#AND he was thinking about killing nico how would the tape help him kill nico????

[ooogleys]

DRDT SPOILERS IN TAGS!!!!

highkey i would hate being ace markey

[thefandomenchantress]

Wait a second. (Spoilers for Chapter 2 Episode 13)

I always knew that Ace being a smartass about what the word for carousel is was important!!

The killer actually does misspell responsible as “responsibel”, meaning Teruko actually can use their comments as evidence that none of them would make this grammatical error. In fact, Ace does it twice.

Which means that Ace is 100% not the culprit, right??? RIGHT???

No but seriously making a point to show Ace is a stickler for grammar twice is very funny and also kinda weird. Drdt hides important stuff in jokes sometimes, so part of me does wonder if it will somehow be relevant to the case.

Time for a random shot in the dark as to how that would happen:

Maybe people start to get suspicious of Ace, since he saw the contraption that Nico may or may not have tried to kill him with, had a chance to grab the tape, and has been directing suspicion at people all trial. And when they get to the note and explaining how it was written, someone says that Ace would totally be dumb enough to misspell responsible.

Teruko doesn’t want them putting all their eggs in the Ace Did It basket, and knows that she didn’t see Ace grab the tape when he was getting up off the floor, so she is searching for contradictions. Cue the random guess mini game as she looks through the evidence for anything that can prove Ace isn’t the culprit. The wheel lands on Spinny Thing, and Teruko remembers this moment and tries to use it as evidence. It, at the very least, buys her time to figure out actual reasons for Ace’s innocence other than “Guys don’t just rely on Ace’s stupidity to explain any and every contradiction in logic this causes”.

Anyways yeah I wanted to point out that there is a small chance that this joke could actually help prove Ace’s, Charles’, or Nico’s innocence. They know big words and they wouldn’t misspell responsible haha.

Also, on the truth bullet it says “Carousel” but Teruko says “spinny thing” out loud. Which makes me think she was just mad about Ace correcting her earlier and, despite knowing the real term, used “spinny thing” just to piss him off.

[demodraws0606]

Not gonna lie as someone who has kinda changed their opinion on culprit!Eden as I think she's the most likely to have commited atp from the fact that she could've gotten hold of two pieces of evidence (ball of clothes + tape).

There are a lot of arguments that I think about people who don't want Eden to die now, and honestly the only good argument i've found was "killing her would upset the balance of the cast".

Killing Eden would definitely lead to the main source of sunshine on the cast being murdered, however a slight counterargument to that would be that we don't know how Eden's death would change other contestants. The biggest exemple would be Levi, as I can see him trying to take on a role of support if Eden if she ever passed away (he clearly seems to want to be helpful to the cast).

I also think people overexagerrate the amount of characters that are actively antagonistic as most of chapter 2's goal was to show (most of) everyone's darker side. Character like Hu, Nico, Charles, J, Levi and Rose I feel like could be helpful in the future. I don't think we necessarely need Eden to have companionship or light in the cast.

It would definitely damper the mood 100 pourcent but depending on how her death would be executed, I feel like it would definitely leave an impact on the cast that would influence how they act.

Another argument that I find credible against culprit!Eden would be how it would cause regression in Teruko's character.

However I think that depends on how Eden's death is handled and how Teruko just handles it in general. The reason why Teruko snapped the way she did in trial 1 was because of a culmination of multiple things.

In fact maybe Teruko could find that if she trusted Eden or stayed at her side, maybe Eden wouldn't have gone to the road of killing Arei (but were talking about possibilities of a possibility here). If Eden did end up killing someone, it would be because she ended up being isolated.

One argument though I see often but I find is completely wrong though is "It would be like cutting Eden's arc short, every other character would be better for their arc"

That I heavily disagree with because I'd argue Eden kinda is the character with the least amount of developping to do.

She already has a (mostly) good mindset in terms of her positive thinking. In fact she's almost the paragon in the cast, the one with the most morals which makes her the least likely to really need positive developpement. It also wouldn't be fitting for her to have a regression arc afterwards.

The main two flaws Eden has, is her guilt and her not really accepting of her own "weakness" (negative emotions and all that). Both of which would be addressed by her being the culprit.

In comparison, killing another character would definitely cut their arc short.

Whit, he's the one we've seen the less of the uglier side of, we don't know why he acts the way he does and we don't know what is behind his jokester persona. His relationship to his mother and his past would also be left unadressed. We also don't know what his special intuition means despite it being highlighted constantly. Overall, I feel like despite Whit being my 2nd pick for the culprit, he'd definitely be lost potential.

I could do this with almost every character, like Nico with their relationship to Hu (who also really needs her own developpement) and how they deal with almost killing Ace.

J and her relationship with Arturo, as well as her own heavy belief against murder as another exemple just there is a lot

The thing is Eden seems to have been written as Teruko's companion, the one that would allow Teruko to be softer and open up to people. She does give big protagonist compainion vibes, however it could just as well be easily have been something to subvert our expectations

[gleamingtempest]

Who do you think is the culprit?

Ace or a third party.

Eden is completely clear IMO, not only because I don't believe there would be a fully illustrated sequence of CGs just for a scene where Teruko chooses to trust Eden only for it to end up not mattering, but also because she couldn't collect the fish & I do not believe anyone is Eden's accomplice.

In regards to a third party:

If the glove was used, there was a reason it wasn't put back. One of those reasons could be that the glove was destroyed beyond repair. Ace & Eden wear gloves. Why wouldn't they just use a spare pair of their own gloves?

That being said, the only people who could've collected the fish and committed the murder which aren't Ace, are Rose & Levi - who, IMO, both have obvious reasons it isn't or couldn't be them.

Levi could not wear that glove. A workaround for Levi could be that he modified the glove using the dress up room but I don't know the logistics of that. There is a sewing needle in the trash can so IDK - maybe?

Rose is less tangible; I just don't believe it's makes sense to give her that scene with Teruko only for her to be the killer.

The tape is also an issue, because how could anyone other than those two even access the tape? If Eden took it and isn't the murderer, she would tell. If Ace took it and isn't the murderer, he might keep silent to save his own ass but, he definitely didn't directly give it to anyone at least.

The closest party to the tape immediately after the gym scene would've been Levi, which is another coincidence lining up for him to be the killer. That being said, would Levi kill? That would be "bad" right? Unless he was just lying. Which, wouldn't be out of character either.

Another thought is Hu - since she could still be lying about her alibi. Nico would call her out though unless they had a reason not to. The only reason worth considering why they wouldn't IMO is that they hate Ace so much they're willing to die to kill him but I feel that's kind of extreme. It would be kind of funny though.

Occam's razor dictates Ace. Nothing solid clears him & the fish clear Eden. I also don't know how much longer this trial is going to be so, it's really dependent.

If we're almost done, it's Ace and we'll find out next episode. If we're not, it's a third party. Those are my thoughts.

I hope this was helpful, insightful or engaging. : ) Everyone is free to leave their own thoughts on this as well.

[rpg-elf-girl]

I have a lot of thoughts right now about the latest episode (14)

Here's your warning to watch the episode before reading the post:

Okay okay okay

So I went back and watched the sequence of the whole Ace body discovery to try and see if there's anything there after the whole tape debacle this episode.

Here's a little recap of what happened for reference (episode 6 ~ timestamp: 18:36-21:55) :

-Teruko and Eden go to the workout room and see Nico over Ace, They run off

The tape is clearly by Aces feet here and remains there for some time

-The girls have a talk about the situation, Eden freaking out, and Teruko suspects Nico

-Teruko starts investigating, & Eden says she needs to process what just happened, Teruko tells her to sit down and not to touch stuff

-Teruko does her investigation she points out the tape here

-Eden comes over and offers to help after a little bit of this

-Teruko starts to investigate Aces body

-Ace gets up screaming and knocks Eden down

(it's about here the tape dissappeard)

-Eden gets up, surprisee Ace is alive

-after some more screaming Ace bolts out of the room and after Nico

-MonoTV promptly kicks everyone out

Okay, so I have some thoughts about all this. Character and story wise I have a hard time believing Eden did this but I don't think it's possible for Ace to have stolen the tape or mimicked the crime.

I can get behind him killing motive wise, but not with the method presented here.

The mans been scared to death since the start, got even more paranoid after the first case, literally everyone shits on him, he overheard Teruko saying he'd probably die, theres Veronikas whole disection of him in the cafeteria fight scene, and now he's nearly been murdered. So him getting paranoid and desperate isn't too far off. Also, him having nothing to do with Arei would be a good cover for him, so I don'treally count that as a defense of him.

That being said according to Nico, he woke up mid murder and fell unconscious again. How much of the method could Ace have possibly seen? Also, something that strikes me as odd is something in this image:

Ace's hands are covered in blood, so even if he theoretically grabbed the tape, wouldn't there also be blood on it? How would he hide it when using it for Arei's Murder?

Also the minute he woke up he was the center of attention, so I highly doubt he would even have time to properly hide the tape from both Teruko and Eden, or that he'd even be thinking of that the second he wakes up from nearly dying.

So because of all that, I don't think it's possible for him to be the killer here.

Opportunity wise, Eden has the most chance at staying undetected, seeing as she was on the floor around when the tape disappeared. She also had the opportunity when she was resting to observe the crime scene so she could more easily figure out and mimic the murder method.

That being said, Eden as a killer confuses me so freaking much, I feel there has to be some curveball here????? Like she'd have to have a pretty clear head directly after seeing a whole ass body so?????

I get Arei said she's likely not as innocent as she appears, but this feels like a bit much. Unless she's being blackmailed leading to some traitor reveal? It's really hard to say.

Anyway, that's my two cents here.

The two people I thought would least likely be the killer are the two main suspects, and now my brain is soup.

[googledetective]

my thoughts on the new episode as always, as I am currently losing my shit lol. I know a lot of people dislike me after last ep when I spoke up about my thoughts, but this time I'm ready to be more mature about it.

1. I love the Hu argue uhhh thingy! I forgot what it's called ngl! I love her and Nico's new sprites too, they were really all amazing and conveyed so much emotion!

And then Hu said this 💀

genuinely insane analogy to make here. I'm sorry, but that was actually insanely uncalled for imo.

2. I think everyone forgot Hu's custom weapon is wire, (if you realized and predicted this, huge props to you), and I did not expect Nico to try and frame Hu for murder like that. NicoHu divorce arc when??? Just kidding, but they're much more cruel then I originally thought. I completely understand trauma from not being accepted as the person you are which was likely in the form of bullying/abuse, but I was genuinely surprised that they really try and murdered Ace just because they didn't like him and they didn't want to go through that again. Very interesting. I also feel very bad for Hu, because she's poured her heart into trying to protect Nico, and even though her methods are EXTREMELY flawed, it must hurt to know someone you really tried to help would try to frame you for murder. This makes me wonder if Nico felt Hu was a threat to their sense of self like Ace was, if they were going to try and pin a murder on her. I'm glad Charles and J told Hu to shut up though, because she was becoming unreasonable. I really hope things turn out the best for her though, because it's clear she's coming from a place of kindness, even if her kindness is mostly self-serving.

3. As much as I don't really like the guy, I'm very glad to have seen Ace pop off. Everyone has treated him like shit, and even if he's treated everyone like shit back, he did not deserve to be almost murdered and then for people to just not care. I really hope Ace ends up making a friend if he isn't the killer, because he really deserves someone to care about him the way mostly everyone in the cast already has someone.

4. They both make very good points here. I think Ace deserves an apology, but a real one.

5. "of course I regret doing it, I'm not Levi" - Nico

THATS ACTUALLY INSANE- but that may be my favorite line of the ep. I'm glad Nico regrets the crime though, because I was scared for awhile they didn't and there might be another incident of the same thing again. This makes me think they won't try and kill again, but it's drdt so you never know, and I think they're a definite threat if they get provoked to that point so easily.

6. I feel so bad for Rose, but let me say, dare I say, I think Whit asking if Rose is okay might've been the sweetest thing Ive ever seen. A lot of people tend to forget that Whit is actually very compassionate, so I'm glad to see that part of him shine through again. Rose is so human, and I think she may be the most realistic character I've ever seen portrayed in a fangan. A lot of characters are able to just get back up after a murder, but she's stuck, and I think I would be the same way. Unfortunately there's zero mental health professionals (obviously, cause they all need to be in a ward) in drdt, but I hope that she maybe can come to cope in a healthier way with what's going on around her, because she doesn't deserve this mess. I didn't actually realize before that the cast had put her on a bit of a pedestal due to her amazing memory, but it makes sense. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I hope that Rose comes to peace with the turpentine and the tape thing because it really isn't her fault and that she can get help for her trauma due to Min and Xander, and Teruko's almost death. No matter how much people expect her to memorize a crime scene, she's human, and we all take things at much different paces.

7.

Hey David, didn't Whit teach us that trauma is a serious thing? You know I've been defending this guy a bit because of how he helped Eden and how I think he's trying to do what's right, but NEVERMIND. Because what the actual fuck is wrong with him to say something as messed up as these two statements. Rose and Arturo do not owe you anything, and they deserve to heal healthy, and at their own pace.

8. Teruko defending Rose was not in my ch2 trial bingo card, but oh my god, that really is sweet. I think Teruko really has started to change from talking with Rose.

I'm running out of images so I can't include her monologue, but it genuinely makes me happy she's starting to get some sort of character development. She really deserves it, and Charles really deserved being so fucking right about being social, lol. Also Teruko thanking Rose with that genuine smile on her face- brought me to tears. I hope they become friends :)

9. Ace and Eden, huh? To be honest, I'm completely torn and I can't see it being either one of them, but then again, I can't see it being anyone. I know so many people are complaining about not having a culprit reveal this ep, but I'm fine. I could wait another year and a half for the reveal. Actually, I don't think we need one at all. Maybe the true drdt is the friends we made along the way. Maybe it's better to choose delusion that nobody could've done it than it to have been Ace or Eden. Maybe, I killed Arei.

(I'm not that smart so I don't think I should be making killer theories, lol. I think it's safe to say I should stick to memes.)

10.

LMAOOOO. She right though.

11. "It pains me to come to Ace's defense" - David

another laughable moment, but a win for the Acevid shippers, I guess. I don't think David was lying though, and it was my suspicion all along that he had seen the body before anyone. I'm not very smart so I'm a bit confused as to whether later they're saying David actually did see her body (which is weird bc he'd have an alibi), or if he thinks someone else might've seen it and wanted to include that as a possibility.

12.

Teruko handled this whole situation super well, I was very impressed with her. Obviously you can't rule Eden out as the killer and Teruko explained that, but she was so compassionate and understanding about it that it made me cry. I never thought I'd say this, but here's a Teruko W. As for Eden pleading... I wish I could say more and I'm sure I'll be able to later, but it's just so likely she could be the culprit that I can't take anything she says at face value rn, and I was having trouble empathizing with her. Of course that's just my take, and I have already chatted with others who felt the whole scene was just a heartwarming experience, and that makes me really happy. This being said, the fact Teruko immediately turned to Ace as her main suspect TOOK ME OUT. I feel so bad for him he has literally done nothing but be suspicious to warrant this, while Eden is at the same level of suspicion. I really like that Teruko is playing favorites now, because Eden's been so good to her all this time.

13. I forgot to include David trying to get Teruko to not trust others!!! Shit!!!

Is that seriously how he plans to end the kg.. I can kinda see what he's going for bc so far the trope is in most danganronpa that you need to trust others to live and be fulfilled (not saying drdt is gonna follow that trope though). Hm.

Bro is actually down horrendous for Teruko though 😭

tierlist after watching this ep (kill me now)

[rulanarinrush]

very disjointed thoughts on ch2

Please note that this isn't a theory. While I talk about the likely culprits of this case, I'm not making any definitive statements about who the killer is. I state who I think the killer is, but like. It's probably wrong, anyway. We don't have that much information yet.

Please note that some stuff might be wrong because I haven't gone back and rewatched the entirety of drdt ch2. If there's something wrong in here you can let me know.

Let's start with the gym tape. While I've seen many people point that only Eden, Teruko(did not do it, assuming we have a reliable narrator) or Ace could have grabbed the gym tape, but I also think it's possible that Levi could have taken it. This is due to our limited view from Teruko's POV. When Ace is having his home invasion Open Up! breakdown in front of Nico's door, after Levi offers to help him with his neck, Ace has his little we no besties spiel and then goes to his room. I think this because we hear a door slam immediately afterwards. Is it possible he just ran to the infirmary? Yes, but we know the infirmary has a sliding door. If he closed the door that hard we hear a slam, considering how far apart the living quarters are from the infirmary, I'm quite impressed by how stable that sliding door is. He really has no other reason to go to any other room while his neck is bleeding. But notably, we hear Levi walk off before Teruko decides that it's time to let the plot pass. Where did he go? It's possible he just went to the infirmary, but we also don't know where Eden went. Maybe Eden followed him to the gym? Maybe she gave him the sticky tape because he wanted it for some reason?

I can't refute the idea that maybe someone was in their room and overheard everything, we know from the cactus scene that the rooms aren't soundproof, and then decided to pick up the gym tape later. I also can't refute the idea that Ace could still be Arei's killer due to again, the gym tape and the resistance band from like. I want to say episode 2 or 3? Sorry I'm too lazy to rewatch things I immediately can't remember. I also... don't remember if it actually is a resistance band, as I'm not well-versed in gym equipment(Teruko moment), but I want to say so. I think it's fairly obvious some sort of contraption, probably a pulley lever of some kind, was used to kill Arei due to the scuff marks on the playground equipment that are fairly straight that indicate that there was a rope tied to there, and the friction from the rope took the paint/created the scuff marks off as the water filled jugs with the fish in it had enough combined mass to create enough force to snap Arei's neck when she dropped(hence why the handles on the jug are broken), all this to say that the resistance band could have been used to bind everything together, as the synthetic rubber would be unlikely to break even when stretched a lot. In a show with a limited runtime, they're not gonna just drop a detail like "Ace has the resistance band" and not use it somehow now, or in a later chapter. chekhov's gun or smth like that i dunno

*

Let's talk the infirmary scene. I regret to tell you that my brain is made of sponge and I don't remember what day of ch2 Arturo decides to bend a full 60 degrees downward and threaten a girl only 13 inches taller than Levi's boobs, but I do remember that the conversation about Arturo's secret only happens before Arei intervenes. She does hear the tail end of it, which maybe means the killer decided to run a lap around the place and come back later once they saw Arei, but that... just does not make any sense to me. (So like, how would Arei have not caught someone else just eavesdropping in front of the infirmary? It's a sliding door without anything like a potted plant to hide behind). Basically, how does the killer know both that Eden has Arturo's secret and that Arei promised to do anything for Eden? I'll get to that later but I don't think that's a plot hole. I think this detail is actually extremely relevant and something Charles catches on to in his refutation of the crime.

It's also entirely possible that Eden's the killer and this is an irrelevant thing to bring up, but. We'll get to that later too. I wish I put in more than two seconds of thought before writing this.

*

Here I'd like to discuss the cliffhanger we were left on, aka Charles' refutation of the time. (Honestly, I don't even remember what time David was in the relaxation room, possibly rendering this entire write up moot but whatever...) Charles is an interesting character in a class trial because his perspective on the crime is going to be different from everyone else. Since he can't be looking at our strung up victim, he basically has to visualize the crime soon based on details orally told to him. In other words, he's less likely to make assumptions than even us as viewers. This is kind of awkward considering I just said he doesn't make assumptions but like. Consider, for a moment, what we've been assuming about this crime. So much of the 10th??? episode is based on the contents of the note. Now, I'm not going to say the note is completely irrelevant to the case. But why are we taking all the evidence left behind that the killer, who likely has no witnesses or at least has an accomplice that's helping them, at face value?

Why are we assuming that note isn't a fake piece of evidence, basically. Not in the sense that it's completely irrelevant, as I believe that note is going to be the killer's downfall ironically enough, but why are we assuming that Arei ever got that note at all? Who's to say that the killer didn't just write that note up after killing Arei, then tore it up and put in the trash so they'd have fewer people actually investigating the crime scene? It's an incredibly smart piece of misdirection actually, considering how good it was at breaking David's mind over the guilt he feels in "convincing" Arei to try to be a better person.

This is why I believe that there isn't a plot hole when it comes to the killer knowing both Arei's promise to Eden and that Eden has Arturo's secret. I believe that the crime never occurred at 7:30, sometimes either before or after that time, at the crime was a spontaneous one after a confrontation with Arei. If Arei divulged this information, it would explain a lot of things.

I acknowledge this is also a giant assumption that's probably wrong. Essentially, I'm imagining that Charles did what is kind of like a proof by contradiction(think the most common way of showing √2 is irrational) and he's putting all the evidence he knows together and thinking "if I assume this is wrong, do other things begin to make sense?" and if you think that the time is wrong, many other things about the case begin to fall into place.

I think a lot of the reason we take the note at face value is because of how straightforward the first trial was, and Min was under a lot of duress. Much of the evidence was extremely helpful at nailing her as the killer(the water especially) and I don't really consider the out of order sign to be fake evidence, since it made the light switch even more conspicuous. I was waiting for the reveal that Min gave the water to somebody only to find out that Min was the killer. Anyway, this is also why I don't think Eden or Arturo is the killer. Not in the sense that they have no motive, but like. If they were the killer, why on earth would you leave that note behind? Why wouldn't you eat the note cookie monster style or just flush it down the toilet? It's just paper. One of the key components of dr trials is trying to frame another person for your crime(like Min) because a "perfect crime" is essentially impossible in such a tight, cramped setting. Eden really has no reason to leave that behind, especially for a crime this good. It's just weird to me that you would set up this whole contraption(which i believe was done to give Arei the least amount of pain as possible because like. Why wouldn't you just bind her wrists and drown her in the relaxation room pond then? It saves you way more trouble than going fish scooping with the water. Death from spinal cord injuries generally??? cause near instant death) and then just assume "they're never gonna look through the trash" cuz like... okay... why even bother ripping it up then... why leave that there if you didn't want it to be found? It places too much suspicion on Eden.

That was a lot of yapping for what is essentially Charles' quote during the trial, "Are you simply saying you took the killer's Arei's words at face value?"

*

motives!! my favorite. (please pretend this is a good transition) i love thinking about how weirdly worded these are, and why is the mastermind so weirdly sympathetic to Xander? "Your family is dead and you deserve to feel bad about it you were a selfish little boy" essentially conveys the exact same thing and all the "boohoo, but it's not your fault" at the end (Xander is one of my favorite characters I'm just mean) is completely unnecessary in a motive. If you compare the wording of the motives, Xander's secret compared to Arturo's is like day and night. One absolves him of guilt, and the other places the blame on him. Sure, maybe the mm already knows Xander is dead so he's not gonna be tempted or whatever but there's still no reason for it to be so cozy.

Speaking of Xander's motive! I am someone that believes David is lying about receiving Xander's secret and that's Teruko's secret. A very unoriginal thought, considering Teruko straight up says Xander's secret is also missing, implicitly implying she doesn't believe David at all, but I'll explain why. I'm going to assume(lol) that all the names under the motives that have been revealed besides Xander's are correct. Too much mental gymnastics otherwise. So we have Teruko, Hu, Veronika, Levi, and Min. Despite what I said earlier, all the secrets are very carefully worded. Particularly, the secret talks about parents and siblings. Parents, as in two or more parents. Siblings, as in two or more. Let's knock off each candidate. Teruko only mentions knowing of an (older??? maybe i hallucinated this detail) brother. Why would she feel any guilt over any other siblings she maybe has? Next, Levi. I think in like episode 1, Levi mentions only his mother and brothers. So he's got the siblings part, but no two more parents. Min's parents I think??? Were probably implicitly implied to be alive in her bonus episode, at least before entering Hope's Peak. Hu and Veronika... ok I've got nothing other than "I think they have each other's secret."(Veronika's secret is very well foreshadowed I think and so is Hu's) That's not an argument at all but just roll with it.

So now. Whose motive did Arei get?

Ok this is not an original thought at all either. I think it's Levi's. There are plenty of other posts floating around this website and Twitter about Levi's suspicious behavior during the trial, the whole scene with him and Eden during episode 1, his weirdly violent tendencies, Arei glaring at him in initial motive giveaway, go look for those instead. They're much better written and much more concise and they deserve your support. If he didn't want Arei to suffer, if this murder was something triggered(I've noticed there are some parallels to the structure of the first dr game), this whole neck breaking thing makes way more sense.

He's also probably the only one that could knock Arei out quickly before she screamed without the use of turpentineagain^tm. If the killer used turpentine again I've got nothing against that either, it just makes Ace more suspicious.

I didn't know where to place this, and I know this thing is getting too long, but Hu is also very suspicious due to the wire used by Nico on Ace probably being hers. I've also got nothing for that other than "I think her arc has too much setup to blow up this early." Same with Ace.

*

anyway here's who i think is the most likely culprit

1 Levi

2 J/Ace

3 Hu/Whit

4 Eden/David

5 everyone else

when chapter 2 is over if i've left the fandom for some reason and even if i'm still here(probably) you are all allowed to send me pictures of clowns when I'm inevitably proven wrong. permission granted to be a little mean

[illuminatedjoy]

Ace!Culprit Theory

I'm writing this on Thursday the 19th and I'd like to get it out before episode 14 arrives and shifts the case more. During my recent rewatch of chapter 2, I started to think Ace is the culprit, and the two newest episodes have further convinced me and helped me understand how it happened.

First, touching on the murder attempt in the gym. Back when Chapter 2 part 1 came out, I considered the possibility that Nico didn't try to kill Ace, and he actually attempted suicide. The trial shot that theory down fast when Nico confessed they did in fact attempt to kill Ace.

Or, did it? I think what happened was that Ace tried to hang himself, but the fan collapsed, drawing Nico to the gym. They would have been feeding the fish around that time. Nico saw him unconscious and unguarded, and tried to finish him off by cutting his throat with the wire. This was an attack of opportunity for Nico. Whether they truly meant to follow through on their initial threat or not, they were willing to go through with it when Ace was right in front of them.

Now, there are two pieces of evidence I need to address here, the turpentine and the wire. If Rose didn't notice Nico stealing the turpentine, she just as easily might have not noticed Ace steal it, so that's easy. Ace could have dosed himself with turpentine to pass out during the attempt and avoid pain. But the wire...

I previously thought, as many people did, that Hu gave Nico the wire and encouraged them to kill Ace. She would have either helped them win the trial or betrayed them and allowed Nico to be executed. However, I don't think this is consistent with Hu's actions in the trial.

I'm not saying she can't be a culprit later on, but I don't think she's lying about how she feels here. Therefore, trying to kill everyone to save Nico makes no sense, and throwing Nico under the bus makes no sense because of how she usually treats them. I also don't think Nico would have known about the mechanics of hanging if Hu wasn't helping them.

So, how'd the wire get to the gym? The same way the rope got to the playground: the culprit took it out of storage. We now know that Hu has struggled with suicidal tendencies most of her life. Speaking as someone who struggles with the same thing, I do not like to keep things in my home I could easily kill myself with if I can help it. It's not worth the risk. I think Hu put her wire in storage for her own peace of mind, perhaps after learning that Arei got rid of her rope. Ace took it for his suicide attempt because he thought it would be sturdier than the rope.

One more thing about Ace attempting suicide is this line. It's what originally made me think it was likely, but I kind of let it slide after Nico admitted to attempted murder.

So, I definitely think Ace has the most solid murder motive out of anyone in the cast. He's already given up on surviving the killing game. He's convinced everyone is out to get him, and he's shut out anyone who might offer him assistance like Levi or Eden. Furthermore, he has no alibi, either at night or in the morning. If he did attempt to hang himself, he likely does know enough about hanging to pull off Arei's murder. (Perhaps his one friend died by hanging? Hmm.) As for the evidence, something people bring up a lot is the grippy tape that disappeared from the gym. This is often used to point at Eden. But, why not Ace, too?

Ace left the gym intent on murder. He may have grabbed anything he thought might be useful. He also might have already had the tape on his person anyway, if he used it in his suicide attempt at all. Eden was thrown out of the gym without warning. I think it's simply much more likely that Ace had it then she had the presence of mind to grab it while everything was going on.

I don't really see any evidence that contradicts Ace!Culprit. There are a few things I don't know how to explain, like the starched up ball of clothes, but a different culprit doesn't explain that any better.

I think this is the most interesting outcome for the story. I'm curious to see how Levi takes it. I think Hu is going to be devastated when she realized her actions contributed to a suicide attempt and eventually a murder. Nico is likely to face some backlash too. If they had helped Ace instead of trying to kill him, it might have changed things.

And it punches a big hole in Teruko's belief that trusting no one is the safest way to survive. Because Ace trusted no one, and it drove him to desperation and murder.

[ineedtochangemynameaaaa]

Final Chapter 2 Killer Guess

Even though I’ve been suspicious of Ace since before Part 2 started uploading and now he has been narrowed down to the final 2, I’m actually kind of leaning towards Eden now?

First, I do think that the culprit is definitely one of those two. They are the only two that could have taken the tape from the scene of the crime. While it is technically possible that someone could have taken the tape from one of them, that person wouldn’t have seen the aftermath of Nico’s murder attempt, and therefore wouldn’t be able to replicate the method. That is unless the culprit is Nico themselves, but they have an alibi. When the topic of alibis for the real time of death were brought up, Nico went to speak up before being interrupted by Ace, and then Hu cut in to explain how herself and Nico had alibis. I guess it’s possible that she’s lying, but since Nico did go to speak up first, it would at least need to be a lie they both discussed beforehand. Also, we know the victim reveal is going to happen this episode, and I highly doubt that there is going to be enough time to disprove it’s Ace, disprove it’s Eden, and then prove it’s someone else.

Last episode Eden made the argument that if she were really the culprit, why would she help assemble the note that incriminates her, but that would actually be a reasonable thing for her to do. We saw that as a result of being present when the note was initially assembled by Whit and Rose, she was able to immediately defend herself and get the two of them on her side for when the note was brought up during the trial. Whit was the one to change the subject, and Rose and Eden helped him.

The rule for the body discover in DRDT is pretty unique, since it specifically says that three people who didn’t WITNESS the murder could trigger the body discovery announcement. This begs the question of what counts as “witnessing” the murder? If witnessing the murder requires one to be looking at the victim when they die, then given the murder method in this case, the culprit themselves could potentially be one of the people to set off the BDA. After all, they only needed to look at Arei before she was killed, and then afterwards to move her body to the swingset. If this is the case, then I doubt it was done intentionally on Eden’s part, based on how she was acting before Teruko opened the doors to the playground. Still, I think it’s a genuine possibility that wouldn’t require there to be an extra person who saw the body and just didn’t say anything for some reason.

While I’ve seen quite a few people saying the opposite, I think Eden being the culprit actually would make sense for Teruko’s character arc. Part of the reason Teruko distanced herself from everyone after Chapter 1 was because Xander and Min betrayed her trust. What I feel like people sort of overlook is that Teruko also felt like she couldn’t depend on anyone to solve the murders since she essentially carried the first trial. If not for her arguing and solving the case, the other characters wouldn’t have figured out who really did it. While Eden being the culprit wouldn’t help Teruko trust the others in a sentimental sense, it would help her trust the others at least for practical purposes during the trial. This is because of her mistake about the time of death. Teruko mistakenly believed that Arei must have died between 7:30-10 PM because of the fish. She only realized this mistake because Charles pointed it out, she wouldn’t have noticed it if it had just been herself. There’s also the fact that she wouldn’t know about the note in the first place if Rose hadn’t decided to look through the trash. This trial is proving that Teruko needs to depend on others to get through the trials, and in order to further cement this idea, the time of death should be important to figuring out who the culprit is. Ace doesn’t have an alibi for either of the potential murder times, so Teruko possibly could have figured out it was him even if she was under the mistake belief that the murder happened at night. However, Teruko *wouldn’t* have been able to figure out that it was Eden since she did have an alibi for 7:30-10 PM. Teruko was arguably making some progress on isolating herself less over the course of the chapter, and that might be somewhat undone by Eden being the culprit. However, she would learn to depend on others at least within the context of the trial. We’re only on Chapter 2, so I feel like it’s reasonable to not have such a drastic change in her character quite yet. In this case, her development between the end of Chapter 1 to the end of Chapter 2 could probably be described as “2 steps forward, 1 step back.”

Just general details about the case that aren’t dependent on who the murderer is:

I think the water jugs were specifically wrapped around Arei’s neck so that when the jerk of the rope pulled her neck upwards, the water jugs (and whatever was used to tie them around Arei’s neck) would simultaneously continue pulling her neck downwards, leading to her neck snapping.

I think the bundled up ball of clothes found in the dress-up room was used to set up the rope over the rafters. Specifically, the rope was tied to the ball of clothes and thrown over the rafters. It might be possible that there’s evidence hidden inside (Arei’s glove) but I think this was at least the main purpose of the clothes.

I think I had more but I keep waiting until the last minute to write these out so I’m out of time. I hope this is at least legible since I’m not reading it over, just want to post my thoughts in case I’m right.

[numberoneanika]

Okay, so now that I'm FINALLY done making my DRDT video and am now exporting, I finally have time to make a long-ass post on who I think the killer is most likely to be. There is a very clear opinion in this essay. Be warned, it is a lot of text. This post might be formatted weird, because I copied it from Google Docs. Spoilers for Ch2 Episode 11.

First of all, the evidence. Here is a list: The motive secrets The fish on the playground Tape wrapped around the carousel (likely the grippy tape Rose mentioned) Rope hidden in the carousel Marks near the swingset Red marks on Arei’s wrist Arei’s broken neck Ripped up note in trash Tape in trash, identical to the tape on carousel Water jugs with handles missing Ball of clothes glued together with starch

Broken lights in the playground Apparently there is some difference in the gym, though I can’t find it now. I think someone said some of the weights are moved?

Evidence Discussion Time: Our time of death is probably wrong. The jugs in the trash could be used to keep water around and stored in the minifridge in the gym, thus making the murder able to be committed during nighttime, and the marks on Arei’s wrists look too new to be made last night. Her body was also still moving when we found it, implying it was hanged recently. The note could be fake, for all we know - it’s way less suspicious to put a note in a pocket, which everyone here has, then to rip it up into multiple pieces and throw it in the trash, not to mention more time-efficient. The ball of clothes is oddly, perfectly… circular. Almost like it’s wrapped around something. As far as I know, Charles never mentioned the weight of it, so it could be wrapped around a bowling ball. Or something. More on this soon. Honestly, the fish could turn out to have nothing to do with the murder. Maybe they were just there to help establish the fake time of death. If Arei was hanged normally, then she should’ve died of strangulation. However, her neck is broken instead. Pretty much everyone and their mom has already said this, but it’s most likely that there was a pulley system involving the carousel of some sort that broke her neck. Also, there’s some extra rope tied around the top pole of the swing set (???), which further supports this theory. Also, if the ball of clothes really is wrapped around something like a bowling ball, the killer could’ve used it as the weight in the system. Considering Arei doesn’t seem to have any signs of struggle, it’s possible the killer knocked her out with Rose’s turpentine, which she mentioned she lost. The marks near the swing set could technically disprove this, but it’s not too hard to fake these marks. Not to mention, the scratches could help prove the fake time of death, depending on how long it would take any marks on the floor to disappear.

Okay, it’s time to actually talk about our suspects. I’ll be ranking them from least suspicious to most suspicious, and talk about my top two suspects in more detail.

Literally impossible: Xander, Min, Teruko, Charles Don’t think I have to explain for our former three. Charles has a phobia of dead bodies, not just blood, so I highly doubt he’d be the killer.

Highly unlikely: Eden, Arturo, Veronika, David, Arei Eden: Her being the culprit would only make Teruko’s beliefs in Not Trusting Anyone Ever only get worse. Arturo: Seems like he’ll get character development, sooner or later. Veronika: Seems too obvious, saying weird shit like that she’s excited about the killing game, and just wants to be entertained. David: Just… well, you know. He’s batshit insane and has admitted to the crime, all Nagito-style, so I don’t think it’s him. Probably antagonist, tbh. Arei: See above for hanging and strangulation vs broken neck.

Bit likely: Nico, Rose, Ace Nico: I don’t know particularly why, but they’re just kind of suspicious. I don’t know if they’d risk it, though, considering they were just caught red-handed trying to kill Ace. Rose: Considering the note is probably fake, she could be acting like she’s trying to help, but in actuality, is putting us on the wrong path? I can’t really see it being her, though. Ace: Kind of suspicious, considering he conveniently didn’t catch anything besides Arei confronting David about his secret. But if he was going to kill anyone, it’d probably be Nico.

Somewhat likely: Hu, J Hu: Everyone has been jumping on her, and honestly? Kind of justified. She’s refused to reveal the secret she has, she’s refused to reveal her own secret, and now she’s had that whole… breakdown… thing. She also has an alibi during the fake time of death, which could be intentional planning. Not to mention, she gives major Kirumi Tojo vibes, and you know how that went. She did get new sprites though, and I dunno if they’d kill her off right when she got new clothes. J: She has been JUMPING on everyone vaguely suspicious. Immediately jumped to Arturo being the culprit, then immediately jumping to David being the culprit. At this point like… girl, just keep your mouth shut, pretty please. Arei did do the same exact thing last trial, and she turned out to be innocent, however. Aside from that, she could use Arturo as an alibi, maybe. She has the universal remote, which could help her sneak up on Arei. She’s also on the title card, and she hasn’t had all that much screen time this chapter despite that.

Highest Suspect #2: Levi Look, he’s honestly getting the Hu treatment by the fandom but slightly toned down. But besides that, he is super suspicious. Arei got the murderer secret, and everyone has honestly pretty much narrowed that down to him. To be honest, he probably killed his family or something. He’s strong enough to spin the carousel for the pulley mechanism, and he stated that he was in the laundry room during 7:30 to 10, which could relate to the ball of clothes. He also hasn’t said anything particularly helpful in any way during the trial. However, I don’t know why he’d set up a fake time of death, and then not give himself an alibi during the fake time of death. Dumbass.

Highest Suspect Ever: Whit Look me in the eyes and try to tell me he’s not at least a little suspicious. I won't hold the hanging joke thing against him, as it could just be a case of unlucky phrasing, but it could also be a Celeste case, where he says something he's not supposed to (or it was subconscious). Aside from that, a lot of this evidence seems to point to him. He has an alibi during the fake time of death, and he willingly volunteered to piece together the note, possibly knowing that it would give him an "alibi" for the time of death. He would know where the old clothes were, seeing that he was there when Teruko and Hu got their new clothes. David is most likely being framed by being sent to near the place of the crime, and guess who sent him there?

You guessed it, Whit Young. He's also, like, mad suspicious for behavioral reasons. He claimed Rose's secret when she said she didn't see who owned it and no one came forward to claim it, and didn't seem all that concerned about it. It could just be his gestures vaguely non-concerned nature, but still suspicious. But wait! I can hear you asking. If Whit's the culprit, then why did he deflect the topic when the note was brought up, knowing that it could frame Eden and solidify his alibi? Why did he delay revealing David's secret, knowing that it could frame David as well? Well, dear reader, let me explain. For our first issue, it comes down to Teruko's nature. She's distrusting, blunt, and won't leave any issue that could help solve the murder alone. If Whit was the culprit, he could safely assume that Teruko would eventually get the note out of Eden, so he could derail the topic while knowing it would eventually come up and make his "alibi" and look less suspicious at the same time. For the second issue, it comes down to Whit himself and a key point in his personality: his intuition.

In the first trial and his FTE, he makes a point of saying that he knows things because of his strong intuition. Hell, it's bolded every time he says it. Consider this: what if his intuition had already made him suspect David as not who he said he was, and Whit finding out that the manipulator secret belonged to him and David lying about his secret only solidified this? From the second screenshot, it can be inferred that Whit knows when people are acting. If Whit knew David was lying, being manipulative and trying to cause a murder, then he could frame him, knowing that it would be likely that David would break down and reveal his true colors when accused, only serving to incriminate him further. Another thing: the main reason Whit admits to having David's secret is that Charles realizes he is lying. What if Whit, using his intuition again, is banking on that fact? It's a note situation - he knows it'll be revealed anyway, so he can delay it and make himself look like he's hiding the secret out of concern for David's career. But wait! I can hear you asking again. Whit set off the BDA! He couldn't have set off the BDA if he was the culprit! First, let's talk about Whit and Eden's thoughts on searching the playground. Neither one of them particularly wanted to go. Eden is explained by her probably wanting to prepare herself for seeing Arei's body, or not wanting to believe that Arei is dead. But what about Whit? There's no real explanation as to why he was apprehensive to go in. If my theory is true and he is the culprit, he would probably investigate on the first floor so he doesn't mess up the BDA, but Teruko grabbing him and Eden ruined that. He was less expressive about it than Eden, but he could have been just as worried, if not more. So basically, it’s sheer dumb luck that Teruko grabbed him, but we’ve already seen that one before (Read: Min arriving at the exact time Charles left). Anyway, what I'm trying to get at here is that someone else saw the body before Eden and Teruko. And who would be the most likely to have done that? David Chiem, who's already trying to kill us all. Not to mention, he tried to stop MonoTV from revealing the secrets because Arei was missing.

Considering he probably isn't the culprit, it kind of seems like he knew someone was already dead. The mystery discoverer could also be Veronika, who's already said she just wants to see things be interesting, but I don't know about that.

My only grey areas in this theory are why Whit would want to escape, as this would kill Charles, and the fact that he was kind of friends with Arei. Anyway, I already wrote 9 paragraphs about Whit being the culprit, so if he ends up being innocent, this'll just be embarrassing. Let me know your thoughts.

[evachuber]

More theories because I am on a brainrot

I spent some time to think of theories and what everything means during the wait for part 2, and whilst it's quick, I do think I should lay down some I have right now and see if they make sense. Let's begin.

Spoilers for all of Chapter 2 but I think you all knew that the moment you saw my post's title.

I do think that if David IS telling the truth about his secret, then Hu can be the three suicides one. After all, she mentions not being useful after David's big reveal and seems to hold a significant amount of trauma due to that.

It WOULD also help show why the fuck she keeps babying Nico, seeing them as someone who needs guidance on how to survive a killing game with people like Ace in the room, not to mention, she already has a friendship with Nico, so it's a starting point.

Does that mean I like her?

Look I may have such low standards I like Veronika but Jesus Christ Hu is a fucking annoying character, just cuz she has a good reason DOESN'T mean she's likable

ANYWHO, enough Hu hate or else she will give me at least 20 Aneurisms in a matter of a millisecond, we got another killer suspicion

Do I believe it? No. Not because It's not right, but because if it IS right, my discord pfp changes and I am naturally very biased because of it.

People are saying the killer is Levi. Which... definitely has points.

Levi using the crazy sprite here makes him seem like he's fucking insane, but also... hiding something? most of the cast has something to hide, and by this point, Levi is definitely the most sus one who's hiding something

close second/third is David/Arturo but they've revealed big something already so they're not on the list

Dude was MEGA quick to hit the vote button on David, even to the point of it looking too quick. Since David is the most sus person this chapter, it's natural to think he's a suspicious person and the best person to vote, therefore get them out of the way and win the trial. The only reason this fails is because Teruko's thinking and Charles realizing the group fucked up (Just between us, that's the most BS cliffhanger I've seen. Makes sense, but damn it was fucking abrupt.)

I find it oddly out of character for Levi to instantly push Eden as the killer. David? You can make the argument he revealed a new side to him and confessed to the murder instantly, but EDEN makes less sense to me. They are shown to be friendly, as shown in the first episode of the chapter.

ANOTHER THING is that Charles brought up a point I would see the calculative Levi agreeing with; No one was going to accuse Eden of murdering, she was just suspicious as the note had her name on it.

All this makes Levi very suspicious, and that's just from the trial. There is also evidence that points back to him.

I will not cover every evidence. Not because this post is too long as is and you'll need to read it when you have the next few hours free, but because I do not remember how the evidence plays into the case and my IQ usually isn't higher than 5

Man I am such a good DRDT fan :D

ANYWHO- One I will cover is the Merry go round, or as Infinite from Sonic Forces Teruko describes it, "The spinny thing".

Now, tape being wrapped in some sort of way around the merry go round is already looking suspicious, but then you look at Arei's wrists.

There is a mark on her wrists. It also can't be rope because of the shape, rope would leave a few patches of untouched skin, whereas in this case, Arei has a complete rash around her wrist, showing that tape was definitely used to drag her. This is also why her glove was missing, most likely to keep people from either guessing it's tape compared to rope or her glove was resistant to tape. It's one of the two, I have 0 idea.

Now, the main idea is that Levi used the Merry go round to push Arei up on the swing set to make it SEEM like she hanged herself in order to stage a suicide. However not only is that not the case due to Suicides not causing a trial, but also look at the fact that we can confirm that Arei's death had nothing to do with drowning (meaning no relaxation room ravine was involved.)

Arturo confirmed her neck was broken.

At first, this seems irrelevant. After all, hanging usually ends in broken necks, right?

APPARENTLY NOT.

seems sus for someone to die from a neck snap without the use of a noose. and let's remember what Arei's talent is...

Yeah, she's pretty fit

Of course, a Bowler has uses with the arms...

OK that sounded wrong- but I can't explain it better-

ANYWAY, Given her strength, it would be natural she could overpower most of the cast, even if they tried to hurt her. Some people are also not physically fit enough to either fight back/kill Arei or even fight her, and I doubt most people would know how to snap her neck.

Levi looks like he has healed, so I don't see him looking like he CAN'T snap Arei's neck. He also could easily push the carousel as long as his arm doesn't get hit with the pain, but the dude is buff enough I think his remaining hand will be fine.

There is DEFINITELY more I can think off, but remember, I'm some British guy theorizing on how buff dude killed a character who nearly got character development, but DR;DT played it well. If I think of more shit I can make a part two to this post but until then imma go commit tax evasion and angering Karen's with my shitty opinions, have a nice life

[breckstonevailskier]

The whole thing with the Dora is one frustrating thing that I really didn’t like, because at most it makes the Dora seem just unreasonable killers and at least it makes them not very smart, because ultimately the fight helped Zemo escape, if the Dora’s mission was Zemo, letting him escape when he’s right there is a silly, and I like to think the Dora are far smarter than this. And somehow accidentally injuring or even possibly killing the new Captain America is just an international incident waiting to happen. None of this really portrays the Dora as the badass intelligent clever spies and protectors that they ought to be and have previously been portrayed as. It just feels like the creatives wanted a fight scene to knock down John for a few pegs and used the Dora to do it because everyone loves badass Dora being badass, without thinking about the actual narrative implications.

The Dora Millajes' behavior makes me think even more about how hypocritical Wakanda was to support the Accords. T'Chaka was preaching accountability, yet he's also got a secret spy network, the Dora clearly don't care about international borders, and one imagines he cared more about keeping his country's superior technology out of others' hands.

In the case of Wanda and Hulk with Johnnesberg, I can concede that she didn’t know exactly what would happen, however she is as responsible for what her powers would do as Nico was responsible for Lemar’s death. Ultimately she still set the Hulk off, that’s on her. I do not see Tony being the most at fault, he was trying to mitigate the situation just as Wanda was trying to in Lagos with the bomb. In both cases, the ones causing the situation to happen is at fault, the ones trying to mitigate it shouldn’t be to blame.

I think it's more about the degree to which blame should be directed at the mitigator vs. the one causing the situation. Like, in Lagos, the deaths are solely on Brock Rumlow as he chose to blow himself up rather than let Captain America arrest him. Neither Steve nor Wanda saw he had explosives on his vest he was going to detonate until a split second before he activated them. With Johannesburg, Wanda probably didn't intend for the Hulk to go on a rampage. I doubt she knew he could travel 300 miles in 3 minutes. And in all honesty, that should just be chalked up to the writers wanting an excuse for a Hulk rampage and wanting a prettier backdrop for it to happen in than a grassy field.

I don’t disagree that Steve not telling Tony about his parents’ death is similar to John not telling Lemar’s parents the truth, however, I think the issue of Steve keeping secrets is more of a problem to me is that Steve was the one who berated Tony for keeping secrets, so it makes Steve’s keeping secrets just seem worse and hypocritical. I don’t like it when characters berate another for doing something, and then goes and does that thing themselves, especially when in-universe no one really calls that out at all.

I don't think Steve's a hypocrite. Tony's secrets involved things that are happening right now in the moment (building Ultron, going behind the teams' backs regarding the Accords, etc.), while Steve's secret involved something that happened in the past, and which he only learned as something Zola told him to stall him and Natasha for time so they'd be hit by a missile. The bigger issue then is how Tony chose to react to it, and he chose revenge against someone who had no agency in the matter (Bucky). Honestly things would've been so much better had Tony been shot down by Vision in the airport battle instead of Rhodey, because the likely outcome if Rhodey was there instead of Tony is that he, Steve and Bucky would've captured Zemo, and then they make a pledge to hide the tape and keep it a secret from Tony because really, nothing is gained or lost by letting him continue to believe the lie that his parents died in a car accident.

I have a lot of thoughts tbh about the ways that the show mishandled the very presicient issues of racism. They muddled a lot of things and didn’t really know what they were trying to convey. This is the same show that want to address racial disparities but then also continued the trope of killing off a black character for a white character’s storyline. It’s a mess.

One could argue that a reason the MCU's attempts to tackle these kinds of issues tends to fall flat is because they're usually put there as an afterthought to flesh out the heroes and villains after deciding what characters they'll be using.

John Walker: a study in story framing, character archetype, established canon details, and audience manipulation

There’s been a ton of discourse surrounding the character of John Walker, everyone has a lot of opinions. But having read many articles, posts, tweets, and watched reaction channels and video essays, I have found a common theme among them: a fundamental misunderstanding of the character due to the story framing.

In fact, the character of John Walker that exists in fandom discussions is more of a projection of what people think he is and what people want him to stand in for rather than the actual canonically established character that exists in the story of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. This is why I have decided to write this post along with an episode-by-episode breakdown, because I think John Walker the character has been completely eclipsed by John Walker the symbol, lost underneath the iconography that he’s been associated with and not really given a fair look as an individual person.

I should make it clear upfront; it is not my intention with this to tell people how they should feel about a character. Whether you agree with my points or not doesn’t really matter. My hope is that this at the very least provides you with a different perspective on the character and his motivations. Maybe have you consider him in a new way.

So, let’s start from the beginning.

——————————–

EPISODE 1

Story framing is important, it effects our perspective as an audience, and it is deliberately controlled by the writers and filmmakers to manipulate certain emotions and impressions out of us. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier expertly does this from the very beginning by framing John Walker immediately as someone whom we should not want.

Because the music is mournful and ominous despite the celebratory occasion shown on TV.

Because Sarah is upset.

Because Sam has his fists clenched and is unhappy and suspicious, and then closes his eyes in upset.

Because when dialogues like this is delivered, the show is purposefully playing into real life iconography and feelings that already raises our hackles.

Because Sam retired the shield and the hero position, so when someone else seemingly carelessly and casually steps in waving like a propaganda piece with a gun on his hip, and a grey flag symbol that looks so close to the thin blue line flag used by cops, there is something unsettling to us even if we didn’t consciously pick up on it, we just know that it goes against what we want and what our main protagonist wants. 

Because this strange person in a Cap costume winking looks like a jerk. We didn’t ask for this. 

As it’s always said, first impressions are important. How someone first perceives you decides how someone might judge anything that you do. If someone thinks you’re an arrogant jerk, then anything you do will be colored by that impression and they will never think well of your intentions. But if their first impression of you is kind and caring, then any mistakes you made is automatically given leeway because your intentions would be well considered. And in one fell swoop, the show firmly planted into the minds of every single person watching that John Walker is an arrogant jerk espousing propaganda no one wants and everything he does is automatically suspect and questionable. 

In fact, they even go the extra step to make that very clear by how the cast credits is used. Notice the difference between the image of Walker in Episode 1 and Episode 2-6?

The red mark over his eyes, blocking him from us, not only feels foreboding, it feels as if it’s warning us. 

So, when I say that John Walker was from the beginning set up to fail, it’s because he was, the story intended for it to be. We have to hate, question, suspect, and think the worst of Walker in order for Sam’s eventual reclaiming of the shield to mean anything or have that emotional catharsis. Because nobody wants to see Sam take the shield from a nice dude, it would be bittersweet or even mean, but if the story tells us that this guy is someone we can dislike or hate right off the bat because there is something vaguely “bad” about him, then we would root for Sam to take that shield.

There is a reason we don’t get Walker’s perspective at all in his introduction. He’s just this stranger we’ve been programmed as an audience to hate. We are not treated to Walker waiting to go outside and feeling nervous, or Walker doubting himself or perhaps even not wanting to take up the shield at first when it was given to him. The purposeful lack of his perspective is done so we only feel the weight of emotions from the Wilsons being upset, because we must relate to the protagonists.

Walker is not the hero of this story, he’s not the protagonist of this story, if he was, then the story would have framed his unveiling as Captain America in a completely different way, and we would have been treated to a sympathetic look at what he was feeling about taking on the shield, we would have had an inside look at his mindset before he walked out there and looked into that camera and winked. But because we the audience lack that important context that was deliberately kept away from us, our views on Walker formed and solidified without it, and then we all stewed on those feelings for a whole week. 

By the time Episode 2 rolled around to open with Walker’s perspective, the damage was already done, it was too late, because people had already made up their mind about what kind of a person he was, and even those who might have given him a chance was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

The show had very clearly made sure that John Walker was always going to have an uphill battle in the eyes of the fans, however fairly or unfairly. And that deliberate and purposeful removal of his perspective and context would be the key to how the character will be misread. Because the reality is, Walker hasn’t even done anything wrong yet and people have already made assumptions just because of one wink, just because of his mere presence. There was no objective consideration that Walker winked because he understood having to put on a cheerful public facade, no consideration that he could have been told to play along nicely for the cameras and directed to look there and wink, no consideration that he didn’t ask for this job but was ordered to do so and is as much a “victim” of the government as Sam. Because the show had already used every trick in the book to make us feel bad and ominous about his presence, the audience would automatically assume the worst.

CLICK THIS LINK TO CONTINUE TO EPISODE TWO AND THE REST OF THIS 219 PAGES AND OVER 28K WORDS ANALYSIS

[way-too-short-formysoul-corazon]

Here’s section 2, all wrapped up for you guys to enjoy!

1:      "What is she doing?" Keons asked from the control room. 

     "I'm not sure, but it seems she's up to something, she's not taking the drone with her. We should go check this out for ourselves," Nico replied. 

     "But what if she's doing it in order to not look suspicious to the rebels? She's a really smart girl -" 

     "And I'm not saying she's not, all I'm saying is that it's unusual. If she didn't want them to be suspicious, she could have told the drone to fly in stealth mode, could she not?" 

     "Well, I guess that's right... But can't we just wait a few more minutes for her to give us some indication if there are rebels in those woods?" Keons replied, starting to feel like he's been betrayed by the one whom he loves the most. 

     "Alright, we'll have it your way, Keons. I'll give her two minutes. If she doesn't turn up in that time, you will be the one to find her and execute her." 

     "Yes, sir." Keons replies, deflated, a knot welling up inside his stomach. 

2:      As I was walking through the thick woods, I began to think of what the people back home were saying about me. Were they proud that I went off in search of these "rebels"? What was my father thinking about behind those palace walls? 

     Does he even miss me?

     A few minutes into my walking around, I heard footsteps. Careful, soft footsteps, and I got excited. 

     They're here, they're here!!! Real Banditos, I get to finally see them, finally talk to them!!! 

     "Hello?! I know you're out there, I can hear your footsteps! Come out, please! I promise I won't -" 

     "Won't what, Savanna? Won't turn them in like you said that you would?" My father said, hurt encompassing his voice.  

     "Th- that's not what I-! Bu- But Dad! I- I wasn't- !" 

     "I'm sorry, Savanna, my daughter. I never meant for this to be this way. Just don't fight, and there won't be any pain." My dad said, a tear running down his face. 

     He's gonna kill me, feed me to the vultures, I thought, adrenaline pumping through my veins, I need to run. 

     And so I did. I ran at the fastest speed I could go, running through shrubs and prickly bushes, running for my life. 

3:      When I finally got to where I thought was a safe place, I collapsed. 

     I'm done running, I can't run anymore. I'm done. 

     I just sat there, thinking about my life, if I would make it out of this forest alive, and what they would do if they caught me. 

     Shall I be made to suffer the same fate as that man back in the city? Or will a worse fate await me? 

     I fell into a reluctant and fear-ridden sleep. A sleep in which I never wanted, yet needed immensely. 

4: Suddenly, I awaken from my nightmare sleep to find two people, Banditos, hovering over me. One of them has short, shaven hair while the other has somewhat curly hair and a pair of yellow drumsticks. I attempt to utter out the words "Who are you guys?", but nothing comes out of my mouth, and I'm stuck trying to speak and making no sound. 

     "It's alright, don't strain yourself. You're safe now," promised the one whose yellow duct tape was around him in an 'X' shape. 

      I nodded, and they helped me up. We started walking into the camp. 

     When we got into the camp, the Bandito beside the one with the mask suggested that I should have a tour of the camp, and his friend agreed. 

     "I'm sorry, we really haven't introduced ourselves, have we. My name is Tyler Joseph, this is my friend and head of the Banditos, Josh Dun," Josh waves and smiles, and Tyler motions towards the camp, "And this is our camp. Make yourself at home, please," 

     I nod my head. 

     "Do you have a name? I mean, if you're able to talk, that is. If not, we can get you something for that," Josh inquired. 

     Before I was able to try to speak, a flood of Banditos, young and old, came flocking towards me, Tyler, and Josh. All I remember of what happened next is that everything went black and I collapsed. 

5:      A young Bandito is patrolling the perimeter of the Bandito camp. As he walks, he scans the tops of trees and the edges of the beaten path below. Something catches his eye from the ground, beckoning him to take a closer look. As he stoops down, he finds a stranger's belongings. What lies there is a red robe and an identification card. The red robe smells of death and hurt. The name on the identification card reads Savanna Keons. The face seems familiar to the young Bandito. He knows this woman, but from where? He decides to put the red robe and identification card in his carrying sack and continue patrolling the outskirts of their small camp. He goes home and realizes who the young lady is and how he recognizes her. There will be a time to show this information, but now is not it, the Bandito thinks. 

6:      When I awaken, I seemed to be in an infirmary of some sort, and all I see in front of me is Tyler and something else. The "something else" was small and round, with a circular head, horns, and long ears. Its eyes were like deep chasms, vast and expansive. Its color was a silvery grey. At first sight, I was frightened. I'd never seen something like this before. 

     "What is that? What does it do?" I asked Tyler, frightened by the newness of the being. 

     "Oh, him? This is our little buddy, Ned!", Ned waved at me shyly, "He's a nice companion to have, not really used to new people though. I'm sure he'll grow to like you, though!" 

     "Oh, ok! Well, hi, Ned!" I said while sticking my hand out towards him. 

     Ned just takes a couple of steps back, like he’s frightened of me. 

     Tyler looks confused towards Ned, asking, “What’s wrong, little buddy? What is it?” 

     He turns to me, saying, “He’s not usually like this, I’m sorry, I just don’t understand why he’d be like this.” 

     I start to get nervous, “Is there any other times when he’s like this?” 

     “Yea, actually, he’s usually like this when there are Bishops around, but I don’t see any, and he’s doing it only towards you, oddly”, he says, scratching his head. 

     I had to make an excuse, and quick, “Uh, well, I got tackled by a Bishop, and I fought him and ran away,” 

     Tyler looked quite unimpressed, but just said alright and left it at that, “So, how was your day so far?” 

     “Boring, seeing as I have to stay in this hospital bed til you guys decide what to do with me.” 

     “Oh, don’t worry about that, we’re going to have a meeting tonight, that’s one of the topics we’ll discuss,” 

     “Alright. Well, stay safe!” 

     Tyler kind of chuckles and says, “Alright, I will, Logan. You stay alive now, ok?” 

     “Ok,” 

     “Promise?” 

     “Promise” 

7: “So, have we all came to a consensus?” leader Josh Dun inquires. 

     “Wait!” a young bandito exclaims, “I forgot about something important”. 

     “What is it, Jake?” 

     “I found this while I was walking the perimeter of our camp. It’s a Bishop’s cloak and a Dema identification card for a Savannah Keons,” 

     The entire crowd gasps, 

     “If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see it’s the newcomer”. Jake hands the cloak and card to Ned, who then hands it to Tyler. 

     Tyler and Josh take a while looking at it and debating what to do with the newcomer at this point, with all the new information that was presented just seconds ago. 

     “But Josh, she’s one of them! What if she came to spy on us? What if?” 

     “And, what if she was captured or found out the truth and is coming to start anew?” 

     “But, But what if-” 

     Josh puts his hands on Tyler’s shoulders, “Ok, ok, calm down, it’s all alright. Remember, my friend, everyone deserves a second chance, no matter what they’ve done,” 

     “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Tyler sighs. 

     “Now, go tell Logan to meet us at the bonfire tonight,” 

     “Alright,” 

8:      I was sitting on a stump fidgeting when Tyler and Josh came out. When I heard the flap of the makeshift tent door, I jumped up, terrified of what would come next. They already know, they already know, I’m gonna get fed to the vultures, or worse!!! 

     Tyler comes up to me while Josh hangs back, observing. 

     “Hey, Logan?” Tyler says when he gets closer to me. I start to get nervous and tremble 

     “Y-yes?” 

     “Uh, do you know what these are?” he shows me my past belongings: my cloak, badly damaged and worn, and my (former) id card, which insists on keeping me prisoner in my own skin. 

     I say, trying to keep the twang of fear in my voice at bay, to no avail, “Why are these here?” 

     “One of our Banditos picked these up patrolling the perimeter of camp. Are these really yours?” he inquired softly. 

     Terror runs through me as everyone’s eyes lock onto my frail being. I can’t keep it out as I yell, “It was never meant to be this way!!!” I fall onto the ground, my head forcing itself into my hands, curled up like a child. 

     I hear gasps, then silence. 

     After a while of this silence, I feel something touching my arm, like a kitten wanting affection. At first, I flinch at this new contact and yank myself up to a cradled sitting position, face wet from the salty tears that have striped patches of oil from my face, leaving them feeling like bandages. 

     When I look at what or who was touching me, it was Josh. He whispers to me, “It’s alright, we’ve accepted you into our crew. You’re safe from those who wish to do you harm here.” 

     Baffled by his actions, I say, “But I was one of them. I was sent to harm you guys,” I give a tear-filled inhale and exhale, “Why are you letting me in?” 

     He just smiles and says, nodding at Tyler at the end, “Because everyone deserves a second chance.” Everyone starts cheering and clapping, and Josh sticks his hand out to me. I grab his hand and he helps me up, “C’mon, we need to get you cleaned up, or else Ned’ll never warm up to you!” Josh says with a laugh. I laugh along, hearing everyone clapping and cheering me on. Me, not that dema kid who supported the murder of all those innocent people. That person was long gone, and I am what remains.  

9: After everything goes quiet and all the applause stops, I inquire, “Hey, Josh, where are we going, exactly?” 

     “East, to where your past wrongs will be righted, to where you can be free to start anew.” 

     “Alright,” I say, and continue following. 

     When we finally get to where Josh was taking me, all I can say is wow. The place looked magnificent, like the angels themselves carved this place from the earth and put their hearts and souls into creating it. 

     There was a shallow, burbling waterfall trickling softly into a pond lined with several light-colored rocks, some sparkling and some not. This wondrous sight was lit by the vivid green lampshade of the trees, the leaves deflecting the sun’s rays here and there. There was greenery and assorted berry bushes and shrubs around the pond, and the entire place looked like it came from the garden of Eden. 

     After I was done taking in the awe of this mystical and magical place, Josh turned around while I bathed in the healing waters of this pond. 

     When I was done, there was a towel and a pair of Bandito attire in the tree next to me. I say thanks and josh replies with, “Don’t worry, I didn’t look,” 

     When we got back to camp, Tyler and Ned were waiting on us. Josh went up to Tyler, did a secret handshake, and introduced me as the new member of the crew. 

     He started the bonfire, and for the first time in a long time, I was with family, with people who wouldn’t hesitate to die for my sake, and for who I would die for in an instant. I was with people of my own kind. At that very moment, I could care less about what they were saying about me in the city, cause they’re talking about someone who never was. 

10:      My first week at camp, and I already feel at home. I’ve gotten better acquainted with our leaders, Ned too, and found a couple of friends among the crowd. A couple of notable ones I met early on; one of them happened to be the first Bandito I ever seen, remember him? Well, it turns out his name is Rodney Garron, and he’s an aroace enby who’s in a platonic relationship with his straight adhd counterpart George Evergreen. When I first saw them both in camp, Rodney almost had a heart attack, shouting, “You’re that Bishop kid! Don’t take me back! You can’t take me!!!!” Now that I’m thinking about it, their friend had to calm him down. 

     Oh! I’m sorry about the confusion, Rodney likes to be referred to as he or they. Anyways, back to it then. 

     After their friend calmed him down, he explained everything about himself, how he grew up watching Good Day Dema, how they came to the camp in the middle of a snowstorm, and how seeing a Bishop take off their hood and offer their hand took several hours of heavy meditation to get over. I laughed and said sorry to that last one. 

     On another note, I got to see someone I haven’t seen since I was in training up in the city. he used to be my teacher, he was  my teacher for all of my training, and I was wondering what happened to him… 

     “I thought you were dead, teach?” 

     “Miracles happen, my young one,” 

     “But, they said you were exterminated! They said tha-” 

     “They say, they say, they say. They say one thing, but what does your heart say?” 

     I hesitate, give him a big hug, and demand him tell me how he escaped. 

     This is Logan Slife, and this is my story. 

[happyk44]

For @achillesmonochrome based in this AU

--

Annabeth splayed out on the bed. Two hours listening to Percy rant and rave and then another hour helping him fine tune his shrine for the billionth time.

Why couldn't he just use a candle like a normal person?

Piper kicked open the bedroom door and stood there, arms on her hips, eyes flaring. Annabeth sat up and grinned. "You look sexy."

Piper stormed over and pushed her down, straddling her hips. "There's no amount of flattery that can save you now. You've crossed the line, Bethany."

Settling her hands into the nice curve of Piper's hips, Annabeth rolled her eyes. "He's my best friend."

"And that's fine! But using Grover-" She jabbed Annabeth's chest. "That's just cheating."

"You say that like he's actually going to come down and pick one of them," Annabeth huffed.

"I like to believe in love."

"And that's what makes you a sucker." She locked her grip and rolled them over, her hands snapping up to pin Piper's in place above her head. "You look cute like this."

Piper grinned mockingly. "Not happening."

Annabeth groaned and dropped her head. "Pipes-"

"Nope!" In a smooth move even Annabeth couldn’t have calculated, Piper slid one leg under Annabeth’s outstretched body, locking it over her shoulder and flipping her over. She bounced up before Annabeth could grab her again. “No sexy time for you until you apologize and agree to stop helping Percy in his worthless crusade for moon ass.”

“No.” Piper flipped her hair over her shoulder and fixed Annabeth with a pointed look. Fine. She could dig her heels in too. Annabeth crossed her arms. “If you’re going to be a nuisance about this, I’m not cuddling you tonight.”

Piper’s face fell for a quick second before hardening. “I don’t need cuddles.”

She was such a liar. She was almost as bad, if not worse, than Percy was when it came to demanding casual physical affection. If Percy was an octopus then she was a koala.

Clingy as fuck.

“Okay. Then we’re both fine.” Annabeth pulled her hair up into a tight ponytail. Piper’s eyes traced the bare skin of her exposed neck and shoulders. “I’m gonna order Taco Bell.”

As she passed by Piper, she deliberately held her body back, refusing the barest hint of skin-to-skin and smiled meanly at her girlfriend of three years. Piper frowned as she passed, the frown slipping into a scowl the moment Annabeth had her back turned.

“I don’t need cuddles,” she heard her mutter.

Annabeth snorted. Yes, you do.

She grabbed the Taco Bell menu pinned to their takeout board and flipped through it. Fishing her phone from her back pocket, she opened up the delivery app, eyes still trained on the words written in front of her. Out of the corner of her vision, she saw her phone go black.

She glanced at it. Gave it a little shake. Huh, she thought, pressing the power button and watching it glow back to life. Weird. Thought I changed the screen time.

She shook her head, scrolling through the delivery app until she hit Taco Bell. She passed the menu off to Piper’s outstretched hands, sneakily dipping out of the way when she tried to stroke her fingers on the grab.

Halfway through her order, the phone went black again. “Are you fucking shitting me?” she muttered. She squeezed the power button.

It didn’t turn on.

What the-

“Ann?” Piper called out. She glanced up to where she was staring. The TV was glitching, a mass of empty static on the screen. “Is it broken?” Annabeth stepped closer, Piper not following. ”This is how white people die, Annabeth!”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous.” Annabeth glanced behind the TV. “It’s probably just a wire or something.”

“Of course you would say that,” Piper hissed, grabbing the metallic bat from her baseball kit stored by the front door. Bat balanced in front of her, she pushed herself up the wall. “Between me and you, I’ll probably die first. You get to be the final girl.”

“If I’m gonna be the final girl, it’ll be because I’m smart enough not to get outwitted by a demon,” Annabeth grunted, reaching behind the TV and fiddling with the wires. She checked the TV, seeing empty static. “Not because of racism.”

“It always comes down to racism,” Piper muttered.

Annabeth frowned, stepping out from the side. She picked up the remote and tried to change the channel but the static didn’t vanish. “Fucking hell,” she grumbled. “Must be the cable box.”

“Demon!” Piper protested. “Did you fuck with one of my sigils? I swear to the gods, Beth, if you fucked with one of my sigils-”

“Why would I fuck with one of your sigils, Pipes?” Annabeth yanked out the cable box and fiddled with the wires but it was fine. She frowned and turned the box off. The static didn’t vanish. She turned the TV off. The red light vanished but the static remained. “Hmm. Well, now I’m stumped.”

“Check on my sigils!”

She groaned. “If I knew letting you live with me would make a puppet like this, I wouldn’t have agreed,” she muttered, pushing up from her knees and checking the hidden painter’s tape Piper had pressed along the edge of the wall. It took a few seconds for her to spark her own second vision to see the hidden tape and it’s resulting intricately designed sigils.

“I don’t know why you didn’t have your own! Who lives without protection like that?” Piper protested.

Her knees burned as she crawled along the floor but she still huffed out, “People who don’t have werewolf friends?”

“Hahaha.” 

“I’m only kidding a little bit.” She grunted as she came to the doorway splitting the living room from the hallway. “I don’t fuck with anything or anyone that doesn’t belong to our Lady Reyna and/or isn’t human. That keeps me pretty safe.”

“Grover isn’t human.”

“Grover doesn’t count,” Annabeth muttered. She turned to crawl around the doorway when her vision split. Ugh. Another reason why she couldn’t bother with sigil. Hiding them from the eyes of others meant split vision and she was never good at managing second sight.

Her beliefs stemmed from strength, confidence, strategy.

There wasn’t that much magic, if any, she bothered to follow. Second sight wasn’t even necessary until she met Piper.

“What’s wrong?”

“Vision split,” she muttered. “Gimme a second.”

Seeming slightly more relaxed that the sigils in the area where the main issues were happening weren’t snapped, Piper nodded. Then someone knocked on the door. “Oh, fuck no.”

“Relax,” Annabeth huffed, standing up.

Piper swung her bat at her, freezing a foot away. “If you try to open that door, I will kill you.”

“If I learn how to apply sigils, will you learn how to use a proper weapon?” Annabeth pushed the bat out of her face. “Reyna cannot be looking down on you with approval for this.”

“She looks down on me with hella approval,” Piper said. “And fuck off from the door.”

Annabeth rose her arms over her head and backed up. “Fine, fine, fine.”

She watched with slight trepidation as Piper approached the front door, peaking through the peephole. Her stance tightened and she backed up.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” Piper hissed through gritted teeth. “Just an empty hallway. Don’t fucking like that.” She turned out, her eyes glowing faintly with second sight before she pushed her bat into Annabeth’s hands and dropped to her knees, furiously checking on the sigils taped around the apartment.

In her absence, Annabeth glanced back at the static TV. Hmm.

Balancing the bat over her shoulder, she stepped up to it once more, fishing her phone from her pocket. It was still black. She glanced between the TV and the phone, frowning. She didn’t pocket her phone but walked into the kitchen, turning on the microwave. It counted down from thirty, steady, until it reached twenty-five.

Then it glitched, numbers spiralling. The glow inside didn’t stop but changed from it’s usual bright orange spin to an unearthly red.

Grover passed through her mind, his weird brown aura.

Her mother didn’t use sigils anywhere but the bedrooms, citing privacy. The first time he’d tried to pass through, her light turned a dark brown, casting a creepy glow, before Annabeth had the chance to give him the code.

Red...

Red could be many things. The sun, war, fire. She pressed her fingers to the microwave’s buttons, reverting Aethin code to Arabic numerals. As soon as she hit nine, the final number, the microwave began to count down again. Her phone glowed back to life, the delivery app peering back at her. 

As she turned, she called out, “Hey, Pipes, it’s not a demon, I think it was just-” She jerked to a frozen stop.

Lady Reyna stared down at her, all six foot five glory and righteousness. “A god?” she asked. Her smile was not kind or threatening - a blank neutrality that had Annabeth shivering, feeling all too small and all too much like a slice of prey. “You’d be right.”

“Ann, why did you stop-” Piper’s voice faltered before she weakly finished, “-talking.”

“I believe she was caught off guard,” Lady Reyna said, stepping to the side. She gestured loosely to Annabeth’s side and Piper slid right into the spot. “I have something I’d like to discuss.”

“I told her not to get summer’s kiss,” Annabeth said. Her mouth was dry as hell.

“It smelled nice,” Piper whispered.

Lady Reyna frowned then snorted. “No, no, this isn’t about my candle. This about my friend. Nico. Lord of the night skies, prince of death.”

“Oh.” Seriously? Was he seriously choosing between their weirdly obsessive friends? “Okay.”

She pushed her hand through her hair, muscles rippling under her tunic. Annabeth resisted the urge to reach out and touch, gently slapping away Piper’s hand as she tried to so.

“I find their obsession... concerning but easy enough to ignore. But now they’ve roped you, my lovely followers-” Annabeth’s knees smacked together. “-into their strange brigade. I find that a personal affront. If they’re so willing to court a god-” Her tone darkened, eyes glowing whiter than bone. “-they should be doing so of their own merit. Proving themselves worthy of such a man.”

Annabeth tried to respond but her breath caught out in her throat, releasing no words, just broken sounds.

Lady Reyna sighed. “I would appreciate you passing on my message. Hazel is... reluctant to agree with me. What with her own interest in one of your... obsessive friends. Talking with my own followers, however, is never out of the question.”

“Of course,” Piper breathed. “I didn’t like helping Jason anyway.”

Liar. “Yeah.” Annabeth coughed. “Same. With- with- Percy.”

Lady Reyna clasped her hands. “Wonderful then.” She stepped back. “I hope you’ll heed my words about your involvement in thier conquest. I’d rather this not be the reason for my next visit.”

She was gone before either of them could say a word.

Next visit. Annabeth stared at the spot she’d been standing. NEXT VISIT?

“Did... Did she just say she was coming back?” Piper whispered.

“Uh huh.”

“Do you think... do you think she meant, like... temple visit? Like... normal?”

“Uh uh.”

“Oh.” Piper sounded faint. “We’re gonna have to deep clean.”

Annabeth covered her face with her hands and sank down to the floor in a slightly tense squat. “Uh huh.”

“Might as well get a new mattress,” Piper muttered. “Since I’m gonna fuck her.”

Annabeth groaned. “Piper!”

“You can join us! That was totally expected for you to do, Annie!”

Annabeth pulled her hands from her face and looked up at her girlfriend. “Well...” She faltered. Lady Reyna’s muscles rippling came back to view. Her stacked biceps. “Good.” 

[fangirl-1523]

My Sworn Brothers [Luffy x Crossover!Sister!Reader x Ace x Sabo]

A/N: Hey, so I want to write a High School AU of the many, many anime I have watched/ read. Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Devil is a Part-Timer, Durarara, Fairy Tail, Fullmetal Alchemist, High School of the Dead, InuYasha, Kill La Kill, Magi, My Hero Academia, Noragami, One Piece, Ouran High School Host Club, Pokemon, Saiki K, Sailor Moon, Seven Deadly Sins, Soul Eater, Sword Art Online, Vampire Knight, Your Lie in April, and Yu Gi-Oh. And I was wondering who would you like to be apart of your friend? And would you like to have a relation to any of the characters of the world. 

Summary: [Y/N] is the oldest sworn sister to Luffy, Ace, and Sabo. And after finding Ace and Sabo aboard Luffy’s ship, the Thousand Sunny, she explains to them who she is, her other sworn brothers and sisters, embarrasses the three of them (a regular Tuesday for her), and threatens them with a chalkboard for interrupting her. Multiple times. In this story, most of the anime I am into is in the same world (Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Fairy Tail, Fullmetal Alchemist, InuYasha, Magi, My Hero Academia, Naruto, Noragami, Seven Deadly Sins, and Sword Art Online.  I might do a part 2. 

Warnings: spoilers for the above mangas and animes, also, even though this is along the timeline of after the time skip (at some point), I took the creative liberty to have Ace alive during this meeting for a quad family reunion, might be language

Word Count: 1, 668

“How the hell am I suppose to believe that my three idiotic brothers would be in the same place at the exact same time I’m trying to find them?” the girl with [H/C] hair, old enough to be Luffy’s age, maybe a year younger or a year older than him. 

“[Y/N]!!” the rubber boy flung himself at her in a hug.

She fell down on her butt from the impact of the hug. She groaned before pushing the boy off of her and standing up, dusting herself off. “Geez, Lu. I was on a job, just finished, and I heard something about a Straw Hat, a Fire Fist, and a blonde with a top hat that put the mad hatter to shame. I just came to see if the rumors are true.” 

“What job did you have, sis?” Sabo said as he sipped a smoothie created from Vinsmoke Sanji. 

“Well, you see. In the ten years I’ve been gone, I’ve been busy. Both with being lazy and being diligent.” the girl explained. “I am a member of Fairy Tail. Dragon Slayer Magic, particularly fire, water, earth, air, and plant. Requip the Knight. Some space jumping there and vortex opening here.” 

“You got the two mixed up, kid.” Ace said from his spot next to Sabo. 

The girl grinned an evil grin. “Oh, did I, Ace of Clubs?” 

The raven haired pirate groaned at the nickname while Luffy’s crew members wondered after the nickname. Ace kept giving her the don’t-tell-them-anything look with a cut-it-out motion. She, like most people she knew, did not listen to reason. 

“Well, when we were younger, I attempted to teach the pour unfortunate souls that you call Luffy, Sabo, and Ace golf. And we played mini-gold. First hole we went to, the club flew out of Ace’s hand and crashed into the window where the pour lady working the club stand was clonked on the head and fell unconscious. Another fun fact: I’m overly competitive and therefore master of mini gold. Luffy on the other hand... beat my bowling high score of just a little over four hundred points.” [Y/N] explained. 

“THAT’S NOT HOW YOU PLAY GOLF, YOU IDIOT!” Usopp shouted at his captain. 

“Ace was a lot worse. However, on the eighteenth hole, got a hole in one. Although with team sports, I always sided with Luffy ‘cuz he was the baby of the family.” she explained. 

“Never play Volleyball with her unless you’re Luffy.” Sabo warned the Straw Hat Pirates. 

“Could you... possibly.... explain who you are?” asked Nami. 

“That’s an easy and excellent question, m’lady. I am [Y/N] [L/N], the daughter of the Demon King from the Demon Clan, Niece of Solomon, adoptive daughter of the great dragon, The Curse of Depravity, a mage of S-Class ranking, the best older sister anyone can have, a Shinigami, and the Pirate Fairy.” [Y/N] said with her hands on her hips like wonder woman. 

“You’re not wonder woman, dumbass.” Ace muttered. 

She scowled at the boy (who was now physically older than her). “I know that, asshole.” Ace shrugged his shoulders at that. “Anyways, I should get going. I’m here with my teammates. And Salamander will have a cow if he finds out I’m on a Pirate Ship. Which may or may not include Natsu asking you all to fight him at once for his sister.” [Y/N] shrugged. 

“SISTER?!” Luffy screeched. 

“YOU ALREADY REPLACED US?!” Ace and Sabo said in unison. 

“This is why I never took you to Amusement parks or sat next to you on a ride.” she clenched at her swollen ears.  “No, I was merely saying that I have something called [Y/N]’s Council of Brothers. They’re basically a band of boys I feel need my protection, wisdom, and power to embarrass them until they’re six feet under and rotting.” 

“She’s dark.” Nami said. “But can you explain this whole Council of Brothers thing. Because I’m not sure they,” the ginger pointed to the three brothers, “understand.” 

“Alright! I will go over a lesson here!” and suddenly a white board appeared by her side with writing already on it. 

“Where did you get the white board?” asked Luffy. 

“That’s not important right now.” she scowled. “Yes, Sabo.” 

“Was that Whiteboard always there and we just never noticed it?” the blonde asked. 

“No. Ace if this is a question about the white board, I will smack you with the same gold club that flew through that window. All questions about the stupid whiteboard will be answered after I explained everything. Got it?” 

The three brothers grumbled out a, “Yes.”  

“Good. Anyways, to start it off I have two half-brothers. Meliodas and Zeldris.” she slapped a pointer stick against the whiteboard. 

“Did she always have that?” Ace asked, whispering it to his two brothers. 

“I don’t know. I’m just glad someone noticed it besides me.” Sabo murmured back. 

“SILENCE, YOU INSOLENCE FOOLS!” and she threw a frying pan which hit Ace in the head. 

Why does she have a frying pan in her requips? Sabo wondered in his head, not wanting to get hit in the head with anything else she might have to throw at them. 

“Anyways, Meliodas and Zeldris are my half-brothers. Zeldris is the captain of the Demon Clan’s ten Commandments while Meliodas is the captain of Liones’s Seven Deadly Sins of which I am co-captain and the Phoenix Sin of Darkness. To be fair, I look more like my mother and I think the only thing me, Meliodas, and Zeldris share is our dumbassery we inherited from our father. Second off, my cousin is Magi Aladdin since my mother is his father, Solomon,’s sister. Now, that’s enough of my actual biological family. Now, I won’t go into detail about those three. Because you already seem well-acquainted with one another. Anyways, onto the next one. The next one on my list of brothers is a half-demon named Rin who is the son of Satan along with his younger brother, Yukio, but he doesn’t really need protection. next is Kazuto Kirigaya also known as Kirito. I prefer to call him that. He got stuck in a game where if you die there, you die in real life, but he defeated them. next, we have Satan himself, a king of demons, Sadou Maou. He works as a part-timer for a fast food chain which is sad to be honest. Next, we have Alibaba Saluja, a prince and a king’s candidate, also my cousin’s best friend. He wields the fire djinn, Amon. Also, he’s trying to be a gladiator while figuring out his feelings for Fanalis and former slave Morgiana. Next, we have actual God Yato who is a former god of calamity and a current god of war. I think. I’m not quite sure. But he and his two regalia, Yukine and a Nora named Kazuma, but also Kazune under Yato, must be protected by me at all cost. Then, we have Edward Elric, a alchemist missing both a leg and an arm because he wanted to see his mom’s smile again which kicks me in the heartstrings whenever I hear it. His brother, Alphonse, is an honorary member of the Council of Brothers. And he used to be entirely a soul attached to a suit of armor. No joke.” 

“Does no one else notice that they are mostly raven haired or blonde?” Nico Robin commented. 

The Straw Hat Pirates turned to the three sworn brothers who just shrugged their shoulders at that. “I admit I am guilty for that. But my actual brothers are raven headed and blonde, so that may be the reason. Anyways, off to the next people. Now, this person could make Luffy look like a genius. Sometimes. Natsu Dragneel, a salmon haired fire dragon slayer, is the brother of Zeref Dragneel, the black wizard, and also simultaneously END, the most powerful demon of the book of zeref which makes him one of the top fifteen most powerful demons. Next, we have strawberry boi, Ichigo Kurosaki, a shinigami who I’ve been helping train. He could see the dead and then he discovered his spiritual power, stole the shinigami powers of Rukia Kuchiki, and started to exorcist hollows and send souls to the soul society. Then, we have my favorite band of brothers since they could literally be in a band. Broccoli Boi, Izuku Midoriya, kinda has a power augmentation quirk, best way to describe it without giving too much away, Porcupine Katsuki Bakugo who can blow things up with help from his sweat. Zuko Wannabe Shoto Todoroki who can wield fire and ice. Also, his brother Touya may or may not be Dabi. Then, Pikachu Kaminari Denki who can utilize elctricity, but too much and he makes Luffy look like a genius. No joke. Well… maybe… I don’t really know. Anyways, then we have speedster Tenya Iida. Oh, there’s sharkboy Eijiro Kirishima. He can make himself go as hard as rock, but he has limitations. Then, we have spidertape Hanta Sero that can shoot tape out of his elbows. Then, half-demon InuYAsha who is the son of a dog demon and a mortal woman. There’s also Shippo who is an adorable little kitsune. And I think I got everyone.” the girl looked at her board before smacking it again as she noticed Luffy had begun to doze off while Ace had totally fallen asleep. 

The action alerted the two boys to wake up at once and glare at their older sister. And then, a silver haired undead man with a flying blue cat landed on the floor of the ship. “Thank goodness we found you. C’mon. We got a mission and you and your ‘Team Natsu’ have a job request from the old man and a princess.” 

“So Hisui and Bartra both agree to have us do something, but what is this so-called mission?” asked [Y/N]. 

Ban smirked. “We’re fighting slave-trading pirates.” 

“I want in!” Luffy cheered.

[keeroo92]

Be My Nightmare Chapter 17

Coming Home

~~~~Previous Chapter~~~~

Word count - 3,124

Warnings for surgical procedure, somewhat graphic. Blood and gore, minor.

_________

~~~~Nico~~~~

Nico took a deep breath and stepped forward, ducking under the yellow tape criss-crossing over the open doors of the subway. The acrid stench of death hung in the air, mixing with the signature piss and sweat of the underground. Not a pretty smell.

But the view horrified her, too. Cracked glass and smeared blood, a few bullet casings and two blue-clad bodies lying on the floor like dolls discarded by a child with a new toy. Her comrades deserved so much better.

Her heart clenched as she saw their frozen faces. It was Franklin and Taylor; she’d chatted with them by the water cooler the other day. Taylor told her that stupid joke about the zero and the eight, and Franklin… he was only just learning the ropes. His whole life ahead of him.

It made her want to scream.

She wasn’t unfamiliar with the unfairness of life. It twisted her up and spat her out more than once over the years. She’d fought tooth and claw to get where she was, struggle didn’t surprise her anymore. Misfortune had a cruel tendency to affect kind folks more than those who deserved it, but she always hoped to change that, even just a little. To leave the world better than when she entered it was all she wanted from life, despite how difficult the battle was. She could deal with the bad shit.

Still sucked to see the bad shit, though.

We gotta catch this fucker.

Balled fists held tight at her sides, she forced her eyes away from the corpses of her brothers in arms to scan the scene for any evidence that might lead to tracking down the psychopath who ended their lives. Anything would do, any thread she could tug to unravel the mystery and get to slap cuffs on the bastard. She’d never wanted to catch a criminal so badly, so deeply it kept her awake at night.

I’ll do whatever it takes. You’re going down, V.

The background check hadn’t given them much - he’d come from a middle class family, nothing remarkable about his childhood other than his fascination with art. By all accounts, while his young friends were off causing mischief, he’d be found visiting a museum or practicing his brushwork.

That is, until the shooting.

Regardless of his crimes, her heart went out to the poor bastard. Surviving a mass shooting by the sacrifice of a friend was enough to traumatize anyone. It was a damned shame (and an embarrassment to the healthcare system) that he didn’t get the help he needed afterward.

Still didn’t excuse killing folks, though.

At least they had one lead to follow - the doctor. After the dark-haired lunatic fled her apartment, it didn’t take long to get a search warrant. Techs were combing through the place, but they already had enough to put her away for at least a decade. Lobotomizing her own father, un-friggin-believable.

Tony was in shock, caught completely off guard by the doctor’s actions. His own hand-picked medical consultant, in league with the killer they hunted. A twist for the history books, he’d said. She’d never seen him so dumbfounded.

Despite being proven right about her suspicions, it turned Nico’s stomach to see the emptiness in Waras’s father’s eyes, the lack of humanity left behind. He was lucky to be alive, supposedly, but Nico had her doubts. Maybe death was a kinder fate than what the poor man endured.

He’ll never be the same. None of us will.

“I got a blood trail!”

Nico’s lips curved into a predatory smile. Franklin must’ve wounded the fucker, his last act one that could lead to the arrest of his killer. Cold comfort to his loved ones, but still. It was something.

~~~~Kotomi~~~~

The familiar click of her heels on cement vanished amidst the cries of the crowd. Enraged faces lined the entrance to Mundus Psychiatric Hospital, signs and shouts overwhelmingly oppressive. At least they weren't throwing fruit today. She’d count her blessings.

The protests first started a few days after the local news announced that V was the lead suspect in the recent killings, and that he’d escaped the historically secure facility. Citizens fearing for their safety flocked to the streets, calling for the hospital to close and the patients to go elsewhere, though nobody seemed to know where.  As long as it wasn’t here.

Nobody cares about an actual solution, just that the problem gets dumped on someone else’s lap.

Then one of the orderlies told the tale of the fire, heightening the rage and terror. Malphas still hadn’t figured out who talked, but when he did, heads were going to roll. The director’s professional reputation was irrevocably tainted, along with the entire staff (though his was the only name being slandered in the streets).

It shocked her to see normal people so furious. People who barely registered the hospital’s existence before, now vilifying it at every opportunity. It didn’t matter that the place housed mostly harmless individuals, or that the staff genuinely tried to help them heal. All the goodwill vanished in the wake of V’s rampage.

“Bitch! Don’t you care that folks are dying?!”

Kotomi flinched as a protester caught her gaze and stepped forward from the picket line, foam-flecked lips spewing vitriol. She moved faster; maybe she could get inside before it got any worse.

“How many innocent people have to get slaughtered before you fuckers close this shithole?! Give ’em all the chair, I say!”

She crossed her arms and curled her shoulders inward, her heart hammering as she tried to pass the man by. She only wanted to go to work. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone? She hadn’t done any harm.

That’s not quite true…

In a way, it was all her fault. If she hadn’t frozen up during the fire, maybe things would have turned out differently. Why did she always freeze when it mattered most?

Her thoughts stopped as the man grabbed her shoulder, his grip tight enough to bruise. His rancid breath fanned over her face as he shouted at her, the words lost in the wake of her terror. Quaking legs barely kept her upright as her body flooded with adrenaline, her pupils dilating and sweat blooming on her palms and forehead. Maybe if she stayed quiet, he’d let her go? Could she just wait it out?

What choice did she have?

And then a familiar voice called her name, a pair of worried brown eyes replacing those of the protester as Rob led her inside. Someone else coming to her rescue yet again, because she lacked the strength to save herself.

“Are you alright, Dr. Ishida?” he asked.

She forced her fingers to relax their iron grip on her purse strap. “I- I think so.”

Rob sighed and glanced back at the crowd, their shouting audible through the glass door. “They’re getting bolder. I’ll talk to Aaron again, there’s got to be something we can do.”

But they both knew there was little point. Until V was caught, nothing would quench the fury of the citizens or lessen their drive to close the facility. Maybe her mother was right, she should’ve gone into a different field. It might be time to walk away.

~~~~V~~~~

The artist grimaced as he limped along, his palm pressed against his thigh to staunch the bleeding and ease the pain. Each step he took brought another pang of agony, and he couldn’t find an exit wound- the bullet remained. He’d have to get it out and treat the wound. First, however, he needed to find a safe place to recuperate.

He leaned against a shipping container, cautiously lifting his palm to check the blood flow. It was slowing, at least. Progress. His belt proved an effective tourniquet. 

A gust of icy wind reminded him of his precarious position. The warehouse district wasn’t prone to pedestrians, which meant fewer eyes to spot him, but it also meant he stood out like a sore thumb to anyone who wandered by. He couldn’t afford to stay here long.

Keep moving. Can’t stop now.

He hobbled on, gritting his teeth against the pain. Sweat beaded on his forehead, itchy as it dripped through his hair. Aches ricocheted through his body, his muscles tired and close to quitting on him. He needed rest, a reprieve and a chance to plot his next move. Where could he go?

His friends stayed oddly silent. Did they abandon him? Unlikely, but he couldn’t discount the possibility. Either way, he had only himself to rely on.

Relying on others teaches one not to stand on their own. This is better.

Before long, his mind wandered to the worst three minutes of his life. It was inevitable after the reminders at the subway, the familiar crack of thunder as guns fired. How much pain had Nero endured that day? They said he’d been hit six times.

“Six… Six twelve Oak street…” he muttered. His vision swam and the artist faltered, shaking his head at his own foolishness.

He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten. Today was the day; he’d been looking forward to it. He’d had his doubts at first, but with each session Nero’s skill improved. The edges of his latest tattoos featured crisp definition, the whorls perfectly curved to follow the natural shape of his biceps.

The artist didn't notice the flush in his face and the dazed film in his eyes as he turned and set off in a new direction, his steps unsteady but determined. A slight smile graced his lips. What design would Nero add to the canvas of his flesh this time?  

~~~~Reader~~~~

You sprinted to your ancient car, barely noticing the absence of the undercover cop car as you forced the engine to roar to life. No doubt they’d seen V leave and given chase, which meant you didn’t have the choice of going back to your apartment. The police would search it from top to bottom.

They’re going to find the sketches…

It seemed so long ago that the artist first grasped that tiny nub of charcoal in your office, portraying your face in shades of grey. The roller coaster hadn’t stopped since that day, and it showed no signs of slowing.

But fuck it. No sense dwelling on what could’ve been, the life you could’ve had if you hadn’t requested his case. What was done was done. Time to get on with it.

You flicked on the radio as you pulled onto the main road. An aggressive guitar solo blared out and you winced as you turned the volume down, switching the channel a beat later. Social media probably had better info than the radio, but reading and driving didn’t mix.

“-unarmed but extremely dangerous. Police are advising locals to leave the area immediately. Last sighted exiting the subway station on 119th street, but current whereabouts unknown-”

The subway. Smart.

As if you’d expect anything less.

Within ten minutes, you reached 119th. Flashing lights and sirens greeted you, blue-clad officers milling around as one of them plastered crime scene tape over the railing. Mid-morning sunlight streamed down like a sick spotlight.

If V was here, he was beyond your reach.

Shit.

You turned at the next cross street. The police undoubtedly had your license plate by now, you’d need to do something about that. No sense lingering in a place chock full of them. But where to go? Where would V go?

A soft ding stole your attention; a new message. You crossed your fingers as you pulled over to check your phone.

It wasn’t far, maybe a five-minute drive. Thank the heavens, at least now you knew he hadn’t gotten arrested. Yet.

Still… the message had you worried. It lacked his usual eloquence and wit, and didn’t say whether he was physically okay. Shots fired, the TV said. You pursed your lips and pulled back into traffic, mind whirling with uncountable ways V might be injured. By the time you parked a block away from the quaint, two-story house, you could barely breathe through the anxiety.

Grabbing your backpack, you didn’t even bother locking the car as you speed walked to the yellow front door. What would you find within? If they hurt the artist, would you be able to help? What if only his corpse awaited you?

You swallowed thickly and tried the doorknob. Unlocked; you took a deep breath and entered. Nothing immediately jumped out at you. Photos of a white-haired teenager lined a nearby wall, a hall table holding mail and a dish to leave one’s keys in beneath them. No blood stained the walls, no sounds of pain echoed from another room. It was quiet.

“V? Are you here?”

No answer. Not good. You set aside your backpack and tried again, making your way through the home. Each second he didn't respond only heightened your fear, stinging your tongue with metal. He had to be seriously hurt or incapacitated somehow, and neither option helped the situation.

“V? Come on, where are you?” Your voice shuddered.

“...curse my stars…”

You spun and raced toward the voice, tearing open a door you’d missed before to find the artist, curled up on a massive bed. Blood stained the sheets, concentrated near his thigh. Sweat coated his brow and his eyes stared at nothing, unseeing in the grip of his pain and madness.

“...love so high…”

“Don’t worry, V. I’ve got you,” you murmured as you cupped his clammy cheek. Dilated eyes, sweat and warm to the touch. Most likely an infection. You shoved aside your feelings; time to get to work. Right now, he needed your medical care more than anything else you offered.

Fabric rustled as you took a seat beside him and searched for the source of the blood. Through the fabric of his jeans it was impossible to tell, so you quickly tugged them off, taking care to reapply his improvised tourniquet once the cloth was out of the way. Heart pounding, you finally found a darker spot in the tensor fasciae, close to his hip. There was no exit wound.

Oh, V… you walked here with a bullet in your leg?

At least it wasn’t too deep. Odd, but you’d take what you could get. A thin trickle of crimson oozed from the wound, but he wasn’t in danger of bleeding out yet. Assuming he hadn’t bled too much during his escape…

“I need to find supplies to treat you. I’ll be right back,” you said, stroking damp hair from his brow. His skin was on fire. He didn’t respond.

You pursed your lips and left him, searching the bathrooms and kitchen until you had what you needed. A moment more spent thoroughly washing your hands, and you returned. The artist hadn’t moved an inch.

Is he having an episode, too? Maybe that’s for the best, it’s possible he won’t notice when I take out the bullet.

The best you had was a longer than average pair of metal tweezers. If they didn’t do the job, you’d have to widen the wound. Thankfully it wasn’t close to any major arteries, so you were confident you had the skills to remove it safely. A few inches to the left, and he would’ve already been dead for an hour.

“Okay, this might hurt,” you told him, pausing for a moment before dousing his thigh with a mixture of bottled water and table salt. After a moment you turned him so the excess fluid spilled out, leaving the wound clean and ready. You gave him one last look as your fingers wrapped around your tool. The head lamp you found in the kitchen flared to life with a touch and you straddled his injured leg, keeping it as still as possible.

“Now for the really fun part…”

The artist twitched feebly as you probed the hole. For once it seemed his episodes were a blessing; if he were even remotely coherent, he surely would have screamed.

Centimeter by centimeter, you searched for the signature resistance of metal surrounded by human tissue. More blood leaked from the wound, drenching your hands and slowing your progress. Muttered verses occasionally interrupted the squelch of your work, but you paid his words no mind. A distraction surgeon never helped.

At last you found it, an unrelenting hardness amongst the fibrous muscle. You tapped around the bullet, getting a feel for its dimensions before making your move. The tweezers barely opened wide enough to take hold, but they did the job and you felt the bullet disturb the surrounding tissue as you slowly drew it out with a satisfying plop.

You sighed and set aside your prize. Another round of improvised saline later, you carefully sutured the wound closed and bandaged the area. The artist still made no indication of awareness, just lying there as you put him back together.

The moment you set down the roll of bandages, you started trembling. V’s blood covered your hands, the sour stench of sweat and chemicals hanging in the air. As pointless as it was, you couldn’t help but wonder why life had to be this difficult. The last twenty-four hours alone had your nerves begging for a break. What a sick world, where you had to remove a bullet from the man you lo-

Holy shit.

Air slipped from your gaping mouth as you fell back against the wall. A manic chuckle followed, then another. Was this what love was like? You’d never come close to it before, to this burning like fire in your soul. The thought of losing V mere hours ago had you in tears, falling apart like an infant without its mother for the first time. When you were with him, despite his murderous and unpredictable nature, you felt safe.

And the things you’d done for him - withholding medical information, lying to your boss and risking your medical license, everything you’d spent years working towards; not to mention what you did to your father.

He’d forced you to face yourself, someone you didn’t even know anymore. Changed your understanding of the world and of art, torn asunder your preconceptions and lit the way to new views. The eloquence of his speech, the grace in his movement, the curve of that smirk and the way his presence changed the atmosphere of any room…

I don’t know if this is love, but I don’t have another word that fits. Not even close. 

It was twisted; it was soaked in blood and violence, but you felt more authentic than you ever had. You smiled. Decades ago, you accepted that you might not be capable of love. 

How wonderful to be wrong.

~~~~Next Chapter~~~~