#And you finally get closure for my absence | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

doumadono · 4 months ago

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Synopsis: after a passionate yet fleeting romance, Dabi cruelly dismisses you, leaving you heartbroken and alone, but determined to rise stronger from the ashes of your shattered hopes

MY HERO ACADEMIA MASTERLIST - PART II

The neon lights of the bar flickered erratically, casting eerie shadows that danced on the grime-covered walls.

You downed another shot, the burn of alcohol barely numbing the ache of your recent heartbreak. Your ex had left a gaping wound, and tonight, you sought solace in the chaotic embrace of strangers.

And then, he appeared.

Dabi.

His piercing turquoise eyes, marred skin, and a smile that spelled trouble drew you in like a moth to a flame. You knew he was a dangerous villain, the kind of guy mothers warned their daughters about, but you didn't care. You wanted to forget, to lose yourself in something — someone — who could make you feel alive again.

It started with a heated exchange of glances across the bar, a smirk tugging at his lips as he sauntered over to you. Words were few, but the chemistry was undeniable. His touch was electric, his kiss incendiary. He was everything your ex wasn't — wild, unpredictable, intoxicating.

You knew better than to fall for a guy like Dabi, yet here you were, craving his touch, his presence. He never promised you anything, but the nights you spent tangled in sheets, the whispered confessions in the dead of night, made you hope.

Then, without warning, he vanished. Days turned into weeks with no word, no explanation.

Your calls went unanswered, texts unread. You should've seen it coming. He was a shadow, a fleeting storm that left destruction in his wake.

You replayed every moment, every touch, trying to decipher where it all went wrong. Was it something you said? Something you did? The doubts gnawed at you, each one a dagger to the heart.

The silence was unbearable, each day a reminder of his absence. Nights were the worst, the memories of his touch haunting you, leaving you restless and aching. He had marked you in ways that went beyond the physical.

You went back to the bar, hoping against hope to see him, to get some closure. The familiar smell of smoke and regret hung in the air, but Dabi was nowhere to be found. You sat in your usual corner, nursing a drink, the memories crashing over you like a wave. The way he made you feel — alive, invincible, desired — was now a cruel taunt.

Reality set in, cold and harsh. You were just another fling for him, a temporary thrill. The pain of rejection was a familiar sting, but beneath it simmered anger. How dare he make you feel this way? How dare he make you believe, even for a second, that you were more than just a fleeting distraction?

Then, one night, as you lay staring at the ceiling, lost in the whirlpool of your thoughts, you heard the knock. It was forceful, almost impatient, and it jolted you upright. Your heart raced as you crossed the room, a mixture of hope and dread tightening your chest. When you opened the door, Dabi stood there, his presence as imposing and unnerving as ever.

��Hey,” you said, attempting to sound nonchalant despite the way your hands were shaking. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Clearly,” he replied, stepping inside without waiting for an invitation. His tone was cold, detached. The warmth you had once felt in his presence seemed to have vanished, leaving only a frigid distance in its wake.

He stepped inside without a word, his eyes scanning the narrow corridor leading to your bedroom as if searching for something. The air between you was thick with unspoken tension. He looked different — harsher, more distant. The man who had once held you close now seemed like a stranger.

“I came to talk,” he finally said, his tone clipped and cold.

You closed the door behind him, trying to steady your nerves. “Talk? You haven’t responded to any of my messages. You just vanished.”

“I came here because you wouldn’t stop blowing up my phone. I thought I’d come and get this over with.”

The casual cruelty in his tone cut through you like a blade. You swallowed hard, trying to ignore the sting of his words and the lump forming within your throat. “I thought we had something real,” you whispered, your voice cracking slightly. “I thought you cared.”

Dabi’s expression hardened further. He took a seat on the edge of the couch after making it casually to the living room. He scoffed, his eyes narrowing as he leaned back, taking a long drag from a cigarette he had managed to light on the way in. “You thought wrong. I never promised you anything. You built this whole thing up in your head, princess.”

The harshness of his words felt like a physical blow. You had opened your home, your heart, hoping that beneath his rough exterior, there was something worth holding onto. But now, it felt like all those moments you shared were nothing more than a cruel illusion.

“Is that it?” you asked, a mixture of anger and despair bubbling up inside you. “You come here to tell me you don’t owe me anything and then leave?”

“Pretty much,” he uttered, his voice dripping with indifference. “I didn’t ask for this. You’re the one who got it into your head that there was something more.” He stood up abruptly, his movement slicing through the air like a final, brutal punctuation mark. The cigarette burned down to a stub in his hand as he flicked it down on the floor. “I’m done here,” he added coldly. “If you’re looking for some sort of apology or explanation, you’re not going to get it from me.”

You watched him walk toward the door, his silhouette framed by the weak light from the hallway.

“No!” you cried out, rushing to block the door as he made to leave. “You can’t just walk out like this. You can’t just say it’s over without anything.”

His eyes darkened, the harsh lines of his face hardening even further. “Move.”

“Please, Dabi,” you begged, tears streaming down your face as you clutched the hem of his coat. “Don’t leave like this. Just tell me why. Tell me what I did wrong.”

He grabbed your wrist, yanking it away from his coat with a force that made you wince. “I told you to move. I don’t fucking want to hurt ya, princess, so better listen to me.”

“Why are you doing this?!” you cried, your voice breaking. “I thought you cared. I thought —”

“Stop thinking,” he snarled, his voice like ice. “Stop imagining there was ever anything more than a distraction. What did you think this was? Some kind of romance? You were a cheap fuck, that’s all. At least you were clean, not like the whores I usually fuck.”

The venom in his words left you stunned, your grip slackening on the doorframe.

He pushed past you, the touch cold and unfeeling, and opened the door.

You stumbled back, feeling as if the ground was falling away beneath you. “Get out,” you whispered, your voice breaking. “Just get out.”

He stared at you for a moment, his eyes devoid of any compassion. “Gladly,” he snarled, turning towards the door. As he opened it, he glanced back one last time. “Don’t contact me again. We’re done.” He paused for the briefest moment, then stepped out, the door closing behind him with a final, echoing thud.

You sank to the floor, the tears you had been holding back finally breaking free. The pain was raw, tearing through you like a wildfire. You screamed, the sound filled with all the anguish and betrayal you felt. “Why?” you cried out, your voice echoing in the empty apartment. “Why did you do this to me?!! You sick fuck!”

There was no answer, only the oppressive silence that seemed to swallow your cries whole. The walls of your sanctuary felt like they were closing in, the weight of Dabi’s rejection crushing you from all sides.

Eventually, your screams turned to muffled sobs, your energy spent. You lay on the cold floor, feeling more alone than you ever had. The apartment, once a place of comfort, now felt like a cage, the shadows lengthening as if to mock your despair.

You had survived heartbreak before, and you would survive this. Dabi was a chapter in your story, not the whole book. The scars he left would fade, just like the memory of his touch. You would move on, even if it meant facing loneliness head-on. But for now, you allowed yourself to grieve, to feel every ounce of the hurt he had inflicted. And in that grief, you found the first stirrings of resolve — a faint promise that someday, you would rise from these ashes like a phoenix.

#dabi #bnha dabi #dabi x y/n #touya todoroki angst #dabi x reader #touya todoroki #dabi my hero academia #my hero academia dabi #mha dabi #touya x reader #touya todoroki x reader #todoroki touya #weekly challenge #dabi angst #anime angst #bnha angst #mha angst

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quack-quack-snacks · 3 months ago

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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.21

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Blood, crying, Hyun-su being a sweetie. He's so baby gorl. Word Count: 2,150

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As you entered the apartment you’d lived in for so long, you felt the way your whole body relaxed. You just stood there for a moment, standing a few feet in front of the door breathing in the familiar air of home and finding comfort in the way things had mostly stayed the same in your absence. The only unusual things were the half-melted candles that were placed on the floor, their wax having dripped onto the carpet and stained it. The curtains were drawn but you could see the dying light of the sun shining through the cracks.

After reminiscing and seeing Hyun-su’s concerned gaze on you, you walked in the direction of your room to start collecting everything you needed. You grabbed all the essentials: clothes; jackets; a small throw blanket that was on your bed; and some food from the secret snack drawer you had in your dresser. You stuffed all of it in the biggest pocket of the biggest bag in your closet, deciding to leave your work bag in your room since it wasn’t all that big. After that, you traveled to the bathroom you shared with your siblings, grabbing your toothbrush and toothpaste along with each of your siblings ones, some washcloths, and then finally, all of the tampons and pads that you had under the sink. Closing the door and replacing the toilet paper you had used as a substitute for one of the hygiene items, you were thankful you were a bit of a hoarder when it came to personal hygiene products. You knew they would only last you so long, though.

This would’ve been a great time for you to have bought period underwear or a Diva cup.

Finally, you went into your siblings’ shared room and grabbed as many clothes as you could, folding them tightly to fit them inside your bag. Distantly, you could hear Hyun-su rummaging through your pantry, trying to find anything food-related he could bring down to the group. You weren’t sure how much he would find since you hadn’t gone grocery shopping recently but whatever he could find was helpful.

When you were done, you walked out of the room and down the hallway but stopped abruptly at the final door of the house.

Your dad’s.

Your eyes lingered on it, fingers caressing the little markings of your and your siblings’ growth over the years on the frame. You decided to just go in and see the room for the last time. It was the only way you could get closure. The only way you could say goodbye.

You could hear Hyun-su calling out your name as you entered the room, but you couldn’t find it in you to respond. Everything in there was just as it always was. A little messy and cluttered on the desk and an overfilled laundry hamper in the corner of the room. His bed was also messy, looking like he let the kids sleep in the room with him since they were probably scared. The framed photos on the bedside table showed old and new pictures of your family. There was one of Su-yeong, Yeong-su, and you on your first day of school from last year. Everyone was smiling brightly, mostly because you were tickling them when they complained about going to school. On the nightstand, there was also a velvet box. You picked it up gently and caressed the fabric layer covering it. You knew it held your father’s favorite necklace from your mother’s collection along with her wedding ring immediately since it was something you had talked about with him often. The necklace was broken, unfortunately, and your dad was too scared to give it to a jewelry repairer. So it stayed in that box with the ring for years. He kept it well shined and you often found him holding the box in his hands while staring off into space.

Your mother wanted them to be yours when she passed, but you couldn’t stand the thought of taking it away from your dad. The ring didn’t fit you anyways.

But now he’s gone.

Hyun-su called your name again, this time closer and you realized he was standing in the doorway, looking at you with a first-aid kit in his hands. You turned around to face him with the box in your hand. You hadn’t realized you were starting to hyperventilate and tears were falling down your face until the concern on his face tripled.

You scrubbed your hand over your eyes and cheeks to rid yourself of the liquid sadness but it just kept falling like a rainstorm; and no matter how many times you sang the song, the rain would not go away. Letting out continuous shaky breaths that you couldn’t control, you tried to assure him you were fine but you couldn’t speak. Each time you tried to form a word with your mouth, a whimper of hopelessness and grief came out instead.

Hyun-su took a hesitant step forward, and then another one. He kept moving forward until he reached you and led you towards the bed. While he wasn’t very good at comforting people - especially in times of grief - he knew a thing or two about taking care of wounds. Courtesy of Kim Do-hun in high school, he guessed.

He brought your still wounded and surprisingly still bleeding hand into his lap. He was a little surprised you hadn’t noticed the blood dripping from your fingers, but the shock of grief can do stranger things than distraction. You stared unseeingly at the wall in front of you with the tears still falling. Your breathing had at least slowed down, and you briefly wondered if that had anything to do with Hyun-su’s naturally comforting presence beside you. You knew other people would disagree with that statement, but you couldn’t help the feeling of calm and safety that surrounded you whenever you saw him. With a shock, you realized exactly what it was.

He felt like home.

You barely registered the feeling of the small tweezers plucking the small shards of glass that remained in your hand or the sting of the alcohol wipe as it gently wiped itself along your skin. The bruise on your hand was already starting to form and you knew it would hurt for a while. You only looked away from the wall and over to where he was treating your hands when you felt something fabricky wrap around the back of your palm. It was a gauze roll he was using, and he was carefully wrapping it in between each finger and across your whole hand. The way he was so deathly gentle with you made you feel even more emotional. It was the kind of touch you hadn’t felt since your mom died and it somehow made the affection you felt for the boy increase tenfold.

The first sob fell from your lips as Hyun-su finished bandaging your hand and he slowly looked up at you. Your eyes were still focused on where your hand laid in his lap, him holding it so cautiously. It started slowly, but soon enough you were full-on sobbing, trying to keep as quiet as you could but failing. He dropped your hand and your disappointment at the lack of touch only lasted so long when his hesitant arms wrapped around you, one around your shoulder and the other chastely grabbing your waist. Your head fell against his chest, your face pressing into the crook of his neck, and your fallen tears collected on his hoodie.

“Why did it have to be him? Why him of all people?” You sobbed out quietly. Your injured hand stayed in his lap, limp, while the other reached up to grip his hoodie in your fingers.

The boy holding you didn’t say anything, he just held you tightly, rocking gently as you cried. It took a short while, but a few minutes after you stopped crying, he whispered, “Let’s go downstairs, yeah?”

You nodded, pulling away from him despite the ache doing so caused your soul. Standing up, you placed a kiss on the velvet box in goodbye before setting it down on the bed.

“You don’t want to take it?” Hyun-su asked. You looked at him as he stared at the box and shook your head.

“It’s my father’s favorite necklace of my mom’s along with her wedding ring, but the necklace is broken and the ring doesn’t fit me. Bringing them would be pointless,” you said sadly before walking off.

You leaned against the wall beside his spear as you waited for Hyun-su to follow you out of the room. Your backpack was secured tightly around you and you were thankful you got a backpack that had a buckle around the torso. Your uninjured hand held your newfound axe tightly while the other one fell to your side. It was pretty useless while it was wrapped up so you didn’t bother trying to do anything with it.

Hyun-su walked out of the room after a minute and you saw the first-aid kit in his hand. “I still have room in my bag, let me take it,” you told him. He hesitated, looking at your bag and seeing how heavy it was but eventually gave in and handed you the medium-sized box.

He walked over to the door with his spear after you zipped your bag back up and followed closely behind. You waited for him to make the call on his phone that would warn him if any monsters were nearby, inwardly cursing yourself for breaking your phone at the beginning of all this.

When he deemed the area clear, he opened the door and you followed him out. He hesitated for a moment, looking between you and the ground for a minute before deciding what he was about to do. He reached a hand out and delicately grabbed the wrist of your injured hand, making sure not to grab any of the parts that were cut. You looked at it in a bit of shock before snapping out of it and glancing up at him with a burning face. You were satisfied to find he was doing no better, his cheeks reddening from the act.

With a soft tug, he pulled you towards the staircase and opened it, leading you down in a comfortable silence while his thumb rubbed small circles into your wrist.

You could hear the buzzer even from the outside when he pressed it as you reached the bottom and arrived at the door. Unfortunately for you, Eun-hyuk was the one who answered it. Hyun-su dropped your wrist immediately at the sight of him and you tried not to feel hurt as the warmth of his hand went cold.

“What were you thinking?” The bespectacled boy asked. You sighed, opening your mouth but he shot you a pointed glare that shut you up. His gaze returned to Hyun-su and he asked the question again. “What were you thinking? How did you think bringing her up there was a good idea? She could have been killed! Do you kno-” he cut himself off when his eyes landed on your bandaged wrist and his glare hardened even more than it already was. “She got hurt? Ho-”

You cut him off aggressively. “It wasn’t his fault. None of this was! I went up there by myself after he had already entered the staircase. I was the one who snuck behind your back. I was the one who punched my hand into a glass container. It was stupid, I know. You don’t need to tell me that.”

You pushed past him, grabbing Hyun-su’s wrist with your injured hand, ignoring the pain that shot through your whole arm at the movement, and pulling him with you. You only took a few steps when Eun-hyuk wrapped a hand around Hyun-su’s shoulder and pulled him back, pulling you back as well. “I can’t let you take him wherever you please,” he reminded you much too calmly for the rage that was building inside you.

“And why’s that?” You snapped.

“He’s dangerous. He needs to go in the arcade room.”

“That is such utter bullshit and you know it. He’s proven he’s not dangerous! Why do you insist on isolating him?”

Hyun-su whispered your name and your glare shot over from Eun-hyuk to him, softening instantly at the sight of him. His face showed reassurance and a plea for you to calm down. “Just let me go with him.”

You moved your gaze back and forth between the two boys before sighing and slowly releasing your grip on the sleeve of the boy’s sweater that you were dragging. Eun-hyuk tried not to scoff as he led Hyun-su away, leaving you to watch as he once again got locked away when he was providing everything this apartment needed and wanted.

#Time Will Tell 💌 quack-quack-snacks #sweet home #cha hyunsu #cha hyun su #cha hyun su x reader #cha hyunsoo #cha hyunsu x reader #cha hyunsoo x reader #cha hyun soo #sweet home x reader

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jarimaa · 2 months ago

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hey, i was just wondering what are your thoughts on the final chapter of jjk…

The End

This is gonna be a little detailed. I am gonna first give a short answer and what I liked and disliked, then a little more detailed one. This is about ending as a whole.

I remember I did quite some research during my college time on post modernism and existentialism because i had to write an essay (it isn't about that) but I will be referring to what I researched here and there, when put forth my points.

Short answer- I am content with the ending. I am also surprised since this is the first time gege wrote a full manga for the first time, but he still managed to give an ending better than most. And any gripe that still remains, I will not hold it against the author cause the story and characters aren't real, Gege is.

Yuji, Sukuna, and Gojo's character have some of the best conclusions within the story (unpopular opinion probably 😮‍💨). The way they were written and the consistency with regards to their characterization was amazing.

As for what I am conflicted about, well, it's Megumi's character. I don't know how to say it, I liked it his conclusion, but I wish there was more introspection to how he reached there. But alternatively, I talked with a moot of mine, and they think the lack of introspection from Megumi is quite in-character. He decided to live for others once again (i.e., he didn't address his problems at all) and he is finding peace and comfort in the cage he is stuck at, it's such simple decision from his part, cause he is very clueless about his own psychology, and this is the beauty of it, that we as readers know what caused him to make that decision-according to my moot. I highlighted this one, cause this interpretation stood out the most. I also talked with other people, who seem to hold dislike for the lack of introspection from Megumi's end. While I am still conflicted, maybe I will address in some other posts or not at all, idk, but right now, I haven't formed my opinion on it. But I am satisfied, to say the least, conclusion itself isn't bad for me.

Detail:-

I like that it's more about evolving and coexistence rather than breaking the cycle or one conclusive solution. Regardless of Sukuna's or Yuji's existence, the curses will always continue to exist. It's humans' negative emotions that create curses in the first place. If the negative emotions of humans can't cease to exist, then curses won't either. Jujutsu Kaisen in a way rejects the idea that life can just have a start, middle, and end, or that one single truth/solution can provide closure. Maybe things can get worse in the future, maybe things can get better, that's up to you to decide, in that particular sense, it's open-ended.

You may ask what was even the point then? Well, let me offer a perspective, although it's just my interpretation, you don't have to agree to it...

When characters within a story accept a belief, perspective, or solution as the only truth, it can lead to their failure, especially if that belief oversimplifies a complex reality. But, one character who comes to understand the complexity can find a way to coexist with the chaos or ambiguity, though not necessarily "fixing" things.

In narratives such as these, the answer isn’t just a rejection of truth but a recognition of multiplicity, the presence of multiple perspectives, interpretations, or meanings within a single work or the idea that one truth or solution cannot account for the full stretch of experience. The character who realises the absence of a single "fix" often ends up navigating the challenges in a more nuanced way. They may not succeed in traditional terms, but they endure by accepting life’s complexity.

Many characters within JJK try to find some single "fix" to the system or the problem of curses and cursed energy and each of them had very flawed solution which we see failing--Yuki/Kenjaku/Geto were all extremists in that sense, one of my friend mentioned this in twt, Yuki wanted to completely break away from CE but also she didn't have any concrete plan, and Kenjaku who wanted to optimise it, but never really knew what merger could do, himself. Even Geto knew that killing all non-sorcorers is not possible.

Sukuna/Gojo-- both their ideals were extremely flawed. Many people have written amazing analysis on this, so i won't go in detail. But we see in the story how strength was the reason for both their solitude and which led them to path of their own death. But Sukuna perfected what Gojo didn't, sukuna completely threw away his humanity and was content living as a curse. A hollow human, who only ever cares about strength, he deemed love worthless, like Gojo deemed love to be the most twisted curse. However, gojo still wanted connections at the end of the day, and this kept him a little more humane than sukuna, who became a monster who clung to life wanting to stay at the pinnacle.

I liked that in the end Gojo realised that Yuji and other should follow their own path rather than just following his goals (although he would've like that) and I am glad they didn't follow his footsteps.

This conversation between sukuna and mahito just added so much to their characters.

Sukuna is the man who perfected his ego. He discarded his humanity till his last breath. Sukuna says he was an unwanted child (maybe cause he ate his twin in his mothers womb, someone on twt pointed out that this is similar to biological condition called "fetus in fetu") and he internalised this all and lived his whole life as a curse, only ever caring about his pleasures and displeasure and being the pinnacle. But even a perfected ego gets humbled in death, and the same happened with him. He acknowledges that he could have taken a different route, and if there is a next time, it would be nice to walk on a different path. Beautiful, honestly.

Now, Mahito is the literal manifestation of humans' hatred for others. He is a true curse, and he wasn't able to reconcile with his humanity after death because, unlike sukuna, he has none, he is not human. He is the manifestation of the same cycle of human hatred, he didn't change, he is the only one left sulking like a child. As I mentioned before, if the negative emotions of humans can't cease to exist, then curses like mahito won't either.

You could then say - well, then nothing changed?

I mean, is it really nothing? Tengen is no more, and this is the curse user Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara caught, and what happened to him?

Earlier, he probably would have been executed, but now Yuji offered him a chance to change.

Yuji turns out to be the person who learns to coexist. He is, for me, the best written character within the story with the best conclusion.

Now, let's just say that doesn't mean anything, nothing changed at all, there was no point...

However, the idea that "nothing changed" often misses the deeper layers of such narratives, which are less about external change and more about internal realizations, the acceptance of ambiguity and even the rejection of simplistic resolutions.

The "point" is not necessarily achieving change or a clear resolution, but rather witnessing the struggle itself. How characters navigate or accept a chaotic/indifferent universe.

There are two examples I can think of, first one being, Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus", Sisyphus endlessly pushes a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down, its completely futile, yet the "point" is his perseverance. The second one is "Waiting for Godot" by Beckett, nothing really appears to happen in the story, and characters seem stuck in a cycle of waiting for this supposed person calles Gadot. However, the "point" is in the waiting itself. It's a reflection on the human condition, the search for meaning, and how we deal with uncertainty and the passage of time.

Thus, the point of such narratives is not in "what changed" but how we live with things not changing, how we adapt, or re-contextualise meaning of things when the world resists easy solutions or "fix its". It's reflectimg on the messiness of real life, where change is often slow, subtle, or non-existent, and simple answers are rarely seen.

So it's up to you to decide what you wanna make of this ending. Personally, I am very, very content.

(Again, this is my interpretation, I could be completely off charts, and I don't mind, maybe I will change my mind after thinking about it again, or maybe not, but one thing remains, that I throughly enjoyed all 4 years I was reading this manga. Peace✌️)

#jjk #jjk meta #jjk ending #jjk 271 #jujutsu kaisen meta #yuji itadori #itadori yuuji #megumi fushiguro #gojo satoru #ryomen sukuna #mahito #fushiguro megumi #sukuna #jujutsu kaisen #thank god its finally over now #i hope people also move on one day and take some good memories from it #i will wait for gege's next work for sure #now imma focus on other books and mangas i am reading #jjk spoilers

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dulcewrites · 2 years ago

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Fool Me Once (part 5)

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x reader (Aegon ii x reader 👀) (wc: 6k)

Summary: As the further truths are uncovered, the battle for the Iron Throne begins

A/N: soooo, I said part 5 would be the last part, but in typical annoying writer fashion I’m not so sure now 😭. Either way, I truly cannot express how grateful I am for all the followers, and support I have received since starting it. I consider fmo my brain child but our baby with how interactive people have been. I’d love to get feedback or request on what hotd stuff you guys want to see from me. My inbox is always open so please let me know how you liked fmo (any thoughts or headcanons) and what you want to see 🫶🏽

Fmo masterlist

“We should run away to Yi-Ti.”

You look up from Aemond’s desk at Aegon with an exasperated expression. It was not the first time Aegon had thrown out the idea of leaving King’s Landing for good. There always an idealistic nature about Aegon that is as sweet as it is delusional. You know the guilt he would feel about leaving, and he knows you would too.

I have a dragon we can who can drop us anywhere. I can shave my head and we can change our identities

“You are supposed to help me be looking for this map,” Not bothering to give the same speech you tell him every time he brings it up.

Gently placing everything where you found it, you squat down to check the cabinets of the desk. Aemond kept his study annoyingly tidy, and you are sure we would notice if anything were out of place. The last thing you need is another argument.

There are multiple books, all of them relating to Westerosi histories, and a plethora of written works of poetry. Nothing stands out till you find a pile of letters. Your throat tightens. It shouldn’t hurt anymore, but now the situation has moved past just Aemond wanting to be with someone else. It affects your kids, your relationship with everyone in the family.

You are just tired, and you just want it end. Or at least to have some sort of closure through an explanation or an apology. You are not holding your breath for the later.

With a sigh, you sit, slumped against the wall. Across from the desk. Noticing you are out of his view, Aegon walks around the desk and sits next to you. The two of you sit in silence before Aegon speaks.

“We can skip dinner,” he suggests softly. “I am sure our absence will not be noticed.”

It is a lie. You both know that if you do not show up, you will be in for an earful from Alicent. Especially now that Viserys has finally worked up the strength to leave his chambers. Aegon reaches over to grab your hand. You look at the large ring on his pinkie finger. The golden scales an ode to Sunfyre. Even with all the problems Aegon has with family, he has always fully embraced his dragon. A bond you have never seen before between rider and dragon. You run your hand over the cool metal.

“You know, despite my hesitance towards dragons, sometimes I am envious of you guys for having them.” you laugh flatly. “It is not even the beasts themselves, but everything they represent. This strange strength that means you are better than everyone else. A free pass for destruction.”

The past year and a half had been a sobering one. You feel so disconnected from yourself. Depleted by actions outside of your control.

“But then I think maybe it is good I do not have a dragon; or more so I do not have the power that comes along with it. I have spent my whole life doing exactly what I was supposed to, just to still get dealt a hand of misfortune,” you murmur emotionless. “I fear that there was tiny seed of hate put in me when I first found out about Aemond’s actions, and that everything that has happened since has only made me more bitter and revengeful. I was told that fighting wrong doings with more destruction was never the answer. I do not know how much I believe that now.”

You look over at Aegon with an illegible look in your eyes. “I would go mad with the things I would do with that kind of power.”

Aegon swallows thickly. Honestly, his first instinct is to make a joke. You, the girl who got teary eyed when she learned about the field of sheep kept in the Red Keep for the dragons, speaking with such gravity. But his eyes travel to the faded scar on your arm and back up to you. The harm done to yourself, grief-stricken eyes, and tired frown. He’s only seen that type of look on his mother. The most persistent person he has ever known, and probably will ever know. She wakes up every day to tend to a man that has never done right by her and run a kingdom she did not want in the first place. There is a simmering type hate in your eyes that he is sure only comes from being around his family for too long.

He wonders if this is how his mother felt when she had him. Young, exhausted, and utterly pissed.

“You are not the only one who feels that way,” he softly. “But - you cannot let it get the best of you. Once you get in that place, it is hard to get out.”

You know he speaks from experience. Resentment leaves a bad taste in the mouth of those who feel like life has let them down.

You want to say that another worry is what will happen if you ever find equal footing with the men in your life. Would the spell wear off you were a flight risk? Would you be seen as a volatile powder keg if not a maiden to come to the defense of? Would you be seen as the prize in his eyes if you were not in the position you ate in? In that moment, you think you should tell him about what you let his grandsire do. If anyone would understand, it would be Aegon. Instead, you lean your head against his shoulder.

You do not have the words for that just yet.

————

The search for the map in Aemond’s study goes unsuccessful. You decide to change tactics. There is a slight uneasiness you get digging through his things in the chambers. Soft whiff of lavender and citrus hit you nose as you look through folded clothes of his. You heart rate spikes when you see a scroll of thin parchment. Looking back to check the door, you then unroll the paper.

There is various lines and arrows, but the words are all in high Valyrian. You have picked up and word here and there since being in the Red Keep, but not well enough translate every word. Instead, you follow the arrows. Walking around the room in a way you are sure would look silly to someone if they walked in.

You find yourself in front of the small outline wall next to your clothing wardrobe. Blinking blankly at the wall, you frown. You run your fingers gently across the fabric on the wall. The deep red and gold stitching smooth under your hands. You push harder than intended and gasp when the wall swings open.

In front of you are stairs that lead down a pathway. A tunnel. You do not venture too far, but you see where the path is leading to. Daemon had given Aemond a direct line to outside the Red Keep. And a direct line for anyone to come in.

But why?

As you walk down the tunnel, something shiny catches your eye on ground. You pick up a single earring. A gold plaited coin earring. It is oddly familiar, but you cannot seem to put your finger on who it belongs to.

All you do know is that someone has been using the tunnel recently.

A part of you wanted to storm through the castle and find Aemond. Have him explain what the Seven Hells has been going on. Or if he even used the tunnels. But you surprise yourself when you knock on the Hand’s study door. Perhaps he is not the best person to go to in this state. You know it is not comfort you will find. But for all his faults, Otto Hightower will tell you want you need to hear or at least you will have his ear.

You are now not naive to how much Lord Hightower seems to want to keep you around.

After it was decided Aemond and you were to get married, you were not clueless enough not see the clear advantages not only for you house, but also for his. Your only naive thought being the mutual benefit would keep you safe or protected.

When you walk into the study, you find Otto sitting at his desk, staring out of the window. You know Viserys’ surprise appearance at the petition hearings rattled him as much as it pleased Rhaenyra and her family. You do not know where to begin or what you are even expecting of this conversation.

“Did you know about the tunnels,” you blurt suddenly. “The ones that run under the castle.”

In typical Otto fashion, his face does not give anything away. But he does shake his head, and gestures for you to continue.

“I…. I think Prince Daemon may have had something to do with my… problem.”

That makes Otto lean forward in his seat, the mention of Daemon clearly stirring something in him. You aren’t ready to put anything on Princess Rhaenyra yet. Partly because you are still wonder where her limits are opposed to seeing exactly how Daemon operates. And because just saw what happens when you question Rhaenyra, even if you have proof or a valid criticism.

“And if they had something to do with her, I cannot help but wonder if they had something to do with what happened to Alaric’s blanket,” you still shudder thinking about it.

You already had a deep sense of guilt since giving Otto the go ahead to find Alys. Taking a life is not something you want on your hand and conscious, and it only doubles knowing how this all could have been a perfectly plotted scheme. Your anger at your husband reaches a new level. Whether Alys was the shiny poisoned apple or a woman in love that has gone rouge, this still involves your kids.

“It seems your family’s influence is something many have noticed,” Otto finally speaks, voice gravely and tone even.

Your brows furrow. “They think threatening my son is going to make me tell my parents or uncle to back Rhaenyra’s claim?”

Your grandsire was an old man by the time Rhaenyra was named heir; your uncle took over for your house shortly after that time. And your uncle was just as thrilled as your parents when you married Aemond, clearly excited to have familiar ties to the Targaryen family. Now that you thought about it, you had never asked him where he stood when it comes to Rhaenyra being heir. But based on knowing how your family acquired their wealth and how they operate, they have never been ones to stray from tradition. Despite your grandsire bending the knee to Rhaenyra, you get the feeling everything is up the air especially with you being the good sister to the other possible claim.

“No, dear girl,” Otto sighs, eyes growing tired. “But I am sure they think you feeling unsafe here and having no love for your husband’s actions will.”

Your mind goes back to Rhaenyra’s offer. You are always welcomed at Dragonstone.

They hoped you would seek refuge in them, and in turn feel compelled to drop any allegiance you have to this side of the family. Did they know about how close you had grown to Aegon or to Helaena? Or that even through this turbulent time, you still find yourself having a soft spot for Alicent. You are sure they would reassure your safety if you ever switched side, but you know your safety was not a priority to them. Only the men or ships that would come with it.

“I am not shocked Daemon would go to such lengths, if true,” Otto says. “I would say I am shocked Rhaenyra would go along with it, but the Princess has always found a way to involve herself in things while feign innocence.”

His words make you raise a brow. You never knew if the Hand’s anger towards the Princess came from how she treated Alicent or his grandchildren, or if it came from the pressure he felt to get Aegon on the throne. Perhaps it is Alicent, even all this time and animosity, still craving a relationship with Rhaenyra that eats him up the most.

“You do not need to worry about that. Everything will be put to rest once the rightful heir is put on the throne, and any possible threats have been ridden,” his tone turns stern. You scoff sardonically in response. This is never going to end till there is a clear winner, and win to means there was a fight. War. That would only start if…

“The Queen would never let you do that. Usurp the throne or kill Rhaenyra,” you say immediately. Otto eyes narrow; the tell. It will always be Rhaenyra for his daughter, and it burns him inside. But that can be used in your favor. “Not unless she had more reason to. Rhaenyra could be a good queen for all we know, but her brazenness will always be her pitfall. Now she has Daemon at her side. Spilled blood is clearly not something he is worried about.”

You sit back in your chair and think for a second. Entitlement is like a dangerous herbal, and many members of this family get off on it.

“If you want Aegon on the throne, it may be best to take your time with this. Give Rhaenyra the chance to do what you think she does best… mess it up.”

By the time the power struggle between Rhaenyra and Daemon finally comes to fruition, maybe Aegon think differently. Your mind goes to Aemond, stewing silently about how his brother manages to get everything handed to him. You bite back a smile. Is a miserable existence to always be in the cards for him? If being with you is so terrible to him, maybe that is exactly what he deserves.

“I think I know how to start this off.”

———

You leave Otto’s study, but not before he leaves you with a long, meaningful glance and tells you he needs to discuss somethings with others. You assume it is the council, but you have a feeling his daughter is not privy to that.

The next time you see everyone is at dinner. Your eyes strained on the empty plate in front of you. A sick feeling coming over you every time you look down the table at Daemon and Rhaenyra. A large gap for the king between Rhaenyra and Alicent.

There is something unsettling about how everyone seems to think what happened in the Grand Hall was nothing. You all saw a man beheaded, and now are to sit down to a "family meal" at the behest of the King. The only mention of Vaemond comes in a prayer from Alicent; you catch the eyeroll given by Daemon. The lives of others are expendable if it prolongs or prompts up whatever claim is being fought for.

False promises do nothing to move you while that is all that makes up the Targaryen family. False promises to make up for future deceit. The gull of Viserys to plea for peace when many the broken relationships in the family can be tied to him. Tied to his indecisive, feeble reign as a king. The King That Never Should Have Been perhaps.

A sick sense of irony rushes over you watching his rioting body and empty eye socket while sitting next to Aemond. You have learned that the Gods can be deliciously cruel.

The crown not stand strong is the House of the Dragon remains divided

It’s all flowery words that seem to go in one ear and out the other for your peers. You can tell by the way Aegon’s eyes gloss over, Helaena brows burrow as she fiddles with whatever butterfly Aegon gave her, and how Aemond’s back stiffens that this final push for family unity comes too late. But it seems that all the older adults in the room are moved by the Viserys' speech, or at least Alicent and Rhaenyra are.

You and Otto, sitting across from each other, share a look when Alicent says that Rhaenyra would make a fine queen. The Queen and Princess exchange shy smiles and peripheral glances; for a moment, they look like young girls, untarnished by the world around them.

Your eyes catch Jacaerys’, and he gives you a warm smile. You try to replicate it to the best of your ability. None of Rhaenyra or Daemon’s children have done anything to make you suspicious of them, especially Baela and Rhaena. But you do notice how Lucerys never seems to look you in the eyes. You are still trying to figure out if that is a byproduct of you being Aemond’s wife or if he is privy to information.

When you were receiving offers for your hand, Jacaerys’ name had come up by members of your house but was instantly shut down by your parents. Though the idea of you being future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms was tempting, but they did want to risk the embarrassment of the worst kept secret being spoken. Marrying a bastard was not the vision they had for you, Queen or not.

But when the music behinds, you do get an idea.

“I going to dance,” you whisper to Aemond.

“You know I do not like dancing,” Aemond sighs, and Aegon gives you a look at the corner of his eye. You roll your eyes at him. You remember the lecture his mother had to give him before the wedding festivities about being a good sport, and dancing with you.

“I never said I wanted to dance with you,” you hiss at him, and get up. You feel Aemond and Aegon watching you as you walk to Jace.

“I was wondering if we could dance,” you hold your hand out. Eyes going from Jace to Baela. “If your betrothed is fine with it of course.”

Baela gives you a good-natured shrug and smile. Jace looks surprised by your offer, but nonetheless grabs your hand and leads you to the free area near the table. You turn back briefly to see Aegon and Aemond look at you with mirrored looks of disbelief and disgust. You have duck your head to keep from laughing.

“I have to warn you I am not much of dancer,” Jace smiles as you begin to dance. “But I am sure I cannot be any worse than my uncle.”

You raise a brow at the comment but say nothing. While you are dancing, you see Viserys get carried out. The fact that he has lived to this point is a marvel… and a confusion. He refuses to go away.

“I do hope after that all of this, our families can see each other more often,” he lowers his voice slightly. The sentence seemed sincere enough, but he has also grown up having pretend half of him does not exist. If it is something Alicent and Rhaenyra’s children have in common, it is knowing when to put on a front. They learned it beautifully from their mothers. “I am sure Daella would appreciate seeing Dragonstone. And the girls would love you around.”

There is that mention of Dragonstone again. Before you can even reply, a commotion disturbs you. You turn to see Aemond standing with a drink in his hand.

“I want to make some final tributes,” a small smirk comes onto his face, and his eye flicks over to you. “First, to my dear wife. A gracious mother, and always keeps me on my toes.”

Your face gets hot when everyone’s eyes turn to you. Alicent looks at her son with a nervous look in her big eyes, confused by his sudden need to speak after a dinner of silence.

“And to health of my nephews - Jace, Luke, and Joffrey,” a sinking feeling comes into your stomach. There’s a glint in Aemond’s eye that you recognize all too well, and know not to trust. You see Jace’s shoulders tense at the mention of him and his brothers. “Each of them handsome, wise…. Strong.”

Your throat tightens. Even putting aside, the absolute irony of that coming from him now, you all just saw what happened to someone who questions the parentage of them. And now he is doing here in front of everyone.

“Aemond,” you begin, not even caring to use formalities with him. He cuts you off and continues.

“Come, let us drain our cups to the three Strong boys.”

And of course, to make matters worse, Aegon confidently raises his goblet in the air. They’re imbeciles. Everything seems to happen in slow motion - Jace punching Aemond, Aemond pushing Jace with ease, to out of the corner of your eye, Aegon slamming Luke’s face into the table. You wince at the scene before you as Helaena gets up to move you out of the way of the guards restraining Jace and Luke.

Alicent and Rhaenyra both get up from the table, yelling at their boys to stop. You take notice of the roasted pig on the table; you had heard about the pink dread prank from Helaena. It was never something you pushed with Aemond or Aegon, knowing it led to a large rift in their relationship. You know they love each other; you can tell by the way they backed each other up that they do. They just do not have the words to express their love, or their pain.

A dinner that was meant to bring everyone together ruined. There will probably always be too much bad blood, and not enough honest or apologies for reconciliation. Before Daemon leaves the room after staring Aemond down, he gives you a smile filled with mirth. A chill runs up your spine.

You watch as Alicent all but walks up to Rhaenyra, eyes soft and pleading. She gently rubs her arm as they smile at each other.

With the dinner going wrong, Aemond stalking out of the room, and learning about the map - everything seems to be put into perspective. As you watch your good mother, you wonder if that is how you will be with Aemond. Always waiting and ready for reconciliation, even despite mistreatment. Foolishly dismissive to how you can be hurt again if it means just moments of reprieve. Or maybe a better comparison would be Rhaenyra and Daemon. Knowing exactly what situation you got into, but still finding yourself wanting more because you thought you would be the exception. Both scenarios mean being in a constant loop of love and hate, praying for the day you reach apathy.

Rhaenyra seems to share Alicent’s warm disposition. Everything is warm and lovely when Rhaenyra smile. She is the Realm’s Delight for a reason. Even with the little time you have spent around Rhaenyra, you see how she operates. It is the way all Targaryens are treat her like the world revolves around her, and she’s yours. Entitlement and confidence used to mask a hallow shell, a trait she shares with her husband.

The possible reconnection of old companions would be a sweet affair. Instead, you finally get the complaining Aegon does about his half-sister. To hear the praises of those who have little regard for you.

Daemon giving Aemond the map, Alys introduction into your life, Rhaenyra telling you Dragonstone will always be a place you can go, and your families ties to this family are all connected. The same way your marriage to Aemond was always leading to something.

It was always a question you pondered since coming to the Red Keep. Does the Iron Throne corrupt those who vie for it or do those who vie for it corrupt the Crown itself?

Now not only have you been caught in the crossfire, but you children as well. And who knows what will come of the rest of your family once King Viserys dies. One thing you do know is that you will not leave any stone unturned by the time Rhaenyra tries to sit the throne. If your involvement is what they want, your involvement is what they will get. If your happiness and well-being is worth the price of the throne, what would happen if it was taken away right when she had it? Like your stability or sanity, ripped away without any caution or care.

This power that Rhaenyra is sure is hers to claim. The one that those want so badly for Aegon. The seat Aemond watches enviously as Aegon scoffs at the idea of it.

“Princess Rhaenyra,” you call out after her before she leaves the dining hall. You reach out to grab her hand in a similar manner to Alicent. “I want to talk with you about Dragonstone.”

If they are willing to rip each other apart for the Iron Throne, so be it.

Aegon and Aemond stare at you like you have three heads when you tell them about wanting to stay at Dragonstone. Aegon goes as far as to giggle at your proposal. His eyes wild and glossy from the abundance of wine.

A part of you thought maybe you should just leave, but you know them. There is nowhere you can go that they cannot find you on dragon back. Plus, you still had to explain everything to your parents. You let them in on you leaving while holding some cards to your chest. Their faces go through a mirage of expressions. Aegon's brows shooting up when you mention the tunnels and Daemon while Aemond's going painfully stoic. You know he does not want you or Aegon to get a read on what he is thinking.

"So, you think Daemon and by extension Rhaenyra knew about the Strong whore, and wanted you to be upset enough to leave," Aegon begins sardonically, and Aemond's eye flickers to him when he says whore. "And in response.... you are leaving. Wow dearest, you are really sticking it to them."

You glare at him. You know he is hurt that you are leaving, even if it is for a short time. He is upset that this all leads back to the throne. For every part of Aegon that is loyal and loves deeply, there are parts that are equally selfish. It hits you that Aegon has never had to try with relationships; the only ones he knows are with women that are his family or with ones where he can buy their affection. Those women have no choice but to be around. But you are leaving, and without him… that would be a blow he would not recover from.

"I am not going for long, and I will be taking Quinton with me," you say, and Aegon rolls his eyes in response. "They involved my son, so I will get to the bottom of it."

"I'm sure Jace will be thrilled to hear it," he scoffs.

"You have no right to be jealous; you are not my husband."

It was cruel to say, and you can tell by the way his resolve turns from anger to bitterness. "I am needlessly reminded of that, thank you."

Your brows furrow at that. Who is reminds him of that? You sigh, running your hands over your face.

“This is punishment. This is because of me.”

Aemond finally speaks up, interrupting your argument with Aegon. He looks away from the fire and at you with a look you have not seen in moons. Sadness. You are sure this news is a lot for him to take in. It would be a lie to say that you are not at least a little happy that he feels uneasy about you possibly leaving. Or a little happy that the love story he had built in his head was not exactly what it seems.

It would serve him right. He felt comfortable enough to do what he has done because there was always the expectation you would be around. Sitting in the Red Keep, taking care of your children and waiting to him to finally come around.

“Give us the room,” you whisper to Aegon. He leaves in a huff, not happy with you. You walk over and sit on the seat opposite to Aemond's.

The only noise that permeates throughout the room is the crackling of the fire in front of you two.

“It is foolish for you to think they would not harm you, especially now,” he starts to fiddle with his fingers, a tick he has picked up from his mother. “You would in place surrounded by her people… by dragons.”

“She would not hurt me. Not now, she wants my family’s support,” you rebut.

He does not answer right away.

“You would be giving her exactly what she wants. Us apart.”

Us. You two have not been an ‘us’ for quite some time, and Aemond referring to you as that makes you chuckle coldly.

“That’s the point, dear husband,” your eyes drift from him to the burning flames. “You know how your sister is. She wants everything entirely too much, and now she has a guard dog, planning and watching her every move. This just one step in her 'preparing' for the throne, and what may happen if she takes it."

“She is not fit for the throne. Neither of them is,” he says bitterly. “It would cut her up inside and out just like it did my….”

He trails off softly. Viserys was never made to be King, but then again who is. By the time everything falls into place, things will be different.

“So, we let it.”

Your conversation is stopped by Quinton opening the door for Jayne.

"Sorry, my lady but your parents were asking for you," she says softly. You notice how her eyes seem to survey the room. Taking inspection of anything and everything in it. Your parents watched Daella and Alaric for you during dinner. You nod in acknowledgment, but as you get up you notice the necklace she wears.

A gold plaited coin dangling on a dainty gold chain, perfectly matching the earring you found in the tunnel. Your blood runs cold.

"Thank you, Jayne," you stand up slowly as your eyes go to Aemond. You hope he can read something, anything from the look in your eyes. Your eyes travel to the wall where the secret door is. His eye looks at you, then to Jayne, and you watch him swallow and sink back into the chair.

"Ser Quinton, if you do not mind staying," Aemond says softly, going back to staring at the fire. "I have something I need you to tend to."

Quinton gives you a skeptical look, knowing the tense history between him and Aemond but you give him a reassuring smile.

Maybe it is time Quinton proves his unwavering loyalty to you.

“I just need…. to get away,” it was not a complete lie. On top of having things to figure out, you were looking forward to getting away from the Red Keep. Even if it was to Dragonstone of all places.

Your father had giving you a skeptical look when you mentioned going to Dragonstone. You tell him this the perfect time for him to stay in King’s Landing in your stead. You whisper to him to stay close to the Hand and to Prince Aegon. When his resolve still did not chance, you told him about this being an opportunity for Daella to get connected to her ancestral home, and he understood. He always has a soft heart when it comes to his grandchildren.

It was your mother who gave you the most grief about the proposition. She stays in the room after your father has left.

“I do not think it is appropriate you leave your husband,” she sighs. “Especially at a time like this.”

It has always been her concern. Your allegiance to Aemond and in turn to the who she thinks should sit the throne. A part of you wants to tell her the plan. Maybe rub in her face that Aegon wants you.

But you know you would not be met with an impressed gaze or her questioning how your life has come to this place. Instead, she would ask why you haven’t debased yourself for him yet? Why haven’t you jumped at the chance to be in his bed, in his mind, under his skin the way real lovers do. Sometimes you look at Aegon and ask yourself the same questions. The most frustrating part is you know he would take you up on it. Aegon would indulge the most depraved parts of you because those of the ones he likes the most.

Your mother always manages to seep her way into things that should be good for you. It happened moons ago when you first became friends with Helaena. It is how you are in this mess now. Telling her about Aegon before the right time would be fatal. A blow to your plan, and the last remaining pieces of your heart.

“Perhaps he can come with you?”

“The point is to have some time away from each other. He thinks it would do us some good too.” Your spine feels tight as you are painfully aware of your posture in front of her, “The Princess offered, and it would be rude not take her up on it. She is till the heir till otherwise.”

Your mother stares at you for a moment. She scrutinizes every part of your face, the face she gave you wholly. Her only daughter. The person she has invested so much in.

“You always do this,” she starts coldly. “Shrivel up when things do not go your way. You have so much put in front of you, and you do so little with it. Leaving your husband when things are tough? I thought I raised you better than that.”

A lump grows in your throat. You are taken back to your wedding day. Your mother talking you through a panic attack, telling you to think of your future. That not going through with the marriage means throwing away years of work. In the end, you walked down the aisle. You followed through, and now the debt comes due. You are her biggest star, and her gravest disappointment.

Everything she could have had, and nothing she ever was at your age. You know your mother is happy with her position now, later in life. Reaping the benefits of your father’s house, but it was not always like that. There was never an opportunity to be draped in silk or have the ear of the royal family when she was your age.

“When this does not work, I hope you will not go running to your father.”

And with that she gets up and leaves you in the kids’ room.

You flinch when the door slams. As you sit in silence, you wonder if you would have gotten a different response if you told her about Alys. Maybe she would have pulled you into her arms like she did when you were younger. Deep down, you know she would have asked you what you did wrong; what did you do to make Aemond want to find comfort in another woman. Regardless of the pretenses, he still jumped at the first chance he got at something he saw as real. She would see it as a sign of failure on her part. She did not instill the right values in you to keep your husband happy. She has a funny way of flipping everything on its head, and yet you still crave any validation from her.

Your mother is as cruel as she is dutiful. As cold as she is charming. And as calculating as she is hurt and wounded by the world, she grew up in. The more your plan falls into place the more you find solace.

You are your mother’s daughter.

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#aemond x reader #aemond targaryen angst #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond targaryen #hotd imagine #aemond fic #aegon ii x reader #aegon x reader

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theworldofotps · 1 year ago

Text

Bet On It

Pairing: Hook x Reader Word Counter: 2,047 Description: Tyler keeps trying to get you to talk with him.

Part 2 of Lost Bets

@madhatterbri @99hook I hope you enjoy loves! ________ Tag list: @omg-im-such-a-masochist @melissahausen @new-zealand-chic @writtingrose @99hook @sjwrites22 @sassymox @mrsacklesevansmgk @xladyxfatex @biforrollynch @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @demonqueen29 @itsicantbelievethis666 @lilred91 @rebellious-desires @claymorexpunisher @letsgivethisonemoreshot @ava-valerie @shortyiceheart @serpantscorpio8497 @thatpanpal @thatnerdwriter @wrestlersownmyheart @vebner37 @auburnwrites @aews-four-pillars @seeingstarks @whenimakeitshine1234 @legit9thlunaticwarrior @blaquekitty @ironshamelessyouth @unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin @ripleyswhore @moonrosekk @elevennbloom @melblacc @alliwant456 @xbreezymeadowsx @mcreignsera If you wanna be added to the list lemme know. _______

“Y/n your phone is ringing again.”

Lifting your head from where it was resting against the beach chair you picked it up glancing at the lit-up screen. A shot of pain went through your heart once more seeing Tyler’s name on the screen.

“Tyler again?” Your best friend Renee asked as you nodded silently ignoring the call and placing the phone back down readjusting the sunglasses on your head. “Why don’t you just talk to him, hear what he wants to say and then be done with everything who knows maybe you’ll feel better.”

“I don’t know Ree it’s been hard enough avoiding him these last few weeks; I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

“That’s understandable babes but at least figure out what you’re going to do especially with MJF asking you out for drinks more than once in the last week.”

“Uhg don’t remind me I’m thankful he told me, but I just don’t want to go out or spend any time with him, ya know what I mean?”

“Maybe he has a thing for you I mean you’re a total hottie so I could see it.” “Maxwell is not my type and I just hope he realizes that.”

Renee smiles winking at you as she leans back in her chair grabbing your phone when it rings again then shuts it off.

“Figure it out babes.” Staying quiet you settled back into your seat thinking maybe she was right maybe you should finally talk to Tyler just so you could get closure. The rest of the afternoon your mind plays back everything over the last couple of weeks. When you walked out on Tyler you didn’t know where to go but thankfully Renee was there to help you pick up the pieces. Tony was willing to give you a little time off work using an injury from a backstage jumping to explain your absence. The first few days were spent just crying in Renee and Jon’s guest room trying to get the pain to ease even a little. Your dreams tortured you at night with images of him, more than once you woke up feeling like he was right there with you. His arm heavy across your waist the faint scent of him on the t-shirt you couldn’t bear to give back. As more time passed it got a little easier at least with doing everyday activities, Tyler had blown up your phone every chance he could, but you ignored the messages. Now you were seriously considering talking to him just so your heart could have the closure you needed. Maybe then it wouldn’t take so long for your heart to heal. Returning back to your hotel room you stood outside the shower waiting for the water to heat up staring at the text box. ‘Okay y/n you can do this just send the message and be done with it.’

Typing quickly before you chickened out you had the message ready, it was straight to the point.

‘Tyler I’m reaching out to let you know I’m willing to talk. I’ll meet you at the arena an hour before show time. I expect the truth.’

Pressing send after staring at it for another few minutes you finally place the phone down and get a shower. Despite not having a match or being on tv tonight you were going to be backstage to hang out with Renee and watch Jon’s match. Stepping out you made yourself dry off and get dressed before daring to look at your phone, you hated that he still had the power to make your heart skip a beat seeing his name. Ignoring all the other messages from him you looked at the most recent.

‘Okay I’ll be there.’

Grabbing your bag and slinging it over your shoulder you head down to your rental car. Part of you was scared to hear what he had to say. Didn’t want to hear anymore about how you were a bet and everything you had envisioned for your relationship was nothing more than one sided. The thought you shared your deepest secrets with him all your hopes, dreams. Knowing inside that it wasn’t real or at least that his feelings weren’t in the same place as yours; left a sour taste in your mouth that wouldn’t leave.

Pulling into the parking lot of the arena you lock your rental and head inside, you knew he’d already be in the catering area. You’d always meet in catering when one of you rode with a friend or had some other business to handle first. Sending a text to Renee letting her know what was going on and why you weren’t in Jon’s locker room. Place your phone on silent before making your way down the hall. You could already hear some voices and slowly stepped inside, almost immediately your eyes landed on Tyler. His head lifting just as quickly almost as if he could sense you were there. Motioning for him to follow you stepped back out not bothering to wait to see if he got up. Slowly going down the other hall you could hear his feet following you, neither of you speaking as you turned this way and that to find a private space.

Coming to an empty and partly lit hallway you stopped taking a moment to compose yourself before turning to look at him. The sight caused your heart to ache, Tyler’s eyes had dark circles underneath them from apparent lack of sleep and his hair was messier than usual. He looked as bad as she had been feeling lately.

“I’m going to be honest I wasn’t expecting you to answer any of my texts.” His voice filled the silence, and you could hear the exhaustion evident in the way he spoke.

“I wasn’t going to, but you wouldn’t stop blowing my phone up and I just.. Realized that I really need the closure. So go ahead say whatever.”

“Look.” Tyler rubbed a hand over his face and leaned against the wall looking at the floor.

“I don’t know what all MJF told you or whatever and yes, I know it was him because the fucker texted me about it. Our relationship was real, I meant everything I have ever told you it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Tyler, I’m not an idiot so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t treat me like one, I heard the recordings of you talking with Ethan. ‘Are you sure you’re going to be able to keep it up much longer? Of course, I can she’s completely clueless of everything. She trusts me more than anyone, she’s even told me herself.’ That doesn’t sound like it wasn’t still a bet when we were dating.”

You repeated the messages that swam through your head on the daily since you left him. It hurt you hearing that and feeling like you weren’t of importance to him when he meant the world and more to you.

“Okay the truth the whole truth, when I first came up to you it was only because of a bet with Ethan. If I could get you to talk with me, he’d get a few of the things I had my eye on but didn’t want to use the money because I couldn’t justify it.”

You listened and watched as he fidgeted and shifted on his feet his nerves trying to get the better of him.

“However, as we talked more and eventually got together the bet wasn’t even on my mind anymore. I told Ethan it was dropped and no longer important when we started getting closer. He didn’t even get me the items I was looking at because I was having such a good time with you. I know I hurt you and I’m sorry.”

Tyler turned to finally look at you as he stepped closer, his hands hanging at his sides.

“I love you y/n I know it may not seem like that but I swear to you our relationship was real and I meant everything I have ever told you.

“You should have been honest with me from the beginning I’m a human not some game you can play while you’re bored. Even if we hadn’t got together even if we just stayed friends that’s not how you begin any type of relationship. I have feelings and emotions hearing those voice notes hurt me so badly finding out that you only came up to me because of a stupid bet. It makes me feel like all this time was nothing but a waste.”

You whispered the last part feeling the emotions of the last few weeks building up inside, no tears would fall given that you’d cried so much lately. Tyler couldn’t stand seeing the look on your face, the pain and hurt was evident. The fact he had made you feel this way hit him with such a wave of guilt.

“I know baby and I’m so sorry I don’t know what else to say apart from I’m an idiot and I never meant for you to get hurt. I didn’t think you’d ever find out about it, not that it’s an excuse for what I did to you. I know I shouldn’t ask but do you think it’s possible we can work through this? Even if we need take it slow.”

Looking at Tyler you thought for a few minutes, leaving him in agonizing silence while he waited for you to answer.

“Maybe, I need to wrap my head around this all but I’m not saying no. First thing you can do is come with me to see Maxwell.” Turning you made your way back towards catering with Tyler walking behind you a small flicker of hope in his heart. The two of you searched everywhere before finally finding MJF in a backstage interview, when he spotted you, a smirk crossed his face. Which quickly turned to a frown when he spotted Tyler beside you. Waiting until he was finished you watched as he made everyone leave the area and turn back towards you.

“Well, what an unpleasant surprise I did not expect to see the two of you around each other ever again. So, is this why you’ve rejected all my offers for drinks? You’ve accepted his apology.” “What’s going on between myself and Tyler is private. I appreciate you telling me about everything but even if I hadn’t spoken to Tyler today, I’m just not interested in you that way. I’d rather just be coworkers.”

“Wait you’ve been asking her out?” Tyler looked at you before glaring at MJF who shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I have been so what.” “Those conversations you recorded were from months ago when we first began talking, it wasn’t until Y/n and I started having a few issues that you decided to tell her everything. You’ve been trying to get her to break up with me just so you could try and weasel your way in.” “Anyone with taste would know I’m a far better choice over any other man in this damn company if she’s too stupid to understand that well it’s her loss.” Before either of you could react, Tyler’s fist swung out connecting with the other man’s jaw the few people that were lingering outside the door quickly rushed in. Separating the two of them you grabbed Tyler’s arm and tugged him away from where MJF was sitting on the floor holding his mouth and wiping the blood off his bottom lip. “Tyler please don’t.” Looking at you he huffed and led you away with a gentle nudge on your lower back ignoring the shouting from Maxwell. Together the two of you walked towards Jon’s locker room and stopped outside the door, Tyler taking your hand in his lightly. “I don’t know what’s going to happen between us, but I want you to know I’ll do whatever I can to prove myself to you again. I love you y/n and that’s not going to stop.” He whispered pressing a kiss to your forehead than turned and walked away, he didn’t want you to say anything else right now he was going to let you have your time. He was determined to win you back and you could bet on that.

#hook fanfiction #hook aew #hook x reader #aew hook #tyler senerchia

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closetsof-backlogged-dreams · 6 months ago

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merthur fic recs: sof's masterlist

(inspired and encouraged by the ever-lovely @dreamingthroughtokyoskies <33 ilysm babes)

hello, there! these are fifteen fics that i've collected over the years as my favorite merthur fics of all time. they come in all sorts of genres and lengths and vibes, so buckle up!!

Sorcerers & Knights, and their long-lost Prince by DracoWillHearAboutThis [30k, 9/9]

"Can't you watch where you're going?!" Arthur snapped.

"You ran into me!" the other man exclaimed, incredulous, and Arthur stilled because he knew that voice. And that accent.

He looked up and found himself face to face with a flushed, indignant Merlin Emrys, tour shirt drenched with coffee. Bloody hell.

"That shirt is Dior," was all that came out of Arthur's mouth, without his permission, and the singer's face hardened.

"Well, bugger for you," Merlin snapped. "Might have to wear off the rack, for a change, like the rest of us. Maybe the money you saved with that could go to your precious charity."

Arthur blinked, the blow of the other man's words not even hitting him before he heard Gwen Smith shriek from down the corridor.

"Merlin! You can't say that to the Prince of Wales, oh my God!"

Merlin is the lead singer of the popular British band called Sorcerers & Knights. Arthur is the Prince of Wales. Their paths cross and destiny unfolds.

fellow merthur/rwrb fans rejoice, this is practically a rwrb AU! except Merlin is the lead singer of a rock band, Sorcerers & Knights, and Arthur is the prince of Wales. the romance between the two of them is so insanely sweet, and i love all the outside commentary from the rest of the cast:)) i also recommend literally anything else by DracoWillHearAboutThis !!

Caesura by StormDancer [52k, 1/1]

Merlin is a writing prodigy with the world's most angsty case of writer's block; Arthur is an overachieving Econ major struggling to escape his father's shadow. Together, they fight crime!

Well, no, they don't. But they do fall in love.

College AU where Merlin is an undiagnosed unmedicated ADHD anonymous prodigy author who takes a course on his own work, meets Arthur, a fan, and they fall in love?? omg. on another note, Merlin's characterization in this fic is INSANE! he's giving deranged thought daughter and im obsessed

all ye faithful by schweet_heart [26k, 1/1]

After an eight and a half year absence, Arthur returns to his father’s house for Christmas, determined to find some closure and finally let go of the past. Merlin, as ever, gives him a reason to hold on.

wow. this fic. there's just so many good things to say about it, but i'll start with the beautiful depiction of parental abuse. Uther isn't physical, and he never does anything too obviously harmful, but it's the little things he says and the overall toxicity of his presence. and then the way he acts with Mordred, Morgana's son, while Arthur watches and wonders why his father never treated him like that?? it's brilliant. absolutely brilliant. the whole fic is a small town AU where Merlin and Arthur were together in secret and broke up as teenagers, and meet again when Arthur comes home. everything about this fic, from the breaking-up-and-making-up to the beautiful depiction of abuse, is so amazing.

Of Lemon Drops and Lizard-Cats by supercalvin [26k, 2/2]

When Inspector Arthur Pendragon went into work that morning he didn’t expect to get on the bad side of an attractive paramedic whose dessert-related insults were surprisingly scathing. Then the same man turned up at the police station, with a clever glint in his eye and his daughter in his arms.

When Merlin Emrys became a single father he made one simple rule: he wouldn’t date until Aithusa was old enough to understand. Merlin had always had his hands full with his daughter and never had a problem with this rule until Arthur stepped into his life. Then everyone he knew started conspiring against him.

single dad paramedic Merlin?? smitten detective Arthur?? mutual pining but self-forbidden romance?? it's amazing. and the domesticity of this fic... let's just say i finished it and couldn't stop thinking about families for the next week. the outside commentary from the rest of the cast in the department is top tier, and Aithusa as Merlin's daughter is the absolute cutest thing

wanna be your end game (my youth is yours) by ladililn [63k, series]

Merlin grows up in Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, so does Arthur.

this fic is actually a series, and it's genuinely so adorable i have no words. them?? growing up together?? badgering and arguing and teasing?? but truly being there for one another, always, when it came down to it?? elite. the absolute greatest. and their completely oblivious mutual pining never fails to make me giggle <3

after the storm (are you leaving) by Imagined, Scarlet_Ribbons [60k, 6/6]

“Gorwin is my King,” Merlin says, golden eyes fixed flatly on Arthur. “And I work for him. That’s what it says.”

“That’s what what says?” Arthur all but roars, wishing he had a sword just so that he could swing it at something. He needs to let all of this anger at something, anything, he’s just not sure at what and he doesn’t really care anymore.

“The treaty you signed."

Or:

Arthur lends Merlin's aid as a sorcerer to an allied kingdom. He doesn't expect to find Merlin, two years later, in shackles, and only a mere echo of the person he used to be.

this fic is beyond devastating. a warning that it is extremely dark, with a lot of addiction and (non-sexual) slavery. overall, though, it's so beautiful. the way that Arthur forces himself to allow Merlin to leave, and then finds him absolutely destroyed?? then stands by his side through all of it and never gives up on him?? such a beautiful fic, as well as everything else written by these two authors

secrets i have held in my heart by arthur_pendragon [20k, 8/8]

Merlin carves himself into Arthur’s soul while the song of summer trails behind them in the sultry air; while the trees haggle with the sun over the price of autumn — separation. Arthur will forever remember this week in which he obtained his heart’s desire and had it ripped away from him.

wow ok so i'm really not exaggerating when i say this is the best fic i've ever read in my life—it's so heart-stoppingly beautiful and painful and the writing is gorgeous and genuinely i don't even know how to communicate how good this fic is. it's friends-with-benefits but also secret-mutual-pining and angsty and hurtful and ahhhh. so so so good.

Next to You (It's the Rule) by LunaMyLove [62k, 8/8]

Arthur and Merlin have a special relationship. They always have, even when they were prince and servant. While many question it when first noticing, eventually it becomes an understanding in Camelot—and even among some other countries—that where there is Arthur, there is Merlin. And, where there is Merlin, there is Arthur.

Arthur and Merlin's relationship as witnessed and explained by others.

Also, or

Five times someone realizes that Merlin is the Queen, one time Merlin realizes it himself, and one time he owns it.

this is one of the funniest fics i've ever read! if you're familiar, it's very reminiscent of CaffeinatedFlumadiddle's writing. Merlin and Arthur's relationship is hilarious, very mischievous-cat and cat-owner. i also adore Mordred in this fic—he's so squishy and adorable idkidk

since we're alone, you can show me your heart by isolationqueen [7k, 1/1]

Going on a month long road trip though Europe with Arthur is probably a terrible idea. Only, Merlin has never been able to say no to Arthur.

modern road trip AU my beloved!! ughh i love the bitchy pining in this fic, and how protective and jealous Arthur gets. just them going from club to club in all these different places.... so good!! always recommend <3

More than I bargained for by follow_your_fire [27k, 3/3]

Arthur's had enough of hearing about Merlin's unsurpassed bedroom skills from his friends.

There's no way Merlin is better than him, is there?

Well, only one way to find out.

this one is for my porn-with-plot girlies!! Arthur being gay for Merlin is the funniest thing ever, and watching him be so bewildered and confused the entire fic but covering it up so that Merlin doesn't suspect a thing is top tier. and then Merlin being soft?? and loving?? and fluffy?? and then Arthur just doesn't know what to do..... SO GOOD!!

A Collapsing Star With Tunnel Vision by objectlesson [8k, 1/1]

“Perhaps we are doing her a favor then,” he says, pausing to chew the inside of his cheek before adding in a measured, careful voice. “I wouldn’t want to live without my love, either.”

Arthur whips around in the saddle to stare at him, eyes hard and dark, like the storm clouds building on the distant horizon. “What love? You haven’t got a love,” he snaps, like he’s the sole keeper of all Merlin’s secrets.

'Arthur acting different with Merlin alone than he does with the knights' my beloved!! this fic is so poetic and beautiful, with Arthur being ugly and mean but so in love and Merlin is equally so ahhhhh. so insanely good. lots of monster hunting and metaphorical discussions. im obsessed with this fic you don't even understand

Nicest Thing by idlestories [19k, 1/1]

Arthur has been best friends with Merlin since they were eleven, and in love with him since they were sixteen and he realised what that was. Too afraid to risk the friendship, he's resigned himself to never telling him how he feels.

Now, high school has just ended, it's their last summer together before university, and Arthur? Arthur is just trying not to think about it.

Featuring: loneliness, pining, drunk Merlin, driving lessons, and more than a few poorly-executed teen movie clichés. Covers June-December the year they start university.

this fic is so criminally underrated it makes me homicidal. one of my top three favorite fics of all time, do you understand me? it's so. it's so good. the pining?? the yearning?? the split as they go to different unis?? the summery poeticism of the writing?? i'll never get over this fic. i think about it every day. amazing.

time, mystical time by andiwriteordie [17k, 1/1]

Finally, the man tears his gaze away and meets Arthur’s eyes once more. “I seek the aid of your Camelot,” he says, but his voice sounds more hesitant now, as if he’s had to change his response for some strange reason.

Merlin can’t help but believe that reason is him.

“As for who I am,” the man says with a bit of a chuckle, and he glances around the room again at familiar faces, at his friends. “I am Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot.”

Or:

When a mysterious stranger shows up to Camelot claiming to be Arthur from the future and seeking help for his sick consort, Merlin learns some things about himself, about Arthur, and about a future he never dreamed was possible.

Arthur from the future time travels back in time to find Merlin, the only person powerful enough to save his cursed consort, an older Merlin?? i physically cannot. this fic is so good. shows two sides of the same coin (ha): Merlin and Arthur, established with Merlin's magic out and proud, and then Merlin and Arthur, unestablished and Merlin's magic still a careful secret. and Morgana in this fic is elite!! she's absolutely hilarious and completely done with merthur's bullshit

For Want of a Nail by 0hHeyThereBigBadWolf [235k, 44/44]

Fleeing from Essetir in the bloody beginnings of the Purge, Hunith finds herself on the doorstep of old friends. That's all it takes to untangle the skeins of destiny and weave a new tapestry.

long fic alert!! but oh my god i love this fic. Leon being Merlin's older brother?? elite. Arthur and Merlin going through angsty mutual pining?? top tier. and then later on, this fic features probably my favorite OC of all time: Bellegere, Arthur's cousin and Agravaine's daughter. i love her so much and you can pry her out of my cold dead fingers. just such a good fic!!

what is this feeling by redkay [13k, 1/1]

“Get out of my sight, and don’t come back until you can prove to me why I should allow you to remain in my service.”

Merlin stares at Arthur, confused. His tone was ominous, and it certainly sounded like a threat, but Merlin can’t quite work out what part is supposed to have him shaking in his boots. He’s halfway back to Gauis’ chambers when it dawns on him: Arthur actually thinks this stupid, degrading job is something he would be willing to fight for - as though Merlin’s life wouldn’t be complete without the honor of scrubbing the sheets Arthur manages to soil on a disturbingly regular basis.

In which it takes Merlin a bit longer to warm up to Arthur than it does in canon, but he gets there in the end.

we deserve more of Merlin being genuinely bitchy and pissy at Arthur!! the show really did make him Arthur's #1 fangirl wayyy too quickly, but this fic fixes that right up. it's so funny, but so heart-touching at the same time. a classic <3

wow, this list is so long overdue it's insane, but i think this was the right time to finally put it out there. i hope you like these fics!!

#merthur #merlin #bbc merlin #bbcm #merthur fic #merthur fic recs #merlin fic #merlin fic recs #arthur pendragon #merthur fanfic #merthur ao3 #merlin fanfic

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avernusreject · 2 months ago

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With the limited choices for veilguard, are other people considering just retconning their canon worldstate so both the warden and hawke are dead/missing?

I already decided to leave my hawke in the fade so writing her story off isn't as big of a deal for me. But I just need some finality to my warden's story (which if I'm honest I don't think we're ever gonna get at this rate). I didn't want her to make the final sacrifice, but I feel like that's a lot better closure then never knowing if she found a cure for the calling. I could headcanon it, but idk it just feels easier to write her off. Plus I don't have to consider the glaring absence of Kieran (imo to the detriment of Morrigan's character arc...) and the old god soul.

#dragon age the veilguard #dragon age 2 #dragon age origins #da4 #datv #hawke #the warden #warden tabris #warden brosca #warden mahariel #warden cousland #warden amell #warden surana #the hero of ferelden #Hof #dragon age #dragon age keep #dragon age worldstates

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smnthvxe · 9 months ago

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Chapter 1: The Past Echoes

Chapter 2 , last chapter

Readers point to view

The sun dipped below the horizon in Sumeru, painting the sky in hues of orange and pink as I closed the shop for the evening. The little coffee shop, once just a dream, had become my sanctuary, a place where laughter and the rich aroma of coffee beans filled the air. Yet, amidst the hustle and bustle, my heart harbored a quiet sorrow, a longing for the one who had once been my everything—Kunikuzushi.

Our life together seemed like a distant memory, a fleeting moment of happiness that had slipped through my fingers like grains of sand. I remembered his smile, the way his eyes lit up when he laughed, and the warmth of his touch. But those memories were overshadowed by the pain of his departure, the day he walked away, leaving me with nothing but silence and a heart full of unanswered questions.

"I wonder where you are now," I murmured to the empty room, allowing myself a moment of vulnerability. The walls of the coffee shop, adorned with pictures and trinkets from our travels, echoed back my solitude.

Nights were the hardest, when the world fell silent, and the weight of his absence felt unbearable. I would lie awake, staring at the ceiling, imagining scenarios where he would return, where he would explain why he left and we could start over. But as the dawn broke, reality would set in, and I'd brace myself for another day without him.

One evening, as the final rays of sunlight vanished, leaving the world in twilight, a figure appeared at the door of the coffee shop. My heart skipped a beat, a foolish part of me hoping against hope. But it wasn't him; it never was. Instead, it was a traveler, seeking refuge in the warmth of the shop and a cup of coffee to ease their journey.

"I heard this place serves the best coffee in Sumeru," A blond traveler remarked, breaking the silence.

" Yeah! Yeah! I bet her coffee can make Paimon jerk off all of the pain from that mean-rude-annoying hat guy!?" The little fairy spoke

I chuckled, pouring them a cup. "I hope it does little one."

As they settled down, the blond traveler—known as Aether shared tales of their adventures, of the people they'd met and the wonders they'd seen. And for a brief moment, I allowed their stories to transport me away from my sorrow, to remind me of the joy and beauty in the world. The world he promised to explore.

But as the night drew to a close and Aether thanked me for the hospitality, I was left alone once again with my thoughts. I wondered if Scaramouche ever thought of me, if he ever regretted leaving. The rational part of me knew it was futile to dwell on what could have been, but the heart is seldom ruled by reason.

I busied myself with cleaning up, trying to shake off the thought. "You need to move on," I whispered to myself, a mantra I repeated every day, yet found so hard to practice.

One day, curiosity got the better of me, and I ventured out, seeking any trace of him. I traveled to Inazuma, to the places we had once explored together, hoping to find closure, to finally let go of the past. But instead of peace, I found only echoes of our time together, reminders of the love we shared and the pain of his departure.

As I stood in front of our old home, now abandoned and falling into disrepair, tears filled my eyes. "Why did you leave, Scaramouche? Why did you break us?" I whispered, the questions lingering in the air, unanswered.

I realized then that I might never get the closure I sought, that some wounds take longer to heal, and some questions remain unanswered. But I also understood that I couldn't live in the shadow of his memory forever.

"Oh? Who you might be?"

A voice spoke from behind, i turned around to see a Kitsune-like woman with a shrine dress.

"I was.." you cutted " Visiting something"

"Visiting you mean that house over there? Sorry to say this dear but that house is already abandoned. "

She pointed to our shared home at the nearby hill.

"Yes, I know. I was just- recollecting some old memories"

By that she smirked and I bid my farewell, walking away.

With a heavy heart, I returned to Sumeru, to my coffee shop, my haven. I poured my soul into my work, creating a space filled with warmth and happiness, a stark contrast to the emptiness I felt inside.

As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, I slowly began to rebuild my life. I found joy in the simple pleasures, in the smiles of my customers, and also I became good friends with Aether, he would often visit my shop to drink coffee and share his adventures with me. My interest perked up as he said something about fighting a false god along with Buer. You were always a fan of sumeru's Archon that's why you choose to move there.

There are some days where I close the shop, drinking bitter coffee (which reminds you of Scaramouche) alone reflecting every moment I have spent with him.

And though I may never fully understand why he left, I've come to accept that some chapters in our lives must come to an end, to make way for new beginnings. So, I continue to move forward, one day at a time, carrying the lessons of the past and the hope for a brighter future.

In the quiet moments, when the world slows down, and I find myself lost in thought, I whisper a silent wish for Scaramouche, wherever he may be. "I hope you've found your peace," I say, letting my words drift into the ether, a final goodbye to a love that once was. But.. If ever he'll come back ...

A/N : hehe kinda rushed lmao

(You may notice some grammatical errors cus yk im kinda writing this and studying for our exam)

#Scaramouche #wanderer #genshin inazuma #genshin imagines #genshin scaramouche #genshin x reader #scaramouche x reader #genshin impact #genshin x you #scaramouche angst #scaramouche x you #wanderer x reader #wanderer genshin #sumeru #genshin angst #kunikuzushi #angst #slow burn #fanfic

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cookies-over-yonder · 1 year ago

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"... In that moment, you, and Taylor, and Nick all realize that there is no fixing this. That this is as good as it's going to get. That you are all stuck with each other in the forms that you are now. You see daddy magic—that same daddy magic that exited Ron and Terry's body, emanate from their bodies like a fine mist, coalesce into the air, and then zip into the jar and fill it up a little bit more because that's what your relationship is."

The Close Family and Closure: An Analysis and Breakdown of Taylor's Issues in Hell or High Father

...and the way he addresses and, in Taylor fashion, downplays the problem, and denies its lack of solution.

(I have transcribed the majority of this scene, and below the cut is my line-by-line breakdown and analysis, as well as some other tid-bits.)

hello! ever since i got into dndads, taylor has been my favourite. i found his extreme escapism and dumb confidence fascinating, and as you may know, i love finding scenarios for him to break. it's, like, at least half of my fics at this point.

this episode is my favourite episode, it broke me, and it pieced me back together but Wrong in all the right ways.

this analysis is focusing on the taylor of it all. the motivation behind his words and the changes in his cadence and the denial that still, despite everything, refuses to fade.

i've never written an analysis post structured like this, so do let me know if you like it. i just... i really love taylor.

okay, let's go!

1. "Well...''

Nicky: … I didn't see a lot of Taylor's growing up and that was—that was fi—like we're cool now right, Taylor? Taylor: Fuck yeah dawg— Nicky: See?

to start off, taylor's instinctive answer is to agree with nicky. because well, yeah, they're chill now, that's true, so of course the first thing he does is agree. and i gotta say that i was expecting taylor to leave it at that, because he's not one to dig deeper when he doesn't need to, and even when he does.

Taylor: Well…

taylor says this immediately after his first answer and oh ny god i got SO excited. but this ain't about me. anyway. taylor finally admitting that they're actually not 100% cool is such a big fucking step argh i am so proud of him forever and also so sad for him forever...

Nicky: What? Look, I'm back now, and I'm super tight, and we hang out, and we can do samurai shit together, and we're fuckin'—we're tight as fuck.

this part makes me so sad because nicky is so ignorant to how his absence has affected taylor despite his frustrations at glenn for not being there. and also, this sort of reasoning would have worked on convincing taylor back in early season two. in fact, it did!

[Season 2 Episode 10: Dad Me To Hell]

taylor is completely satisfied with this reason because it feeds into his main character syndrome. his dad left to protect him. what better reason is there? and now he's back and there and able to do cool shit with him, so everything is perfect, right?

but the next thing taylor says is so fucking heartbreaking:

Taylor: If I'm gonna be honest, Dad, I've kinda been hoping and keeping an eye out for time travel magic so that we could go back in time, and you could be there for me.

the way he trails off as he says it, and he loses his confidence in his words... it shows an unfamiliar shyness. we've never seen taylor be this vulnerable before. and to think that he'd been holding out hope for time travel magic to fix his childhood? that perfectly aligns with the idea that taylor is so stuck in his anime escapist fantasy that he can't accept what's real. and magic is real, so therefore he must be able to fix his past, right? it's not impossible for there to be time travel (see. end of season 1 + see. attack on titanic.) but taylor doesn't realize that this is something that can't be fixed so easily, even if that magic were available. he doesn't believe that this can't be fixed. more on this later.

Nicky: [grunts and falls] Uh… um… I didn't know you felt that way. Taylor: Yeah, you know, it's just, when I was practicing my jutsus I could have used some pointers. Nicky: Yeah, but like— Taylor: As a result, I've developed a number of very bad habits that I'm told are very hard to break. And, you know, just watching YouTube videos is not the same as having a dad who can fight.

in the past, taylor has used anime to cope with his absent father, and he relied on the fictional characters to bring him the same comfort a father might bring (this was mentioned by freddie in one of the teen talks and while i've been relistening i've yet to find it. do forgive me as i am merely mortal) while this isn't directly referring to that, i still feel it's worth mentioning, as taylor is confronting his own unhealthy coping mechanism and acknowledging that no, youtube videos aren't a replacement for a dad. he couldn't fill the absence of a father with anything else in his life no matter how hard he tried.

also, taylor is smart. he knows that he has unhealthy coping mechanisms or "bad habits" that he can't break and he knows that they're caused by nicky's absence. i just wonder how long he's been stewing over that, you know?

as shown earlier, when taylor first met nicky and found out why he wasn't there, he accepted it immediately, knowing it was the coolest reason for a father to be absent and only fueled his protagonism.

but now, taylor's confronting his own issues surrounding nicky, and explicitly addressing them to nicky.

*wipes a tear*

i'm so proud of him.

Nicky: Wha��I mean, if it's training you want, we can train you, and like, you see your grandpa there— Taylor: [sighs] It's too late. I needed to start when I was three to five years old like true ninja warriors.

there is something so cutting about the way taylor says it's too late. he's talking about training to be a ninja warrior on the surface, yes, but that's not it.

it's too late. it's too late for nicky to witness his upbringing. it's too late for taylor to grow up with a loving father figure. it's too late.

and taylor knows that, and he's saying it, but he's still masking it with it being about training to become a ninja when in reality it's so much more.

this is just one example of the way he downplays the issue. he zeroes in on just one aspect of his life that nicky wasn't a part of, and speaks as if it's the main issue, when really it's only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

Nicky: Oh, well, I mean— Taylor: So I'm already trying to play catch-up a little bit, but you know, I guess it's water under the bridge. But you know, if there is time travel magic, then you know, maybe, or if you find it, you could maybe… pick me up on the way back… to the past, and you know maybe we could do childhood all over again.

taylor is playing catch-up with training, but he's also playing catch-up with having a father in his life.

and again, he downplays it, says it's water under the bridge, when it's so very clear how deeply this has been affecting him his entire life.

and to top it all off, he brings up time travel again. and the way he says this is so un-taylorlike it's jarring. the uncertainty of the maybes, the trailing off, the voice so quiet you almost can't hear it...

he thinks there's still a chance to redo it and fix things, but i feel that deep down he knows it's impossible, that it doesn't work like that, and yet he's still grasping at straws to try and make things better.

it's... it's really sad. i feel really sad for him.

and the way he says he wants to redo childhood. as opposed to only talking about training, here he actually says he wants to do childhood all over again, and it's so, so quiet. and taylor is never shy. it's so clear how badly he's hurting over this.

god. okay.

2. "I didn't even know where you were."

Glenn: So we're cool. Nicky: So, we're cool. Glenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nicky: We're just three cool guys. Taylor: Well…

i love how taylor isn't backing down on the fact that nicky fucked him up. like the gates are open and they can't close back up that easily. he's not accepting them just being three cool guys.

Taylor: Well, I'm just saying—you know, I could have, y'know—not to put too fine a point on it, but Dad, I would have appreciated if, you know… I didn't even know where you were. I 23&me-d my ass, and they sent me a picture of fire, and the cops showed up! There was a white van parked outside of our house for three years!

again, i really notice the change in the way taylor speaks, he's more unsure, quieter, and uses more filler words (such as "y'know"), and it feels as if he feels bad about making nicky confront his faults as a father but he's pushing through it anyway, because he has to.

and i absolutely love the throwback to episode ONE with the 23&me test! like this had been brewing from the start! i just think it's fantastic for it all to build up to this. like yeah. taylor didn't know WHO nicky was or WHERE nicky was and trying to figure it out only led to more danger for him.

Nicky: [gets on one knee and puts his hand on Taylor's shoulder] I guess I never got to properly apologize to you, did I?

Taylor: Well, an apology won't really turn back time, and I don't know how I feel—I would rather have the time travel magic.

this is so cutting. like, yeah, an apology won't cut it, and taylor immediately circles back to time travel magic, as if it could fix what's broken when it really, really can't.

i also find the trend of time when it comes to the close boys to be very fascinating. glenn got locked up in time prison, nicky's childhood was split into two timelines, and taylor thinks time travel can fix his broken relationship with his father?

god damn.

Nicky: Well, I didn't even get to explain—I was in Hell. I was worried that these fuckers [pointing at the other kiddads]— Taylor: Yeah, those fuckers. Nicky: —would have chased after me if I'd gotten out of hell. Taylor: So you're telling me that these fuckers kept you away from me all these years? Nicky: Yeah, you know what? It was these motherfuckers! They are the reason I didn't get to spend time with you because they betrayed me! Taylor: That makes sense; I just saw the memory! Yeah, yeah!

thinking about how taylor immediately agrees with nicky in blaming the others for his absence, because, well, yeah, shit's complicated and they are definitely part of the reason, but the fact that taylor is so on board of whole heartedly blaming them after chewing into his dad about not being there is just so sad. like yeah, of course he doesn't want to be upset at nicky. and it hurts so much that he is.

god.

oh my god.

okay, now, i didn't transcribe the entirety of taylor's memory, i actually summarized it and quoted some key aspects of it, so here:

Taylor's first belt ceremony. He's performing, and he finishes, and he bows, and he looks up. His mom is there. He's sniffling a bit and Cass asks him if he's okay and comments on how he moved all the way up to green belt, and he says he knows. He looks over to the kid who was supposed to get green belt but didn't because of him. The kid is whining, and then his dad comes in and gives him a big hug and—

"It's okay son, I saw how hard you worked, and in my eyes, you're a black belt. Come on, let's get ice cream."

The kid says thanks and they hug and then they leave and Taylor watches them leaving through the window and sees the child and father and mother smiling together. Taylor looks down at and then throws away his green belt.

"I think I'm done with karate."

Taylor gets kicked out.

that line that the father said to his child really hit me, because taylor never heard nicky say that to him. ever. and that was all that he wanted, really. like, "i saw how hard you worked," as in, i was there, watching you, practicing with you, supporting you, i saw you, i see you, i'm here, i'm here with you. and "in my eyes, you're a black belt," in my eyes, you've worked so hard, in my eyes, you deserve more than what you got, in my eyes, you're strong, in my eyes, you're capable.

things nicky never saw, and things nicky never told him.

and then, well, taylor quits.

a memory defining taylor's relationship with nicky. a memory where he wasn't there. a memory where he didn't see taylor's growth. a memory where taylor gave up on an ambition. a memory of absence.

anyways.

Nicky: I'm really sorry— Taylor: I'm kind of sensing a pattern here to be honest. Nicky: Yeah, I'm thinking that maybe the things that your granddad did, I do now. I'm thinking maybe I fucked up in the exact same way… Taylor: [lays a hand on Nicky] I think you fucked up in the same way too. Nicky: Okay. Well that's good. That's good for us.

god. oh my god. the fuckign pattern. i'm so sorry this part makes me lose my coherency all i can think of is how sad it makes me idk idk guys im sorry. you get it. taylor saying yeah you fucked up in the same way and nicky learning that and accepting it. oh my fucking god. like. i dont know theres something about the acceptance of it that really gets me. at the start of the conversation nicky denied it, and here he is, after seeing a memory of taylor doing something he wasn't there for, and now he's like yeah, yeah. i did fuck up royally.

3. "...there is no fixing this."

Glenn: What if we started over? What if we tried to kinda give it a little bit of a reset, and try and make some new memories together, as this sort of team of three? What do you think about that? Is it stupid? I dunno.

Nicky: What kinda memories are you talking about?

Glenn: Well I was thinking we all go to Disneyland, the happiest place on earth, and start everything off on the right foot! It's been so long since I've been to Disneyland, and, I dunno, let me show you all the secrets. Let me show you all the hidden Mickeys. I never got to show Taylor how to get over nine-hundred-thousand points on the Buzz Lightyear ride. And you! Nick, I never showed you the secret entrance into Club 33 that only I know about, and it requires you to go through the sewers a little bit.

I mean, what do you say? Maybe we can do something about this whole fucked up Close family. Maybe we could bring it on back a little bit. What do you guys think?

Nicky: Yeah, sure, yeah I mean, I like Disneyland as much as the next guy. What do you think Taylor?

Taylor: What's Disneyland? I don't understand, what's Disneyland?

now listen, i know that taylor not knowing what disneyland is was just because of the whole doodlerized world thing, but i feel like it also really highlights the disconnect here. like, glenn wasn't around much in nick's life but they knew each other and yes glenn went to disneyland without nick a lot and yes nick liked universal better and if i got into their relationship it would take far too long and i don't feel particularly equipped to tackle that which is why i'm focusing on taylor, but i think that taylor asking what disneyland is highlights the disconnect between him and nicky. nicky and glenn are talking about something that taylor is completely lost on, and to me it really shows the disconnect between all of them. first off, nicky likes universal studios better than disney, second of all, taylor doesn't even know what disneyland is. they grew up in different realms, and they grew up around different people, and nicky was never there, which means there's so much taylor knows that nicky doesn't, and so much nicky knows that taylor doesn't and so much of that knowledge and those experiences can never or will never be shared.

Nicky: Oh yeah, good point, I guess it's on a previously Doodlerized world now with a bunch of really fucked up shit in it.

Glenn: I'm just saying that like—give me a chance. Give me a chance to try and make up for all the—well—you know what? No, no, no, no, no, I can't make up for any of that stuff.

it's true. this solution is like putting icing on top of an overdone cupcake. temporarily sweet but it's still bitter and burnt. (i'm sorry if that doesn't make sense, i don't bake.) but like when you burn something you can't just. un-burn it. sure you can put icing and sprinkles and all the fun stuff and maybe you can wash out the taste but that doesn't change the state of what's underneath.

that's their relationship to me.

Anthony: As you're saying this, without even wanting it to, tears are rolling down your cheeks, and in that moment, you, and Taylor, and Nick all realize that there is no fixing this. That this is as good as it's going to get. That you are all stuck with each other in the forms that you are now. You see daddy magic—that same daddy magic that exited Ron and Terry's body, emanate from their bodies like a fine mist, coalesce into the air, and then zip into the jar and fill it up a little bit more because that's what your relationship is.

ah yes, finally, we reach the end.

this is what their relationship is. it's comprised of missing connections and missed experiences and misplaced memories and absences and longing and searching and finding one another only for it to be too late. it is comprised of absence as opposed to love or hate or anything in between. the nothingness that is absence is their relationship

how depressing.

if i'm honest, i think nicky still has a chance. obviously he can't fix anything with taylor, but i really do hope that he tries to be proactive in taking part in taylor's life from here on out, that is, if taylor even survives this next episode, oooh scary.... hahaha anyways.

i hope everyone enjoyed this essay! i started writing it the day the episode came out but schoolwork kinda took over me.

i wanted to get it out before this episode's teen talk so that's why i finished it tonight, but i may reblog with more thoughts, who knows! we'll see! :3c

i do also encourage you guys to check out my art for this episode specifically inspired by that last anthony quote there.

and of course my thoughts are not the objective truth, i am a mere university student, ignoring my school essays to write one for tumblr <3

bye-bye! <3 :3c

#dungeons and daddies #dndads #dndaddies #hell and high father #dndads analysis #analysis #cookies analyses #cookies rambles <3 #taylor swift dndads #glenn close #nicky foster #nick close #nicholas foster #cookies writes and cookies wrongs

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positivexcellence · 5 months ago

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‘Walker’: Jared Padalecki & Anna Fricke On Finding Closure In Series Finale Despite Premature Cancellation

If it were up to series star Jared Padalecki and showrunner Anna Fricke, Walker would be continuing its run on The CW. But, if it had to end, they’re glad to send it off with the Season 4 finale on Wednesday night.

“I’m heartbroken. I love the show. I love the cast and the crew. I am and will be eternally grateful for the four years we had with each other and the friendships and relationships that I made. But right now, It’s tough,” Padalecki told Deadline of ending the show’s run. “I know it’ll be around for people to watch and rewatch. So I’m grateful for that, but I’m certainly gonna miss it.”

Walker was officially canceled in May, and Fricke said they were unaware of the fate of the show when writing the finale. As “there’s always a risk in network television,” she explained that she tried to bring enough stories to a satisfying conclusion while leaving threads to explore in a potential Season 5.

This season, Walker struggled with an empty nest as Stella (Violet Brinson) and August (Kale Culley) began to branch out on their own. After four seasons of trying to find a work-life balance, he finally takes a step back from his Ranger duties to spend some extended time with his family and informs newly minted Lt. Cassie Perez that he’ll be taking a leave of absence.

“It really was about getting the family to a good place. They are on to their next chapter,” Fricke said. “That moment when the family drives off together, the kids and Walker and Geri, feels like some sort of closure in a way. In a perfect world, [it would have] gone on and there would be more stories and more complications, but they do seem like they’re in a good place.”

Padalecki gives kudos to the writers for where they leave Walker, because “that’s how I feel right now,” he says.

“I’ve had this job for 20 years. There’s never been a week of new television where I haven’t been No. 1 on the call sheet of an hour long show. I’m still grieving, and I probably will for a while. But I feel really excited to spend more time with my wife, our children…the rest of my family, my friends. So I’m happy for Walker, I think,” he said. “I’m bummed that he’s not on the next job, because I know he loves being a dog with a bone and getting his work done, but I’m so happy he gets to take this break and reset and spend time with his loved ones.”

As the cancellation decision loomed, Fricke revealed the network gave her the opportunity to make changes to the final episode to give audiences more closure, but she opted not to.

“It didn’t sit well with me to try to wrap up the whole series with one revised scene,” she explained. “It seemed too rushed and too hurried, and it would have felt tacked on. So we opted to leave the finale as it was.”

However, she did take the network up on their offer to air an extended version of the episode, which allowed for a few more scenes that she thinks viewers will appreciate, including a rare scene with the entire Walker family.

“It was the last family scene that everyone was in together,” she remembered. “It took forever to get it because everyone was emotional…it wasn’t a pivotal scene, or anything like that. It was just a fun energy with all of them there, which was always my favorite thing. So I’m really glad that that made it back in.”

Coincidentally, Padalecki also remembered that scene fondly, telling Deadline “it just felt like a nice goodbye both on camera and off….I’m excited for that, because you feel the love that we all have for each other.”

At least, Fricke jokes, nobody was kidnapped or on the brink of death when the credits rolled. Instead, the things left up to the viewers’ imagination are largely positive, like Walker’s eventual proposal to Geri (Odette Annable).

In the episode, there’s one quick shot of Walker admiring the engagement ring inside its box before tucking it into his pocket and meeting his family outside. She says that to include the actual proposal would have felt “too soon.”

“Walker said this to Emily in a flashback. She said, ‘What will you do if I’m gone?’ And he said, ‘Marry Geri and work at Sidestep.’ And that was always kind of a joke for what the end of the series would be,” she said. “But in my mind, I didn’t want to get all the way to a proposal…I don’t think they’re there yet.”

If there’s one thing Fricke is most disappointed she won’t get to explore, it’s James Van Der Beek’s arc as Walker’s new neighbor — a full circle moment for the showrunner, whose first TV job was on Dawson’s Creek.

In the final moments of the episode, Van Der Beek pulls up to the house as Walker and his family are headed on their vacation and, even though the moment is fleeting, it hints at a deliciously dramatic storyline for Season 5.

“It was gonna be a cool. We had big plans for Season 5,” Fricke said. “Well, maybe there’ll be a movie.”

Well, whatever iteration of Walker may or may not come next, Fricke adds that she has plenty of ideas to explore.

“Even from the first whisper of maybe this is the end, the producers were all talking about, ‘How do we keep this going? What do we spin off? What do we do?'” she said. “I think these are great characters and a great world and I absolutely love working with the crew in Austin. So we definitely think about it a lot.”

When asked if she could divulge any of her ideas, she teased: “We always wanted to do the Hawk’s Shadow story. I would really follow any of these characters. I really always wanted to see more out of any of them. I would follow any of them anywhere, to be honest.”

deadline

#jared padalecki #walker #anna fricke

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ripplestitchskein · 4 months ago

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Sorry for yet another, “Listen guys, it could be so much worse, my fandom related trauma has made me appreciate scraps. My personal bar is literally on the floor” posts but I am genuinely happy with the MHA ending. I get why people are not though. Audiences want finality. They want commitment. They want closure and resolution.

But considering the genre of MHA, the common tropes of the medium, the cultural and capitalistic concerns at play… MHA did a lot. Shonen Jump was never going to go for a canonically queer ship in their biggest property my guys, they just weren’t. So bearing that in mind, that it was never going to be explicit, your alternatives are ambiguity, punishment by the narrative via permanent character death, or canon surprise heterosexuality ala Naruto.

I’m gonna take ambiguous “fic can make this better” endings over permanent character death or like a Deathly Hallows epilogue any day. I’m certainly going to take it over “Yeah they were hella gay the whole time but here is the wife they barely had any interaction with and their 2.5 children that prove they fucked at least once.” Like yeah obviously explicit canon scenes are always gonna be better and more satisfying but the absence of them in any one direction, the ambiguity that is left to individual interpretation, especially in this genre of manga, is honestly a huge win for me personally. That HK went out of his way to not canonize Izuku/Ochako and to highlight Bakugou’s contribution especially and have him be the hand that brings Deku back to being a hero speaks very loudly. HK is not unaware of the popularity of the ship and a creator who has thier hands tied by thier distributor making the decision to not explicitly kill it IS a win. He could have very easily done the “I assure you this fruity little gremlin is straight. Look at his girlfriend! She has huge tits! Yes he sure does love women! Yessiree, ignore all the homoerotic subtext and the like yearning and weird focus on hands, and like being willing to literally die for his also very straight counterpart.”

The move when a content distributor wants to squash a ship is doubling down not “What if we left it kinda vague but heavily implied it?”

And it is such a good ambiguity. Enough detail to world build but not to preclude headcanons. And the fic possibilities jfc.

Like, the angst potential of Izuku thinking he got left behind because Bakugou and everyone else was working to make his dreams a reality will launch a thousand fics. Bakugou working tirelessly to make that dream a reality? Keeping himself away from Izuku to raise himself in the ranks and financially to buy this dream, no distractions but missing his partner. You can feast for years on an 8 year jump with patchy communication. and what comes after, the awkward relearning each other and catching up, the will they won’t they now that they are working together again. Omg.

I’m just saying the “And everyone did a cool thing related to their character arcs but the specifics of their interpersonal relationships is up to you to fill in, The End” finale is loads better than the alternatives imo and really suited the story overall.

#bkdk #bnha bkdk #mha #bnha spoilers #bnha #anti izuocha #just in case #im not anti anything #i just don’t ship it

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that-ari-blogger · 1 year ago

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Stray Gods vs Change, Part 2

Why does Stray Gods keep mentioning family?

That was a genuine question, I'm not sure what the answer is. This post is going to be my thoughts and I'd really appreciate some discussion in response because again, I'm not quite sure.

SPOILERS BELOW

So, to say that Stray Gods mentions family dynamics several times is an understatement. Persephone, Orpheus, Hermes, the whole deal with the Idols list goes on. And there is a distinct repetition that comes up. Most of these dynamics are dysfunctional.

The Idol family is the obvious one. The myths of the Greek Gods can be summarised by one main quote from Disney's Hercules, of all films.

Essentially, the Greek Deities are one massive family tree. It doesn't have the healthiest of dynamics (to put it mildly), but they coexist. In Stray Gods, there is a notable absence of Hera and Zeus, the two parent figures of the Olympians. Dameter is also deceased, and her direct daughter is one of the main characters. As a result, the Idols feel directionless, there is no closure there. On a similar note, Apollo's sister is missing as well. Essentially, they feel like a shattered family.

Athena has become the mother figure, although she's not good at it. She's a sister trying to be a parent and you can tell by her demeanor. She's overcompensating and antagonistic and a lot of elder siblings in real life who have been through similar experiences show similar characteristics.

On a different note, Persephone has killed Hades, for understandable reasons. It's a horrifically abusive relationship that ended in bloodshed.

Similarly, Hermes makes a passing reference that i noticed when asked how they knew the old Hermes.

This keeps coming up.

But then we get three relationships I thought were interesting. Grace and Freddie, Asterion and Hecate, and Aphrodite and Eros.

Grace and Freddie are close. Historians will say they were the best of friends. Even if you don't romance Freddie, the two are family. Best friends who live together, etc. If you do romance Freddie, you get an Orpheus plot to bring her back to life, literally meeting the previous Orpheus as you go. But where Orpheus failed his quest because of a lack of trust, you can succeed, or not, I'm not gonna tell you how to save Freddie.

Then we have Asterion and Hecate. First of all, I didn't consent to have my freestyling singing capability so perfectly replicated by my sweet minotaur boy, and Summerfall will be hearing from my lawyers. On a serious note, this relationship is so wholesome and I love it, if you make it work in the story. They are proof that there can be a healthy relationship in this weird world.

Finally, we come to my favourite moment of the entire musical. I've already gone into detail on the Ritual as a song in a different post, so go check that one out (I crave validation from the internet people). But the challenge here is can you soothe this broken family here? Can this work? If you choose the green path, Eros gives a fantastic verse.

"Mother, I've stood by your side, now I no longer see, the purpose of love, when it tears at the centre of me. My arrows are rusty, forget the bow, and I won't be begging you not to go. But when you're away, you leave us a broken home..."

My arrows are rusty, forget the bow. Is a phenomenal metaphor for a loss of purpose, but I would like to focus on the last two lines. When you're away, you leave us a broken home, and you leave me alone. The characters here are aware they are falling apart and they are desperate to try and reconnect, and if you play your cards right, you can help. You don't "fix their relationship", you just give it a nudge. You don't repair the scars in this family, but you convince them to talk to each other.

That, my friends, is a microcosm of the entire plot of the story. Can you fix this broken family? No. But you can get them to talk to each other and convince them to try.

The story goes out of its way to say that some relationships cannot be salvaged. Some families are too far separated for that, but in this situation, you can give people who are hurting a nudge towards peace.

So, why does this musical keep bringing up family? And what does that have to do with the title of this post?

Well, because it is a story about change, and how to move on into a different world. Grace quits college before the story begins and doesn't know what to do, and the Idols have no idea how to navigate the new world.

The theme that the story presents (in my most humble of opinions) is this: "for things to get better, you have to be willing to change." You have to step out of your comfort zone to find the love of your life. You need to change direction and start running together instead of away to find peace with your family. And, you have to take the lessons you have learned and become someone more mature, not necessarily someone different, but someone who is capable of adapting to a wild world.

Part 1

#rants #greek mythology #stray gods #stray gods grace #grace x freddie #stray gods: the roleplaying musical #meta #meta analysis

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fuzzyduckduckyfuzz · 5 days ago

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after all this time I still found you part 3 Timebomb

Summary- months after jinx’s “death” Ekko had gone into a spiral, making everyone around his worried. He can’t stop the feeling that maybe she’s still out there, and it’s only when he finally goes looking for her that his dream and nightmare comes true

warnings- hella angst, some fluffity fluff, uh oh curse words, also mentions of depression and alcohol abuse.

Jinx felt like she was soaring. She leaps from tree to tree feeling incredibly alive, yet trapped at the same time. For the first time in months she was back in piltover. And all because of a stupid boy.the months she had been gone were some of the best months of her entire life. She felt so incredibly free. She had finally broken the cycle. The constant loop of violence. And she was able to push the thoughts of missing her sister aside most days. But each second of every minute of every hour of every day. She constantly had a voice in the back of her mind nagging her.

Most often at night while she tried to sleep she ended up laying wide awake. Guilt flooding her mind and senses as she thought about him. Ekko. He had helped her redeem herself. The last memory she had with him is when she had been decorating his outfit with all kinds of little doodles before the battle. The way they looked at each other and his laughs as she drew all over him, even decorating his hair piece. And she had left without a word to him. And the guilt of that felt worse than anything. She was so eager ti leave…and felt that letting him now she was alive would be a waste of time.

jinx wished every night that she would’ve given him some closure and…told him…everything. But she couldn’t. Months zoomed by and before she knew it she had traveled all over the world. Travelling to a new place every couple weeks. It was amazing. Being so free. But again, the image of that boy kept returning to her. She had been on a plain. Not one she was supposed to be on of course. She was planing to stay wherever it landed for a few weeks and then leave as usual.

She slept in the back of the cargo plain. Snoring. Until she was suddenly awakened by a loud sound and a jolt. Her eyes snap open.“must be my stop, hey buddy?” She says. The raven next to her cawing. It had been following her around for a while now but she never questioned it. It was nice having a bit of company. She peaks out a small window in the cargo plain and her heart nearly stops “w-what…no…” she was I piltover. She had gotten on a cargo plain to piltover…oh shit. “Shit shit shit…” she panics. What was she gonna do. Everyone in this city knew her face. How was she supposed to lay low. She didn’t have much time to think before the doors to the plain open. She dives behind a large box before the men unloading the plain see her. She needed to come up with a plan and quick.

She quickly decided it was a smart idea to simply stay the night and then jump on a boat out of here tomorrow morning. She stealthily slides past the boxes and out of the plain. Her steps silent. She managed to get away before any of the men saw her and she quickly runs down into the forest close to the edge of the city.

and that’s how she got where she is now. Hiding in the forest, bouncing around trees to pass the time. She decided to visit the undercity. See what it had become in her absence. She easily jumps from a tree onto a building. And taking a large leap to another one. She jumps and flips off roofs and pipes as she makes her way down to the under city. She backflips of a room and lands on the ground gracefully. She sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. It had grown a little longer, now down to her shoulders.she peaks out from the alley she was in and…her eyes widen. The once dark and dangerous streets of zaun were now so bright. everything seeming to be repaired or under repair. People looked happy and healthy and…it was beautiful. She almost felt like crying because she immediately knew who was behind this all. Ekko. She knew that he had a big role to play in the development of zaun. And probably her sister as well.

she put her hood up, did her best to hide her blue hair under it and cover her face. And made her way through the busy streets. She wandered for a little while. The last drop had been rebuilt and all the attractions in the main part of town, and even some new ones, had been repaired and renovated to make it all look for welcoming. She sat down in a near by bench to relax for a moment, but her mind suddenly drifted and her heart jumped. Ekko. The firelight base. And suddenly she felt every fiver of her body want to get up and go see him. But she quickly shook the thought out of her head. She couldn’t. Not after what she had done, he was better off without her.

the whole day was her seeing what the undercity had become. And she wished that this was what it was like when she was a kid. People weren’t going hungry, and seemed genuinely happy. But the whole day, her mind kept going to one thought in the back of her head. seeing Ekko.

the sun was starting to set and she once again sat down to take a small break from walking. She glanced around and noticed a city map next to the bench on a small sign. and her eyes widened at the realization that she was only a few minutes of walking away from the firelight base. They seemed to have opened it up to the public. For people who needed them. And she smiled slightly at the thought. She glances in the direction of the bass. And sighs. She can’t take it. Even if she couldn’t talk to him she needed to be sure he was okay.

She gets up and starts walking again, and once again that crow had appeared. She wasn’t sure why it was following her but again she kinda enjoyed it.

“you really do like keepin track of me don’t ya?” She quietly asked the crowd that hovered next to her and it tilts its head at her.

she laughs slightly. She continues to walk to the bass with her crow companion and soon in there. She silently sneaks around, she knew we’re Ekko room was because that’s where they had gone to prepare before the battle. But as she gets close she sees something. It was Ekko. But…he was standing on the other side of the railing….and was starting to let go.

her face paled and panic set in. In a quick and impulsive attempt to stop him she grabs out a toy monkey she had made while she was bored from her back and throws it up at him as hard as she can. He stumbled back and lands back on the balcony. She sees him slowly sit up and a wave of relief washes over her before she quickly dives behind a bush to hide from his line of vision. She hears him calling her name a few times. And then hears the balcony door shut. She sighs and sits up. She knew Ekko. And she knew he would be able to put two and two together. He knew she was alive now….and as terrifying as that was…it made her heart bubble with happiness at the same time. She sighs and leans back for a moment. Until she gets an idea. She knew he would go out looking for her, but maybe she could make it a little more fun for both of them while he looked…maybe her stay in piltover could be extended a little.

Not proofread!!!!

#arcane league of legends #arcane fandom #ekkojinx #jinx and ekko #powder #ekko arcane #ekko league of legends #timebomb

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serenescribe · 1 year ago

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true love feeds on absences (like pleasure feeds on pain) Twisted Wonderland | 3.6k Summary: A departure, a reunion, and everything in-between. AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48061801 (Spoilers for Chapter 7 of TWST!)

Was listening to “Set The Tigers Free” by Villagers yesterday. Felt the urge to write something to get out some pent-up emotions. Thought about Lilia leaving in the end, even after everything that has happened. Thought about Silver grappling with it. Spat this out before the newest update drops.

This one’s short enough to be directly cross-posted to Tumblr, so... enjoy!

In the end, Lilia still leaves.

After the overblot, the tears, the emotions—

The frantic reunions in everybody’s dreams, hands finding comfort intertwining in each other; the promises whispered to each other to break free, the defiant attempts to strike back at and stop Malleus—

Lilia still leaves.

“I shall keep in contact,” he promises with a smile, the corners of his weary eyes wrinkling. It’s more sad than anything else, a stark contrast to the lively send-off he’d wanted back before Malleus had ruined everything, cast all of Sage’s Island into an unyielding, neverending dream. At the very least, this time they have had some time to process everything, to recover and work through all their unspoken fears before the day of departure finally arrived. This time, it is not a sudden, abrupt exit with no closure. “But you all know I cannot remain here, not with my magic as weak as it is.”

Malleus’ expression is pained. It has been, ever since they’d all dragged him back from the throes of his overblot. There’s a seemingly permanent downturn to his lips, pressed thin, and his eyebrows always dip downwards, leaving creases in his forehead. “Lilia—”

“Shush, Malleus.” With a single flick of his wrist, Lilia effectively silences the prince. Perhaps before, Malleus would have pressed the matter, pushed harder — but now, humbled by the outcome of his selfish decision to throw everyone under his magic’s effect, he is quiet. “I know what you wish to offer,” Lilia says, with a dip of his head. “My answer, however, remains unchanged. I do not need, nor do I desire, any of your magic. Understood?”

The stormy silence that fills the air says it all. Distantly, there is a rumble of thunder somewhere outdoors, the sound peeking through the half-opened window of Lilia’s room.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” Lilia sighs, shaking his head, hands on his hips. “Is that truly how you are going to send me off? And I’m not just talking about Malleus for once,” he adds, eyes turning to the two other figures in the room. “All those sour looks on your face… I ought to have thrown another farewell party if I knew the mood would be as sullen as it is.”

Silence fills the air again, a palpable fog of far too many emotions, tangled together until it’s thick, sticky, and oppressive.

Sebek recovers first. He shouts something about how grateful he is — and shall always be! — to Lilia for teaching him everything he knows, for training him to be the guard that he is today. Malleus is second, his dissatisfied expression softening into one of a reluctant acceptance. Despite the sadness that seems to permeate his eyes permanently now, he still embraces Lilia, leaning down to wrap his arms around the smaller fae.

And Silver—

When strong arms curl around him, he clings to them, leaning into the hold. His chest aches, a visceral, tangible pain that has been with him for such a long time. Silver has felt it for weeks, ever since his father had first dropped the bombshell that he would be leaving in a matter of mere days, completely throwing Silver’s world upside down in that one, small instance. He leans down, rests his head against Lilia’s shoulder, and as he feels his father’s arms squeeze him tightly, he cannot help it — tears prickle in his eyes, a sob escaping his lips.

“Shh, shh.” His father tries to calm him, rubbing his back, soothing him, but— Damn it. It still hurts so badly, a gaping wound cleaved right through his core, one that Silver thinks will never heal, will never scab over or scar. It will remain with him for as long as he lives, leaking rivulets of blood that no one can see, a broken heart caged between his aching ribs.

He almost whines as Lilia pulls away, the sound only cut off when two cool hands come up to cup his cheeks. “Do not cry, dear,” Lilia murmurs. “Otherwise you’re going to make your old man cry too. And then where will we be, hm?”

Silver tries to choke out a laugh, but it only emerges as another sob.

It hurts.

The cabin is yours now, Lilia had told him, pressing the keys into Silver’s hands in the lead-up to his initial departure, days before Malleus’ overblot.

At first, when he was still at Night Raven College, going through the remaining years of his education, Silver held a particular plan in mind. He would move back into the little cottage, help to maintain it — for it was where he had grown up, so many lovely childhood memories nestled within those wooden walls.

But upon his graduation, upon returning home and spending more than a few weeks living there—

There are ghosts haunting every nook and cranny, hiding in the corners and shielding themselves away until Silver stumbles upon them. He finds letters and drawings in a chest of drawers in his father’s room, and spends hours sitting there on the floor, looking through every scribbly artwork and wonky letter he’d ever given his father as a child, silent tears dripping down his face until it grows too dark to read. He discovers old gifts Lilia had given him after returning from his travels — trinkets nestled in the back of his wardrobe or under his bed, covered with thick layers of dust that makes him sneeze. He finds his father tucked away in everything he left behind — the ruined kitchen utensils, the dusty clothes hanging in his wardrobe, the weathered books on the shelves, all of it.

It grows too much for him to bear, every moment spent inside his house causing the wound in his heart to tear open a bit more. Blood gushes out as tears involuntarily gather at the corners of his eyes, time and time again.

Before long, he begins to spend more time at the castle, or at the Zigvolts’ place, staying away from his childhood home.

(A home that is little more than a house now, for Silver knows—

His true home is somewhere far away, in the Land of Red Dragons, all by himself.)

Even with the letters they receive — individualised ones, delivered every once in a blue moon, that familiar, messy scrawl indicating whose is whose — the pain still does not get any better. If anything, it feels worse.

Lilia writes with such informality, in a way that makes Silver able to imagine him speaking the exact words scrawled on the paper. Every time he cuts open the envelope, unfurling the paper to read ‘My dear boy!’ or even just ‘Silver!’ written with such an enthusiasm that he can practically hear him, Silver has to stop himself, put the letter down in favour of sucking in a deep breath. To quell the permanent pain in his heart before his emotions overtake him, drag him down until tears stain the ink and paper.

Lilia is fine. He’s content, even, spending his days travelling around the region he’s moved to, befriending the locals, assisting them where necessary. Even without his magic, his father is still capable of a great many things. His body has not begun to fail him yet — but it is the yet that Silver lingers on, every new letter reminding him of just how much time they are spending apart.

Him, growing older, attaining the knighthood status he’d been training all his life for.

(His father, growing older, tucked away somewhere far and foreign, his body slowly, steadily, beginning to give out on him.)

‘I hope you are doing well,’ Lilia writes, as he always does in some variation or another. ‘Malleus has told me of yours and Sebek’s knighting ceremony; I only wish I could have been there to witness it.’

Lilia learns of these things through Malleus, through Sebek, because they write back to him. Because they send off letters to take the long voyage to where Lilia stays, keen to keep in touch, sharing their lives with smiles on their faces.

Silver has never written back to his father. It has never been for a lack of trying; he has wanted to pen a response so many times, aching to spill his life, everything he has done, to his father. To speak to him, to get a response back telling him how proud Lilia is of him, how much he loves him, to ask questions about every little detail of what Silver tells him about.

But every single time he sits down with a pen and paper, every time he tries to write—

He can’t. He can’t.

(‘I’m proud of you,’ Lilia always writes at the end of his letters. ‘I love you, Silver. I always will.’

It is those words that break him over and over again, tears splashing into the empty parchment in front of him until he inevitably crumples it up, throwing it to the ground in a fit of childish rage.

Of a desire, so deep and innate, to see his father again.)

The years pass. Silver gets older.

He stumbles through life, clings to his routines like a lifeline. Time only makes the wound ache worse; he has never managed to finish a single letter to send back to his father.

(He keeps all the ones he receives tucked away in a locked chest in his room at the castle. He has long since moved out of the cabin, only returning every so often to upkeep it, to keep it clean and pristine.

He strings the key to the chest around a chain, tucked away under the cloth of his clothes. It lies there, close to his broken heart at all times.)

New faces come and go. He and Sebek get the honour of training future soldiers and guards, settling into a routine with a refined ease.

Sebek matures, though slower than Silver does. He is less scathing with his words, less derogatory with the way he treats humans. He smiles more now. It looks nice on him, Silver thinks.

Malleus looks the same as always, save for a mature air of composure that surrounds him, a certainty he carries himself with. He opens up more now; the servants have gossiped about getting swept up in conversations with their prince, tittering to each other as Silver passes them in the hallways.

Silver changes faster than them. His physique shifts, appearance maturing into something he knows people whisper about. He has been subjected to his fair share of suitors clamouring for his hand, the fact that he is human irrelevant to them in favour of his beauty. He accepts the compliments with a small smile, having learnt how to express himself better over time, but always turns down anyone who requests to court him.

Whenever he looks into the mirror, an unexplainable feeling always overwhelms him. A hollow ache in the middle of his chest. A vortex that always churns and eats at him.

(The wound over his heart still leaks blood. Over a decade has passed, but it has never healed.

Silver knows what he feels whenever he looks into the mirror. He feels vulnerable, young, a fervent desire within him to run back into the arms of his father and never let go.)

Lilia still writes to them all. His letters always arrive consistently at the same times.

Silver has still yet to ever reply.

“I am dismissing you from your duties as a knight.”

Silver blinks. He stares, not quite wrapping his head around the words.

Malleus stares back at him, narrowed eyes piercing from where he sits, one leg crossed, on the elegantly curved chair used at the table in his study. There is no room for argument in his expression, only a resolute firmness, the made-up mind of a soon-to-be king.

And then he processes the words. “What?” Silver blurts out, undignified and startled, his usual decorum with his prince lost upon him. His heart hammers against his chest, the sound pounding in his ears. Fear seizes him. “I— My lord—”

“Malleus,” the fae corrects, with a swift interruption and a dip of his head. “There is no longer any need for such formalities between us, especially not in the privacy of this room.”

“Malleus,” Silver corrects, still trembling, feeling weak all over. Like he is a teenager again, his emotions a struggle for him to comprehend, his heart too big for him to express. “I strongly urge you to reconsider your decision—”

“I have already made up my mind.”

Silver sucks in a breath. “Why?” he asks, the question coming out as a soft pathetic whine. Has he failed somewhere? Shirked his duties as a knight? But Malleus had expressed no discontent prior to this — and even now, as Silver calms from the surge of irrational emotions that swung him by surprise, he can sense no dissatisfaction from his prince, only a calm certainty. It only serves to puzzle him even more.

Those sharp, yellow-green eyes almost seem to soften as they land upon him.

“Is it not obvious, Silver?” Malleus says, not unkindly. “Your heart is not in it — in any of it. It has not been for years. My only mistake was not realising sooner, how unhappy it made you to remain here.”

Silver stares, shell-shocked, mouth parted in his confusion.

“I—” A lump chokes his throat, and he swallows it down. “What gave you the impression that I am unhappy?” he asks, a little carefully; his hands ball into fists, shaking by his side. “I have always wanted to serve you, my lord—”

“Malleus.”

“—Malleus,” he corrects, wincing at the pointed look shot his way. “It is what I was raised for, is it not? Everything I have gone through, it has all been for your sake.”

Malleus hums, pressing a hand against his chin. He looks contemplative. “Perhaps,” he says, after what feels like a tense eternity to Silver. “But is that what you desire? Or is that merely what has been instilled in you since young?”

Silver freezes.

(A realisation looms over him, one he has always pushed out of his mind from how deeply it hurts him, burying it after it had gotten too much for him to bear.

A fervent desire shared with Malleus long ago, on an abnormally snowy night at Night Raven College, during the eve of his father’s departure.)

“I have always wondered,” Malleus says, “why you have never written back to him.” He does not need to specify who he is talking about; Silver already knows. “At first, I had presumed it to be out of anger. A betrayal, perhaps, similar to what I had felt when I overblotted. And yet, such an assumption directly contradicts how you act whenever his letters arrive. You are always first to retrieve yours, retreating to your room to look through its contents.”

Malleus exhales, closing his eyes.

And then he opens them, and smiles.

“I give you my permission to depart,” he says, in a firm voice that leaves no space for any protest. “And with that, my blessings alongside it.”

In the softest, kindest voice Silver has ever heard from him, Malleus says:

“Go home to him, Silver. You have waited long enough.”

The wound in his heart has stopped bleeding.

It is still not healed, still open and raw. But there is nothing dripping from it, a strange, suspended feeling that Silver experiences as he packs what meagre belongings he has into a single bag, and prepares to depart.

(He brings all the letters. He has to, after all.

He needs to answer every question written in them when they meet again.)

Malleus sees to his departure, ensures that Silver has enough funds to get there, readies the magic mirror within Briar Valley to take him somewhere with an airport. He sees Silver off personally, smiles at him with such a knowing look in his eyes — “Give him my best regards, would you?”

Sebek shows no surprise when Silver springs the news upon him. All he says is, “IT’S ABOUT TIME!” in that booming voice of his, slaps Silver on the back and laughs heartily. He is there when Malleus sees him off, a private affair shared between the three of them. Silver is surprised at how teary-eyed his friend is when they embrace — though when he brings it up, teases Sebek with a light smile, Sebek merely says, “I am only crying because I am thinking of all those suitors of yours I must handle!”

When he steps through the portal, he blinks in jarring disconcertion at the modern world, so unused to it after so much time tucked away in Briar Valley. The valley is still far behind the times, modern inventions only slowly beginning to snake their way into its populace’s daily life, and to face the sleek shininess of an airport is a little much for his mind to handle.

Still, he somehow finds his way through everything, asks for assistance wherever necessary — he is taking a flight to the Land of Red Dragons, would someone happen to know where he must go? And before long, he has boarded the plane, settled in for the long ride, leaning back in his seat as the vehicle takes off.

A ball of anxiety unfurls in his chest, threads of nervousness creeping their way through all the corners of his body. Though he tries to sleep it off, sinking back into his habits as easily as ever, he wakes with consternation still festering in his veins, claws still gripping his chest.

The Land of Red Dragons is as he expects when he steps outside the airport, mind dredging up every little detail described in his father’s letters over the years. Slowly, with his nerves only mounting as he goes through each necessary step, Silver finds someone willing to drive him as close to wherever his father is staying as they can.

He dozes off during the drive.

(In his dreams, he stumbles into his father’s own, watches at a distance as he has done countless times over the years.

How long has he longed for this? To reunite, to embrace, to hold him again in his arms, allowing his tears to spill easily, some inner child within him finally soothed?

He does not remember anything when he wakes, as he always does.)

Before he knows it, Silver is here.

He is dropped off at the edge of a wide and open plain. The wind whips at the tall strands of grass, blows at his hair and clothes as he stares down at a little house nestled between bumpy hills. There is smoke emerging from the chimney, the walls made of burgundy bricks, and there is a little wooden porch out in front, a swing chair resting there. The lawn is unkempt — and Silver stifles a smile at that, a warmth swelling within him at the sight of thick throngs of weeds and wildflowers — and there is a little mailbox with the red flag turned up. Peeking over the fence around the backyard is what looks like a large, wooden coop.

He makes his way down slowly at first.

And then he speeds up. A leisurely walk turning into a run, until he’s sprinting and panting, heart swelling so full with a longing desire that he has stifled for over a decade, unwilling to wait any longer—

(The cut through his heart is beginning to stitch itself back together, mending itself in a way that it has not for such a long time.)

And when he stumbles up the porch, rings the doorbell, rocking nervously backwards on his heels—

The door swings open, a familiar face peering through the crack, crimson eyes widening with a thousand emotions upon landing on him, before the door is flung wide open—

Silver surges forward, sweeping Lilia up into an embrace long overdue, arms curling tightly around his father as he buries his head in his hair — longer now, reaching just past his shoulders, streaks dyed a pale, delicate pink. He just about sobs at the scent of that familiar shampoo, tears beading up at the corners of his eyes.

And when he feels arms curl around him, returning the embrace?

He finally breaks.

“Father,” he gasps between choked sobs, fingers curling into the soft knit of Lilia’s sweater, tears dampening his cheeks as he cries unabashedly — an adult now, a grown man, rendered but a child after so long spent missing his papa. “I missed you so much, I—”

The words escape him.

Silver only sobs, trembling and shaking in Lilia’s hold, soothed by the circles being rubbed into his back, the gentle murmurs of his father’s voice as he whispers, “There, there, dry your tears, dear.”

And when they finally pull away from each other, after what feels like an eternity of letting loose every emotion he has buried, Lilia raises his hands to cup his cheeks, and Silver feels like bursting into a fresh flood of tears all over again.

His father smiles at him, face more wrinkled than it was before, his age finally catching up with him. And yet, he still looks young, young enough — It is only how the fae age, Silver thinks with a small, shy smile, graceful and glorious until the very end.

Soon, Lilia will usher him in, will demand to know why and how he has come here. Silver will tell him of how Malleus relieved him of his duties, knowing before Silver did what he needed, and granting him the opportunity to take it for himself. Lilia will show him his house, the guest room filled with all his various trinkets and junk, and the spare bed that Silver will take as his own. They will talk and laugh over a meal, before clinging to each other on the sofa, catching up after over a decade apart.

But for now, Silver allows himself to relish in his father’s tender embrace, feeling thumbs brush over his tear-stained cheeks so delicately.

(The wound in his heart has finally healed, after everything.)

He is home.

“True love feeds on absences like pleasure feeds on pain So no matter where I’m standing, I still love you all the same And I hope you feel the same way when it’s your turn to disappear I’ll be cheering from the sidelines with a sandwich and a beer” — Set The Tigers Free (Villagers)

#twst #twisted wonderland #not as rampant spoiler-wise but still. whole premise is a spoiler #twst spoilers #twisted wonderland spoilers #twst ch7 #twst silver #lilia vanrouge #my writing tag #is it a drabble if it's 3k? well. considering i usually wrote >10k...#idk. go stream set the tigers free by villagers #thank you for reading if you do <3 #personal writing #my crossposts

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