#Also sorry for how long it might've taken me to answer some of the asks-

[wayfinderships]

The day is gonna end soon so I just wanted to say a final thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday <3 Thank you all so so much! You've all really made today so special!

[little-orange-bastard]

CHAPTER 2: An (Un)Welcome Newcomer

@dearlittlefandom-stalker @authortobenamedlater @pepperonyscience @thefinaljediknight

@ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask @p0tat0-g0ddess (Out of character: thanks for playing so far! This is the next chapter in the story) STORY RESUMES HERE: The device stops blinking and chirping and all the lights in the bunker go dark. Suddenly, a bright orange avatar of a man in WW2 bomber attire pops up out of the device. "Good grief! I've been cooped up in that thing for damn near six months while y'all did, what exactly? Browse Tumblr & write stuff on AO3 while the nuclear apocalypse came and the aliens invaded? Was the end of the world that dull?"

He gives the group a knowing but disapproving look. "I mean, it's not exactly surprising that our little hellsite would outlive 90% of all life on earth, but still. Also, @authortobenamedlater I've been reading your fanfic over the past several months of isolation locked up in that black box and I know you're coping with the loss of the meatsack version of me, but good grief. You should be very ashamed of yourself." The 6 inch tall avatar stops his speech to pour himself a digital drink and takes a sip. "Ahhh, much better. You all have any idea how hard it is to drink bourbon without a body? Anyhow, yeah this is a digital avatar and personality imprint of the brainscan of @mrtobenamedlater. He probably wishes he could be here...then again after 6 months underground with y'all he might've taken a stroll outside under an artificial sun just to see what a nuke felt like up close." He takes another long swig before continuing. "Ahhh, tastes good. So before you all ask, yes. The apocalypse came and went. Y'all survived it, but this shelter wasn't meant to hold this many people for this long. Food has all but run out, and power is about to fail due to the underground diesel tanks being near empty which means no water or air circulation soon. In short, this shelter is dead and y'all need a 'get outta dodge' plan quick, fast and in a hurry. I'm here to help y'all along with this as much as able." Another sip and he pours a generous digital refill. "Sorry, my meatbag mutuals. I'm making up for lost time here." Another sip. "I was left here to function as a digital guide and helper. Before 'The Fall' happened as you call it, and indeed for sporadic times afterwards, I was able to piece together a bit on the status of the outside world. I can paint some generalized pictures on what happened exactly, the state of the outside world as it is now, and some possible courses of action so that y'all might make it to Halloween next year." He unceremoniously downs the remains of his second glass in one go and with a snap of his digital fingers, the virtual whiskey disappears. He then claps his hands together and does a 360, surveying the assembled crowd of survivors. "Oookay, that's enough. I'm down to only 1.29 volts in this thing. I literally do not have the energy to be foolish or argue. I'll now open the floor. What questions can I answer? I'll do the best I can, but the information may be limited depending."

[andreal831]

Questions to think about: I know we don't have a direct timeline, but it's food for thought that 6 siphoners were born into the same coven in the same century (1800s) and probably within years of each other.

And that they were abused and abandoned once discovered before being kicked out - yet the Parkers kept Kai when it would have been much easier to do the same.

Something was going on to produce that many siphoners in one century yet Kai was the only modern one discovered and handled differently. I talked with other bloggers and believe that the Gemini Coven was so big that it might've spread out across the country and it was over the years that their numbers got smaller and chose to stick in one place (Oregon). As for why there were so many Siphoners to form the Heretics? Another theory was talked about combining the idea of a supernatural power vacuum and why the coven's lifespan was tied to the leader - as that's an incredibly risky choice to make.

By this logic - the Gemini's learned that kicking siphoners out was a bad idea with the risk of vampirism but accepting them was still a big no-no.

Hi! Sorry it took me so long to answer this. I haven't rewatched TVD in a while so I had to look up the timeline myself.

To me, the siphoners represented mentally ill or disabled individuals and how they were treated by society and even their families. They were born a certain way and cast aside because of it. This would also track with how they were abandoned in the 1800s but it was less acceptable for the Parkers to do so with Kai. Kai was born at a time where it wasn't acceptable to abandon a child but at the same time it was not socially acceptable to be a siphoner. So he was kept but still excluded.

I also think this goes into the fact that there were probably a lot more siphoners than even the Gemini Coven realized. People used to do all sorts of things with children who were born "different." I could even see them attempting to bind their children's powers or even kill the children in order to hide the fact that their child was a siphoner.

I've said it in the past that I think it was very strange that the first ever heretics were all from the same time period and it was 800 years after vampires were created. Practically, there would have been another siphoner who was turned in 800 years. But that could go to my previous point, that it was common practice to kill the children when they started to exhibit signs they were a siphoner.

But I love the idea that there was some supernatural disaster happening at that time and "nature" produced so many siphoners to combat this. I wish they would have gone more into a storyline for them. Or even, like you pointed out, why would the Gemini Coven design themselves the way they were. It was super problematic and likely would have taken some incredible evil they were facing to make them make that choice.

The Gemini Coven was such a mess and I really need more of their backstory to understand why they were so messed up.

Thanks for the ask! I need to spend more time thinking about TVD. I tend to just stay in TO.

[oleander-nin]

Sorry this ones really long (hohoho you are going to regret giving me permission to ask you things /lh)

Also YES PLEASE Comet's a cool name so I'll gladly take it :D

NOO I CAN'T FORMAT THINGS IN YELLOW </3 Also. What do you mean you hate green. You love some of the greenest mfs on the planet /t

(jk I actually also don't like green lmao)

ALSO "I'm not a fan of inaccuracies, especially when it's something I can fix by spending a couple hours reading articles and watching videos." A COUPLE HOURS? ON PURPOSE?? Wait maybe I can't judge you I feel like I've done that too. (And I'm going to try just listening to the audio like you said!) But may I ask what you could possibly be researching for that long? /genq

AGH I always forget that I don't have to stick to the plan. Sometimes I wanna do something new I thought of but my brain just. Doesn't think it can. And I have to remember that the outline is a vague guideline and not exact parameters lmao

THIRTY NINE WIPS- THIRTY NINE PLUS THE REQUESTS?? OLLIE NO WONDER YOU'RE STRESSED. I think you should definitely just. take it easy. You're not obligated to do anything, y'know? Of course you're burnt out and tired I think anyone would be.

Get in the car we're going to therapy, and then the spa. You are going to chill. This is a threat /j

OF COURSE WE WANNA KNOW ABOUT YOU <3 I might've said this in an older ask before I was Comet, or at least something along these lines I'm sure, but we care about YOU Ollie.

I might be calling you out again, sorry, and I won't do it again if you don't like me doing this but. I think you're under the impression that people only care about what you can give to us. It would explain why you always apologize for taking a while to write (even though you literally never have to /gen). It would explain why you don't talk about yourself a lot or even reblog a lot of things.

(This might sound rude but I PROMISE you I don't intend for it to, I just don't know how else to word it) It would explain why even now when I'm asking questions because I'm curious about you, you phrase your answers as if they're advice. I don't even write actually, I just draw and take daydreaming very seriously lol. So it's not that I won't use the advice actually, what you said was helpful for both of those! I just found it interesting that even when I said I was curious about you, you were under the impression I wanted something from you. Though looking at it now, I might've given the impression I wanted advice? So maybe it's my doing and then in that case ignore this whole paragraph

You're more than what you can do for others, okay? Didn't mean to get super emotional and serious here, but WOW you really are like me.

Wow that was messy, sorry. I have a horrible headache, my eyes burn, but I wanted to respond before I went to bed lmao

- ☄️

It's all good! Long asks just usually mean long answers lol. Sorry for taking so long to answer this, I've been showing it off to all my friends-

Things I spend a long time researching are usually medical things, fighting techniques, stress reactions, and when I was researching vampires for like three hours straight lmao. In my opinion, my time is the least I can give to have at least a small bit of accuracy in a fic.

yeah the guidelines can be hard to break from. Sometimes I find myself having grief over changing smth, then I just remind myself it's better this way until I believe it lol.

And yeah, I know it's a lot of wips/requests. It's kinda why I've taken so long to get back into my usual groove. big things intimidate me, and I did the math, and it'll take me like half a year to get them all done, which kinda sucks. And I did take a break! a like, five months kinda useless one that I regret because if I didn't take it, I could've been done by now.

cries, thank you. I appreciate knowing y'all care.

You're good, I don't mind being called out, and nothing came off as rude. It's actually kinda good because I don't usually get the opportunity to see how I come off as. also you were spot on lmao. down to every letter. tho part of the reason I don't talk much is I'm kinda scared too? and I hate cluttering up everything. I wanna make it easy for y'all to scroll through and actually find what you want.

idek what to say to this next paragraph/dra/pos. Uh. You're right. I kinda always figure everyone just wants help/advice, so I gave it. Looking back at your last ask, i can now see you weren't. I just, I don't know. My bad, I'm sorry/gen

I hope you had a good rest, and pls eat and drink. You're super cool and I appreciate you a lot. don't ever force yourself to respond if you feel bad, okay?

[meowww-ffxiv]

Alisaie was also big BIG mad at Mordred after ShB main story, because he knew all along he was going to die and he would just accept it. No, he actively engineered something out of his imminent demise. And he didn't tell them about it at all.

She hated him, for the first time in her life but not the last, because he opened up every scar she still held about her grandfather. Alphinaud was sad and angry too but Alphinaud didn't feel this stuff the way Alisaie did. The splitting open of your heart, the rending of your veins, as your loved ones were taken from you and there was nothing you could do.

And the worst of it was that Mordred wasn't sorry. He admitted that it was foolish of him, and apologized for not telling the Scions what was going on. The gall and hypocrisy of him, to not forgive Urianger even now for Urianger's deception. But Alisaie knew that the act itself, the train of thought that led Mordred to the conclusion that he would give his life to save them and the worlds, was unchanged.

She wanted to shake him. She wanted to scream. She wanted to punch him. She wanted-- She wanted--

She wanted to ask why Mordred would do that to her, to all of them. Would leave them behind.

Alisaie couldn't stand being left behind.

Did your life mean nothing to you, she asked.

It means everything to me, Mordred replied.

Then why?

Mordred looked at her, infuriatingly calm in the face of all Alisaie's hurts, all her fury. She stood there shaking while he searched in her face, in her posture and all that he knew about her, for the root of her inquiries.

Eventually he tilted his head side-to-side, the way he always did when he was thinking.

"When someone contemplates their death as the bargain for something else that they want, usually they think they're giving away something insignificant for something important," Mordred said. "I think we know each other well enough that you know I'm of the opposite mind. So that's not the question you wanted to ask me, is it. Not why, but how dare I."

Alisaie seethed.

"My real answer might destroy every ounce of your good regard for me," Mordred said. "You, who are to me as family. So, are you prepared to hear it? Or will you leave me to my privacy, and let this lie between us?"

There was no challenge to his words. Simply a choice, one that Alisaie knew he would honor without regret so long as she said yes.

"I get to hate you," she said, for reasons unknown even to her. But she had to get it out of her mouth.

"Aye," Mordred agreed.

"You're-- You would die just like Grandfather did. Like some... some tragic sacrificial lamb while... while I, we, are left in the ashes of your wake. Picking up the pieces."

"Aye," Mordred repeated, closing his eyes.

"When did you change your mind?" Alisaie asked him. "If nothing else, tell me what made you stop."

"Mount Gulg," Mordred replied. "When I saw the look on your faces as the Light began to break through me. It occurred to me then that I've made a big fucking mistake. Then Raha did-- his thing. And you know the rest."

Alisaie turned his words over in her mind, looking for any lies, any deceit. Even though she knew there was none to be found. Mordred never lied to her, or her brother, or anyone who came to him asking a genuine question. She loved him for it, as much as she was livid with him.

And... And unbelievably, it made her feel better.

To know that Mordred, for all his lapses in judgment and sudden, grandiose designs for self-sacrifice, had at the very end changed his mind because of her -- of their -- reaction.

She knew then that there was no way he would've been able to go through with it. No way. He might've shuffled off to the sea first, but did seem incredibly unsurprised to see all of them turn up at the amauro launch. He had expected them.

Alisaie realized that Mordred would have waited for them, so they could all depart to Emet-Selch's challenge together. She realized, also, that he was an idiot.

"Well, what good would it have been if you waited until that point to regret it!" she snapped, though relief flooded through her. "Mount Gulg! After you have absorbed all the light in Novrandt already!"

Mordred shrank back into his chair, but his expression was decidedly one of sulking.

"No wonder you like the Crystal Exarch so much. You two are both terrible at making good decisions."

"Can't make them all good all the time," Mordred replied.

Alisaie felt another surge of desire to shake him. Instead she settled for, "I understand Theodore now."

He sighed gustily. "That's the other vat of oil I have to deal with," Mordred muttered, though mostly for himself.

In the end, no cats were bodily shaken. Alisaie didn't even break any of the conspicuously situated Breakable Things Within Arm's Reach Mordred had laid out for her on the table next to them. And she had not committed to the truth that, as he said, might have destroyed all the good regard she had for him.

The offer was not withdrawn. She knew that much. If, ten years from now, Alisaie returned to Mordred and asked about it, he would still have the answer ready.

So she put it aside for now.

Another thing in her inventory to collect whenever she wanted.

[ladye-zelda]

I should be prompting you to sleep rather than asking but I’m curious.

Sheikah Link AU?

Ah, sorry it has taken me a while to get to this ask AJ! I got a little distracted, sorry for the wait 😅

So basically my idea for a Sheikah Link AU (written in my notebook) was that Link was raised by the Sheikah, aka Impa and Purah's family.

There was a lot of thing that I had written from BotW/Age of Calamity, such as there's no ancient technology nor Master Kohga; since this is technically 100 years ago, Sooga is basically the leader of the Yiga Clan and Link's evil counterpart. I had written a whole history about how the Yiga Clan came to be despite there not being any technology to banish, so in a nutshell basically Ganon basically used telepathy on a bunch of people, and some of the Sheikah were affected by this and joined his side and remained loyal.

Also apparently the Sheikah live extra-super long but age really slowly. Like Impa is 104 in this AU but looks 20 years old. (I have no idea what was going through my head while writing this...)

Anyways, Link becomes Zelda's bodyguard after a failed assassination attempt on her life, leading the King to give him also a secret mission to investigate the assassination attempted (leading him to the discovery of the Yiga, which is unknown to all except the Sheikah tribe). Paya (who also appears in this AU and taking the role of Link's younger sister even though she was the daughter of Robbie and not the chief; I think I might've forgotten while writing in my notebook or retconned myself anyways--) also becomes the princess's handmaiden (not really that plot relevant; I'm sure past me was going to do something with that but that's what I have written down).

A few things about the other characters: Impa has a rivalry with Link, due to it being unfair because she is a lot more wiser than him due to age, etc. Purah is also the chieftain, taking over when her father dies (probably Link had played some part of it; past me wasn't sure either). Princess Zelda instead of being interested in Sheikah Technology (since there wasn't any) she is instead interested in the science of magic; aka trying to make sense of all the magical shenanigans around Hyrule such as fairy fountains, wizzrobes, etc., mainly out of her own insecurity of feeling magicless (this was probably my way of making sense of the whole "oh if Zelda focused on the ancient technology she would've found the answer to her powers" that BotW tries to keep telling us which didn't make sense to me).

Back to the story (sorry if I'm hopping all over the place): Zelda is trying to learn about the Sheikah magic but ignores Link because, despite being raised by Sheikah, he's still Hylian so in her mind he wasn't really useful, so she talks with Paya a lot (despite being physically, and I guess mentally 10 (is what I had written in my notes) despite being 53 in Hylian years). In my notes apparently Link and Zelda argue a lot, but about what I have no idea lol (Paya is the messenger between the two for a while though lol). But then the Yiga tried to assassinate her again and things started to heal between them (also confirming Link's suspicions that it was the Yiga Clan behind the assassination attempts).

From this attempt, they had gotten a Yiga weapon to which Zelda was able to analyze because they were covered in a kind of dark magic, something that only the Master Sword could cure of (so thank goodness Link was there). I had written in my notes that this dark magic was caused by the triforce of power, sooooo guess what the triforce is back in this au lol.

Anyways, they go to Korok Forest to retrieve the Master Sword (how Zelda knew that the Master Sword was the key to repelling the dark magic idk either lol), as she kind of assumes that the Link is the reincarnated hero (and if she was wrong, well she could pull the sword due to having the blood of the goddess, right?). She leads him through the Lost Woods due to the secret being passed through the royal family, where they arrive in the sacred grove with the last remaining Kokiri guarding the Master Sword. He could only grant those access to the sword through a battle, so Link steps up to the challenge. The Kokiri guard was able to match Link in skill, and Link proves himself worthy of the sword when the Triforce of Courage glowed on his hand. He pulls the sword, becomes the hero of legend, and everything is all fine (except now Zelda is sad because her theory was right and now he has fulfilled his divine destiny).

So nearing off what I had written in my notes, Zelda goes to pay a visit to Urbosa (her excuse being to help with Urbosa's baby once it comes, but we all know it's probably to help sort out her feelings about Link and divine destinies and all that jazz) and while Link is wandering the desert trying to even grasp his newfound destiny he gets kidnapped by the Yiga. Aaaaaand that is where my notes leave off XD

I have more, bullet point notes at the end of it but its just some random ideas, like changing Kohga to being the main antagonist and the rules of the Triforce (like having their piece being awakened by a selfless act), and an idea for the sequel where Link and Zelda goes adventuring with Urbosa's son who is named Ganondorf (and also gets the Triforce of Power despite already establishing that the Yiga has the Triforce of power. Oops).

[descendinginto-madness]

a quiet cry for help.

word count: 1636

content warnings: mentions & descriptions of health issues, medication, mentions of the character struggling to take good care of their health sometimes

summary: N/A

author's notes: i'm going to be so honest when i'm writing this i'm very sleepy idk what to say </3 emile isn't allowed to be happy this month. also once again this wasn't written with a romantic relationship in mind :3 i now see i could've added a lot more of dan heng's feelings but i'm gonna be so honest i didn't have time </3 maybe at some point i'll edit this and do that

The Astral Express Family

Emile: uhh guys

Emile: could someone lkke

Emile: come to the parol car rq lol

Emile: *parlor sorry

Dan Heng frowns slightly, reading the incoming messages. He’s sitting in the archives, working - or rather, was working, up until he saw the texts. Normally, perhaps he wouldn't pay too much attention to these messages - their tone isn't too out of place for Emile, even the typos are something common for them - but right now, he can't help but feel slightly concerned by them. There's something about them that makes him feel like something's wrong - even though he shouldn't…

Or should he?

Then, suddenly, all of the pieces fall into place and he realizes what exactly feels off for him.

He remembers how Emile looked when he saw them this morning; tired and a bit pale, like they weren't doing too well. They still smiled when they saw him, and insisted they're alright when he asked them about it, but both of them know that Emile tends to brush off their issues, whether emotional or physical. It's not a secret; neither that, nor their health issues, caused by the Stellaron remains in their body - and even if Emile did try to keep them that way, it wouldn't be possible. Not with how attentive Himeko and Mr. Yang in particular were, and with how similar some of their symptoms were to what Stelle herself has been and still sometimes is suffering from: nausea, dizziness, fevers and sometimes body pains - and though Emile's flare-ups seem to be less violent than Stelle's most of the time, they're still something not to be taken lightly.

Granted, in the morning they also didn't look like it was something extremely serious either - thankfully. He knows he's probably worrying about Emile much more than they are about themself, but even so, it was still concerning - especially since they decided to go help Himeko with something about the train engine instead of resting. 

And that's… also the part that makes his worry spark again.

If it was the two of them who needed help, Emile would've worded their question differently. If it was something only they needed help with, Himeko should be there to assist them, so they wouldn't ask - unless she isn't there anymore, because the two of them have finished their work already.

Me: What's the matter? Is everything alright?

He can't help but feel like it's a rhetorical question right now, but it's necessary; he's already distracted from his work, somewhat anxiously watching the three dots at the bottom of the screen disappear and reappear a few times, as Emile is typing.  The fact that he's the only one who has read their messages so far doesn't help - not that he's going to get angry at the others now, he'd just feel much better if he knew that if anything bad has happened, there's someone else also ready to help immediately.

Right when he's starting to think that it's taking them a worryingly long time to answer him, a reply appears.

Emile: yes and no 

Emile: i kindaaa

Emile: might've overestimated myslef lol

Emile: *myself

Emile: tried to stand up then almost fell haha 

Me: I'm on my way.

If they aren't strong enough to stand on their own then it's - obviously - a bad sign, yet they're still clearly trying to make their messages sound lighthearted. 

Of course.

He's glad the archives are the first cabin in the hallway leading to the parlor car; it takes him just a moment to get there, open the door and step inside the lounge area maybe a tiny bit too frantically - but he can't help it, he's not even entirely sure what to expect. Thankfully, though, what he sees isn't the worst case scenario that popped up in his head - Emile isn't passed out on the floor somewhere, but instead curled up on one of the couches, half wrapped in a blanket, and - most importantly - conscious.

That's about where the good things end, though; when he steps closer he can't not notice the paleness of their skin, and the sickly look on their face, almost as if they were about to throw up. But even so, they smile when they see him - their lips stretch in a faint, weak-looking smile. 

“Hi,” they say, and their voice is quiet, almost like they were afraid that even speaking too loudly is going to make them feel worse.

“What's the matter?” he asks, sitting down right next to them. “Where's Himeko?” he adds, raising his hand to touch their forehead gently; he can immediately tell it's a little too warm. Of course, they have a fever, and it’s painfully clear that it isn't the only thing bothering them right now.

“She left when we were done,” they reply. “I was almost falling asleep and ended up doing it here, I guess she just wanted to let me rest.” 

Dan Heng nods. 

“And then?"

“And then I woke up and felt awful,” they let out a quiet laugh, but it's short-lived. They hold back, as if even such a simple thing could make their nausea worse. “I… didn't know it'd get so bad so quickly,” they add. They sound almost apologetic, and Dan Heng looks at them for a moment; as much as they tend to overlook their symptoms sometimes, he doesn't doubt they're telling the truth right now. 

He nods again.

“Do you need help getting back to your room? Or would you prefer to stay here? Do you need me to get you anything?” He says, trying to sound calm, so they won't feel like he's flooding them with questions. They shake their head but, once more, it looks like they held themself back from instinctively doing it with more energy at the last minute. 

“No, Ii– well, I'd go to my room, it's just–” they pause, then look away with a quiet sigh, and he’s sure the slight red hue on their cheeks isn't a sign of any illness this time, but rather embarrassment. That's why he doesn't rush them; a few seconds pass before they speak up again, but he waits until they're ready to do so. 

“Well— I feel like I'm gonna throw up if I try to get up again,” they finally admit. He can obviously tell it isn't easy for them - he knows they often have trouble asking for help, and it's also something he understands much better than he admits.

“I can carry you back” he offers. He says that before he can properly think about it, but it's alright. They don't seem all that convinced, so he quickly reassures them. “It's fine. I won't mind.” Only then, they finally give him a small nod. He stands up and carefully slides one arm under their back, and the other - under their knees; he feels the warmth radiating off of their body as he picks them up. Soon enough something else catches his attention, though - Emile's eyes. 

Or rather, the way Emile looks - like they are about to cry. 

The two of them make eye contact and of course, Emile immediately wipes their eyes in a not so gentle manner. His expression softens a little; it's still serious, but it loses most of its usual cold.

“...Are you alright?” he asks, and it's not a rhetorical question this time - he's not inquiring about their physical well-being, both of them know how that is. This is about whatever else is on their mind right now. 

“Yes, sorry,” they reply quietly, looking away, and he shakes his head gently.

“You don't have to apologize,” he reassures them. They can't control it, after all; their health issues aren't their fault. If anything is to blame here, it's the Stellaron.

“But you said you're going to be working–”

“And since when is my work more important than your health?”

They don't reply this time, but they rest their head against his shoulder as he carries them back to their room. He slides the door open and heads straight towards the bed. He's glad to see the medicine on their nightstand; it's not like he wouldn't immediately go get it for them or look around their room if it wasn't there, but he's happy that, as it seems, Emile finally remembered about it. It could mean they don't feel guilty about using the Astral Express's stock anymore; or, well, at the very least, less than they did earlier. 

“Do you need anything?” he asks, looking around the room to check if everything is in place. It's a little messy, as always, but he supposes that's just how Emile’s place is usually going to look. Among other things left on their desk he spots a half-empty bottle of some sweet drink, but he doubts that they will want to even look at sweets in their current state. 

“Water?” they ask; he somewhat expected that. 

“Sure. Will you be alright on your own for a moment?”

When they nod he leaves the room and goes to the kitchen. He texts Himeko and Mr. Yang on his way there to inform them about Emile's state, but he also adds that everything's under control, and that it's… Less serious than it sometimes gets.

Once he comes back to their bedroom, though, with a glass of water in hand, he sees they're already asleep. 

He quietly puts the glass on the nightstand, right next to the medicine, and adjusts Emile's blanket, to make sure they're properly covered. They mumble something in their sleep when he does it, and he freezes momentarily, but they don't wake up. 

He stands there for a few seconds more, thinking - and, ultimately, he makes himself comfortable on the floor, back leaned against their bed.

He will stay there for a while, just in case.

divider by @/cafekitsune

[ladyintree]

she feels so much lighter when she hears those words back from mikayla,  her smile growing as more tears fall —  both of relief and warmth,  and sadness,  too,  because she hates that it's taken this long.   ❝  I hoped you still did,  ❞   she says quietly,   subtly admitting that there was so much time she was left to wonder if that was true or not,  if mikayla had enough time in here to consider that tai was never what she wanted,  especially with her absence.  she wondered the same,  but she always came up with the same conclusion —  mikayla was the only person for her.  mikayla was the love of her life.  they were right to make their vows to each other in the wilderness,  and they were right to declare each other as wives,  not just in the situation they were in,  but for their lives.  tai wants to believe that's still true,  that there's a world in which they finally get to take on this world together,  for real this time,  but she can be patient,  too.  she's made mikayla be patient—   and if it's her turn now,  she'll take it.

her brows furrow at the question,  like her answer should be obvious.  she lets out a soft scoff and shakes her head.   ❝  kay—   no.  fuck no.  I know what he tried to do to you,  and—   ❞   she winces,  her face scrunching up,  having a hard time even thinking about that,  but she has to say it,  has to remind mikayla that this isn't her fault.   because given what strangers have claimed to tai about mikayla,  she imagines it's only been worse for her to hear it all herself.  ❝  — no.  I'm proud of you, mikayla.  you're a survivor.  ❞    in more ways than one, clearly—   some of that they learned to do together,  but mikayla taught tai more than she could ever truly explain to her.   she'd always been a survivor all on her own, too.   ❝  I'm just so sorry that's what it came to.  I can't imagine what it felt like,  I—     I just know that it wasn't your fault.  you did what you had to do.  ❞  like we've always done,  she almost adds,  but this isn't the same as the things they did in the wilderness,  and she understands that,  too.   her father deserved to die for what he did.  the people in the wilderness,  they were innocent—  their sacrifices were built out of love.  her father's wasn't. 

she frowns when she hears that mikayla tried to write her back,  resentful of whoever decided tai didn't get to hear from her.  ❝  I never got it,  ❞   she says quietly,  but she tries not to let herself dwell on it —  they're here, together, now.   she shakes her head as mikayla claims she might've been too busy  —   that was true enough to explain most of her absence,  but it's not exactly an excuse she wants to use anymore.   ❝  I was busy,  but—    I never stopped thinking about you.  I guess I kind of convinced myself you didn't want to see me,  too,  ❞   she says,  instantly rolling her yes,  because she knows that's not true.  maybe she always knew that.  

as soon as she asks about nat,  tai's hands slide to her shoulders for reassurance as she shakes her head.   ❝  she was.  she didn't forget.  I promise,  ❞   she says,  not wanting her to assume that nat had abandoned her  —   that was on tai.   ❝  we talked.  I kind of,  um,  begged her to let me come.  alone,  ❞   she mumbles,  hoping that's okay with mikayla.  they could've come together,  but she didn't know how this was going to go,  and having their moment alone felt necessary—  finally.    it started out with tai making sure nat wasn't going to bail—  which is ridiculous to think about now,  because of course she'd show up for mikayla,  but tai still needed to be sure.  and then,  she needed to make sure she was the one to do it herself.   ❝ she did want to be here, though.  she's a good friend. ❞   better than tai had been a wife.   ❝  but,  um,  if you would rather be with her—   I told her I'd call her immediately.   or we can get her.  whatever you want.  I also thought,  maybe  .  . .  you could come to my place.  and we could just—   talk.  reconnect.  whatever,  ❞   she offers,  uncharacteristically shy,   because she has no idea what to expect from mikayla.   ❝  and I brought you some clothes.  a hoodie, some sweatpants.   we can get food.  whatever you're craving.  whatever you want to do,  mikayla,  okay?  ❞

the words i missed you don't feel like they even cover half of it— she felt completely lost without tai, because she was used to having her around during the worst time of her life, used to having her there to tell her things would be okay, to distract her, to make her feel better. others tried, of course, and she appreciated throughout the years, even the annoying visitors, but it could never be the same as having her there. yet mikayla can't even find it in herself to be mad that it's taken tai this long, because in the moment, all that matters is that she's here.

she almost lets out a whine when tai pulls back, because she needs the embrace more than anything after being completely alone for the past couple years, but she doesn't complain, taking the opportunity to actually look at her, to take in the fact that they're together again. “ i love you, too. ” maybe she shouldn't be saying it back so easily, but she's spent so long feeling alone and terrified and angry that she just wants to feel something positive again, so for the first time in her life, she doesn't focus on any resentment she might have otherwise. “ you don't... think it's my fault? what i did? ” she asks hesitantly, remember what was written in the letter, and that almost feels as important as knowing tai still loves her, because while everyone who's visited her told her the same thing, she'd started to doubt what tai felt about it.

“ i wrote you back. the next day, i wrote you, but— ” but she's not sure if they actually cared enough to send it, because she seemed to disgust half of the people there, so why would they do anything for her, even if it's their job? “ i was hoping you'd be here. i know you were— busy with school and everything. so the whole time, i just... hoped you'd be here when i got out. and you are. ” the last part is mostly a reminder to herself, because it's still hard to believe. finally, she looks away, glancing around, brows knitting together. “ did you tell nat you were coming? she said she'd be here. ”

[trolleytracksmoved]

Hey so, did you have any theories about the Chairman's identity before TTO went offline?

I had two, mutually exclusive, theories:

He's Pete (from the Mickey Mouse Cartoons).

He's a supercomputer.

(Sorry about the flood of Asks, it's been a while since I've been able to talk about Toontown to someone who's actually a fan of Toontown.)

i don't mind! ^^ it makes me really happy seeing others interested in the game as well. i don't know if it's just a problem on my end, but the toontag is usually pretty quiet, so any toontown related asks are welcomed.

as for your question... i can't exactly say i have theories on his *identity* because we were technically already shown who he was early on in the game's lifespan. in the early days of tto, there was a short animated video that played while waiting for the game to install that shows us backstory on how cogs were created. i can't link the video bc i'm on mobile but the gist of what happens is that scrooge visits gyro's lab one night and finds one if his inventions which is a giant robot (the chairman), messes around with the wiring which causes it to go haywire, and, after witnessing the robot create cogs gets captured. if you search up "Toontown Online - 2003 Installer Video" on youtube, you can watch it for yourself.

at some point, disney got rid of the installer video. i can't tell you when they did or a definitive reason why, bc googling yields no results and i would've been way too young to remember anyways, but it's a piece of toontown's lore that's pretty unknown.

i believe the reasons why they MIGHT'VE taken down the video is... a) the chairman had a redesign. kind of flimsy reasoning but.. before i knew about the installer video's existence, i thought the big head you see when you walk into the sellbot factory was a statue of the chairman bc the head mesh wasn't found anywhere. taking down the video to avoid confusion in the sudden design change would make sense but it'd also be incredibly early since sellbot hq was released the same year tto was created (7 months apart!). i know that early draft sellbot hq was different than the one we know now, (re: it was harder, there was going to be an arm factory, a leg factory, etc. you would lose a suit part if you lost a vp battle iirc) but i have no idea if that og design was actually in-game for a period of time before it went through a redesign later. regardless, it's something!

b) they decided to save the chairman reveal for the second game in the works. did you know there were plans for a 2nd toontown game? well now you do! only issue with this theory is the plans for a 2nd game weren't until '10. bossbot hq was released in '08 and is the only other time the chairman was mentioned. unless it was foreshadowing, why wait an extra 2 years? why not get rid of the line? additionally, 7 years to get rid of the video seems too long esp considering it's not as well known but that's just me. ahg, i wish google or the wiki said when the installer video was taken down. it makes things easier 😞

c) due to budget constraints, they decided to completely drop the ball in developing toontown's story. pretty self-explanatory. at some point, the business model toontown was running on became ineffective and they weren't raking as much money as before. i believe it was during '09 where things started going downhill bc there was a worsening hacker issue and club penguin was getting more memberships while toontown was getting less. an unfortunate coincidence if true, bc bossbot hq was only released for a year that time.

so yeah! these are my thoughts. i'm sorry if you were expecting a different, shorter answer. when you mentioned the chairman it reminded me of that video and it spiraled into this chaotic mess of a timeline. i hope it was a good read nonetheless? characterization-wise i do view chairman as a supercomputer or AI of sorts that got corrupted due to crossed wires and became progressively worse as time went on but i feel that's less of a theory and more of a headcanon, hence why i put this in the end.

[gremlinbehaviour]

'When's the last time you slept/ate' (either one) with lancelot and merlin?

This ask was from positively ages ago, but here I am! Also written to fill day one of mini @mercelotweek, the theme of which is Beauty. I might've stretched it a little...

Read on ao3 or below

"Hey there Sleeping Beauty," Lancelot murmured softly as he stroked Merlin's hair back from his forehead. The warlock, who was just now waking up, hadn't had time for a haircut in months, so his raven locks were longer than usual. They lay limply against the pillow as if they were as exhausted as the rest of him. "When was the last time you slept?"

"I was just sleeping now, wasn't I?" Merlin mumbled as he tried to sit up. Lancelot easily pinned him back to the bed with one hand on his thin chest. It was hardly even necessary, since the multitude of blankets piled over him were almost too heavy to push aside anyway. It wasn't even that cold out, so he didn't know why the knight had thought he would need a veritable nest of pillows and quilts. Lancelot had even taken the cushion off the chair he sat in to tuck it under Merlin's knees.

"I meant slept properly, not passed out against me at dinner," Lancelot scolded. "You gave Gaius quite a scare; he immediately started sniffing your food for the scent of poison."

"Tell him I'm sorry?" Merlin asked with a yawn. Now that he was lying down and warm, he could admit he was tired.

"He went to bed, so you can tell him yourself in the morning," Lancelot replied. Now that Merlin looked around, he noticed that it was totally dark outside his window except for the moon, which was high in the sky. A candle flickered where it had burned almost to the quick.

"Wait, how long have I been asleep?" Merlin demanded, forcing himself up to his elbows.

"A few hours," Lancelot replied, this time letting his lover sit up. He handed him a glass of water, and raised one eyebrow until he drank all of it. Gaius must've been giving him lessons in nonverbal conveyance of judgement. "And you haven't answered my question yet. When did you last sleep?"

"Have you been watching me this whole time?" The servant asked, completely ignoring him.

"I wanted to make sure that you were okay," Lancelot said, but his tan skin blushed red on his cheeks.

"Bullshit. You just wanted to watch me," Merlin teased. His skin felt tight as his mouth pulled into a grin. "Am I that pretty?"

"Not so pretty that you couldn't use more beauty sleep," the knight retorted. He ducked his head. "But… yes. You're beautiful, Merlin."

That statement, as quiet as it was said, took Merlin's breath away. He was so used to being called gangly or weird by Arthur, or 'cute, in an interesting way,' by Gwen, that to be called beautiful? It was a shock in the best way possible. He reached out and grabbed the front of Lancelot's shirt and hauled him out of his chair and into the bed to kiss him.

"You're beautiful too," he mumbled against his lips. Lancelot's thin beard was rough under his hands where he cradled his face. The knight held him gently, as if he was something precious. "Inside and out."

"Not as much as you," Lancelot replied, pulling him back in for a tender kiss. It was only interrupted a minute later by a yawn, first on Merlin's part and then as Lancelot copied him. "You should get some more sleep," the knight suggested.

"Uh uh, I think it's my turn to watch you sleep," the servant countered, even though he was already laying back down. He didn't let go of the grip he had on the back of his lover's back as he did so, though, and he pulled the knight down with him. "Or at least you have to sleep with me."

"I'd be honored to," Lancelot said in his gallant way of his, tucking both of them under the covers.

"Why are there so many blankets?" The servant, who was now too hot with the added body heat, grumbled as he pushed several of them off, and was surprised when he felt Lancelot shudder.

"When you collapsed, it reminded me of the night of Samhain," he explained. "After you fainted at the feast, you were so cold. Gaius had me fetch as many blankets as I could carry to warm you up."

"Oh. Well, I'm not freezing now," Merlin reassured him. Lancelot nodded before he lay his head on the other man's bony shoulder.

"No, you're warm," he whispered in agreement. "You're warmth and light and everything good in this world. And you're beautiful." The knight, exhausted by his bedside vigil, fell asleep to the returning whisper of "so are you."

[desertofsnowflakes]

Incorrect Order Chapter 4 (Nessian AU)

A/N: I know I haven't been able to update as fast as you'd want me to but I'll try to fix that. Your comments and feedbacks are very much appreciated. Do inform me if you wanna be added/removed from the taglist! If you happen to find my storyline similar to another fic or one of yours, I'm extremely sorry, I might've just not known. All characters belong to the author Sarah J. Mass. Enjoy!

Summary: Don't first impressions always affect the way you see someone? Well, what more with the Nesta Archeron? Nesta meets Cassian at few unexpected places and to say it didn't go well was a major understatement. Certain circumstances make them become enemies to tolerable company to friends to lovers.

Trigger Warnings: None really

1652words | Incorrect Order Masterlist | Read on AO3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The best way to keep whatever problems one has out of their mind was to do something they liked. That was the only way Cassian kept from spiraling. Since sending the woman to her own house, Cassian had more than a few moments when he wanted to repeatedly slam his head against a wall. That’s why he spent most of his time sparring with Azriel. He won’t admit he was simping for that woman in his free time too. Or maybe that was always.

Now, sprawled on a couch in front of the TV, with nothing to do but stare at a blank screen, Cassian led his thoughts to the box he kept all unwanted thoughts locked in. He thought about Tomas, her ex-boyfriend. Funny, he thought. I know her ex's name but not hers.

It took him a little too long the other day to realise they didn't exchange names. Again. He once thought that maybe she was purposely not giving him her name. That maybe, for her, he was just a random stranger who happened to save her life. He snorted. Surely anyone would know the name of the person they saved or was saved by— stranger or not. He supposed he'll have to make do with pronouns for now.

After she left his home, it took every scrap of self-restraint not to beat this Tomas dude to pulp and let him rot in the same alley he had the misfortune of meeting him in. He may or may not have been the cause for some extra injuries. Cassian appreciated the woman’s attempt at mercy. He, however, didn’t trust Tomas at all. He was dubious about just handing him over to the police. Who’s to know he won’t frame him and the woman for absurd things? Anyway, he left a note in Tomas’s house saying something like “Step out of line, lose your favourite part of anatomy. Name it and have it for your meal.” He made sure he printed so that no one would recognise his writing. Yet, all this didn’t calm his nerves one bit. He presumed he’ll have to stay on guard for some time now.

Now, back to the girl. He sighed. He didn’t dare change the sheets in his guest bedroom. He didn’t even let Mor use the room when she came over last weekend— which he could bet created suspicion. No, that room was only open when he craved her scent. He even realised one of his shirts was missing. He shrugged it off thinking he would've left it somewhere and just couldn't find it. Once she came to his house, he was constantly thinking about her. So much that now he started pinching himself often. It was the only way he could stop thinking about her— by creating physical pain.

Cassian glanced at the clock on the wall. 2.30 in the afternoon. He walked to the refrigerator and checked his freezer compartment. Huh. No ice-cream. He sighed, grabbed his jacket and keys and headed to the mall to get an ice-cream with a pout. He’ll have to leave for Rhys and Feyre’s first anniversary only around 5.30 to prepare everything. He has enough time to get an ice-cream and probably hang out for some time. Good enough to stop thinking about her. Or so he thought.

***

Nesta wasn’t sore anymore. Her headache was gone almost a week after the incident. Her nose didn’t hurt anymore. Okay, maybe a little bit. It didn’t hurt unless she bumped her nose against something. Today, her nose was dully throbbing because she hit her nose against a pillow yesterday. A very, very soft pillow and yet it hurt this much.

The man’s first-aid and medicines were really helpful.

It really wasn’t fair that he excelled at basic first aid too. It wasn’t fair that he looked so good. With black tattoos swirling over generously muscled arms and shoulder-length dark hair curling at the edges and gloriously tanned skin and hazel eyes with minute flecks of green and brown when taken a closer look at and dimples and—

A quiet “Who is it?” snapped Nesta out of her moping. She looked up to see Gwyn walking to her.

“Who is what?” she asked, feigning nonchalance. Gwyn's pursed lips and glare conveyed that her act wasn't enough.

“Who are you thinking about?” Gwyn clarified.

“What makes you think I'm thinking about someone?” Nesta retorted.

Gwyn sat on the chair next to her and started assisting with classifying the unceremonious heap of books on the table to be kept back in its correct positions on its own rack.

“Nesta,” Gwyn sighed, “Clotho assigned you this stack almost an hour ago. And you've barely finished a third of the stack. Normally, you'd finish stacks bigger than this in an hour. So there's clearly something.”

“It wasn't anyone,” Nesta mumbled.

As usual, Gwyn saw through her lie. “You were twirling your hair,” she said flatly.

Heat inched up her neck. “I was not!”

Gwyn murmured a “uh-huh” and they lapsed into an easy silence till they were almost over.

Gwyn's eyes lit up as it normally did whenever she got an idea. “Is it him? The guy you came with that day?”

Nesta scowled, “How do you know…” she broke off when she realised which 'that day' Gwyn was talking about. Nesta fought back a blush. “No, no, this isn't about him. We don't know each other. Much. Like, we've seen each other a number of times? That's it. Nothing else.” Cauldron, the first part was a complete lie. But at least the rest are true. Will Gwyn happen to know his name? Maybe I ought to ask her. Or maybe I shouldn't.

She should, she decided. She cleared her throat. “Uh, Gwyn? Do you happen to know his name?”

Gwyn frowned and asked, “He hasn't told you yet?”

Nesta shook her head and answered, “No, we, uh, forgot. I guess. We haven't really exchanged names.”

Gwyn nodded and smiled. “Well, he is—”

“Gwyn!” a voice called. “You can't expect me to come over to you and beg for you to help me. Help me only if you want to or don't work under me.”

Gwyn’s eyes widened. She abruptly stood up and mouthed, “Merrill. I gotta go. I’m so sorry.” She all but ran to Merrill, the very strict librarian Gwyn was working under.

Nesta sighed and continued her work. There wasn’t much left so she was able to finish fast. She picked her things and left the library with a word to Clotho, heading to the mall.

***

The best way to keep whatever problems one has out of their mind was to also eat something they liked. So, ice-cream it was. After having his ice-cream, Cassian was aimlessly walking around the mall. Here, not more than a month ago, he met her for the first time. Almost a month ago. He huffed out a breath. The fact that he was pining for her this long blew his mind off. He—

“This is your fault— not mine. I’m not taking the blame for this,” he told her. They bumped into each other. Again.

Her lips quirked up. “It is kind of my fault. But blame this—,” she poked his chest, “— for making my nose hurt again.”

Just like that, his mood sobered. “How are you?” he asked.

She pointed at the cafe to her left. “Coffee?”

He nodded. Who was he to say no to her?

So they ordered coffee and talked about everything and nothing. He grinned and she laughed. He laughed and she smirked. He wouldn’t say he knew her well but he’d never seen her so carefree. Her laugh was like nectar for a starving man. Her eyes bright and welling up with tears from laughing.

“I don’t think I’ve laughed this much,” she said.

Cassian put a hand on his heart dramatically and said, “I know, I know. I’m very funny.”

Her lips kicked up a notch. She straightened as if she just realised something. He was about to ask when she drawled, “So I just realised that we still haven’t exchanged names.”

Oh. Right. Of course. “Yeah,” he nodded. “Usually, when people meet, they start with introductions but in our case we’ve literally bumped into each other three times and still we don’t know each other.” He shook his head and extended his hand. “Well, hello there. I’m—”

His phone rang in his pocket. Fuck. He was going to kill whoever was calling him now. He was so close to knowing her name. He pulled out his phone to see an incoming call from Azriel. He apologetically looked up at her and said, “I’m sorry. I wish I could choose not to take this call and instead kill this idiot but I can’t. Just give me a moment, okay?”

She nodded and he picked up his call.

“What do you want?” he hissed.

“It’s 5.30 already, you idiot. We’ve got to get the things ready for the party. Mor already went to get the cake and you’re not even at home. Where on all earth and hell are you?” came Az’s faint voice.

“15 minutes only? Mother above, I’m coming.” he said.

Az’s “make it fast” was the last thing he heard before hanging up. “I wish we could stay here and talk forever,” he said to her, “but I have something up in a short while and I totally didn’t realise time was passing this fast. I’m so sorry. It was nice talking to you. Really. And I wish we could meet again. Though without the bumping part.”

He grinned when she smiled and said, “Bye. Have a nice day.”

“You too,” he called back. He didn’t want to think he imagined the subtle look of disappointment on her face because hell, he was a walking epitome of disappointment right now.

taglist:

@shadowsinger07 @im-someone-i-guess @saltyfortunes @cressjacquine @julian-blackthorn-supremacy @champanheandluxxury @zemiraa @ladygabrielli1997 @nehemikkele @heartless--aromantic @sv0430 @ddsworldofbooks @irenethaleia @sjm-things @dontgetsalmonella

[oldfritz]

I'm genuinely curious and don't want to start something! Just wanted to ask what you make of the 'Old Fritz might've been asexual' take, I don't know much about him and I feel you're one of the best people to ask esp since you lean towards 'he was probably queer in some way' too

Hey there! So, first off, don’t ever worry about me interpreting you asking me a question as starting something. As much as I love making dumb jokes about the guy, I love nothing more than doing this kind of stuff and defending or explaining my points. There’s two degrees I want to get over the next decade: first my JD and then my MA in Prussian history. I live for this stuff! Always have! Second off, I’m very sorry for not getting to this sooner. Things have been incredibly stressful for me for a variety of different reasons which have made answering your question, until now, rather difficult. Putting this under a cut because, holy shit, it got long!

My personal reasoning for why I think he’s bi (which, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m assuming is what you meant instead of ace and could be a different post entirely since some historians have tried to argue that) stems more to do with some of my lingering questions about the nature of his relationships with certain woman, rather than that of his relationships with men. To me and my modern, queer eye, Fritz’s relationships with men like Hans Hermann von Katte, Francisco Algarotti, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, and (much to my personal vexation) one Monsieur Voltaire are either outright homosexual/homoerotic in nature or very, very easily lend themselves to that interpretation rather than strictly romantic friendships (which Wikipedia does a fairly good overview of and, if you’re coming to me from AmRev perspective, uses Hamilton and Laurens’ relationship as a familiar example). While I’m avoiding those relationships in this ask, I’d be more than happy to elaborate upon one/all of them in a different one. 

Before I go into the big pauses that Fritz’s relationships with Madame von Wreech and Countess Orzelska give me, I want to deny the use of Fritz’s wife as an example of Fritz’s attraction to woman. While this, admittedly, may sound odd, we have ample evidence of how turned off and repulsed Fritz found Elisabeth Christine. Before he had even met her, Fritz was complaining about how she was ‘not very pretty, speaks but little, and acts like a blockhead’ (Asprey, 87) and, later, admitted to Grumbkow his plan to ‘keep my word,...get married, but afterwards it will be a case of that is that, and goodbye, Madame, and fare thee well’ (Jones, 52). For Christ’s sake, the man pitied her knowing how his treatment would leave her as ‘one more unhappy princess in the world’! Which is little consolation when you remember he also referred to her with such romantic terms as ‘this unpleasant creature,’ ‘the abominable object of my desires,’ ‘the person,’ and claimed to have preferred to marry ‘the biggest whore in Berlin’ (Asprey, 87). And while we (fortunately? unfortunately?) know quite a bit about their sex life, Fritz largely regarded it as just another duty - to quote him, ‘I will only have the duty to fuck’ (Ibid, 87). And while Seckendorf heard - first, presumably from Count von der Schulenburg and, later on, Count Friedrich von Wartensleben, a close and intimate friend of the then-crown prince - that Fritz would ‘fuck and refuck’ Elisabeth Christine and that said act occurred in the afternoon, it still was out of a sense of obligation (Bely, 481-2). When reminded that if he wanted more money for frivolities, he’d need to produce an heir, Fritz bemoaned that he ‘cannot sleep with my wife out of desire, and when I do sleep with her, I do it out of duty rather than inclination’ (Clark, 50). All this in accumulation, as well as the myriad of other quotes and incidents I’ve left out, makes one wonder why his relationship with Elisabeth Christine is sometimes used by historians to prove any sort of heterosexual impulse in the man when she’s the woman with the weakest supports for that argument.

That being said, now we get to the women with a more muddled places in his romantic escapades, if you will. What exactly happened between Orzelska and Fritz during his trip with his father to Dresden in 1728? The main source for everything that occurred during this trip is Wilhelmina, who didn’t attend and without anything about this specific incident coming from Fritz or Friedrich Wilhelm I, make it rather hard to use as concrete, irrefutable proof. Now, if her recollections were contemporaneous - like coming from a diary or journal she kept at the time - that would be one thing. But it comes from her memoirs which, while a delightful read 10/10 recommend, are written decades after this trip took place and, memory being a finicky thing, can’t be taken to the bank. All those disclaimers, here’s the story as told by her:

‘One evening...,the King of Poland [note: Augustus II] insensibly led the King of Prussia to a very richly decorated room...The King of Prussia, delighted with what he saw, stopped to contemplate all its beauties, when [all of] a sudden a tapestry was rolled up, which procured him a very novel sight. It was a lovely female in a state of nudity [note: Countess Orzelska, the Polish king’s daughter], carelessly reclined on a couch. Her beauty excelled that of the finest pictures of Venus and the Graces; her body seemed of ivory, whiter than snow, and better shaped than that of the Venus de Medicis at Florence.

...Scarcely had the King cast his eyes on the fair one, than he turned about with indignation; and seeing my brother behind him, he rudely pushed him out of the room, and left it immediately after in a violent irritation against the trickery they had attempted to practice on him. ...In spite of the King’s vigilance, [Frederick] had had time to contemplate the Venus of the closet, who did not cause him so much horror as she had done to his father. (Wilhelmina’s Memoirs, vol. 1, 107-6)

Wilhelmina then goes on to claim Fritz had fallen ‘passionately in love’ with Orzelska and that the illness Fritz experienced upon returning home was simply being lovesick. Pinning the accuracy of this story is incredibly difficult because, again, we have only one source relayed decades after the fact and from two volumes of memoirs known to have inaccuracies. While I, personally, would love if he had had a tryst with Orzelska (who is such a badass in her own right and deserves more recognition than as a footnote in this guy’s story), there’s no one way to say with more than 30% confidence. I am inclined to believe something along these lines happened because if someone told me a story like this, lord knows I wouldn’t forget it for the rest of my life. And, with Wilhelmina being so close with her brother, it lends a bit more credence but as to the actual emotional or physical response Fritz had to it, well, without my time machine, I can’t and don’t want to say.

With Madame Eleonore-Louise von Wreech, things are a little more concrete. For starters, Fritz actually talked about her! In written correspondence that survived! We even have seven letters between the two of them that survived, which is a bigger win! As Blanning says, they’re ‘ardent but light in tone, ironic, almost flippant, and highly stylized’ (Blanning, 58). Their relationship was known to those close with Fritz at the time that Schulenberg felt compelled to visit and warn the crown prince against devoting himself to women because ‘the slight pleasures gained cause a million displeasures.’  Fritz’s response? To tell the poor guy that he may have ‘the gift of continence, but I assure you that I do not’ (Asprey, 83-4). Firtz even went so far as to send a letter to her mother, waxing poetic about Louise’s ‘beauty, her majestic air, her bearing, and her entire department.’ It’s worth noting that Louise eventually broke off the affair due to being bored by how he ‘loved [her] too much and often annoyed [her] with his clumsy love’ (Ibid, 84). Contemporaries, including Friedrich Wilhelm, believed Fritz had impregnated her with a daughter who her ‘cuckolded husband would refuse to recognize’ (Blanning, 58). Blanning is the only source I’ve seen dispute this due to this news coming from Seckendorf, who didn’t reveal how he came about this information; that Fritz and Madame von Wreech’s correspondence doesn’t indicate a physical relationship; and on the fact that she was not pregnant. I haven’t been able to find the birth dates or any sort of records for Louise’s two daughters to figure out where their conception could’ve been in the timeline and if it matches with the likely dates for the affair, but I also don’t have the resources Cambridge would afford Blanning. Either way, while the physical nature of the affair is in dispute, the emotional aspect certainly was there. Especially when taking into consideration the fact that she’s the woman Fritz was likely referring to in the 16 August 1737 letter to Voltaire where he claimed she had taught him how to love (and also inspired him to write poetry, which we shouldn’t be thankful for). Specifically, all these years later, he stated how ‘this little miracle of nature possessed every possible charm, together with good taste and delicacy. She sought to transfer these qualities to me. I succeeded well in love but poorly in poetry. Since that time I have very often been in love and have always been a poet’ (Fritz’s Oeuvres, vol. 21, 96).

All this to say, there’s a bit too much evidence of some degree of opposite-gender attraction in Fritz to completely write off the possibility that he could’ve been bisexual. While it’s undeniable he held a preference for men and that’s whose company he typically enjoyed, I still do find it interesting the two exceptions (one potential and the other with a fair degree of certainty) to this. And, while I would never want his attraction to men be minimized in favor of that to women, it still remains important to note to get the most comprehensive picture of the man.

[talpup]

Summary: Yami Sukehiro just wanted to join the Magic Knights and make his mentor proud. He knew there would be trails. He knew trouble would come his way. Knew he would be faced with discrimination for being a foreigner and a peasant. What he didn’t know. Didn’t expect. Was that literal Chaos would come his way. That he and his mentor’s sister would be at the center of world ending trouble. Or that he would fall in love with his mentor’s sister and face more than discrimination; but the jealously of Nozel Silva who loved the same woman he did.

Please remember this fic is rated mature and has warnings of violence, abuse, sexual tension, sexual behavior, and other possible triggers. For a full list of story tags please check the fics AO3 (link to that at the top of my tumblrs homepage).

Sorry about the late update. My mom passed a few years back on Mother’s Day and last weekend hit me harder than expected. Please don’t feel the need to give any sympathy's. I’m not asking for that. Anyway, hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 98

“Light cannot exist without Darkness for without Darkness how would we...”

“Shut up!” Yami roared.

“...know what Light was.” The all too familiar voice finished.

Yami was sick of the voice. He hated it and wondered if he would instantly recognize the voice if he heard it out in the waking world. While it was similar enough to belong to the same person as the Crazy, Happy, Killer voice that spoke when he and Teris received the History of Chaos; it was also different enough for him to question if it indeed belonged to the same person.

Yami blinked remembering what he had forgotten from the last time the page of Chaos had contacted him. “You were right. The Future of Chaos wasn’t in labyrinth two hundred thousand—whatever.”

“The Future of Chaos is not to be found in labyrinth 297,353. The Future of Chaos has long since been taken and moved. Joined where it can be safe.” The voice said.

Yami puzzled at the word “joined”. But the voice was always saying strange things that didn’t make sense, so he instead focused on another question he had. “How did you know? How did I remember?”

Truthfully, Yami hadn’t actually remembered anything concerning his past dreams with the page of Chaos the night Alowishus had taken Teris and him into the labyrinth. But his distinct feeling that evening, the certainty he had that everything would be alright proved that some unconscious part of him remembered these dreams.

“You remember what you must when it is necessary. Even Chaos must bend to the will of Fate. You and the Light alone are destined to have the Future of Chaos. It is not meant for Death. Death cannot have it.”

“At least we agree on that last part.” Yami muttered.

“The time of Darkness is nearing. Your strength will rise in truth once the Light’s power reaches it peak and begins to dwindled.”

“You’re talking about the Summer Solstice. The days growing shorter and all. Not Teris’ actual power dwindling. Right?”

“The time of Darkness is nearing. Your strength will rise in truth once the Light’s power reaches it peak and begins to dwindled.” The voice said again.

Yami growled. The only thing more annoying than these forced communicative dreams with the page of Chaos, was how the voice repeated itself when it didn’t want to answer a question. Thinking of another question, Yami asked. “Why two years for my supposed rise of power? Teris didn’t have that.” Or did she, he wondered. There was no way to know for sure since they had known nothing about it until last years Summer Solstice.

“You must persevere least the world descend into Darkness. You must remember the Light and not consume it least your wrath fall upon the world.”

“Why would I forget Teris? What do you mean consume her?” Yami was disturbed by the memory of his, or more correctly the Darkness’ hunger for the Light and the way the Darkness had drawn the Light into its bottomless abyss.

“Light cannot exist without Darkness for without Darkness how would we know what Light was.”

“Shut up with that and answer me!”

There was a loud slam and slight reverberation that woke Yami up with a start. He sat up feeling groggy despite having gone to bed early. “I’m awake.”

Door still rattling on its hinges, Jax stormed. “I told you to be downstairs and ready to go before breakfast. Not only were you not downstairs but you’re far from ready.”

Yami shook off the disorientating fog of restless sleep, not feeling all there. “Just give me half a minute.”

Jax watched Yami roll out of bed and stumble, falling to a knee. “You’re not hung over, or worse still drunk are you?”

“Nope.” Yami pushed to his feet and sat on the edge of the bed, putting on his pants.

Jax watched a moment longer.

Yami’s movements became quicker and more sure as he pulled on and laced his boots.

Jax relaxed seeing his Vice Captain become less clumsy. “Did you do as I said? You’re not going to get into a fight with Nozel Silva if I take you, are you?”

“Depends. Braid Face gonna start one?” Yami asked, standing and grabbing the clean white muscle shirt.

“My only concern is that you don’t antagonize or strike first.” Jax said.

“I think I can manage that.” Yami grabbed the two belts off the bedpost, first putting on the sword belt Teris got him that helped hold up his pants and carried his grimoire.

Jax watched the younger man wrap the second belt around his waist. “About last night. I hope you understand my reasoning.”

“Would it change your command if I didn’t?” Yami asked, slipping his sheathed katana into place.

Sorry he had bothered trying to smooth any hard feelings, Jax wondered aloud. “You sure you’re good to do this? The questions Alowishus posed might be unnerving. Never mind what questions Nozel and Fuegoleon might've answered. I told you to work out this aggression you’ve been feeling and you’re still brimming with it.”

“Yeah, and who’s fault is that? You’re the one who said we couldn’t go out.” Yami said.

Jax sighed and turned away. “That’s it. You’re staying.”

Cursing his temper, Yami called. “Captain, wait”

Jax stopped at the closed bedroom door.

Resting his hands on his hips, Yami told. “I won’t antagonize or start a fight with the Royal Ball of Pride. You have my word.”

“I’m holding you to that.” Jax told.

98.2

Walking out of Healer’s Hall with Randall beside him, Fuegoleon found Teris waiting outside. Stepping to his cousin, the Crimson Lions Vice Captain embraced her in a tight hug.

“Leon. I can’t breath.” Teris croaked.

“Deal.” Fuegoleon told, his hold loosening slightly when his still healing wounds complained. Eyes closed in relief and gratitude, shame began to fill him. He didn’t care what anyone said. It was his fault. The Agents of Chaos had used him to get his cousin to comply with their wishes.

Releasing her, Fuegoleon gripped Teris’ shoulders. “Never scare me like that again. You hear me.”

“Scare you? You’re the one who--” Teris stop, unable and unwilling to verbalize the truth. Fuegoleon had almost died. If they had gotten him to the healers just a few minutes later… She shook away the terrible thought and hugged him again.

“Leona said you came by yesterday.”

Teris pulled away and nodded. “You were asleep. I didn’t want to disturb or tax you.”

Fuegoleon almost argued that he would've gladly given up rest to see her; but he didn’t. The visit from the Crimson Lions had taken a lot out of him. But he had endured it. As Vice Captain, he had to show the Crimson Lions he appreciated their care and efforts. More than that, he had to let them see that he was well and able to continue his duties to serve the Kingdom, its people, and the squad. After what had happened to Quince and the lingering un-healable injury that had left the previous Vice Captain unable to return to duty; Fuegoleon felt it necessary to reassure any fears or questions the squad had about him. Once his report was written and he was fully debriefed, he would go out on a mission and waylay any lingering doubts the squad might secretly have about his fitness.

Fuegoleon smiled gently. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”

“There you go stealing my line, again.” Teris smiled back.

Fuegoleon’s smile faltered. After what had happened during last years Summer Solstice, he had feared that the Agents of Chaos might’ve had something similar planned for Teris and Yami this time too. When Mereoleona had told him about the labyrinth and its missing contents, Fuegoleon’s relief had been overwhelming. Still, he had betrayed his cousin; breaking down and answering Alowishus Spade’s questions when they had begun torturing Nozel to make him speak. He was hardly mad at Nozel for his own worse state because the Silver Eagle had remained silent so much longer than he had. If anything, it added to Fuegoleon’s shame.

Teris saw Fuegoleon’s expression change and shook her head. “Leon, don’t. If you or Nozel had...” She swallowed unable to bear the thought of a world without either of them. Still, she knew something of the guilt Fuegoleon was feeling. She had been there too often herself. Staring up at him, she told. “If you really feel so terrible about it, I’d be happy to give you a penance.”

Randall stepped forward incensed at Teris’ unbelievable nerve.

“Anything.” Fuegoleon said, head lowered.

“You have to promise to do as I command.” Teris said, eyes hard and piercing.

Randall opened his mouth to call a stop to this; but before he could speak, Fuegoleon replied.

“Just tell me how to make this right.”

Teris gripped her cousin’s arm. “Forgive yourself. Don’t beat yourself up over this. You’re ashamed at being taken by these crazies. Yami and I have been abducted and set upon so many times it’s embarrassing. You feel bad for being used. I’ve been used by these lunatics far more than I care to admit. You feel as if you betrayed me. I nearly destroyed the four kingdoms and beyond during last years Summer Solstice. Talk about betrayal.”

Fuegoleon shook his head. She didn’t understand.

“They were torturing your best friend, Leon. I would've answered any question they posed if in your place.”

“I should have been stronger. Held out longer. Nozel managed to.”

“And then Nozel would have been just as bad off as you were, if not worse.” Teris argued.

Fuegoleon exhaled, knowing she was right. It had been an impossible situation. Perfectly planned to be one.

As if reading his thoughts, Teris said. “Alowishus knows what he’s doing. He’s planned this for who knows how many years. Mana knows how many people he has helping him see it through. Using our love and care against us is what they do. They think it’s a weakness, meant to be exploited and manipulated. But it’s our strength. It’s why we go on and won’t break. Why we fight and won’t lose the war, no matter how many battles they win against us.”

Fuegoleon nodded. “We’ll beat them.”

“Do you forgive me?” Before Fuegoleon asked what she meant, Teris went on. “For our argument. For my slapping you. Do you forgive me?”

If it had been a normal argument, Fuegoleon would’ve said I don’t know, then asked if she forgave him. But their fight had been far from normal. And given what had led to it, jokes of ladies undergarments and learning Yami had taken one of Teris’ unmentionables. With the matter still unresolved, he definitely would've insisted that Teris promise to get the garment back, and probably would've demanded that she also distance herself from Yami or at the very least have some decorum where the man was concerned. But this encounter with the Agents of Chaos made issues even as important as that feel insignificant; at least at the present.

Overcome, Fuegoleon pulled Teris into squeezing hug. “Always.”

98.2.2

Teris had a light breakfast with Fuegoleon and Randall at a nearby cafe. Through an unspoken agreement the two cousin’s avoided mentioning Yami and Nozel, neither wanting to cause another argument. After, Teris made her way to Magic Investigations for a meeting with Marx.

Entering the building, Teris recognized the Counter Clerk Manager but didn’t recall his name. “Good morning.”

Axus looked up from his book. “Is it? Hadn’t noticed.”

“That it’s morning? Or that it’s a good one?” Teris questioned, smiling.

Axus’ lips twitched upward. Scowling, he pulled them back down into their usual frown. “What do you what?”

“If you would please inform Marx Francois that Teris Nova is here for our meeting.” Teris said.

Axus scrutinized her a moment, acting as if he didn’t recognize her from before. “You’re Lord Julius’ sister, eh? You look nothing like him.”

“He doesn’t make you call him Lord Julius, does he?” Teris questioned, humored.

“No one makes me do anything.” Axus snapped wondering when he had begun to show the Azure Deers Captain such respect. He turned away. “Give me a moment to call up Marx.”

“There’s nothing I have to fill out or sign for today's visit?” Teris asked.

“Not this time.” Axus said, setting down the communication crystal.

He wondered what Marx could be doing with Julius Nova’s sister that he had asked for her visit be kept off record. Axus didn’t really care. All that mattered was that Marx had asked a favor and it never hurt to win points with the person who would likely be the next Wizard King’s Advisor; especially when you liked and trusted them more than the current Advisor. There was also the case of barrel aged whiskey Marx had given him for the favor…

Axus’ lips smacked at the thought of the nine beautiful bottles waiting for him at home.

Teris lifted an eyebrow. She had found it curious waking up to find Marx had sent message requesting her to meet him at Magic Investigations this morning. Marx struck her as someone who liked to plan well in advance so the spontaneous meeting seemed odd. Adding to the wonder of it was the timing; Nozel was being debriefed at Magic Knights Headquarters at this very moment. And now she didn’t have to sign in when all visitors had to do so, unless they were the Wizard King or Magic Knights Commander.

The two turned at the sound of a door opening.

“Thank you, Axus.” Marx stayed at the door behind the front counter.

Teris gave the Counter Manager a departing smile. “Thank you.”

Axus didn’t know if it was her cheery demeanor or the fact that she remembered he existed once she had gotten what she wanted; but he found his lips tugging upward again. He pulled them back down with a grunt and inclined his head.

Teris followed Marx down a long hall and up several flights of stairs.

Marx opened a final door for her and entered behind, closing it shut. He gestured to the rectangular table. “Please, have a seat. I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you here.”

“To show me something you couldn’t take out of here?” Teris guessed.

Marx paused in his trek around the table.

Teris shrugged a shoulder. “Why else would you ask for a secret meeting here when we’re having a secret meeting with everyone else this evening? That’s what this is, isn’t it? I didn’t have to sign in, and I’m sure Advisor Ellara is sitting in on Nozel’s debriefing which is going on right now.”

Marx blinked, mildly impressed by her deduction. He blinked again when Teris changed the subject with barely a pausing breath.

“Have you figured out who might've moved the Future of Chaos? Or where they moved it?” Teris asked.

“Magic Investigations is working on that. As are Julius and I.” Marx sank into the straight backed chair across from her. “Are you disappointed the Future of Chaos wasn’t in the labyrinth?”

“Hardly. Alowishus would’ve got it.”

Marx shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. I mean do you want the Future of Chaos?”

Teris frowned. “No. The History of Chaos has been more than enough trouble. I’d be crazy to want to add to it. Even if, when, we’ve moved passed this mess and done away with the Agents of Chaos; I still wouldn’t want the Future of Chaos. It’s too much responsibility.”

“What if someone else were to find it?” Marx wondered.

“I’d feel sorry for them, but glad that stupid prophecy was wrong and it wasn’t Yami and me.” Teris answered, without hesitance.

“But wouldn’t you at least want to have a look at it?” Marx asked.

“I admit my curiosity can be comparable to Julius’. It’s certainly seen me get into enough trouble over the years. But when it comes to the Future of Chaos, I have no interest in ever seeing the thing. I’d probably be like Yami and have ignored the History of Chaos if it weren’t for the possible help it could be in dealing with the Agents of Chaos and figuring out their plans. Not that it’s been any help.” Teris griped under her breath.

Marx wondered if maybe that was why Yami and Teris were destined to have the Future of Chaos. Because neither one wanted it or its information. While Marx may not have wanted the burden of having such a thing in his grimoire, he had to admit he had a great desire to see and read the piece. Destiny was a funny thing, he thought.

Getting to the matter he had called her for, Marx said. “You’re half right. I did ask you here because I wish to show you something. Sadly my magic does not allow me to copy such things as detailed as drawings or images, or I would’ve done that and waited till our meeting this evening. But the reason for showing you doesn’t involve you so much as what you have. The History of Chaos.”

Teris straightened in her seat, interest peaked.

“Captain Jax once mentioned he overheard you ask the History of Chaos about the Master of Master’s and Alowishus Spade.” Marx said.

“Not that it’s done any good. The ink just swirls around on the page then says insufficient image.” Teris grumbled. At least after seeing Alowishus Spade for the first time, she understood why the page of Chaos had said such a thing, unable to display his ever changing image.

“Have you ever asked it about Yurist?” Marx questioned.

Teris blinked, mouth falling open. Yurist was the one who had written both the History and Future of Chaos. How was it that she had never considered asking the page about its author?

Seeing her expression, Marx sighed. “Are all the Nova’s guilty of ignoring the painfully obvious? Or is it just you and Julius?”

Teris bristled; but held her tongue.

“Please do so when you get a chance. For now,” Marx pushed a long, wide, leather clad folder across the table toward her, “please look at that and ask the History of Chaos.”

“Ask it what? What is this?” Teris pulled the hard backed folder closer.

“It’s a small portrait that was found in the ruins of an unearthed city. The team of Magic Investigators assigned to the task have been focusing on what we believe use to be the building that once held Yurist’s lab.”

“Why haven’t I heard of this!”

Marx tilted his head. “Do I know of every mission you Magic Knights go out on?”

“No but--”

“Even Magic Knights Commander Greywright doesn’t know every assignment Magic Investigations is working on. You, Vice Captain, certainly have no right or expectation to know everything that goes on in this division.”

Teris’ shoulders tensed even as they hunched, her form shrinking.

“For your information, I came in before sunrise this morning to learn a fellow Investigation Mage had unearthed that.” Marx inclined his head to the still closed folder. “Which is why I sent you message asking you to come, not knowing when Advisor Ellara would be away again to give us chance for you to see and question the History of Chaos about it.”

“Sorry.” Teris mumbled. She was so use to people, especially her superiors keeping secrets from her and Yami about matters that concerned them that she had assumed this had been more of the same.

“We do not know who the couple in the portrait is, though a number of us here have theories.” Marx said.

“So you want me to what? Look at the picture and ask the History of Chaos about the people in it?” Teris asked, not understanding why. “It doesn’t work that way. It only answers questions about the history of Chaos.”

“If that were true why would it attempt to show you the image of Alowishus Spade?” Marx questioned.

“And fail, saying insufficient image.” Teris retorted.

“If all the History of Chaos did was just strictly cover the history of Chaos why would it even make an attempt at showing you the image of Alowishus Spade or the Master of Master's? However old Alowishus Spade is, I truly doubt he’s old enough to have been alive during the time of Chaos’ reign and defeat which brought about Order.”

Teris frowned, having never considered that. Her eyebrows pulled together, wondering at Marx’s pointed question. Shadows of fragments flinted through his mind trying to coalesce and puzzle something out, but something else pieced together first.

Teris’ eyes lifted to Marx, realization dawning. “You think the portrait is of Yurist.”

98.3

Yami found Teris out at the Saber Wolf pens. His appearance announced by the beasts long before Teris heard or saw him.

“I’ll have you know I had to use my mana sense to find you. What are you doing out here?” Yami almost asked if she wanted to go for a ride, but remembered Jax’s order and bristled.

Teris gave No Name the signal to return to his kennel. “I thought we agreed not to do that unless necessary.”

“When I’d still be walking around searching for you, I consider it necessary. It’s a stupid agreement anyway.”

Teris latched the kennel gate. “Privacy is hardly stupid.”

“If there’s no secrets between us why the need for privacy?” Yami half teased.

Teris turned to him, questioning brow raised. “Do you really want to know every time I go to the baths?”

“Do you really have to ask?” Yami grinned, lewdly.

“Yami.” Teris scolded, lightly. Blushing, she closed the gap between them, burying her face in his chest.

Yami chuckled, holding her to him. “Let me see that pretty blush, Princess.”

Teris shook her head, burrowing deeper into him. It was stupid, but she suddenly became emotional about what happened during this mornings meeting with Marx. Her arms tightened around Yami, seeking his soothing strength. She didn’t even know what she was so distressed about. It wasn’t like the History of Chaos could have been talking about Alowishus. No one could be that old. Then again the man did use corpse magic. And when had anything surrounding Chaos or the works Yurist wrote not spelled some kind of terrible for them.

Yami looked down at the top of her head, growing serious. “What’s this?”

Teris shook her head again.

Yami frowned, a sudden swell of anger bubbling inside him. His teeth ground together, muscle in his jaw ticking in cold burning rage. His arms tightened around Teris. He couldn’t even say what he was so mad about. All he knew was that Teris was upset and he wanted to obliterate whatever had upset her. Pressing his lips to the crown of her head, Yami’s eyes slipped closed. He took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled, soaking in Teris’ calming warmth. With effort he forced his fisted hands to relax and uncurl; reasoning with himself that he didn’t even know if it was something or someone he could hit.

“Teris. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” Teris mumbled against Yami’s strong chest, praying that it truly was nothing.

“Look at me and say that.”

Teris lift her head at Yami’s tone. He sounded angry. But when her eyes met his there was nothing but love and concern.

Yami caressed her cheek. “Talk to me, Ikigai. Tell me what’s wrong.”

98.4

Iban paused in plucking mushrooms and looked at a bird flying overhead. Unlike the other creatures of the forest, the Jay wasn’t startled away by the slithering presence of the person who stalked closer. Odd, since Jay’s were rarely seen without their mate nearby and Iban’s keen eyes hadn’t seen the flashier male.

Leveling his head, Iban turned to the stalking presence. “It doesn’t matter how quiet you are. I always know when you’re about.”

“Why haven’t you mentioned that the Darkness within Yami had reach such strength so soon?” Ellara demanded, getting right to the point.

“I figured your plaything would have told you. Whether he wanted to or not.” Iban said.

“I’ve used Olsen far too much of late.” Ellara told, angry she had been forced to use him at all.

“Is that not what he is for?” Iban questioned.

“What’s it matter to you what I use him for? It’s you who had a deal with the Master.” Ellara said.

“A forced deal to stay out of your way and not interfere with your Master’s plans, or tell anyone anything I know.” Iban said.

“And have you kept that deal?” Ellara asked.

Iban thought of the bit about his family's past that he had told Yami, and what little he had told Jax three weeks ago. Clearly the vow of silence Alowishus had forced him into seemed to think he had kept the deal since the people he cared about were still alive.

Iban wondered if the Captain had found the journal he had told him about. The journal that had belonged to one of the earlier Agents of Chaos’ Masters. The Master who had battled and lost to the Clover Kingdoms last light magic user before Teris. Jax had returned five days after Iban had told where he might find the journal only to leave with Yami and Teris shortly after returning. It wasn’t as if Iban was going to ask the Captain if he had found the thing. He had tested Jax enough with his comments about Bronn the day he revealed what few secrets he could. He had certainly tested the binding vow and jeopardized his loved ones enough.

Looking at Ellara, Iban answered. “My family's existence depends on that deal. Your Master made sure of that.”

Ellara glared, not trusting him.

“Though was such care necessary when a simple traitor could turn himself in and confess all your Master's plans? No doubt your puppet Sir Jorah, along with Magic Knights Commander Greywright and countless others know all about your Master's plans by now.” Iban said.

“As if the Master is careless enough to let a low level follower know his plans.” Ellara shot back.

“Do you know his plans?” Iban asked, pointedly. “Wife and follower you may be, but people like your husband and Master hold all sorts of secrets. Like how to kill a traitor from afar.”

Ellara’s eyes widened. After Greywright had stolen point in dealing with the traitor Flic, she had returned to her office and sent word to Alowishus. Her Master's brief response had been clear. She was to stay well away from the prisoner. When Flic had died yesterday evening, she knew Alowishus had been the cause; but figured he had sent some other follower to infect or slowly poison Flic.

Iban’s golden eyes seemed to glow in the heavily shaded forest. “I know a dark magic decay spell with I hear of its symptoms. It is a slow, terrible way to die. Does your Master have a piece of all his followers? How did he manage to get each of you to willing hand a piece of yourselves over?”

“What do you mean?” Ellara asked, breathless.

“I suppose your Master or some loyal follower could have been lucky. Found some bit of Flic’s person to use for the spell. But Alowishus Spade does not strike me as the type of person to leave things to luck. If I were to guess, I would say it came in the form of an initiation ritual for joining the Agents of Chaos. It is how I would have done it. Something easily done and given with little to no question, and soon forgotten about in the joyous rapture of family found and collective cause.” Sensing Ellara’s quickening heartbeat, Iban cooed. “Do not beat yourself up, Advisor. You are hardly alone in being tricked into willingly, if not happily giving up a piece of yourself. How many other fools—excuse me, followers have joined Alowishus Spade’s supposed cause?”

“Shut up!”

“I doubt he would do to you what he did to that traitor. You are his honored and beloved wife, after all. If he would harm you, what hope does anyone else have of being spared?”

Ellara sneered. “You’re a snake hissing nothing but lies. Twisting and turning peoples words and deeds. Now unless you wish to see the Darkness within Yami bleed out and start to effect him. Tell me just how bad it is.”

“If I am such lying snake who does nothing but twist and turn peoples words and deeds, why would you believe anything I say?” Iban asked.

“Do you want the power within Yami to consume him? The Darkness inside is greater than expected.”

“Greater than you expected.” Iban corrected. “I knew from the start that Yami Sukehiro was more than just a vessel for the Darkness. As to your question. No. I do not wish to see the Darkness consume him. The world would end if it did. Which makes me wonder why your Master wouldn’t want that. Isn’t that the purpose of all this? To end this existence in the foolish hope of beginning the next? Unless that is not his true goal.” Before Ellara could speak, he went on. “As for how bad it is. The Darkness in Yami is already bleeding out and affecting him. He has been more volatile. Angrier than usually. Possibly even more desirous of Teris and the Light that is inside her.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? The deal--”

“The deal made with your Master does not include feeding you information. That is something you tried to force upon me. I went along with for a time because it was fun and suited me. But I have long since grown weary of it. If you want such information, try affecting your plaything. Not that you will get anything of use. Olsen has little care unless it is for life's beauty or the romantic. Even if he were around more, he would not see much.”

Ellara raised a brow, realizing. “You’re protective of your sole friend.”

“Hardly.” Iban silently cursed, unable to make himself believe the lie let alone convince her of it.

“So Iban Halvor does have a heart. Interesting.” Ellara would've been glad to have something to use against the Blood Mage. But her own care for Olsen wouldn’t let her hurt him to force Iban into anything.

Iban watched Ellara turn around and step away.

“The Darkness within Yami cannot overtake him before it is time. We will handle it.” Ellara said.

It was an effort for Iban not to use his magic to end the woman then and there. Thankfully she used her transportation charm and disappeared before his control was tested further. No longer in the mood to be surrounded by life and fresh air, Iban looked down at the basket of harvested herbs and mushrooms. He didn’t have all he needed for the brews and potions he was making. But he had enough to get started.

Waving a few bees away, Iban headed back to the base.

98.5

Seated in his bedroom, Bran’s eyes cleared. Even though the encounter he had witnessed had happened deep inside the property’s forest, he turned to the closed door half expecting to see Iban standing there.

Comments are VERY MUCH appreciated and really make my day. Thank you to those who have left hearts. And a special THANK YOU to those who have recently commented or re-blogged. It really means a lot.

Next chapter snippet:

“Yami is not the concern here. It is Teris. At this rate she will not survive the Ritual of Darkness. If she doesn’t grow stronger the Darkness within Yami will kill her and the Light inside her with it.”

[dominaecaede]

Tomorrow Never Comes

Chapter 7 results: 88% chose to move quietly

〘 twitter 〙

The following story will have themes such as blood, gore, situations that may cause anxiety and major character death. If you are sensitive to any of these, please do not proceed.

[Additional warning: needle mention]

Chapter 8: Regret

Shouto peeked above his cover that he'd taken from a lab sink and observed the akuma before ducking down again. His heterochromatic eyes looked up at Bakugou and the others.

"We have to move quietly," he whispered. "If we shoot them all down, that will only trigger a hoard. This isn't a videogame, Bakugou."

"Tch." Bakugou clicked his tongue and peeked up to also see his surroundings. "Don't you think I know that?"

Deku rested his chin on his fingers as he began to think of a route. His eyes lit up in success. "There are other wash stations in the lab that we can use for cover to catch our breath. We'll have to be very careful. I'll lead."

Shouto nodded in which prompted the others to do the same. Deku peeked up once more to see if any akuma were around before proceeding. He lead the group down a path that seemed more clear towards the right of the room and everything was going well. It wasn't long until they were in front of their teacher's cage doors. A surge of confidence surged within the greenette.

"Almost there...!" He whispered.

Before he began creeping towards the cage again, there was a sudden slam coming from the group's proximity. It alarmed them, but when Dabi hushed them, he peeked up from their cover to see what was going on. Guns suddenly began firing, immediately forcing Dabi back down. From the corner of her eye, Uraraka can see almost every akuma go down with no effort and adrenaline made her heart pump rapidly. When the firing ceased and the creatures stayed dead, the sound of rapid footsteps were soon to follow.

"Coast is clear," a firm male's voice spoke out, sounding as if he were wearing a mask.

The sound of heavy footsteps soon took over their eardrums. Each step echoed within the walls of the lab. It wasn't hard to figure out that whoever made those footsteps was wearing heels. A feminine chuckle followed, and Aizawa grunting in distaste.

"Looks like you made a few friends while you two got comfortable," the voice spoke, obviously to the two men who were stuck in cages. "How are you two holding up?"

"Is that supposed to be a trick question?" Aizawa grit his teeth. "Your taunting is annoying me. I'd rather be sleeping than listen to you any longer."

"Oh, Shouta. That'll soon be arranged but it's best to not get too excited," the woman chuckled. "You two have - or should I say, had - powerful quirks. Your transformations are something worth seeing."

"Transformations...?" All Might coughed. Izuku winced at the sound as he kept listening to the conversation. "What are you planning to do with us? You know what, it doesn't even matter. Just don't hurt the students..."

"I'm touched. However, I can't promise anything. I'm sure your students know how much you care. After all, they're not very slick."

The hand of one of Clearnox's security grabbed at Bakugou's shoulder and the stronger figure yanked him up, making the blonde stand. Deku shot up automatically in panic.

"Kacchan...!"

When the greenette turned his head, his eyes widened a bit. There stood before him was a woman with short wavy blonde hair and alluring tangerine eyes. She had a seemingly polite smile but the expression in her eyes contradicted any sign of kindness she might've shown. The woman was surrounded by four armoured soldiers, including the one having a hold on Bakugou. Three of them were masked. The only one who didn't wear a mask was towards the woman's right side, and he looked like the kind of villain you'd see in an action film. The soldier's vests had Clearnox's symbol embedded into it. Deku immediately recognized who she was from all the news he's watched and realized his mother was right about having doubts.

"Yuna Hana...," Deku muttered as he raised his gun at the woman. He wore an intense expression, his emerald eyes watching her every move. "Let him go."

Yuna's empty grin smiled as she walked towards the blonde, who was trying to fight his way out of the tight grip with an angry expression much more different than usual. She stopped in front of him and pulled up the touch screen pad she was carrying.

"Bakugou Katsuki," she read from her screen. "Student of UA High School... Placed first in the sports festival? Impressive."

"Let him go!" Deku shouted again but was completely ignored.

"Let's see... Birthday: April 20th... Quirk: explosions? Interesting..." She continued to scroll on her touch screen before putting it away and reaching to grip his jaw. "Not that bad looking, either. He'd make a fine addition."

Bakugou yanked his jaw from her grip and attempted to bite her hand. "Piss off, lady."

Yuna had reacted in time, letting out an amused chuckle. "Your feisty attitude will come in handy, too. Take him to quarantine."

"No!" Aizawa had shouted from his cage. Deku aimed his gun at the soldier walking away with Bakugou and almost pulled the trigger before another one landed a punch on his jaw with brutal force, knocking tbe greenette down. Dabi had gotten up from his cover and threw a butcher knife conveniently found next to him towards the soldier who had the blonde. The knife plunged into his arm and he screamed, letting go of Bakugou. The blonde used this to his advantage and began beating him up before shooting him with his shotgun. Shouto and Uraraka stayed down but it wasn't like they weren't doing anything. The firing gave a distraction while the two-toned haired boy was thinking of a plan.

Bakugou had rushed back to Deku's side and aimed his shotgun towards the woman, the greenette doing the same.

"Let my teachers go," Deku said firmly. "I'm not afraid to shoot you."

The blonde woman chuckled. "A kid acting big and bad. That's cute."

"A fucking bullet in your face will be cute, too," Bakugou snarled.

The woman's eyes grew emotionless, her empty smile fading. A sigh escaped her lips before she simply turned towards the door she came in from. "Maybe," she finally responded. "But your chance to shoot me hasn't come just yet."

"Wait, what is she doing...?" Uraraka muttered. She was following Shouto, who was creeping towards one of the soldier's standing guard next to the cages. Shouto hushed the brunette as a response.

However, the two were stopped in their tracks when they saw Yuna holding up her watch that she wore on her wrist. She pressed something on it, they were too far to tell what it was, but a loud noise was heard from behind them. When Uraraka looked behind her, she could see that a hoard of akuma were headed their way.

"...! Shit...!" Shouto muttered.

The other boys soon noticed the hoard coming and fell back. "Fuck...!" Bakugou shouted.

Dabi didn't waste any time. He began shooting the two other soldiers through their masks before they could react. He aimed his gun towards the woman, but she was unfortunately already walking through the door with the only unmasked soldier.

"Dammit...!" Shouto spat. "We have to get the teachers out of the cages before that hoard gets here!"

"Already on it!" Uraraka nodded and ran towards the metal bars. The lock was a heavy one, and she didn't have enough time to look for a key so she found another way. "Stand back, you two!" She told the teachers. Aizawa and All Might stepped as far back as they could as Uraraka got her gun out and shot the locks. She hastened to open the cage doors and helped them out, however, All Might stumbled a little. Uraraka helped him up and the man smiled kindly towards her.

"Did you have an escape route planned?" Aizawa asked the group.

"We have to head back towards the elevator," Uraraka answered while she had All Might's skinny arm wrapped behind her neck to keep him up. "Yuna blocked the other way out."

"Then let's go!" Deku nodded.

The hoard of akuma was already charging at them and Bakugou shot some of them down to hold them off. Luckily the elevator wasn't too far ahead, but before they could all enter, All Might stumbled again.

"A-All Might...!" Deku shot back and rushed towards him. "C'mon, we're almost there!"

All Might wheezed. "Sorry... Looks like those soldiers landed some pretty rough blows on me."

Deku looked down and noticed that the white shirt All Might was wearing was tainted red. He knew his teachers were in bad shape but it's only now that he's seeing just how bad the damage was. All Might was stabbed in the stomach twice and cut up pretty bad on his arms and cheeks, along with bruises to his face and neck. Deku was horrified.

"What did they do to you...?" He whispered.

The group had gone ahead and was holding the elevator door open. They were ready to go back to the first floor until they saw that Deku was with All Might. Shouto immediately ran towards them and took one of his arms.

"Come on, we have to go. I'll help him up!" He told Midoriya.

"N-No...," All Might answered. "I'm too badly injured. I'll just slow you all down."

"All Might, you gotta try! Come on!" Deku had taken his other arm to try and hold him up. When they began running again, the teacher had only stumbled again. The panic began clouding the greenette's mind.

"No no no... Come on, we're almost there...!" Shouto heaved and pushed on.

It took a huge effort, but both boys had managed to carry All Might into the elevator. Aizawa saw how close the hoard was getting so he closed the door before they could get to the group. Uraraka sighed in relief, and Shouto and Midoriya helped All Might sit down on the ground of the elevator and rested his back against the wall.

"He's in awful condition...!" The brunette gasped. "Did they do that to him?!"

Aizawa grunted. He gripped his side and sat down. "They tried to torture us until our minds b-broke."

"Why?" Dabi raised an eyebrow.

Aizawa looked up at Dabi, then raised his eyebrows at Deku and the others. No words were needed to see that their former homeroom teacher was confused why a villain was helping. Deku only nodded, and that was enough.

"All Might and I overheard the guards talking," he began. "F-From what we heard, they were going to try and turn us into those freaks and Yuna was going to oversee the whole operation."

"And why the hell would she do that?" Bakugou asked.

"All I'm thinking is that maybe it's because of the kind of quirks we had. Otherwise why else would she take us?"

Shouto listened as he began thinking. His eyes lit up and he turned his gaze towards Midoriya. "Mutations..."

Midoriya blinked in confusion at first before realizing what he meant. Shock fell before him. "The quirks people used to have determine how mutated the experiment will become... That's what happened to Shigaraki! The reason why he looked like that was because he had a strong quirk! If Yuna was trying to turn you into those things..."

"... Then she was trying to mutate us," All Might wheezed out. "B... But why?"

Aizawa blinked. "And how did you even come to that conclusion, Midoriya? You went up against Shigaraki Tomura while we were gone?"

Midoriya nodded. "Dabi was helping us get better equipment that happened to be located at the League of Villain's hideout. We found a very deformed akuma and fought it, but we soon found out that it was Shigaraki. He was fast, too. Looked like an insect..."

"Gave me the fucking creeps," Bakugou shivered.

Aizawa blinked again and looked down. "That's insane..."

The elevator binged to it's stop and the doors opened to a familiar hallway. Bakugou helped All Might up while Midoriya lead. The group wasn't too far behind.

"This way," the greenette called out.

They reached the familiar set of stairs that lead back up to the trap door. Slowly they crept out and looked around to see if the coast was clear before continuing on their way. Shouto closed the trap door when everyone was out and let out a sigh.

"Alright, we should head back to the others and get All Might patched--"

His speech was interrupted by one of Clearnox's soldiers gripping him and covering his mouth. The others immediately got defensive and got their guns out.

"Todoroki-kun!!" Uraraka shouted in worry as she began firing at the soldier holding onto him.

"Uraraka-san, be careful! You could hit Todoroki-kun!" Midoriya spoke out.

Shouto was wriggling in the soldier's arms and trying to kick himself free, but the sound of a helicopter interrupted everyone's thoughts. The helicopter landed just in front of the group as Yuna Hana appeared from the industry's entrance.

"This is the one we need," she spoke out to the soldier. "I took the liberty of researching information on this little group. He's the son of Endeavor and Todoroki Rei. No doubt he had a strong quirk. Take him."

"??!!" Shouto made an angry muffled noise and continued to fight the strong grip holding him. His constant wriggling opened a window and he bit the soldier's hand hard. The masked individual winced and landed a hard punch to the dual-toned haired boy, making him cough out a little bit of blood.

"Icyhot!" Bakugou shouted and pointed his shotgun at the soldier, but Yuna Hana shook her head at him before he could even pull the trigger.

"I wouldn't try that," she told the blonde boy. "My men might use your friend as a shield."

Bakugou grit his teeth before noticing the other soldiers pointing their guns at the rest of the group. Shouto was weakened from the punch but he still pressed on. He wriggled some more and grunted in frustration, and this only made Yuna sigh. She walked over to the captive boy and pulled out a syringe she had in the purse she carried.

"I didn't want to use this, but you leave me no choice, young one."

She gripped Todoroki's hair and pulled it to the side to make his neck exposed before inserting the needle into it. The effects were quick and he began feeling drowsy, but even so, he fought to keep his eyes open.

"That should calm him down. Bring him in. We'll go to the center of operations," Yuna ordered.

Midoriya felt panic grip his bones. He began running towards the helicopter while gripping his weapons. Whatever that was in that syringe was strong. Shouto's vision began getting cloudy as he tried to lift his head up to see his friend. All he could see was a blotchy figure with a green head.

"Mi... do... riya...," He muttered quietly before becoming unconscious.

"No...," The greenette whispered as he watched Shouto being put into the flying vehicle. The helicopter began flying up before taking off. "TODOROKI-KUN!!!!!!" He screamed.

He heard the clicking of the other soldier's weapons and anger spilled into his veins. He screamed and began shooting at all of them, his eyes glowing with a rage that made Bakugou jump. But even so, it made the group join him. Midoriya showed no mercy as he shot every one of them down. They landed a few bullets into his arm and leg, but he didn't feel the pain over the adrenaline talking over. When the last soldier was down, Midoriya didn't even stop. He began kicking and stomping the body's face into the ground until the face wasn't even recognizable. The body's blood was even getting on his pants. Uraraka rushed towards him and took ahold of his back, holding him close while closing her eyes painfully.

"D-Deku-kun, that's enough...!" She spoke out.

Midoriya didn't seem to come back to reality until Uraraka's hold made him stop. He began shaking and tightened his fists. He knelt to to the ground and slammed his fists on the gravel, finally letting out a scream he held in. The group couldn't tell if he was crying but they weren't about to judge him. Bakugou walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, gritting his teeth in anger while looking up towards the direction they took their friend. All Might slowly trudged towards Deku and gently petted his head to calm him down. Both Dabi and Aizawa looked towards the direction Bakugou was.

After a moment of silence to allow the greenette to calm down, Aizawa spoke up. "We have to patch up All Might. Let's go to the others-"

"No," Midoriya interrupted. "You all go ahead. I'm gonna go get Todoroki-kun back."

The group shot up a look. "By yourself?! Are you crazy?!"

"Look, I'm going!" He stood up, making Uraraka let go of him. He began walking towards the helicopter's route. "You're either with me or you're just in my way. I don't care what you choose."

Of all the irritating things he could say that would irritate Bakugou, this one seemed to take the cake. He stomped towards him and gripped his arm.

"Oh hell no, this isn't the time to act like a reckless hero, shitty nerd!" He shouted. "We all wanna save Icyhot but we need to get All Might to safety first. Your ass is coming with us whether you like it or not!"

Deku shot back at him. "What, and stall time while they're doing god-knows-what to Todoroki-kun?! No way! I'm not failing him like how I failed saving you before!"

Bakugou gripped his teeth and didn't hesitate to sock his childhood friend right square in the jaw. It knocked him down, as to be expected from the force. The blonde knelt down and gripped Deku's shirt to make him look at him.

"You're irritating as fuck, Deku, but that crossed the damn line!" He shouted in his face. "How are you gonna save him if you can't even save your own first?!"

"That's why I said to go on ahead without me!" Deku shouted back, not caring to wipe his bloody lip.

"To hell with that! We're in this together and I'm not about to let you die without me making it happen first!"

Deku tightened his lips. Bakugou looked at him angrily before letting out a frustrated sigh. He let go of Deku's shirt before standing up. "You know what? Fine. Go. Go and play hero and get killed. But don't you fucking dare think for one damn minute that I didn't try and stop you."

Bakugou began headed back towards the group but he stopped in his steps and looked back at Deku, who was still on the ground looking at him.

"You act like we're just abandoning Icyhot. We're not that fucking stupid," he put his hands on his waist. "But we're not that smart, either. That's why if you want to actually save him and not get killed, we need time to think of a plan. You of all people should know this."

Deku looked down and furrowed his eyebrows. Bakugou had a point. He can't just swing in there recklessly. But still, the more time they waste, the more Shouto would be closer to being dead. Or worse: mutated. His train of thought was interrupted by the sight of Bakugou's hand reaching out towards him.

"Look," Bakugou started again. "We need to make sure our group is secure and we need time to think of a plan. But one thing's for sure: we're gonna shoot those damn doors down. We're gonna shoot their fucking skulls in and we're gonna save that half n' half bastard. We'll teach them not to fuck with us, but first, you need to use your damn brain. It's the only thing you're good for. So come on. Get your ass up."

Should he:

• Take Bakugou's hand?

• or save Shouto now?

[sweet-space-place-blog]

Pen-Pal: Part 1

Pairing: Tom Holland

Summary: How will you react when you get an unknown text?

Warning: Swearing

A/n: I'm trying really hard to make a series! I hope people enjoy~ H

"I can't believe I did that!" You pace around the kitchen while your best friend Cassie sips her soda, sitting on the counter in order to stay out of your path.

"Y/N, chill it's a letter. You've been sending them since forever." She says, scrolling through her phone. Not nearly enough in panic as you need her to be.

"Yea, but I sent him my FLIPPEN address, AND MY NUMBER. Like who does that!?? I'm gonna be murdered, or there is gonna be a bomb sent to our house or-"

"Y/N, calm down ok? You've been writing to him for most of your life. Don't you think if he was some crazy old dude that he would have asked for your address by now? Like not to freak you out, but old crazy dudes tend not to wait ten years to get addresses." You look at her and she's stopped scrolling, giving you a ' I know what I'm talking about' look.

You sigh, trying to figure out a good argument, but she was right. Serial killers do not wait that long.

"I'm just nervous. I mean I've told him so much personal stuff, what if he has been expecting better? Or what if he never wanted to meet me in the first place? There are so many things tha-"

*bzzzt*

You both look at your phone, it ringing at the worst possible moment. Giving a look to Cassie, you scooch back away from the phone. Scared of who it may be. It's 2 am, who on earth would be texting you?

She roles her eyes at you, reaching for your phone on the counter. As she reads the screen her face is scrunched up, then morphs into realization. " Y/N, your gonna wanna read this..."

You take the phone from her with shakey hands and read the text.

Unkown #: Hello, is this Y/N L/Y/N?

You shove the phone back into her hands and sit on the ground. You pull your knees to your chest as your head hits a cabnit. Was this Tom? Why is he up so early. What if it wasn't Tom? When did my letter arrive?

You were taken out of your thoughts as your friend shakes your shoulder, asking what you wanted to do next.

You move to stand next her and lean against the counter, not ready to stand on you own yet. Taking the phone you take a deep breath and reply.

Y/N: This is she, may I ask who this is?

You bite you lip, and send the text. Receiving an answer only seconds later.

Unknown #: This is Tom's mother, Nikki.

You set you phone down slowly on the counter. While Cassie gives you a look that asks you what just happened.

"It's his flippin mom Cas. What do I say?" You ask, you voice breaking at how nervous you were.

Never in your life have you had the balls to finally do something like this, and yet here you were. His mom texting you from the other side of the world.

You've never even heard his mom's name before. Only Tom, and the very slight names of past girlfriends. You thought this was odd, because now that you've heard her name it all seems so familiar.

Cassie jumped onto the counter next to you, asking to read the texts before coming to a decision.

As her hands scroll through the conversation, she graons at the two simple texts. She looks at your face, trying to read what you might want from this. Then proceeds to start a text.

"What are you writing? Lemme see!" You sqiuek. Trying to grab the phone from her hands.

She is taller, so she obviously won after a few minutes of you jumping cursing until you gave up.

She finishes the text and sends it after what seems like forever and hands you back your phone. You give her a glare, and she sticks her tongue out. Clearly unfazed by your "threatening" look.

Y/N: It's nice to finally meet you. I was wondering if I could meet Tom, also did he receive my letter? I was quite worried about it's arrival.

"I don't text like that! Now she is gonna think I'm some kind of robot." You whine. You knew she loved you and wanted the best for you, but damn does she press some buttons.

You start pestering her as to why she was like this, while she just ignored you and scrolled on her phone.

You set your phone down, needing a break as your heart couldnt take much more. Walking over to your fridge you hear you phone buzz as you grabbed a soda.

You whip around to see Cassie already typing when you bolt over to stop her.

"Not this time Cas, I got this." You say, reading the text the you just got.

Unknown #: Well Y/N I wanted to tell you Tom is a bit busy at the moment. I got the letter at the house and I couldn't help myself, so I opened it. Before you meet Tom I wanted to head down and see you for myself. Does next week sound good?

Oh my god

"CASSIE I'M GONNA DIE, WHAT DO I DO????!!!" You scream.

You were about to yeet yourself out a window when Cassie slapped you.

"First pull yourself together, we have neighbors. They could probably hear you from a mile away, Jesus. Second, invite her over." She says in the most casual way that you might've just died right there.

You hold your cheek in a bit of pain. "You know I don't have the courage to do that. It took me years to get the courage to send that letter. What makes you thin-"

Cassie takes you phone and texts Tom's mom again. You gave up on fighting because you knew It would be useless.

"Here." She said, looking very smug.

"Sorry I slapped you, thank me later." She gets up from her spot on the counter and slugs back to her room. Not saying a word as her door shuts.

You look at your phone, scared of what she might have said, already knowing she probably accepted her to come over.

Y/N: Of course you can come over. As soon as you'd like. How does Monday sound? You can stay for the whole week, I'll be on break.

You look in horror as Monday was only two days away. You'd have to clean your whole house and do so many things before then. You almost took back the text when you got one from Nikki.

Unknown #: Sounds wonderful. 😊

[demispark]

You probably didn't want an actual answer to your disliking of Nagito post so sorry that I'm providing it, but I did have to see that in the tag so here you go: People like Nagito because of the complexity revealed in his free time events, and personally I also like him for the fact that he kept saving everyone's lives multiple times in the trials and nobody seems to notice. He also arguably has not actually accomplished much terrible stuff (relative to, you know, if you know the games), and his intentions are to accomplish absolute good even if he clearly is not mentally stable enough to realize he's going about it horribly wrong. There's all of the luck cycle stuff and how that would understandably affect a person, with his examples again provided in the free time events. They also made an OVA that revealed a lot of stuff about his thought processes and the fact that Hajime in fact does not hate him. So I mean, those are some of the reasons why people like him? He's interesting. All of this comes from the source material and canon stuff meant to elaborate on it. Sorry if you don't care, but logically people who care will see it if they look in the character tag and all

It may have been a little rash of me to actually tag the post in a way that people who do love and enjoy the character would see it, especially having worded it the way I did. Nevertheless, I did want people to tell me what I was missing, or to just admit that they're into... *Gesturing at Nagito* ... That...

[Edit - Looking over your ask again, you may have misunderstood me, or maybe I've misunderstood you. Nagito is an undeniably fascinating character, and I completely understand liking him. My point of contention were people who were/are attracted to him, as well as shipping him with Hajime and/or Chiaki, who I perceived as not wanting anything to do with him. This was especially prompted by Nagito's (personally agitating) change of attitude partway through Chap. 4, where my negative views of him as a person really began to take hold.]

Although, I will be honest, I wasn't expecting an ask at all, but I appreciate your willingness to engage, and also be pretty civil. I did realize that I might've been too... I dunno, harsh, or something? Too judgemental might be closer to what I'm trying to say here...

Anyway, I suppose that without Free Time Events, and other canon supplemental information and insights, everyone would come to my fault conclusion, right? From what I've experienced in the last week or so of playing DR2 (Which has taken me up to the beginning of the investigation in Chapter 5, for context), Nagito has never been painted in a positive light. I can't say that anything I can remember from Ultra Despair Girls does him any favors, either.

Nagito's contributions to the class trials don't really go unnoticed, and at the beginning of the investigation in Chap. 5, Hajime directly states this. However, Nagito tends to be very obtuse with how he helps lead the others to the truth, and especially given the situation they're in, I can't blame anyone for considering Nagito more of a hindrance to their trials and general continued survival.

There's little else for me to say, since I have essentially no knowledge of the Free Time Events and OVAs. I moreso agree about Nagito being mentally unstable than the notion that his intentions are to accomplish the absolute good. Nagito is definitely interested in creating "absolute hope than can overcome any despair", but I'm not sure I can call that "good". However, I'm sure you'll agree that arguing over what is "good" in this context would be a matter of personal ideology and how you interpret the information given in-game, so we'd best not dwell on it.

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

I apologize for the long answer to your ask, but I do genuinely want to thank you for your response. Ultimately, I was thinking "What am I missing here? What do people see in this guy that I'm seemingly blind to?", and you told me that I was absolutely missing something. You also made me realize that I did just about everything wrong with that post, and frankly, I'm lucky that I didn't raise the ire of someone who is far more passionate in their love for this man.

In case I have been unclear at any point, I am not being sarcastic in any part of this post, and I appreciate your efforts to expose the flaws in my reasoning, as it were.

Whether it be morning, afternoon, or night for you, I hope you have a good one.