#Her weapon makes me think of candy XD

[galacticghoste]

Red or Blue????

@head---ache (Lets pretend Silho is taller lol)

Look who got weapon now TOO!!!!

Also girl name is Dizzy now :P

[patchworksoulstory]

hey me again haha, im rereading the second part now and papyrus was listing the stuff he had in his dimensional boxes but stopped in the middle and im curious about what everyone has in their boxes now lol you dont have to answer if itd take too long though

I did it! (Just, keep in mind, some of this may change in the future, this is what I think makes sense at the current moment. XD)

[Incoming Text Wall]

It'd definitely be an ever-changing answer, I think, but I can give you some typical things for most of the main characters:

Papyrus generally likes to have several spaghetti dishes on hand, as well as any extra bone projects or weapons he's working on, and a book of something he's currently interested in (often puzzles or cooking). He also likes to keep practical things in there as well in case someone needs help, like a sewing/patching kit, face paint/makeup, and as things move more onto the surface, he'll start keeping a human medical kit as well, just in case. Something to write on and with are both important. He also usually has an extra set of clothes for Sans, boots for himself, and then, later, an extra coat for Frisk when it's cold.

Sans, on the other hand, doesn't keep much in the box for a while. He was perpetually losing/not having phones for a long time and he can teleport, so most of his stuff is usually stuffed into his pockets, ribcage, or left in his room. However, over time, he might keep whatever he's reading in there, as well as some prank items like whoopie cushions, and a few repair items and drinks. He often carries some sort of book or magazine about a seemingly unusual topic, but it'll turn out it's either something that lends itself well to wordplay or a topic someone close to him is really interested in.

Undyne switches her stuff out depending on whether she's on patrol or not. Work Undyne has a lot of utilitarian stuff in case someone gets in trouble out in Waterfall, like ropes, healing items, plants that act as floatation devices, etc etc. However, because of the current state of her gauntlets, it's sort of hard for her to actually use the phone while wearing them, so she keeps the floatation plants on the top slots so she can just mash the screen to get them out easily in an emergency. Otherwise, she typically keeps some headphones for music, some manga, drinks, and some extra weapons in storage. She often has strange or interesting items from the dump that she thinks someone she knows would get use out of.

Alphys's phone has all kinds of gadgets inside, like stuff to reattune devices, a laptop, sometimes power crystals, a magic screwdriver, and pieces of interesting scrap. A lot of her main projects are all kept in her workspace and so is her collection of manga and anime, so unless she's currently reading/watching them, those'll be at home. She also keeps earphones with her, chips, soda, and, since she’s been travelling to Snowdin more frequently, sometimes a scarf and mittens with warming magic inside of them. She’s kind of a homebody, though, and doesn’t really go out all that much without other people, so she typically packs pretty specifically for every thing she goes to.

Toriel is still getting used to carrying a phone with her. She only carries some emergency supplies inside. Everyone keeps reminding her she can put big things in the phone but she still forgets to do it sometimes and just packs a bag.

Asgore typically keeps a bunch of candy, a full tea set, a tin of cookies, and a box or two of tea (usually one of Undyne’s) inside his phone. Other things he likes to carry, he stashes in his cloak instead when he’s all dressed up in his King regalia, which is normally what he would wear out and about. He’s a little old fashioned as well and usually likes to just carry things.

Asriel mostly keeps food in his phone, usually packaged snacks, sometimes baked goods. He also likes to keep a handheld gaming system, and eventually some crystals and some seeds for specific purposes. Other than that, it changes a lot so its tough to nail down. 

Frisk likes to keep a couple things close, usually practical stuff or things that can be useful for puzzles: a notepad or small journal, sometimes a sturdy stick, something with a narrow end like a screwdriver or a metal nail-file (or Papyrus’s utility knife), and the old CD player and headphones that she got from Undyne. A magic book or two will definitely join those regular things. She sometimes ends up collecting things that she finds that could be useful for putting other things together. She also usually carries some extra food, often fruit or canned tea, and sometimes also has a handheld gaming system like Asriel does. She used to always keep the scarf Papyrus made her in there when she wasn’t using it, but she gave it away. This will probably be replaced at some point.

Gaster just got a phone with a box and hasn’t used it much yet, chances are it’ll just be filled to the brim with books.

A few more magic tools will probably join everyone’s regular items in the future. And, of course, everyone can keep their gold in there easily, though that doesn’t take up the same kind of item slot or anything. :3 

[sergeantnarwhalwrites]

Unusual Character Associations

Thanks for the tag @the-void-writes! Took me some time to get to this but I am ready to think about anything that’s not school shit or my responsibilities right now!

I tag @jezifster @ezestreet @nanashi23 @writingpotato07 @i-can-even-burn-salad (only if you want! I also leave this open to anyone)

For this I’ll use Digits (Robots & Gardens)

Seasoning: Garlic salt (She can be a blunt/salty person but salt ain’t the only thing there)

Weather: A warm day, with dense fog that doesn’t clear up until the next day and a lot of rain. 

Color: Highlighter yellow

Sky: A sky full of wispy clouds at dawn. 

Magical power: Drain. (Sucking someones life force to use as her own)

House plant: Money tree (Guiana Chestnut)

Weapon: a broken beer bottle honestly

Subject: a high school Spanish class, yes specially high school.

Social Media: Twitter and Instagram

Makeup Product: lipgloss (not super noticeable but there)

Candy: Sour skittles (rough up the roof of your mouth and your tongue but it be worth the pain. XD I am talking from experience.) 

Fear: Being the last in a friend group to die/ having to watch all the people you care about die

Ice cube shape: That last bit of ice slush that comes out of the machine. 

Method of long distance travel: The bus. Vibe to yourself and maybe catch some people being absolutely ridiculous while looking out the window. 

Art style: Mosaic and collage.

Mythological creature: Lamia

Piece of Stationery: Fountain pen for sure. 

Three emojis: 🤮🫥🤫 (the last emoji is me happily making her help out other characters)

Celestial body: Asteroid (if that counts) 

[sister-dear]

Okay, so you mentioned that Wild was another favorite... Headcanons please? [Watch me just keep doing this until I see every single boy get headcanons XD]

Yeah so I'm just gonna keep doing these lol. Let's see if I can get through all the boys by the end of the weekend.

Wild Headcanons!

As before, here’s the giant mis-mash of canon/LU canon/fanon/headcanon that I use for writing Wild.

Genderfluid. Defaulted to ‘he’ after waking up because it’s what everyone around him assumed, got slapped in the face in Gerudo Town with how good it felt to be called ‘she.’ Zelda knows to use ‘she’ when Wild is dressed a certain way, but it’s Hyrule who brings up the idea of being gender neutral and Warriors who introduces them both to the term ‘genderfluid’ and to using ‘they’ as a pronoun. Basically, Wild is slowly collecting pronouns like candy and it’s very exciting. They can’t wait to share the new things they’ve discovered on the topic and how they think it applies to them with Zelda; she’ll be just as happy about it as they are. Still mostly defaults to ‘he’ out of a combination of habit and continuing to figure out good signals for when their pronouns change, but that is shifting as time goes on.

Functionally aro/ace, at least for now. He’s focusing on rediscovering who he is and establishing familial and platonic relationships. Will probably hit one hell of an experimental phase before too much longer.

Wild’s journey/story arc is largely one of experimentation and self discovery. Curiosity is the driving force behind most of the decisions he makes. (Along with just having fun. Wild loves to have fun.)

Adventure buddies with Hyrule. They pretty much bonded instantly over their shared love of exploration and nature.

Has lots of similarities with Wind even though they don’t see eye to eye on certain topics. (Kings of Hyrule, anyone?) When Wild is feeling their silliest or just needs to have some fun to let off steam, Wind is the one they turn to.

Slightly intimidated by Warriors and Sky. Warriors seems a model knight, something Wild feels he failed to be and maybe even slightly resents. Sky also talks about being in the Knight Academy, and of course there was the whole thing with the Master Sword. Wild very much does not want Sky to get mad at him again. Nobody likes it when Sky is mad at them.

Obviously has strong familial feelings towards Twilight, and by extension Time

Has sass, generally more positive than Legend but not afraid to throw hands

Occasionally has depressive episodes and the memory-flashbacks

Wild doesn’t actually cook all the groups’ meals. He’s not the only one who is competent around a cook pot, he’s just the most passionate about it. And also the one who keeps most of the group’s food, given the slate’s ability to keep food fresh.

Wild is in fact very frustrated and somewhat humiliated by the shitty quality of his weapons, now that he’s seen enough of the others to know that none of them have the same issues with stuff just breaking as he does. Knowledge of how to care for and maintain weapons was not one of the things that carried over from his previous life, plus he keeps doing things like hitting frigging rocks with his blades. The others are slowly teaching him better.

Adrenaline. Junkie.

Thinks of their past self as a stranger who happened to inhabit their body. Had anxiety-induced muteness pre-calamity, began talking again after they woke up. They did retain sign language. Will occasionally default to it if their throat is paining them.

Has a bit of a rasp due to vocal chord damage that the shrine didn’t quite fix all the way; his voice starts to get tired if he does a lot of talking. The scars sometimes cause him mobility issues. The masseuse in gerudo town gave him oil for them and taught him how to massage the tissue to help, but he tends to forget to do it.

Hair is constantly tangled. He takes a stab at brushing it most days but not nearly thoroughly or often enough to keep it from turning into a horrible rats nest.

Is it gonna be fun? Great it’s a good idea let’s go.

Considers basically everybody in his Hyrule to be his family. Has adopted family in pretty much every race, village, and stable. His Hyrule loves him and he loves them back. Kass and Teba are like dads. Riju is his BFF and fellow pun enthusiast. The villagers of Hateno are especially protective of both him and Zelda once she comes to live with him there. There’s Impa and Dorian in Kakariko. Sidon and Paya are both potential Significant Other material if he ever becomes interested in that stuff. He gets fussed over in all the stables, greeted with enthusiasm in Tarrey Town and with the Gorons… Most of the citizens of his Hyrule don’t have any association between him and what happened 100 years ago, they just know him as the person who made things better this time.

Falls into a sibling relationship with their Zelda post-adventure. Neither of them have any interest in restoring the system that failed both of them so badly, especially after all the time that has elapsed. Zelda is quite happy with the opportunity to just be herself, exploring and experimenting and re-establishing relationships of her own.

One of the more religious of the group. He prays and leaves offerings at every statue, in every temple. Wild’s Hyrule has very active spirits and a large variety of religions, both ancient and current. (Hylia, the little ancestor statues all over the place, the dragons, the Gerudo seven, Malanya…) Wild’s personal experience has been that paying basic respects leads to good things (finding Koroks, increases in health and stamina, someone watching out for his horses…)

Wild takes lots of pictures, not just of people but of places and plants and animals. He’s recording his travels to show Zelda when he gets home. He knows she would kill him if he didn’t.

The others: Four | Sky | Legend | Hyrule | Warriors

[fabrowrites]

2021 Writers Wrapped

it’s the end of 2021, and i’m going through my writing throughout this year and picking a favorite sentence/section from each month!  

The original challenge: for every month you wrote, pick a sentence/section and share!  This applies to both published works and wips!

The alternate challenge: pick a sentence/section from your most popular fic, your personal favorite fic that you wrote, and the fic that gave you the most trouble!

I’ll be doing the original challenge :D  here goes nothing!

January: The Sun Rises Every Single Night Chapter 2 ninjago

Lloyd flicks soap suds at Zane, shrieking when the ice ninja returns the favor with a blank face. Nya hears the commotion and sticks her head in, gasping in mock outrage when she gets caught in the crossfire. "It is on," she says, grinning madly.

February: Skyward Chapter 52 ninjago

Jay shared a look with Zane over the top of his head.  Because the truth was that it had hurt when Lloyd drained their powers. 

March: Skyward Chapter 55 ninjago

Like the extinguishing of a candle, the last of the golden light snuffed out.  Darkness rushed back in greedily, settling like a shroud across their shoulders. 

April: what happens if u put a vampire on the sun? ninjago

“Why's Lloyd dead?” Nya asks disinterestedly, pouring her third cup of coffee that morning into her limited-edition Mega-Monster-Amusement-Park-exclusive Samurai X-cuse u mug.

“People are praising him again and the poor baby can't handle it,” Jay says.

May: The Sun Rises Every Single Night Chapter 3 ninjago

Lloyd- well, he doesn’t shriek.  Jay shrieks, but he doesn’t.  He shouts, springing back from the table. 

June: Blue ninjago

Nobody comes for him.  He’s grateful.  He’s gutted.

July: too fast / too slow Chapter 1 ninjago

He leaves, and they don’t follow him.  He leaves, and he gets captured, and he gets his powers taken.  Zane sacrifices himself to protect them in a move that should have been Lloyd’s doing, and their precariously held-together team shatters.  

August: The Make-Cole-Realize-How-Much-We-Love-Him Competition ninjago

Kai is bundled in the puffiest snow coat, zipped all the way up past his collarbone.  He rolls his eyes.  “Dude, the coat isn’t a weather choice.  It’s a smuggler’s weapon.”  His grin turns sly.  He drags Cole off into a corner and surreptitiously slides the zipper down a notch.  Taped to the inside of his jacket are rows of chips and candy.  He taps the side of his forehead.  Bemused, Cole does the same.

September: too fast / too slow Chapter 2 ninjago

 Kai stands in the middle of the room, hands clenched tightly at his sides.  He’s dressed only in a ratty pair of pajama pants.  The soft skin of his chest is bared.  Vulnerable.  Lloyd’s heart pangs.  

“Stay,” he scowls.  Demands.  Pleads.  “Just stay.  Please.”

October: lights will guide you home ninjago

Lloyd vibrates impatiently behind her, all energy and unable to control it. With neon light bouncing off his eyes, he’s a facsimile of his former appearance.  A cruel joke, she would have thought this morning.

A promise, she thinks now.

November: PRET/BOEU (untranslate) sla

And there he is: Adolin, sunshine on legs, beaming already as he enters the courtroom.  His royal blue suit pops against the dark ones of his colleagues and his briefcase has that stupid Gucci stripe down the side.  He sets his stuff down at his desk, flicking his too-long bangs out of his eyes and nodding to whatever his partner is saying.

December: untitled SS fic ninjago

“I’m dying to know what is so important that it needs all this secrecy."

“Well, if you stopped running into walls, maybe we’d get there faster.”

“Well,” Cole shoots back in the same tone, “if you stopped directing me into them, maybe I’d stop running into them so much.”

gonna tag @rosiehunterwolf @fangirltakesall @viioletpixels @maybestarlight!  no pressure if you’re busy I know this is a lot XD

[louthestarspeaker]

Shoulder to Shoulder

My first offering for #Fluffember, the prompt used is for Day 3, Together. (I’m definitely gonna be going out of order XD)  

I’m kinda nervous because this is pretty much the first story I’ve posted with the OC’s that have been living in my head for the past year or so. (There’s a multi-chapter where they’re introduced and everything, but that is still decidedly in the planning stage sooo one-shots!)  

Hugs and a thank you to @bonsaiiiiiii for the read-through and for being an absolute cheerleader! You’re wonderful and this would still be sitting in my notebook if it weren’t for you <333 

The distance between Alan and Laurie is usually measured by thousands of miles, now it’s just footsteps in the sand.

‘*’

Alan and Laurie walked the beach as morning dawned from dusty blue into reddened skies. Alan’s prints stretched far behind him, hands replacing feet in places he’d turned cartwheels. Laurie’s footsteps were lapped away by the ocean as she walked the line where the beach met the water, a sandal dangling from each hand.

It was the first time they’d seen each other in months. Talking without time zones between them had a way of slowing them both down, and their pace was leisurely, chatting about the normal and not-so-normal bits of their teenage lives.

It was things like a manual override added to Thunderbird Three because Alan kept locking his keys inside. 

Or the fact that Laurie’s Dad wouldn’t let her work with Brain’s on ship designs until she fixed her, admittedly crappy, sleep schedule.  

And of course there was school, and the half-dreadful, half-comforting solidarity of two slipping English grades. 

The average mixed in with the amazing, their world was a weird one for anyone to navigate, let alone a couple of high school students. But it helped to talk to someone who got it.

“So, long story short,” Alan summed up, “those dumb shoulder guard things actually came in handy. Probably would’ve dislocated it without them.” 

Laurie shook her head, the silver beads on her braids making a sound akin to a wind chime. “Okay, but maybe next time tell me you sprained your shoulder before you start doing cartwheels? So I can stop you from doing something stupid?”

Alan waved her off with a grin. “That was like almost two weeks ago. I’m totally good now.” He turned another cartwheel to prove it. 

It might’ve been mildly impressive in that way most cartwheels were, except Laurie was too busy ducking Alan’s flying flip-flop to spare much attention. Alan landed on his feet, with only one shoe, the other arcing almost gracefully into the water and landing with a little splash.

Laurie laughed, standing up and fishing Alan’s wayward flip flop out of the sea. “Weaponizing footwear now, Allie?”  

She tossed it back to him and Alan caught it with both hands. “Aww, it’s gonna be all squelchy now.” 

“I’m thinking you’ll live.” 

Alan replaced his flip-flop, taking a few experimental steps. “That’s debatable.” There was definitely a bit of a pout there. 

Some things never changed. Not that Laurie could say much anything, she was the youngest of a household too, after all. Parts of it were universal.

Alan’s communicator watch chimed, distracting him momentarily from waterlogged footwear.

Laurie looked over. “Is it a rescue?”

“No, there’s a different alarm for that.” Alan said, picking up the call.  A hologram of Laurie’s older brother flickered to life above his wrist. “Eagan, hey, what’s up?”

“Hey, Al. Laurie’s still with you, right? I couldn’t get a hold of her.”

Alan raised an eyebrow at Laurie, shifting so the holo-sensor picked her up. “Yeah, she’s right here.”

Laurie gave a sheepish laugh as she fiddled with her own watch. Three missed calls from her brother. “Sorry, Eagan. It was on silent.”

Eagan shook his head. “Why does anyone even give you a communicator anymore?” Failing to pick was not an isolated incident in Laurie’s case. 

“You’re guess is as good as mine at this point. So, what’s up?”

“I was just wondering if you two were coming up for breakfast or do I need to hide your plates away somewhere?” Certain family members, naming no names of course, had back holes in place of stomachs, and noses like a bloodhound’s when it came to good food.

Alan raised a finger, tentatively asking, “So we're talking about food you made, right?” 

Eagan had his hair back in the way he usually did when he’d been cooking, although of course he could’ve only been trying to pull Grandma Tracy’s efforts out of the fire. 

Quite literally. 

Eagan’s brown eyes glimmered with amusement, visible even through the hologram. “Yes, Alan, I made the food.”

“Start to finish?” 

“Start to finish.”

The palpable relief was not an exaggeration. “Cool, we’ll be there in a second.” A swipe through the hologram and Alan ended the call. 

He threw a grin at Laurie. “Race you up?”

Laurie pulled on her shoes. As if he even had to ask. It was pretty much tradition at this point.  “You’re on. The usual wager?”

Dibs on breakfast plus whatever was in the other’s pockets.

“Sure. Don’t know if I’ve got anything good, though.” Alan rifled through his pockets. A granola bar wrapper, two dollars in Canadian quarters, and… “Oh! Gummy worms! Forgot about those.” 

The bag was half empty but that hardly diminished the novelty of the prize. Candy was a rarity on the Island. 

“Let me see what I have.” Laurie fished around in her own pockets, coming up with a small skein of embroidery floss, a packet of trail mix, and the seashells she’d picked up from the beach.

Alan eyed the trail mix. “Well, I’ll never say no to free food.”

Laurie stuffed everything back in her pockets. “It’s not yours yet, Alan.”

“Key word being ‘yet’.” He said, drawing a line in the sand. “Fair warning, I’ve been going on runs with Scott and I’ve gotten really fast.” 

Laurie grinned, a spark in her eye. “Just count us off already.”

Alan counted back from three and they took off like unbottled lightning, sand spraying up from their shoes, leaving laughter in their wake in lieu of thunder. 

Two kids- and that’s all they were right now, best friends, unextraordinary and average- flying through the morning, stretching each moment for all it was worth.

[dawniebb]

Collateral Damage Pt.1

So, continuing with the journey @healing-winston-pratt and I have decided to take to rise Winston and Callum from the death, here’s another fic, and this time is about Winston :) This one is a full collaboration, meaning we both wrote this, so we hope you enjoy it XD

Part 2 will be uploaded by her soon.

You can fin the canon divergence explanation here.

And Callum’s fic is here

THERE’S MILD SELF HARM MENTIONS IN HERE

When Winston woke up, all he could see were the lights. Blindingly bright lights. And he stared at the ceiling for a while, because he didn’t know what else to do besides waiting until the rest of his senses responded to him.

His gaze remained fixated on those lights; later, he began to smell; and his surroundings were penetrated with a latex odor, combined with chlorine and something putrid… in the sense that everything smelled like blood and wounds. That is, in case wounds had a characteristic smell to them. To Winston’s view, they did. Everything had a smell, just like everything could be related with a specific color. 

But that was just him, maybe. 

Then he started to hear. And he heard the worried, hesitant chattering all around him. People screaming orders, people screaming as they followed those orders; people bawling; people in a deep state of distress calling some person’s name; he heard questions, some of them empty, routinary ones and others filled with much more substance, meant to subtract more specific details about something. 

Then he started touching, although he didn’t touch anything; he just felt the sheets beneath him, and the uncomfortable mattress and the cold structure of the hospital bed. 

A hospital bed. 

A hospital.

And a very...broken hospital. 

The building seemed fine, of course. But the place...not so much.

From what Winston could tell, he was in the ICU, but he wasn’t the only one in his room. Not even two or three. He could hear more voices; he could see the doctors and nurses’ shoes through the small pace at the bottom of the blue curtain. 

A very blue and stained curtain (Stained of what? Winston didn’t want to know). 

What the heck had happened?

How come a hospital was this...neglected, with such questionable sanitary conditions? 

And it’s not that he’d been in a hospital many times, but he knew they were supposed to be a clean and safe place. 

And why the hell was he in a hospital bed? 

Who had put him here? 

Winston groaned, his eyes moving around the reduced space he was in. 

Slowly, he tried to get into a sitting position, but a sharp pain ambushed him at his side; he then felt and saw the  IV cannula in his hand, and Winston knew he should’ve expected it to be there, as distracted as he was.

This really was happening. Right here and right now. And yet, when a nurse came to monitor his vital signs, Winston felt as lost as ever, as if he were still asleep or trapped inside a void. 

The woman didn’t say anything to him, besides asking how was he doing, of course. And from what Winston could see, she must’ve been a voluntary nurse. Probably a nurse-in-training, as she wasn’t wearing a uniform, just a plain white shirt and jeans. Still, she appeared to know what she was doing, so he didn’t feel too worried about her. 

After taking some notes, the nurse left, and that’s when Winston faced his therapist, doctor Blake. 

And he had never been so relieved to see her face. 

Not even when he was having a bad day and really needed to talk to her.

Because right now she was basically the only person he could recognize among the crowd. 

“Hi.” He greeted her in a hoarse voice, as the woman sat by the chair next to him, calm. 

“Hello, sir.” She greeted back. Her face looked tired, but she still managed to direct a half-smile at him. “I’m going to make you some questions now, okay?” 

Weird.

Very weird, but okay. 

Winston nodded in response. 

“Do you know what’s your name? Can you remember that?” 

Winston frowned. 

“Pratt. Winston Pratt.”

“Good. How old are you?” 

“28…” Then he closed his eyes and shook his head. 

“I’m sorry. 29”

“When did you turn 29?” 

“I...I know all of that. I do remember.”

“But can you tell me?” 

Winston clicked his tongue. 

“April 1st. Can you tell me what happened, please?” 

 “Can you?” The doctor narrowed her eyes, although her voice was still soothing and comforting. “Do you remember what happened, Mr. Pratt? Anything?”

Was he supposed to remember something?

Winston’s frown deepened at the same time he squeezed his brain in order to reach for whatever memory he was supposed to be looking for.

But he still felt kind of heavy and dizzy, and a sudden pulse appeared on his temples, so Winston had to shut his eyes and take a deep breath to make it disappear.

“It’s ok.” He heard Dr. Blake. “You can take all the time you need.”

“I know.”

He gulped, trying harder to concentrate.

Then he remembered nervousness and anxiety. Sweaty palms and cheeks tired of being constantly smiling. Clearing his throat more than once to avoid speaking in his usual high pitched voice.

“My speech.” He opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling one more time. “I was about to give… No. I’m pretty sure I gave a speech at… The Arena?

“You’re right.” Dr. Blake slowly nodded. “What else can you tell me?”

“I gave my speech and then… Then…”

His head was filled with static, like a TV screen with dancing black and white dots, mimicking the sound and feeling of a blizzard. 

He could touch and even smell the fabric of his suit. New. And there was the loud static again. Inside of his head and out of it. 

Then he saw the little paper thingies flying right by people’s faces, dancing to the sound of the static.

Paper thingies. 

Figures. 

And that frustrating, obnoxious sound that refused to go away. 

Wait a minute.

It was only then that Winston realized he wasn’t hearing static. He was hearing…

“Bees?”

He was so used to bees. They buzzed in sync with Honey’s emotions and flew around his precious sweets like greedy flies. Sometimes they were so annoying that he wanted to use some of Leroy’s plaguicides to get rid of them. Other times, he couldn’t care less about their presence.

“Did they…” he turned to face Dr. Blake again.  “...attack us?”

“That’s correct. The Anarchists were spotted alongside a group of prodigies who called themselves The Rejects. Have you ever worked with them?”

“I have not even heard of them.”

“You and the rest of the city”. She smiled briefly before it faded again. “The bees contained Agent N, resulting in a lot of neutralized Renegades and so many deaths.”

“What?”

Then the flashbacks hit him.

There were tons and tons of bees buzzing and flying and stinging everything that moved. 

There were people screaming and powers being shouted. He heard whistles and explosions and a bull’s cry. He smelled soaked dirt and melted candy and smoke.

He saw lots of colors at the same time, because the world started to spin and didn’t stop until he was able to stand from the ground, only to do a double take at a girl that seemed to be holding a weapon.

“Do you remember anything else, Mr. Pratt?”

It was a crossbow.

With a frozen dagger.

And goddamnit. 

That girl’s eyes were so full of rage. 

So much rage. So much… 

Winston wasn’t one to talk about this… But he could tell she was also so, so full of pain. 

“The bees…” Winston scoffed, covering his eyes as he laughed. “T-the...Queen Bee. She…she hated anything that wasn’t yellow, black or golden.” 

BANG. BANG. 

And it was like...an epiphany. Those hateful eyes full of pain, fusing with that other pair of blue eyes, also full of hate; full of grief; full of pain; full of…

Of lies. 

“....but she wore so much red. Because she looked good in red.” 

The white strips of hair trapped between her fingers. 

Bang.

Over and over again, against the floor. 

Jesus. 

The smell of iron in the air. 

Iron and...honey. 

Blood and bees. 

Winston shook his head, trying to breathe normally. He could feel his eyes more open than they should’ve been, as he stared at the ceiling. At the lights. 

As he saw those blue eyes, while a sharp pain took over his whole body. 

She was shaking with so much violence Winston thought she was about to explode, her tiny hand in the open, bleeding wound. Just like that time he had put a band-aid on her knee. 

He thought that would be the last time he saw those blue eyes, because nobody died because of a bleeding knee.

However, many people died because of a wound like this. 

That girl. White as snow. And her icicle. 

An icicle so pointy she stabbed him with it.

But it was originally being aimed at…

“Nova” He screeched, looking desperately into Dr. Blake’s eyes. “Where’s Nova?”

-.-

The next time he woke up, Winston was sure he was not supposed to forget what he was dreaming; however, it was already fading into the void.

He knew he had to remember something, but he didn’t knew what exactly.

His stomach growled, and though he couldn’t recall the last time (or heck, even the last thing) he ate, Winston didn’t feel like asking for food.

Not that he could see if someone was available anyway.

He tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t, and he hated when that happened so he just remained lying, suddenly remembering that his ‘dream’ was not a dream, but a conversation.

Fuck.

He really had messed it up, hadn’t he?

First shouting Nova’s identity at the Arena, and now again but in a hospital, right in his therapist’s face.

More than once.

Winston banged his head against the pillow, thinking about how Nova was probably under arrest at this moment, and all because of him.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stu--

The curtain moved and the same nurse appeared, this time wearing a proper uniform, though she looked more tired than the last time he saw her.

“Sir, you need to stop or you’re going to hurt yourself.”

In that very moment, Winston took a closer look on her. Now that he was more awake, he realized she actually was younger than he had initially thought, despite looking exhausted right now. 

Once again, she took his vital signs, without small talk. And then, after asking if he needed something (to which Winston answered he didn’t) she left. 

Then doctor Blake came into the room, and Winston felt as if this were the post-neutralization period all over again, which was...a pretty awful thing if you thought about it. Of course, therapy had been very useful, but that didn’t change the fact the post-neutralization period remained as one of his most unpleasant memories ever, and said memory was characterized by Doctor Blake coming into his cell over and over. 

Just like she was doing now. 

However, she must have noticed Winston was more focused now, because she just sat with her notebook on her lap and took a deep breath before speaking. 

“How are you feeling, Winston?” 

Those words were enough to make his upper lip quiver. He blinked with pain. However, his first impulse was still to ask the Doctor for help, because he had been in a lying position for so long his back was starting to hurt; careful, she grabbed him by the arm and helped him up: then, she placed some pillows behind his back so the effort to hold his body that way would be less. 

“Is that better?” 

Winston nodded, trying to breathe normally. The bandages were wrapped around the wound were tight and sort of painful, even. 

But he was alive.

That...was supposed to be a good thing, wasn’t it?

“Mr. Pratt?” 

“...Yes?” 

“A tragedy happened last night.” Doctor Blake spoke slowly. “Like I already mentioned, we were attacked by a group of prodigies that called themselves The Rejects, short after your speech at the arena.”

He could recall that. His speech. The bees. The panic. 

“Many lives were lost, and due to the Agent N that the bees carried, many Renegades and civilian prodigies lost their special abilities. However, there was another incident reported in the first hours of the morning.” 

“Fuck, no. Please.”

“The Rejects moved towards the Cathedral, taking Ace Anarchy with them, and after a couple of hours, there was a phenomenon that has been denominated the Supernova.” 

Nova. 

“The cause for this strange event is still unknown, as we are yet to obtain a confession of the parties involved. Nevertheless...there were some...repercussions.” 

And he didn’t want to know what those were, but he knew she was going to tell him anyway. 

So fuck it. 

The doctor sighed.

“After said Supernova, all non-prodigy individuals acquired….prodigy features.” 

He heard her words, although he didn’t comprehend them.

Not until a minute had passed, at least.

And Winston scoffed.

“Wow, that’s so shitty.” He said, almost amused.

Almost.

“Good thing they had already taken mine.” 

Dr. Blake remained straight-faced, and Winston’s half smile quickly faded.

Then he felt it.

No.

It couldn’t be.

It was all on his mind.

Winston looked at his palms, wondering when they had started trembling.

He tried to gulp but it seemed that he had forgotten how to do it.

His heart raced.

His breath quickened.

And when he saw his fingertips as they started to ghostly glow with yellow, his hands clenched into fists to turn it off.

His vision became a blur. 

His palms ached due to his nails digging in the soft flesh.

He could no longer hear Dr. Blake, for an endless “beep” resonated inside his ears and filled his head.

His hands went right to his face with the only purpose to scratch the hell out of the makeup that Winston was so fucking sure was there again.

He wanted to whip it out.

Make it disappear.

He didn’t want it.

He didn’t…

He didn’t feel it fading, no matter how many hot tears rolled down his face in an attempt to wash it out.

Just like he didn’t feel the spark dissipate.

The prodigy spark that burned in his insides like a torch. Bright and scorching and suffocating.

A spark that consumed him like that the oxygen the fire needed to keep burning. A spark that didn’t let him breathe until it was gone.

But it had lightened up again.

So all that he could do, was scream.

[antihero-writings]

Blood and Mercury

Fandom: Pandora Hearts

Fic Summary: Symptoms of mercury poisoning may include: irritability, excitability, delirium, insomnia, vivid dreams, depression, and suicidal tendency.

There must have been a lot of mercury in Break's past for him to show so many symptoms.

|| A modern AU about Break's past struggle with drug abuse and suicidal thoughts, and his current struggle with the Mad Hatter's illness, and how much of that struggle he should tell Sharon about.

Character Focus: Break

Notes: 1. Warning! This fic deals with topics of suicide and drug abuse. Everything is described very subtly and poetically, and it's not explicit, but it is about that. However, although it's heavy for the first part, there's some definite comic relief at the end if you can get that far!!

2. This is a modern AU. Not the reincarnation AU, an actual modern AU, where the plot of the series happens in modern time. (I mean, I guess it could be a reincarnation AU if actual events repeat themselves...but I don't think they do). So, in case it's not clear, Break's sick from his second contract with the Mad Hatter, just like in the series. Although I do like the idea that it's actually mercury poisoning.... a) I didn't even think about that until I'd already written it, b) coughing up blood and stuff isn't a symptom of it, and c) that's a really cool idea that I'd rather focus on and do justice in another fic. (Let me know if you'd be interested in reading that!!) The time frame for this is meant to be towards the end of the series--around the time Break was teaching Oz sword fighting.

3. I've always headcanoned Break (or more Kevin) as being suicidal because of the "So...you wanna die?" line. I don't know if the line was actually supposed to mean he was directly suicidal, or if it just meant he was depressed and not doing well, and/or just didn't care about his life, but that's how I've viewed it. And even if he was suicidal, I don't know that he ever attempted it. It could just be that he was suicidal inside but never did anything with those thoughts. Regardless, I do think he wanted to die in some fashion, and to me it makes his story more impactful (especially when he ends up wanting to live at the end), and relatable if he was actually suicidal. So I really wanted to play with that idea in at least one fic (though I'd enjoy playing with it in the context of the actual series too).(You don't have to read this part if you don't want to XD I just wanted to put it up front)

This fic was inspired by the song "Colors" by Halsey!

If you enjoy this fic, I'd really really appreciate if you could leave a comment!! Even the shortest comments can truly make my week, and motivate me to keep writing!!

Chapter 1: The Candy Shop

Collapsing. Blackness. Scratches in his lungs. And the taste of blood.

He never complained but his blood tasted like ash, and regret, and the blackness that overtook his sight was far from empty; an abyss, the memory of one, engulfed his world before he even felt the ground.

The last thing he had heard was Sharon shouting his name, and at Oz to get the medicine—and do so quickly. She didn’t say why, but they all knew it was because every second they wasted was a second he no longer had to spend.

Sharon’s voice, doused with pain. All that hurt and care, and thinly veiled tears, crammed into a few words. He’d never tell her, but he could care less about the wasted seconds, if only she would promise never to cry like that again.

He had collapsed this time. That wasn’t exactly abnormal, still, little by little, line by line, every little sign, he was getting worse.

“Don’t push yourself, Xerx.”

Reim would scold him for not listening.

And maybe Break would laugh, say some quip about how he worried too much, how he needed to let loose. Or maybe he’d say nothing at all. But they both knew—words or no—at some point, this would be all that was left; a few laughs, a drink or two, and the words Xerxes, don’t throw your life away.

What a fool he was.

With Sharon it was different. Different because she was young, and she didn’t understand, not fully, not enough. Or because she understood too much, and everyone pretended she didn’t. He didn’t like to entertain the thought, but maybe that included herself; maybe when she told them to get the medicine, she was telling herself it would work.

Which was the scarier thought; that she didn’t understand? Or that she understood completely, and pretended not to?

What about before? When she was a child laced in light. Was it worse then, or better?

She was younger—so, so young…had they really known each other so long? Was he really so old?…little girls shouldn’t be forced to deal with the broken shards of someone like him.

They might get cut on the pieces.

She didn’t know. She didn’t need to pretend. Still, they tried to hide his pain from her young impressionable brain. And this was not easy, nor fun, but neither were the tears and the questions.

That all but went out the window when the little girl found him, collapsed on the bathroom floor, along with the desperate spill bottle of pills, meant to override the circuits in his brain. Salt thrown over his shoulder.

For good luck on the other side.

Shelly’s face. No anger. No disappointment. That kindness was in Sharon’s smile too, now—and did this kindness mean more if she knew the truth? If he’d known the capacity of their smiles, would he not have tried it?

Sharon had led her mother to him—her voice was desperate, shouting, crying, back then too…some things never change—laying there on the floor, on a date with death and a bottle whiskey and cyanide. As if toasting to the thought We are born drinking from bottles, why not die that way too? Instead of throwing them away he had tried to throw away his life instead.

Bottle up his life, slap a label on it, set it on the shelf. You can take it down on special occasions. Sell it, throw it away, it doesn’t matter. Throw away his life with the very thing that was meant to heal it. Not many murder weapons were once medicine. An overdose on ineffective salvation.

Hadn’t wrote a note either. Hadn’t given them a reason, hadn’t detailed his pain, or plan for revenge.

Just tried to leave without a trace, and left too many.

And when he woke up and, to his chagrin, was still alive—no heaven or hell, just here on an earth that was both—she hadn’t scolded him…well, not at first. She hadn’t demanded to know what he was thinking, or tried to ingrain within him him how much they cared, and how terrible it would all be if this plan of his had worked. She had just smiled, and spoke softly. And later, when she cleaned him up, she had said…

It was always the same. The same now. Black and white and red all over. Sharon’s cries, instead of choking down all the pain, forcing herself not to feel, like he did, she took that pain on her tongue and let it spill out into the open air.

Maybe that was all she could do. Shout his name, and pray her words would pull him from the beyond the veil, and try to discern if there was such a thing as medicine after all. Maybe she wanted to feel useful, because just sitting here, waiting for the end to come and grab him with teeth and claws, was more than she could bear. And in some way he was grateful, because he’d rather she pretend she could save him, than see the real pity, the hopelessness in her eyes when she realized she couldn’t. When she realized the Red Queen and the Black King had her Mad Hatter after all, and she couldn’t break him out of their dungeon.

One day, he was sure, it would all become too similar to a snowy night long ago—a night dressed in black; black cloak, black coffins, black sky, and black around those red eyes, which his own became indistinguishable from too quickly. Maybe Sharon would even say those words too: Break, please don’t leave me, because he’d never had the guts to tell her what his past was made of. And then…he would do just that.

He’d rather have her believe the lie he might live than say to her face I’m going to die and nothing can stop it.

He wasn’t afraid to die. We all die at some point. Some sooner than others. Why should he get more time when he wasted so much of it? Save your breaths. Save your tears. Save your lives, not mine. We all lose the fight eventually. He had spent his whole life fighting, maybe just once he could go quietly into that goodnight; meet death as a friend. He didn’t deserve more time than anyone else.

He just…wanted a few more minutes awake. A snooze button on life. Five more minutes. Ten. Twenty. A year or two? There were a few more things he needed to do. He wasn’t going to let death take him down easy.

All that talk, and not-talk, of medicine and death led him here, today, with a prescription container in his hand, and an ache in his head.

He swung open the lid to the cabinet, a mirror hanging limply out, glinting in the cold fluorescent light.

Why do they put mirrors on medicine cabinets? Like you need a second look to tell you—Yep, I’m crazy— before you pop the little capsules in your mouth, which promise This will make things better. And you tell yourself plastic and paperwork, lab coats whitewashed as their promises wouldn’t lie.

He lifted the container to put it back in its proper place in the cabinet, but paused, letting it rest on the tip his fingers, sliding into place in his palm. His arm dropped back down, eyes scanning over the label, darting to the rest of the contents of the cabinet, as if staring down an old foe.

White ones, and blue ones, red ones, yellow ones…like some candy store for the sick, the insane, and the empty. It wasn’t just pills either; powders, and needles, and glass that breathes fumes into your lungs and brain; a delusion’s kiss, that makes everything just a little bit better, just a little bit funnier. Needles that, needless to say, could take you a real wonderland if you shoved them in far enough.

He’d tried them all at some point in his life. And when they didn’t work, the stash sat dormant in his closet, his drawers, cabinets like this one, while new-fangled solutions took their place. He didn’t throw them away—you never know when one day you might need to fly—like he was keeping illegal souvenirs of a worse world.

There are worse things than bottled happiness. And ‘happiness’ can do more damage than a decent amount of sorrow sometimes.

They smelled like walls that someone puked on at one point, but they painted over rather than clean up, and you could still tell by the smell something was wrong, closer to the woodwork. But they were too easy to keep contained; to not smell, to not taste, too easy not to realize what they were really made of.

He wouldn’t be surprised if there was a few hundred, maybe thousand or more, dollars* here staring back at him in hollow color. The amount of money they cost only comparable to their unending ingredient lists—full of the names of chemicals he couldn’t pronounce, and titles that he could, but wouldn’t waste breath on. He didn’t care about the money, or what they were made of, or the warnings of how much more damage they would cause—asking you to decide between your brain and your liver. All promising happiness, and not-perfect-just-better, and a decent night’s sleep.

He tried not to care about much.

None of them worked. Not for him at least.

And, no, that wasn’t an exaggeration. Wasn’t just an excuse to get more, or him not trying hard enough. There came a point when his body just wouldn’t respond to their signals.

There came a point when too much of him was already too dead to respond to anything but mad scientists, calling upon lightning storms in old abandoned castles. Besides, the Mad Hatter’s malady wasn’t exactly something an ordinary doctor could fix, or even name.

In truth, he could handle the physical aspects of it; the blood in his lungs, the passing out, and the loss of vision—which would be more than a temporary side effect before long. But there was something else—what do they call it? The soul? The heart? Something like that. He’d forgotten long ago. Those parts, that pain, was harder to take, to tolerate, and rotted the longer he stuffed it down. Like he was barricading the door to the monster’s lair with the bodies of those monsters that had gone before, and he knew full well none of them were quite dead.

There was an old picture on the countertop. A woman with hazelnut hair and a sunflower smile, a man in turquoise with a begonia eye, tragedy woven into the petals. And a little girl who thought flowers were bandages.

He picked it up, brushing the dust off their faces, trying to smile, though it was stained as his eye back then.

People need hope. They need this thing to tell them to keep going, it’s not over yet, not to give up. It’s like the glue to the gingerbread house that is you. When you don’t have it, your life kind of…falls flat. Like soda that’s been left out; no longer bubbly, no longer worth drinking. When someone doesn’t have it, it doesn’t mean they can’t live anymore, that life is undrinkable, it just means this thing we called living, once, doesn’t have the same carbonation.

But hope is a funny thing, elusive, reclusive, and volatile. Picky about the things it can eat. Difficult to keep alive.

That’s why this candy store was so full, what its stockers promised to fix, to feed; that beast, hope. That’s what the dealers promised they could provide; something they all knew couldn’t be borrowed, or bartered, or manufactured.

Hope’s not something that can be bottled. We’re all like children, unaware fireflies, those pretty blinking lights, will die without air.

He set the picture back down, turning his gaze to the container still in his other hand.

The only reason he kept using them was for them. For Sharon, Sheryl, and Reim. For Oz and Gilbert, and the rest. As long as it didn’t hurt, or make it worse, if it gave them hope—(a hope he could never have)—for him to take the medicine, he’d do it.

Sheryl had been the one to suggest the medicinal path in the first place. It made sense; she had dealt with this sort of thing before. Shelly had been sickly all her life, and medicine helped—(Helped. Didn’t save her life. And Shelly would have argued she didn’t need it either, and had often refused them herself). But this wasn’t the same. This was deeper than skin or bone. Still, she was kind, and he respected her—or he came to…not to mention he didn’t want to cross her.

Reim had agreed; regiments and tangible, scientific solutions appealed to his personality. He liked when things were concrete, it was more promising to him than whimsy, and words.

They had yet to learn of the concrete things that were tea and sugar, which work a lot better at lifting the spirit than things you aren’t supposed to taste.

Life is about tasting. About watching, and listening, and really feeling. Life is about living. Not swallowing and trying not to taste. Not existing and trying not to live.

It was Shelley who had told him that. She had let them try out their methods, but she told him if he didn’t want them to work, that they wouldn’t. That he could try them, but they were useless without resolve to go with them. She told him that the ones the doctors give are from a factory, made of greed, and half-baked promises that rubbed too close to lies. Not belief, and real promises, and laughter—(which is, of course, the best medicine). And even the ones they don’t give you are too strong to grant you something you can call life. That maybe he oughtta just throw them away after all.

She told him a smile and a day in the sun was all he really needed. That they can’t bottle and sell hope and sunshine. That you can’t pull life out of death, and hope needs to come from something alive—from something free of charge, flickering in the air, that can’t be put in a jar, or tamed. She pointed to his chest and said that hope hails from there. The last thing in the box is always hope, you just have to really empty out the rest of the crap in the box first.

Shelly wasn’t someone you could hide these sorts of things from. She had this sixth sense; she could speak with the already-dead. One way or another, she’d find out—(even if she had to wring it out of you). But instead of sending you to the doctor, telling you that something was wrong with you, that you were crazy, she would smile. Like all you needed were a few kind words, and she’d send you back into the world, heart humming. She could be unbearably compassionate. When she talked about happiness, it was like she was speaking of an old friend of hers. She’d say that it doesn’t come in shots or smoke, it was more elusive, and can be found in a kind gesture, at amusement parks, and in sunsets, in a really good cup of tea, or a homemade cookie.

And when she’d cleaned him up, after finding him on the bathroom floor, she’d said:

“So, you want to die?”

Did he? Did he really want to die? Or was it something else? Something darker? something brighter?

He wanted to sleep. To rest. He knew that much. His sleep was always interrupted and irregular, and he had forgotten what real rest entailed.

Knives and blades rested comfortably in his hands, but he had broken the skin too often, of too many others, for it to provide any semblance of relief when used on himself. Besides, he didn’t want to die naked in a bathtub painted red. He didn’t want to lay in a coffin with stitches on his neck and flowers growing out of his wrists. He didn’t want the world to find him hanging from the ceiling like a criminal in town square. He didn’t want scars to tell his secrets, or his death to show him weak. Very little about his life had been elegant or dignified. So he wanted to die, at least, softly, with some measure of dignity. Make some music out of the cacophony. Without a scratch, or a word, or a second to spare. Something subtler would be his weapon of choice: the prick of needle, the taste of poison, the promise of happiness in a bottle—just enough happy to kill you.

Because that’s how it was, then—during that time when they had found him on the bathroom floor. That desire wasn’t flashy and boisterous. It wasn’t the rich smell of steel and iron, it was more insidious; the smallest pinprick of the soul, or something he may have swallowed at one time or another, that withered his insides slowly. It wasn’t something to parade around, or cry out to the town, and it wasn’t something he needed them to rescue him from. It was just there, nagging at the back of his heart, like a sore soul.

He didn’t cut, and he wouldn’t bruise or burn, and he wouldn’t ask for their help, or tell them a thing either.

His cries were veiled, veiled behind those times he shouted at them, or insulted them, even now still veiled behind his jokes. It wasn’t obvious. The pain was a shadow behind his words and actions, a demon behind him at all hours.

Back then, there had been days when he wouldn’t move from that windowsill, unless Shelly shoved him off.

Sometimes he felt like a shadow himself when he was around the living—like he wasn’t really there. Already dead, an imprint, a faded image of some past, some distant version of a self who may or may not have existed. He couldn’t share their happiness, or even their grief, because he wasn’t a real thing, here, now. He shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be here, with a new young mistress, a doll with his old mistress’s name, and a heart full of regrets. I mean, really, shouldn’t. Time had bent for him, and he feared the bends were becoming breaks.

“You wish to die…so you do not suffer anymore. You simply want to save yourself.”

Was that true? Was this not about death, or even rest, but about…salvation?

He wanted to live. And that’s why he tried so hard to die.

Sharon, Reim, Sheryl, Shelly, and…Oz.

He ran his hand through his hair, grimacing at the thought of Oz seeing all this. Sharon had assigned him the task of medicine-caddy after all. He imagined the boy saying to himself What does Break need all these for? Then backtracking in his mind Oh, right, which would either be followed by, Oh, right, he’s crazy or Oh, right, he said he wouldn’t last the year and take an extra few moments to find the right ones before running back.

Usually Reim was the one to do this. Reim knew about the whole not-working thing. He had told him to stop taking them, to tell Sharon that they didn’t work. To stop pretending they did, that he’d never know what more damage they were doing to his body by taking them. But he also didn’t force him to tell the truth. Perhaps protecting Sharon was for the best. They were like her older brothers—a little too protective at times. Neither of them wanted to see her cry.

He didn’t usually let anyone besides Reim look in this cabinet—best not let the world in on his little secret candy shop—but he hadn’t had his medicine on him at the moment he fell, and Reim had been busy running errands for the bird-brained duke at the time.

He tossed the still-full container into the trash, where it gave a satisfying swish and clang as it tumbled into bottom.

Such a simple action. Why had it taken him so long?

He should have listened to her earlier.

He rested his hands on the sink, closed his eyes again, blowing out a breath.

The yellow pills don’t contain happiness, in as much as the red ones don’t contain anger, or the blue ones sadness. The red pill and the blue pill don’t sit in the hands of the god of dreams, asking you if you want to wake up. We may be made out of dust, but some dust in a capsule can’t patch the rips in our souls.

Can’t fix the hole where his eye is meant to be. Can’t undo the brand on his chest.

Doctors can sew back the skin, but they don’t know how to stitch together a ripped mind. They try, they think they can plug the hole up. But you can’t come to them with the broken shards of your heart and say Hey doc, can I get a new one?. You can’t walk in with a messed-up mind and say Clean it for me, will ya?

There was nothing they could do about his eye, except give him one made of glass, and he had enough broken shards in his brain, and enough falsity in his smile. And they couldn’t rewind the clock burned on his chest. His time had already reached zero, so it made sense he was dying.

He could handle being broken, being Break. In fact, a little penance could do some good. He’d could handle pain.

It was the memories he wanted to tear to shreds and return to sender. But he was not granted the grace of amnesia, unlike little girls named Alice. Just bad dreams, and reminders on his broken body telling him he was less than worthless.

He didn’t want to go to the doctor, especially not a psychiatrist. And Shelly wouldn’t have made him go, until faced with Sharon’s eyes, blurred with tears, asking when he was going to get better.

He didn’t need a shrink to know he was crazy. What would he talk about anyway?

Well, let’s see here, I’ve killed a hundred and sixteen people, so that might be weighing on my conscience a bit.

Why? Because a demon told me I could change the past. To tell you the truth, I could, and I did, but you know what demons don’t tell you? You can change the past, but that change may mean the difference from bad to worse. I made it worse. And in my version of events; the changed past I sought so desperately, that one little girl who survived ended up feeding her family to another demon to save her sister, in the same way I wanted to save them.

I wasn’t there to stop her. And I know she failed. I am what success looks like.

And it’s my fault she’s dead. I killed her. I killed her. I killed that little girl—

Yeah, no diagnosis necessary.

Sometimes he wished he could be diagnosed with something normal. That they could say he had a disease, or a parasite that was slowly eating at his mind. But this wasn’t something that could be found in text books. It was closer to magic—things from the Abyss are not for doctors to diagnose. The blood he coughed up wasn’t from a disease, or pent up abuse or torture, it was something more mysterious; contracts, and scars, and mirrors. It’s not quite the same as an illness, not something they can just cure. They couldn’t explain the whole some of us-don’t-age-anymore thing, why would they be able to explain the blood, and the coughs and the dying just because it was more serious? There weren’t exactly Chain doctors. There are just doctors and either it’s in the books or it isn’t. And even if there were, it wasn’t exactly common for an illegal contractor to survive their trip the Abyss.

Besides, he didn’t ask for help, not even from those close to him, so why would he ask a doctor?

It was easier that way. It was easier to say it didn’t matter, easier to disappear, than to admit that he cared.

So the one time he did go to the whitewashed walls he told them something, some story that was only half based on a movie he’d seen, and they sent him away with a note to the one who bottled the happiness.

And that’s just the explanation for the prescribed ones.

The rest fit under the motto ‘Well, if you can’t beat the crazy, might as well join it.’ And those were the kind Shelly especially wanted him to throw away.

Crazy. Mad. Mad Hatter.

They say hatters used to go mad because their glue contained mercury, and the fumes polluted their brains. A mad hatter, with stitched up hands, ash-white skin, smoky eyes and a mercury turned brain…yeah, that sounded just about right.

If hope is life’s glue, then his contained mercury.

He looked up into the mirror, tilting his head to the side, and smiling wryly to himself at the thought;

There must have been a lot of mercury in his past for him to go this mad.

One day, they all stopped working. Like when he found out he couldn’t get drunk anymore. Two kinds of poisons, no longer effective, because he was already dying. No matter prescribed or uninscribed. Maybe that’s how it was with mercury poisoning; one day cures just stop curing, time stops ticking, hearts stop yearning.

Too crazy. Not crazy enough. And nothing works either way anymore. Maybe she was right, and he just throw them all away.

“Hey!”

Break started, turning to see Oz standing in the doorway.

“What’s up?” Oz leaned into the room, trying to catch a glimpse of the contents of the cabinet.

“That depends on if you’re sitting on the floor or the ceiling!” Emily sang.

Oz was used to his absurdity by now, and ignored it; “I was going to ask,”—he bounced on his tiptoes like a curious three-year-old—“what’s that green turd?”

Break tried not to laugh at his naiveté, and folded his arms over his chest, leaning against the cabinet, shutting it with his body.

“Sorry, Oz-kun,”—he smirked—“but there isn’t any children’s medicine in here, you’ll have to check elsewhere.”

Oz glared at him. He was known for being a pain in the ass…but Oz was known for being one too.

“Is it pot?” Oz continued his line of questioning, smiling like the cheeky brat he was…according to Break at least.

Break’s own smirk faltered, not realizing he was asking out of understanding rather than ignorance.

“I’ve always wanted to try it,” Oz mused out loud.

“Is that so?” The smirk was back on stage.

“Yeah!” He bounced on his toes again. “Seems like fun!”

“You know Gilbert-kun just might just kill you if he found out.” He said it like that would be a good show for a Saturday afternoon.

“You’re not gonna tell him, are you?” Oz pouted, his eyes narrowing.

“That depends.”

“On what?” Oz grunted.

“Maybe you and I could come to an agreement.” He inclined his head towards the cabinet.

“What’s there for me to tell? Are you upset I saw inside there?” He pointed with his thumb to the medicine cabinet. “It might be a little weird, but it’s not my place to judge…Honestly if you’re taking all that, it explains a lot.”

Break snickered. “You think too highly of yourself, Oz-kun; if I were upset, that would imply I care what you think.”

“Whatever.” Oz smiled; he had enough insanity of his own. “I know you love me.”

“Oh sure, the way a farmer loves the cute little rabbits eating his crops.”

Oz made to leave, but before he exited he spun in an attempt to get at the cabinet. In a flash, Break grabbed the broom from the corner, and tripped him with the end, sending him to the floor.

“Ow,” Oz rubbed at his head, which he had knocked against the doorframe.

Break didn’t apologize.

“You’ve been skimping on our lessons.” Break leaned on the broom.

“Why do I have to learn sword-fighting anyway? …It’s like you’re from another century”

“My, my.” He twirled it around so the end was at his pupil’s throat. “Just last week you were saying how excited you were to learn.”

“That was before I realized ‘go easy on him’ doesn’t register in your brain.”

“How else are you supposed to learn~?” Oz sat up, pushing the makeshift sword away from him.

He paused a moment before asking,

“They don’t work, do they?”

Break’s eye widened for a split second. He followed Oz’s emerald gaze to the medicine cabinet.

He gritted his teeth. “Cheeky little brat.”

Oz put on a sad but proud smile. “I knew it.”

“You really aren’t cute at all,” Break muttered under his breath.

“Does Sharon-chan know?”

Break looked away, pretending like he hadn’t heard the question.

“Why don’t you just tell her?”

Break laughed. “What kind of a gentleman would I be if I made my lady worry?”

“Come on, seriously. I mean, what good does letting her believe they work do?”

“There’s good to be found in even the strangest of situations.” Emily twittered.

“I’ll watch the twelve o’clock special later, thanks.”

“He doesn’t want to make her cry,” another voice broke in.

They looked up to see Reim in the doorway.

“Oh, Reim-san~! And we were just getting used to your absence!” Break joked.

Reim’s hand clenched into a fist.

“Spare me the pleasantries.”

Reim walked in to help Oz up, giving Break a reproachful look before saying, “I hope he isn’t causing you too much trouble.”

“Always. But I can handle myself. He’s just mad a saw inside his medicine cabinet.”

“Ah, yes, his little ‘candy shop.’ I have been telling him to just tell Sharon, and throw them out, for years.”

“Years? Break, you should really throw those out! Why don’t we help you?”

Break looked away. “Tch. You really think I need help from the likes of you?”

Oz got a mischievous look. “What if I tell her myself?”

“Then I’ll tell Gilbert-kun you want to take up smoking weed~?”

“Oz-sama!” Reim’s grabbed Oz by the shoulders. “You want to start smoking drugs?!” He shook him, before spinning him to Break as if presenting him. “Xerxes this is exactly the reason I tell you to throw them out! You’re polluting the young lord’s mind!” He shook Oz more.

“Eh.” Oz shrugged. “My mind was plenty polluted already.”

Before Reim could react to that, Break spoke,

“See?” Break put his hands behind his back and stepped up to Oz, leaning down so he was eye level. “That’s the mild version of the lecture Gilbert-kun would give you.”

Oz sighed managing to break free of Reim.

“Come on,” he spoke to Break, returning to the previous subject. “Do you really need to keep taking them if they don’t do anything? Seems like a waste of time and money if you ask me.”

“That’s what I keep telling him!”

“You should just tell Sharon-chan. She’s stronger than you think. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“Well, boys,” Break patted them on the shoulders as he walked by, “not that this isn’t fun, but I have some serious work to catch up on.”

“You’re going to play video games again aren’t you?” Reim crossed his arms.

“Break!” Oz called.

Break sighed, eyes lidding, before turning to Oz.

“You don’t have to do this alone, you know.”

“He’s not alone!” Emily chittered, “he has me!”

Oz rolled his eyes, and Reim facepalmed.

******

Notes Cont.:

*I know this probably wouldn't be "dollars", but a) I don't remember them mentioning the name of their currency in the series, b) a more generic word like "money" didn't fit the sentence, and, c) as an American, something like "euros" (which, while probably closer to the correct term) didn't sound as natural to me.

I don't know if anyone will believe me, but I actually wrote this a VERY long time ago. I started it sometime around July 2018, before/right when I started posting my writing online. It was one of my very first PH fics, and has even informed some fics I've posted--(I got the name "Black and White and Red All Over" for my halloween fic last year from this fic. Well, I got it from the joke/expression, but this fic is what tied that phrase to Break in my mind). I would periodically work on it over the years, and I really enjoy the language, so it was fun to continually return to it.

The first part has been postable for a long time, the problem has always been the end. Lately I've been going through my old fics and making myself post them even if they're not perfect. Usually the way to do that is just to break them up earlier than I wanted to. I really wanted to add a heartfelt ending to this fic (still do!) but for some reason I had the toughest time transitioning to more of an actual scene at the end and actually writing it, so it ended up just getting stuck on my computer. The other issue is that I have zero experience with drug abuse, so I think I just felt like I was describing things wrong and got cold feet about posting it. If I got anything wrong, please kindly let me know!

Do you think I should write out the memory of Break’s suicide attempt in ch2? I kind of wanted to actually write it out but I wasn’t sure if it’d be too heavy...

Oz and Break's relationship is actually one of my favorites in the series, and I absolutely adore writing for it...but it seems I have trouble doing so. I have one more Break and Oz fic that I absolutely adore that's been stuck on my computer for about the same amount as time as this one, that I also got stuck on the middle/end. (I actually might have written it before this one, as I recognize some similarities XD) Hopefully I can break it up and post it soon too!

Thanks for reading!! Once again, if you could leave a comment, it would mean more to me than you know!!

[secondgenerationnerd]

Beach Day

Just a cute little drabble! Working on other stuff, but like....I needed this scene to happen XD Also, the girls would never actually act on any of this.

----------

The summer sun beats down on the young heroes. Waves crash along the shoreline as they sit on towels. Their focus isn’t on the sweltering heat, at least, the girls’ isn’t. No, they’re focused on the young man emerging from the ocean’s depths.  Arthur Curry jr., or Artur as they call him, swims to the group/ Pushing his golden curls back from his face, he strolls up to the agreed sparring spot. Water rivots run down his tanned arms, armor molded to his torso. The Omega squad ladies aren’t exactly known for their shame when it comes to checking guys out. 

“Damn, and I thought Ceridian looked good coming onto land.” Lian pulls her baseball cap down, trying to keep the sun from her eyes.

“I’m telling you, Roja.” Milagro pushes her sunglasses up her nose, “Becoming a mermaid might be worth it for a guy like that.”

“I don’t know.” Irey hums, “Drowning might be worth it if he saves me.”

“-tt-” Damian tries to seem annoyed, but Irey knows him too well. He’s jealous of the young prince. Still maintaining his professionalism, he meets their guest. “Nice of you to arrive on time, Curry.”

“Mother insisted. She said I need practice with people who don’t view me as their prince.” He  leans against his trident. “And it provides you all with a break in boredom I’m sure.”

Lian murmurs to Milagro, “You know how people say the bigger the weapon, smaller the dick?”

“Yes and I don’t think that applies here.” 

Mar’i strolls into the water, in her water training uniform. A pair of escrima sticks, made of Tamaranian proof material, hang from her belt. Artur bows respectfully, which she returns. Royal kids are fucking weird, regardless of their background.

“Ready, Princess?” Unlike her team, the Atlantian royal uses her title as a form of respect. Mar’i grins, spinning weapons in her hands. Her wild curls have been reluctantly pulled into a high ponytail. “I’ve been waiting to see how a Tamaranian holds up to an Atlantian for a while.”

“I think we proved that last time I kicked your ass, your highness.” Mar’i gets into her battle stance. “Don’t worry, Artur. There’s no shame in losing to the stronger warriors.” 

“If I remember our first sparring match, Mar’i,” Artur readies his weapon, planting himself in the water. “Tamaranians didn’t stand a chance.”

“Let’s begin!’ Damian barks. 

Mar’i blocks the first strike from his trident. There is a big difference between Tamaranian fighting and Atlantian fighting. Mar’i’s lighter on her feet but Artur’s smoother in his movements. That’s what the boys are thinking at least. the girls focus on Artur.

“Podria romperme por la mitad con esos brazos, merdia.” 

“Is that the part you’d want him to use though?” Irey teases. Jai nudges Colin.

“Do you hear your girlfriend?”

“Yes, and I hear your girlfriend and your sister too.” Colin stretches out on his towel. “They’re not wrong, he’s fucking hot. Mil and I already agreed to him on our hallpass list.”

“You two have a list?” Jon tilts his head.

“Yep. Some are impossible, like Ambrose Spellman, but if Artur or Ceridan are interested, we’re allowed.” 

The fight goes on for a while, both teens holding too much pride for their people to even think about half assing it for training. Artur uses his powers to command the waves. Mar’i disappears under the water as is washes over her.

“Cheater.” Mar’i sits up, dark curls escaping from her ponytail. She has to lift them out of her impossible green eyes. Artur laughs, a rich belly laugh that resonates across the beach.

“There was never any discussion on the use of powers.”Artur offers her his hand. She accepts it and they shake hands. She’s definitely more diplomatic than any of them would be. “I’m sure if you used your starbolts, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Don’t tempt me, Aquaboy.” She laughs. “I’m not against a rematch.”

“West.” Damian jerks his head at Jai. “Your turn.”

“You ok with wrestling? I’m not one for weapons. Jai pulls his t-shirt off as he heads to the water. Jai’s not the buffest of the Omega boys, but the muscles in his back and arms move as he streteches. When the boys start their match, Lian leans back, biting her lip. Mar’i laughs as she wrings out her hair. 

“You ok there, Li?” She teases.

“My nerdy hot boyfriend is shirtless and wrestling the surfer hot prince of Atlantis.” Lian winks at them. “More than ok.”

Irey laughs and notices Damian pouting nearby, arms crossed as he watches Jai and Artur. Brushing the sand from her hands, she heads over to her coleader. Damian relaxes a bit when she hugs him from behind. 

“Being a pouty pants?” She asks. 

“Just not used to you saying those things. At least not since we came out as a couple.” 

“Dames, if it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t make those comments.” Irey kisses the back of his shirt. “I don’t mean it, but I don’t want to make you feel bad.”

Damian pulls her to his side, kissing her forehead, arm wrapped around her shoulders. Irey wraps her arms around his waist. “Don’t change for me, beloved. I know you don’t mean it. I’m sure there’s a reason you’re with me and not Artur or Ceridian.”

“Well...” Irey gives him a small wicked grin, “Artur and Ceridian are definitely great eye candy, but I wasn’t screaming their names last night.”

Damian doesn’t have an answer for Artur on why his cheeks are so red. 

[seven-oomen]

Since you’ve been posting candid type pics/story ideas, this is one I found that I had almost used for one of the moodboards, because I was like “hey, group of the adults”, but it has Susan in it, and I wasn’t sure if you had plans to bring Natalie into the story or not, so I skipped it.  But it’s adorable and worth sharing, anyway.

And your explanations for Jackson and Ben are entirely sensible and logical, but I still like my theory. XD  I also look forward to meeting whatever future spawn you decide on for the boys.  I can’t decide if it would be more entertaining for Noah’s mini-me to also be a druid or turn out to be a wolf.  Speaking of twins, a friend’s 10yr old daughter said recently “if I had a twin that was five minutes younger than me, I’d tell them ‘When I was your age’ and then describe what I was doing five minutes, ago”, and I can’t figure out if it sounds more like Allison or Malia, but it definitely sounds like one of them.

Apples to Apples is basically like a more kid-friendly version of CAH, unless you are playing with people like my friends, who can find a way to make anything deeply wrong and vaguely offensive if they wish.  And also I feel like there are many incidents of Stiles and Jax getting stupidly heated while playing Candy Land with their little siblings, to the point where they end up banned from joining in.

I adore the idea of clothes sharing (hence me being so determined to find images of them in what I could pretend was the same black button down for the family moodboard.)  And I feel Chris and Peter would have vastly different ideas about what constitutes “too tight” than Noah and would occasionally try to get him to wear some of their shirts anyway, for their own enjoyment.  (The olive green hoodie Peter is wearing in the ep where he and Derek hire Braeden seems very his style, for example.)  I don’t think either of the other two are quite brave enough to try Peter’s “v-neck cardigan worn like it’s a normal shirt” look, though. XD  All of which also begs the question of whether they do it for…other reasons, too.  Like if Noah is ever stuck in an endless budget meeting only to suddenly get a text from the other two of them wearing some of his spare uniform shirts and very little else.  Or if Peter ever comes home to find his Omegas each wearing one of his leather jackets  (because you know he’s got several) and their triskelion necklaces, and suddenly he’s getting “we missed you, Alpha” crooned in both ears simultaneously in a gravelly whisper, and wow I’m getting way off topic here…  Anyway, yes to clothes sharing, is what I’m saying.  (Also, the pen thing is golden.  Just imagine the looks on people’s faces.)

And I like the new preview, am super happy to see Jordan.  I can’t wait to see how he fits into things and helps with everything.  I don’t think I’ve ever really seen an a/b/o that tackled how nb identities would fit into that sort of society, so I’m excited to see it explored.  Also he always tends to come across as pretty calm and easy-going, and lord knows they could use a few people like that right now.

Hope you’re feeling better, and that Mo has calmed some.  I know just how much the pressure changes from storm systems can mess with someone, especially if you were already not feeling the best.

I’ve honestly just been smiling at this the whole day and I managed to write 3.3K to the draft because of this message and the new review by @ready-to-kick-some-ass. 

Right now the chapter has almost 8K on it and I will probably try and get it to 10-12K.

I’m not sure if I’ll add Natalie and if I can naturally fit her into the story. But I definitely know she was a part of the friend group in this universe, so that picture is just really fitting. It’s so sweet <3.

As for the twins, I’ll let you have your headcanons. But I’m not gonna tell too much. It’s fun watching you speculate ^^.

Speaking of twins, a friend’s 10yr old daughter said recently “if I had a twin that was five minutes younger than me, I’d tell them ‘When I was your age’ and then describe what I was doing five minutes, ago”, and I can’t figure out if it sounds more like Allison or Malia, but it definitely sounds like one of them.

Both of them. Either of them. Malia or Allison would absolutely do this to Jax and Stiles. They’re both about 20 minutes older than their younger siblings, so they would definitely describe something they’ve done 20 min ago just to piss the boys off.

And my god would they be banned. I feel like Chris just listens to them screaming for twenty minutes until he finally has enough of all this bullshit and just bans them from playing that game ever again. Malia is quickly banned thereafter when she gets heated over having to move backward and loses to Ben and the youngest twins. Allison and Lydia take over playing the game with the kids.

And you know they would. Chris has quickly figured out that he can get either of them home within ten minutes if he sends them a risque picture of him just wearing a toolbelt with his hunter gear on it. He’s not wearing anything else, just the toolbelt with the guns and bow and the triskelion necklace. But it works just fine. (The weapons are positioned in just such a way that he’s not actually revealing any of the goods, but he’s also not wearing any clothes. So.. yeah)

Chris and Peter would send Noah pictures of them wearing his uniform shirts while he’s in budgeting meetings or performance reviews or whatnot. Especially during the months when they’re actively trying to expand the family, things would crank up to 100 with these boys. But even when they’re not, they love to get each other riled up with sexy pictures.

And I feel Chris and Peter would have vastly different ideas about what constitutes “too tight” than Noah and would occasionally try to get him to wear some of their shirts anyway, for their own enjoyment.  (The olive green hoodie Peter is wearing in the ep where he and Derek hire Braeden seems very his style, for example.)  I don’t think either of the other two are quite brave enough to try Peter’s “v-neck cardigan worn like it’s a normal shirt” look, though. XD

Fair point, they absolutely would try and get him to wear their shirts. Because let’s be real, he’d look absolutely smoking in a tight shirt or a tight-fitting hoodie. And seeing Noah in their shirts just does something to Peter and Chris. It’s a matter of staking their claim on their sheriff.

And I think nobody can wear those v-necks but Peter. Chris lovingly refers to them as the porno shirts. Because honestly, only Peter or a porn star could get away with a shirt cut that low.

They certainly need a calm mind right now, and I really wanted to add a trans* NB character who’s also on the aro/ace spectrum and somehow that just clicked for Jordan. I don’t know why. But I really want to explore a society where there are two ‘main sexes’ (both with two variations male and female) and then add someone who doesn’t identify with any of them. And yet said person is probably the most level headed and calm of them all, so to speak. I’m excited to add Jordan to the cast list and explore his identity.

Mo and I are doing okay today, he’s been really clingy after the thunderstorm but it’s slowly getting back to his usual behavior. I reckon he’ll be fine by tomorrow.

[readbythestarlight]

c2e89

The last episode of 2019 here we go

Oh my god our last ad of the year is gonna be anime Gail Force V

I hate this xD

Ashley is my favorite person

I have heard an Aztec death whistle and I both hate and love that

Scrying on our baby biiiiird

I hope she's okay....

LAURA xD

[[MORE]]

The plank king girl really?? xD

Poor Matt

Oh my god JESTER STOP

Is he... thanking her for apparently killing their neighbors??

To... the inevitable end huh? xD

"We will not meet again" that's promising

Jester drawing Beau's dad melting into a puddle... why?

Fjord, Nott, Caleb on a quick errand, okay...

Wandering past Solstrice okay... just to show it to Fjord and Nott.

And now there's creepy music Matt was that intentional.

C: "I was not going to be a soldier like my father and I was... excited. I felt like I was where I was meant to be."

He wanted to be a TEACHER omg

He would be so good

Happy ending where he ends up teaching at an academy in Xhorhas someday

Or here someday after Trent is rotting in the ground

Professor Caleb Widogast guys I want that as his happy ending

"You're a good friend" I always get feelings about Fjord and Caleb when they have little moments like this

Caleb honey do NOT

Oh DAMN Beau has become a master researcher

Aha... so this one is different than the second one Empire had

God that means that if the M9 hadn't taken the first one the Empire would have had all three

Jester: "are you avoiding me? Because I didn't save you?" Oh honey

This whole conversation between Jester and Beau is amazing

Jester right now is how fandom thinks of Molly and Beau is how I think of Molly

Oh no Jester has Molly's tarot cards now this will not end well

Gonna end the year on a brawler episode and I approve

Yasha: "I feel like maybe Beau would want a champion, maybe we do this for her..." Aw Yasha...

Fjord being such a nerd xD

Widogast's vault of amber huh

So he's hiding his books in amber now?

CALEB

WHERE THE FUCK

ARE YOU GOING

COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW

Christ

CALEB. WIDOGAST. Please don't. Please go back to the inn. Please don't go to the front door. Please don't knock.

You fuck your straight up lied when your friends offered to go with you you told them you weren't going to LIAR

god why didn't they insight check him

God what if she hurts him

What if she doesn't touch him but she SAYS things that hurt him

Goddddd

Ugh I love how Liam drops the accent to indicate he's talking in Zemnian now

The tattoos are important. They tie into whatever Trent was doing to them.

C: "I find myself wanting to... apologize. Still. So much of me feels like I... I failed. But... a lot has changed. And I know some things now that I didn't as a boy and... I'm so glad to see you."

A: "I'm glad to see you too, Bren. I mean it's been well over a decade but, we still often... talked about you, wondered where you were, if you were okay."

Okay so Caleb lashed out "that spark seen in you can cause a spark everywhere else" and then she touches some scars oh no he burned her

I don't want to trust him...

Wait, had to subdue him first what does that mean? That sounds suspect.

"You've defied all of our expectations.... if you feel like you failed then, know that everyone's path moves at different paces. You've certainly proved now that you are in no way a failure."

So.... does she know

Like she seems to understand and accept that she does bad things, but she also seems to believe it's out of duty...

Hm. I don't want to like her. I don't trust her.

"The return of the lost pup" I don't like the way she phrased that

This isn't going how I expected at all. I expected that she would be a lot more obviously bad (or good, I guess).

Like I mean she is the obvious choice for Trent to use to try and snare him again

And now Caleb's telling her that Trent is a liar, let's see her reaction

"Bren... I'm so sorry" and she touches him fuck

She seems... genuinely sorry for his pain and suffering, but she's hard about it in the sense that she just thinks it was something that had to happen

"To be gifted in a world full of hardships like this is to sometimes have to do things we're not proud of." I don't like that. We must do bad things because we're ~special. Bad.

"Other people don't have to make the choices we do because we're the chosen few who have to make the hard choices" wow yep hate that

She's totally brainwashed Caleb babe

At least she doesn't seem mindlessly devoted to Trent...

Does she seem to be repeating his name a LOT

Okay so that wasn't as bad as it could have been but I still hate it

Does Jester seem... kinda lonely and desperate for attention?

lol oh Fjord xD

J: "you're doing it with a weapon, right?"

F: "do you think that's important...?"

J: "..........yeah."

Jester is apologizing a lot suddenly and I'm concerned

Okay so at this rate we'll be starting 2020 with a brawl

Oh my god it's someone who fought with them

OH IT'S DARROW

I LIKED HIM

I don't remember his sounding like this lol

Oh this is gonna be so good

Nott

Please don't go where I think you might be going

Nott Nott Nott Nott Nott

PLEASE don't be going where I think you're going

Here I am on 1/9 finishing the episode because for some reason I didn't use the 2 week break to do that

lol Beau fighting some old man

M: "I'm just gonna kinda go pop-pop"

S: "that's funny because that's what his grandkids call him."

Matt: "go pop-pop!"

"He had gingivitis"

"He has pockets full of werthers candy"

"He's resistance to very good scotch"

that fight against the old man was painful xD

Okay Fjord vs Darrow, aaaand for some reason Fjord is going bare-knuckle

HOLY SHIT ALL THAT DAMAGE IN ONE BLOW?!

Paladin or whatever the fuck he is is the way to go wtf!!!

Darrow is a sweetheart and he felt so bad for beating Fjord up that he healed him I love him

Jester: "I missed it", she says, after telling advice to him in the middle of the fight xD

Oh Yasha... honey...

Is Yasha talking to her opponent or herself? Because I know this is punishment.

I want Caleb to be the one that first really recognizes what she's doing to herself here

Everyone's like "fuck how to we address this obvious trauma and self-punishment"

C: "I get it"

Ouch okay I wanted it but it hurt when I got it

"I'm ROBBIN THE HAT STORE"

Sam was just WAITING to drop that xD

Phew, finished 40 minutes before the first episode of the new year.

I hope they get to address Yasha's issues a bit more in the future, and by the future I mean soon.

On to episode 90!

[theorynexus]

56:   We continue, perhaps a bit later in the day than I might have liked.

Before we get started, I would just like to ponder something to myself:   What is Dirk’s actual motivation?   I had assumed that his decision to take over the narrative was just a result of the belief on his part that it was a natural part of his evolution, or that he was actually not doing it with a particular purpose in mind, but after Alt!Calliope accusing him of Megalomania became a thing, I guess I have to open up my mind to other possibilities.  It could be that she has simply observed him exploiting the capacity he now has in order to heighten his control over others (as was the natural result, considering his personality), but it might actually be that there’s something more. If I had to guess, it would be that (based on his conversation with Rose, and the statement about reality becoming congealed) he desires to prevent everyone’s lives from losing relevance and fading into an empty heap of incomplete thoughts and useless garbage. That is to say:  given the story was over, but in such a way that things were left unanswered, the story was incomplete, and the main characters were gods that would continue growing over time, it is conceivable that once Dirk reached the point where he could actually discern the narrative himself and saw that Hussie had essentially abandoned Homestuck (closing out the story in such a way that locked LE in canon and placed the early parts of Universe C/Earth 3′s timeline[s] outside of it), he had a crisis surrounding his existence as a fictional character, and wanted to take up Hussie’s role as a way to attempt the preservation of all of their lives, and the integrity of reality within their fictional (thus murky/fluid/malleable) world? Considering I know that Dirk is the first character with a “speaking” role in Homestuck^2, and that this is him writing a long letter (note:  I am now reminding you all that I accidentally very slightly dipped into it before I realized that it was not the Homestuck Epilogue[s]), I guess... maybe he eventually succeeds?  I mean, getting a continuation/spin-off would be one way to fulfill the “escape the destruction of Paradox Space by creating/traveling to a separate version of reality/world beyond its limitations” win condition that was one of the many possibilities that would mean the epilogue was satisfying in a narrative sense and not (entirely?) a Bad End.    Given the fact it’s on a different site, which could further emphasize this achievement, if that is the correct interpretation/guess to make about the later events which I have not read yet... congratulations, horrible person/Unreliable Narrator for theoretically saving reality for a time? I don’t know. That all seems uncertain and possibly a bit of a stretch at this point, and I feel like I’m cheating for including that accidental viewing into my analysis for the work I’m presently navigating.  I want to be honest with you all about my thoughts and experiences-- or at least as honest as I can be while ensuring that I don’t essentially post things stream-of-consciousness -style.  I do have certain standards of plausibility and coherence that I hold myself to, after all.  I want to keep this interesting and entertaining for you guys, just as it is for me. ... And finally, we get back to Terezi and John. I will not react to their entire page, this time-- or at least my intention is to not do so --but rather, only a half of it. That way this post won’t get as too terribly bloated.  ***irony rimshot ahoy***

Uuuugggh! John, can’t you tell that you’re killing yourself?!?!?!   Gah!

Tin of tobacco?  What, is Dad a chewer?   Certainly an int--- ooohhh, it’s pipe tobacco.  I see.  I wonder what sort of nutritional value there is in there. (Note: That’s two toxic substances she’s been eating for some reason.)

OH MY FRICKING GOSH!!! XD

Hmm. John presents an interesting question, just after this, with regards to her getting flavors from colors. Indeed, that is very much a form of synaesthesia.  That said:  Yeah, I know at least chewing tobacco can do that. Not sure about flakes of the smoking variety. I know that it can poison you to death if you eat too much of it.

Oh, hey, it seems that Terezi has probably noticed John’s confused+growing feelings for her. Neat. (And yeah, that’s what you get for talking with a Mind player. :P)

So great. So great.

...  I am pretty sure it has been more than a few years.  I guess the time in the Furthest Ring can be really fricking weird, though, and since Terezi said he wasn’t as old-seeming as she thought he would be, maybe the four of them somehow just got insanely lucky time-ways, which is... sortof ridiculous, considering Lord English’s time powers.  I guess it’s like Clover’s caveat that luck only bends so far as to not counter things that could be considered either lucky or unlucky, or neither in great amounts?     (Note: Clover’s defeat by Karkat happened because Clover thought it would be him “getting lucky” and falling into a Hearts, Stars, Horseshoes relationship with him. At the same time, it was unlucky because it was him being defeated. Thus, the power is shown to not only be weak against mediocre things like being hit with something that doesn’t hurt you [the only reason LE could get hit at all, probably, with the exception of his eventual critical sword wounds as the Green Sun Black Hole’s void influence grew], but also against things that could be described as either good or bad.)      LE getting opponents that are not massively crazy from being held enclosed for trillions of years without connections to the outside world could be considered lucky insofar as he has been constantly desiring and looking for real challenges for ages upon ages, at least as far as I understand things. Obviously, there’s the collective wills of all who have every been oppressed by him, and the prophesy of the Ultimate Juju being used as a weapon against him after its use by him to be considered, as well, but I think that there can logically be many sources playing into these sorts of outcomes. But yeah, I guess maybe it was seemingly eons for everyone else, but that little pocket of the Furthest Ring inexplicably only suffered a few years’ passage~

Hey, you asked for her to get real with you!  Don’t complain when her sincere reactions aren’t what you’d want! XD Also:   They’re totally going to run into something important while they’re not paying attention, aren’t they?

<3

Of course she’d put them on there. It was practically like using candy to bait a trap for a baby. NOW CLICK YOUR SHOES TOGETHER THREE TIMES AND GO HOME!!!

Sortof like the fight with LE, but you got lucky and pulled a Pyrrha out of your hat.

This should remind you of the fact that you can use your retcon powers to go save Vriska.   WHY DIDN’T YOU THINK OF THIS EARLIER?!?!?!!!    (Honestly, with his bleed+poison, it’s almost a miracle he’s thinking this straight, so I really don’t hold it against him, truthfully.   ... And yeah, self-blinded “F1X TH1S” Justice Terezi Pyrope was so fricking amazing, it’s almost unbelievable.)

***suddenly feels like I got my heart torn out and bashed against a hard surface by a time travelling robot for not remembering [S] Terezi: Remem8er. merged her memories of the two sides of the Retcanon Timelines***

Gah. This... this hurts so much.  ;~;

Huh. I thought for sure Caliborn’s circle drawing had “HUGE BITCH” in the center of it, and I was going to post that in relation to the Fat Vriska/Vriska being sucked into the black hole prophesy/foreshadowing, here, but it said, “FAT UGLY WHORE.”   Still somewhat relevant, but not what I was remembering, and thus not quite so connected as I’d like.    I guess there’s always her intro panel: 

[tarotdeckshuffle]

This has been raging in my mind for a while, but what Lantern Corps do you think the chocobros, Ravus, Ardyn, Luna, Nyx, and Arenea would belong to? For example, I think Luna would be a Star Sapphire (violet light of love), Prompto would be a Blue Lantern (blue light of hope), and Ignis would be a Green Lantern (green light of willpower), but you're welcome to disagree with me XD. Just curious to see what you think!

So, I’m going to be fully honest here and say I know almost nothing about the Green Lantern comics. I’m a Marvel fan and an X-Men nut, but I never really got into DC comics. I also never really had an opportunity to get into the Green Lantern world…

On that note, I’m not one of those writers who will leave you hanging. Here is what I think would happen, based solely off of the Lantern Corps Wiki, lol. You’re the expert, so I’d love to here what you think and why!

Taglist: @idiotflowerex, @laststory1013, @sayaoqueen, @jophinabean, @mysme-already

If you like what you read, please consider supporting me on Patreon or buying me a Ko-fi!

Noctis

Green Light of Willpower

I totally see your point!

To add to it, I think it’d take quite a while for Noct to find his full power.

At the end, he really does, because it takes a great amount of willpower to overcome our fear of death to the point of accepting it.

But also because that’s one of his greatest fears due to how many people have died for him.

His willpower to finally accept death’s role in this journey would truly bring out his power.

Prompto

Blue Light of Hope

Especially because he gives Noctis hope.

Hope at returning to a normal life, hope that he people like him not just because he’s the prince, and hope that he’ll smile again.

I think Prompto’s cheery nature brings hope to those around him.

He’s his most powerful when he’s around his friends, too.

Ignis

Violet Light of Love

“Violet is the other color furthest from the center, and represents the emotion of love. Those who are capable of great love, who have lost their loves, or been rejected are capable of wielding the violet light.”

I base this off of mostly Ep. Ignis (lots of spoilers in this post, just stop now).

So Ignis is the most controlled of all of the bros.

If anyone can control a fierce weapon, it’s him.

Also, everything he does, he does for Noct.

Just look at his DLC.

All the feels.

This man has a deep love for those around him which gives him the strength that he has.

While it’s hard to control, this man has the know-how to do so.

Gladio

Yellow Light of Fear

“A being capable of instilling great fear in others is capable of wielding this power.”

I would like to see feel anything but fear if Gladio was about to crash that giant broadsword down on you.

Ok, you’re right, I might be horny, too.

But let’s be honest, if anyone can instill fear into others and knows how to use it, it’s this big guy.

Ravus

Violet Light of Love

Ok, so here come some of my personal HCs about this guy.

The colors that are the farthest on the spectrum are the hardest to control.

Ravus’s stoic manner has always made me think that he’s hiding something, but it could also work that he’s always fighting to control something.

I also HC about his actions in Kingsglaive (spoilers ahead):

I don’t (want to) think that he put on the Ring of the Lucai just because he thought he’d make a better king than Regis.

I think he put it on in hopes of ending everything.

If he could control the ring, maybe he could end the darkness without having to wait for Noctis.

The Empire would back away from destroying Insomnia because he controlled the crystal they wanted.

He could end this whole prophecy before it began and save his sister.

I mean, the guy does everything for Luna and loves her more than anyone.

Look at Altissa.

No one switches from that (horribly written) mullet brandishing frat boy, who locks his sister away in her room for years,  to our gray, spectral, pained prince who speaks to his sister in a sensitive, touching manner THAT FREAKING FAST.

He also loved his mom and lost her early on.

TL;DR: I have a love/hate relationship with Kingsglaive because they did Ravus dirty. I think he’s a way more loving character than that movie lets him on to be.

Luna

Indigo Light of Compassion

“The Indigo light can be wielded by one with great compassion for other beings, used to heal the sick and wounded.However, compassion can also be forced upon a person…”

I mean…yeah, the first part fits.

But also the second part.

Luna never chose to be the Oracle, she was born into it.

So I have to wonder what she would be like if given more of a chance to fight and defend herself.

I mean, she goes to face the gods on her own the first chance she gets: No hesitation!

So, imagine what she’d be like if she and Ravus switched birth places…

But I totally see your point about being a Violet, I just think she was forced into the Indigo role so early on that that’s what we’d see. 

Ardyn

Red Light of Rage

I mean, depending on the ending you pick to Ep. Ardyn (Spoilers, sorry), he is either doing everything he does to get back at the gods and Somnus’s bloodline, or in a twisted way to help Noctis.

I like to play that he’s raging against Somnus and the gods, btw.

But I think this light would fit his descent into the darkness and into madness.

And it just fits the bad guy.

Nyx

Green Light of Willpower

I’d really love to say Nyx is a blue light of hope, but he acts way too well on his own.

He has this indomitable will to just keep going!

Giant ass daemon? Cool, let’s kill it.

City falling apart? Well, let’s save what’s left.

Certain death from this power? Bring it.

This guy just keeps going.

It’s only an end of his own choosing that he finally comes down.

Aranea

Indigo Light of Compassion

So, she’s really hard to decide and it comes down to how you read her.

I think she’s really quite compassionate, even if she doesn’t communicate that well.

She decides that she doesn’t like the Empire anymore and is immediately saving people.

She goes to find Prompto because Noctis asked her to and she knows he’s all alone.

She helps Prompto through his shit by saying the things he needed to hear.

She has a motley crew that she KNOWS THE NAMES OF!

We never see that with anyone else!

She takes the time to know people, to help them, and to do what needs to be done for them.

Part of being compassionate, is the passion!

She gives every fight her all,

And that candy apple red airship? I don’t know a better vehicle for someone with passion, lol.

I think she is very compassionate, even if she doesn’t know how to say it.

[ptw30]

Did we ever get a Keith meets Hunk & Pidge ficlet for Blade!Shiro? I know there was an interlude of Keith and Lance on the Garrison roof that left me wanting that first meeting. Did they know Lance was an alien? About Voltron? So many questions xD

Little background on this - I didn’t write a meeting between Keith, Hunk, and Pidge because it would have followed a similar storyline from “The Rise of Voltron.” It didn’t forward the plot of Blade!Shiro in the same way Lance and Keith’s scenedid.

In order tomake this side story a bit more engaging, I took a few liberties. In the Blade!Shiro interlude,I wrote that Lance had already met Blue - saw her, sat in her, had sleepoversin her cockpit, more or less - but in order for Hunk and Pidge to do something other thanshake hands and gape at Galra!Keith, I decided to make the literal “I met Blue”into “Hey, I met Blue in a metaphysical way like Shiro met Black on the astralplane.”

I think that also adds a bit of depth to the lions and paladin bond, which I really like. (And then Shiro isn’t the only paladin to get metaphysical hugs from his lion. :DDDDDDDDDDDDDD) So thanks for this prompt! 

A part of the Blade!Shiro series. 

Pidge hadbeen staked out on the top of Galaxy Garrison’s main building, surrounded byher homemade gear, for months, scanning to the far edges of the universe forthe lost Kerberos mission crew. She hadn’t wanted to give up the search, evenfor one night, but Lance lured her to the hanger with the promise of helpingher find the crew. He hadn’t lied. Keith would help her find her family. Lancewas sure of it.

Dirt kickedup behind the hoverbike as they skimmed over the desert floor and soaredthrough the hollowed canyon. The cool air burned Lance’s cheeks red, but hepersisted, thankful that both Pidge and Hunk wore long-sleeved shirts. Perhapshe should have been warned them, but there hadn’t been time.

As heentered some invisible radius, warmth kindled in his chest once more, familiarand kind and fierce, and Lance let out the tiny breath he hadn’t known he’dbeen holding. Behind him, he heard both Pidge and Hunk gasp as the sensationhit them, too, but unlike him, they weren’t prepared for another piece of theirfractured souls to snap into place.

When hepulled up to the shack, Pidge wondered out loud, “What was that?”

“Keith.” Lanceallowed that to serve as the only answer and slid off the bike’s seat.

“Look, nooffense, Lance, you know I trust you,” Hunk began, forefingers pressed togetherin his nervous tell, “but you’ve got to give us more than that. Just who isthis Keith you keep talking about?”

“And how canhe help me find my family?” Pidge added.

Lance letout an exaggerated sigh, eyes never diverting from the glowing shack thatburned like a beacon in the still and shadowed desert. He quickly recountedKeith’s lineage and the Galra Empire, and how the Blade might be able to locateher family. Pidge’s hands balled at her side, trembling with rage.

“Are youfreakin’ kidding me? You dragged me out into the middle of nowhere with thepromise to help find the Kerberos crew and your answer is aliens? You really expect me to believe that?”

Lancesighed, helpless, but Hunk stepped in. “He’s not lying, Pidge.”

“Don’t tellyou believe him, Hunk! Aliens! I know they exist, but you can’t tell me thisKeith – ”

“ – is notthe only alien here,” Lance replied, and he closed his eyes, focusing on hiscore energy. It was harder sometimes wearing his original form now, rather thanhis rounded ears and bland skin, but eventually his markings and pointed ears,along with his ruffle of white hair, emerged.

Pidge’smouth opened, closed, and then opened again. After a few quiet moments, herscowl returned. It wasn’t focused on Lance, however.

“You knewabout this?” she yelled at Hunk.

Hunkshrugged with a slight rosy tint to his cheeks. “Well, yeah. Lance is myroommate. I one time walked in on him wearing purple fur and glowing amber eyes– which by the way, I still don’t understand why you wanted to look like alarge purple cat.”

Lance letout a strained whine as he drudged toward the shack. “Hunk, do not bring upinside.”

The shackinitially appeared empty when they entered, but Lance still felt Keith’s fierypresence. Once Hunk and Pidge stepped into the middle of the shack, the door slammed shut behind them. Keithwaited, tail lashing, amber eyes glowing, awakened sword in his palm.

“Is thisthem?” he asked, resolute.

Lance didn’teven try to suppress his eye-roll. “No. I randomly pick up strangers whohappen to complete your soul. What do you think?”

Keithblinked and straightened his back, hand slowly sheathing his knife behind hisback. “I – I think these are the other – ”

“Yes, it’sthem!”

“Why are we here?” Pidge asked without pretense. “Lance said you could help find myfamily.”

As Keithpassed between her and Hunk, his eyes flashed to Lance’s with a wordlessquestion. Lance shrugged. “Her family was taken off Kerberos not too long ago.”

“How’d –How’d you know my dad and brother were – ”

“You looklike a mini-me version of Matt Holt,” Hunk said, reaching for Keith’s lashingtail. “Seriously, how Iverson couldn’t tell is just – hey!”

Keith pulledhis tail away from where it slapped Hunk’s hand. “Do you mind?”

“You can’tfault me. You have a tail! Hey, can I scratch behind your ears?”

Keithblinked; his ear flicked before he turned to Lance, completely unnerved.

Lanceresponded with a sheepish smile and an off-handed shrug. “They come with thewhole Voltron package.”

Keith rolledhis eyes and retreated to the cork board that spread across most of the farwall. A small kitchenette, some radio equipment, a beat-up old couch, and acoffee table crowded the rest of the shack, not allowing for muchmovement. Lance still couldn’t believe Keith lived out here by himself for thelast few movements, but then again, Lance had been bringing him the essentials– water, food, clean clothes. Even now, Keith wore one of Lance’s old T-shirtsand a hoodie. Keith had to cut a hole in the back of the jeans to let his tailout, and Lance couldn’t get enough of that adorable sight.

Pidge followed Keith’s gaze, eyes running over the various photos, notes, and maps, attachedby strings, that littered the board.  

“Voltron?” sheechoed, in awe, and Lance smiled. The first time he heard the word, his lionhad thrummed his soul’s chord, too. “What – What is that?”

Lance shareda quick, knowing glance with Keith before launching into a full explanation –the universe’s greatest weapon, built by his father. Five lions, sentientbeings, each choosing a paladin. Five becoming one.

In the wakeof his words, silence reigned. The Voltron bond was fresh and still forming inways they had yet to truly understand, so Lance hadn’t expected the hesitant realizationthat came from Hunk.

“We’remissing…someone?”

Lance feltthe soul-sucking void in the middle of his chest, a place that only Shiro couldfill, but Hunk and Pidge had never met Shiro. How could they already feel it?

“My brother,Takashi,” Keith supplied.

“Shiro,” Lance replied. “He goes byShiro, and he’s the Black Paladin, the leader of Voltron.”

Pidgegripped the straps of her bookbag. “Where is he now?”

Keith’samber eyes drifted to a certain faded photo in the corner of the board. A beaming tween sat cross-legged on the floor, hugging a swaddled kitten in hisarms. Lance’s heart ached with his and Keith’s shared pain, and not for thefirst time, he missed his older sister.

Pidge, theepitome of tact. “You look nothing like each other.”

“We have the same dad, different mom.”

“Nokidding,” Hunk laughed, but Keith huffed, shoulders hunching and ears pressedback like a hissing cat.

Lance tookthe hint and stepped in between. “Look, we need your help, guys. Shiro is beingheld captive by some really nasty people, and those same people are coming forthe Blue Lion of Voltron. It’s here, on Earth.”

“My brotherused to sleepwalk to these caves,” Keith said, motioning toward a few photoswith lion carvings. “I think the Blue Lion is around there, but we have no wayto find it.”

“It calls tome.” In a burst of sparkles, Lance held a blue bayard in his hand. “It – Itsspirit talks to me all the time, but it’s especially powerful in water.” Hewouldn’t go so far as to explain how every time he stepped in a pool or theocean, a cool, soothing presence pressed against his forehead and rubbedagainst his side. He definitely wouldn’t tell them how the lion would manifest into a solid, water-based being when no one elsewas around and smile at him. “It wants me to find it.”

“And we haveto before the Galra do,” Keith added, crossing his arms.

A few slowticks past as Hunk and Pidge seemed to process everything. Lance readiedhimself to talk about what the Galra did to Altea andhis family, why he was on Earth and how he knew Keith and Shiro. He bracedhimself for the inevitable heartbreak of having to speak of the unspeakable,knowing neither Pidge nor Hunk would shun him for it, but he didn’t have to.

Hunkmotioned toward Pidge. “Well, I was reading Pidge’s diary – ”

“What!”

“Hey, wouldit hurt you to carry a candy bar? Anyway, I noticed the repeating series ofnumbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line.”

Of courseKeith wouldn’t understand. “Frown who?”

“It’s anumber describing the emission spectrum of an element. Only this elementdoesn’t exist on Earth. I think it might be this Voltron. I think I can build amachine to look for it, like a Voltron Geiger counter.”

Lance threwhis arms around his best friend. “Hunk, you big gassy genius!”

Sure enough,Hunk and Pidge’s device led to them through the desert terrain and into thecaves, though it wasn’t one Lance remembered from Keith’s photos. He divertedto the far wall and swiped his hand along the carvings, letting out a gasp whenthey glowed the same bright blue as his father’s magic.

“They’venever done that before,” Keith said before the ground gave way underneaththem, literally.

Sliding downa shoot, Lance landed face-first in a large puddle, Keith next to him. Anexcited energy crept up his spine and brushed against his hip and cheek, andwhen he lifted his eyes, he found himself staring into the eyes of the otherhalf of his soul.

“Blue…”

While Keithplaced his hands flush upon the particular barrier, Lance cocked his head tothe side and mused, “Hey, Beautiful. Good to see you.” A simple knock broughtthe barrier and Blue’s head down.

Lancesmirked and raced up her lowered ramp, sighing contently as finally, after allthese annuals, he took a seat in the pilot’s chair. Blue purred happily in theback of his mind, her presence washing over him like a cresting wave, and hereveled in her embrace – until the seat slid forward. Blue’s screens flared to life. The cavern came into focus throughBlue’s eyes, waterfall shimmering in the light Blue emitted, and Lance liftedhis hands to rest upon the controls.

Stay. Blue’s voice echoed in the back ofhis mind. Wait.

For what?

Paladin.

Lance foughtthe sudden pain that tore through his chest. Blue couldn’t have meant anotherpaladin for her. She’d chosen Lance, washed his bayard up on Varadero Beach forhim to take. She helped him to focus his powers, to stop bursting pipeswherever he went. She soothed him through thegrief of losing Shiro and Keith. Though he loved his Earth family with all hisheart and would always cherish them as his, he wasn’t complete without theother paladins.

“So…where dowe take this thing?”

Lancejumped, shocked to find Pidge on his right, ogling Blue’s interior consoles.Hunk stood on his left, while Keith gripped the back of the pilot’s chair.

Though ittook all his strength, Lance lifted his hands off the controls. “We can’t goyet. Blue says we’re missing something.”

“What?”Keith asked.

Lanceglanced over his shoulder. “The last piece of our souls.”

They leftBlue, who caressed Lance’s hip even as he exited her jowls. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge didn’t return to the garrison. Instead, theycamped out in Keith’s shack, sharing the couches, the chairs, blankets, and warmth.Lance changed his appearance, so he could pick up food in town. Hunk and Pidgesent him and Keith knowing looks whenever Keith wrapped his tail about Lance’swrist or thigh or waist, but Lance simply stuck out his tongue when Keithlooked away.

They joinedKeith out on the porch, Pidge huddling close when he muttered, “You guys shouldgo back to your school. I’ll be okay out here.”

Pidgereplied, equally as low, “Hey. I’ll help you find your family. Then you’ll helpme find mine.”

Keithwrapped his tail about her wrist, then, and their collective souls filled withwarmth.

A movementcame and went, and as per the cavern’s prophecy, the Paladins of New took toa high plateau overlooking the desert. There was only one word to describe whatthey felt as they stood, shoulder to shoulder, and watched a fireball cutthrough the night sky.

Whole. 

More from the Blade!Shiro series.

[tmntreasures]

Honor Among Thieves Ch.19

Authors Note: Happy Halloween! There’s more we have to say at the end of the chapter! So make sure to read all the way through. (Or just skip to the end if you want. XD)

The rest of the day went as it normally did. The girls kept the boys company during the day, and when it came to nighttime, the turtles went out to patrol. Bonnie and Aida left the next morning, though Aida came back the following day. She saw the turtles just about every day for the next two weeks, while Bonnie came around about every three days.

As the days passed, the nights grew colder. Leaves dropped from the trees, and candy went on sale at local convenience stores, along with scary decorations. Finally, it was Halloween night and everyone was dressed up for the parade. While this was a fun time for the humans, it was more of a stressful night for the turtles. There was always an increase in crime on Halloween night, so patrolling would go on longer than usual.

Even though they needed to be extra attentive, the girls managed to pull them away from their duties for a short amount of time. Michelangelo was sitting on a ledge of a rooftop, staring down at a cellular looking device in his hand as he sucked on tootsie-pop he managed to find. He furrowed his brows as he read the words that popped up on the screen. Leonardo noticed his reaction and he swiftly walked over to him.

"What's it say? Are the girls alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah!" He pulled out his sucker and waved him off. "Bonnie just says that 'What Color is This Dress' just won for best illusion... Like, what the hell? That was a two thousand and fifteen meme! It shouldn't even be a contender!"

Leonardo let out annoyed sigh. "Are they coming up or not? We do have work to do." He crossed his arms.

"Well, the text says 'Yo bitches. Meet us above in fifteen, or else.' I'll ask them how close they are now," He said and then popped the sucker back in his mouth so he could type.

Raphael was doing tricks with his sais as they waited, trying his best to keep his mind off the night at hand. Everyone was going to be wearing a mask tonight, which will make catching bad guys harder than usual. It made him tense, but if the girls needed something then they had to find out what. "Tell 'em we've been waiting and to hurry up!" He grumbled, flipping a sai in the air.

Donatello had his goggles on, using them to scan for the girls on the streets below. So far it had been a bunch of younger teenagers or stumbling adults dressed in outfits that were either too big or too small.  "Well, it is a busy night..." he tried to defend them. ”Maybe the subways are acting up?"

Bonnie clicked her tongue as she climbed up the fire escape. "What would Splinter say, huh? Patience is a virtue..." She said in her best old man teacher voice and then laughed a little. "Also, it's hard to climb these things in heels." She pulled herself up on the rooftop and revealed her costume. She was wearing a blue colored play boy bunny suit with matching heels and mesh stockings. Her hair was down for once and styled into Goldie lock curls. The outfit was complete with bunny ears headband and a cottontail on her backside. She threw up her hands and struck a pose, "Playboy..." She started.

"Bonnie!" Michelangelo finished with a grin that slowly fade away. "...But that ain't scary."

She clicked her tongue and put her hands to her hips. "It doesn't have to be."

Raphael stared at her for a moment, trying to convince himself that was really her. She looked so different with her hair down. "Better be careful with the candy people give you." He pointed his weapon at her before sheathing it.

Donatello looked at Bonnie with his goggles still on and pointed. "Wait, you were the playboy? So Aida's Little Red?"

“Way to ruin it Donnie!" Aida called out as she hoisted herself onto the rooftop. The girl had her curly hair tied up in pigtails, peeking out from the red hood that covered her head. She had a short red and white dress that stopped just a few inches above her knees on underneath the crimson cloak. She also had fishnets and matching heels on as well. The only thing out of place wee the orange earrings that she hid underneath her hair.

Leonardo examined the twos costumes before speaking. "Yeah, I have to agree with Mikey. Not very scary girls." He nodded.

"Well, you guys would know what qualifies as scary, huh? Ooooh!" Bonnie teased.

Leo snorted. "Har har. Like we haven't heard that one before."

"That's cold-blooded Bon." Mikey said and then stood up on his feet. He walked up to Aida and touched her hood. "Oooh..." He cooed. "I can't lie, red does look good on you. Buut-"

Bonnie folded her arms and leaned her head on one shoulder. "Don't say it."

"Orange would look better!" He grinned.

"Really? You think so?" Aida looked down at her cloak, acting genuine for a second. "I always thought purple looked better." She held her hand up just as the lean turtle stood.

"I mean, purple is pretty awesome." Donatello gave her a high five as he spoke.

Raphael grumbled and frowned at the girls. He couldn't lie, their outfits were nice to look at, but he knew he wouldn't be the only one with the same opinion. "You sure you guys'll be okay out there in that?"

"Well, I don't know. There are a lot of crazies out on Halloween." Bonnie shrugged and walked to the edge of the rooftop. "So many people wearing masks to hide their true identity." She said as she bent over to look over the edge. "A couple of beautiful girls like us," she snapped back up. "Well. Society would say we are asking for trouble." Her heels clicked loudly as she circled the turtles.

Leonardo narrowed his eyes at her when he figured out what was coming next. He repeated her words, "Don't say it..."

"If only there were four strong guys who were skilled in martial arts, and we're already disguised to escort us around town safely." She tapped on her arm with a finger.

"No." Leonardo said sternly.

Bonnie stopped next to Aida and clicked her tongue. "See? I told you he wouldn't go for it."

Donatello finally pushed his goggle to the top of his head to show the surprise in his eyes and the smile on his face. "Wait, you wanted us to go with you?"

Aida grumbled and crossed her arms. "Well yeah! It's Halloween! Who's actually gonna think you guys are mutants?"

Normally Raphael would agree with Leonardo; even though everyone was dressed up, there were just too many people out tonight. The chances of them being discovered was just too high. But if they were with the girls, then maybe it would draw less attention to them. "Well...one night wouldn't hurt, right?" He shrugged a little, still unsure of himself.

Mikey’s eyes lit up in excitement and he jumped over to Leo, grabbing one of his arms. "Oh please, please, please Leo! They're right, nobody would notice us, and even if they did, it's just like that police chief said! We should give the people a chance!"

Splinters words echoed in Leonardo’s head, and he knew that this was exactly what he had meant by 'make sure they don't do anything stupid'. Without hesitation Leo knocked Michelangelo off his arm and gave him a stern look. "No! Even if it is Halloween, it's too risky! Besides we have a job to do."

"Aaw, c'mon Leo!" Donatello whined. "The city will always be in trouble. An hour break won't hurt right?"

"Yeah hermano," Aida hoped the brother tag would pull at the leader's heart strings a little. "The city will be fine for a couple hours!"

Raphael walked over to the Latina girl and grabbed her shoulders, looking at Leonardo. "Besides. You don't want anything bad to happen to our lil' sister right?" He shook her a little. "Look how vulnerable she is!"

Every time someone used the word 'sister' to describe Aida it made Michelangelo want to gag; but knowing that it made Leo more sensitive to the matter, he would play along as well. "Ye-Yeah! Gotta look out for our little sis!" Mikey quickly switched sides and stood next to Aida.

Leonardo stared at them and sighed. He knew exactly what they were trying to do, but he had to put his foot down. It was too dangerous for his family, and for the girls as well. "... Don't make me the bad guy here. You know why we can't."

"Leo, please." Mikey clasped his hands together and begged. "Just fifteen min--"

"No!!" He roared.

And with that, the others dropped the subject. Raphael stomped off and Michelangelo threw his arms down in defeat before walking away.

Donatello patted Aida's back."Well, it was worth a shot ..." he mumbled.

Aida sighed and held her hands up in defeat. "Okay. Fine..." she grumbled. "We'll just have to shank people ourselves."

Leonardo waited a moment before stepping up to Aida. "Stay out of trouble." He said and patted her on the head.

Aida crossed her arms and turned away from him. "Yeah, yeah..."

Donatello paused and turned to Bonnie. "Don't be afraid to call us if something happens."

Bonnie sighed and took a step forward. "Nothing is gonna happen... Sure people egg and toilet paper people’s houses, but we're not that crazy on Halloween." She rolled her eyes.

"Still..." Leonardo rubbed at his chin. "You should probably be in by eleven."

She snapped her attention to him and glared. "First off, you're not my brother, and second, I'm older than you!"

"By one year!" He responded.

"It still counts!" She shrugged. "You know what? Just because of that, I'm gonna do all the bad things!" She threw up her arms and then wrapped one around Aidas. "And I'm taking lil' sis with me!"

Leo crossed his arms but smiled a little. "I think we all know whose rules she's gonna follow."

Aida winced but smiled anyway. "Well I mean...it is Halloween."

Donatello pointed at her and scolded. "You are eighteen! No drinking!"

She scoffed and feigned insult. "Donatello! I would never drink...! Unless someone offered," she looked over at Bonnie and grinned.

“Come on," Bonnie tugged at Aidas arm. "It's time we ditched these losers." She stuck out her tongue.

"It's not us that's losers!" Mikey threw up a hand. "That guy is the loser." He pointed at Leo and grumbled.

Leo rolled his eyes. "You'll understand my decisions eventually..."

Aida frowned at them before she finally followed Bonnie. "See ya later guys," she waved at them. She was really hoping they would go out this night. It was the perfect time for them and she felt they would get some stress out if they had a little taste of the world above.

"Seriously! Call if you're in trouble!" Donatello called after them before lowering his arms in defeat.

Raphael huffed and crossed his arms. "Hope nothing happens to them..."

"They'll be fiiine." Leo lowered his arms and stepped to the edge of the roof. He watched them as they descended the fire escape and went out into the streets. "Plus, Bonnies still chipped and they both have our emergency line. So we got them covered."

Despite the words of encouragement, Raphael could not shake the feeling of danger off. It wasn't necessarily how the girls were dressed, but something about tonight felt wrong.

"Yeah...that's true." Donatello sighed and turned to follow Leonardo. "I'll check on them every hour."

"Alright!" Leonardo clapped his hands together and then pointed off in another direction. "Let's start off with the west side of the city."

"I told ya your boy in blue wasn't gonna go for it." Bonnie said as she got her phone ready to take a selfie.

Aida sighed and got in close to get in on the photo. "I know. But I had to try for the others ya know?" She smiled at the phone for the picture and continued. "I mean, they need a break at some point."

Bonnie snapped several pictures of them, then a couple of herself, and then a few of her cleavage. Once she was finished, she stuck the phone back in her bosom. "Well maybe... I don't know... Maybe instead of going back down to the sewers, we can all go back to my place. I mean, I have a couple of scary movies..." She scratched at her head and mumbled.

Aida's eyes widened at the suggestion and nodded. "Yeah! Wait...are you sure that'll be okay? Won't your neighbors hear 'em and complain?"

"Well yeah, but fuck them! They play Just Dance at eight o'clock in the morning! They can deal with us being rowdy for one night!" She huffed.

The girl laughed and shook her head. "Oh yeah. Fuck that! Oh!" She smacked Bonnie's arm and grinned. "We gotta watch Alien then. Mikey's terrified of that movie."

"Ugh... Me too. Those face huggers?" She shuddered and shook her head. "Uh-un."

The girl grinned and wiggled her fingers at her. "Awww, you don't want to play tonsil-hockey with a spider alien?" She began to make slurping and kissing noises at Bonnie in an effort to tease her.

"Ugggh, stooop!" She whined and lightly pushed her away. "We can put it in, but unless you want me sleeping in the same bed with you for a week, don't expect me to keep my eyes open." She wiggled a finger at her.

"Ooh, careful with that. Ya might make Raphael jealous ~." The girl teased, moving out of the way for some pushy guys. "Seriously, that boy acts tough, but he probably misses you the most out of all of them when you're gone."

Her eyes grew a bit and she took a deep breath. "Yeah well," She crossed her arms again and played with her hair. "He's got his little sister to keep him company while I'm gone." She tapped Aidas nose with a finger.

The Latina cringed a little and shivered. "Euch! You make it sound so dirty!" She smacked her arm.

"Well, they are a bit dirty." She giggled and pulled her phone out again. "Sooo... I'll tell them to meet us back at my place after the parade?" She asked with a brow raised as she typed in a message.

Aida nodded and smiled. "Ooh! Send that picture that looks like we're taking shots! I wanna scare Leo." She giggled and hovered over her shoulder.

---

Michelangelo perked up when he felt a couple buzzes go off in his pocket. He quickly finished tying up the criminals they had found, stealing from a local convenience store, and pulled out his phone. He was silent for a moment as he read it, and his eyebrows perked in surprise when he saw that Bonnie was inviting them over. "H-Hey!..." He walked over to Leo. "So... I know you said we couldn't go out with the girls, buuut--"

Leo rolled his eyes and let out an aggrivated sigh. "Mikey!"

He put up a hand in defense. "Now hold on! It's better than you think! Bonnie invited us over to her apartment for scary movies!"

Leo's eyes widened and turned to him to look at the phone. He was even more surprise when it turned out to be true and he raised a brow. "We wouldn't even fit, would we?"

Mikey shrugged. "It's a little tiny, but I don't know. We could probably do it." The phone buzzed in his hand again and he clicked open the message. His eyes widened and he smiled a bit when he saw the selfie of Bonnie that was particularly focused on her chest region. "Ohoho... Donnie! I think this one's for you!" He said and tossed the phone over to him.

Donatello paused in his work to catch the phone. Of course, he almost dropped it when he saw the picture and his cheeks managed to turn a light shade of pink. "I-I highly doubt it. Have you been on her social media pages? Bonnie posts stuff like this all the time," the tall mutant tried to dismiss the photo. Though he had to admit, the costume did accentuate a lot of her features very well.

"Lemme see," Raphael snatched the phone out of his brother's hands and felt his eyes widen. He had tried not to make a big deal out of Bonnie's costume when he first saw her in it. After all, April had worn similar get-ups so he figured this was just how most women dressed on the holiday. But there was just something about the outfit that drove him crazy; not in the good way either. All he could think about were the weirdos and creeps out there that would love to harass her over her choice of attire, and how he would love to twist their arms if they tried anything. Now that Bonnie had been hanging out with them more, he realized that she may like to start some shit but had a tendency to get in over her head.

Of course now all he could do was try to push the fire down in his gut. Of course this was for Donnie; the leaner turtle had a better relationship with the girl than he did. He had no right to be upset about it but he just couldn't help it. He shook his head and tossed the phone back to Michelangelo before speaking to Leonardo. "You sure we shouldn't check up on them?" He asked, genuinely concern for the girls' well-being. "You know those two love to get into trouble."

"Of course we'll check up on them." Leonardo said as he strung up the criminals. "But let's give them a bit of breathing room, okay? I know we're all excited to see them and their costumes, but they're adults... And they have some experience in self-defense now; nothing is going to happen to them." He finished, trying to sound convincing,

As soon as Leo finished his thought, a loud exploding noise went off in the distance and soon after that the power went out in the area. Michelangelo’s eyes widened in fear and his heart felt like it dropped into his stomach. He immediately jumped up on a building and climbed it quickly. "No, no, no, no!" He said as he reached the roof, and ran to the other side of it.  He could see a large cloud of smoke emerging from the direction the girls were in. His mouth fell open and he grabbed his head, staring at the scene wide eyed. Leo was right behind him and he stared in utter shock as well, unable to get a word out. An explosion? And in New York? He thought. It just couldn’t be real!

The moment Raphael saw the cloud of smoke, he was already on the move. He knew it! He knew something was going to happen tonight! Of course, he had hoped it was just going to be another mugging or a gang bang. But an explosion that big? He never would have guessed it. He did not wait to see if his brothers were following as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, all he knew was that they had to get there and fast. Either to make sure the girls were okay or to catch the criminal before they got away.

Donatello was already trying to tap into the police scanners in the area of the explosion but frowned when he got nothing but static. He felt his body shake from the adrenaline rush and licked his lips nervously. "Mikey..." He snapped his fingers to get his attention. "Mikey, try calling Bonnie. Now!" It was getting hard for him to think, but he knew he had to keep his composure.

Mikey reached for the phone in his pocket and frantically pulled it, almost dropping it a couple of times before making the call. The phone played an automated message saying something along the lines 'Due to network difficulties,' "No..." He breathed, trying to make the call again but got the same message. "No... No!!" He said and chucked the phone at Leonardo with all his might.

 Leonardo managed to dodge the cellular device and he threw out his arms. "How is that going to help?!"  He snapped.

"This is your fault!" Mikey ran up to him and pushed a finger in his face before shoving him back with both of his hands. "You just had to be the typical asshole leader! If we were there!" He stopped and grabbed his head again, pacing back and forth on the rooftop.

Leonardo frowned and swallowed again. He looked to Donnie with concern, "Donnie, can you... Bonnies chip? Can you pick it up at all? Maybe that can tell us if they're okay?"

"They're?!" Mikey exclaimed. "Bonnie is the only one with the chip! It won't show us if Aida's moving!"

"If we can find Bonnie, we'll find Aida!" Leo snapped back at him again.

The purple-clad turtle knew it was going to be useless, but he tried anyway. If the phones were down that meant an EMP had gone off with the explosion. A little hologram appeared on his device, depicting a red "X" instead of the typical map of the city. His body went numb at the implication and he did nothing but stare at the glowing red light. "...Nothing's coming up...." He forced the words out, but they were barely a whisper. He cleared his throat and spoke a little louder. "Nothing's coming up, Leo."

Leonardo’s mouth fell open and his blood ran cold.  They were completely in the dark for the time being. No way to contact the girls and find out if they were okay. He shook his head, needing to get into action. "Oo... Okay." He held up his hands. "Let’s get over to the scene. We'll scour the streets from the rooft-"

"What?!" Mikey interjected. "Leo we're already in the dark here! I don't give a fuck who sees me! I'm gonna find Aida whether it’s on ground, or not!" He said and then ran off.

"Mikey!" Leo called out, but he knew he couldn't stop him. He growled and nodded forward. "Let’s go Donnie!" He said and ran off after Michelangelo.

The leaner turtle nodded and chased after the leader. "To be fair, we might have a better shot on the ground," He called out as he kept trying to get any sort of information. "It's still Halloween. People will still think we're in costume." Just as he finished his sentence, the device on his wrist went off. He could feel relief when he saw it was April calling and tapped at the headphone he kept in his ear. "April! Please tell me you got something about that explosion. We're completely blind here."

"April? Is she okay?!" Leonardo hollered back at him.

April sighed. "I'm fine," she answered, overhearing Leo. "But no, nothing yet, but I'm on the scene right now. I can't really see anything due to the smoke and dust." She coughed a little."...Are you guys okay?"

Donatello jumped to the next rooftop before answering. "We're fine. We were further out dealing with other criminal activity." He stopped and looked around for any sign of his large red brother but found none. "Raph ran off without us when he saw the smoke. If you see him, call us back as soon as you can. And make sure he doesn't hurt anyone!"

"Of course!" She said. "I'll try to call Casey, see if I can get him to find Raph and help out any."

He sighed in relief. The more people they had on the ground, the better. "April, can you do us one more favor?" He didn't wait for her to answer before he continued. "Bonnie and Aida were in the parade. Their phones aren't working and the chip I put in Bonnie has shorted out. Could you keep an eye out for them? And tell us if they're safe?" His heart raced at the possibility of their demise. It was still hard enough for him to accept the fact that an explosion just went off. He wasn't sure how he would handle it if the girls were...

Aprils was silent for a few seconds. She was surprised they were still hanging out with those girls. She thought they'd definitely be gone after the week was up. But this was no time to be bitter, people were hurt and in need of aid, even if those people were criminals. She swallowed and nodded her head. "Yeah... I'll keep an eye out for them."

"Thanks. We'll keep you posted if anything comes up. Be safe," He ended the call and looked over at Leonardo. "Alright. April and Casey are gonna be on the scene too."

"Good... L-lets head on over." Leo nodded and jumped to the next roof.

Bonnie was lying on the ground, moaning and tossing her head. Her whole body ached, and there was a few scratches on her but nothing fatal. She coughed the smoke and dust out of her lungs as she sat up. Her ears ringed and everything sounded muffled. She watched as silhouettes passed her by through the fog and she rubbed at her eyes and picked at hear ears to clear her senses. "Aida?" She croaked out. "...Aida!" She said louder when she got no response.

"Dios mio...Bonnie!" Aida cried out when she finally heard the girl's voice. The red cloak she had been wearing was torn to shreds. Her legs and arms were covered in scrapes, cuts and bruises; but she ignored the burning pain to find her companion. "Bonnie! Holy shit, are you okay?" She stepped over the rubble and crouched down next to the girl to help her up.

"I'm okay," she answered and stood up. She felt off balance and looked down to find that she was missing one of her heels. She groaned and looked around for it, but cursed when she couldn't find it. "Are you okay?" She finally turned back to Aida. "What even happened?"

The girl nodded, grabbing her arm to help her friend walk. "Nothing a band-aid and ice can't fix luckily," She paused and looked around. She had never seen the city so dark before, and with the thick clouds of dust still lingering, it was terrifying to look at. "I think...I think a bomb went off." She gulped, keeping her eyes peeled. Her heart was racing and her limbs were stiff. "W-we should get moving..." She said, not realizing her grip was tightening on Bonnie's arm.

"Ow...ow!" She said louder and snatched her arm away to rub it. "That hurt mami!... Are you sure you're alright? Maybe we should get you to a hospital?"

Aida nodded and snapped a little, "Yeah, I'm fine! I'm just..." She rubbed her head as the events suddenly hit her. They survived a bombing, somehow. They were alive but others weren't so lucky. The need to help others overwhelmed her; if they were busy, then she wouldn't have to think about what happened. "W-we should help some people ya know?"

Bonnie looked out onto the scene again. Her vision was clearer and she could see people strewn about the street, injured or worse. There were some people trying to help others, bust mostly everyone was in panic. Running around aimlessly, not knowing what to do. Bonnie jumped in surprise when she heard glass shatter next to her and she turned. Two kids, looking to be no older than fourteen were breaking in to a jewelry store. She growled and took off her other heel, grabbing one the kids and hitting them with it on their backside.

"This is not. A time. To be looting!" She scolded them.

"Ow! Ow!!" The kid cried. "What the fuck?!"

She kicked him in the bottom before letting him go. "Go help someone else instead of yourself!"

The kid stared at her confused. "Al..Alright, geeze." He stuttered before pulling his friend out of the store and leaving.

Aida shook her head in disappointment as she watched the two kids run off. Her and Bonnie might have been thieves once, but they would never use a tragedy like this for their own gain. The Latina girl heard some grunts coming from the rubble and she did her best to hurry over and help them out.

Raphael grabbed a man by the collar of his coat and slammed him against the brick wall, ignoring his cries for mercy. "Who did it!?" He roared at the quivering figure. "Who set the explosion off!?"

"I-I don't know man!" The guy whimpered out.

"Don't gimme that bullshit!" The turtle clenched his jaw and nodded at the man's neck. "I see that tattoo! You're with the Foot's greatest rivals and you guys have been fighting for control of this city for a looong time. Wouldn't surprise me if you boss did something this nasty to show off." He tightened his grip, putting pressure on the man's neck.

"I-I don't know, I swear!" He choked out, his hands scratching in vain at the giant green hands. "Just...please! L-lemme go!"

Another man tried to sneak up on the larger turtle but was grabbed and thrown against another wall by Michelangelo. He stumbled and looked up at the orange turtle with wide eyes.

"Trust me... I'm saving you from a lot of pain. Now get." He nodded at him with his chin and the man ran off. He turned back Raph and walked up next to him. "Get anything out of this guy yet?" He asked and leaned against the wall with his hand.

Raphael growled and kept his eyes trained in his victim. "Not yet. But I'm hoping to pop something out of him..." he squeezed tighter, getting a pained gasp from the gang member. At this point he didn't care if he killed the man. Someone had to pay for those lost lives. It might as well be this criminal.

"P-please...!" His words were strained and his clawing became weaker with every stroke. "I d-don't...kn-know..."

Michelangelo watched with big eyes as the man struggled in Raphs’ grip. Normally it wasn't something he condoned, but someone had to be blamed for this. If Aida and Bonnie were hurt or worse because of some gang move... His fingers clenched into fist at the thought.

"Raph, let him go!" Leo ordered as he jumped down from a rooftop, landing next to him. He pried the man free from his grip and pushed him back.

"Leo, what the fuck?! We were about to get something out of that guy!" Mikey growled.

Leo scoffed. "You were about to get a corpse in your hands!"

The man slumped to the ground, rolling onto his side as he gasped and coughed for air.

"So what?" Raphael growled, bumping Leonardo with his chest. "If he does, that's one less crook we gotta worry about.

At that moment, Donatello landed next to the struggling man. He crouched down to make sure he wasn't dying before turning his attention to his angry brother. "You gonna hold Bonnie and Aida to that standard too? They were thieves after all."

He snapped his attention to Donatello and pointed a finger at him. "That's not the same! They didn't just kill hundreds of people!"

"We don’t kill people!" Leo tapped his own chest repeatedly with a finger. "We help people! And strangling out this crook is not helping anyone right now!" He threw down his arm.

"Well maybe if you had just let us go along with the gir-" Mikey started.

"Oh come off that!" He groaned.  "I'm sorry that I didn't let you go with the girls, okay? I'm sorry! I know it's easier for you to put the blame on me and make me look like the bad guy to them, but we chose this life! Not just me! We all chose to be ninjas! Warriors of the shadows!" He emphasized. “So again, I'm sorry that I didn't let you parade in the light, but for now can't we just focus on what’s important! Which is helping this city and the people in it! And looking for Aida and Bonnie instead of picking fights where they're not needed!"

Mikey went to speak, but had nothing to counter Leonardo’s words. Instead he looked to the ground in thought before rolling his head and shoulders in defeat. "Fine." He growled, still a bit bitter.

Raphael seethed with anger and punched the wall, making the bricks crack and break. His katana wielding brother was right. It wasn't his fault; hell, something like this was no one's fault except the group that did it. Now it was just a matter of who. But for now, they had two people to find. "Alright. Where we heading then?" He grumbled, ignoring the man on the ground.

"April is starting coverage south of the explosion," Donatello looked down at his arm, seeing the little news feed being projected. "Casey lives on the west side, so he should be looking toward that area."

"Alright, so we've got the north and east side to cover then." Leo clasped his hands together and nodded. "Donnie, Mikey, can you guys cover the north side, and Raph and me will cover the east?"

Mikey nodded. "No complaints here."

Donatello nodded, "Sounds good to me." He patted the groaning man's back and smiled. "Feeling better?" He asked.

"Yeah...yeah I think so," he answered.

"Good," Donatello then smacked the back of his neck, knocking him out cold.

Raphael cracked his knuckles and huffed. "Then let's get going then."

The four of them split into their group of twos and went there separate ways. They searched high and low not worrying too much about anyone seeing them, but still making it a point not to be seen if it wasn't necessary.  They went on for about two hours before checking in with each other again through their cellular devices. Neither of the groups had found the girls yet, or the culprit of who set off the bomb. It was two o'clock in the morning, and they hadn't gotten anywhere. In about five hours it would be daylight.

Leonardo sighed tiredly and leaned up against a brick wall. He held his phone above his head as he spoke to Donatello. "Has anything come back online yet? Bonnies chip? Or maybe her cellphone?" He asked.

"Nothing," Donatello answered. "I keep trying every thirty minutes, but I just get static." He poked at a couple of buttons and sighed. "There's nothing on the police scanners or hospital records either."

Raphael paced back and forth and growled. "Any physical sightings?"

"No..." Michelangelo answered for Donnie as he looked over the text messages he had sent to Bonnie. They all had been delivered, but none of them read. He grumbled as he stared at the text messages. "M-Maybe it's time we go to their homes? They did say they wanted to meet up after the parade."

Leonardo stared at the wall in front of him for few seconds before standing up straight. "Actually... That's not a bad idea."

Donatello nodded in agreement, impressed that it was Michelangelo who came up with it. "Y-yeah actually it is. You guys wanna go to Aida's and we go to Bonnie's?"

Raphael shrugged his shoulders, "Sounds good to me. We'll keep lookin' for a couple more minutes then head on up there." He nodded at Leonardo for approval. "Sound goo to you?"

Leo nodded back at him. "Check back in, in a hour." He finished and hung up the call. He sighed again and started walking forward. "Why did it have to be on Halloween night? I've seen five other playboy bunny costumes, and three red riding hoods; but not our Playboy Bonnie and Little Red Aida. "

"Guess we should be thankful they didn't dress up as cats or witches," Raphael grumbled and stepped forward before he saw something. In the rubble he saw the glint of a familiar blue shoe. He hesitated for a moment, thinking that the chances of finding something of Bonnie's to be slim; however, he had to go look. If he didn't, it would just haunt him.

The giant turtle stepped over the piles of concrete and bent down, picking up the broken piece of apparel. It was broken, but it definitely looked like the one Bonnie had been wearing. He turned to Leonardo and held the shoe out to him, needing a second opinion. "Yo Leo! This was Bonnie's right?"

Leo stared down at the shoe, raising a curious brow. "Uuh... Check the brand. If it's expensive, then it’s hers." He nodded.

Raphael scoffed and shrugged. "Leo. Does it look like I know shoe brands? Everything she wears looks expensive!"

Leonardo chuckled and took the shoe from him, examining it. He held up the shoe and pointed at the inside where there was logo printed on the insole. There were two gold colored 'G's' overlapping the other. "See this? It's Gucci. Which means it's... probably hers. I'm ninety-five percent sure."

He shook his head, looking completely dumbfounded. "How...how do you know any of this?" He waved him off and stepped. "Ya know what? Forget I asked. That means she was here....somewhere." He looked around, not seeing any other sign of the girl. The area was too far away from any fatal damage to be done to any people. And luckily, he did not see any bodies on the ground. Perhaps she really did just go home?

"Well hold on to that. Once we find her, I'm sure she'll be grateful that you found her shoe. Even if it is broken." He mumbled and continued on. They walked in silence for a while. They eventually wandered into Aida's neighborhood which was relatively cleaner compared to the area of the city where the bomb went off. Leonardo’s eyes scanned the area, not only looking out for Aida, but her siblings too. She had told him about her older brothers and how they like to get in trouble. With what happened tonight, he hoped they would stay inside, and not be tempted to scour the streets.

The red turtle, on the other hand, had never been to Aida's neighborhood. He whistled a little at how the place looked; as if straight from a movie depicting the harsh urban areas of town. "Geez...no wonder she stole shit..." He mumbled before looking at the house his brother was fixated on. None of the lights were on as far as they could tell and the streets were completely empty. "You think anyone's home?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"Hopefully they all are. It's too dangerous to be out tonight." Leo responded as he tried to peer through the windows, but the curtains were making hard, if not impossible to see anything. He sighed. "I can't really tell."

Raphael went to peer through another window, but it did not reveal much. He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Maybe they're all asleep?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, two high pitched screams could be heard from inside the house. He wanted to jump through the window to get to them quickly, but he restrained himself and looked at Leonardo for instructions. "Leo?" He hissed through clenched teeth, bouncing on his feet to keep himself contained.

Leonardo’s brows perked when he heard the screams and he snapped his attention to Raph. "Go!" He said without hesitation. He didn't care anymore about staying hidden anymore. If Aida was in danger, or her siblings, he had to do something about it regardless of being seen.

As soon as the words left his brother's mouth, the large mutant took a few steps back before running forward, jumping through the glass window and rolling on the floor. He looked up when he heard the screams again and paused.

He was in the living room, the only light source coming from the glow of the TV. There was a horror movie playing and the actress screamed just as a chainsaw revved up. On the couch were two small children dressed in matching pajamas, who were huddled together and staring at him with wide eyes. There were candy wrappers littered on the couch, floor and coffee table where their haul of sugar laid.

The giant turtle sighed in relief, thankful that no one was actually getting hurt. However, now they had a couple of other problems at hand. "It's just the kids," he reported.

"Raph! The window opens from both sides!" Leo hissed as he carefully climbed through, avoiding the broken glass and waved meekly at the children. "Uh... Hey. You haven't seen your sister Aida, have you?" He asked.

He cringed a little, "I panicked! I thought they were in danger!" He gestured to the twins.

The two kids stared at the giant turtles, completely speechless for a while. "No way..." Riqui finally spoke.

"Yeah..." Rosa gulped.

Raphael prepared himself for more screams of terror and tried to think of a way to silence them without hurting them.

"Real super heroes!" They both exclaimed as big smiles formed on their faces. "Is Aida really your sidekick?" They asked in unison.

"Uuh... Yeeeeah." Leonardo said cautiously as he looked around for a broom to sweep up the glass with. "But uh... We're more like the Batman type of Super heroes. Not meant to be seen or talked about so-- Aha!" He said excitedly as he found the broom in the kitchen. He returned to the living room and looked to the twins. "You guys have any duct-tape?"

They both nodded and ran to the kitchen to get the requested item. As the two kids argued over who should give him the duct tape, Raphael went over to his brother.

"The girls ain't here," He grumbled. "One of 'em would've come down at this point." He paused and furrowed his brow, remembering that the Latina girl had mentioned having four siblings. "Seems like the other two aren't home either."

Leo frowned as he swept up the glass. "Yeah... Hopefully this just means they went to Bonnies place." He looked around for a clock and saw that it was a quarter till three.  "Hopefully Donnie and Mikey are having better luck than us."

He nodded and caught a glimpse of the clock. It would be sunrise in a couple of hours and there was still no sign of the girls. Dread began to fill his stomach and he tried not to linger on their possible end. Luckily for him, the twins came darting back into the living room. The girl had the duct tape in her hands while the boy stopped right in front of Raphael, staring at him with wide-eyed wonder.

"Here you go!" Rosa chirped, holding the roll up to the blue-clad turtle as she flashed a tiny smile at him.

Riqui reached for one of Raphael's sais, but the larger turtle poked his hand away. "Don't touch that. You'll hurt yourself," he told the boy.

"Could you teach me how to use one?" He asked, pointing at the three-pronged weapon.

He smiled down at him and shrugged, "We'll see. Maybe." Normally he would try to humor the kids more, but this was not time nor night for it.

"Thank you." Leonardo smiled back at the girl and took the duct tape from her after he dumped the glass into a trash can. He patched up the window several times and over with the tape, making sure no one else would be able to get through.  He turned back to the kids once he was finished, crouching down to them. "Alright, we gotta go now. Stay inside, and don't open the door for anyone... Unless it's your siblings. Oh-and uh... If you do see Aida, can you tell her to call us?" He gestured between himself and Raphael.

They both nodded at him. "Yes sir!"  They chirped in unison.

Raphael realized what time it was and waved a finger at them. "Hey! Go to bed too! It's late!"

They both gasped, feeling guilty for getting caught but they both nodded. "Okay..."

Raphael nodded at his brother and sighed in disappointment. "Alright. Let's get out of here."

Leonardo stood up and nodded at him, "Right."

---

"They're not heeerrrre!" Michelangelo groaned when examined the last room in Bonnie’s apartment. Originally he was surprised and excited that it was much cleaner than the last time he was here. He figured it would be easier to find the girls, but he was disappointed when they were nowhere in sight. He picked up the apartment phone and tried dialing Bonnie's cell phone number, but the phone gave off a 'dead tone'. "Uggh!" He groaned again loudly. "What the hell happened?!' He snapped to Donatello. "Why wont the phones work?! It's been hours now!"

"It was an EMP Mikey," Donatello began, reminding himself to use small words for him. "Any electronic that was in the area when it went off is now useless. That's why all the power's out." He rubbed the back of his neck and called Leonardo. He only hoped that his brothers were having better luck than they were.

---

When Raphael heard the phone go off he felt his heart leap into his throat. "Is it Donnie?" He asked, making his way next to Leonardo quickly.

Leo nodded his head in response. He hesitated on answering, not wanting to be told that they were unsuccessful as well. It was getting pretty late, and they still hadn't found the girls. The sun would be rising soon and they wouldn't be able to look for the girls until the next night. He clenched the phone in his hand, wanting to be hopeful but he had a bad feeling in his gut.  "Anything?” He answered.

Donatello felt his heart drop at their leader's response. They had no luck either. "Nothing..." he answered. "How about you guys?" He might already know the answer, but he wanted to be wrong.

Leo lowered his head and sighed in defeat. "Nothing..." He repeated.

Mikey's whole body tensed when he heard the words and he could feel himself being on the verge of tears. So much time had gone by since the explosion and they still hadn't found the girls. He couldn't help but think of the worse. He clenched onto his straps and took in a deep breath to stop himself from crying. "They've gotta be okay..." He breathed

Donatello frowned over at Michelangelo and licked his lips nervously. "What should we do?" He spoke into the speaker before walking over to his little brother, patting his arm comfortingly.

"We'll scour the city one last time before sunrise... Everyone will take a direction. I'll take the west side of the city. Raph East, Mikey North, and Donnie south. Does that sound good?" He answered.

"Yeah..." Mikey croaked and nodded his head slowly.

"Alright. See you guys at the lair," Donatello turned off the device and let out an exhausted sighed. He ran his hands over his head as a swarm of thoughts flooded his mind. The city may have been huge, but there was no way they could have gone far. The fact that Bonnie's cellphone and tracker were offline was proof enough that they had been near the explosion. Then again, there was also a lot of debris. It was quite possible they were there too...

He did his best to swallow the lump in his throat and let his arms drop, shaking them out in the hopes of ridding himself of the panic and dread that filled his veins. "C'mon...let's get going." He hit Michelangelo's shell before walking off.

Raphael covered his face, his fingers pressing hard against his forehead. This was unbelievable. There was no way this was happening, he just refused to accept it. And yet, not even Michelangelo or Donatello had found any trace of the girls. Not to mention Casey and April hadn't reported anything either. And the fact that all they found of the girls was a broken shoe was not encouraging either.

Finally he lifted his head and stared at Leonardo. "...What if we don't find 'em?" He forced the question out.

Leonardo's blood ran cold at the words and he turned his back to Raphael. They had never loss anyone important before. What would this do to him and his team? Not knowing the answer terrified him. He was silent for a while before coming up with something convincing to say. "If we don't find them tonight..." He emphasized on the word, trying to give his brother some hope. "We'll be back out tomorrow, as soon as sundown hits. If forty-eight hours pass, then we can have April file a missing person’s report. That way, the humans can cover what we can't." He finished, avoiding going over the possibility of the girls having been in the explosion.

It was a better answer than Raph had expected and it calmed him down enough for him to think. He was thankful that it was Leonardo he was paired with instead of Michelangelo or Donatello. Even though he clashed with his blue-clad brother a lot, he always seemed to know exactly how to handle high-stress situations.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in before exhaling. "Okay," He breathed and opened his eyes. "Sounds like a plan, bro." His hand clapped Leonardo's shoulder roughly before giving it a squeeze. This was going to be one of the hardest nights they ever had, but at least they had each other to lean on.

Leonardo looked to his hand and then to Raphael with a small smile. He patted his brother’s hand with his own a couple times before pulling away. "Alright," He started and jumped up on a fire escape, hanging onto it with one hand. He nodded at Raphael. "I'll see you in a bit." He finished and climb the rest of the building, disappearing into the night.

While the turtles were searching for the girls, Aida and Bonnie were helping other survivors out from the rubble and comforting those who could not handle the stress. They did all that they could, but hours later they too became exhausted. Instead of going home, they wandered into a make-shift shelter and waited in line to get their wounds sanitized and patched up. As they waited, Aida managed to borrow someone's cellphone to check up on her siblings. Unfortunately, no one had answered the home phone, but the girl left a message. She told her siblings she was safe and gave Orlan a list of things to do to make sure everyone would be fed and ready for the morning.

Once she returned the phone, all she could think about was the lair and how they needed to go down there. It would be safe underground and with Bonnie's phone being dead, their friends were no doubt worried about them. Luckily, Bonnie had the same idea and once the two girls had been properly bandaged they made their way back outside. They were both shocked to see the sun rising, its brilliant rays peeking in between the skyscrapers and illuminating the damage done. Aida did her best not to focus on the rubble and ruined roads as she followed Bonnie towards the sewers.

"You think they'll be asleep?" She asked as they dredged through the tunnels, her legs feeling heavy.

"I don't know..." Bonnie mumbled as she played with her phone, trying to get it to turn on, but it was useless. She sighed and stuck it back in her costume. When she thought about how long they had been awake, and how exhausted she felt, it triggered a long yawn from her. "Ugh... I'm ready for some sleep though." She rubbed at her eyes.

Aida nodded in agreement and smiled weakly. "Never thought I'd ever be saying this but...I'm glad we got our own room in the sewers." She tried to laugh but it was interrupted by a yawn. She heard the turtles before she saw them as they got closer to the lair. Although she couldn't quite make out what they were saying, she could tell it was starting to get a little heated.

"What do you mean 'it doesn't work that way'?" Raphael's voice echoed out.

"It's exactly what it sounds like!" Donatello argued. "I can't just ask the computer 'who set off the bomb'. I need more info than that to get started. And right now we have no leads."

"Start with a gang!" The red turtle growled. "It was probably one of them!"

"Raph, Donnie, calm down!" Leo enunciated and rubbed at his face with his fingers. "You're both-- We're all just a bit tired and needing some sleep. You all should get some rest. I can stay up and watch out for-"

"I can't even think about sleeping right now!" Michelangelo interjected, throwing his hands up.

"I know..." Leonardo sighed and put up a hand in defense, "But the suns out right now. There's nothing we can do at this time. We might as well get some rest."

"I don't wanna be asleep if they show up! I don't want them to think that I don't care!" Mikey insisted.

"Mikey, they're not gonna think you don't care!" Leo argued back.

Normally, Bonnie would announce her arrival in the lair, but she was too exhausted for just about anything at this point. She stopped at the entry way and looked to Aida tiredly. "How do you think we should go about this? Should we even tell them we're here or should we just let them figure it out on their own?" She joked.

Aida smiled at her, too tired to laugh. "Hey, this is the first time I'm doing this too." The girl shrugged.

"Yeah, Mikey." Donatello patted his brother's shell and smiled a little. "I mean, if you want I can tell them how you almost cried?"

Raphael kept his arms crossed and grumbled. "Guys, let's just...go to bed," He shook his head, trying to fight off sleep.

Donatello nodded in agreement and looked at Michelangelo. "Until we get a call from April or Casey, we gotta believe they're still out there. And we're no help to them if we can't even stand, okay?"

"That's right." Leonardo nodded and soon after a yawn escaped him.

Michelangelo grumbled and crossed his arms. "Looks like someone else needs to keep the first watch."

Bonnie managed to sneak her way over to the turtles without any of them noticing. She placed a hand on Leonardo's shell and rubbed at it softly. "How about, you guys get some sleep." She yawned again. "Aida and I will keep watch."

"No, no..." Leonardo grumbled and rubbed at his eyes.  "I'm good, I just need some coff--EE!!" He jumped when he realized who he was speaking to and turned to the girl. "Bonnie!!" He exclaimed.

Aida followed suit, waving meekly at the turtles. "Nah, really it'll be fine. You guys look tired, you should get some rest."

Donatello felt his eyes brimming with tears at the sight of the girls. A wave of relief washed over him and he felt his legs shake, ready to give out at any moment. They were safe; they were actually safe and here in the lair. He went and wiped at his eyes before pinching himself to make sure this wasn't a dream. When he saw they were still there, his smile grew and he let out a relieved laugh.

Raphael could only stare, however. He felt absolutely paralyzed with utter shock and awe. Was this really happening? Was that actually Bonnie and Aida? They had spent hours searching for these girls. It seemed too convenient that they would just show up to the lair, and so quickly too. Why weren't they at home? Why did they come here first and just as the sun was rising? He wasn't upset that they had come down here, just surprised. Though he wasn't complaining; he was happy he could actually see them and know for sure that they were alive.

"Aida! Bonnie!" Michelangelo screamed and ran over to the Latina girl first, picking her up and squeezing her tight. He then placed her down on the ground and pulled Bonnie in for a group hug. Tears wear over flowing from his eyes, but he didn't bother to wipe them clean. His heart was beating so fast, and he felt like he was going to explode from happiness. They were alive! He smiled and laughed so hard that his cheeks hurt. "You're okay! You're okay!..." He whined.

"Agh... I won't be if you keep hugging me so tight!" Bonnie said as she tried to pry herself from his grip.

 Leonardo couldn't believe what he was seeing, and had to rub at his eyes again just to make sure that this was actually real. When he saw the two girls still in front of him, he let out a big sigh of relief. "Oh thank Kame..." He said and then joined in the hugged. He easily wrapped his arm around his brother and the girls. "We we're so worried about you! Are you guys okay?" He squeezed them tight.

Aida squeezed her eyes shut and held back her tears. They were already worried, she didn't need to make it worse by crying. She gripped Michelangelo's arm tightly and managed to grab one of Leonardo's fingers in an attempt to return the hug. "Y-yeah," she forced the word out. "We're okay."

Donatello took a step forward to join in before he felt his larger brother push him into the group. Raphael managed to stretch his arms around the large group hug and squeezed them all. This was real. They were safe and that was all that mattered.

"I know this is a Kodak Moment but... I can't breathe." Bonnie wheezed out.

"Oh! Sorry!" Leo cringed a little and released from the hug, forcing his other brothers off as well. Michelangelo was still holding onto them however. He smiled a little and put his hands to his hips. "Mikey, let go." He said.

"No! Never!" He cried. His bandanna was becoming soaked with tears. "I don't want them to disappear again!"

Bonnie groaned and grunted as she tried to get out of his hold. "We're not gonna disappear again! We're staying here!"

"What? Really?" Donatello perked. "I thought you just came down here to tell us you're okay?"

"Well, considering the explosion happened on the surface," Aida grumbled, starting to feel the same suffocation from the mutant's hug. "We'd feel a lot, well, safer here."

He smiled a little at what she said, feeling a little prideful that they thought so highly of them. Of course he furrowed his brow as he thought about it more. "Wait. How long were you planning on staying?" It wasn't that he didn't want the girls to stay, but he would feel guilty if they had to focus on work and left them here alone. Now that they knew the girls were safe, they had to focus on finding the culprit.

Bonnie rubbed at one eye and yawned again. “I’d just like to get some sleep, if that's alright with you Donnie?" She raised a sassy brow at him.

"Oh! Yes!!" Michelangelo said excitedly and finally released the girls. "Stay here and get some rest!" He clapped his hands together and nodded. "I'll get extra pillows and blankets! And I can even get Donnie’s secret stash of poptarts for when you wake up!"

"Yeah, of course," Donatello nodded. Normally he would have argued with Michelangelo, but for the girls he would let them have anything tonight. "Alright then. If you guys don't mind, I got some digging to do. " He cracked his knuckles and made his way over to his station.

Raphael grabbed the smaller turtle by the shoulder and pulled him away from the girls. "Alright, alright they get it. Now put some action to your words. Go!" He shooed him off and looked at the girls, holding the tears back. "It's good to see you two."

Mikey chuckled a little and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Okay, okay. I'm good now." He made sure to smile over at Aida before leaving elsewhere to retrieve the items.

"Yeeeah..." Bonnie rubbed her arm and winced a little. "Sorry we didn't call. We were helping others who got injured in the explosion, and well-" She pulled out her phone; trying once more to turn it on but to no avail. "My phones broke now." She sighed.

He raised a surprised brow at her story. "Wait, wait, wait," He held his hands up and faced her. "You guys actually helped others out?" He jested. "But seriously that's actually really cool of you guys." He pointed to Leo and continued. "We split up and went to your guys' places and got real worried and none of you were home." He paused at the memory of what happened at Aida's place and he cringed. "Also, uh...sorry about the window."

Aida's smile quickly turned to a frown and she snapped at him. "Window? What window?"

"You mean you haven't been home yet?" He asked.

"No, we came straight here. What happened?" She asked quickly, feeling a little anxious.

The red turtle tapped his fingers together and pointed at Leonardo once more. "He told me I could."

The Latina girl quickly snapped her attention to the blue-clad turtle and took a couple steps toward him. "What happened to my window Leo?"

Leonardo’s brows perked in surprise and his shoulders stiffened at her voice. "Ah... We heard screams, so we went and inside and..." He scratched at his cheek nervously and looked away.  "In the process the window got broken." He mumbled then snapped back to her before she could say anything else. "But we cleaned up the glass, and duct-taped the window shut! So there's nothing to worry about!" He held up his hands in defense.

Bonnie snorted and giggled. "I would say that's not very ninja like." She crossed her arms and smirked.

"It was Raphs big head that broke the window..." He mumbled again.

Aida's mouth fell open and she looked between the two giant turtles in shock. "That's not--! I gotta replace it! I don't have that kind of money!"

Raphael rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged nervously. "Well, we can try to find one from the junkyard for ya?"

"That's not--" She stopped herself and held her hands up. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm herself down. "Nope. Conversation for another day." She turned on her heel and walked off to help Michelangelo get blankets.

Raphael grinned a little and looked at Bonnie. "On the upside, Donnie and Mikey didn't break anything at your place!"

"That's good!" She nodded and smiled innocently. It's a good thing I organized all my shit and put it away. She thought.

Raphael nodded and couldn't help but stare at her. It was then he finally noticed that she was still in her costume with Band-Aids and other bandages littered across her legs and arms. He frowned a bit and reached out to touch one of the bruises forming on her shoulder. "Hey. You sure you're okay? You don't need any ice or nothin'?"

"I don't know... Probably." She shrugged. "But I'm too tired for ice right now. I just wanna sleeeep!" She pouted and her shoulders slumped.

Leonardo patted her head. "Soon, little rabbit."

Bonnie glared up at him and puffed her cheeks, "I'm not little!"

"Compared to us, you are." He chuckle and looked to Raphael. "I'm gonna go see if Donnie's found out anything yet. Maybe get her some Advil?" He said and walked off.

Raphael nodded. "Yeah. You're definitely gonna be sore here soon," he went over to the cabinet and grabbed a large container of pain killers. He shook two onto his palm and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. He made his way back over to the girl and gave her the bottle of water and held the pills out for her. "This should at least get you through the night." He stared at her outfit again and remembered the broken shoe Leonardo had found. "So, weird question but...did you lose a shoe? With big gold G's inside it?"

Bonnie took the pills and washed them down with the water he gave her; sticking her tongue out and sighing when she was finished. She perked when he mentioned her shoe. "Yeah, I did! Did you find it?" She asked excitedly.

He chuckled a little. "Yeah, pieces of it." He chuckled some more and shook his head. "I can't believe Leo was right about it being yours though. I mean, I kinda figured it would be, but he was spot on!" He tapped his nose and became lost in thought. When they had found that shoe, he thought for sure it meant she was under the rubble. To see her here in the lair made it seem like he was still in a dream. He lifted a fist and pushed it against her arm gently. "I'm glad you're okay bunny-girl."

Bonnie blushed lightly, but smiled at him. He was really worried about her. After all the trouble and hassle she had put him and his brothers through; they still cared about her. The feeling was... nice. She didn't really have anyone in New York before all this, and that was mostly her fault. It was hard to get close to anyone, being a thief and all; but the secret was out with them, and it felt so good. She put a hand on his arm and rest her head against his bicep. "I'm so tired." She sighed.

Raphael smiled down at her, remembering how she tried to punch him when she was first down here. Now she was using his arm as a pillow. "Alright, let's get you to bed then." He nudged his arm to get her head off and put a hand on her back to guide her to her room. "Aida and Mikey should be back soon anyway."

---

Michelangelo was off in one of their storage areas, collecting the extra blankets and pillows for the girls to have. He put one of the blankets to his snout and sniffed it, cringing a little at the smell. "Oookay... Not that one." He balled it up and threw it to the side.

Aida watched him for a second, a rush of thoughts and emotions hitting her all at once. Last night could have been her final moments on this planet. As she thought about her life she found herself thankful and happy for most of it, despite her family's situation. She had siblings and a father who loved her, as well as a handful of unexpected friends. The only thing that had bothered her were these strange feelings she had been having for him.

Though she knew what they meant she just felt like she shouldn't be having them for a mutant ninja turtle. It was the main reason why she never acted out on them like she would for a normal human boy. But after surviving that explosion she felt like life was too short to not do something about it. At the very least she wanted to know if he felt the same. He may be a flirt but he did ask her to find a girlfriend for him; as far as she knew, she was just a sibling to him.

The girl walked up next to him and began to help him rummage through the blankets, her sudden nerves keeping her silent.

Michelangelo perked up when Aida entered the room and he gazed over at her. He thought about what happened last night, and how they spent so much time searching for her, and how after a certain amount of time it seemed hopeless; but here she was... Right here with him. Alive and safe. His eyes began to water again at the thoughts. He didn't know what he would do without her. She was part of his life now, and there was so much he wanted to experience with her. Especially one thing in particular. Love.

His heart began to race, and his cheeks burned red. If there was ever a time to let her know how he felt about her, it was now. Without hesitation, he took on of her hands into his, and rubbed it with his thumb. "Aida..." He started, looking down at his feet.

The girl felt her breath hitch in her throat, making it impossible to speak. It was now or never and she knew it; however her mouth refused to make words. Instead she squeezed his hand as she gathered up some courage and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. She felt her heart race and her legs shake the moment she made contact and felt like she had to keep herself busy.

"Th-these should be good right?" Her voice cracked as she pulled out a blanket and held it between herself and the mutant.

Michelangelo’s mouth dropped and eyes widened when she kissed him. It was only on the cheek, but still. It was more than anything he ever got before, and that was nothing! He blushed even brighter, and could swear his heart was about to burst out of his chest. He couldn't even remember what he was going to say before. Now all he wanted to do was return the favor. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into him. Planting a hard one on her lips.

"Mmph!" She winced a little at how hard it was but tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. However, his hands were pressing a bruise and she had to pat his arms before pulling away. "Ow, ow! Too tight Michelangelo," She explained, nodding at his hand with her head.

He cringed and cupped his hands over his lips. "I'm- I'm so sorry!" He spoke through his fingers and shook his head. "For hurting you and... that."

"It's fine. You were just on a bruise," She told him. The girl licked her lips nervously, suddenly feeling nervous about what they just did. "I-I mean...I didn't mind it that much," She muttered, grabbing a pillow this time. "Just maybe not so rough next time?"

"Sorry. I've never kissed a girl before... Or guy! N-Not that I want to kiss guys! I'm just saying, I haven't k-kissed anyone...before." He laughed nervously, stumbling over his words. It took him a couple seconds to realize what she had said, and his eyes lit up at her words. "W-Wait..." He cocked his head to the side. "N-Next time?"

Aida bit the inside of her cheeks to keep herself from laughing at his nervousness. It reminded her of when she kissed the first guy she really liked. A little pang of guilt twisted at her stomach at the fact that she had had boyfriends before him but she shrugged the feeling away.

"Well, unless you want your first kiss to be your only kiss." She smiled at him. "Then yeah. Next time."

"Uuh.." He stuttered again. He couldn't believe this! He had actually kissed a girl, and the girl he like none the less, and she was going to let him do it again! "Sooo... Can I kiss you again?... Right now?" He asked, raising a curious brow.

She stared at him over the pillow in thought and to hide the smile on her face. Never in her dreams did she ever think he would be the one to make her smile like this. Then again, she never would have thought she'd ever act on these feelings either. It was amazing just how human he was.

She looked around the lair, making sure no one was around first before turning back to him. "Sure you can." This time she was the one to start, making sure to be as gentle as possible.

Michelangelo gently placed his hands on her waist, and pulled her in slowly. He met her lips softly with his, and held them there for a few seconds. Her lips were so plush and warm, he thought; and she tasted so good! He felt his blood rush and his heart beat again as he kissed her. Without even realizing it, his tongue forced its way into her mouth.

The moment she felt the wet appendage brush against her lips her eyes shot open. It had been a cute moment but now it was going too far too fast for her. She pulled her head away and pushed the pillow into his chest, making him take a couple of steps back. "Aaaand that's as far as it's going tonight!" She announced, trying her best not to be too mad at him. This was his first intimate encounter and he probably doesn't know human etiquette for this type of thing either.

"Aaah!" Mikey held up his hands in defense. "Sorry... You're.. right. It's probably for the best. Plus, you need some sleep." He chuckled nervously and picked up all the blankets he dropped when he went to kiss her. He looked back up to Aida and smiled meekly. "Sorry, again. I'm new to this so... I have a lot to learn."

For a moment his admission made her heart melt. Of course, that lasted only a moment after she reminded herself who she was talking to. "Yeah, and your first lesson will be about boundaries!" She smacked his arm halfheartedly. "No tongue until the third date!"

Mikey grinned and looked away innocently. "What is it that Bonnie's always saying?" He scratched at his cheek. "No promises?"

----

Raphael led Bonnie to the spare bedroom and stood watch from the doorway, just in case she needed assistance getting in the bed. However she climbed into the bed without much issue and sighed of relief once she layed back. She seemed to melt into the mattress and a wide smile spread across her face. "Finally..." She said and just layed there for a couple of seconds with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes slightly and looked to the larger turtle; patting the bed a few times gesturing for him to 'come forth'.

At first he looked around, thinking she was gesturing to a hidden Aida. When he couldn't find the little woman he looked at her and pointed at himself. "Me? Really?" He asked, still unsure that she was directing the offer to him

"No, the other turtle covering the doorway-- yes, you!" She slapped the mattress once more.

He clicked his tongue at her in annoyance but began to walk over to the bed anyway. It was an odd invitation, but he figured she just wanted some company until Aida appeared. He sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to sit on her, and sighed. It was weird, being alone with her in the impromptu guest room. He knew in movies it meant something romantic would usually happen, but he did his best not to think about it. A moment only became awkward if he made it awkward, so he tried to be as normal as possible.

Bonnie just stared at his shell for a while in thought. She wasn't exactly sure why she had invited him into the bed. It just felt right to have him near... Safe. Which was ironic because all the times she had been around him before she'd ended up getting hurt, but something had changed about the turtle. He wasn't as rough as before. She wasn't sure if the exhaustion was what making her think this way, or if she was just crazy, but she held out an arm and tapped on his shell. "You know I don't bite, right? You can lie down... if you want."

"Yeah. I know!" He said a little too quickly. Her offer made him pause, however. It was like how he used to ask Splinter if he could stay in the same room to sleep whenever he had a nightmare as a kid. Was she really that frightened? He was so used to her tough girl act that seeing her a little vulnerable like this was new.

He nodded and began to shift his body and lay down on the bed. He put his hands on his stomach and looked at her. "Want me to stay until you're asleep?" He offered.

Bonnie closed her eyes and nodded her head with a smile. She then pulled up the blanket and threw it over the two of them, even though it barely covered Raphs’ large body.

He chuckled a little when the blanket hardly covered him, but he didn't mind. Bonnie's body was surprisingly warm against his, so the fabric was not necessary. He lifted his arms and tucked them behind his head, trying to give her more room. "Alright. I'll be here if you need me," he smiled at her.

Finally Michelangelo and Aida had shown up to the guest room, only to be surprised by the sight in front of them. Raphael had fallen asleep pretty quickly himself; the whole ordeal had exhausted him and finally laying down in a bed with someone next him had knocked him out. One of his arms had found itself wrapped around Bonnie's waist, keeping her close to his gargantuan form.

The latina girl's mouth hung open in shock, surprised that the woman had allowed him to lay next to her. Then again, last night's events had been terrifying, so she could sympathize with the need to be near someone now. Very carefully, she tip-toed into the room and put a second blanket over the two, making sure to cover more of Raphael before retreating back to Michelangelo. "Well...guess I'm going on the couch," She whispered, her eyes never leaving the two.

Michelangelo stared at the two in complete utter shock. He dropped the blankets and patted down his body for his phone, hoping to take a picture. He groaned a little when he couldn’t find it. "Ooooh... I'm telling Donnie in the morning." He teased and grinned over at Aida. "What? N-No! You're not sleeping on the couch! You can--" He stopped and licked his lips. "You caaan... sleep with me!" He grinned again and laughed a little. "I-I promise I won't do anything!... Unless you want too..."

She stared at him and shook her head. "You keep that up, you're gonna have to wait for the fourth date for anything else," She hugged the pillow and thought for a moment. She was a little nervous as to what Leonardo or Splinter may have to say if either of them caught the two in the same bed. However, if Bonnie and Raphael were doing it then it wouldn't look too suspicious. Not to mention she really did not want to sleep alone tonight and the couch sounded cramped. The girl shifted her weight from one foot to the next, "Fine. But no fooling around. Just...hold me?" She pushed her hair behind her ears and felt a little silly at the request.

It was then that he noticed the orange earrings she was wearing, and his eyes lit up. "H-Heeey... Are those for me?" He grinned and reached out to touch them.

She furrowed her brow in confusion, forgetting that she had the earrings on in the first place. "What are you...?" She reached up and touched one and the memory hit her. Her cheeks burned in embarrassment but she straightened her back, trying to look casual about it. "I don't know what you're talking about. They just happened to be my favorite pair."

Mikey huffed. "Right, because you've been sporting orange all along." He smirked and nicked her shoulder with his knuckles. "C'monnn. You can admit that you like me a liiitllle bit. I mean, you did kiss me first afterall."

She smirked at him, "Oh I've liked you for a while." She turned and began to walk toward his room. "But I'm glad the earrings actually did get your attention. I wasn't sure they would be obvious enough."

Michelangelo chuckled again. "Sometimes I need a little hint." He said and led her to his room. He plopped down on his bed and sighed happily, wrapping the extra blankets around him. "Aaah... Feels like it's been forever."

Just the sight of the bed made her legs shake as exhaustion finally hit her full-force. The adrenaline from tonight's events was starting to wear off and she could actually feel just how much pain she was in. The bandages on her wounds felt like they were chaffing the exposed skin beneath, the black and blue bruises beneath her clothes began to throb, and her eyelids began to droop as they were eager to close.

Very carefully, Aida pushed away the remaining covers and lowered herself in, not wanting to cause any concern. The girl never realized just how soft and plush the bed was until now, making her sigh in relief at the comforting feeling. "You're telling me..." She muttered, pulling the blankets over herself and gripping on to them tightly. "Thanks for letting me bunk here tonight." She smiled a little, her eyes closing the moment her head hit the pillow.

Michelangelo smiled over at her and threw on another blanket over the both of them. He gently pushed away some stray hairs dangling over Aidas’ forehead and planted a soft kiss on it. "Of course," he whispered and closed his eyes to sleep. 

Post Authors Note: So... ThisiskindofthelastchapterofHonorAmongThieves. Sorry! There’s just a little bit more after this but not enough to make a chapter out of. Like I said before, this is all directly from a rp me and orange were having, but that rp has kind of stopped. We started something new but Idk if it’s gonna go anywhere so I don’t think I’ll be putting it up.We hope you guys enjoyed it. I know it’s not much of a conclusion, but at least one of the girls hooked up!... Kind of. XD I don’t know if we’ll come back to making more or not, but if you guys have questions, send them to us! We’ll try to answer to our best ability! Thanks for sticking with us! We love you guys! <3

[ally-spirit]

Hahahaha, well, if the Salty Ask List is an invitation... XD 16 and 25?

Definitely an invitation! This list has so many opportunities for ranting.

16. If you could change anything in the show(Bleach), what would you change?

Why would you ask me these questions? The second is gonna be a huge ass rant haha

Alright, let’s see… If I could change anything about Bleach…

I definitely love the series as a whole. I feel like there were some, I dunno, more important parts that didn’t actually seem important. Or god forbid, make a character that is important just kinda fade away without any notice until needed convenience. I.e. Grimmjow, the Fullbringers, etc.

I don’t really have that much of an issue with the show other than the usual anime problems™ such as the “weak character” stereotypes.

It always bothers me when you have awesome female characters who are basically reduced to eye candy. Take Orihime for instance. (I swear to god if someone gets pissy at me for using her as an example I will fight them) 

I’m literally positive Tatsuki taught her self defense. (Is she a blackbelt? I read that somewhere but it might be wrong)

How many times do we see her use it? Literally never. She’s the healer. The white mage. Of course she doesn’t fight. She isn’t capable of using any weapon other than her fairies (Which Orihime herself has pointed out, don’t seem to do much) and she even swears to become stronger but does not.

Healers aren’t allowed to fight. Nope, no strength there. Nothing but weaklings hiding behind the fighters. Absolutely pathetic. Totally.

*Glances at Unohana (and Tsunade from Naruto)*

Anyways, I’d definitely give some lesser characters some times to shine. Physically weaker characters who have strong emotional and mental strengths.

25. How would you end Bleach/Would you change the ending of Bleach?

In the words of my best friend, “the ships are fucking canon, hallelujah!” 

Actually, I’m kidding. I’d do the opposite. 

The ending of the manga is so… rushed. I know why and I understand why, but it just seems that the entire Thousand Year Blood War Arc is filled to the brim with half-assed explanations and a few dozen plotholes. 

(Or maybe I’m just overlooking the explanations bc that wouldn’t surprise me. I skim.)

Anywho, the ending itself was pretty damn cool if you look beyond the overwhelming PC and the three times Zangetsu has been broken to get to this point. (No seriously, it’s like “Oh no!! Your sword has been broken in Bankai!! All hope is lost!!!” all the damn time. Ichigo does it at one point wtf. Enter: Convenient Tsukishima powers)

I loved how Aizen joins in during the “final battle”. I adore Aizen in every way and I’m so glad he didn’t get tossed aside like so many other villains in anime. Yass! Villain has been vanquished. Let’s never mention them ever again.

Anyways, I’m getting off topic.How I would end the series…

Alright, here we go.

As the dust settles after the defeat of Yuha Bach (Ywach?? Juha?? Idk ^.^”), the Shinigami are left to pick up the pieces of a destroyed afterlife.

Boom. That’s it.

No canon ships to fight about, no cute little protag kids. 

Just a dream for the future.

It’s such a hopeful way to end. Whenever a series ends with the whole “This many years later, the protag has a kid with the love interest and things are pretty chill.” It depresses the hell out of me. I hate how the bigger anime and/or manga always end with that. It’s boring. It’s typical. It’s expected.

It feels like the second the final chapter ends, you can’t imagine anything happening after without it sounding like a terrible spin-off fanfiction or something. Just… regular life I suppose.

All the characters are settled down. They don’t have anything really left to do. No more adventures to be had. 

However, if you leave it off with our favorite carrot-top looking dramatically off into the distance, confident that they could someday repair the corrupt government broken Soul Society (with Aizen his friends by his side if you want the feel-goods), I think it’d feel less like an abrupt cut-off and more like a fading whisper- a soft noise that has you listening for more.

Now, they would call it an ending and it might still feel like an ending, but it would be less of a sting I would think.