#Earth 295

[strongestbanner]

I just found these fan mails that Victor answered AND IT IS TOO CUTE 😭💕 (Vic from Earth 295)

Ouch.

[strangenewwords]

X-Men Chronicles #2 (1995)

[rogunetocentral]

Through the Ages: A look at the Roguneto ship.

Age of Apocalypse (Earth 295)

Set in an alt-timeline caused by a time travelling Legion, the ancient mutant Apocalypse has taken over the world and enslaved the human race; however not all mutants agree with Apocalypse’s tyrannic reign. A team of mutant freedom fighters know as the X-Men, led by Magneto, fight to save the world from Apocalypse nefarious hold. 

Rogue is a new recruit brought in by Mystique to help fight against Apocalypse. Rogue becomes Magneto’s second-in-command after both Jean Grey and Weapon X (Wolverine) leave the X-Men.

However, both Rogue and Magneto have developed romantic feelings for the other. Unbeknownst to Rogue, her current beau, Gambit, who is coincidentally Magneto’s best friend has previously commissioned Magneto to help find a way around Rogue’s powers. While interrupting a training session, Gambit asks Magneto to further research away around Rogue’s powerset. To which Magneto, knowing his own feelings for Rogue, reluctantly agrees to continue helping.

After sharing a rather intense personal moment while go over mission details, Rogue tries to speak with Magneto’s son, Pietro (Quicksilver) about her feelings for Magneto and her relationship with Gambit. Before anything could be said Gambit appears in front of the two, and after a quick exchange Rogue leaves to be by herself.

Rogue sees Gambit and Magneto speaking, about the aforementioned request, and asks to speak with Magneto alone. Once alone, Rogue reveals that to Magneto that she has feelings for him but doesn’t know if it’s right to act on them. Magneto reveals that while working on a way to neutralize Rogue’s powers, he discovered that he can create a biomagnetic shield around his body to shield from the affects of Rogue’s power, possible due to Rogue having permanently absorbed the mutant Polaris who shared Magneto’s mutant power of magnetism.

Before things can be further discussed the intruder alarms blares through the X-Mansion grounds and the X-Men quickly assembles to deal with the threat.

During the fight with “Wolverine”, Rogue chooses to save a injured Magneto from being killed leaving Gambit to be taunted by Wolverine. After the battle, Gambit decides to leave the X-Men after realizing that Rogue is in love with Magneto.

An undisclosed amount of time passes and we see that Rogue and Magneto are happily married with a son named, Charles.

However, due to the mysterious mutant Bishop arriving in their world and the startling revelation that their world is not the “correct” one. Rogue, now a leader of her own team, and the remaining X-Men kick into gear and take the fight to Apocalypse in the hopes of finally putting an end to his reign of terror.

After Apocalypse is defeated, knowing their world isn’t meant to survive, Rogue, Magneto, and their son Charles stand together as a bright wave of light sweeps over them.

In the 10th anniversary special it is revealed that the world of AoA, did not in fact die, but the phoenix possessed Jean Grey had saved everyone from certain death before vanishing.

When the people awoke to see that their world still stands they mistakenly believed that Magneto, in his battle with Apocalypse, found a way to save them all. Only Magneto knew the truth of Jean Grey but it kept it a long buried secret in order to focus on ridding the world of remaining factions loyal to Apocalypse and creating a new world where human and mutants can live in harmony.  This proved to be too much on his conscious over the years and when Sinister confronted him with the truth and a possessed Jean Grey herself, Magneto finally was able to clear his conscious and let himself be arrested (for lying or something, idk) leaving Jean Grey to be the leader once again. 

AoA was once again revisited In Uncanny X-Force vol 1.  X-Force of the 616  having traveled to AoA meet with the remaining X-Men of the world. It is now 10 years after the events of the anniversary.

Special note: There are discrepancies between the revisit to Earth 295 in X-Force and the two previous AoA stories as little matches up with the events of the special and several dead mutants from the original AoA are now mysteriously alive again and Magneto is no longer in prison or was even mentioned as being in prison.

During the Uncanny X-Force revisit, Apocalypse was revealed to be back but in the form of Weapon X (Wolverine) has become more dangerous than ever. After the 616 X-Force return home, it’s up to the AoA X-Men to deal with Weapon X. Sadly, Rogue and Magneto are killed by Weapon X before they can stop him from further destroying their world (as told in David Lapham’s 2012 AoA series).

The Relationship:

The relationship between Rogue and Magneto was very much one that was on equal footing both of them were devoted and loyal to each other to the end.

They were able to conceive and raise a son together something that would have been incredibly difficult given the structure of the world they lived in and the constant threat of attacked by the forces of Apocalypse.

Due to this constant threat Rogue became one of the leaders of her own strike team during the fight against apocalypse, something kept her away from her young son much to her disdain. Pietro, Magneto’s elder son, and Rogue became close friends and helped each other watch out for Magneto and Charles until Pietro’s death years later.

After Apocalypse was defeated and the world on the edge of re-building itself, both Rogue and Magneto were able to find a better balance between fighting the remaining apocalypse factions and raising a happy, healthy, normal 6 year old son.  

Throughout everything Rogue and Magneto remained fiercely protective of each other and their son. Even after the death of a 6-7 year old Charles Lehnsherr and Magneto’s paralysis, Rogue and Magneto stayed together until their untimely deaths at the hand of Weapon X.

[writers-requiem]

I saw Twitter format memes a lot and decided to try my hand at it.

Also sorry in advance for tagging you two in this post.

@positivelybeastly @thebettermccoy

[magnetoisnotahappybunny]

I may never recover from this

Context: Charles died to save Erik from his son, Legion

They are gay. Amen.

and RIP earth 295 Charles.

[ablinkntime]

She is small. Scared. Running.

Running for her life.

They said it was easier if you didn't run. If you accepted their coming and went willingly, it was easier. Better. But they lied.

Or maybe they just said that to make themselves feel better.

Every muscle burns. She doesn't remember the last time she ate anything more than flavorless paste. Doesn't know when she started to be able to see the knobbly caps of her knees and the shifting bones of her wrists. She can't go on -- she falls.

Something has her by the hair. Something with claws, something that stinks of smoke and sweets and bile. She screams, kicks, beats at the hand gripping her hair, but it's feeble. Weak.

She is dragged, out of the stifling heat of the pen, into the frigid cold of the lab. She is too dehydrated even to cry; she just whimpers as she is thrown onto a table, as the cold restraints snap around her. The cold pinch of a needle enters her vein, followed by something that burns and makes her scream again.

Black.

She wakes again. She is back in the pens. She is small. She is exhausted.

She stumbles through the pen. There are places, small nooks out of sight where the slaves hide their meager belongings. Someone managed to smuggle in a knife, once. The person was long gone. The knife remained.

She grabs it. Drops to her knees, and begins hacking at her hair -- cutting off the ragged magenta locks, once collected in sweet braids tipped with bows, now a mucky, tangled mess. It fell in clumps to the ground around her; by the time she is done, she has shorn herself nearly bald, only a few inches all around her scalp in a messy, haphazard cut that hopefully

hopefully

isn't long enough to grab.

[ohnostalgia]

Very Soon blink is going to drop off my top 20 on locg and it makes me sad bc i like her so much but there is literally nothing else she's in for me to read lmao

[elgaberino-mcoc]

DARK BEAST has been added to the MCOC Wishlist 

One of the most iconic products of the Age of Apocalypse, the mad scientist Hank McCoy deserves your votes.  Bio authored by our own @PastorCoco2 this time.

[astrometrych]

Astronomy #Space #Espace #Astrometry

[strongestbanner]

YOOOOOO I got my first Marvel Legends, HE'S SO HANDSOME WTFFF

You can't imagine how much I love Victor from Earth-295 😭💕

Hugs and love for y'all uwu~

[strangenewwords]

X-Men Chronicles #1 (1995)

[warlockisaslur]

(( bout to make y'all rogueneto shippers' hearts skip a beat

i'm reviving ma boy Charlie/Magnus

eeee ))

[morentan]

Making the 10 years old me happy by doing this ⸜( ´ ꒳ ` )⸝

It may have poor composition choices, but I don't care anymore at this point (or not) ( ; ω ; )

I thought about different things the other day, like Miku and other CFM voca2 being androids from dystopian future where no songs left... And how a lot of songs in the original Project DIVA (2009) depict a desolate green world where high technology seems to persist. In the openings to almost all console games in the series, strange rings can be seen in the sky, resembling multicolored notes from the VOCALOID Editor itself. Trains and large buildings like schools are empty, and it seems that except for the Vocaloids themselves, there's no one there... That's pretty terrifying, I thought! ..・ヾ(。＞＜)シ

Something seems to have happened in this world? Something bad... A war or a catastrophe, and after many, many years, the Earth was rebuilt, merging the virtual and real worlds! Σ(°ロ°)

The order of unlocking songs in the first game of the series hints at this too. The music videos in DIVA have their own plot and aren't always related to what's going on in the song, and quite a bit of them depict, I believe, the world centuries after the big disaster. This is hinted at in many of the songs in YellowTag (all but Beware of MikuMiku Germs), and some in BlueTag, as they are about saying goodbye, the death of someone near and dear.

I thought it must be terribly sad to see the world fall apart and live alone for years, maybe even centuries. But in the MVs, Miku is smiling carefree again, looking up into the clear blue sky. I want to share that feeling! I believe that all wars will end, everyone will return home, sit next to their loved ones and learn to see the beauty of the world again... May it be so. Credits time!! Hatsune Miku model by Hakutory Hachune Miku model by Enamel Megurine Luka and MEIKO models by Nakao KAITO model by Hana Kagamine Rin and Len models by Mocumocu, Quappa-El, Asanu The Dove model by Ruto Flying cubes are a part of stage Stages by Star Noodle 295, SEGA, Dan1024 Effects by Masimasi, Kagitaba, P.I.P, Rui, Soboro and Sandman

[whencyclopedia]

Meroë

Meroe was a wealthy metropolis of the ancient kingdom of Kush in what is today the Republic of Sudan. It was the later capital of the Kingdom of Kush (c. 1069 BCE to c. 350 CE) after the earlier capital of Napata was sacked c. 590 BCE. Prior to that date, Meroe had been an important administrative centre.

The city was located at the crossroads of major trade routes and flourished from c. 750 BCE to 350 CE. Meroe is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. As no one yet has been able to decipher the Meroitic script, very little can be said for certain on how Meroe grew to become the wondrous city written about by Herodotus circa 430 BCE, but it is known that the city was so famous for its wealth in ancient times that Cambyses II of the Persian Achaemenid Empire mounted an expedition to capture it. The expedition faltered long before reaching the city owing to the difficult and inhospitable terrain of the desert (and, according to some claims, may never have been mounted at all). Still, the persistence of the story of Cambyses' expedition suggests the great fame of Meroe as a wealthy metropolis.

The city was also known as the Island of Meroe as the waters flowing around it made it appear so. It is referenced in the biblical Book of Genesis (10:6) as Aethiopia, a name applied to the region south of Egypt in antiquity meaning "place of the burnt-faces". Although there is evidence of overgrazing and overuse of the land, which caused considerable problems, Meroe thrived until it was sacked by an Aksumite king c. 330 CE and declined steadily afterwards.

Egyptian Influence & King Ergamenes

While there was a settlement at Meroe as early as 890 BCE (the oldest tomb discovered there, that of 'Lord A', dates from that year), the city flourished at its height between c. 750 BCE and 350 CE. The Kingdom of Kush, founded with its capital at Napata, was ruled by Kushites (called "Nubians" by the Egyptians) who, early on, continued Egyptian practices and customs and, though they were depicted in art as distinctly Kushite, called themselves by Egyptian titles. The historian Marc Van De Mieroop writes:

Meroitic culture shows much Egyptian influence, always mixed with local ideas. Many temples housed cults to Egyptian gods like Amun (called Amani) and Isis, but indigenous deities received royal patronage as well. A very prominent Nubian god was the lion-deity Apedemak, a god of war whose popularity increased substantially in this period. Local gods were often associated with Egyptian ones: in Lower Nubia, Mandulis, for example, was considered to be Horus's son. Hybridity is also visible in the arts and in royal ideology. For example, kings of Meroe were represented in monumental images on temples in Egyptian fashion but with local elements, such as garments, crowns, and weapons. (338).

In time, however, these practices gave way to indigenous customs and the Egyptian hieroglyphs were replaced by a new system of writing known as Meroitic. The break from Egyptian culture is explained by the ancient historian Diodorus Siculus who writes that in the time before the reign of King Ergamenes (295-275 BCE), it had been the custom for the high priests of the Egyptian god Amun at Napata to decide who became king and to set the duration of the king's reign.

As the health of the king was tied to the fertility of the land, the priests had the power to determine if the sitting king was no longer fit to rule. If they deemed him unfit, they would send a message to the king, understood to be from the god Amun himself, advising him that the time of his rule on earth was completed and that he must die. The kings had always obeyed the divine orders and had taken their own lives for the supposed good of the people. However, Diodorus continues:

who had received instruction in Greek philosophy, was the first to disdain this command. With the determination worthy of a king he came with an armed force to the forbidden place where the golden temple of the Aithiopians was situated and slaughtered all the priests, abolished this tradition, and instituted practices at his own discretion.

The archaeologist George A. Reisner, who excavated the cities of Meroe and Napata, has famously questioned Diodorus' account calling it "very dubious" and claiming that the Ergamenes story was a national myth which Diodorus accepted as historical truth. Since there is no ancient evidence contradicting Diodorus, however, and since there was clearly a significant cultural break between Meroe and Egypt with Ergamenes' reign, most scholars today accept the account of Diodorus as either certain or something close to actual events.

Continue reading...

[argoscity]

ULTIMATE SUPERGIRL READING GUIDE

since i've been asked a few times in the past for various reading guides for kara, i thought i'd compile them all into one post for the sake of convenience!

this guide has reading orders for supergirl comics in PRE-CRISIS (1959-1985), POST-CRISIS (2004-2011), NEW 52 (2011-2016), REBIRTH (2016-2021), and INFINITE FRONTIER (2021-present).

if you have any questions at all don't be afraid to shoot me an ask!

for each section bolded comics are required, italicized comics are recommended, and everything else is optional!

[PRE-CRISIS]

ORIGIN AND MIDVALE ERA (NOTE: you'll have to flip to the back of each issue to get to kara's section!) action comics (1938) #252, 258, 267, 276, 278-282, 285, 295, 309-310, 313, 317

STANHOPE COLLEGE action comics (1938) #318, 366-368, 372, 374 world’s finest (1941) #169 adventure comics (1938) #381, 386, 391, 395, 397

K-SFTV REPORTER — SAN FRANCISCO adventure comics (1938) #406-407, 410-415, 419-424

VANDYRE UNIVERSITY supergirl (1974) #1-10

STUDENT ADVISOR — FLORIDA (NOTE: every member of the superfamily has a story in the superman family (1974), so you'll have to flip through to find kara's section!) the superman family (1974) #165, 168, 171, 174, 177, 180, 182 justice league of america (1960) #132-134 the superman family #183, 184-186, 187-189, 191-193, 194, 196-198, 199, 200, 201-202, 203, 204-205, 206-207

ACTRESS — NEW YORK the superman family (1974) 208-210, 211-214, 215-216, 217, 218 superman (1939) #373 (second story titled “an eye (and ear) on the world!”) detective comics (1937) #508-510 the superman family #219-222

THE GREAT DARKNESS SAGA (i recommend this storyline in it's entirety, but kara only appears in the last issue!) legion of superheroes (1980) #290-294

LAKE SHORE UNIVERSITY supergirl (1982) #1-12 (cw: nazi imagery in the brief interlude in #12)  supergirl (1982) #13-15 (cw: antisemitism, nazi imagery, depictions of the holocaust.) supergirl (1982) #16-23

LAST APPEARANCES AND DEATH legion of super-heroes (1980) #300-303 dc comics presents (1978) #28 tales of the legion of super-heroes (1984) #314-315 crisis on infinite earths (1985) #4-7

BONUS POST-COIE APPEARANCES christmas with the super-heroes (1988) #2 (last story titled “should auld acquaintance be forgot”) supergirl (1996) #49, 75-80 solo (2004) #1 (third story titled “young love”) convergence: adventures of superman (2015) #1-2

[POST-CRISIS]

ORIGIN superman/batman (2003) #8-13  (or you can watch superman/batman: apocalypse (2010) instead which I recommend! the art is a lot more tasteful and it's a very faithful adaptation of the comic so you won’t be missing out on anything.)

KARA WITH THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES supergirl and the legion of super-heroes (2006) #16-36

LOEB AND KELLY HELL ERA supergirl (2005) #1-5, 9-10, 19 (you don’t have to read any of this since it gets retconned anyway, but if you’re interested in kara’s early characterization, the beginnings of her friendship with cassie sandsmark, or her difficulty fitting in on earth then you’re welcome to read what i’ve provided.)

KELLEY PUCKETT ERA Amazons Attack! teen titans (2003) #47-48  amazons attack! (2007) #3  supergirl (2005) #20  amazons attack! (2007) #4  teen titans (2003) #49

supergirl (2005) #21-22  teen titans (2003) #50, 51-55  supergirl (2005) #25-33

Superman: Brainiac  action comics (1938) #866-870

GATES AND IGLE HEAVEN ERA supergirl (2005) #34

New Krypton (new krypton is one of my favorite events and i recommend it in its entirety, but for the sake of brevity I’ll only be listing the issues relevant to kara.) superman: new krypton special #1  superman (1939) #681  adventure comics special featuring guardian #1  action comics (1938) #871  supergirl (2005) #35  superman (1939) #682  action comics (1938) #872  supergirl (2005) #36  superman (1939) #683  action comics (1938) #873

teen titans (2003) #66  supergirl (2005) #37-42

Friends and Fugitives superman: secret Files 2009 #1  supergirl (2005) #43  action comics (1938) #881  supergirl (2005) #45  action comics (1938) #882  supergirl (2005) #46-47

supergirl (2005) annual 1, #48-50

Last Stand of New Krypton  adventure comics (2009) #8  superman: last stand of new krypton #1  supergirl (2005) #51  superman (1938) #698  adventure comics (2009) #9  superman: last stand of new krypton #2  adventure comics (2009) #10  supergirl (2005) #52  superman (1938) #699  superman: last stand of new krypton #3 superman: war of the supermen (2010) #0, 1-4 

supergirl (2005) #53-57, annual 2, 58-59

END OF SUPERGIRL VOL 5 supergirl (2005) #60-64 supergirl (2005) #65-67

[THE NEW 52]

ORIGIN and SUPERGIRL VS THE WORLDKILLERS supergirl (2011) #1-7

SUPERGIRL and SILVER BANSHEE supergirl (2011) #8-11

SUPERGIRL and SUPERBOY superboy (2011) #6

SANCTUARY supergirl (2011) #12, 0, 13

H’EL ON EARTH superman (2011) #13 supergirl (2011) #14 superman (2011) #14 superboy (2011) #15 supergirl (2011) #15 superboy (2011) #16 superboy (2011) Annual #1 supergirl (2011) #16 superman (2011) #16 superboy (2011) #17 supergirl (2011) #17 superman (2011) #17

SUPERGIRL and POWERGIRL supergirl (2011) #18-20

CYBORG SUPERMAN supergirl (2011) #21-23 action comics (2011) #23.1 supergirl (2011) #24

KRYPTON RETURNS action comics (2011) annual #2 superboy (2011) #25 supergirl (2011) #25 superman (2011) #25

SUPERGIRL VS LOBO supergirl (2011) #26-27

RED DAUGHTER OF KRYPTON supergirl (2011) #28-29 red lanterns (2011) #28-29 supergirl (2011) #30 red lanterns (2011) #30 supergirl (2011) #31 red lanterns (2011) #31-32 supergirl (2011) #32-33

SUPERMAN: DOOMED (this is a whole storyline but I'll only be listing the issues that kara appears in!) superman/wonder woman (2013) #9 action comics (2011) #33 supergirl (2011) #34 superman: doomed (2014) #2 action comics (2011) #35 supergirl (2011) #35

FUTURES END supergirl: futures end (2014) #1

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED justice league united (2014) #1-5 justice league united (2014) annual #1 justice league united (2014) #6-10

CRUCIBLE supergirl (2011) #36-40

FINAL DAYS OF SUPERMAN (kara only appears in the issues i've italicized and bolded, but i put all the relevant issues if you wanted to read the full storyline!) superman (2011) #51 batman/superman (2013) #31 action comics (2011) #51 superman/wonder woman (2013) #28 batman/superman (2013) #32 action comics (2011) #52 superman/wonder woman (2013) #29 superman (2011) #52

[REBIRTH]

KARA IN NATIONAL CITY supergirl: rebirth #1

supergirl (2016) #1-8 batgirl (2016) annual 1 supergirl #9-12

supergirl (2016) annual 1supergirl #13-20

world's finest: batwoman and supergirl #1-2

ROGOL ZAAR and THE SINS OF THE CIRCLE the man of steel #1-2, 3-6 supergirl #21-33, #34-36

LEVIATHAN and BATMAN WHO LAUGHS superman: leviathan rising special #1 supergirl #34-36 supergirl (2016) annual 2 supergirl #37-42

HOUSE OF KENT action comics (2016) #1022-1023 action comics (2016) #1024-1028

FUTURE STATE superman of metropolis (2021) #1-2 kara zor el, superwoman (2021) #1-2

[INFINITE FRONTIER]

action comics 2021 annual

WOMAN OF TOMORROW supergirl: woman of tomorrow (2021) #1-8

WORLD'S FINEST batman/superman: world's finest (2022) #2-6, 8, 12

A WORLD WITHOUT CLARK KENT and RED MOON (kara is featured in the back-up story! if you want the full context of this plot i recommend reading the full warworld arc in action comics [action comics #1030-1046, superman: warworld apocalypse #1]!) action comics (2016) #1044-1046, 1047-1049

DAWN OF DC action comics (2016) #1051-1053, 1055-1056 superman (2023) #1-3 power girl special #1 steelworks (2023) #1-3

KNIGHT TERRORS knight terrors: superman (2023) #1-2

DAWN OF DC (continued) action comics: doomsday special (2023) superman (2023) #7 hawkgirl (2023) #4 supergirl special (2023)

NEW WORLDS [this arc starts on action comics #1057—kara doesn't appear in that issue but I recommend reading it for context!] action comics (2016) #1058-1060 action comics 2023 annual

JOURNEY TO FERIMBIA powergirl (2023) #5, 6-7

HOUSE OF BRAINIAC action comics (2016) #1064 superman (2023) #13 action comics (2016) #1065 superman (2023) #14 action comics (2016) #1066 superman (2023) #15

UNIVERSE END action comics (2016) #1070-1081

MISCELLANEOUS RECENT APPEARANCES: superwoman special #1 superman (2023) #21

[merriemarvels]

🧸

Mr. Creed rarely took her anywhere at first. She was safer at the compound, safer wherever someone could keep an eye on her -- but she had panicked the last time he'd been gone, and no one could calm her down or get anything rational out of her, so when he'd gotten the mission to take a mutant kid on the Infernal Gallop to safety in Avalon... well, it was time she started seeing how he did things. How the world worked.

She was this tiny slip of a thing in an oversized sweatshirt, clinging to Mr. Creed's shoulder as they traveled. He got looks, of course, why hadn't he left her behind? Why bring her on such a potentially dangerous mission? But he had thought maybe... maybe if she saw Avalon, maybe if she saw other kids... maybe he could leave her there.

A better life. He was no father.

He knew Raven had raised a few little ones in the jungles. Rogue had been one of her first, but there had been others. Some she raised herself, others she passed along to other mutants in the small sanctuary. This one was no different -- a little girl with wings, a faerie-like cast not dissimilar to Clarice's looks, really, and the two girls kind of hit it off, if simply holding hands and offering one another quiet support counted as 'hitting it off'.

Once they got to their destination, Raven led away the little girl -- Megan, her name was Megan -- and Victor got caught up in conversation with another of the adults. Clarice explored the area a little, she had never seen a place so green... Something was hiding in the trees. Something that was blue, with bright yellow eyes... something that was watching her.

With a start she realized it was a boy. Probably her age, maybe slightly younger. He dropped out of the tree and stared at her, head tilted to one side curiously, and she waggled her fingers in silent greeting. He didn't respond. He just pointed over her shoulder.

Victor was walking away. One foot lifted, set back down in the boat that had brought them ashore. "Mr. Creed...?" She saw him flinch, then finish the motion, lifting his other foot into the boat. She ran to the dock, stumbled on a loose board and fell, scraping her knees on the rough wood. "Mr. Creed --!!"

"No, pup. This is the best place for you."

"Don't--"

"I said no." He turned, his face contorted -- angry at her? No, it wasn't anger... "Stay, Clarice. Stay and grow up."

She scrabbled to her feet again, running to the end of the dock, trying to catch up as the boat was pulling away. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her breath heaving in sobs as she tried -- too late, she skidded to a halt, the boat just out of reach. But as she watched, she saw Mr. Creed's hand come up, pinching the top of his nose a bit.

"You can't leave me behind!"

And the thing was, he thought he had -- and he hated himself for it, hated that she was going to hate him--

B L I N K

The boat tossed a little as her feet slammed onto the shallow deck only to bowl her to the side -- he barely caught her before she tumbled overboard. But the look in her eyes as she looked up at him made him jolt, just a little.

It wasn't hatred. Not really -- she was angry, her jaw set and her brows furrowed, and though tears still flowed there was a determination in her blazing jade eyes he'd never seen before.

"You don't get to leave me behind."

He sighed, and suddenly she was crushed against his chest. "No, pup. You're right. I don't."