#Gaston twins

[gabineteolvidado]

I think Gaston would be an awful dad, but the Gaston twins (Gil’s older brothers) would be perfect troublemaking older brothers for him ❤️

I just imagine them teaching baby Gil how to start a fire or how to vandalize things

I wasn't sure with the ages, but I did my best

Gaston Jr. ¦ Gil ¦ Gaston III

Maybe Gaston has many children, but he only kept the boys

[tiredflowercrown]

Shadow’s Keep

Leader: Frédérique ‘Freddie’ Facilier

Co-leader/Second Command: Laura Rourke

Assorted Members: Moira ‘Celia’ Facilier, Gaston ‘Junior’ LeGume the Second, Gaston ‘Trois’ LeGume the Third, Eddie Balthazar, Calista Jane ‘CJ’ Hook (Sometimes)

The Shadow’s Keep runs the territory surrounding both Dragon Hall and the Arcade. The Shadow’s Keep is also the most in control of the black market, this often leaves disputes between them and Dragon’s Blood. 

The Shadow’s Keep is where you want to go if you need anything not typically found in a shop, if you want a warning sent, or if you want someone dead or injured, with Freddie Facilier running the business side and Laura Rourke running the more violent side.

[idontliketomatoesleavemealone]

Claudine, cowering in fear: What do you want from me?! Gaston Jr., standing in front of Claudine: bites into the whole KitKat bar like a heathen Claudine, crying: Please… stop…

[neonpixel-pixie]

RAINBOW CHARACTER PLAYLISTS [ no°1 ]

| orange | yellow |

red.

[ love, power, impulsiveness, determination, passion, danger, aggression, sexuality, confidence, dominance, anger, pain ] → link here

1. TYLER DURDEN from Fight Club

| MR. SELF DESTRUCT by Nine Inch Nails

2. HARLEY QUINN from DC Universe

| PSYCHO by Muse

3. ALUCARD from Hellsing

| BLOODLINE by Slayer

4. KALLEN KOZUKI from Code Geass

| WARRIOR by Helloween

5. CERISE HOOD from Ever After High

| ANIMAL I HAVE BECOME by Three Days Grace

6. MIKURA SADO from Kakegurui

| THE NAMELESS by Slipknot

7. ALASTOR from Hazbin Hotel

| RADIO by Rammstein

8. LIGHT YAGAMI from Death Note

| NO W REDUX by Ministry

9. GASTON from Beauty and the Beast

| MACHO INSECURITY by Dead Kennedys

10. CLAY PUPPINGTON from Moral Orel

| MY WAR by Black Flag

11. AYANO AISHI from Yandere Simulator

| MANIACAL by Cannibal Corpse

12. PATRICK BATEMAN from American Psycho

| FUCKING THE VISCERA by Gorgasm

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[disco-elysium-via-polls]

🎵 Instrument of Surrender

"A beacon of light in the dull shores of mediocrity. You're welcome, Martinaise."

+1 Superstar Cop

GASTON MARTIN - "Oh, uh... Well thank you, officer. It certainly lightened the mood." He laughs nervously. "Very cosy, like a little street fair almost."

Well, now we need to go around and see who has anything to say about the graffito.

TITUS HARDIE - "Hey, it's you again!" He smiles, more than a bit drunk now. "I've been thinking about it and you know what... we're both cops. This city is big enough for two cops."

"Okay..." He looks at the lieutenant. "Three cops. Me, you, and your little friend here."

5. "Can you help me get into the harbour?"

TITUS HARDIE - "Nah, the harbour is in complete lockdown. Evrart's orders."

"Wait, how do *you* get in, then?"

"Okay, got it."

TITUS HARDIE - "We don't. Gonna sit tight, get drunk and mourn our fallen comrades till bossman sends word." He shakes his can. "Times are changing, coppo."

6. "Later, fellas!" [Leave.]

TITUS HARDIE - He gives you a quick two-finger salute.

GARTE, THE CAFETERIA MANAGER - "Is there something I can do for you?"

2. "Did you see the HUGE BURNING graffito outside?"

GARTE, THE CAFETERIA MANAGER - "Yes. Very *responsible*."

"C'mon, you've gotta admit -- it was pretty cool."

"The end has begun."

"I guess you're right, it was pretty irresponsible of me."

"Don't worry. The fire will go out -- soon."

GARTE, THE CAFETERIA MANAGER - "Looked pretty hot to me..." He stops, realizing that this is also a compliment. "At least nothing bad actually happened," he adds with a sigh.

ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - He's so exhausted following recent events, he doesn't even have the energy to really get on your case.

Ok. We have one more thing left to do before we head to the coast.

COUPRIS KINEEMA - Inside you see a set of steering levers, a radio-microphone, a pull-out toolbox, and the soft glow of the fuel pre-heater gauge.

Pick up the radio again.

ALICE - "This is Precinct 57," the operator greets you through the static. "How may I assist you?"

"Precinct 57, we've been attacked. I repeat -- Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi and…"

COUPRIS KINEEMA - Something is wrong. Only static hisses through the speaker.

"Hello?"

COUPRIS KINEEMA - No reply. Only the mindless drone of static, crawling through the air.

KIM KITSURAGI - "It's been this way for a while now." The lieutenant shrugs. "My guess is, the Union is listening in on our conversations -- and jamming outward communications to protect themselves from Krenel."

"It only happens when someone mentions the attack -- the rest is unaffected. Our best bet is to carry on like nothing happened -- that is, if we don't want us cut off the grid completely."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Okay." (Turn off the radio.)

KIM KITSURAGI - "No more dangerous than stepping between three armed mercenaries and eight Union men, I hope." He glances over his shoulder.

"I don't like it either, but that's the way it is. The streets seem safe enough to me. If anything, taking out the mercs made things calmer. For now…" He flicks off the radio. Silence.

+5 XP

"You can try calling again -- just don't mention the tribunal. And remember, they're listening in."

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - They're shutting you up. Silencing you. Don't fucking drop your guard.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Medium: Success] - Everything sounds okay. No drumbeat of total war yet. If anything, everything sounds *too* okay...

COUPRIS KINEEMA - In the cabin you see a set of steering levers, a radio on a hook, a pull-out toolbox and the soft glow of the fuel pre-heater gauge.

Pick up the radio again.

ALICE - "This is Precinct 57," the operator greets you through the static. "How may I assist you?"

2. "Alice, please connect me to the 41st again."

ALICE - "Just a moment, officer..."

JULES PIDIEU - "10-4, come in, officer! Over."

4. "Jules, I've heard that some people think of me as a La Puta Madre's peone... Do you think I'm corrupted?"

JULES PIDIEU - "10-4, sir." There's a pause, as he seems to mull it over behind his enormous radio-microphone. "Well, there's been some talk, sir," he finally says reluctantly.

"Some *talk*? What does it even mean there's been some talk? Do they think I'm corrupt or not?!"

"Does it mean people know that I'm a dirty cop? Because I am. I'm the dirtiest, most dangerous cop in Revachol. My reputation precedes me."

"I want you to know that I would *never ever* do anything like that. I'm not taking bribes, Jules!"

JULES PIDIEU - "I only meant that there's been some talk in the station, that's all. But there's always some talk in the station. You know how officers in Jamrock are..."

"But then again, some of us truly are on the take. It's unfortunate. Over."

Task complete: Are you La Puta Madre's peone?

+10 XP

Well, that didn't clear anything up.

4. "That's all for now." (End call with the 41st.)

JULES PIDIEU - "Roger that. 10-10. Over and out." With those words the cabin becomes silent again, the radio-microphone resting on its hook.

6. Close the door. [Leave.]

SIILENG - "Wow."

"Wow what?"

[Leave.]

SIILENG - "A cop limping down the street, bleeding from the shoulder, face bruised, looking like hell... You know what that is?"

"Cool. That's *cool*." He nods and settles back into the pile of boxes.

2. "I'll leave you to it for now." [Leave.]

BIRD'S NEST ROY - "Between you and me," he looks you up and down, "this is why I don't get involved in local politics."

"You're calling this *politics*?"

"Well, someone has to."

"Yeah, I shouldn't have either."

BIRD'S NEST ROY - "In its purest form. Now, what can I do for you?"

Nothing, Roy. Just checking in.

WASHERWOMAN - "Our tenant, the policeman. I hope the waves don't keep you up at night. What can I help you with?"

"I got shot!"

WASHERWOMAN - "Aye, even *I* can see that. I told you not to bring your trouble with you, policeman. We've got troubles of our own here..."

"Though I suppose you took the worst of it. Turns out you were your *own* ill omen." The woman chuckles to herself.

"This is no time for jokes. Can't you see I'm in pain?"

"I guess you were right. The men with guns were coming for me after all."

WASHERWOMAN - "I'm not sure those were the last of the men with guns, either." She nods. "There are always more coming for your kind, officer."

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Medium: Success] - Then we'll be *ready* for them.

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Man, you're like, bleeding now. Reality's really messed you up."

No new topics to talk about here, just that introduction.

ANDRE - "Oh, the God of Dance is back! I'm dancing with the God of Dance!" He dances over to you, moving in a slightly less lame manner.

ACELE - "Hard-cop." She nods to you with respect and turns off her recording device.

"I got shot in the leg." (Point at your limb.)

ACELE - "Ouch." She looks at your leg. "I did notice you limping, but I thought maybe it was your 'thing' or something..."

"When I was sixteen I used to date this guy who had a limp. But it only showed when he was sober, so I guess it wasn't real or something. I don't know." She shrugs, eyes glazed over…

"Anyway…" She turns back to you. "Shot in the leg… I'm sorry, man, that must suck."

None of the other speedfreaks have anything new to say, so that completes our round of goodbyes. Let's go talk to Lilienne.

🎵 Disco Elysium, Pt 1

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "Officer Harry, what happened? You're limping. Why are you limping? You look terrible."

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Challenging: Success] - You're not *limping*. You're *you*.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - She sounds almost disappointed with you. *Reprimanding* you for falling and hurting your knee.

"You seem angry. Why?"

"I got shot in the foot. It was pretty bad-ass. You would've liked it."

"I'm a cop. I don't merely exist in *this* world -- I live in the *between* life and death."

"Some people hurt me."

"I wanted to talk to you about something else -- your boat."

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "Look at you, you can barely walk!"

"It's nothing."

"I got shot in the foot. It was pretty bad-ass. You would've liked it."

"I'm a cop. I don't merely exist in *this* world -- I live in the *between* life and death."

"Some people hurt me."

"I wanted to talk to you about something else -- your boat."

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "Everyone does that, in a way. You don't have to get shot for that." She waves her hand dismissively.

"What happened to you anyway? We heard gunshots from the town. They were closer than usual."

KIM KITSURAGI - "There was an exchange of fire on Rue de Saint-Ghislaine. It's nothing to be worried about, ma'am."

"You should see the other guys. They're all dead."

"I have a question for you." (Conclude.)

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "So you're a killer." She nods solemnly. "That's good, I guess. I guess... Better than being dead."

"Most cops are killers."

"I was a killer long before this happened."

"I'm not a killer, I'm a cop."

Scoff in a masculine manner.

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "Aye." She nods solemnly. "Not a lot of RCM men who aren't killers."

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - She knew you were one when you took her to Land's End.

2. "I have a question for you." (Conclude.)

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "Of course. Can I help you with something?"

"We need to get to that island." (Point to it.)

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "That won't be a problem. It's windstill -- and the tar just dried." She points to her skiff next to the jetty. "We've got two days of *relative* sunshine ahead."

"Can we borrow your boat?"

"Two days of sunshine? I just got a bacterial infection."

"What's on that island? I saw some kind of ruins through the binoculars..."

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "If you promise to bring it back. And no scraping the hull -- I just got it nice and yellow. And *no* drinking on the boat." Her eyes narrow. "And no joyriding, either."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Of course, ma'am. It's only for a day or two -- official police business."

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "Aye," she nods.

Nod along attentively.

"What if I wanna rock?"

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - The crow's feet disappear from the corners of her eyes, as she smiles at you.

2. "Two days of sunshine? I just got a bacterial infection."

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "I'm sad to hear that. Take care of that with ether, will you? Don't get too many RCM men around here. Be sad to lose the first one."

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - That's cool. You boasting your bacterial infection like that.

3. "What's on that island? I saw some kind of ruins through the binoculars..."

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "Mhm, used to be some kind of fortification there before the war -- for the communards. An anti-aircraft gun, I think. Bombed to bits in the landing... I haven't been there myself -- always steered clear of it."

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - Hasn't been there *herself*... who has then?

4. "You said you haven't been there *yourself* -- who has then? If not you?"

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "My husband used to drink there. Him and his drinking buddies. Always seemed like a bad place to drink to me. People died there during the landing, you know, my mother told me..."

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] - This must be one of the many fortifications that was used in the dying days of the Revolution. Against Coalition forces -- before they took this city.

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - She looks around. "The kids sometimes go there too, I know they do -- on rafts. I tell them not to but they bring back old bullet casings and such."

"Which kids?"

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "The twins." She points to the two kids playing on the concrete yard. "God forbid they bring the girl along on some rickety barge."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Can we maybe ask your twins about that place -- before we go? Would that be all right?"

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "Be my guest." She looks at the boys. "They've a strange way of talking. See if you can get anything *useful* out of them. I seldom do..."

New task: Ask Lilienne's twins about the island

5. "Is there anything I should know about getting there?"

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - "Well -- most of it's sunken. Underwater. That means concrete under water -- cut your boat if you're not careful. Be sure to enter from the south side, water's deep there."

INTERFACING [Medium: Success] - Aye-aye, captain.

6. "Thank you, we'll use your skiff to get there then."

LILIENNE, THE NET PICKER - She nods. "Please be conservative with the fuel, will you? I just filled her up, but it's a small tank."

4. "Be seeing you." [Leave.]

LILIENNE'S TWIN - The scruffy-haired little boy kicks a stone while the other watches him do it.

"Okay kids. You've been to that island, right?"

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "On that island?" The one who's busy kicking his stone points to the bay.

"Yes, that one. I need to know what's there."

"No, some other island. *Of course* that one."

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "That's... uhm... nothing?" The boy pauses to think with his finger in his mouth. "It's just a seafort and some plants. You can take a raft there. It's great."

LILIENNE'S OTHER TWIN - "And! And!" the other one butts in. "We make a fire. We make a... we make a fire."

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "Mhm," his brother nods. "Gather the sticks for the fire -- and bullets. Or not real bullets, empty bullets."

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - Bullet shells? There are a lot of them left over from the war -- but this could be important.

"Wait, you mean *shells*?"

"What then?"

"Mhm." (Nod in agreement.)

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "I don't know what those are..."

"What then?"

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "There are lights. The fire guy comes and asks us to put the fire out."

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - Your nerve endings *sting* from the mention of a *guy*.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - They must mean a human being. On that island? But it's cut off...

"Someone lives on the island?"

"You mentioned something about *lights*?"

"Your father used to go to that island too, didn't he?"

"Is that all you know? Is there anything more you can tell me about the island?" (Conclude.)

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "No," the boy answers, shaking his head vehemently.

LILIENNE'S OTHER TWIN - "Yes." His brother looks at him, then at you.

KIM KITSURAGI - "Let's go with *yes*." The lieutenant raises his eyebrows and whips out his notebook.

2. "Why is he the *fire* guy?"

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "Because.... because..." The boy pauses to think.

LILIENNE'S OTHER TWIN - "Because he asks to put the fire out!" the other explains.

3. "Why does he ask you to put the fire out?"

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "Uhm... I don't know. He doesn't like it. He doesn't like people to be there. You shouldn't go."

LILIENNE'S OTHER TWIN - "Yes," the other one adds laconically, standing with his hands glued to his sides like a little tin soldier.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - Because he doesn't want to be found. Smoke traces...

4. "You mentioned something about *lights*?"

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "I..." starts one of them -- it's hard to tell which one now. "I don't know."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Did you mean there are *electrical* lights?" He points to the streetlight.

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "Uhm... yes." The boy looks at his toes.

5. "Is there anything else you can tell me about this *guy*? Age? Does he live there?"

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "No, he doesn't live there. I don't think."

LILIENNE'S OTHER TWIN - "No, he lives there." The other nods. "He's been there twice, two times."

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "Huh..." The first one pauses to think, then comes to some kind of conclusion. "He doesn't live there. He isn't there sometimes."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Anything else? What does this guy look like?"

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "I don't know," they say almost in unison.

"How come?"

LILIENNE'S OTHER TWIN - "We... we ran. He just yelled we shouldn't be there."

6. "Your father used to go to that island too, didn't he?"

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "Our father killed himself."

LILIENNE'S OTHER TWIN - "Don't say that. He didn't." His brother punches him. The boy's eyes well up like he's about to start crying.

"Your father did not kill himself."

"He killed himself alright."

Say nothing.

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "I don't know..." The boy who made the claim finds himself unsure of it. He looks around.

LILIENNE'S OTHER TWIN - The other watches him, brows knitted. "It doesn't even have anything to do with this, you. Father isn't the fire guy."

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - The two things are *unconnected*. Your question didn't make sense.

7. "Is that all you know? Is there anything more you can tell me about the island?" (Conclude.)

LILIENNE'S TWIN - "There's a..." the boy says, rubbing his eyes. It's clear that he has no intention of finishing the sentence.

Task complete: Ask Lilienne's twins about the island

+10 XP

KIM KITSURAGI - "Lights? Fire guy?" The lieutenant looks at you. "We should check up on that island."

Well, that's that. I guess tomorrow, we have nothing left to do but head to the island.

[infiniteimaginings]

Hello there! I was wondering if maybe you could write something for Carlos de Vil and Chad from Descendants? (if it could be poly, but before they were dating iykwim, I'd be very grateful!) The thing is that the reader is the daughter of Gaston (twin sister to Gil, but she hung out with Mal and her gang when in the isle) and the reader is just everything a "lady should be". (Gaston is her father so she was kind of raised to be a housewife with the strenght to fight for herself given the need). like knows how to cook very well, is very affectionate, always hanging onto their every word (also always holding their hand or hanging from their arm), knows how to sew and definetely loves spoiling them with kisses and affection. And they just have this petty banter of fighting for reader's affection and attention and being this whiny pair of goofballs that just want their girlfriend to pay them attention. And reader is just like so loving with them <333

Playful Competition (Carlos De Vil x Fem!Reader x Chad Charming)

Summary: Your boyfriends love your attention, this is how they get it and react to it. Pronouns: You/Yours, She/Her Warnings: None Word Count: 2.1k A/N: I did like, Reader is dating both of them, but Carlos and Chad aren't dating (yet). I hope that's what you meant. Also, this ended up going into a different direction that I thought it would, it's fluff just, not how I expected the fluff to be lol! Turned more into chad and carlos loving you and arguing over you a bit <3333

Auradon Prep had an amazing tourney team, and they played on a pretty big field where the students of the school could fill the stands and yell for their favorite team members. This isn’t about the team necessarily, it’s about two of the players on said team.

Number twenty three, Chad Charming, and number one hundred and one, Carlos De Vil. Two players who absolutely couldn’t stand each other. They could barely keep their arguments off the field, almost bringing their team down completely, but they knew how to keep it down for that at least.

They argued about everything, nit-picked each other, on and off the field, and found each other's weak spots to hit harder than anywhere else. There wasn’t a moment where the two of them were together that didn’t end with them at each other's throats.

That was until they met you. 

You were light to their dark days, you were the peace to their war, you were everything to the two boys. 

Just because they loved you, didn’t mean their petty arguments ended.

After games they would both wave to you.

Chad would lock his sights on you the moment the game ended. He would give you a small wave and when you noticed he would salute. After saluting he would wink and blow you a kiss that would make your heart flutter.

Carlos on the other hand would search through the stands, whipping his head left and right because out of his own excitement of you being there, he forgot where you were sitting. When he finally met your eyes he would jump up and down, waving his arm energetically in a big wave. 

They argued half the game, but ironically they were standing next to each other after it when waiting for you to approach them. 

When you finally reach through the crowd, you wrap your arms around them, bringing them down a bit so they could hug you with one of their arms. You would give them compliments, kiss their cheeks, praise them, and more.

When you spoke to Chad he would tell you about how the coach praised him for the plays, he would ask you for your opinion on how well he played. You would attach yourself to his arm, looking up at him as he spoke, nodding as he told you about the plays.

When you finished you would look at the energetic boy next to the two of you, ready for him to tell you everything he wants. 

Carlos was practically jumping up and down, asking if you saw him do anything cool, if you cheered for him, how exhilarating it all was. You would ruffle his hair and hold his hands as he spoke with bright eyes, telling him all about how you saw him on the field.

Both boys would wonder who you would walk off with. They wondered that because Carlos hung out with the VKs, and Chad hung out with the other students of Auradon Prep.

How did they convince you to go with them this time?

Chad wrapped his arm around you with a grin, placing a sweet kiss to the lobe of your ear, “The team is having a celebration tonight for the win, wanna go get ready for it with me, Princess?”

Typically, this would win you over, if it was any other day. 

This time you smiled and tried not to lean into him, “Maybe you should shower first and then we could all go together!” You suggested happily, holding both of their hands.

When you looked at Chad, Carlos was behind you sticking his tongue out. He knew Chad was just trying to pull you away for himself, like always, so your suggestion was truly a blessing.

Chad hid his eye twitching with a smile and hummed, “Of course, Carlos come on, we’re sweaty.” He spoke sweetly, putting Carlos in a friendly enough looking headlock, physically removing him from your area.

You waved with a small laugh, “I’ll see you guys at the party!”

This wasn’t a one time event, it would happen every single day. Whether you were picking a partner, wanting to go shopping, studying, etc. They always found a way for it to be only one of them. 

Though they tried their best, sometimes it was the three of you. They couldn’t be mad at it because your smile when all of you were together made it all worth it.

You were currently in the kitchens of the schools, baking something for the two of them to share. You had placed one of the portions into the oven and decided to take a break, sitting down at one of the tables, pulling a sweater out of your bag as well as your sewing kit.

Carlos put his head on your shoulder behind you, “What’re you doing?” He asked you with a small hum, eyeing your material.

You shimmied your shoulder, the feeling of his chin moving tickled you a bit so you really couldn’t help it. “Ben ripped one of those jackets he has to wear to important, fancy parties.” You explained, holding up the royal blue suit jacket encrusted with gold thread and buttons.

Chad flipped through one of your recipe journals as he listened to the conversation from the seat next to you. “You mean the one he wears to balls?”

You nodded and hummed a small, “Mhm!” in response, beginning to sew the large rip closed.

You sewed in silence as the boys watched you, watched as your hands moved with expertise, as you didn’t even break a sweat. 

Chad chewed the inside of his cheek before looking up to your expression, “How long have you had that sewing kit?”

That question broke your concentration a bit, so you placed the tools down. “Since I was young.” You answered with a nod, standing and patting yourself down to check on the baked goods.

“Did your dad give it to you?”

Before you could answer, a gentle smile spread onto Carlos’s face as he watched you. “I did.” He answered for you, and you nodded in response.

“Carlos also got me the cooking set I’m using!”

Chad eyed the colorful cooking set, the mixing bowls, the rolling pins, the cookie cutters, the cutting board, the entirety of the tools you were using. He didn’t know why but he suddenly felt a bubble of annoyance in his stomach.

He let out a small huff, standing up a bit, “Carlos, I need to talk to you really quickly.”

Carlos raised a brow, “Okay? What do you want?”

“Outside.” Chad spoke quietly through gritted teeth, gesturing to you with his head as a signal of sorts.

The white haired boy rolled his eyes and stood, “We’ll be back!” He told you, walking out the door. 

You yelled out an “Okay!” before turning back to your tasks.

The blonde prince followed the VK outside and when Carlos stopped, Chad kept walking, grabbing Carlos by his wrist and continuing on.

Again, just because they loved you, didn’t mean that their petty fights and stupid arguments just ended. That was exactly why the two boys were at the edge of the tourney field, glaring at one another.

“How did you know to get her that?”

“Why wouldn’t I know what she likes?” Carlos asked, crossing his arms and shaking his head. He knew what this was about, it was about that kitchen set he got you. It was a magical cooking set, nothing spilled, nothing stuck to them, it wouldn’t burn or break, he thought you would like it and you did. 

“Reminder, I’ve known her way longer than you have, so I don’t exactly have to wrack my brain to remind myself of what she enjoys.” He told the blonde, his facial expression supporting his unimpressed tone. Carlos had known you for years, since the Isle, he knew you better than almost everyone. He knew you in ways that Chad never would.

Chad tilted his head, “Oh, really?” He asked with a scrunch of his nose, “Yet, I started dating her first.” He spoke with a small smirk, “So, who was it that…” He began to chuckle, “charmed her?” He asked, eyes narrowing.

A scowl began to form on Carlos’s freckled face as he sucked on his teeth. “I know what she likes.” The white haired boy spoke seriously, dropping his arms to his side as he reminded Chad of the true conversation that he was dragged there for, “You want to know how I know?”

“Please, do tell.”

“I knew she liked you.” Carlos told him, putting a finger to Chad's chest, “That’s why you started dating her first,” He spoke lowly, “because I liked her so much, to the point I even helped set her up with you.”

Chad was quiet as he watched Carlos’s expression with furrowed brows. The prince looked the boy in front of him up and down, “You-”

“I don’t need you to try and tell me how you’re better than me.” Carlos interrupted, face blank as he backed up. “You love her, I love her, and she loves us.” He continued on, looking away. “That’s all that matters to me, she loves us and I love her so much.” He sighed out, making eye contact again, moving a hand through his hair. 

Chad tilted his head at the sudden speech but continued to listen regardless, curious of where this would lead.

“I would do anything for her, and if that means putting up with you…” Carlos huffed, “I’d do it for a lifetime, just for her to be happy.”

There was silence between the two, they just looked at each other. Wind blew through the air, causing their hair to move within it, pieces of clothing ruffling a bit, but other than that it was silence.

A sudden sharp intake of breath was sounded from Chad, “I know you love her.” He told the white haired boy, looking to the ground. “I never said you didn’t.”

“Then why do you keep being such a jerk about it?” Carlos asked, looking for an answer in Chads evading eyes. “Reminder, you agreed to this.” He spoke harshly, “If you’re not okay with it anymore, tell her, and we’ll figure something out.” 

“What if she breaks up with y-” Chad couldn’t even finish his sentence when Carlos laughed. His laughter brought Chads eyes to meet his in confusion.

“Then she breaks up with me and is happy with you.” Carlos shrugged, “I wouldn’t hold it against her to choose you.” He continued, rubbing the back of his neck, “I wouldn’t even hold it against you.” Carlos spoke, puffing air out of his cheeks. “I just want her to be happy, and honestly you guys are good together.”

“She’s also happy with you.”

“Didn’t say she wasn’t.”

“Your eyes did.” Chad told him, nodding with his own words.

Carlos blinked his eyes, taking a deep breath before laughing once again. “You caught me.” He told the other in front of him, raising his hands in surrender.

Chad noticed how Carlos’s shoulders slumped down, how his eyes seemed tired. After their little ‘competitions’ he never realized that he might've been making Carlos feel like he had to try harder than he actually needed to. He knew that the freckled boy adored you, but he just now realized that even with Carlos trying his absolute hardest just to get your attention, he had to face Chad. Chad who would act smug after every ounce of affection, Chad who would pull you away, Chad who never even gave Carlos a chance.

Carlos waved his hand in front of Chads face bringing him back to reality, “You can’t just zone out mid conv-”

Carlos suddenly went silent when Chad stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him. The prince’s face was in the shorter boys shoulder, hands squeezing him gently, body warm against him.

“What are you doing?” Carlos asked, hands extended in the air to the sides as Chad continued to hold him. “Seriously, what i-”

“We’re happier with you Carlos.” Chad mumbled into his shoulder, holding him tighter.

“You have got to stop interrupting me.” Carlos told him with a small roll of his eyes until a sudden shock hit him. We’re happier with you…

“We?”

“We.”

Carlos stared forward, blinking as he processed the words and the arms around him. He stared forward as he wrapped his own arms around Chad, as his face buried itself into the tallers shoulder. “I’m happier with you guys too.”

Just because they had had petty arguments and unimportant fights….didn’t mean they didn’t like each other.

[sufferu]

Okay, so. This is actually a rather big spoiler for No Refunds, so imma need all of you to hush up about this one when it comes to the current main fic ;)

Anyway — here’s the first draft of a very essential upcoming scene, for all those who wish to see it.

No Refunds Ficlet: March Away From Omelas

____

The five Royal Selection Camps met inside City Hall. Crusch Karsten, flanked by Ferris Argyle and Wilhelm van Astrea. Felt, attended by Rachins, Gaston, Camberley, and the Sword Saint himself. Anastasia Hoshin, with her personal knight and the Captain and Vice Captains of the Iron Fang. Priscilla Barielle, who had elected to witness the ensuing spectacle alone. And of course — Lady Emilia herself, with Beatrice, Otto, Garfiel, and the Oni twins all standing by her side. With a singular exception, nobody else was allowed within the building: they were alone.

That singular exception stood in the middle of the room, of whom a decision now had to be made.

“…I didn’t do anything wrong,” Natsuki Subaru said uncertainly. Why were they all looking at him like that? He wanted to take a step back, but managed to resist the urge just barely. “Priestella is saved now, isn’t it? And— we’ve taken care of five Archbishops of Sin.”

He was objectively correct, about both of those things. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, the Battle of Priestella had ended with zero casualties thanks to his contributions. There had been structural damage to the buildings of the city, sure, and there had been injuries here and there — bruises, gashes, broken bones — but nothing that had been lethal, and likely nothing that was going to be permanent. And of the five Sin Archbishops that had attempted to siege the city — one was dead, and the other four had been successfully captured, awaiting transport to the capital of Lugunica. Nothing like this had ever been accomplished in recorded history. In every sense of the word, Subaru had pulled off a miracle.

But in order to do it, he had—

“How many times?” Julius croaked. Subaru glanced his way, and froze at the look of devastation on his face. “Subaru — how many times was it?”

“I—” Subaru broke off. There was a long, long silence as everyone waited for him to answer. “…Does it matter?” he finally retorted. “I think the results speak for themselves, don’t they? Everyone’s safe, and everyone’s happy! Isn’t that the only thing that really matters, in the end?”

Otto made an indecipherable noise. Nobody looked at him.

“You didn’t answer us,” Wilhelm growled. The raw anger in his voice made Subaru stiffen. “How many times was it?”

When Subaru didn’t answer, everyone knew it was because he didn’t know.

“What a boorish question,” Priscilla scoffed. She was the only one there who looked relaxed, fanning her face gently as she peered at the lot of them from the side of the room. “Subaru saw that there was danger and rose to the challenge. If he bled for it in the meanwhile, what does it matter?”

“‘What does it matter?’” Felt repeated, her quiet voice already glittering with the warning sparks of her growing rage. “Big Bro just — killed himself, again and again, for OUR sakes, and — and ‘What does it matter?’”

“For Subaru, the ultimate sacrifice is a thing that he can make as many times as he wishes, as a means to an end,” Priscilla answered. “He can accomplish great things with his ability. He HAS accomplished great things, even. If I were his liege, I would be rewarding him for his accomplishments, not stifling his potential.”

“‘Stifling his potential��?” Felt repeated, disbelief coloring her voice red. “You’d call him — him DYING, again and again — you’d call it POTENTIAL?”

“Has he not allowed you to witness a miracle, peasant?” Priscilla returned. “Through his efforts, he has brought about a solution that would otherwise never have come to fruition. This is a thing to celebrate, is it not?”

“It is absolutely not!” Mimi cried out. “Mimi didn’t want this! Mimi didn’t want to survive because — because someone did THIS for her sake!”

Felt took a deep breath, clearly trying to maintain her composure. “…Subaru,” she said, directing her words towards the focus of the conversation. “Do you really think that winning the fight today was worth — this?”

Subaru stared back at her like she had grown a second head. “Of COURSE it was,” he scoffed, as if it were the obvious answer. “I’m just one person, and — not even a particularly valuable one at that.” From the corner of the room, Otto stared at him with growing despair. He didn’t even notice. “Sure, it — it sucked a lot, but I did it, and now everyone’s fine! So of course it was worth it.”

Felt swallowed, trying her hardest not to scream. She folded her hands in front of her — a practiced motion, one Reinhard had instilled into her through hours and hours of those stupid etiquette lessons. “And…” she faltered. “And you would do it again, if you felt that it was necessary.”

Subaru visibly flinched at the suggestion, but quickly moved to answer her. “O-Of course I would!” he insisted, his eyes darting around. Nearby, Crusch and Reinhard both stared at something that nobody else could see. “I—I AM still a knight, you know. It’s a knight’s JOB to put others before themselves. And…” He swallowed. “I know I’m not good at it, but if I try hard enough — well. My…circumstances…I mean — I’m in the perfect position to put others before me, right?”

“Because you never have to stop doing it,” Julius realized. “Because even if you die — you don’t have to stop.”

Subaru didn’t realize the surge of devastated nausea that such a realization had inspired in the gut of the Finest of Knights. “Exactly!” he crowed. “That’s exactly right! You see?”

Someone made a horrible strangled sound. Nobody knew who it was, and everyone was too focused on the matter at hand to find out, anyway.

“And if we’re not okay with it?” Felt pressed, trying to ignore the hole that was widening in her gut. “If we don’t want any part of — of an exchange like that?”

“…That’s ridiculous,” Subaru scoffed. “Why would anyone not — want to live? That’s stupid.”

“Why indeed,” Ricardo muttered.

“Maybe it’s not that — that someone doesn’t want to live,” Crusch said, her voice tense. “Maybe it’s that someone doesn’t want their life to be saved through…” She shook her head. “Maybe they consider — other things, to be more important.”

“Like what?” Subaru retorted.

“Honor, maybe,” Crusch said. “Ethics. Dignity. Integrity. Any of the things of which a loss would turn a person into a dog. …You really don’t get it, do you?”

“Valuing the alleviation of momentary suffering over a perfect ending is the way of dogs,” Priscilla replied, her eyes glinting. “If momentary suffering is necessary for a perfect ending, then to undergo it for the sake of fulfilling his duty — that is the sign of a wonderful knight.”

“There are limits,” Felt forced out through gritted teeth. “To what level of ‘momentary suffering’ is acceptable. Not that I’d expect YOU to understand that.”

“Lady Felt—”

“Don’t!” Felt snapped. Reinhard stopped. “Just— don’t. Not now.”

“I’d say it’s a perfectly acceptable level of suffering!” Subaru retorted, raising his voice. “I’m the only one who has to go through it, so I’m the one who gets to decide what’s acceptable, right? That’s how it works!”

“No the FUCK it’s not!” Rachins bellowed, taking a step forward. Reinhard quickly grabbed his wrist, preventing him from marching over to punch Subaru in the face. Rachins didn’t even glance back at him, fixated solely on the object of his rage. “You don’t get it make a choice like THAT when you— when you’re planning something THAT HORRIBLE!” he spat. “Who the fuck would be alright with this?! Just one ultimate sacrifice is hard enough to stomach, but — you can’t even tell us how many times it was! How am I supposed to go forward when I know you— YOU—”

“You might have DIED if I didn’t do anything!” Subaru protested. “If it was you or me— even if I had to choose all of you hundreds of times over, then—”

“How was it your place to make that decision for us?!” Anastasia burst out, uncharacteristically emotional. She hadn’t looked this way even back at the inn. “I didn’t want this!” she cried. “I didn’t consent to this! I never wanted to be complicit in something this awful, and here YOU went and made the choice to — to repeatedly sacrifice yourself for all of us regardless! I didn’t WANT you to do this for me!”

“We weren’t able to do anything,” Ferris managed, white as a sheet. He was gripping his head. “We weren’t able to stop nyew at all. And nyew didn’t stop nyerself, either: the first thing nyew decided to do when the Witch Cult attacked was…” Ferris fixed his gaze on Subaru, glassy with panic and devastation. “So long as nyer a knight, and protecting the country is nyer job— we won’t be able to stop nyew at— at all—”

“Oh like that’s any different than what Reinhard is doing,” Subaru retorted. “What, so him being unstoppable in his role as a Sword Saint is fine, but me using my own ability to act as a knight is crossing a line? How is THAT fair?”

Reinhard flinched violently, taking a step backwards.

“How DARE you make a comparison like that?!” Felt spat, finally snapping and raising her voice to a roar. “HOW DARE YOU?! You wanna know what the difference is, Subaru?! Reinhard being the Sword Saint doesn’t mean we’re all dooming him to fucking KILL HIMSELF for our sakes!”

“I can’t believe you would even SUGGEST such a thing,” Julius snarled, uncharacteristically vicious. “The role of the Sword Saint is a heavy one, yes, but it isn’t in any way the same thing as someone sentencing himself to execution after execution for the rest of —” Could Subaru die a natural death? He didn’t even want to THINK about the concept of an eternity trapped in a fate like this. “— of his natural life! You absolute— how could you even consider—?!”

Reinhard was not allowed to wish for his role as the Sword Saint to be taken away from him. Wishing for for such a thing was as good as poisoning his mind against the kingdom itself. In any case, nobody could ever strip him of his title even if they wanted to: nobody was more suited to the role of the Sword of the Kingdom than Reinhard van Astrea.

But now, he realized with a bolt of absolute clarity— now he was on the outside, looking in. Subaru wasn’t wrong about his curse positioning him in a manner that made him uniquely suited for the role of a knight. But if they allowed him to take that position up once again—

Reinhard thought of himself, and how he was never going to escape his title. He thought of Subaru, who was inches away from thrusting himself into the same position. He thought of an old story about his grandmother and grandfather, and how — just once — a Sword Saint had been set free.

“Subaru—” He tried to say, stepping forward, but Wilhelm held out his arm before anyone else could see what he was doing. Reinhard glanced his way, and saw ice blue eyes glimmering with the conviction of tempered steel.

—Reinhard understood. He stepped back to where he had been a second before.

…He likely wouldn’t have been allowed to be the one to do so anyway. Reinhard van Astrea could not act against the good of the kingdom, no matter who got hurt in the process.

Julius was still speaking. “How do you not understand?!” he shouted, his eyes blazing. “You seem to be thinking of this as— as some sort of— you just don’t get it, do you?! Do you have any idea how—” Horrified. Disgusted. Devastated. Mortified. “—how ANGRY we are with you right now?”

“I mean, I’d probably do it anyway!” Subaru pointed out, folding his arms stubbornly. “Whether I have the title or not, I’m always gonna want to help the people around me, right? You can’t stop me from doing THAT.”

The temperature of the room dropped significantly. Subaru’s eyes widened, his arms springing up to wrap around his chest at the sudden chill. A couple of pairs of eyes flickered to Emilia, who sat motionless in her seat.

“…For nyer own sake,” Ferris hissed, one of those in the room that was utterly unaffected by this cold air. He looked very much like he wanted to murder Subaru on the spot. “I am going to assume that was nyer misguided attempt at cracking a JOKE. But on the off-chance that nyew were being serious, I can assure nyew: we have ways of keeping people alive against their will if nyeed be.” He grinned, his face so sour it looked like it might curdle milk. “Nyew’ve seen me deal with suicidal Witch Cult prisonyers, Subaru-kyun. Do nyew think I’m above treating nyew the way I treated them?”

Subaru took a step back.

“Ignoring the absolutely disgusting moral implications of what you just suggested you planned on doing to yourself for the rest of your life,” Julius said coldly, eyes fixed on Subaru’s face. “You do realize that you just threatened ALL OF US, by saying that you would use time travel to bend reality to your heart’s content regardless of how we feel about it — do you not?” Subaru flinched. “I assumed you were better than that.” Julius rolled his shoulder. “But Ferris is right: if you are NOT better than that, then we can find a way to make sure we don’t have to worry about you deciding to reverse time behind everyone’s backs.”

“The lot of you are being ridiculous,” Priscilla scoffed. “Your wonderful knight saved an entire city almost single-handedly, and you wish to remove him from his post? Sacrifice is a part of life. If you can’t stomach the sacrifice necessary to feed the fire of life, then you are unfit to stand in the light of mine gaze.”

“There’s a fucking limit to the kind of sacrifices a reasonable person should accept!” Felt shot back. “Not like you’d understand a thing about being reasonable, you— you MONSTER. How can you talk about someone ripping himself apart so flippantly?!”

“If ripping oneself apart is what a person wishes to do, then I shall not stand in their way.” She smiled. “Just as there is beauty in war, there is beauty in sacrifice — or in this case, the dance of eternal sacrifice, in service of the greater good.” The Sun Princess frowned down at Felt, who was staring at her with a look of horrified disbelief. “It is not Subaru’s fault if a peasant like you cannot handle how he chooses to live and die,” she said coldly. “If he has made his choice, then he has made it so.”

“That’s vile…” Felt choked out. “Even for you, that is VILE.”

“Personal autonomy has limits,” Crusch said coldly. “If a man’s personal autonomy involves harming others, then he must be stopped. Likewise, if it involves him ripping himself apart, then we have a moral duty to stand in his way. — Especially if he has the gall to declare that it is for OUR sakes.”

“As a knight of Lugunica, I understand the nobility of sacrifice,” Julius said. He did not flinch as Priscilla turned to watch him, nor did he look her in the eye. “But as a knight, I understand the weight of it, as well. Giving up one’s life for a cause is one of the heaviest sacrifices one can make — and it is exactly because of that, that I cannot stand for someone who plans to make that sacrifice so many times in repetition.” He turned to face Subaru, alone in the center of the room, and took a deep breath. “In saving Priestella from the Witch Cult, Natsuki Subaru has fulfilled his duty as a knight once and for all,” Julius declared. “He has made the ultimate sacrifice, and he has done so — many, many times over. Allowing him to continue to do so for the sake of this country would damage the worth of the entire nation, and I refuse to stand for it. That’s all I have to say.”

“I stand by my knight,” Anastasia announced, stepping forward. “We are not animals, and I refuse to live as an animal by depending on someone to harm themselves for me in perpetuity — and I refuse to allow my country to do such a thing, either. And I am no longer willing to wait two years for a decision to be made: Natsuki Subaru will be removed from his role today, or the Anastasia Camp will consider him and all of his allies its enemy.”

“The Iron Fang stands with its employer,” Ricardo added, his voice like steel. “But even without its relationship with the Anastasia Camp, I would never stand for something this disgusting, nor would any organization that I lead. And—” He shook his head, looking very much like he wanted to strangle someone. “And I’d HOPE that if — those who I care about — were thrown into a situation — like THIS — that the people they meet would have the basic decency to refuse the same.”

“Mimi hates this,” the eldest of the Pearlbaton triplets forced out, uncharacteristically enraged. She was scratching at the top of her head, yanking at her orange hair. “Mimi hates everything about this. How dare— how DARE you—”

“We want nothing to do with an arrangement like this,” Hetaro confirmed. “I don’t want to be saved by someone doing — this. It’s sick. I’d rather just die.”

“I don’t want to die,” Tivey muttered. “But if I were to live a life dependent on something like — THIS, I’d be no better than vermin. And I don’t want anyone forcing me into that role, either. We stand with our Lady.”

“The three of us might be vermin,” Rachins growled. “But even WE are above depending on an eternal living corpse for our lives and livelihoods. You can fuck right off with that, Subaru.”

“I wouldn’t call us vermin—” Camberley objected.

“All the more reason, then,” Gaston said firmly. “None of us are gonna accept something this — gross. Ever.”

“I agree with those idiots,” Felt snarled, stepping forward defiantly. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about ‘the greater good’: this is vile, and I would be utter scum if I rolled over and let things continue like this. Thank you for your service, Big Bro: now fuck ALL THE WAY off with this Unsung Hero bullshit.”

“My role as the Sword Saint is a duty granted to me by Od Laguna,” Reinhard managed, both outraged and devastated beyond words by the comparison. “It is a burden that I would not wish upon anyone, but the sole grace of my role is that I have been granted it specifically because my capabilities allow me to fulfill it without — undue sacrifice. For you to try and take something like it upon yourself through the use of a curse this vile…” He shook his head. “I will stand with whatever Lady Felt decides,” the Sword Saint said. “As she is against — everything about this — so am I.”

“Disgusting,” Ferris hissed, bristling. There were tears in his eyes. He shook his head, muttering the same word over and over again. “Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting — Nyatsuki Subaru, I hate nyew so, so much—!”

“To keep Natsuki Subaru as a knight after this would be considered the height of indecency,” Crusch declared. “That is where I stand, as do my Camp and my Estate. Lady Emilia, I must insist that you remove him from his position NOW, or I will render our alliance null and void. That is my ultimatum.”

“This— This really feels like an overreaction!” Subaru stammered, backing away from the sea of anger and devastation. “Didn’t everything work out alright, in the end? Wasn’t it worth it? One life in exchange for all of Priestella—”

“It wasn’t just one life, Subaru,” Ricardo spat. “It was one person, over and over again, who decided all on his own that we were the kinds of ANIMALS that would be absolutely fine resting our lives on — on a fucking monstrosity like that!“

“We didn’t even get a CHOICE in the matter,” Ferris cried. “Nyone of us did. “Nyew just went ahead and decided for nyerself that we’d all prefer this — this utter BULLSHIT.“

“Do you not get what an embarrassment this is?” Julius snapped. “For someone to have stepped in and decided on their own that they’re going to take all the suffering of — of the Royal Selection Camps, of the White Scales of Priestella, of EVERYONE who might have otherwise decided to fight back on their own accord — for them to have stolen that choice away and forced everyone else to accept not just one singular sacrifice, but a string of sacrifices so long that you haven’t even been able to tell us how many deaths make it up! It’s a humiliation of the highest order, because you just forced ALL OF US to be complacent in one of the most monstrous, inhuman scenarios I can imagine.“

“Fuck nyew,” Ferris breathed, looking like he was on the verge of passing out. “Fuck nyew, Subaru. Fuck nyew, fuck nyew, fuck nyew—”

“I really don’t think—!”

“How would you have felt,” Felt interrupted. “If Big Sis had done all of this on your behalf?” Subaru froze. She grinned at him, all teeth and no joy behind her smile. “You’d fucking hate it, right?” she asked cheerfully. “You’d scream, and you’d probably cry. You might even throw up, you’d feel so awful. And if she turned to you and said ‘But I gave you a miracle, aren’t you proud of me?’ I’ll bet you’d want to scream at her for it, too.” She leaned forward. “How DARE you do that to us.” Felt hissed. “How fucking dare you.”

“And to think!” Anastasia laughed. It was a venomous, bitter sound that made Subaru want to recoil. “To think, I actually was starting to believe the others’ insistence that you could be trusted to man your post responsibly!” She stared at him, eyes hard. “I was right about this whole situation from the start. Keeping you as a knight was a ridiculous notion, because — THIS — was always going to be the outcome, one way or another.”

Subaru was speechless. Slowly, with jerky movements, he twisted around to the one camp that had yet to make its final assertion.

“G-Guys…?” he managed.

“Cap—” Garfiel hesitated, and then shook his head. Subaru visibly wilted. “Natsuki Subaru can’t be a knight anymore,” he declared. “This is horrible. I didn’t want this. I never wanted anything like this. If I let him do this for — for MY sake, how could I ever look myself in the mirror again? …And I don’t think he’s ever gonna stop unless we force him away from the edge.”

“This is the absolute worst thing you could have done to me, Subaru,” Ram snapped. “I don’t know how you don’t understand that. I don’t WANT to persist via your acts of self-harm: I’m perfectly happy to live to the best of my ability and accept my death when my time has come to an end. A life of dignity is one that I desire most of all. —And here you are, planning to force me to rely on your trail of self-destruction for the rest of my natural life? That’s a vulgarity beyond words.”

“I really thought you had learned,” Otto muttered. His face was buried in his hands. “I really, really thought you had learned, Subaru.”

Despair slowly dawned across the face of the self-proclaimed knight.

“The old me might have allowed for this,” Rem admitted. Her voice was quiet and broken. “I am not that woman anymore. I won’t let you do this to yourself.”

“Betty doesn’t want her contractor to become a living corpse, I suppose,” Beatrice said quietly. “Betty wants you to be happy, but that also means that she doesn’t want you to destroy yourself. You can hate me for this if you want, Subaru. But I can’t let you — I can’t let you do this.”

Subaru stared at all of them, his upper lip wobbling, and then his eyes flitted to the last person in the room, the one who had not said a single thing since they had entered the building.

Emilia could not bring herself to voice the words, but her silence spoke a thousand in its stead. Subaru made a horrible croaking noise, wide-eyed and devastated.

Wilhelm had to force himself to speak, but when he did, his voice came out loud and clear and true.

“Natsuki Subaru.”

Subaru could no longer be a knight. For him to continue being a knight would be for him to continue to sacrifice himself for the sakes of those around him, over and over again, without regard for whether they wanted him to do so or not. For him to remain a knight would be for the kingdom to approve this cycle of endless self-destruction, so that it could profit off of his pain until the day it finally sucked him dry. —And this could no longer be a decision that waited a year, a month, a day, but rather a move that had to be made as quickly and decisively as possible.

Lady Emilia had already realized what Wilhelm was about to do. Her eyes were glassy and dull, but she bowed her head in assent when he briefly caught her gaze. Do what you must.

For his own good, Subaru could no longer be a knight. However, Emilia firing him after just a year of service would leave a black mark on his record that could last until the end of his life. And with him having saved the Watergate City nearly single-handedly, for him to willingly abandon his duty now would paint him as a fickle, untrustworthy coward for the rest of his life. Titles brought with them expectations and responsibilities, and great deeds even more so. Subaru had somehow entangled him in a web of both that threatened to trap him as the nation’s self-replenishing sacrifice for — in a worst-case scenario, perhaps for the rest of eternity.

“W-Wilhelm?” Subaru whimpered, his voice high-pitched and uncertain.

But there was a way to retire him that would not impact his reputation, or hamper him from pursuing any other future career path he may choose, or even leave him with the majority of the blame. It was the same way that, many years ago, a young man on a mission had set free the woman who would become his wife.

Subaru would hate him for this until the old man’s dying day, and perhaps even beyond that. But Wilhelm loved him, and that meant he valued the quality of the boy’s life more than he ever could his personal reputation in his eyes.

Priscilla realized what the Sword Demon was about to do moments before he opened his mouth again. She sighed, snapping her ruby red fan shut. The sound echoed through the room like a thunderclap.

“Natsuki Subaru,” Wilhelm Van Astrea declared. “Due to finding you unworthy to serve our nation as a knight of the Kingdom, I challenge you to a duel.”

*

Wilhelm had challenged Subaru to a duel over his position as a knight of the Kingdom. Subaru’s liege, Lady Emilia, had consented to such terms. If Subaru were to win, he would be allowed to remain where he was. If Wilhelm were to win, then Subaru would be forced to retire from his post — and in the eyes of the public, all the blame for his removal would rest squarely on Wilhelm’s shoulders.

Subaru, Wilhelm, and everyone witnessing the event knew what the outcome was going to be.

“What are you doing?!” an old lady cried from the stands. “What are you DOING?! He saved us — he saved all of our lives! Stop, STOP—!!”

“Natsuki Subaru-dono is a hero!” shouted a young man, hands clenching the rails. “Why are you doing this?! What did he do wrong?! He didn’t do ANYTHING, just LET HIM—!!”

“Wilhelm—” Subaru tried to plead, one last time.

Wilhelm met his gaze with one fierce enough to burn. “This is for your own good.”

Subaru swallowed, and raised his whip.

It only took three hits. The first smacked the handle of Subaru’s weapon with the flat of the blade, knocking it out of his hands and into the air, where it spiraled in an arc. The second whacked Subaru on the top of his head, stunning him hard enough to make him lose his balance. The third took advantage of this wrong-footedness by slamming into his chest, knocking him down on his back. Then the weight of the man’s knee settled against his chest, pinning him to the ground, with the edge of the blade grazing against his throat. And that was that.

“The winner,” Ferris announced, his voice muffled in Subaru’s ears. “Is Wilhelm van Astrea.”

It had not even lasted a full ten seconds. Those who watched would later describe it as Wilhelm scruffing him, much like one would a misbehaving puppy. Even the way he had pinned him to the ground had been careful, less like an actual fight and more like a sparring session between parent and child.

It was a duel far gentler and kinder than his previous with Julius. But the results were far graver in his eyes, for he had been successfully stripped of his title as a knight and reduced to simply being Natsuki Subaru.

[godspeedmajortom]

I love Firewalker as a call sign for Harry, beyond its reference to Twin Peaks. The name evokes for me a phoenix, one who passes through flames that destroy their old form and emerges on the other side reborn anew.

Except Harry is such a shitty phoenix, oh my god. He's not reborn in majesty with plumage spread, ready to take flight. He returns from the edge of death as a hungover naked baby covered in slime and barely able to stand. His bender killed his old self, but his new self struggles to be born. That’s the real trial by fire.

Besides the initial call to Precinct 41 (after which I loved Jules’ beleaguered sigh at the name every time I called in), I only used the name Firewalker one other time. After igniting Cindy's graffiti, I had this exchange with Gaston:

GASTON MARTIN - "*Mon dieu*, you set it on fire!” He looks at the plaza. “What kind of policeman are you?”

YOU - "Firewalker. I walk in the flames."

And at this point – after the tribunal, after another near-death experience, after five days of helping the people of Martinaise – Harry has finally walked through the other side of the flames. 

[kabishkat19]

I have a question about your next generation ocs

How did you make the ocs and where did you even get the names, age and appearances?

By the way, I love summer and your art style.

✨The origins of Disney NextGen✨

Settle in kiddies

I’d always kind of been coming up with the hypothetical children of Disney characters since forever; the first original designs of the characters tho were for a Modern AU type world which made a lot of differences from the designs you see today.

Some of the original ideas :

Cheyenne; daughter of John smith and Pocahontas and half sister or Jonathan (aka, Thomas Rolfe)

Rapunzel was going to have two daughters (Lilly and Blume) instead of twins (Heidi and Finn)

Summer was going to be an only child (no Axel)

Hercules kids were just gonna be three; twins boys and one very young daughter instead Macaria being 14 and having three older brothers (twin thing stayed tho)

Had a love story between Cedric (Cinderella’s son) and Gusto who was Gaston’s son (character changed to Gabriel)

Juliana was gonna be named Tonya or Talia, Lian was gonna be named Asumi and Adrian was gonna be named Arrison?

There’s probably a dozen more you’ll notice that I haven’t added…

I attempted a digital version of the modern characters…

But ended up scrapping it due to not liking my art style that much during that time (bit of a perfectionist if haven’t noticed).

I kept the characters in mind constantly changing small things until eventually I was at a point where my art style was good (in my opinion) and worked the characters into a more in universe adaption which I think worked out better.

I do plan on making a Modern Au of the Disney NextGen characters I’ve made and even their parents and see them all interact.

[nepowarlock]

Micah rolled his eyes. "Funny." He said as he picked up some fries. He dipped them into the cup of ranch. He took a bite and covered his mouth, before sitting back again. "Maybe it can't but it can buy a lot of other great things." He smirked. Micah was spoiled and he would never deny that. He was self aware. Growing up with three trust funds in his name, was petty fantastic.

    "I guess what they say is true - money can't buy taste." Malachai teases - before he settles himself back in his chair. A soft laugh left him before his hands settled on the burger in front of him. He took a hardy bite of the burger as he looked Micah in the eyes.

[princess-ibri]

For the Descendants kids with horrible and trashy names, how would you name them? From books and movies.

So I'll just go ahead and give how I changed each name for My Canon Descendants AU, to make them feel more like their own character/fit better with the og movies time periods/cultures. I didn't give them all unique names as the point of the project was to translate the Descendants kids into the actual movies, not make full OCs, (though I did end up making a few of those anyway xD) but I tried to at least adjust them.

Mal--Mallow (to go with the Nature name theme the Three Good Fairies had going on with their own names/Briar Rose)

Audrey I kept as it was actually a Medieval name!

Evie-- Eva, it's a pretty easy fix to more period accurate/Germanic sounding

Doug -- Doleful, to fit better with the Dwarfs Attribute names, plus he seemed kinda down in the first movie so the meaning felt like it fit

Carlos I kept because honestly I felt like it could fit in universe if Cruella's husband was a Spanish man, which he conceivabley could be

Jay--Jaamil, and no not because of Twisted Wonderland that just happened by accident xD

They orginally had Aladdin's deleted sin be named Aziz but there was already an Aladdin character named that in the TV show who was a villain so I changed it to Ahmed, like one of the other Arabian Nights heroes

Ben--I changed from Benjamin to Benedict as that was more French/period appropriate

Honestly I could 100% see Gaston naming his sons after himself so I kept Gastons 1 and 2 but I changed Gil to Gilbert (French pronunciation of course)

Lonnie...oh Lonnie. I changed her name to Chi, as with her patronymic of Li she would be Li Chi, which sounded similar to Lonnie but would actually be Chinese and is the name of a girl in a Chinese legend who slays a dragon, which was what I based her hypothetical movie plot on

Chad I changed to Charles, easy enough. Much more elegant and formal

Jane I just changed to Janet to make it a little fancier/Frenchier as well xD

Dizzy I changed to Daisy (though I suppose since she's French based, it really should be Marguerite...eh Daisy can be the nickname)

Uma I kept cuz honestly its a good name and her song is a banger 👌

Harry is fine, good pirate name, short for Henry, which also works. Harriet was fine too, just made her and Harry twins and made CJ go by her first name only of Calista.

Honestly with a pirate dad named Smee Squeeky and Squirmy also work, though they're definitely nicknames.

Celia works fine, it fits with the time/culture of 1920s New Orleans, though I did change Freddie to Frederique.

Getting into some book characters now:

Artie I changed to Amhar, a lesser known son of Arthur (could have done Mordred but as the kid was meant to be heroic I decided to go with Amhar, plus it started with A x)

Mad Maddy honestly isn't a bad name, but I did change it to Matilda to be a bit more Medieval sounding, plus linked her to Matilda of the Night, a Medieval witch legend.

(And apparently there's gonna be a son of Morgana Le Fay in the new movie named... Morgie. My gosh. Well we'll change that right back to Yvain. Her actual son, no she's not Mordred's mother no matter what the movies try to tell you she's his aunt and I will die on this pedantic hill)

Hadie I instantly changed to Zagreus. He's the literal son of Hades and goodness its such a better name. Same with changing Herkie to Hyllus. Also an actual son of Hercules and doesn't sound like a euphemism for throwing up.

Allie I changed to Mary Jean after the Real Alice's grandaughter, and when I made my Queen of Hearts Kid D4 hadn't been announced yet so I named her Aceline (a pun on Ace of Hearts)

Ruby and Anxelin weren't terrible names so I kept them, just made Anxelin a Dark Kingdom name xD (and apparently they're giving Rapunzel a third daughter in the new movie? Her name is just Zellie though...so I think I'll just keep these two. Zellie could definitely work as being short for Anxelin and hey, Rapunzel had twins in the actual fairytale so two just works)

Wrapping it up:

Claudine isnt too bad and fits the time period but I changed her parent from Frollo to his brother Jehan cuz that man should never ever get to be with any woman.

Clay Clayton I changed to Cecil after the actual Clayton character in the books who wasn't that bad of a guy.

Yzla works fine as a name for Yzma's daughter. I just changed Zevon to Yzon to match better and not sound so much like he escaped the 23rd century

Ginny Gothel I just lengthened out to Ginevra to sound more fantastical

I didn't actually do anything for Pocahontas as it always kinda controversial to touch. But if I did I'd of course just make her descendant her actual son Thomas Rolfe and apparently they gave Ratcliffe a son named Rick? So...we'll change his name to Richard or--well one sec let me see if Actual Historical Governor Ratcliffe had any kids.

OK! Looks like he didn't but he did die horribly. My Gosh.

Anyway I think that's everyone!

[meteor752]

What I would have done

If you have been keeping up with my posts for the last week, you may have noticed that I fucking despise the new Descendants movie

There’s a lot of reasons behind this. One, nostalgia, I love the original ones (Harry Hook is one of my all time favorite characters lol I think he’s fun). Two, I expected more of the franchise, because it’s fucking Disney, and while I know Kenny Ortega wasn’t the director this time, there would at least be people who worked on the original movies involved in the process, so I thought they at least knew what they were doing. Three, nothing in the movie makes any fucking sense, and I’m not usually a person who gets hung up on nitpicks, like if you entertain me then do whatever you want, but my god it’s impossible to ignore.

But most of all, the story they were trying to tell just isn’t interesting.

Like, if I would tell someone what the best part of Descendants is, it’s not the songs, or the cast, or the costumes, or even really the characters. Don’t get me wrong I love all of those parts, and I doubt the movies would be even close to as good as they are if you removed one of these things. But the best and most interesting part to me, and to a lot of people in the fandom as well, is the concept of The Isle Of The Lost.

The concept of taking all of these classic Disney Villains with wildly different aesthetics, motives, ideologies, and overall moralities and placing them all on an island and make them build up a society, that shit’s fascinating, but the core movies do next to nothing with it cause they spend all their time on Auradon. The second one focuses the most on it, and guess what, that one’s the best one!

(I know the books exist, I read them, but they just weren’t that good, like it felt like I was reading bad fan fiction)

So what would I do for Descendants four?

Well, I’d set in on the fucking Isle.

Actually, I think this would genuinely work better as a series. Not that long of a series tho, maybe like eight episodes, each episode like 40 minutes long.

Each episode would focus on a different VK, set a few years before the first movie, and have a short composed story about their general life.

I don’t know which VKs exactly, but I think Harriet Hook could be interesting, her episode being like four or five years before the first movie so we can see preteen C3, I think that would be cute, also a young CJ.

Possibly the Gaston twins, though Lefou Deux could work too. Whichever it would be, the other would feature.

Jade, Jay’s cousin, could be a lot of fun, maybe have like a rivalry between the two.

Freddie and Celia, I think it’s insane that they never mention Freddie in D3, but like I wanna know what their relationship is like.

And of course, Red! Queen of Hearts is a villain, she should be on the Isle. And if any of you dare tell me that she’s from wonderland and they couldn’t like, capture her or whatever, they got fucking Hades on the Isle, they resurrected some guys to place them there, Queen of Hearts is not a problem.

(Also like, Morgie could be there, but this time as a real VK)

But yeah, lot of options lol.

Every episode would show just the grim reality of what these kids would have to live through their whole lives, the complicated relationships they would have with their parents, and really emphasize that fact. D1 was the only one that really focused on how the Isle kids were kids who were all victims of insane abuse their whole lives. I mean, in D3 they all like happily run to meet them once the barrier is down, which is crazy.

Also, the show would be rated PG-13. Like, I’m not asking for graphic scenes of abuse, but I do want it to be kinda gritty and grim, with some more psychological and mental abuse taking place. Also, we’re told multiple times about gang wars, but we aren’t really shown any. Maybe one episode could focus on that, like idk Clay Clayton (insane name btw) and his gang.

But most importantly, we’d have all the Disney villains in cool new leather outfits, which is what I think everyone wants tbh. I have gotten that one part of ‘Life Is Sweeter’ where the villain comes up more than any part of the movie, like people like the villains more than anything. And yeah I know they wouldn’t be young and hot anymore, but like we can have some extreme Milf and Dilf looks, it will even out.

Descendants is one of, if not the most popular franchise Disney Channel has made, it deserves a better continuation than Rise of Red.

Also, if the show is popular then we could have a season two/sister series, about the kids of Auradon, that could be interesting too, and also have some dark shit in it, idk. The way that Queen Leah spoke to Audrey in D3 had some dark undertones, so I think her episode could be interesting. Could also feature the political implications of The Isle, potential protests and propaganda, idk.

Also, Chloe can get an episode, so boom we got them both!

So what I’m trying to say here is this:

Disney hire me

[quitealotofsodapop]

[Jade Emperor would explode if he ever found out since by Celestial law, Wukong is his firstborn daughter's son, aka his Heir]

XD Goodness, imagine if Azure'd just reveal that tidbit to the Jade Emperor - no fighting needed, just a cardiac arrest of celestial proportions.

Though, granted, if no actual fight for the throne, wouldn't that just mean the power goes to the next in line? Hmm...

Damn, this family tree is complicated - add in reborn JE as Freenoodles River Baby Bao and we're gonna be needing to make this tree 3-dimensional.

Wait, does Luzhen also count as JE's and Queen Mother's grandkid?

referencing.

Probably would XD

Atleast in the AUs he has his wife to back him up emotionally, during the Brotherhood's siege he's on his own in the throne room.

Heck, if Azure managed to dig up that dirt while in Diyu, then he'd double down on his infatuation of Wukong. Cus, a strong powerful leader AND the legal heir to the Celestial Throne!? He want for political clout. Full on Gaston-level; "I'll make this go away if you marry me and I become the Emperor"-type manipulation. Not conciously at first.

When the MKrew and Wukong are released at Camel Ridge, Azure would make a point of proposing to Wukong then and there with the knowledge he's found. Wukong thinks its all nuts and refuses, leading to his recapture.

Meanwhile...

The Jade Emperor - Yudi - Emperor of the Celestial Realm Cause of Death: Heart Attack from Shock of hearing that he's a Monkey's Grandfather.

Every demon, immortal, and mortal feels a skip in their chest when it happens.

Also in terms of baby Bao from the Mother River Tang AU; you suddenly have a situation where by celestial law, Tang is now considered Wukong's great-grandmother. Also Pigsy is the reincarnation/decendant of Zhu Bajie, who in turn used to be Marshal Canopy - Xiwangmu's brother. Pigsy is now considered both the brother of the Queen Mother, and the brother-in-kaw/father of the Jade Emperor. Not even time-travel family trees get this weird. Again its all Celestial/Immortals not understanding the differences between reincarnations, and/or that the new incarnation doesn't have the memories or personality of the "originals".

As for Luzhen its a little complicated since while his birth parent ("The Consort") was the Stone Matriarch's mate/marriage partner, he himself was partially formed from the Matriarch's shared Dao due to being an asexual stone egg. He's considered the genetic brother (nearly twin) of Sun Wukong despite not technincally being "blood" related.

The Queen Mother and Jade Emperor would consider him a grandchild just to avoid the headache of trying to understand Stone Monkey reproduction methods. They'd also see him as a "second chance" to raise their daughter's child, as they had failed with Wukong. However, Luzhen is very confused and clearly prefers his fellow monkeys over the royals, and Wukong in turn has taken him in as his own cub. They argue a lot about the proper way to raise Luzhen.

[hannahhook7744]

Might redo this.

Also if you post elsewhere please credit me.

Descendants name meanings;

[blizzardheart12]

“A Matching Hook” || Descendants short story

Summary: For months, 11-year-old Harry Hook has grown himself a reputation as one of the Isle’s most intimidating youngsters. His secret? Telling everyone the gruesome story of how he had come face-to-face with Tick-Tock the crocodile and lost his hand, just like his father. When he is suddenly exposed as a fraud, Harry becomes the laughingstock of the town. And so he decides that the only way to avoid scrutiny from his father and everyone else… is to turn his lie into the truth.

Genre: angst

W/C: 4,000 (give or take a few)

Warnings: blood, dead animals, slight implied child abuse

A/N: I got the idea for this from a headcanon (I think it was a headcanon) that Harry nearly lost his hand to a crocodile on purpose because he wanted a hooked hand like his father. I thought it would make a cool story, and since I’ve been wanting to write more about the Hook family, especially Harry’s relationship with his dad, I wrote this! It’s my first fic ever and I’m very excited.

━─━────༺༻────━─━

The air escaped Harry’s lungs as his back slammed against the wet concrete. His eyes went out of focus, and for a moment he thought that he was seeing double, but no, there were two identical faces laughing down at him. This was the third fight in a row that he’d lost against the Gaston twins this week.

“Some pirate you are!” said one of the Gastons. In all his eleven years, Harry had never bothered to learn how to differentiate between the two— they both had the same stupid faces and wide, slanting grins that practically begged for a good beating.

There was no doubt that these fights had started because of Harry. Lately, his thirst for confrontation had been insatiable, and it only kept growing stronger with his ego. He found it most entertaining to pick on other kids, though it was at times like this where he overstepped his game.

“His old man couldn’t beat a couple of kids, and neither can he,” the other Gaston laughed, elbowing the first. His tattered leather boot was planted firmly on Harry’s chest, preventing him from getting up… or breathing much. He struggled and suddenly became aware of the crowd of children that had gathered around them during the fight. Every single one of them was laughing at him.

With a sudden impulse of anger, he made the foolish mistake of slashing forward with his hooked hand, aiming for the second Gaston’s oversized shins, but the first Gaston caught him abruptly by the wrist. Harry began to panic.

“Hey, wait, this is made of wood,” Gaston said, scoffing down at his hook. He pulled it out of Harry’s grip with ease. He felt the clumsily-whittled wooden grip splinter his fingers. His sleeve wasn’t long enough for him to hide the truth. The other children gasped.

“Dude,” the second Gaston said, staring at Harry’s perfectly intact hand. The first one was still laughing about the toy hook.

“Why would your dad give you a wooden hook? Does he even like you?” he said. His brother elbowed him. He elbowed back even harder. The brother sighed and turned the first one’s head towards Harry, and it was then that he finally noticed.

“He’s a fraud!” some kid in the crowd shouted.

“He’s been lying about his hand the whole time!” shouted another. Villain children loved to point out the obvious.

The entire crowd began to laugh. Even some of the adults had snuck over to watch and now they were laughing, too. Harry felt his face burning, but the damage had already been dealt. His reputation was ruined and he wasn’t even a teenager yet. Months of intimidation and respect that Harry had earned for himself had just gone out the window. The second Gaston’s giant boot slammed into his stomach and knocked the breath out of him once more.

“Yeah, some pirate you are,” the first Gaston repeated as he threw the wooden hook down on the ground in front of Harry.

The twins strutted off, and the crowd trailed behind them (no one ever cared about the loser), and Harry lay on the ground alone, desperately trying to remember what inhaling felt like. Droplets of rain splashed onto his face. He curled his fingers around his phony hook, and after a few minutes, he managed to stand up and run back towards his home— the Jolly Roger.

Fifteen years prior, the King of Auradon had been merciful enough to allow Captain Hook’s beloved ship to rest on the shore of the Isle under the dome before it was sealed, and since then it became more of a lodging than a vessel given its great size. With age and immobility, the ship began to grow riddled with mold, but still it stood tall and sturdy even now.

Harry shoved past his crewmates unapologetically and sprinted on until he had bolted himself inside his cabin. In a fit of pure unbridled rage, he destroyed nearly everything in his sleeping quarters. Glass bottles were thrown against the wall, the boards that made up his bed frame and shelves were kicked in and splintered, and his spare shirts were all but ripped to complete shreds. He took his sword and slashed through the curtains, the quilts, and the plastic figurines on the one shelf that had been out of stomping range.

With a final yell, he threw his fake hook— the one he had so joyfully spent weeks carving, sanding, and spraying with golden paint in secret during the wee hours of the night— at the round window on the far end of his room. It crashed straight through the thin glass pane, shattering it entirely, and fell into the water below, gone forever.

With nothing left to destroy he stood there staring at the broken window, heaving. How could he be so stupid? How could he let himself get humiliated like that? Why did he let his secret get revealed so easily, right there in front of everybody?

Such an idiotic lie, Harry thought now. As if he’d really confronted an enormous crocodile. He’d never even seen the beast. What would his father think of all this? Harry stiffened. His eyes widened as he became aware of the gigantic mess around him.

“Ohh no,” he squeaked. He practically sang it. The demolished room would be the least of his worries. His father would be home from a villain’s council later in the evening, and there was no doubt he’d return knowing exactly what happened earlier.

Harry didn’t know what his father would be more angry about— the fact that he had been wearing a fake hook in public for months on end in an attempt to imitate him, or the fact that he had failed to protect such a lie and instead turned himself into a complete laughingstock. He didn’t want to stick around to find out. There was little time. Captain Hook would find out about the incident before the day’s end. Talk traveled fast on the Isle, and even faster among pirates. That would hurt his father’s reputation too, which scared Harry the most.

As he watched the sun sink into the horizon, he turned his focus towards the thought that had been slowly sparking to life in his mind ever since Gaston’s muddy boot collided with his sternum for a second time.

He had an idea that was so mad he was actually aware of how truly insane it was. That never happened. With a sinking feeling, he realized that he had no choice but to go through with it, and it had to happen today. He was going to earn himself that matching hook.

Sheathing his sword, he unbolted his door as quietly as he could and poked his head out into the corridor. No one was there. No one had followed him. Good, Harry thought. Although he was just a child, he still intimidated the other pirates in his father’s crew. Or perhaps they were just afraid of his father.

With that discomforting thought in mind, he rushed down the hall and turned the corner. There, he disappeared behind the closest door— the back door that led to Captain Hook’s quarters. Only Smee had permission to use this door, but given the situation Harry didn’t think this offense would hold any gravity compared to the rest of ways he had completely screwed up today. This week. Every day of his life. Still, entering his father’s room felt like a crime, and not the entertaining sort.

Even when Captain Hook was out, his room was always dimly lit on either end by an array of candles. A normal person might have noticed how much of a fire hazard this was, but on the Isle all it did was indicate Hook’s level of power. Yet despite being the most well-lit room on the ship, and possibly on this side of the Isle, it was still swathed with shadow. Harry crept over to his desk and took a piece of parchment and a pen. He held it near the light of the singular candle in front of him and scrawled in shaky, barely legible handwriting:

“I know I failed you. I’m going make it up to you right now. I won’t be home tonight. I promise I will be like you.”

He left the note there and took off in a rush, wanting to leave the room as quickly as possible. Not wasting a moment, he traveled to the lower decks and into the chicken coop— pirates insisted on raising their own livestock. He opened the small wire gate and hesitated.

Harry clenched his jaw. This was going to be harder than he thought. He remembered that a villain shouldn’t have any remorse and for a brief moment his conscience was locked in a moral quandary. Then his eyes rested on a still form in the corner of the cage.

A dead chicken lay there stiffly, half-hidden within the hay. How it died exactly, Harry didn’t know. He didn’t stop to think about it either. He just grabbed it— grateful that he didn’t have to take out his dagger— and ran.

When he exited the ship, the storm was in full swing. Rain and wind battered against his body as he skirted around the edge of town and ran straight towards the shore on the far side of the island. He trudged up the sand dunes and looked down at the rocky beach. This was where the dreaded Tick-Tock was rumored to be living.

Harry kicked down the wooden “beware of crocodiles” sign that someone had planted in the sand many years ago and made his way towards a tall boulder that jutted out over the mass of sharp rocks dotting the shore. The far end of it hovered above the water. He took a tentative step onto the boulder and figured that it would support his weight, and so he inched his way up to the edge and tried not to slip on the slick surface. The sea crashed restlessly against the shore as thunder rumbled distantly from the sky.

He got down on all fours and raised his left arm, holding the dead chicken by its neck over the surface as far as he could reach. For what seemed like ages nothing happened, and his arm slowly began to ache. And then he heard something.

A very faint tick, tock, tick, tock reached his ears from beneath the water’s surface. The tide seemed to grow stronger, and he could scarcely see anything but the faint reflection of the crescent moon on the rough water that had broken through the thick storm clouds.

The sound of his heart pounding drowned out the roar of the surf colliding with the rocks and the howling wind whipping at his face, but that too became a meaningless ambiance against the repetitive tick, tick, tick that now echoed clearly in his ears. Within moments, it began to rattle through his skull, growing louder as the rain finally subsided. The waves calmed just enough for a brief moment, and then he saw it.

All he could see at first were two soulless blank eyes piercing through the darkness in the near distance, and then the shadowy silhouette of an elongated, scaled face gliding through the water, the smoothness of its movements unabated by the rough waves passing by it. Yet still Harry recognized in an instant the largest crocodile he had ever seen in his life.

The huge creature paused several yards out, as if it were sizing up its prey. For a long, dreadful minute, the two remained still, their eyes locked in a psychological battle. The glow of Tick-Tock’s eyes remained unchanging and cold, and Harry dared not look away. Tick, tock, tick, tock. It was all he could hear. In the midst of his fear, he wondered if the beast recognized him or knew exactly what it was that he wanted.

A drop of sweat fell from Harry’s face— or perhaps a tear— and disappeared into the vast sea of infinite water droplets below him. His feelings were irrelevant, this he knew. This had to happen. His whole body began to shake, and another drop fell, this time from his left hand.

He glanced up and saw that the small chicken corpse he had been holding out as bait was slowly being crushed under his white fingers. His nails had been digging into its neck and its blood had been seeping out over his hand and into the water the entire time. Its lifeless eyes seemed to see straight through into his soul. For the first time, he noticed that the bird was not even fully grown.

He now noticed his left hand drenched in blood up to his forearm— red, warm, and glistening. His eyes widened as and he looked back out at the water, suddenly nauseous and deeply regretting his decision. He squinted. The crocodile was gone. The ticking had ceased.

Relief began to flow through Harry’s veins, but he found himself frozen still, his body unable to move except for the trembling that threatened to overwhelm him. He was still unable to hear anything else through the crash of the tide, or perhaps the sound of his own blood rushing through his ears.

It was as if a muted voice was screaming his name from far deep within his mad conscience. He forced himself to relax, and he lowered his arm slightly and looked down, only to find Tick-Tock’s malice-filled eyes just inches below him.

Harry opened his mouth to scream just as the crocodile launched itself out of the water with the force of a thousand sea monsters, its jaws parted so wide he could see every last one of its dagger-sharp teeth jutting angrily from its maw.

Time slowed down. The ticking sped up. Harry felt his fingers release the chicken’s neck, and he began to pull his arm back, but in that split second he knew he wouldn’t be fast enough. Tick-Tock’s enormous mouth had just begun to close around Harry’s hand when an arm wrapped around his waist from behind and dragged him backwards.

The crocodile’s jaws snapped together with a deafening CRACK! The strength of it sent a shockwave through the air. At the same time, Harry’s back slammed brutally against the boulder beneath him, taking his breath away. He could’ve sworn he had felt a tooth brush against his first finger. For a moment his vision went fuzzy, and then it blurred in and out of focus until at last it began to register an infuriated face glaring down at his own— his father’s.

Somehow, despite the vagueness of the note Harry had left that gave no hints of his whereabouts, the Captain had been able to figure out exactly what his son had been planning to do. The ringing in Harry’s ears ceased just in time for him to hear the words exploding from Captain Hook’s mouth.

“WHAT IN GOD’S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?” His voice had never boomed so intensely. “ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED? YOU TRYING TO DANCE WITH JACK KETCH, IS THAT IT? BECAUSE YOU NEARLY SUCCEEDED THERE. WHAT THE HELL WAS PASSING THROUGH YOUR MIND, YOU DAMN SWAB? MY SON’S GOT GOOSE-DOWN FOR BRAINS, DOES HE? I’LL KEELHAUL YOU FOR THIS, BOY. I SWEAR I WILL.”

The Captain roared in his face like this for several moments, his face glistening with sweat and his dark eyes wild with fury and terror. His golden hook flashed at his side.

All the while, Harry never moved. His breath came in small gasps and his eyes were stretched wide, his pupils so dilated that the blue of his eyes appeared black. His body was completely rigid and his left arm still stuck out in front of him, his fingers curled and grasping nothing but a singular feather that stuck stubbornly to his palm.

Hook’s voice trailed off and his rage subsided instantly as he realized the boy was in shock. He took his son’s bloodied hand in his own and examined it, his brows furrowing with concern and then unfurrowing with relief at having discovered that the blood was not Harry’s.

The sight of actual care in his father’s eyes was enough to lasso Harry out of his state of shock. His breathing slowed and the reality of the situation finally settled in. Shame washed over him like a wave of boiling water and he began to sob, unable to stop himself.

“I’m sorry, father,” he choked out, his voice barely a whisper. He couldn’t believe he was crying in front of Captain Hook. What would the other children think now? His crewmates? His sisters?

He turned his head to the left and stared at the deserted beach that stretched out behind them. The rocky ground felt cold beneath his cheek, so different from the tears that burned against his skin. He couldn’t bear to look at his father’s face. At least there was no one else here to witness him in this state.

“I failed you,” was all he could utter. He gritted his teeth, ready to be caught under the fires of his father’s wrath. It’s happened before, but never in response to a situation this bad. He tensed, knowing that he deserved whatever punishment he had coming his way.

But there were no bitter insults, no strikes, nor did the yelling resume. There was just an uncomfortable silence filled only by the deep rumble of the ocean. And then:

“You didn’t… You’re your own man, Harry, and— and that’s all I want you to be. I… I’m proud of you.”

Harry turned to look at his father, unable to mask his surprise. Both of them seemed equally shocked by what he said.

Without another word, Hook pulled Harry up into a sitting position and hugged him tightly against his chest. There was no doubt that this was likely the most confusing moment of their lives, yet neither of them moved for that long minute. Harry stopped shaking.

“We best be going now,” Hook said abruptly, standing up. Using his hook, he dragged Harry up onto his feet by the back of his red leather jacket as if he weighed nothing. As Harry wiped the snot and tears from his face with his clean hand, he glanced to his left and saw Tick-Tock’s face, still peering out from the dark water.

The crocodile’s eyes were trained on him, its bloodstained mouth parted in a rumbling growl. Harry began to back away when a large stone suddenly sailed past his ear and struck the reptile atop its massive head with a loud thwack. The beast hissed and with a violent jerk, it dove underwater with a splash and swam off. Harry laughed hoarsely and turned to look at his father with a newfound sense of admiration.

“Nothin’ but a bloody coward,” muttered Hook at the spot in the sea where the creature disappeared. He lowered his throwing arm around Harry’s shoulder and they began to walk home.

By the time the two rejoined civilization, the grip of Hook’s good hand had gone from Harry’s shoulder to his ear. To everyone else, it seemed that the troublesome Hook boy had finally gotten on his father’s last nerve. Harry knew that his dad was just putting on an act. Neither of them were about to admit to anyone that they had just shared a tender father-son moment half an hour earlier. Still, Harry beamed.

“Wipe that daft grin off your face,” growled Hook as they reached the Jolly Roger. He pinched Harry’s ear tighter.

“Aye, Captain,” Harry said, wincing.

Hook disappeared into his quarters and left Harry on the deck with his own thoughts as Smee rushed over to clean the dried blood from his arm. Harry sat still and stared into space, which was very unlike him.

A few minutes later, he felt something cold and metallic touch his fingers. He snapped out of his trance to find Smee gone and Hook standing in front of him once more— and a shiny, silver hook in his hands.

It shined in the moonlight like a jewel, its point sharper and finer than that of any sword’s. It was a weapon that could strike fear into the hearts of all and pierce them too, for good measure. And it was now Harry’s.

His jaw dropped and he looked up at his father, who leaned down and said, “and if you ever do lose a hand, it had better not be because you offered it up as bait or I’ll give you a good flogging, you damn fool.”

“Aye, Dad!” said Harry, nodding rapidly and slipping the hook onto his hand. His joy was impossible to hide, and Captain Hook shot him a faint smile in return.

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Thank you for reading my story! I’d love to hear your feedback :)

[dxscxndxnts]

Comment or Reblog with what you think are the Best and/or Worst Names in the Descendants Franchise?

I’ll personally always love the obviously simple but on-point genius of Gaston having twins and naming them both Gaston. Also as simple as “Ben” is for Belle and Beast’s kid, it is the latin root for “Good” (and Mal is the latin root for bad), so whether that was intentional or not, I love it.

I also have a soft spot for CJ Hook!

And I’ll never forgive them for Squeaky and Squirmy. Smee would never.

What’s everyone’s fav/unfav? Let me know!!