#Explorer is just gone now. Hunter is still there but when i go back to CT im only gonna have one kitty cat to smother with kisses

[atatfortatzelwurm]

how is grieving one of my 16 year old family cats supposed to work when i live and work 3 hours from home

[salemrph]

Beneath the Moonlit Altar (Ep. 1) Sylus x MC

Summary: Captain Jenna call out a meeting. There is new intel to the Onychinus's Leader. A picture and maybe a weak spot that the Hunter Association could use to bring him down. You find yourself at the crossroads between following your duty or following your heart to protect him.

Character: MC x Sylus

Genre: mysterious, danger, romance | Pet names : Kitten, Sweetie, Sweetheart

Warnings/Additional Tags: f!reader

| Word count: 3,379 | Reading Time: 13 min |

A/N: New in fanfic. I hope you enjoy it!

He follows you into the shower, the hot water running down your bodies as he presses you against the wall. His hands are everywhere, touching and caressing, his mouth seeking yours in a desperate, passionate kiss. He's in full devil mode now, all restraint and control abandoned in favor of pure, unbridled desire.

He bites down onto your neck, his teeth grazing over your skin in a possessive, rough way. His body is pressed against yours, pinning you against the wall as his lips find your earlobe, his breath ragged and hot against your ear. "You're mine," he growls, his voice a low, rough rumble. "And I'm going to make sure you remember that."

"Go easy... I'm still overstimulated from the first round"

He continues his assault on your neck and collarbone, his lips and teeth exploring every inch of skin within reach. His hands are caressing your hips, his fingers digging into your flesh firmly but not painfully. He's being a bit more gentle than before, but there's still a possessive, dominant edge to his touches.

We melt into another round in the bathroom. When we're finished, I collapse onto the bed, a towel wrapped around me. Sylus is getting dressed in his usual black clothes.

"Are you going somewhere?" I ask, watching him as he adjusts his outfit.

He glances over at me, his expression a mix of regret and resignation. "Yeah," he says, his voice a little strained. "I have a few things to take care of. Business stuff. I won’t be gone long, though."

"Stay safe."

He softens at your concern, a small smile curving the corner of his mouth. "Don't worry about me," he says, his voice gentler now. "I can take care of myself. Just relax and get some rest, alright? I'll be back before you know it."

You slip into your nightshirt and panties, then get up to help Sylus finish buttoning his shirt. A small, affectionate smile plays on his lips. As you finish the last button, he reaches out, gently pulling you closer to him and wrapping his arms around your waist.

He rests his chin on the top of your head, his eyes closing for a moment as he holds you close. "I hate leaving you," he murmurs, his voice low and rough. "Especially right after... that shower."

"Well, Onychinus's leader needs to show up for a few things..." you reply, trying to lighten the mood.

He sighs heavily, his arms tightening around you for a brief moment before he reluctantly pulls away. "Duty calls," he mutters, pulling his phone from his pocket and checking the caller ID.

His expression darkens slightly as he frowns at the name on the screen. "I have to take this," he says, his voice tight with irritation. "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?" He kissed you.

Without waiting for a response, he answers the call, stepping out of the room. His voice is low and tense as he begins talking, and the door clicks shut behind him, leaving you alone in the quiet of the bedroom.

You lie back in the bed, the sheets still slightly rumpled from earlier. Despite the lingering exhaustion from his... enthusiasm, you can't help but feel a sense of warmth and contentment at the thought of being with him.

You eventually drift off to sleep, but the shrill sound of your Hunter watch jolts you awake. The clock on the nightstand reads 3:31 a.m. Sylus still isn't back.

The screen flashes with an incoming call—it’s from Hunter HQ.

"Sorry to wake you," your captain's voice crackles through the line, clear but urgent.

"What’s going on?" you murmur, rubbing sleep from your eyes, your voice still heavy with exhaustion.

Jenna’s tone is all business. "We’ve got a situation. We need you in ASAP."

You sit up in bed, instantly alert. "Got it, I’m there in 15 minutes."

"Good. Don’t waste time," the captain replies. "See you in the briefing room."

The adrenaline surges as you spring into action, quickly slipping out of your sleepwear and into your Hunter uniform. The fabric is familiar and comforting, the weight of your weapons and equipment an extension of yourself.

You grab your keys and helmet, stepping into the cold night air. The city is eerily quiet at this hour, the streets mostly deserted except for a few people drifting home from late shifts or nights out.

You reach your bike quickly. The familiar buzz of anticipation fills you as you start the engine, ready for whatever the situation calls for. The city lights blur past as you speed towards HQ, your focus sharp and clear, every muscle awake with the rush of adrenaline.

The entrance to the building looms ahead. You step off your bike, your boots making steady echoes as you cross the lobby, where the quiet hum of machinery is the only noise in the stillness.

You present your ID badge at the security desk, and the guard nods in acknowledgement before allowing you through the security gate. You move quickly through the corridor toward the briefing room, your heart pounding a little faster in anticipation of what awaits.

As you step into the briefing room, you find it already filled with your fellow hunters and the mission leader. They all look up, their expressions serious and expectant.

The mission leader, a tall, stern hunter named Ramirez, meets your gaze as you enter. "Glad you could make it. We need to get started. Take a seat."

The room settles as you join the others, and Captain Jenna stands up, preparing to address the team.

"Now that we’re all here, we can begin."

You glance around. The usual faces are present, but Xavier is noticeably absent. Nero and Tera are both here, their expressions focused as they listen intently.

Captain Jenna continues, her tone businesslike. "We've picked up some disturbing rumours circulating on the dark web about our most wanted target—the leader of Onychinus. There's been chatter about a woman who's been seen around him recently. Some threads suggest she might be his lover."

The room goes quiet as the weight of the information settles over everyone.

Your heart stops. Fuck. Have they caught us?

"We also have a picture."

A blurry image flashes on the wall. You see Sylus's profile, wearing sunglasses. And next to him—you. They only caught your back, thank God. Your face isn't visible. You're relieved you wore the outfit Sylus selected for you that day, not your usual clothes. But still... fuck.

Your body goes rigid. You're so tense, you feel like you’re suffocating. You can barely breathe. Captain Jenna’s gaze shifts toward you.

"Y/N, you spent time in the N109 Zone, and you've seen him. Can you confirm that this person is Sylus?"

The room feels like it’s closing in around you. You need to think fast. You can't show hesitation, but if you say yes, it will make everything worse. It will make you a target. Sooner or later, the truth will come out, and the consequences will follow. But if you say no... you’ll be betraying everything you’ve worked for at the Hunter Association. Your lies will unravel.

You take a deep breath, forcing your expression to stay serious, neutral.

The weight of the decision sits heavily on your chest.

You take a deep breath, trying to steady your nerves. "Yes… That could be Sylus. The picture is a bit too blurry, but I'm about 90% sure," you say, your voice steady despite the storm brewing inside you.

Captain Jenna nods, then turns her focus to the next question. "Have you seen the girl?"

You shake your head. "No. He sure as hell wouldn't share something like that with me as his hostage," you add, attempting to inject some humor into the situation.

Jenna doesn’t crack a smile. "Right… At least we have a picture of him now. That'll make things a bit easier. Nero, see if you can enhance this picture. I need a clear view."

Nero nods, already on his computer, working on the image.

"Perfect. Now, Y/N, we need you to get closer to him," Jenna says, her voice firm. "I know it’s been hard, but this could be our chance to take him down."

You nod, but your stomach twists painfully. This is bad—really bad. You never expected things would escalate this quickly. If you’re being honest with yourself, you didn’t think it would ever come to this. You wanted to keep living in the bubble of that dream with Sylus. But now… it feels like you’re being pulled into something much darker than you ever anticipated. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The meeting continues, more tasks being handed out, but your mind is spinning. Your ears are ringing. You're barely hearing anything as the weight of the decision presses down on you. What the hell are you doing?

Tera places a hand on your shoulder, squeezing it gently. You can feel her presence next to you, a small anchor in the storm of thoughts swirling in your head.

"Are you okay?" she asks, her voice soft, yet filled with concern.

"Yes... Yes... I..." You exhale slowly, but your breath feels heavier than ever. The tightness in your chest won't release, and your mind is still racing.

"Capitan..." Tera speaks up again, her voice cutting through your thoughts. "I think Y/N needs a moment to recover."

Jenna nods, understanding the gravity of the situation. "Okay, everyone. You have your tasks. Meeting is over."

One by one, your teammates file out of the room. The door clicks shut behind them, and you're left alone with your thoughts. But then Jenna approaches you, her tone more sympathetic than usual.

"I knew this could distress you. And I'm asking a lot from you, going back to the N109 Zone. If you need anything, let me know," she says, her voice softer than you'd expect from a commanding officer.

She turns and leaves, and Tera stays by your side, her comforting presence a small reprieve in the chaos.

"It's late. Let's go home and get some rest, okay?" Tera says, worry lacing her words.

"Yeah," you respond quietly, feeling your exhaustion catch up with you.

You make your way to your bike, helmet in hand, the cold night air biting at your skin. You pull out your phone and, almost instinctively, type a message to Sylus.

They now about us.

A short message. You wait for a moment.

Meet me here. Now.

He sent you a location on the map. You didn’t waste any time. Putting your helmet on, you started your bike.

You drove for a while out of the city, heading north. On the map, there’s nothing—just a spot in the forest. The night is clear, and the moon is out. It’s 5:11 a.m.

Your mind is racing, full of anger, desperation, and anxiety. How will you fix this? Can you even fix it? Is there a solution? You shake your head, trying to forget those thoughts. Your chest aches, and the weight of responsibility crushes your body.

You leave your bike on the side road, a bit hidden, just to be sure no one followed you.

You walk the path in the dark, lit only by the moonlight.

After walking for a while in the cold night, you come across a small, old shrine. Fox statues stand guard, their hard shadows making them look more terrifying. You approach an inscription, pulling out a tiny flashlight from your side bag to read the text.

A shrine for lovers seeking protection for their love. Sylus doesn’t believe in such things. But still, this is the location he sent you.

You close your eyes and pray to the spirits of the shrine. A prayer to protect your love with Sylus, no matter the cost.

A slight crunching sound makes you draw your gun, aiming toward where the noise came from. A shadow of something black moves, and fear shoots through you as your finger hovers over the trigger. Sylus raises his hand and steps closer to you.

“Haven’t we passed this point in our relationship, sweetie?” Sylus says, his voice calm but amused.

“Fuck...! Don’t do that again,” you snap, lowering the weapon slowly and putting it back into its holster.

“I must say, your reflexes have improved,” he smiles, stepping forward to hug you.

You close your eyes, resting your head against his chest. The stillness of the forest surrounds you, but it only seems to make your body more tense.

“They know...” you finally manage to say, your voice barely above a whisper. He doesn’t respond, only holding you tighter. “Sylus…”

You look up to meet his gaze, his beautiful eyes searching yours. He gently caresses your cheek, and you try to read what’s going through his mind.

“They have a picture of us... I...” You pause, struggling to find the right words. “I had to tell them it was you in the picture.”

“Don’t worry,” he reassures you softly, his thumb tracing your skin. “Actually, I expected you’d do that. I’ve seen the picture. Luke and Kieran are taking care of it.”

You don’t want to know what they’ll do.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” The memory of the phone call before he left the penthouse lingers. “You knew, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t,” he admits, his voice quiet. “It was a possibility. I got the information too late. The person who messed up... well, they paid the price.”

“What~?” Sylus gently lifts your chin, his thumb brushing across your lips before pressing a soft, lingering kiss against them. The night air around you seems to still for a moment.

“I interrupted your wishes to the goddess of this place...” His voice is a low murmur as he takes your hand, his fingers warm against your skin, grounding you. “Were you praying for us?”

You nod slowly, the weight of everything pressing down on you.

“Do you have a plan? Because praying was my only option now. I don’t know how... I don’t even want to think about leaving you.” The words leave your lips heavy, like a stone dropped in your chest. Your heart shrinks with the weight of them.

He meets your gaze, and for a moment, the world feels suspended in time. “I have a plan…” His voice is steady, but there’s something almost uncertain in the way he squeezes your hand. “But first…”

The wind rises in the forest, carrying the scent of damp earth and fallen leaves. It tugs at your hair, making it flutter around your face. You close your eyes for a brief moment, letting the chill of the night air brush across your skin. In that second, you feel Sylus shift. When you open your eyes again, your breath catches. He’s kneeling in front of you with a firm gaze.

“Eh..?”

The soft moonlight illuminating his face, casting shadows that dance with the flicker of distant stars.

“Be my wife. Be my queen. Be my everything.”

Your heart skips, caught between disbelief and longing.

“Sylus...?”

“Answer me...” His voice is raw now, a quiet desperation threading through it, though his eyes remain locked on yours. “Look at me. Promise me you’ll be my everything. I’ll never let you down. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

A shiver runs through you. The cool night air seems to grow heavier, the weight of his words pressing on your chest like the weight of the world.

“I..." You stay quiet for a moment with you head spinning. You try to stay calm. This is too much, why is he doing this now?

His words echo in your mind, asking you to make a choice — a choice you weren’t prepared for. Everything about this moment feels too fragile, too final. You want to say something, anything, but your throat feels tigh. Your emotions twist like a storm.

Finally, you find your voice, though it trembles with uncertainty. “I… I don’t know how to promise that..

"Just say yes..."

Even if your mind is too clouded to make sense of it.

"Yes." The word slips from your lips, a quiet surrender, and you don’t know whether to feel relief or terror at the choice you’ve just made.

His expression softens, but only for a fleeting moment, before he kisses your hand—an almost unbearably tender touch. He rises, his presence looming over you, and for a moment, everything feels heavy with unspoken emotion. A shiver of something deep and uncertain lingers in the air between you as he presses another kiss to your forehead, lingering just a second longer than necessary. “I will leave. That’s he plan.”

You freeze. The words hit you like ice water, snapping you back to reality. "W-What...? Where? How long?!"

"I can't tell you. I need to keep you safe. Let me do this my way. I'll come back."

The weight of his words crashes into you like a wave, overwhelming and cold. Panic rises in your chest like a tidal surge, and you feel your breath catch. “NO! You ask me to be your wife, and you want to fucking disappear?! No! No! I refuse.”

His eyes flash, a storm raging beneath the surface, his jaw tightening. “This is not a negotiation, kitten.”

The words hang between you, the forest around you eerily quiet now, as if the world itself is holding its breath. The tension crackles in the air, thick and heavy, just like the silence that follows.

“I will come back to you,” he says, his hand reaching out, brushing a strand of hair from your face, the touch so gentle it almost makes your knees buckle. “But right now, I need to do this. You’re the last thing I want to leave behind, but I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Even if it means… leaving you.”

“No, wait! Y-you...” You want to scream, to shout at him, to demand answers. But something in his eyes, the rawness and sincerity behind them, makes you hesitate.

"You need to trust me on this." Sylus doesn’t make promises he can’t keep. You know him too well. He’s a master at making plans, always finding a way out—even if it’s a bit messy sometimes. Right now, this is the best option. You know it’s the only choice, even if it doesn’t feel right.

What else can you do? Following Jenna’s orders to “sneak” into the N109 Zone and “watch” your boyfriend? And then what? Coming back with a false report? The weight of lying to your team will crush you. No matter how strong you think you are, you’re not sure you can carry that.

If Sylus isn’t there—if he’s mysteriously disappeared—well, the problem is solved. But at what cost?

You pull back, forcing yourself to smile, even though your heart is breaking inside.

“Just... be careful” He pulls you into another hug, holding you close, his voice barely a whisper as he brushes his lips against your ear.

“I always am.”

He kisses you again, slow and deep, as if trying to imprint the moment in both your minds. It's a kiss you want to hold onto forever, to keep with you no matter what happens. He doesn't how much time it will take be before he comes back to you, or if everything will work out. But just as he found you once, he will do it again—no matter what.

If there is any goddess, please, please...

"I will miss you, my beloved"

"I will miss you too..."

With that, he turns and melts into the shadows of the forest, his figure blending with the darkness. You watch him disappear, the sound of his footsteps fading into the quiet of the night.

And just like that, the world feels emptier.

...protect our love.

Under the moon, standing before the altar, you begin to cry inconsolably, in a way you've never done before. Your mind prays fervently for the protection of both him and yourself. A light breeze stirs once again, and you feel as though the forest is offering its comfort. It’s as if the ancient deity of this place has heard your prayers and, for a moment, granted you its blessing.

[brokenpieces-72]

Recover-

CoD Hybrid AU | Navigation

Note: This is a continuation from Sick Day and a spin-off, so none of this actually happens, but it does include @diejager ‘s reader character Hunter and is inspired by the AU created by @bluegiragi

You eventually do recover, your hunger returning to normal. Johnny is relieved and hugs you when you come shuffling out of your room.

However you’re still tired and weak. Hunter had given you your flu shot which basically put you out of commission for almost a whole day. The rest of the team is leaving for a mission, and finishing with gearing up. Hunter would stay behind to help keep watch over you. They aren’t taking any chances with your safety. You find Johnny in his tact gear. You’re wearing one of his hoodies so it’s oversized, but warm.

“Johnny?” You say, your voice returned somewhat. He turns and big brother mode kicks in again.

“Aye, back to bed.” He orders.

“Are you leaving soon?” You ask, not obeying. Not the first time he’s gone on a mission without you. You try to occupy your mind with helping on base or doing your hobbies. This time is different and you don’t know why. Seeing your big brother off feels important. Johnny sighs and picks you up in a bear hug making you giggle before setting you back down.

“Yeah I am.” He says.

“Do you want help with your collar?” You say before yawning. The collar he uses for coms. Usually he lets Simon do it but if it puts you at ease he doesn’t mind. You do your best and make sure it isn’t too tight. Once you finish you wrap your arms around him tightly. You make a small noise

“Aye… I’ll come back I always do.” He says trying to soothe you.

“I love you.” You say.

“I love you too. Keep the hoodie on, it’ll help.” He says. He gives you a tight hug, before carrying you back to your room. “Be back soon.”

Your door shuts and you wait, text Macho a bit, and continue to wait. The mission is going to be a few days or so. Hunter keeps you company, and you keep them company as well. You're patient. You don't have a choice.

Hunter does some training of their own with you, providing you with more insights into each of the hybrids. You’re feeling plenty better by now, just tired. You’re eating much better too. Hunter gives you some free time, running time to go to explore the wilds around base. It’s freeing, and seeing the spirits of other animals roaming around brought an odd sense of peace.

One day you go out and find a few rabbits hopping around each other. You giggle as they hop over each other, and chase around trees. You start to sketch them when you hear something overhead. Your head flicks up at the sound of propellers, and you saw two choppers overhead. You don’t hesitate to take off running as fast as you can, startling the rabbit spirits. You’re in full tilt, vaulting and leaping over any obstacle in the way.

Once you get close to the landing pad your excitement changes to something else. There are medics moving quickly and stretchers being laid out. No. No it can’t be. You run harder, crying out for your team, seeing damaged wings, and roughly bandaged limbs. Ghost hears you crying out, and acts fast. He’s quick to catch you, moving through the other soldiers and reaching you first.

As you reach out Ghost catches you, getting to your level. You can smell the blood on him, hear him trying to give you orders but you don’t listen. You’re fighting him as much as possible, desperate to reach your team. What the hell happened?! You’re calling for Johnny and König, but Ghost is just trying to keep you from running in. You’re tough, and you don’t make it easy, as you try to shove him away. It’s useless though as he just puts his arms around you, and holds tightly as you start crying. You keep calling their names, waiting for someone to respond with something, anything. Your fight weakens as emotions take over. You can’t lose them now. You just can’t.

Ghost doesn’t let go until everyone is back inside, and even then he lets you cry it out. Your face buries into his shoulder. He’s worried about Johnny too, and everyone else. Crying and running in isn’t gonna solve anything. He doesn’t need to be with them if you’re out here sobbing and fretting over what you have no control over.

“It’s gonna be okay.” He says. “They’ll pull through.”

You continue to soak the fabric of his uniform with your tears. Simon isn’t the most tender of people. Never has been really. But you’re hurting and afraid. He lets you settle down for a bit before letting you go.

“Deep breaths.” He reminds you, holding your head to focus on him. You sniffle and nod, taking deep unsteady breaths.

“They’ll be in post op soon. Price’ll tell you what happened when he can.”

“Yes sir.” You said, swallowing the lump in your throat. Ghost gives a half smile under his mask. He stands and walks with you inside. Your tears are still visible, and he thinks for a moment.

“Hey. You ever try to catch fog?” He asks.

“N…no.” You reply, confused.

“I tried to but I mist.” He says. It takes you a second but you smile at him.

The mission had fucked up in many ways. Price nearly got his tail torn off. Rudy would have been a thrall himself if Alejandro hadn’t taken most of the bites. König had to fight a blood rage, with Horangi getting caught in the crossfire. Gaz got tangled up with some sirens which didn’t go nice with the number of feathers that had been ripped out. Soap wasn’t fairing much good himself, having plenty of injuries from silver bullets. Plenty of bite marks amongst them. You watch from the doorway with Ghost behind you, hands on your shoulders.

Ghost feels a sense of guilt. He was there, and should’ve done more. Right now he knows you feel the same sort of guilt, wishing you had been there.

Hunter is tending to Rudy when a couple other medics shout for them. You hear growls from both Johnny and Alejandro. Ghost holds your shoulders a little tighter, as you try to take a step forward. You can’t see much, but there’s definitely some struggling, you can hear the bed rattling and creaking from the two men trying to fight something. The noises you hear shift and change from human to beast, mixed with panicked and commanding shouts.

“Come on kid.” Ghost says, having to pull you away from the scene. You don’t fight this time, only lean forward to see as much as you can before more soldiers file in to help. You finally look away once Ghost starts leading you down the hall. The noise is muffled as you walk away. It gets quieter and quieter an until you can only hear the sound of boots on the floor.

You sit in the locker room while Ghost gets out of his tactical gear. You sit on the bench where you can’t see him, and thankfully no other soldiers were walking around. Once Ghost finishes his shower and gets changed he comes out with the balaclava on. You’re quiet, more quiet than usual. He sits down next to you.

“Don’t fault yourself for not being there.” Ghost reminds you.

“I’m not… but… what happened?” You ask.

“Shit hit the ceiling. We thought it was only supposed to be thralls and instead we were faced with far more than we could account for. There were creatures in blood rages, which threw us off. König got out of hand as well, I think someone stuck him with something. Thankfully he calmed, but keeping him from destroying everything and everyone wasn’t fun. Honestly kid, if you were there it would have been more difficult.”

“I could’ve helped König.” You argue. Ghost sighs.

“Yeah you could’ve… or you could’ve passed out from sickness.” Ghost says. You know he’s right. You don’t want him to be but he is. Without asking you lean against his arm.

“Do you like him?” You ask, not looking at Ghost. Ghost takes a moment to process the question.

“Yes. I do.” He says. You look at him, and you can see he’s struggling as well. It’s not as obvious.

“You did everything you could.” You tell him. The way you say it almost sounds like a question, even if you don’t mean it to be. He doesn’t have anything to say in response.

“You hungry?” He asks instead. You nod and he takes you to get something.

“Is it quiet?” You ask from the counter, looking around the kitchen. Ghost hadn’t taken much notice, focused on making you some food. Simple sandwich would do fine. Now that you mention it, it was strangely quiet. He was aware of some leave from other soldier but not that many. Surely not all of them were needed at the infirmary.

He offers you the plate, saying it was probably nothing.

Ghost joins you on the counter knowing the cooks would give him a hard time later on about it. You see his scarred face under the balaclava, and stare until he turns his head towards you.

“You can look I don’t mind. The mask is just a comfort thing.” He says.

You eat your food, trying to focus on Ghost than what was going on. It would be okay. You suspect Ghost is trying to distract himself the same way. The two of you sit at the counter and you kick your legs a little. You hear a message over the PA system.

“Attention! We have an emergency in the medical wing. Rouge Hybrids! Repeat! Emergency in the medical wing! Rouge Hybri-fuck!” You and Ghost share a single look before getting up and rushing to medical wing. You half expect it to be Soap or König, but you are soon proven wrong. At least partially.

After shoving through doors with Ghost close behind you, you come across the bodies of two soldiers. You rush to them checking for a pulse, asking if they can hear you. No pulse, and even worse, there were blades stuck in their vest. Ghost approaches the other body, which looks like it’s been clawed into and torn apart. He suspects König or Horangi, until you speak up.

“Ghost… are these…” you hold up one of the blades and something drops in Ghost’s stomach. They weren’t blades, they were feathers. Kyle’s feathers.

“Take their vests.” He orders. You don’t question it, and work quickly to remove the soldier’s vest. Ghost keeps watch, but doesn’t for long, when he sees what cut off the announcer. Price stood at the end of the hall, eyes vacant, and body slouched. In his hand was a charred corpse, or rather his claws were inside of it. Ghost’s eyes widen as he steps back in shock. You freeze in place your focus on your captain’s bizarre state. His head turns towards the two of you, as he lets go of the body. When it doesn’t fall from his hand being so deep he slams it down on the ground. The sound is enough to make you snap back into focus. You had to go, and now. You get up and grab for Ghost’s arm, tugging.

Simon steps back, taking a quick glance at you. He makes sure you’re behind him as Price moves closer towards you. His eyes once vacant were now very focused, and on you and Simon.

“Price? Price!” Simon yells at the captain. Price doesn’t say anything, just keeps moving closer. His wing stretches out, still ragged from the mission. It’s a threat, a warning. You start to smell smoke.

“Ghost!” You shout, and Ghost is moving quicker, turning and shielding you, shadows forming around you and his as fire is blasted at the both of you. Ghost looks towards the door, ready to pick you up and run. He notices something in the small window, that makes him look for another way.

“Close your eyes.” He orders, and you obey. You feel yourself being picked up and rushed out of the room. You feel something sharp drag across your arm and Ghost grunt in some pain as he keeps running. You don’t let go, and you keep your eyes squeezed shut. You hear Ghost muttering names, and you even hear some familiar noises. You hear voices you should recognize but something is wrong. Something that makes your blood freeze and your body stiff. You hear some sounds of a struggle from Ghost, keeping you close with one arm, and fighting with the other. You hear some squelching noises before he continues, having to stop a few times.

It feels like an hour of the horrible noises and sounds, concealed by the darkness of your own eyelids. He finally reaches a room where he shuts the door tight and is able to lock it. You recognize the scent of tobacco and smoke as he sets you down on the desk. He checks the door again, ensuring it was locked tight. You’re trembling when Simon looks back at you.

His clothes are torn in places, and you look down to see your arm was scratched. He checks it thoroughly, unbothered by his own state. Nothing serious, a simple cut, with some blood. Blood.

Something pounds on the door to Price’s office. Fucking hell, there’s no other exit. You look at Ghost awaiting orders but he honestly doesn’t know what to tell you. Ghost points to you and then points under the desk. You know what to do. Ghost makes his way slowly to the door, before he opens it. He’s ready for anything, but relieved it’s Rudy falling through. Ghost tenses shutting the door and summoning shadows, ready if Rudy tries something. Rudy is coughing and panting, looking exhausted. He still has bandages on. Slowly he turns and moves backwards seeing Ghost ready to strike.

“What did you say about my mask in Las Almas?” He asks. Rudy takes a minute to steady himself, and Ghost is nice enough to give him a chance to breathe.

“You would fit in well.” He answers, and Ghost offers his hand to help him up. “I came to help when the announcement came on. When I saw the damage…”

“What happened?” Ghost asks.

“I’m not entirely sure. Alejandro started having these seizures, and then Soap started having them too. They got me out of there so they could focus on them. As for the rest… as soon as I saw Gaz on my way back there, I made a run for it. The cadejos have taken a lot out of me already, seemed the safest option.”

“Whats wrong with Gaz?” You ask popping up from your hiding spot, making Rodolfo nearly have a heart attack.

“We’re not sure. I have a feeling those bullets were more than just silver.” Rudy explained, once he steadied his heart rate.

“I got shot, and I’m fine though.” Ghost comments.

“Maybe cause you’re not alive?” You suggest. Simon considers it as a possibility. Then you look at Rudy. “But why doesn’t it bother you?”

“Still mostly human. The cadejos are ghosts.” Rudy tells you. That makes some sense. Your mind then goes to the rest of the team.

“What about Johnny?” You ask. Rudy’s face looks unsure and grim.

“I don’t know Mija.” Rudy admits. The room is eerily quiet, and there’s no sound outside. Even you can't pick up much.

“What of the human soldiers?” Ghost asks. Rudy shakes his head. That’s all Ghost needs. If there were any still around they were either fighting for their lives or hunkering down the same as the three of you. You come out from behind the desk, and sit on top of it while Rudy and Ghost wander and pace around the room. The burning question among the three of you.

Now what?

Taglist: @yourlovely-moon @kaoyamamegami @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @sans-chara @1mommyrose4ever29 @smitten-haematite-quartz @talia-the-gemini @yuki2129 @whitetiger846 @graystorm444 @chibiduck @reaperxxxxzz @danielle143 @sobbingnshtting @cringeycookies @cryingpages @dcnocap207 @reaper-chan666 @bestbookfriends @thriving-n-jiving @cutiecusp

[a-french-coconut]

Drew Tanaka

I think we can all agree that Drew Tanaka only purpose was to highlight Piper and making her look the good guy (well, girl).

She's mean, bullies her siblings and other campers and yet we don't have a single explanation about her actions. This my explanation for her behaviour that slowly turned into a headcanon

From the books she understand that she is still hurt and bitter by Silena's betrayal and hey way to cope is to be mean with everyone. Since she's mean nobody likes her and everyone at camp treats Silena as a hero, leaving Drew alone in her grief. She has every right to despise Silena for what she did, her sister turned her back to camp and her, helped the Titan Army by sabotaging the quests : Percy and Beckendorf but also the hunters' quest (the skeletons soldiers were only able to track the questers because they something belonging to Zoe and it was probably thanks to Silena). So yeah, in the Lost Hero, a year after the battle, Drew is still mad and since nobody will accept her point of view, it only worsens.

As of why she's mean to her siblings, I figured it was some kind of defence mechanism : if they don't get close to her as Silena did, they can't hurt her. It's definitely not healthy but she's a fifteen year old girl who fought a war and lost people : she copes as she can.

Drew dislikes Piper at first sight. Now I don't really have an explanation for that because she doesn't know that Piper is her sister but maybe she judged from her appearance that they were going to dislike each other : one with chopped brown hair, doesn't wear makeup and has ragged clothes vs long and wavy hair, perfect makeup, impeccable clothes. It's a stretch and a bad one at that but it is all I can come up with. Cabin 10 is regarded as a bunch of pretty guys and girls who don't fight. Drew must have thought that Piper fit the profile of those mocking her cabin and disliked her on the spot.

And when Piper refuses to do the Rite of Passage ? Just like Silena ? Drew can't see Piper without seeing the ghost of her deceased sister. It is infuriating because everyone is on Piper's side, just like they are on Silena's. They choose her over Drew for going on a quest when she literally arrived in the morning ?? And then Piper has the audacity of challenging her for the position of head counsellor because she went on a quest and now she thinks she can do a better job than Drew ? She begins preaching about how Silena was right when she never met the girl and doesn't know a single thing about Silena and how she was like. Piper might have gone a quest but Drew has been a demigod for years, have fought for Camp Half-Blood and Olympus twice and maybe she never went on a quest but she fought a war and survived. In her book that's all she needs to accept Piper's duel and beat her swiftly. She wins but still gives her position to Piper. Let's see how she manages running a cabin full of children. But Piper leaves again and the mantle falls on her again. But Drew is tired of pushing everyone away, she wants to gossip with Lacy and Mitchell about who they like, wants to teach to properly shoot an arrow and grab a sword. She is tired of being hated by the whole camp for not forgiving her sister. Most of all she is tired of the mix of anger and sorrow she feels every time she thinks of Silena.

When Piper comes back, Drew offers a smile with the promise of trying to open up to other people. She won't forgive Silena, not yet, but she can stop comparing her sister to a ghost from her past.

Oh wow, I'm definitely going to write something about Drew, she is an amazing canvas to explore.

[avesque]

Hi can I request a Neteyam with his female mate where she goes off to explore the forest alone for ages and forgets to tell him and he can’t find her for a long time and when he does he pulls her to him in a tight hug not wanting to let go and she asks him what’s wrong, he is reluctant to tell her that he was worried about her so she comforts him by rubbing his back and cheeks and pressing her forehead against his. When they go back to their home together he doesn’t let go of her and his protective nature comes out and just wants comforting touches and soft kisses? Thanks 😊

in these arms — neteyam

INCLUDES fem!reader, omatikaya!reader. established relationship, fluff. 1.5k words.

NOTE my first request omg 🥺 i added a lil detail to emphasize neteyam’s worry for reader, i hope you don’t mind! i may have gone a lil overboard haha this was so fun to write. thank you for requesting! <3

sunlight dawns upon the tent you share with neteyam, carving shadows into corners. your eyes flutter open as light settles on your eyelids, immediately reaching over for your mate’s warmth. to your disappointment, you’re met with only his blanket.

the day has barely started yet your lover is already out and about. he probably joined the hunters for their early morning hunts. groaning, you get up and ready yourself for the day, getting giddy at the thought of greeting neteyam the moment he comes back.

you’re in the middle of weaving another bracelet for neteyam when the party arrives. you hear them first before you see them — a group of direhorses galloping, stomping across the forest floor. your beads rattle lightly in its container.

“that’s them,” neytiri says, not taking her eyes off her beadwork. a smile graces your face as you eagerly stuff your unfinished accessory in a pouch to greet neteyam.

you smother him in a hug the moment his feet hit the ground. neteyam huffs out a startled breath before wrapping an arm around your waist.

“you weren’t there when i woke up,” you complain lightly against his skin. his hold on you tightens.

neteyam pulls back slightly to look at you. soiled hands brush away stray braids on the side of your face but you let him do it anyway.

“i’m sorry, my love,” he whispers. his gaze is so soft you might melt right on the spot. “duty called.”

you let out a laugh. “i know.” then you pout, thumbing away the dirt smeared over his cheekbones. “would have liked it better if you woke me up and bid me goodbye.”

he hums. “you’d like that?”

“i’d love that.”

“okay,” he says, dropping a kiss on your forehead. “i will from now on.”

your smile is nearly blinding and neteyam thinks you have never been more beautiful. his chest floods with warmth at the light in your eyes, the bounce in your movements. he did mean to wake you up earlier but decided against it. you had looked so peaceful he did not have the heart to disrupt your much needed rest.

it has been a week of recovery for you, after all. he aches just thinking about how you’ve been bedridden the week before that due to the virus you miraculously caught. it was so severe that his father had to call his friends at the lab to help you.

neteyam had never been so helpless as he watched you moan and cry, your appetite gone and energy so depleted you cannot even sit up without support.

he opens his mouth to say something but gets interrupted by another hunter. he squeezes your waist once before letting go though still keeping you close.

“did we catch enough?��� ray’ui, an omatikaya boy the same age as him, asks.

neteyam looks around. they didn’t have the usual men come for hunting this morning; some preferred to hunt in the afternoon for supper. “i think so. until for lunch, at least.”

“will you join this afternoon?”

“yes,” he nods thoughtfully. he plans to make some good dinner especially just for you to gain back the health and weight you’ve lost the past two weeks.

neteyam is called again by another na’vi before getting caught in a conversation with an elder. it’s nearing midday when kiri comes up to him with scrunched eyebrows, her hands irritatingly placed on her hips.

“have you seen y/n?”

the question makes neteyam stagger a little. he’s seen you, yes, but that was hours before. the sun is so high up in the sky now, the weather bordering on sweltering hot.

“i did… earlier, after we got back.” his eyebrows furrow. “why?”

“mother is looking for her.” kiri looks around. “you sure you haven’t seen her?”

neteyam shakes his head. an irrational fear stabs at his chest but he tries to shut it down, convincing himself you’re around here somewhere. he makes an excuse of looking for you since it’s nearing lunch. when afternoon comes and he has not seen even your shadow, he goes running to his father.

“what is it?” jake asks, eyes trained on the branch he’s buffing.

“i haven’t seen y/n since this morning.” the worry and fear bleeds into his every word, enough so that jake puts away his things. neteyam can only wonder how distressed he looks.

“i’m sure she’s—”

“neteyam!”

neteyam looks over to see ra’yui. he greets the olo’eykran before turning to him. “i’ve been looking for you. we are preparing for the hunt.”

he runs an aggravated palm over his face before sighing. “i’m sorry, i won’t be able to join you today.”

though his friend senses his frustration, he doesn’t press any further. once he’s gone, neteyam once again face his father.

“i’ve searched everywhere and i have not seen her. not even a trace. dad, please.”

he watches as his father’s resolve crumbles. he doesn’t even care how despe he looks right now as long as he can find you and make sure you’re alright.

his father has already arranged a search party for you, including the sully boys and other men. neteyam’s heartbeat seems to bleed through his eardrums the deeper they reach in the forest and still not getting a sight of you.

it’s nearing eclipse when they reach the old shack, a place his father always warned them to stay away from. his hold on his bow tightens at the realization: you aren’t here, which means you’re somewhere farther and more dangerous.

“how certain are you that she could have gone this far along?” lo’ak asks.

neteyam has no idea. his brother’s question was so stupid it made him want to lay a punch on his face.

something snaps and ruffles. the party stills. the chief raises a hand before readying his bow, aiming in the direction of the noise. the sound of leaves crunching grows closer until the bushes spit out… you.

the party simultaneously releases a big, heaving sigh of relief. neteyam almost drops down to his knees. instead, he drops his bow, surging forward and immediately cupping your face in his hands. the group slowly walks back to give you both some privacy.

“where have you been?” his question comes out much harsher than he intended. your ears fall back in your hair and it’s then he notices you’re dripping wet. your braids are drenched and rivulets of water are still caught in your skin. one slides down your temple and into his thumbs.

“what—?”

“i’m sorry, ‘teyam, i fell asleep.” your admission has him further confused.

“fell asleep?”

you nod, unable to meet his eyes. he feels you grip his arms, fingers cold against his skin.

“in the pond…”

he has so much questions but decides it can wait at home. he needs to get you warmed up fast. your company makes it back to the village just as the people are setting up the bonfire. neteyam excuses you both, heading to your shared shut.

he is quiet as he gingerly gestures for you to undress, fetching you a new top and loincloth. he helps you put them on, warm fingers leaving behind goosebumps on their wake. he then takes both of your blankets and drapes it over your shoulders.

“are you mad?” you ask meekly. it almost breaks his heart.

“i am not mad, tìyawn.” he cups your face again and your eyes flutter closed, melting into his touch. “could never be mad at you.”

“why aren’t you saying anything then?”

neteyam tries to say it, tries to articulate his thoughts. his worry, his fear. he thought of the worst things that could have happened to you. what if they weren’t able to find you? the idea alone makes his stomach curdle.

two weeks ago, you were nearly unconscious in the laboratory. and now, this?

sensing his distress, you make your way over and climb in his lap. it’s a little awkward with the blankets weighing you down but you manage to settle just right, sighing happily at the warmth emanating from neteyam’s body.

you hook your arms around his shoulders and bury your face in his neck. his body relaxes under your touch.

your palm takes its time feeling every ridge of muscle on his back. you absentmindedly rub circles on his skin while the other caresses the back of his head.

“i am sorry for making you worry.”

lately, it seems all you do is make neteyam worry. aside from his duty to the clan, he has to deal with you on the side. the guilt makes your stomach turn.

“some kids were running,” you start explaining. “i followed them to the forest. there were these helicoradian plants and i got distracted… and then i walked some more until i got to the pond.”

“where you fell asleep?”

you nod against his shoulder. neteyam sighs.

“you were gone all day.”

“i know, my love. i must have worried you to death,” you laugh lightly. when neteyam doesn’t say anything, you try to pull him closer; to etch your apology on your skin to his. your love has never been good at expressing himself but you know him like that back of your hand.

when his arms around you tightens in answer and a delicate kiss is placed on the side of your neck, you know you’re forgiven.

[dindjarindiaries]

"So, Hunter frees himself, too. He walks away from Crosshair, and he makes peace with the fact that Crosshair is never coming back.”

Taking a look at the lyrics to Taylor Swift's "So Long, London" through Hunter's perspective on his sibling relationship with Crosshair, from The Bad Batch season 1 until season 3, episode 5.

A gentle reminder that this is through Hunter's lens, not the audience's. There are things we know that Hunter didn't. This analysis is in no way to slight any characters, but rather to explore this sibling relationship that has since developed beautifully.

Now, hit play and enjoy.

I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift Pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away

When The Bad Batch season 1 starts, Hunter and his brothers are thrust into the chaos of Order 66. None of them know what's happening or why. They're hearing a directive they don't understand, the clones nearest to them have killed their Jedi general, and the Padawan has run away scared and unprotected. Hunter and his squad have never failed a mission, and he doesn't intend for this to be the first.

But as their leader and, more importantly, as their eldest brother, Hunter can tell something is off with Crosshair. He's quieter than usual, with no witty commentary to offer at all of this. So, Hunter takes Crosshair with him to help the Padawan. He pulls him in tighter. He witnesses up close his brother not only ignoring his orders not to harm the scared Padawan, but also actively trying to kill him, until that leads to Crosshair himself being hurt.

Yet Hunter keeps calm, the best way he can. Even though he has to lie to Crosshair in the process, he saves the Padawan and his brother - for now. That has to be enough.

And even as Crosshair keeps questioning Hunter's orders and his leadership, which is painful to hear from someone Hunter has considered to be such a close confidante for so long, Hunter still keeps him close, as close as he can. But Crosshair keeps slipping away, and there's nothing Hunter could do about it.

My spine split from carrying us up the hill Wet through my clothes, weary bones caught the chill I stopped trying to make him laugh Stopped trying to drill the safe Thinkin, how much sad did you think I had Did you think I had in me? Oh, the tragedy ...

Hunter slowly starts to give up. Crosshair is questioning him, he's becoming more aggressive, and he's buying into whatever this questionable Empire is trying to sell them. He can't understand why, but at some point, he stops trying to. He just lets Crosshair do and say what he wants and gives him the freedom to question Hunter's choices, even if Hunter still follows through on them anyway.

So long, London You'll find someone ...

Hunter doesn't fully realize it yet, but he's losing his brother to the inhibitor chip and the Empire. Hunter's just hoping that, if Crosshair decides to leave or go his own way, that he'll find someone better suited to lead him - someone who will care even a shred as much as Hunter has all these years.

I didn't opt in to be your odd man out I founded the club she's heard great things about I left all I knew, you left me at the house by the Heath I stopped CPR, after all it's no use The spirit was gone, we would never come to And I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free

Crosshair is taken from their cell, and once they're freed, Hunter intends on going back for them, but he finds them first.

And this is when Hunter realizes he's lost him.

Hunter stops trying to get through to him. He still doesn't understand what's going on, but Crosshair has made his choice. Hunter is going to continue making his own, too.

There's no doubt in this moment, when Crosshair is staring down Hunter across the hangar on Kamino, that Hunter is wondering where he went wrong. How all those years they spent in their youth together could have possibly led to this, Crosshair not only leaving their squad, but also leading the attempt to stop them at all costs from seeking their own freedom. Where did Hunter go wrong? Was there something he could have done to stop it?

Hunter can't ask himself those questions yet. Instead, he's feeling his rage and his frustration. This betrayal doesn't make sense to him, and he's not sticking around to find out how he can fix it. Crosshair was lost.

For so long, London Stitches undone Two graves, one gun I'll find someone ...

So many years. That's all Hunter can mull over after the fact. All those years spent close together, surviving together, and Crosshair has just given up on them so easily.

Not only that, but he had fired lethal bolts. Crosshair willingly put an end to their brotherhood.

But with the departure of one squad member comes the arrival of another: Omega, a light in all this darkness. Hunter has found someone to invest himself in, but it's a different kind of relationship. That void of Crosshair cannot be filled.

Hunter knows this, so he puts everything he can into caring for Omega and the rest of his squad. He can't bear to think about this any longer.

And you say I abandoned the ship But I was going down with it My white knuckle dying grip Holding tight to your quiet resentment and

Fast forward, and Crosshair has tried to capture or kill the squad more than once. Hunter knows about the chip, and he's desperate to help his brother, to save him. He's seen it activate on Wrecker, and he's hoping - no, praying - that this is what happened to Crosshair. It had to be that. It had to be.

But Crosshair's honesty hurts even worse than that. When Hunter is captured by Crosshair and brought to Kamino, Hunter is hearing that it's his fault, that he was the one who abandoned Crosshair and not vice versa.

Didn't Crosshair see it? How Hunter was trying that whole time, from Kaller to Bracca, to get through to Crosshair? To keep him in their squad, their family? To prove that they were more than this Empire?

Hunter had held on the entire time, until he had to come to terms with the fact that Crosshair could not and would not be saved. Yet Crosshair was still insisting that it was Hunter's fault. Hunter is angry, frustrated, and utterly lost.

My friends said it isn't right to be scared Every day of a love affair Every breath feels like rarest air When you're not sure if he wants to be there

Then comes the reveal that Crosshair removed his chip, but he won't say when. Hunter must know. It would change everything.

Which Crosshair tried to kill them on Kamino and Bracca? Was it chipped Crosshair, or his Crosshair, his little brother?

Hunter can barely breathe. His brother has chosen a side now, of his own accord, and even when he's surrounded by his brothers alone... Crosshair still doesn't want to be with them.

So how much sad did you think I had, Did you think I had in me? How much tragedy? Just how low did you think I'd go? Before I'd self-implode Before I'd have to go be free

They're running out of time. Hunter's aware that something's going on - Kamino is too quiet - but he can't pinpoint what it is. He can't read Crosshair like he could before, and with Crosshair's refusal to be honest about his chip, Hunter snaps. He stuns his brother, but still insists on taking him with them. Maybe he'll change his mind again later.

Hunter leads his squad to freedom, now that Crosshair has been put out of commission for the time being. They barely make it out, and even after that, after they save his life... Crosshair wants nothing to do with them.

So, Hunter frees himself, too. He walks away from Crosshair, and he makes peace with the fact that Crosshair is never coming back.

You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? I died on the altar waiting for the proof You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days

Then, months and months later, Crosshair's name suddenly emerges on that prisoner registry. His distress signal is heard, and Hunter has to decide if Crosshair is trustworthy again. How can he, though, when he still doesn't even know whether it was chipped or normal Crosshair who had tried to kill them before?

But Tech urges them to go anyway, and Hunter listens, because Tech is Crosshair's other half, anyway. That's when Hunter loses Tech. A part of Hunter dies with Tech, all in the name of trying to save Crosshair - and even worse, he loses Omega, too.

This wasn't Crosshair's fault, nor his intention. They made their own decisions. But Hunter can't help wondering what would have happened if he had stuck to his instincts and stayed away from Eriadu, even if it was the right thing to do to try to save him.

And I'm just getting color back into my face I'm just mad as hell cause I loved this place For so long, London

Then, Hunter gets Omega back. Finally, after agonizing months of endless searching, he's saved the family member he knew he could save. His daughter is safe and back in his arms.

But who's with her? Crosshair.

Hunter is just starting to feel like himself again, and Crosshair is suddenly back, after Hunter had long since made peace with the fact that he never would. All that pain, all that regret, guilt, remorse, comes rushing back like a tidal wave.

No matter what, it would never be the same, because Tech didn't come back. Crosshair had given up what they had before they could all be together again.

Hunter loved his family his whole life, and because Crosshair had left, they never got to be back together again.

Had a good run A moment of warm sun But I'm not the one So long, London Stitches undone Two graves, one gun You'll find someone ...

Hunter can't forgive him easily, not with all this fresh pain still stinging at the source of the wound. All Hunter can do is remember what they used to have, back when it was all of them. Compared to now, and what they forever will be if all goes well for them, that will be such a short amount of time.

But at least it had been so amazing while it had lasted.

Hunter still knows it won't be him who fully saves Crosshair. It has to be someone else, because Hunter couldn't do it before after Kaller, and he certainly can't do it now.

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. It's Omega who saves Crosshair, and Hunter gets his brother back. They forgive each other.

And so, for many, many years, Hunter can have so much of that warm sun back.

[bella-goths-wife]

A plan set in motion

Evil trio x reader, yandere cullens x reader

You sat with Victorias head on your lap in your room as the tv played. The four of you had gone further into Seattle and changed motels but Vicky still wanted you to room with her.

You had come to find that the group was pretty nomadic. They preferred to travel than to stay in one place. This was a lifestyle you could see yourself liking, you had always wanted to explore.

“(N/n) which of these guys would you date?” Victoria questioned out of no where while pointing at the tv the two of you were watching

“Why?” You questioned with a puzzled look

“Well if I’m gonna help you find a mate, I need to know your type of guy” she said nonchalantly

“Who says I need a mate” you asked confused

“I do” she announces “having a mate will bring out your happiest self, it’s like you’ve finally found a piece of yourself you always needed. I want that for you”

“I’m pretty happy here” you reassured as you went to play with her hair admiringly

“Just humour me” she says playfully

“Fine” you sigh out “I guess id go with joey”

You pointed to the darkly dressed boy on the tv screen. He was a bounty hunter who tested the limits of his team and questioned authority.

“Oo someone likes a bad boy” Vicky giggled out

“Shut up” you throw a pillow at her face

She pulls an offended look before hitting you back. The attack only stopped when the door opened and James with Laurent walked in

“Sorry to bother you ladies” James said as he sat down, Victoria instantly joined him and he put his arm around her

Laurent came to sit next to you, he ruffled your hair affectionately and you laughed gently.

“What’s up” Victoria asked with a kiss to James’s cheek

“We wanted to discuss you, y/n” Laurent said as he turned to look at you with a serious look

“What about me?” You asked before a panicked thought crossed your mind “your not sending me back are you?!”

“Of course not” Victoria reassured while Laurent gently stroked your hand

“We wanted to talk about what the cullens did to you” James clarified

“I’ve told you everything, I promise” you say quickly

“We know, but there’s some stuff they’ve done to you that you don’t know is wrong” Victoria said “we just want to make sure you know what they did”

“What do you mean?” You asked fearfully

“They shouldn’t have binded your chest” Victoria says with disgust in her eyes “they were trying to keep you younger, if you were a human it could have seriously hurt you with how tight they wrapped the bandages”

“It’s fucking disgusting” James scoffs out angrily

There’s a moment of silence as you contemplate what they said, you knew the cullens were abusive but some things they did to you went completely over you head.

“We want to help you” Laurent breaks the silence

“You’ve already helped me, I’m away from them” you said with relief on your face

“But they will never stop looking for you” James said and you felt an anxious feeling build up “even now they have connections looking for you”

“What do we do then?” You asked and James and Victoria share a look

“We kill them” Victoria states

“Impossible” you dismiss the idea “many clans have tried and failed”

“But many clans don’t have they’re prized possession with them” James corrects

“And with the human pet they have, they’re vulnerable” Victoria says with excitement

“How would we even do this?” You question doubtfully

“We make the cullens think James is after the human” Victoria explains “they’ll rush her off and prepare for a fight which gets her away from lover boy and has the family separated”

“I’ll then lure the human away with threats of killing you, that gets her to a location away from the other vampires where I will drink her blood and kill her” James carried on “this puts Edward in a vulnerable spot but also while the others are on a wild goose chase looking for the girl, we pick them off one by one”

“We start with Alice, so she can’t see the rest of our plans” Laurent pipes up “then Victoria will target Rosalie and I will take on esme”

“With the women gone, it puts the men in vulnerable positions because of the mate bond” you say as the plan pieces itself together

“Exactly” James says with a proud smile “I will take on Edward and Victoria will handle Emmett all while Laurent kills off Jasper”

“What about Carlisle?” You ask fearfully

“We leave him for you” Vicky says with a smirk

“I won’t be able to take him on alone, I’m too weak I was never taught to fight like the rest” you confessed

“We will be there to help, we just need his precious daughter to distract him until we get there” Laurent explains “but you will kill him, it’s your right”

“We’ll train you to fight” Victoria reassured “and we’ll make sure you get to be the one to kill him”

“I don’t know if I can” you say sadly, not because you cared for Carlisle but because your fear of the patriarch paralysed you

“Aren’t you angry?” James questioned with confusion “these people humiliated you, abused you and exploited you and you don’t feel rage over it?”

“Of course I’m angry” you defended yourself “I’m furious, but anger doesn’t make me a better fighter”

“But we will” Victoria jumps in “we will teach you to use your anger, to make it your power”

“Take this revenge and know for the rest of eternity that you won against those sick bastards” James encourages “know that you fought back and won after they disgraced you over and over again”

You feel motivation and rage fill every pore. You see they’re eyes on you and feel happiness come to you. They want to help you, to protect you

“Are you in?” James asked expectingly

You imagined tearing Carlisle head from his shoulders, lighting ablaze his pot like body and watching it burn.

“Yes” you nod your head “I’m in”

And with that, your revenge had formed into a plan

[simslegacy5083]

Today's (11/7/2024) Episode: Friendly Encounters

Skye had been worried that once Elyse aged up she’d be too busy with high school freinds to see him anymore, but she quickly proved him wrong.

Besides shooting up in height, she also decided to totally change her sense of style. It was a little intimidating, but Skye did his best to be supportive of the sim who had always been his best friend. “You look so pretty” he enthused, “like you’re going to win first prize at a Spooky Day party.”

“Thanks!” she replied “I guess. I’m trying out some goth looks and found this online. Do I look like I would fit in at Forgotten Hollow?”

Skye frowned. “I’m not sure. I know my Great Grandpa Vlad lives there, but for some reason we’ve never visited him.”

She looked disappointed. “Well I haven’t been there myself either, but I found a lot of cool pictures and stories. One day I’ll move there and never have to deal with sunny days and early mornings again. Maybe I’ll be a vampire or take one of the huge spiders in the trees as my witch’s familiar.”

Skye listened, rapt. It all sounded more scary than fun, but Elyse always knew better than him, so if she said it was awesome then it must be true. “Neat! Do you want to make pancakes? We can use some chocolate syrup and strawberries to make them spooky spider pancakes!”

The Sulani crew come visit anytime, living just down the boardwalk, but Noemi got to see her non-island friends much less often.

Chestnut Ridge was only a teleporter away, but she was still excited for the excuse to visit when Amaya called to announce she had adopted a baby.

“Miguel and I had only gone on a couple dates when I found out I was pregnant. Shotgun wedding anyone?” Amaya said with a laugh. “Now that we’ve really settled in as a family, we decided that raising little Graysen has gone so well that we should do it again… So come over and meet Julissa!”

“Ok sure, this project is at a good breaking point, we’ll be over soon to see your new daughter.” Noemi replied, earning herself a surprised look from Lu.

The Lawbournes decided to bring Roach too. Their four-legged friend could run around the ranch with Silver, like he had during their honeymoon.

While the parents were cooing over the new baby inside, Grayson was trying to convince Skye to go for a ride together on the two horses.

Skye looked up at Roach, towering above him and easily ten times his weight, and shook his head. “I don’t think so. I don’t want Roach to buck me off – I could get hurt! I’ll take some pictures of you riding Silver, or we could go exploring together.”

Grayson was disappointed not to be able to race his friend, but thoroughly enjoyed posing for pictures on his faithful steed. After picking out the best shots to keep and which to post online the two boys left the stables and set off to dig up hibernating toads along the creek bed.

Inside Noemi was snuggling the incredibly soft and warm Julissa, who was happily chewing her fist as her mother talked about deciding to adopt.

“…so I told Miguel that I’ve got enough back pain these days without adding 30 pounds of bulbous baby belly into the mix!” Amaya chuckled “I carried the first one, and it was clearly his turn, but the chicken decided to see what was available on the second-hand market instead of doing it himself.”

The "chicken" in question shot his wife a scandalized look at her description but resisted being pulled away from his conversation with Luigi.

“Hunter said that The Collective found this little sweet pea left all alone in their front garden. No idea if she’ll be “hungry like the wolf” yet, but  we’ve got plenty of room to run around out here, whether she wants to do it in fur or track gear.” Amaya continued, stroking her daughter’s cheek.

When they got back home to their own campfire that evening Luigi remarked “We all got really lucky in the friend department at the end of the day.”

“No thanks to you, Mr. you can't be Amaya's friend” she reminded her husband with a mock serious expression.

Luigi chuckled “I never meant to say exactly that, and anyway you were quick to put me in my place, as always. Skye, you’ve got a nice group of playmates already and a good head on your shoulders to know when what they are asking of you is unwise…” thank goodness he finished silently. “I just hope you have as much luck in the future as your mom and I have.”

With that they rose and headed inside to get Skye off to bed, looking forward to what new adventures awaited them with the sims they were lucky enough to count among their close companions.

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[mekanikaltrifle]

Equinox: Sick Dogs

In which the vampire hunter meets with a friend, to explore his latest hunt; a death in a High Street shopfront gone unnoticed by the bustling public, and a forgotten stray afflicted with some unknown curse...

CHAPTER ONE

Fifteen nights. Fifteen nights, but thirteen days, I’ve been tracking this one bloodsucker.

I need a better job. This blows.

I throw the dictaphone onto my couch. Stupid piece of plastic-- probably should capitalise the ‘D’ in that, since it’s a brand name, or refer to it as its generic name but that’s the sort of shit I do not have the patience for these days. Or nights? Anyway, the thing is stupid, but it helps me keep my thoughts in order, and doesn’t need a ‘net connection to function unlike far too many things these days. Or nights.

So, the bloodsucker. I’ll get you up to speed with it, order of business and all that. Shop talk. The whole razzle dazzle, so to speak.

I know vampires well enough. Blood-drinking immortal bastards, move under cover of night, come with a bunch of weird abilities and superhuman traits. Most of ‘em look like monsters too, as far as I’ve seen. Bat-like ears, animal teeth, claws, grey skin, weird off smell, the whole kit and caboodle y’know? On the regular they’re also pretty low-key, so people like me don’t find them, and so that humans at large don’t know they’re around. Take it from me, it’s easier to hunt when nobody can see you, and nobody’s expecting you either.

Thing is, the low-key approach means it’s usually the fuck-ups that get spotted by monster hunters. The ones that kill are the ones that get caught, eventually. Being immortal doesn’t make you immune to consequences, nor are you above retaliation. Especially when the shit you’re doing with your immortality is killing folks who already have it rough, and you even take the chance to survive off of them? Fuck vampires, is all I can say in short.

So how did I find this job?

I started tracking this one from what looked like a failed hunt. Found a young man lying against a shopfront window with a chunk ripped out of his neck. He wasn’t conscious, but for a few minutes he was still alive, and after kicking in the glass door and setting off the alarm, I did what I could to staunch the blood. Tried to call the ambulance as well, but I have issues with phone lines. And speaking to people. Forgive me if I don’t go into that right now.

There were people nearby. It was right on the high street, for fuck’s sake. He shouldn’t have been ignored, but there were just people walking by like nothing was happening, as if I hadn’t just kicked a door out, loudly, and sprinted into a locked shop with the alarms blaring off. But the high street punters just kept right on going for their late in the day Christmas shopping as if I wasn’t holding a dying man in my arms. It was surreal. I’m no stranger to weirdness, but the worst part was that even after I hit 999 and dialled up help (however troublesome) the ambulance didn’t even come. I sat there waiting, even after there was nothing left to save, and nobody came to help. It was like he and I didn’t exist. I could hear the operator on the other end asking if there was anyone there, and I didn’t answer because I couldn’t, but eventually she barked something down the line and it went dead. Only when what I guess was the store’s manager came to check the alarms, did I get up and leave the dead young man to what would come next. Blended into the dark in the back of the shop and fucking legged it out the lorry bay before anyone could notice me. Easy enough, but that’s besides the point.

I kept thinking about how open and callous that was. And clumsy. Most vampires I’ve ever tracked from hunts either only manage to kill someone once or twice before we track them down… or are subtle enough to successfully hunt over the long term. They don’t take so much their victim dies. Back-alley muggings and late night cold calls, break-ins and nightclub pulls of dubious consent. That’s usually what vampires rely on. Only way they get through the nights, and since most are confined to the hours after sunset, it’s also far easier to prey on the people nobody thinks about after closing time.

But I was running, and thinking. I do my best thinking sitting down, but this work doesn’t come with breaks when there’s someone just off to the beyond.

The poor lad, he’d been wearing a shitty polyester work shirt, and had a sticking plaster over his finger. The shop itself is the sort of place that sells screws and work tools and power drills and stuff, nothing special. This was also probably why it was closed a bit earlier than the other shops; they are running their late-opening hours for Christmas shoppers, but who’s buying tools late on? I think he’d been cashing up for the end of day. I wonder if he’d had someone waiting for him at home? A mum or a dad, or a boyfriend? Or girlfriend, I suppose? He looked at most twenty-five, but probably a good bit younger than that. Maybe younger than me? Whoever he was, I didn’t find a name-badge and he was never conscious enough to say anything. He was round-faced and scruffy looking, and sort of boyish. Charming, I hoped. Not sure about personality but he died quietly. Something tells me that wasn’t fair on him.

I’d have already had a lot to think about if I didn’t bump into anything else that night.

I still had a lot of blood on my hands, and it was drying. Sometimes I forget to clean it up promptly; nobody was gonna see me and I’m only human, but this definitely got me attention I didn’t need.

So I turn into a back street behind the shopping arcade-- you’d know the one, used to lead onto the BHS before that apparently closed?-- and was greeted with the second ugly sight of the late-afternoon. As of right now I’m not entirely sure what the thing was, but it certainly wasn’t someone’s fluffy puppy lost on the street. It was four-legged, sure, but its coat was a ragged black mess with some sort of nasty stuff dripping off it. It had a head in the same place a dog should have, though its skull was the wrong shape, studded with these awful white embers for eyes and entirely bare in places, so I could see the bones under bits of scabby ligament. Only thing that didn’t look rotten were its teeth-- all of those were sturdy, sharp and very much in its head. It couldn’t snarl without much soft tissue on its face but it certainly managed to growl.

It noticed me before I saw it too clearly, which I’m going to put in the ‘rookie mistake’ category and be thankful I came out alive. The blood let me down, I’m sure. The thing moved strangely; one minute it was shuffling about unsteady on its feet, and then the next it lunged with a force completely impossible from its shambles of a body. I took the force through my left arm and shoulder- knew it’d bruise straight away- and twisted so it rolled off to the cobbles behind me. Two seconds at most to myself before it got its footing and leapt again, but I managed to duck so it went right over my head, though I caught a scabby paw to the back of my coat. Not the worst thing it’s been soaked in at least, but the weight of a whole dog-monster using me as a springboard wasn’t pleasant.

When it landed in front of me was when I got the good clear look at it like I mentioned a minute ago. Something like that couldn’t be allowed to walk out into the street and attack someone, I knew, but it didn’t look like it really knew it wasn’t meant to be here. Some monsters seem to know they’re wrong, that they shouldn’t be, and it makes them aggressive or devious or confrontational. They taunt you with their impossible natures and they want you to hunt them. Sort of a sick validation, maybe. But creatures like this? They don’t know what they are or why, nor what put them directly in the path of humans or hunters. I would have thought it was totally unintelligent until it looked me in the eye… and whined.

Don’t ask me how I could tell the little burning point of light it had instead of an eye was actively looking me in the eye back. Hopefully you don’t have to meet a monster face-on and work these things out yourself. This is why I tell you stories, no?

It didn’t know a fuckin’ thing, besides sadness. Couldn’t hate something like that, so I crouched down in front of it. The beast didn’t come nearer, but it didn’t attack me either. I think it’d been scared or hungry or something and that’s why it lunged at me? When I got down to its level and held my hand out, it didn’t snap or lunge again, but it did growl. Warning, I think. It reminded me of a neighbour’s upset ‘guard’ dog from my childhood. Before I moved back to England, I lived in a really shitty suburb of Paris, in an arrondissement you’ll never see on a tourist guide, and one of my neighbours had this awful dog. Not even sure what it was, but one night it must have gotten a visit from someone else’s pet and next thing we knew, one dog was six and the puppies were the saddest looking things I’d seen before or since. I remember asking mum or dad if we could try and get one of them, but mum hated dogs and dad was allergic, besides. Clearly didn’t trust me when I said I could look after it in my room, where they didn’t have to go near. Maybe I never forgot the look on their hairy mutt faces as they wandered about the yard at the back, digging pointless holes to nowhere and crying.

The scabby dog-monster went flat to the floor, which I think was fear or deferral or something. Submission? I didn’t want to scare it anymore, so I took my hand away from it and that seemed to do the trick. I was having trouble reading its body language without any ears or facial structures besides teeth, but a minute or so of sitting quietly and not moving too fast meant it calmed down a bit. Maybe its decaying body couldn’t keep up too long, and it did seem to be in pain. Again, not sure how I could tell for sure, but it lay down on the wet floor and whimpered, the poor thing. I think it was tired. Me too, I recall thinking.

It couldn’t close its eyes, but once it was quiet enough, I did my best to put it down with my handgun. It was over pretty fast. That’s the other thing with monsters you’ll never know ‘til you fight them... some just die so easily you wonder how they survived long enough to try to eat you.

I tried to put its body out of sight, because unlike vampires it wasn’t going to just start crumbling to bone and ash right away, and I didn’t want anyone finding it ‘til it wasn’t clear what it had been other than once a dog. Two pointless deaths in one afternoon. I wish I could have said that was a record, but thankfully it’s not every day that happens. Just maybe once every couple weeks.

So, I was now covered in fresh, drying human blood, as well as dirt and indistinguishable monster fluids. Great start to my evening. I ducked into a public bathroom to clean myself off as best I could, and I have never been more thankful for my weird abilities, because the way I looked was awful. I don’t think I smelled much better either. While I was standing there washing my hands, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that I was walking into something- metaphorically, of course- and while I know that’s probably mental illness giving me these ‘tips’… I also have other senses.

I should tell you about them in better detail later, but for now, just believe me when I say I’m better attuned to weirdness and mortal danger than a regular out-of-the-box human being comes as standard. If nothing else, I’m here and explaining things to you that don’t sound real, but they’re more detailed than a random story I made up to scare you, right?

Well, next time I fight a particularly fragrant monster I’ll skip the shower before I come and see you, and then you’ll know what’s up. Maybe I’ll even bring some blood with me, to seal the deal.

Anyway, I watched the flakes of half-rehydrated blood wash down the sink as a guy pissed far too loudly in one of the urinals across the room and I could just feel this strange weight sinking over my skin, even under my clothes. It was like a pressure from the air sinking down on me, like swimming in shallow water right at the edge of a sea shelf… I could feel the depths below.

I’m not sure what it meant, but moments later I looked up into the mirror and I could see shapes in the negative, film negatives overlaid on the glass. Someone running through a hallway made of big heavy stones. Stumbling into the floor as beasts leapt from the dark- or the white, in this inverted scene- and they tore into the person’s legs and arms all violence and snarling. It looked old, far too old to have been filmed. Fantasy-like, it was that old. I didn’t want to watch another death straight away, so I looked away for a few minutes. The loud pisser thought to shake off his business but didn’t bother washing his hands. When I looked back at the mirror, it was frozen and waiting for me to keep watching.

Someone wanted me to see this, for some reason.

The scene ended as expected, with the poor soul being torn to pieces in a level of detail even I didn’t want to know about. In the end, it was just a body, being eaten by hounds. I’m not sure what it was meant to mean. Was it a threat? The mirror was just a mirror, a couple of blinks later and the pressure lifted a little off my skin. Not entirely, mind, but it didn’t feel actively pressing on me anymore. Why was I having to bear witness to this now, after all the other stuff I’d dealt with that day? Shit happening one-after-the-other isn’t news to me in the slightest, but I can still complain.

There was no doubt about it, there was probably a connection, but I have to say I couldn’t make some Holmesian deduction then and there. What I did do was go outside and sit on a concrete wall and think for a bit. Stare into the sky until the last of the light soaked away into the black and the stars presumably came out, deep behind the cover of grey-slate clouds. It being around Christmas, I think that probably put the time at somewhere around 4 or 5pm, but things that move under cover of night will take any night time cover regardless of how early it lands. Christmas doesn’t mean a thing to the supernatural, as far as I’m aware. Doesn’t really mean shit to me either, come to think of it. Nobody to spend it with, regardless, so why bother even if I was Christian inclined?

Oh, don’t give me that look.

So, I came to the conclusion that I was going to have to head back to my safehouse and clean up properly so I could document what was going on. Next steps in the plan were as follows: sleep, get dressed up a bit and then head to the couple clubs I’d found vamps in before to try and gather a bit more information. Oh, and eat probably. In whatever order made sense, and right now I’m fairly certain I ate before I went out but… not sure it matters at this point.

Strangest thing is that things have been pretty quiet since I had the three-for-one deal on vampire bullshit. Well, no, I tell a bit of a lie: there’s a couple of developments I made or came across in the two-ish weeks since that poor boy died, but I think I need to go and research a few things in my books before I tell you more about what happened next. I’d hardly be a good storyteller if I didn’t fill you in with the most accurate info I could, right?

I don’t think I’ll have made any progress on this all by tomorrow but do keep in touch, and I’ll ring you if anything weird comes up. You’re the only soul I’m trusting with all this, and really the only one that’d remember to come back anyway.

Have a quiet night, my friend.

[cherrymoonvol6]

ok nvm i'll elaborate right now

i think one of the many weird choices in the finale was to make belos possess raine out of all people. one, because it really comes out of the blue. when has belos ever shown any interest of raine? like, i'm sure he must be aware of raine's record of plotting against the establishment, but he never deals with them himself. instead he sends a plethora of other people to do it for him (darius, eberwolf, kikimora, terra). if anything, it is terra that has a bone to pick with them. and in a parallel work where raine got more to do, i believe terra and raine's dynamic would've been something really interesting to explore. kinda like the relationship between atreus and odin in GOW ragnarok, like this "okay i know you hate me and all that i stand for, but i see potential in you so i'll take you under my wing and prove to you that i am worth of your time and loyalty" kinda thing, which is a banger dynamic btw.

but the second part is that there are two way more attractive options. the first one, immediately on demand, is darius. ofc it would take some canon time of developing that dynamic between belos and darius (it pains me that it doesn't exist), but it would make sense that belos would keep a close eye on darius. after all, he was mentored and was a good friend of the previous golden guard, and it's implied in various scenes (mostly ASIAS) that he knows enough about hunter's "ancestors" to praise him when he doesn't follow orders, and ultimately play the long-con to betray belos. he may even be aware in some sense of belos killing the previous golden guard, or even the existence of the grimwalkers. in that case, it would make sense that belos would have built some resentment towards him that ultimately shows in the choice to possess, corrupt and kill his puppeteer-ed body. but then, there's an even better option here, and a character that belos has hide a long-time resentment against: lilith.

look, if belos remembers luz from all those years ago, then he abso-fucking-lutely remembers lilith as well. and in a sense you can interpret the actions in canon as him trying to exert his personal vendetta against her: keep her close in the emperor's coven, trying to get her sister to join and get branded with a sigil with the promise that he'll cure her from her curse, all this while knowing that she would eventually betray him and join luz's side. we know belos kept her close for a reason and he knows the extent of her abilities, her history and relationship with eda, and her weaknesses as well. belos possessing lilith, then, would not only be the definitive "fuck you" to her, but could've also been an effective way to provoke eda emotionally and lead her to abandon her hideout to confront him. and honestly, from the way belos acts in that scene in FTF, his reaction to finding the best candidate to possess would make so much more sense if it was lilith and not raine.

but like, aren't lilith and raine just... insanely similar characters in the show's narrative? both are figures of eda's past, who loved each other sincerely back in simpler times, and through plot-related actions (raine's reason is much better narratively though, IMO) abandoned eda and joined the opposing side, climbing the ranks through their powerful abilities until becoming important figures in the coven circle. trying to think about the things i'd change in canon to make raeda a better couple involve making them go through similar plot beats that eda and lilith have gone through: an emotional, powerful moment where raine has to choose between their position of power and eda's wellbeing, actual tension between them (resentment and guilt from eda's side, frustration and confusion from raine's side), situations where they are forced to colaborate and their chemistry can still come through but still their dynamic is permeated by those lingering wounds... like, all of those things are stuff that already happened in canon, between eda and lilith. there's even that moment in king's tide where eda has the same somber moment with raine and lilith before executing their sabotage:

to me, it event seems like lilith got a lot of attention and development with eda in S1 and early S2 and then her character got sidelined when raine started to appear, and simultaneously: how raine's backstory and conflict of interest with eda are pretty much an afterthought but they still get to be a key player in the plot through late S2 and S3. i'm really sorry that economic character construction has to work this way, but that's how it is: you don't get to give eda a sister and a significant other and then make those two characters the same one. you have to commit to just one and integrate all aspects onto them.

[mcnuggyy]

✨ Rainbow Factory TTRPG! ✨

HIII!!!! As promised here is my silly little reskin of KOB (kids on bikes/brooms)!!! :o] <3

EDIT: This post got a bit long eek!! sorry!! if you just wanna see the silly stuff I did then just check out the links! You can ignore all the other text on this post jajaja!

Mini Rule Book  ( for GMs & Players!)

PDF Version!  

Here is the document I gave all my players beforehand! This is a simplification of all the KOB rules, character creation process, and the worldbuilding for Unicopia! Please feel free to use as much or as little of it as you like for your game! It goes step by step through the character creation process and has a wide variety of examples and references. I try to be as thorough as possible but ofc I may have missed something! Please feel free to make up what i miss or shoot me a message if you're really curious jaja!

Here is a jpg of the Player Character Sheet of needed! :o]

RFTTRPG: NPC Stats & BG Characters! (For GMs!)

This is what I used while GMing! Feel free to use these as you like! I tried to keep it simple and loose for the big characters like Hev and Trixie! And even simpler for the background characters. I didn't give the BG chars any stats as I knew I wouldn't need them for the one-shot I was running but please feel free to make your own BG chars, and stats, and all of that good stuff!

I also have a rough RF building chart for exploration! Our campaign was set inside the Rainbow Factory so it felt like a good idea to make this for my players! However please feel free to set your one-shot anywhere else in Unicopia! I hope to make a map of  the districts one day to add to the mini rule book later on! :o] You can also set it at another Happiness Factory such as the Tear Factory or Heart Factory! You could even have your unicorns visit Earth! The world is your oysta! ♡ 

Overall I tried to keep everything super simple and clear for both myself and my friends! I imagine other Factories in smaller districts would be much smaller than this but this is a rough idea of what I think most of them would sort of be like!

RFFTTRPG: One-shot Ideas & More! (For GM's)

I love love loved using the KOB system and reskinning it for my silly little world! and I love when a TTRPG gives you nice sort of rules to follow while still being super free and open in other aspects! It made it  easy for me to just come up with a simple problem/plot for my players! However I know coming up with something from scratch is also super intimidating and overwhelming! So here is the idea I did, along with some others I've thought of for fun! (and might even do in future games jejeje)

Kid on the Run!  This is super Monsters Inc inspired. Have the party over at a Factory for any reason you choose. I chose a tour/ted talk hosted by the lovely Trixie! It can also be a company party, or breaking and entering, or they already work there, etc.! Have one of the portals go haywire allowing a child to enter Unicopia! It's now up to the party to not only capture the child but return them back home safe and sound to the human world! All while keeping the child secret from the rest of unicornkind! RF: Happiness Special Forces The Counsel has decided to create a special task team in charge of going down to earth! Go undercover and stop those who cause great risk to Unicornkind! This could be stopping a huge evil corporation that is creating an excess amount of unhappiness, reducing the magic of Unicopia. Or having to go in and save multiple children in danger such as a field trip gone wrong! Or making an adult human who remembered their childhood unicorn forget about them again before things get dicey! Your players will have to keep their existence as unicorns a secret, all while saving their world, and exploring Earth as characters who may be unfamiliar with humans and their ways! Unicorn Hunters & the End of Unicopia What if unicorns biggest threat finally found out where they had been hiding all this time? and not just knew but had access to a portal? It's up to the players to stop them at all costs and save their world.  A high stakes adventure full of lore, magic, and potential unexpected allies!  The Daily Life of a Field Op/Happy Tech This is more of a slice of life concept! This would work well for smaller parties of 1-4 Players! Have your Players form teams and deal with the daily troubles a helping a kid/teen/pre-teen  as a Field op or Happy Tech! (You could even have one of your Players play one of the kids themselves!) While still balancing their social lives, self needs, etc.! A look inside what it's like for Unicopias most essential workers, their interpersonal dramas, relationships, etc. Great for those who love character centric collaboritive storytelling!

ANYWAYS!!! Sorry for the ridiculously long post </3 I just wanted to cover all my bases in case someone decides they wanna play this reskin!! If you do end up playing pleaseee let me know eeek!! very very exciting!!! <3 regardless i hope you have fun looking at all this silly stuff I did to make my friends smile and laugh :o]

You can check out our one-shot over on my Patreon yahoo!

[castieldelamancha]

3 days later.

The sound of the empty beer bottle he just sent rolling across the bedroom's floor knocking against the doorframe fills the silence around him.

It's almost a living thing this silence, Dean tiredly thinks to himself, it's pressing down on him, sucking out all the air in the room, asphyxiating him.

It's outside, but, to what would be Dean's horror if it wasn't because of the numbness that has taken over him, it's also inside of him, in his head, in his very soul. His own melody, a jumble mess of chords, a mix of gloom notes and bright tunes, seems to be over, now that what had felt for years as its companion piece is gone.

He must be going insane with this grief he feels, he has started to wonder if the darkness might had taken him too.

He lets his head fall backwards, resting it against Castiel's perfectly made bed. The emptiness of this space only seems to add to the silence around him. Don't get him wrong, there is furniture here, but no life, no soul, like Cas never existed, like he was a product of his imagination. 

He stares up at the ceiling, he reminds himself he has to wash his jacket, get the blood out of it. He shakes his head. He was there, that's all the proof he needs to convince himself it was all real. Dean himself is still here, breathing and moving, he wouldn't say alive, but he is also proof it was all real. 

He doesn't know how he has ended up here, in Castiel's room, sitting on the cold, unforgiving, floor by the bed, drinking the last drops of a beer that tasted like shit and that brought him no comfort.

He doesn't think there is something out there that can comfort him now, unless the wall would open right now and spit Cas out same way it swallowed him. 

It doesn't happen of course.

He wonders if Cas can hear him, he doesn't think so.

"One last miracle," he says anyway, "fuck, I know I have asked for so much from you over the years," he struggles to swallow past the lump forming in his throat and he welcomes it, welcomes the tears he can feel filling up his eyes, because it's better to feel this sadness that nothing at all, "know you have sacrificed so much for me, for us, for this world; but Cas, I need one miracle, I need you back." 

There are so many things Dean has to tell him.

Silence. Nothing. His soul seems to get a leave a message after the tone.

There are so many things he has to tell Cas, but not if he isn't here to hear him.

However, eyes still fixated on the ceiling, he whispers, 

"It was always yours to have, all yours." Forever.

.

10 years later.

There is a fine layer of dust covering every surface around him, not too bad considering the time that has gone by since someone has last set foot in this room. More than five years, maybe, Dean isn't too sure about that.

It's quiet in here but, from the other side of the closed door the sound of laughter and conversation filters until reaching him. The bunker is bursting with life, hunters that come and go, a safe haven for so many. He doesn't feel like being part of all that right now.

He wouldn't have come around if he had realized he would still be here on this specific day. 

The memories are painful enough far away from this walls as it is.

But, well, now it's too damn late.

He sighs, the wound is old, but on days like today it's still tender to the touch, like it never healed properly. He hums to himself, a silly little tune, he doesn't remember where it came from but that's okay, he likes it anyway, it keeps his mind distracted. He lets his head fall back, resting it against the perfectly made bed, the covers smell after years of disuse. It reminds him of the first time they explored the bunker bedrooms. 

It was love at first sight, despite all the work they had ahead of them to make this place liveable again. 

He doesn't miss it nowadays, he is thankful for what was his home when he needed one the most, but he has somewhere else to call a home now. Far away from here.

He doesn't know why he decided to come in when he walked by the closed door, but he is here now, sitting on the floor by the bed, not wanting to think about having to get up or about the pain he has started to feel in his left knee. He is not so young anymore.

He opens his eyes when there is soft knock on the door and a gentle voice calls out his name.

"C'mon in." He calls back, smiling to himself and closing his eyes once more. 

There is the sound of the door closing again, light footsteps that stop next to him, a warm body that joins him on the floor. 

"What are you doing in here?" He doesn't need to open his eyes to picture the squinty look that is being directed to himself. 

"I came here, years ago" he says instead of giving a real answer, "I sat down right on this spot and told whoever was listening that I needed a miracle."

He opens his eyes, turning his head to the side to be able to look at Cas, smiling softly at him. His hair is messy as always but, just like Dean's, it's turning grey, paired with his deeping wrinkles Castiel has never looked more handsome to Dean. More alive.

"Did someone listen?" He asks, with a glint in his eyes that make Dean believe he already knows the answer to that question.

He plays along, anyways. Dean reaches to close his hand around Cas' and, lifting them both to get them closer to his face, he kisses Castiel's knuckles, one by one. 

"It took a while, but I got my miracle after all." Dean looks away, he has been working hard, all these years, to feel more comfortable in his own skin, open up and say what he has to say, but still, sometimes, especially in days like this, when he is feeling too much; when he feels raw, emotional, it can be all a bit too much.

Castiel leans in, he presses his forehead against Dean's cheek.

"I had forgotten it was today, it seems the same thing happened to you."

Neither of them would have wanted to be here today.

Dean nods lightly. He looks up at the ceiling. 

He focuses on their breathing, almost synced, calm and deep, he focuses on all the parts of them that are touching. He grips Castiel's hand tightly, nothing is taking him away, it would have to take Dean too.

Nothing is after them now, though, he allows himself to relax once more, heavily leaning his shoulder against Cas'.

He never washed the jacket, it's still here, he had to put it in Cas' closet, where he would never have to see it, unless he wanted to.

"I am glad" Castiel says after a long moment of shared silence, "I could tell you what I needed to say that day." Dean knows the weight of Castiel's guilt around those last moments, he has never regretted saving Dean, of course, he does regret the pain he caused.

Dean almost makes a comment about him being lucky because Dean remembers he couldn't get a single word out, but he has made his peace with that because, even though it took some time, he could tell Cas what he had been bottling up inside himself for years too, staring into his eyes, for the very first time, then a second time and now he has lost count. 

"I still can't believe sometimes that, well-" he trails off, gesturing vaguely with his free hand.

"That you could have it all?" Dean ventures.

"Yes." It comes out in a strangled whisper. Dean turns his head again, dropping a kiss on Castiel's forehead.

"It will always be yours, all yours." Forever.

[dr-abitat-blog]

Day 28: "I didn't think the wound was that bad..."

@ailesswhumptober

T/W: Multiple whumpees, caged, muzzled, lycanthrope, bear-trap, infection

Harvey (POV) and Lyall belong to @whumpsmith

I had really been looking forward to this camping trip. All summer long I had been so excited about getting out into the beautiful forest and exploring all the wonderful plants and wildlife with my friends and Mom. It was meant to be fun, adventurous and a time for us all to enjoy ourselves. That’s what Mom had said.

…but that’s not what happened. Well, it started off well enough with all of us setting up our tents, telling ghost stories by the fire and canoeing on the river — but that’s when it all went wrong. Somehow our boat got swept away and we ended up completely lost away from the others. With no shelter, we had to make our own. Luckily, I was a big help with that! Well, Cassie and Lyall said I was. With the way my family lived — and considering my secret ‘nature’ — I had easily been able to find us a cave to shelter in, berries to eat and I’d even gone hunting and caught us some food! Sin had tried to join me with her own ability to shapeshift, so I got to teach her a few lycanthrope tricks — but that was where I went wrong. I thought there were no other people around, but there were. They saw us in our wolf forms and then the next day…they took Sin and Lyall away. They must have thought Lyall was me, because they were hunters. They talked about selling them. Just hearing them talk and wave their big metal guns around…i-it was horrible.

And it was my fault.

Cassie told me it wasn’t. Even with her own fear, she told me it would be fine, that we’d get them back. That’s what supers did — and it was just the two of us alone. Lyall and Sin needed us and I had to be brave to help save my friends, just like a real hero. After all, we’re a pack — and the pack always protects each other, no matter what.

That’s why we’re here right now, crouching just meters away from their lone cabin in the depths of the forest. We’d managed to track them down after finding and threatening one of the hunters, which left three of them between us and our friends. Even now I still don’t know exactly how we’re going to beat them, but Cassie is clever and strong — she’s like a leader. I trust her.

“When I give the signal, I need you to sneak around to the back and get them out,” she tells me quietly, “I’ll keep those guys busy in the meantime. Just…whatever happens, don’t get caught.”

“I won’t,” I answer back, sending her as confident a nod as I can. “You be careful too, Cassie. These guys are really bad — m-maybe they work with the aliens.”

I catch the briefest flicker of…something across her face as I bring up the aliens that kidnapped me over a year ago. The aliens that kept hurting me and experimenting on me, keeping me in a cage away from my family—

“Maybe...but one thing’s for sure — it’s our job to kick bad guy butt, right?”

“Y-yeah, especially anyone that hurts our friends!” 

I can’t help it as my tails wags ever so slightly in passionate agreement. “Alright. I’ll go round the back. See you in a bit?”

She leans over to give me a quick hug. Her black hair tickles my cheek as she withdraws again, taking her position near the front of the cabin. With her in place, I scamper over to the back and shoot a thumbs up at Cassie. Responding with a small whistle, she uses her powers to launch a rock at the nearest window, whilst I hurry in through the unlocked door towards the back. The sounds of the hunters’ yelling and storming out to the front immediately sounds out, accompanied by the faint cries coming from the very back. I waste no time in bounding over there, temporarily changing enough to smash open the door with the force of my paws. One hunter waits inside for me — and right behind him is—! “Hmmv?!”

…our friends, Lyall and Sin. Both of them have been crammed into horrible barred cages, chains keeping their wrists cruelly cuffed to the bars. I see the fresh purple bruises on Lyall’s face and the tears still wet on Sin’s white cheeks, both of them wearing a horrible leather muzzle strapped tightly over their mouths, as if to stop them biting. I almost shudder at the thought of how it should have been me in Lyall’s cage, with the muzzle over my mouth — but the hunter is already raising his weapon.

“S-stay back, Wolfie!” He holds a small stun gun out threateningly. It only takes a menacing loud growl and a sharp swipe of my paw to knock the thing from his hands. A few moments later I have him pressed to the floor, begging for me not to kill him as he scrabbles desperately for freedom. Just like Mom taught me, I take a bite out of his ankle — just enough to make sure he won’t follow us — before turning my attention to our wide-eyed friends. Sin is closest, so I pull the door off her cage first, yanking it off with all of my strength and doing the same to Lyall’s. Grabbing the keys from the nearby hook, I unlock the chains around Sin’s and Lyall’s wrists, hearing their quiet sobs of relief as the chains clatter to the ground. Fingers will be more useful on the muzzle straps than paws, so I change back to my human form, crouching down to get the horrible muzzle off of Sin’s mouth. Cassie hurries inside a moment later and quickly does the same for Lyall.

“H-hang on, Sin — nngh — sorry these are fiddly. Did they hurt you?”

She draws in a shaky breath as she shakes her head, gasping as I finally get the muzzle off her.

“Nmmgh—ah! H-Harv…”

Tears fill her eyes as she half-hugs me. “I-I will be fine, are you—”

“Don’t worry, we’re okay—Cassie, did you get—”

“No, thankfully. I can’t say the same for them though,” she adds with a tiny smirk, “There you go, Lyall — can you stand?” “Nngh, th-think so…” The smaller boy leans against her a little for support, whilst I allow Sin to hold my hand so I can pull her to her feet. “L-let’s just get out of here already.”

“Yeah, we need to find Mom and the others,” I agree, “but we need to move quickly!” Despite the tired and abused state of our friends, we make good progress out of the cabin, starting back towards the forests, holding onto each for—

“There! They’re over there! GET THEM!”

I shoot a terrified glance over my shoulder, eyes widening in horror. The hunters are back on their feet, spreading out to give chase, like prey—!

“Oh God—come on, stick together, hurry!” Cassie hurriedly leads us away. We scramble through the trees, desperately trying to avoid them, keeping to the paths, stumbling along as fast as we—

“AGH!” My hackles — well, the hairs on the back of my neck — shoot up at Sin’s familiar panicked shriek.

“S-Sin?!” Even in my human form I throw myself onto all fours, backtracking down the previous path. I immediately spot her bright red hair being tossed about frantically as she struggles and pulls against the metal teeth biting into her ankle. I instantly recognise it from my lessons with Annika.

“Wh-what happened?!”

Cassie and Lyall are close behind me. All four of us drop down next to her. I pale a little, especially as the blood matches her hair as it drips down her ankle.

“Th-that’s a hunter’s trap — a bear trap! It’s got her!”

“Not if we can get her out! Harv, give me a hand!” It takes a lot of pulling and prying at the trap to free her foot from its clutches. The entire time the hunters are getting closer, gaining on us. The leaves crunch under their boots. A few gunshots even sound, as if to scare us out of hiding.

“Come out come out wherever you are~”

I hold back a frightened whimper, instead focusing on helping Sin twist out of the trap.

“I-it’s okay, Sin, you’ll be okay. We’ve got you — c-come on!”

She’s in a lot of pain. I can tell that instantly — but she puts on a brave face as always and bites through it. Finally, the trap opens with a sickening squelch, allowing her to writhe out. Her pained cries tear at my chest, my ears falling down as I squeeze her hand, trying to comfort her. “Th-that’s it, we’re okay, we’re all going to be okay — r-right, Cassie?” “I…y-yeah. We’ll be just fine, Harv.”

Her voice shakes ever so slightly despite her confident stance, especially at the sound of another gunshot. “W-we need to keep going. I’ve got Lyall — can you take Sin?”

“Of course I can. I-I’ll carry her on my back!” “Nngh — th-thanks, Harv…”

“Don’t thank me yet, the bad guys are still close — hang on, it might get hairy.”

Closing my eyes, I allow myself to change once again, assuming my wolf form to make it easier for Sin to ride on my back. Her fingers rest against my fur, clinging to it like a lifeline for support as I quickly patter after Cassie and Lyall. I lose track of how long we’re stuck in that forest, or how long we limp and run to get away from our pursuers. My heart is pounding the entire time. Fear spikes through me every second — just like back with the aliens — but eventually…we make it out. We lose the hunters and we find the same cave we took shelter in on the first night. By now, the sun is already starting to set. Even my legs start to shake.from exhaustion as I sink down to the ground.

“W-we made it,” I pant, starting to change back, “Now all we have to do is find where everyone else went right?”

Cassie nods to me tiredly, although the relief is clear on her face as she helps Lyall sit down.

“No telling where they could be,” he murmurs, running a hand over his face. “And something tells me those guys won’t give up easily. Th-they talked about selling us on, about the things they would do to us—”

“W-well they won’t be doing that now! You and Sin are all safe and—Sin?” I suddenly notice…how quiet she is. 

O-oh no…

Getting a bad feeling, I quickly shuffle over to her, noting the sweat beading her forehead and the way she shivers on the ground.

“C-cold…”

“D-don’t worry, you’ll be—”

I cut myself off as I finally get a better look at her foot. Scarlet streams out from the now open wound. A few small particles glint from inside of it, trapped, clear liquid seeping out from the glistening layers of exposed flesh. A panicked howl escapes me.

“Oh no—C-Cassie!” “Harvey what—o-oh crap.”

She covers her mouth, dropping to her knees beside me as she takes in the state of Sin’s bloody injury. “I-it looks infected…”

Oh no, that’s bad — isn’t it?

“I didn’t think the wound was that bad…”

Cassie just stares at it, gritting her teeth.

“Harvey, we need to dress it—Harvey!”

“I-I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s not your fault — but we need to clean it now before she gets sick.  Can you find something?” “I-I’ll try!” I don’t waste another second as I scamper away. My nose is put to immediate use, sniffling around for any plants or supplies that could be used to help cover her wound. It takes a good few minutes, but I finally find some sturdy leaves to use as a makeshift dressing, as well as some of our spare drinking water to clean it. As I bring the items to Cassie, she sets to work in using them on Sin, gently soothing her pained murmurs.

“Shhh, it’s okay. Y-you’re doing great, Sin.”

“Nngh…I-I want to go home…”

“Y-yeah, me too. I want Mom.”

I can’t help but sniffle faintly as I curl my tail around myself in shame. “I-I’m sorry. I should have realised something was wrong.”

In response, Cassie starts…gently stroking my head. Her eyes are soft and teary behind her glasses.

“D-don’t say that, Harv. You — you’ve been so brave today. You helped get them out — without you I…I-I don’t think we’d have made it.”

Me…brave? I can only stare at her in disbelief, a few tears stinging my eyes.

“You…y-you really think so?”

“Definitely,” Cassie nods with no hesitation, “We’re so lucky to have you with us, Harv.”

For the first time all day, I manage an encouraging smile, closing my eyes and leaning into Cassie’s gentle strokes.

“Th-thanks, Cass.”

“Anytime — although the temperature will start dropping soon.”

“Yeah, we’ll need some firewood or something,” Lyall coughs from the other side of the cave, “Unless we want to freeze our asses off out here.”

Tilting my head in his direction, I bear my teeth into a confident smile.

“I’m on it.”

Working quickly, I gather just enough logs for us to make a fire. Once it’s flickering away, the four of us huddle around it for warmth, staring up at the beautiful starry sky outside of our cave. The whole time I keep my ears alert, listening out for the faintest howl that might be from Mom. I hear nothing all night, even when the fire is put out and we snuggle up to sleep. By that time my confidence is fading quickly. Sin is becoming a little drowsy and feverish,  Lyall is absolutely exhausted and Cassie’s eyes are filled with helpless tears.

If we don’t get out of here soon then Sin will get sicker. We could all get sick — a-and then the hunters might catch up — and then—th-then…

 Similar tears soon crawl down my own face as I close my eyes for an unsettled night, no doubt to be plagued by nightmares of the aliens.

P-please find us soon, Mom.

[deejadabbles]

hi deeja! song for writing prompt: somebody else by the 1975!!

Send me a song and I'll write something for it's ~vibe~

My brain heard those first lyrics and went "Oh, pain and heart ache? Guess I'm going to put Echo through torture :) :) :)" Thank you for this, I think I actually needed to dive into some angst ;w;

Warnings for: just general heartbreak, past relationships, mentions of physical and emotional torture and explorations of trauma (takes place right after Echo's rescue), and no happy resolutions

Echo's head was still spinning.

After the harrowing escape from Skako Minor, his body was depleted, aching in a bone-deep emptiness he couldn't explain. His mind, his soul, felt like they were out of his body, hovering in empty space.

Hovering in that endless void of numbers and calculations.

"No, stop, don't go there. You're safe- you're out! Rex came back for you, Rex saved you! Everything was going to be okay."

That's the thought Echo forced into his mind. And it helped that Kix was there, by his side. The medic was a godsend. He hadn't needed to say anything, about the droids, about how feeling their cold metal on his skin made him want to scream and throw up and cry and shut down all the same time. Echo didn't need to explain, Kix had sent them out of the med bay immediately and it was only warm, human hands that examined him, that cared for him.

Even still, as he lay on the hospital bunk, he couldn't help but yearn for a certain pair of careful hands. Of loving hands. Hands that always knew how to soothe him.

"Kix," his voice barely sounded like his own, raw and sore, "I need a comm link."

The medic, who had been looking at his vitals like a hawk, met his eyes, "What's that?"

"I need to contact her, need to tell her I'm okay." 'Need to hear her voice, need to tell her I love her'

Something in the way Kix's face slid into something somber put him on high alert, like sensing a hidden enemy. Echo's body tensed as he watched Kix set his data pad aside. The look in the medic's eyes, the way he stepped towards Echo, it was like he was scared of spooking an injured tooka.

"I...don't think that's a good idea, vod."

"Why?" he didn't mean for it to come out like a growl, but there were a thousand different thoughts running through his head now. Were you okay? Was there some reason Kix didn't trust him to contact you? Was-

"Echo." Kix's tone was firm, but not unkind, and maker, the sadness and pity in his eyes made Echo want to scream. "Brother, you were gone for a long time."

'No.'

"We- everyone thought you were dead...."

'No!'

"...She thought you were dead, for a long time."

Ringing filled his ears, drowning out whatever Kix said next. His soul felt like it was drifting again, mind fading to black as realization bombarded him all at once.

Of course you had moved on. Why wouldn't you? Why would you hold on to a ghost? To a corpse?

Why would Echo be allowed any shred of his old life?

It was just another loss. Another thing they had taken from him. Another part of him that was sawed open and ripped from his person, like his limbs, his mind, his humanity.

After all this, how could he have hoped that he could still have you?

~*~

The Bad Batch was rarely on Coruscant, according to Hunter, but their ship was in need of repairs and here they were.

When Echo had mentioned a few adventures he and the 501st had at 79s, the others insisted they show him this spot, eager to unwind during their rare shore leave.

Echo was already a few drinks in when Crosshair goaded him into being the one to get their next round. "If that scomp limb doesn't get the barkeeps attention nothing will," he had said, eyeing the extremely crowded bar. Echo wanted to say Wrecker was sure to get more attention, but decided he'd take the chance to stretch his legs.

He was just in the middle of waving someone down when he saw it.

Echo would recognize that jacket anywhere, it was one of your favorite things in the world, your statement piece, and so distinctly you.

You.

You were on other side of the bar, and he felt like an idiot. How could he not think he'd run into you here? How could he have agreed to come when he knew this was your go to nightly spot?

How could he risk seeing you with him.

You were smiling, laughing at something he whispered into your ear, his arm wrapped around you warmly. You were smiling and laughing in the way Echo used to make you smile and laugh.

His body felt too tight all of the sudden, warm and sweaty and shaky, and before he knew it, Echo was bursting out the door, his body moving- running of its own accord.

Echo hadn't been aware enough to realize that you had spotted him too, not until he stopped in his tracks at the sound of your angelic voice.

Again he was moving as if someone else was controlling his body as he turned. There you were, backlit by the neon lights of the city, eyes wide, fist clenched over your heart, and your whole body was shaking.

You looked just as perfect as he remembered. More so, even.

"Echo," emotion broke the name in half when you said it, and Echo felt his body come alive. "Echo, is that really you?"

This was wrong, this was all wrong.

You were out of his reach, out of his life, gone. You were the past he couldn't wallow in. You were the love and touch and body he wasn't allowed to want. Your love and touch and body were somebody else's now.

And it wasn't fair of Echo to ruin that for you, or for that somebody else.

As much as it pained him, if you showed any signs that your heart was still his, Echo would break it, right here.

That's all he could do, for your sake, for his, and for that somebody else.

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic Cyber Revolution, Entry 52: The Chaos Emerald Caper

''At a headlong speed that I can't hold back, the familiar town turns into a diorama. I break through the opaque sky, blowing past the doubts and displeasures. Who needs an adventure that goes by the book? Even when lost or quivering, raise the bar!''

– Mikakunin Hikousen (Unidentified Airship) by Digimon Adventure: (2020)

xXxXxXx

E-105 Zeta, who had fortunately evaded being stuck in a stationary upgrade, was currently exploring Souto, the southern side of Neos City and walking parallel to Cosmo River that passed through the city. He was following a signal that led him to the bank of the river, taking note that the Chaos Emerald was very close by. What Zeta didn't expect was the fact that there was no one there to stop him. If Dr. Eggman's warnings were to be believed, he would've encountered some kind of resistance, mainly from Team Neos, but aside several Irregular Hunters, who had been patrolling the area and got into a fight with the Egg Keepers, he didn't come across anyone.

Therefore, it wasn't that hard to find the red Chaos Emerald and send it to Dr. Starline as per orders. Still, the question remained – what happened to the resistance?

xXx

Team Chaotix, who actually was supposed to go to Souto after Knuckles, Lily and Tikal left for the Master Emerald hunt, were busy with fighting E-106 Eta, who wasn't yet down for the count. Charmy flew around Eta, trying to dodge around the robot, keeping him occupied, only for the metallic arms to be grabbed by Vector who chewed right through them and snapped them off. Finally, Espio drove a kunai into the robot, ending it for good.

''Seems like Eta had been pretending to be down when Knuckles beat him up,'' Vector said, inspecting the robot.

''It was just a distraction, making us lose the time we'd need to get to Souto,'' Espio added, furrowing a brow.

''We need to hurry up then!'' Charmy panicked. ''We can't let them get to the Chaos Emerald!''

''You're right, Charmy, but…'' Vector activated the AR Visor Knuckles gave him, showing the screen that displayed the positions of all of the Chaos Emerald. ''Unfortunately, we're too late. The Chaos Emerald at Souto is gone, and there are three of them at Sentoraru now.''

''I sincerely hope that Lucas and Sonic found the one at Sentoraru. We should get this one to them,'' Espio said. With the team agreeing on the plan, they quickly made their way to Sentoraru.

xXx

Sonic spin-dashed into Metal Sonic, knocking him away. Unfortunately, after getting the message from Tails and Warren about them losing the Chaos Emerald, he immediately got attacked by Metal Sonic once again. His metallic counterpart was relentless, not giving a damn that Sonic wanted to focus on finding the Chaos Emerald. The two entered a race battle, speeding down the street as Sonic took sharp turns to shake off Metal Sonic. Unfortunately, that wasn't as easy, as Metal Sonic was stubbornly persistent. Sonic also didn't want to se Chaos Surge so early on, figuring he would need it to fight Chaos, so he had to defeat Metal Sonic on his own. There was a silver lining to this situation, as he knew that Tails and Warren were on their way from Erekiteru to help him and Lucas. However, for now, he had to figure things out on his own.

Luckily, I am really good at that.

Sonic rushed into an alley and bounced off between buildings, startling Metal Sonic who lost him for a moment, only to get hit by Sonic's drop dash from above, nailing him into the asphalt below. Sonic then quickly sped off, while Metal Sonic recovered, pissed off that he was caught off guard so easily and followed his arch-enemy. Sonic saw Metal Sonic following him and upon entering a another street, panicked when he realized that this one was actually crowded. Both hedgehogs weaved around the bystanders, with Sonic gritting his teeth as he tried to lead Metal Sonic away from innocent people. Fortunately for him, it seemed that his robot counterpart was only fixated on him rather than hurting any of the civilians.

Then, Sonic came to a sudden halt before he could run over Loki, who was patrolling the street with his fellow Irregular Hunters.

''Sonic?'' Loki was surprised to see the azure hedgehog, but also not too shocked about the encounter. As a matter of fact, he already expected that he would come across him.

''I'm sorry, Commander, but I'm currently busy with something,'' Sonic quickly said, only for his ear to flicker when he saw Metal Sonic preparing to shot at him. Sonic and the Hunters scattered, and Metal Sonic charged into a hand-to-hand combat with Sonic, ending up grappling the latter and throwing him away, with Sonic hitting the ground hard. Metal Sonic attempted to go after him, only to be stopped by the Hunters, who pointed their weapons at him. Loki used his scanner on Metal Sonic.

''So, you're an Irregular,'' he muttered.

''He's not the aggressive type of Irregular you have encountered before,'' Sonic said, getting on his feet, with Loki turning to him.

''I had already assumed that that would be the case,'' Loki replied.

''Leave Metal to me. North of this area are Badniks – Eggman's robots – that are causing havoc,'' Sonic said, pointing at the said direction. Loki stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

''Stand down! We need to go north!'' Loki commanded, drawing some looks of surprise from his fellow Hunters, but they still went ahead with his order. As for Sonic, he shot a glare at Metal Sonic and then started to run, looping back towards where Lucas and Ferra were searching for the Chaos Emerald. Unfortunately for him, they weren't alone there, as he was punched by E-100 ZERO just as he entered the area.

''Sonic!''

Sonic shook his head, his ears ringing as he tried to come to, barely registering Lucas' presence. As it turned out, during his absence, Starline, Chaos 1 and ZERO had managed to make their way over, with Starline holding the red Chaos Emerald in his hands. He laughed when he saw what ZERO had done, pleased with the result.

''That was quite a surprise, wasn't it?'' Starline mocked Sonic, throwing the Chaos Emerald towards Chaos 1. ''Let's see how you'll handle battling Chaos 2!''

Chaos 1 absorbed the red Chaos Emerald, becoming much taller and muscular. He had gained a broader chest, wider shoulders, larger hands and more muscle-toned limbs. He had also gained gray bones in both his arms that traveled down his shoulders into his hands where each of the Chaos Emeralds were embedded. His head had as well moved forward and the horns on his back head had move up on the sides of his head to give him a hammerhead-style look. Sonic stared down at Chaos 2 and ZERO, realizing that he was in trouble. If a Chaos Surge-powered Metal Sonic joined them in this battle, he was done for.

Suddenly, a powerful blast of energy hit ZERO, damaging the head. To Sonic's surprise, Metal Sonic suddenly stood in front of him, facing Starline, Chaos 2 and the damaged ZERO. Starline's beak dropped, as he was completely shocked that Metal Sonic would actually attack his own team.

''What was that for?! Are you crazy?!'' Starline shouted furiously at Metal Sonic, whose red eyes glowed as he glared at the opposition, ZERO in particular.

''Well, what did you expect?'' Ferra suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention. ''Metal Sonic was in the middle of the battle with his arch-enemy and you interrupted it. I believe that was deserved.''

''So, does this mean that we could team up?'' Sonic asked as he got up, grinning happily, only for Metal Sonic to suddenly turn around and glower at him. Sonic gave him a sheepish look. ''Okay, okay, forget that I ever asked that.''

xXx

''Well, that was to be expected,'' Dr. Eggman commented when he saw what Metal Sonic had done to ZERO. Surprisingly, he sounded more amused than upset about the fact that one of his E-100 Series robots had been damaged by his Enforcer.

''Err, Boss, aren't you angry that Metal Sonic had attacked one of your robots?'' Orbot asked.

''No, I'm not,'' Eggman replied, a little surprised to admit it. ''The E-100 Series has only one task – gather the Chaos Emeralds and destroy everyone in their path.''

''That's two things, Boss,'' Cubot chimed in, only to go quiet when Eggman shot him a glare.

''Regardless,'' Eggman then continued. ''They have their task, and they will complete it or get destroyed themselves. So long as the main goal is completed, I don't care. If ZERO decides to get in Metal Sonic's way, that's his own problem. Metal Sonic is currently the more valuable asset here, considering how he can easily keep up with Sonic.''

''Well, it seems that so far, we're not doing bad… when it comes to destroying the E-100 Series,'' Orbot said, pulling up a monitor for Eggman to see. ''Beta, Delta and Eta are destroyed, and Epsilon and ZERO are badly damaged. Gamma and Theta have engaged in a battle and Zeta is currently returning from Souto.''

''What about Omega?'' Cubot asked.

''I don't think we should count him,'' Orbot replied. Eggman hummed in thought, rubbing his chin.

''Three E-100 Series robots have been destroyed, two are damaged and three are functional, for now. We have two Chaos Emeralds, Team Neos and their allies have three, one is held by those traitors, Mephiles and Toshiro, and one is missing. Frankly, the current situation could've be much better,'' Eggman said, getting up. ''Prepare the EggMobile. Team Neos will be occupied long enough to not notice my presence.''

xXx

''We can't let them escape with the Chaos Emerald!'' Jet shouted, summoning a pair of Bashōsen – banana palm fans – and swung them, sending a powerful wind current towards Shadow, Rouge and Touka. To his annoyance, they scattered, managing to dodge his attack. Jet winded up for another attack, only to nearly get hit by a missile.

''Watch it!'' Rika shouted, when more missiles went after them. Wave summoned a huge wrench, knocking the missiles away alongside Jet, with Storm punching away an Egg Keeper that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

They weren't the only ones who got into a sudden fight with the Egg Keepers, as Shadow, Rouge and Touka were also fighting them. One proper look at their surroundings revealed the reason for the sudden ambush – E-107 Theta had been placed in this area and was firing at them. Both Team Dark and the Babylon Rogues had scattered to evade missiles and confront the Egg Keepers, with Chase, Rika and Arven trying to stay away from the battlefield as they obviously had no way of defending themselves. That is why they were completely shocked to see Touka summoning a Chaos Spear and stabbing an Egg Keeper.

''Watch out!'' Rouge shouted when Theta unleashed a barrage of energy blasts at Shadow, who managed to use his super speed to evade him. Shadow then turned towards Theta, noting that the robot was built like a fort, with enough weapons to vaporize all of them. Rest assured, he wasn't going to let this happen and he had the perfect tool to win this battle.

''Rouge, give me the Chaos Emerald!'' he shouted, drawing Rouge's attention. The bat nodded, kicking another Egg Keeper away before throwing the green Chaos Emerald at Shadow. Shadow was about to catch it, when he was suddenly hit by a stream of air, followed by Jet swooping in and catching the Chaos Emerald instead.

''Don't think that you can beat me- agh!''

''Jet!''

Unfortunately for Jet, he got a bit too close to Theta, getting shot down by the fort-like robot. Fortunately, the only thing that got damaged was Jet's hoverboard, and his ego. The green Chaos Emerald fell out of his hands, with Shadow picking it up and glaring daggers at the green hawk.

''This is not a race nor a game. One mistake, and you will die,'' Shadow told him in a stern tone, with Jet just frowning in response.

Shadow then turned towards Theta, keeping a tight grip on the Chaos Emerald. He took a deep breath, feeling the Chaos Energy surging from the Chaos Emerald into his body, spreading and empowering him with a power comparable to Chaos Surge, if not even stronger. He lifted the Chaos Emerald above his head.

''Chaos Control!''

Time slowed down, practically freezing in the moment. Shadow focused on Theta, drawing power once more from the Chaos Emerald and charged towards the robot, leaving only a streak of orange light as he smashed through the metal and wiring, with the robot becoming riddled with holes. Then, Shadow seemingly vanished.

''Chaos Blast!''

There was a wave of red energy spreading from a hole inside Theta, the explosion completely shattering the E-100 Series robot into pieces. Shadow then appeared in a flash of cyan light right next to Touka and Rouge, with time flowing once again.

''What the-?!'' Chase mouthed, him and the rest of the Babylon Rogues dropping their jaws when they saw how, in one moment, Theta had been attacking them, and in the other, it turned into a crumbling pile of scrapped metal. They turned their attention towards Team Dark, taking notice of Shadow's cold glare. The hedgehog was clearly still annoyed about the interference.

''What do we do now?'' Arven asked, him, Storm, Rika and Wave looking at Chase and Jet.

''I'm not giving up yet!'' Jet stated, still pissed off about losing the Chaos Emerald. Chase, on the other hand, was a bit more attentive to what was going on.

''Honestly, I think we should just let it go,'' he said, much to everyone's surprise. ''That was one of Eggman's robots. Do you really want to get involved fighting more of those?''

This seemed to have forced the rest of the team to actually shut up and think about what they were about to get into, and yeah, they had to agree that dealing with Eggman would be too much of a hassle. Nevertheless, Chase was curious about one thing – the fact that Touka somehow had access to Chaos Powers; but he doubted that she would tell him how that happened. Still, he figured that he could get an answer to a different question.

''Fine, you won,'' he said, clearly irritated. Touka, Shadow and Rouge gave him a curious look as he continued, ''What is even going on? Why is a Chaos Emerald here?''

Touka, Shadow and Rouge exchanged glances, clearly mixed on whether to tell them anything, with Touka then looking up. ''Have you ever heard of Sonic Adventure? That's what's going on.''

''What?!''

Before he could even ask more questions, Shadow, Rouge and Touka suddenly vanished in a flash of light. As for Chase, he got confused looks from Jet, Wave and Storm.

''What was she talking about?'' Jet asked. Chase sighed.

''It's a long story.''

xXx

''Well, this at least explains why we saw the Sonic Adventure locations,'' Lily said, with light orb Tikal floating next to her, observing Knuckles as he climbed Red Mountain to get to the Master Emerald Shard that was stuck on a cliff. As it turned out, the Master Emerald Shards were stuck within the AR Fields, which took on the form of the Sonic Adventure locations once they entered them. Meanwhile, Knuckles had managed to grab the Shards, leaping off and gliding towards the two.

''I believe that those were all the Shards I could find here. We should go to the next location,'' he said, the Master Emerald Shards turning into data particles and vanishing. The fact that such a powerful artifact was made out of data certainly made it easier for him to carry around. He then closed his eyes, focusing on the Master Emerald Shards' energy signature, as instructed by Tikal, and followed it into the next AR Field.

They had to admit that they were surprised that they ran into absolutely no resistance, but figured that neither Starline nor Eggman cared enough about the Master Emerald since they wanted to power Chaos up, not seal him away.

''It seems like Eggman forgot what the Master Emerald can do,'' Lily commented as they walked through Casinopolis. ''We can use it to nullify the power of the Chaos Emeralds before Chaos even reaches his Perfect Form.''

''I sincerely apologize for Chaos causing so much trouble,'' Tikal said. ''I wish I could've done something to prevent Chaos from attacking Neos City.''

''But, you did,'' Knuckles pointed out. ''You found us and told us about the Master Emerald, and you're now helping us find it. Besides, I'm confident that our friends will be able to hold back Chaos until we return.''

The orb started glowing stronger, and Knuckles and Lily got the impression that Tikal was smiling warmly at them, thankful for their help.

''Not to mention, this isn't the first nor the last time we'll get roped into another adventure,'' Lily added. She then sighed. ''Too bad we cannot spend more time at these locations. I would've loved to explore them more.''

''You only want to try your luck at the casino,'' Knuckles said, with Lily snorting in amusement.

''It would probably be the only casino where I'd be allowed to go at my age,'' she replied. ''I'd be up for playing some pinball.''

xXx

''What do you two want?'' Makoto growled, him and Silver glaring at Toshiro and Mephiles. He knew that they were in trouble, mainly because Toshiro and Mephiles were holding onto the cyan Chaos Emerald. ''Don't tell me that you're here to aid Dr. Eggman.''

There was a suddenly flash of light, with Toshiro and Mephiles disappearing from the building and appearing on the street right before Makoto and Silver, with Toshiro taking a step towards them. ''If you really think that we are still working as the Doctor's Enforcers, you're severely mistaken. We have stopped working for the Doctor a long time ago.''

''Then, why are you here?'' Silver asked, his hands lined with cyan psychic energy.

''We're here to take part in the inevitable mayhem,'' Mephiles replied. ''We want to watch the destruction of Neos City and the… No!''

Both Mephiles and Toshiro were shocked by Makoto's brazenness, as the teenager, who was still empowered by Chaos Surge, attempted to use the psychokinesis to yank the Chaos Emerald out of Toshiro's hand while Mephiles was still talking. Fortunately for them, it slipped out of his hand, falling on the street, but to their dismay, Mephiles reacted, firing a barrage of crystal spikes towards Makoto, forcing Silver to raise a barrier to defend himself and his partner.

Both sides stared for a moment at the Chaos Emerald, with Mephiles and Silver then charging towards it. The grey hedgehog was startled by a wall of fire, shielding himself with his psychokinesis, but when he looked back, he only saw crystal spikes.

''Behind you!'' Makoto shouted, his eyes glowing as he put up another barrier between Silver and Mephiles, who rose out of Silver's own shadow and attempted to stab him through his back. He then ran towards the Chaos Emerald, having taken notice of Toshiro trying to get to it while their partners were fighting.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed that Toshiro and Mephiles had predicted this battle way ahead of them, because Toshiro's eyes glowed dangerously and a barrage of crystal spikes appeared before Makoto like a barrier. Toshiro was about to pick up the Chaos Emerald, when it suddenly flew up and went over to the other side of the street. Toshiro narrowed his eyes, glaring daggers at Makoto, who just gave him a smug smirk in response. ''That's what happens when you fight a psychic.''

As for the Chaos Emerald itself, it landed right between Mephiles and Silver, whose fire wall and psychic wall clashed, leaving both of them struggling as they attempted to overpower each other. The two walls suddenly dissipated, leaving both of them gasping for air, albeit in Mephiles' case, he refused to show any weakness. Both of them then spotted the Chaos Emerald between them, and Silver dived after it, only to hit the ground as the Chaos Emerald vanished inside a black hole that appeared below it, then re-appeared in Mephiles' hand.

Mephiles laughed, towering over Silver who was lying on the ground, lifting his head up to glare at his opponent. ''It would be a waste for you use the Chaos Emerald simply to stop Chaos from destroying Neos City. For someone who wishes to protect the future, you're far too short-sighted.''

''I have promised my friends that I will also protect the present,'' Silver said in a determined tone, getting up on one knee. Mephiles' eyes sparked, and his tone and look gave off a sense of intrigue.

''Is that so? Perhaps, I can offer you an opportunity to do both. All I would need is another Chaos Emerald,'' Mephiles said, watching Silver as he stood up.

''What are you talking about?'' Silver asked.

''Have you ever heard of Dual Chaos Control? It is a technique in which two near-simultaneous instances of Chaos Control create a space-time rift, which allow someone to travel through time and space,'' Mephiles explained, smirking when he saw Silver's eyes widen in surprise.

''You mean…'' Silver trailed off, staring at the Dark in disbelief.

''Indeed. If you had another Chaos Emerald and someone willing to help you, you could finally travel back to your own future. Isn't that what you desire? To see whether your future had changed for the better?'' Mephiles continued. ''Don't you wish to see your friends?''

Silver stared at the Dark, seemingly frozen on the spot. After the shattering of the beacon, he had given up on the idea of being able to return back to his future, and to see Haru and the others again. He remained silent, wondering if it would be really possible to go back to his own future and witness it prosper, safe and secure from any dangers. Mephiles, realizing that Silver wasn't answering, decided to continue his proposal, as he figured that this way, he wouldn't have to fight him and instead deprive Team Neos of a powerful ally.

''Everything you need is right here. As a matter of fact, I could help you with the Dual Chaos Control and send you to where you belong,'' Mephiles added. Silver lowered his head.

''You would send me to where I belong…'' he repeated, his eyes obscured. Mephiles nodded, figuring that his plan was coming to fruition.

''Yes,'' he said, getting closer to Silver, not noticing the latter's hand clenching into a fist.

''I belong here!'' Silver suddenly shouted, his eyes sparking with cyan energy, and a scrap of metal came flying towards Mephiles, forcing him to leap back, but the Chaos Emerald got suddenly knocked out of his hand, rolling away. ''Even if I could freely travel back to my future, I won't abandon my friends so easily!''

Silver was relentless, using the scraps of the destroyed Egg Keepers to attack Mephiles and keep the pressure. Mephiles then disappeared into the shadows, appearing again at Silver's side and summoned a crystal spear, attempting to stab Silver, but was pushed away thanks to a wave of psychic energy. Makoto ran up to Silver, having protected him earlier, and the two looked around, confused.

''Where is the Chaos Emerald?'' Makoto suddenly asked, a question that also caused Mephiles and Toshiro to pause. The four looked towards where it had rolled away, but found nothing but the still barely functioning remains of Epsilon. Mephiles rushed over, tearing what remained of the E-100 Series robot apart, but the Chaos Emerald was nowhere in sight.

''It couldn't have just vanished!'' he growled. Toshiro, who had joined him, examined the scraps.

''Honestly, I wouldn't put it past the Doctor to come up with a way to transport the Chaos Emeralds without having to be near them,'' he said. Makoto and Silver exchanged glances, both dismayed as the realization slowly dawned on them.

''We lost the Chaos Emerald.''

xXx

Sonic was breathing heavily, being forced to dodge both Metal Sonic and Chaos 2's attack, with the latter having an enhanced hydrokinesis ability that allowed him to produce water over a huge area. His punched were even more powerful, leaving deep cracks in the ground where Sonic stood only moments earlier and whenever Sonic attempted to fight back, he would generate an energy shield that couldn't be bypassed. It was maddening to fight like this, and that didn't even include the fact that Metal Sonic and a damaged ZERO were also hot on his heels.

''Time to end this!'' Starline grinned, allowing Metal Sonic and Chaos 2 to attack Sonic, only for the latter to be quickly pulled back by Lucas who came in flying on the hoverboard.

''This won't work! We have to use Chaos Surge if we want to have a chance,'' Lucas said, holding Sonic so he wouldn't fall off. He knew that it was a bit too soon to use Chaos Surge, but five against two really lowered their chances of getting out of this mess, let alone winning. Even if Ferra and Starline hadn't joined the battle and ZERO was damaged, they still had to deal with the fact that they could jump in any time.

''I hate to say it, but you're right. Hope you can endure this a bit longer,'' Sonic told Lucas, who nodded.

''Chaos Surge!''

Ferra, who had taken a position on a nearby building, frowned as he saw the Chaos Surge between the two, which enhanced Sonic's speed and power and allowed Lucas to fight back. She wondered if she should interfere and use Chaos Surge with Metal Sonic, even if the odds were in their favour. Admittedly, she wasn't opposed to taking risks either and Metal Sonic was doing fine on his own so far.

''Huh?'' Ferra was surprised when her AR Visor suddenly buzzed, getting a message from Dr. Eggman. She rose an eyebrow at the order, with the Doctor demanding that she and Metal Sonic abandon this battle and go seek out Team Dark, who had defeated Theta and were still in the possession of a Chaos Emerald. ''I suppose it cannot be helped. If Shadow has the Chaos Emerald, he's nearly unstoppable.'' She got on her hoverboard, shouting, ''Metal, we're leaving!''

Metal Sonic suddenly stopped in his tracks, turning to her with a confused look. Clearly, he wanted to continue the battle only he completely defeated Sonic and he knew Ferra understood that, so he was surprised that she told him to leave. As for Sonic, he allowed himself a moment to breathe. Despite being empowered by the Chaos Surge, that still didn't mean that he was getting tired.

''Don't worry, you'll get another opportunity to fight Sonic, but currently, we have orders to be somewhere else,'' Ferra flew up to Metal Sonic on her hoverboard, only for both to get startled when Starline slammed his hands against the EggMobile controls.

''Wait, did the Doctor contact you?!'' he shouted incredulously.

''Of course he did,'' Ferra replied, smirking when she saw how upset he was. ''Why are you so upset?''

''If the Doctor needs help, he should've contacted me!'' Starline demanded, glaring at Ferra.

''So, you're going to just abandon your grand plan?'' Ferra responded, quite amused. Starline gritted his teeth, hating to admit that she was right. As the two left, and Starline focused back on Sonic and Lucas, he was caught off guard by Chaos 2 suddenly writhing in pain, with sparks flying from a gadget inside him.

''What? What happened?!'' Starline's beak dropped and he stared in shock as Chaos 2 appeared to be electrocuted by whatever that device inside him was. Then, Chaos 2 liquified and vanished inside a nearby street shaft. Starline turned his attention back to Sonic and Lucas, trying to understand what had just happened, only for Sonic to suddenly spin-dash right through ZERO, breaking the robot and turning to Starline.

''You're the only one left, Starline,'' Sonic said in a taunting tone, grinning at the platypus. However, considering things quickly turned around, Starline decided not to take his chances and quickly flew away on the EggMobile.

Sonic took a deep breath, feeling the Chaos Surge power leaving him and his knees shaking. He managed to remain standing, but this battle was incredibly exhausting. He turned around, surprised to see Loki out of all people approaching him and Lucas. ''Heh, thanks for the help.''

''Save it, I was only doing what was necessary,'' Loki replied, with Sonic and Lucas exchanging uneasy glances. ''I will keep this short – I know what you and your friends have done at ARMS and I can assure you that you're not in trouble for anything. I won't reprimand you for fighting either, since you know what you're doing. The only question I have is whether you really had absorbed your partner's BioEnergy?''

Sonic gulped nervously, having to admit that this wasn't a topic he was comfortable talking about. Despite his heroics, he could not only get himself, but Lucas and the rest of Team Neos in trouble for this. Lucas, however, stepped out, and gave Loki a serious look. ''Yeah, he did use my BioEnergy. It's a process we had developed called Chaos Surge, which ensures that we both have full control over it.''

Sonic had to admit that he was impressed seeing Lucas becoming more assertive as he stepped into his leader role, and glanced at Loki, giving him a questioning look. ''What are you going to do about it?''

''As long as you don't show any kind of aggressive tendencies Irregulars usually do, I don't see a reason for me to arrest you,'' Loki replied. ''In fact, from what I've seen, you and your friends are quite invaluable allies.''

''Thanks, I guess,'' Sonic replied. ''Did you do something to Chaos?''

''Since that monster is made out of water, or at least some form of liquid, I just grabbed one of our specialized long-range tasers, set it to its highest voltage and shot it at it. I assume it isn't dead despite the electrocution, am I correct?'' Loki asked.

''You're right,'' Lucas replied. ''It's a long story, but Chaos will be growing stronger and stronger, and if we don't stop him, Neos City will get flooded. We are working on preventing that from happening, but given the situation, I'd have to contact them as see how we should proceed from here. Also, Sonic, you need to rest and recover.''

Sonic opened his mouth about to protest, only to close it. He didn't want to admit it, but he felt exhausted at this point. Having been through a constant chase followed by a battle against three opponents, even with Chaos Surge, left him quite tired and he understood that, if he didn't rest just a little bit, he'd be barely able to move when things get dire.

''You're right,'' Sonic said, nodding in agreement. He decided to leave the next step to Lucas, hoping that his friends were doing better than they did.

xXx

''Ho ho ho ho ho, looks like I had found another Chaos Emerald,'' Dr. Eggman said, grinning as he hovered over a street in his EggMobile, following Team Chaotix as they made their way towards Sentoraru. He was holding the cyan Chaos Emerald, having re-directed Epsilon to send it to him instead of Starline, and decided to pick up another one on his way to Starline and Chaos. ''Fortunately, Zeta is in position. It's time to show these wannabe detectives what happens when you confront the Eggman Empire!''

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#Sonic Cyber Revolution (Masterlist)

[lacependragon]

One of the things I love so much about canon rewrites is taking characters and backstories and tweaking them, slightly, doing the changes I'm interested in, and then butterfly effect-ing my way forward to the first chapter to understand how those changes have affected characters since they first came into their worlds.

It's so much fun to see how it changes people. To see how you can keep their cores but tweak the fine details, play with the public persona, twirl out different relationship threads from the miasma of change and curiosity you've entwined yourself with.

Having Pyrrha be trained by Caroline Cordovin, a character I am likening to a Greek God, a character who takes heavy inspiration from Achilles' mother (in my world) and who desperately wants to be remembered, to create a legacy, in a hero. To be immortalized in her progeny. To never be forgotten. And then to have her be in charge of Argus, to have her push Pyrrha from the start, to take this detail of Caroline Cordovin being in charge of Argus and making her and Pyrrha linked this closely, I've gotten this very interesting Pyrrha. A Pyrrha that is still, at her core, the same kind and loving and loyal and destiny-believing girl we all adore, but who is deeply traumatized, whose insecurities are marked in blood and isolation, and who is desperately lonely to a degree that isn't explored in canon.

80% the same. 20% different. That's what I'm working with, in terms of numbers. It's not an exact science, but it's a feeling - a vibe.

Jaune wasn't allowed to become a hunter because of the death of his grandfather, a trained hunter, when his father was a child. So he had to do things in secret. Different conflict in the family.

Pyrrha's heavy training and the tweaks to the magic system means she recognizes Jaune doesn't have an awakened aura in the locker room. Different starting motivations.

Ruby and Yang have grown up with a four parent household even if two of those parents are gone. Qrow is just as much their father as Taiyang and they treat him as such. Qrow and Taiyang's dynamics, with each other, with their kids, and with the world as a whole, have been tweaked to suit the changes made to STRQ. And considering how little we have of STRQ?

Oh boy did I have some fun.

Ruby Rose has carried around Summer's emblem since the night she left. She took her emblem off her cape and pulled her weapon from it, handing it to Ruby and putting her weapon on her back. She asked Ruby to hang on to it until she got back.

Now Ruby flicks it into the air to summon Crescent Rose. A weapon that protects them better than Mom ever did. But it's bitterness and love and guilt and grief and loyalty and frustration all tied into one. Ruby wonders if Summer knew she wasn't coming back. Ruby wonders if they were the last person Summer ever spoke to. Ruby wonders if they'll ever live up to the legacy of love and kindness and work that their mother left behind.

And as Ruby learns what Summer was to the Ozluminati, as they learn about Salem and Cinder and the Maidens and the Grimm, that weight is only going to grow. Because Summer was thought to be the one to stop Salem. And she's gone.

How do you live up to that?

And how do you convince yourself it's okay to be angry? It's okay to be bitter? It's okay to hate her for leaving you behind while still loving her? How do you choke back those emotions and find a way to speak through them, to explain how you feel?

You don't. So you get a little more frustrated, a little more grumpy, a little more jaded. But you still believe in hope and love and kindness.

And you still want to save everyone. Everyone. No matter what.

"We're here to make it better. So that's what we'll do, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes."

Little changes. A legacy that weighs much heavier from day one. An emblem that represents something from the moment we first see it - literally and metaphorically.

80% same. 20% change.

Jacques went to prison two years ago. The Schnee family is slowly recovering, but a lifetime of trauma can't be undone in two years. Weiss goes to Beacon not just to breathe, not just to find herself, but also to flee the knowing eyes and snide comments of everyone in Atlas. She is protective of her remaining family, fiercely loyal to her mother and her efforts to fix things. She detests her father. Her father is what most people who know about everything see the first time they see her - or so she feels, anyway.

So she's still prickly. She's still got her hackles up. She's still defensive, and frustrated, and a little too caught up in her side of the problem. But can you blame her? She's been picked at and poked at since she was 15 by a world that didn't want to believe her father is a monster. Will always be a monster.

And she carries that every day. Not just in her traumas, but also in the loss of a lot of her eyesight in that eye. In the way she flinches when some men raise their voices and slam their hands on tables. In the way she starts snarling the moment she gets backed into a corner.

Traits Blake recognizes. Traits that slowly get them both to bond. Because yes, they are from opposite worlds, but look at these scars that are the same. Look at these reactions that are mirrors to one another. Bridging the gap through understanding of pain.

80% same. 20% different.

Yeah. That's the thesis of RWBY rewrite changes. That's the vibe.