," she sighed, looking at the lush greenery thinking that she didn't feel like she was in New Orleans at all. Growing up surrounded by the woods and lake in Mystic Falls, this was definitely her kind of place. It wasn't until they'd passed more trees that Caroline noticed a grand, white, southern style property beyond the forest. "What's that?"

"Our destination," he murmured. "I'm dropping you outside, I'd prefer to avoid my brother's wrath."

"Way to feed me to the wolf," she said, only half joking.

"We both know he'd never do anything to harm you, me on the other hand..." he drawled, the car coming to a stop outside the impressive property. "Whatever happens Ms Forbes, I'm glad you finally came to town. Some people find my brother evil and calculating but he is extremely loyal and protects those he loves. There's no denying his faults but I truly believe you've made him a better person and that sincere and heartfelt donation to your school is indeed proof of that fact."

"Thank you, Elijah," Caroline smiled, opening the car door and stepping out gingerly. His comments weren't altogether foreign, even through everything Caroline knew there was a big heart buried deep down inside Klaus Mikaelson. Especially when it came to her. She walked the long, gravel path, the stately house making Caroline feel strangely like she was home. It really was beautiful. Caroline knocked nervously on the blue door waiting for him to answer, the nerves swirling around her stomach.

After no response she made her way towards the side of the house and into the extensive backyard, noticing the half built structure which looked like a gazebo overlooking a small pond. Caroline had to admit this was beautiful with the nearby forest on one side of the house and the city on the other making for a stunning backdrop any way you looked. A very own castle on the hill for the King of New Orleans.

"Do you always break and enter?" A familiar English voice asked. Caroline turned not expecting the sight in front of her high atop a ladder. He was dressed in dark, denim jeans that hung low on his hips and a white, tank top that hugged his torso and accentuated some very toned arms tanned by the southern sun. Those necklaces she knew so well were peeking out from underneath. She swallowed trying to calm the residual feelings coursing through her body. Why did he have to look so damn delicious when she was trying to be serious?

"Only when rude people don't answer the door," she shot back finally coming to, Klaus always had that effect on her. Smartass.

"I was busy," he argued, moving down the ladder and towards her. From this proximity Caroline could make out the beads of sweat on his chest and the thick stubble on his face. It took all her willpower not to run her palms along his cheeks and massage those familiar dimples at the same time.

"I can see that," she admitted. "This place is gorgeous."

"Well, I did build it from scratch..."

"You built this from scratch?" Caroline baulked.

"Why does that seem so strange?"

"I thought this was what your hybrids and minions were for?" She couldn't miss the frustrated and weary glance that crossed his face.

"When something means a lot to me I don't leave it up to just anyone," he replied, gruffly. "Look, if you're here to try and return my cheque which is what I suspect, I'm afraid I won't be accepting it now or in the future, Caroline."

"And that's it? I have no say in the matter?"

"Pretty much," he uttered.

"How did you know? I thought Elijah was the family accountant."

"He likes to think he is," Klaus quipped. "Believe it or not after 1000 years, I can check a bank statement myself, love. I think I'd notice if a considerable amount of money had been withdrawn."

"I can't accept such a massive gift, Klaus. It wouldn't be right."

"It's not for you, it's for your school, Caroline," he insisted. "Think of all the wonderful things you could do with that money, think of what it would mean for the children."

"Great! You just had to go there and guilt me out about the children," she growled, making him chuckle. Caroline was trying to ignore just how gorgeous those crimson lips looked curved into an adorable smile. Her instincts were screaming to wipe that smirk off his face with her lips. This is what Caroline was afraid of, all those familiar feelings he caused rushing back.

"Well, did it work?"

"No," she replied defiantly while crossing her arms over her chest.

"Okay, I guess that's going to have to burn a hole in your pocket a while longer until you finally realise just how stubborn and pig headed you're being."

"Well, just for that comment I'm going to sit on this thing forever, mister."

"Well, given you're a vampire it's going to be a while, love. I have the time to wait, you know however long it takes and all." As soon as the four words were out of his mouth, Caroline couldn't help but search his face for some sign. Yes, he'd said it before. Twice in fact but Caroline couldn't help but be a little unsure still.

"So, is this your new castle? Or your fortress in case any of your enemies decide to attack?" She asked, changing the subject on purpose to quell the sensations he was causing while looking around the expansive property.

"This is going to be the New Orleans Children's Magic School one day," he murmured, his reply catching Caroline off guard completely. "Given the amount of supernatural youngsters living in the city it seemed fitting."

"Sounds like I've given someone a good idea," Caroline grinned, knowingly. "Just please tell me you're not going to let Kol near the kids, god knows what he'd teach them if he's left unsupervised."

"Trust me, it's already crossed my mind," he joked. "Actually I was kind of thinking this could be an offshoot of your school given it was your idea and everything," he mumbled, his dark, blue eyes now cast downwards. Caroline was taken aback, did this mean he wanted her to contribute in some way?

"What do you mean exactly?"

"I built this for you, love. I was hoping that if one day you wanted to come to New Orleans I could give you this small gift. I know that the children of New Orleans, including mine, would appreciate your expertise."

Caroline felt dizzy all of a sudden knowing that she needed to sit down and fast. Not only had he donated $3 million to her school in Mystic Falls he'd built her another one in New Orleans. She found the safety of the lush grass quickly, noting his concerned expression.

"You really know how to overwhelm a girl," she muttered. "Just when I think you've reached your limit you just have to go and surprise me again."

"I would never want to be considered boring, love," he smiled, joining her on the grass, his bare arm accidentally grazing hers. Caroline knew the shivers she felt weren't an accident and she was trying to ignore the spicy scent of his soap that had infiltrated her nostrils.

"I appreciate the sentiment, I really do. But it's not all about extravagant gifts, Klaus," she managed to utter. It had been her fear for so long and this latest confession wasn't helping alleviate her fears.

"I'm not trying to buy your love," he murmured, leaning across and surprising her by lifting her chin with his finger so their eyes met. Light blue on dark. "The donation was for your school because I believe it is a great investment. This house is for the children of New Orleans but not only that, I wanted to show you that there is a future for you. Only if you want it. I've already said I'm willing to wait forever."

Caroline could feel the tears that had been building finally spill down her cheeks. Every fear she'd had was coming at her full force. Within seconds his thumb was wiping away the water, making her shudder. It would be so easy to give in and capture his lips with hers right now.

"Why do you love me?" She manage to bite out, trying not to lose control completely. It was something she'd been scared to ask for so long.

"You are Caroline Forbes," he smiled. "That's only for starters but I think it's going to take a while to answer the rest because there are just so many reasons. If you've got some time, I'd be quite happy to tell you, love. In fact there's going to be a pretty gorgeous sunset from the back porch soon if you're interested in staying a while longer?"

"I think I could handle that," she smiled, realising that her trip to New Orleans had probably given her all the answers she needed. Maybe however long it takes was much closer than she ever expected.

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[psych-nightmare]

no 2 reflections

I thought O was outside the ‘witches’ house with a monitor in his ear, weaing a suit.

I thought I went to his place when it was all the Chinese people and the guy who prayed for us. I thought he was too shy to come down the stairs to say hi. I thought David, Mary’s husband was filming/recording so O could see. 

When that guy who prayed for me asked me to forgive everyone, I forgave O and I started coughing up some black/brown stuff. Pretty gross.

After we left that persons place we went to Olympic park. I thought I was going to my marriage w O. How ridiculous, looking back.

Once, I walked around the block 3 times and thought I heard God say if I did and pray for what I wanted I would have it. I prayed in tongues and thought some kids were following me, saying to their parents “we want to follow the teacher”. I stopped outside of Ron’s house and spat in the dirt and played with the mud with a stick (thinking of what Jesus did in the sand by drawing).

Easter day - Another time I skated to D (suburb) beach. I prayed by the lake there. I walked through the back there where the sand dunes were and I prayed in tongues. It felt like I was an Aboriginal person, before the settlement, speaking in their tongues. I was also walking funny like a horse or something. After a lot of prayer, worship and time spent in the word, I gathered up some courage. I said to one random couple “beautiful day the Lord has made”. I then started chatting with a lady who lived out of her van. She was in her 40s and was obviously a bit of a hippie, and “searching”. I gave her a word about feeling like she was searching for answers and told her that Jesus is the way, truth and life and shared some of my testimony with her. She was really touched and I prayed with/for her. I downloaded the bible app on her phone and told her to start reading. She said she felt like she was met by an angel. If this episode was just for her salvation, it would be worth it. Lord, I pray that she would have salvation and that your Holy Spirit will bring her to you. After that I went to some old man’s van where we watched the football game a bit and he gave me water. It could have been a dangerous situation, looking back. It is true that people with schizophrenia are more likely to be victims than perpetrators. 

I was watching a lot of Steve Harvey at the time and I thought him and his crew were at/around my house. I thought they were setting me up with O. I was watching my friend’s instagram stories and somehow came to the conclusion that there was some party w O that i was supposed to go to. I thought steve’s video was talking to me - “put on something nice and go out” so i did. I put on my white mini skirt and white crop top and snuck outside. I went through the downstairs laundry and over the fence. I then waited outside my front yard for a bit, thinking steve or someone would come pick me up. I was shy, thinking i’d meet O. I then walked up the street and ended up in W + Tr yard. I heard some noises like a snake or cricket that i thought O was making the noises and hiding from me. I ended up chasing what i thought was him around and around the garden. I ended up in the back of their place. “The man cave” was where i thought O was hanging out. I thought Josiah, Leroy and a bunch of people were hiding inside, being really quiet and that i was supposed to find them. i kept knocking on the door, making beats, dancing and doing stretches like a back arch thing. I also started playing my “Jesus rap” from my phone and full on dancing/praying in tongues. I felt like i was like letting go of my ex (ST) spirit or something. It was so strange. I was like doing really primitive/tribal dances and felt like my steam be smoke that was rising. I ended up kneeling down at the door of the man cave with my hand on the bricks of the house praying “bless this man” thinking i was blessing/praying for O. I then wiped the sweat from my back and drew a cross on a bull’s skull thinking that Christ would resurrect dead things. I also thought that all the landscaping stuff was what O had prepared for me. I saw in the window of the man cave “things identified are of value” with lots of little things made inside, which again, I thought O had made for me. Then, the cops came. “Why are you here?” “Have you had anything to drink or any drugs tonight?” I answered shyly and shocked, with Tr on the balcony “they know me, they’re my neighbours”, “why are you here?” they asked, “it felt safe” i replied. They then asked me for my details and when they asked for my phone number I thought they were going to give it to O or they were flirting with me. There were two men. They insisted on walking me home. I said I could do it myself and that i just lived down the street a bit. They then spoke to dad and mum. i was so scared that i was in trouble that i went to downstairs big bed and curled up. Mum was really sweet and assured me that i was not in any trouble at all.

The next few days i noticed bruises on my biceps. i thought someone, O, had forcibly held me down. I remembered a strange memory that i thought had happened. I thought I had let O in that night and that he slept on the right hand side of me. I thought i had touched his upper body and his head rolled back and that he pounced on me and had sex w me hence the bruises. (i later got a pee test for pregnancy/stds). I watched some weird sermon that confused me further. it was saying some bible story in which a husband had to consummate the marriage by force and i thought that was what had happened. After the sex, i thought i was saying to O, it was all written long ago and i saw a scroll. i told him how we should’ve been married by Oct 21 last year (2018) so we could just have sex or whatever. I thought we were already spiritually married from that date.

I thought O lived downstairs, in the spare room and mum had made him promise not to see me and just to look after me. I remember looking downstairs a few times in the middle of the night, trying to find him. I thought our body clocks had synced up as i woke up in the early morning. I thought he was lying to the right of me in my single bed and i was stroking his abs (which was actually my mattress, lol). but he had to go to work early and i’d always miss him. I was getting frustrated that i never saw him. i’d miss him in the morning and i’d get ready early in the afternoon for him to come and take me to the movies or watch netflix with me in the living room. i asked dad if he could come over for dinner. i texted my friends (CB and JG) as though they were him and ended up in an awkward situation with a guy called Branden who i thought was O. My high school friend, CB, became concerned and confused as he started contacting her. 

I thought O was at Lreef (suburb), wanting to see me. One night after bugger all sleep mum and i went to maccas. i remember a grey van in front of us wave their 4 hands out at the same time, thinking that was O and his friends. when we were driving my stomach hurt a lot when we went over bumps. It felt so uncomfortable. After, we drove past suburb C where gma lives (i thought i heard people saying it was my wedding or something) and then to LR (suburb) where i was texting O (who was actually Bran lol) asking him not to be shy and come to see me. I thought i saw him come out of a van with a beard and boner. i thought he had been living on the beach. i walked to the toilet and thought he followed me. but he didnt. i told him to come to the car to speak to me. he didn’t come. 

Once, we were driving and the car in front of me was letting out feathers. Another time, i was driving past that field on the corner of Cro (suburb). and there was what looked like a veil go past the road.

Once we went to D (suburb) for a swim in the pool. We drove past the main part/street and i saw my grandma sitting on a chair w her head on her hand, looking hopeful. I did some laps in the pool, thinking O was watching/too scared/shy to say hi. i did some weird things like touch the numbers to make some sign like the song ‘countdown’ by Beyonce about “i’m tryna make a 3 from the 2 still the 1′ on the lane numbers.

We put curtains up in my room. felt like i was being strangled by them. 

Once i wasn’t wearing a bra when sleeping. i thought dad came in and was trying to touch my face but accidentally touched my boob.s

really strange, thought my class came to my place and were standing outside my room. i told the girls to come in. i thought ishak was in my bed w a few other girls and i was showing them random stuff from the word? i think. and i was colouring and rapping random things. so strange, i know.

Downstairs, I was dancing/worshipping thinking that my phone camera was recording me and broadcasting me to a large church and i was like prophesying over people. i did this a few times, splashing coconut water around the mirror.

Mum and i walked at (colour) Hill. i thought i heard guys in the bushes. thought O was there saying things to me.

my aunty told me some story about someone - i thought it was about everyone - all my cousins and stuff at her place/my place and O stepped over Chloe w filth on him. i thought O and i had done sexual stuff and he was lying “like an african in his filth” - her words i thought.

mum and i went around near my fav lil beach - secluded i went there w my mums side cousins (suburb). i saw some massive house for sale and thought O and i had been out there cause of a music video i had seen. we saw some guy fishing and i said to mum “it’s time for me to catch my big fish”. at that wharf, some people got picked up by a boat and the guy who was driving the boat said “i have to make sure i get the right people”. i thought they were being taken to my wedding lol. i got annoyed w mum cause she didn’t bring her phone and couldn’t contact O who i thought she could contact for some reason.

i was praying heaps for some people to come and pray for me. I said to mum “the disciples are coming. u have to make sure u let them in”. I thought people were taking it in turns to pray for me outside my house in a van. I thought J (guy i used to like in HS) and J + J (youth pastors at ML) were taking it in turns there.

I also was playing music and i was like “i wish someone would play with me”. I thought O’s sisters were close - in the garage and going to come and play in a band w me.

at N. lake mum and i were sitting there. i thought O was behind me, too scared to make a move (bc i thought i would get engaged at the lake). I felt him have his hand on my back thru the chair, praying for me). and his friends encouraging him to see me. I thought i saw mila upstairs in a restaurant looking down judging me. she looked so evil. i was dancing there, “crushing satan under my feet”.

I once snuck out thinking O would find me and take me to BH (suburb) maccas. I was reading something in the word and got super excited and wanted to share it. i ended up walking to my aunties, thinking O may be there. i did it for “all the lost souls who had to take that path”. I thought O was outside saying “you made me so worried, you know”. I had some water at mindas and thought about turning it to wine lol.