#How can he ever hope to rule in this cruel realm? The mother in her wanted only to protect him

[ladystoneboobs]

no, but the way, cersei brushes sansa's hair with her fingers after telling her ilyn payne will kill her if stannis wins his battle, so they can all die together. this intimate, almost maternal gesture following a death threat. and then later a similar gesture is used with her actual child, when intimidating the king himself, her youngest, after threatening to have his whipping boy brought in to be beaten before them. just as she scared sansa, she scares tommen, also thought to be meek as sansa was. cersei only knows how to rule through fear but in these certain cases, she can sometimes mix in acts of tenderness too for a particularly unsettling combination.

[fischerfrey]

OT4 + HOTD AU? Who's team green and who's team black? What house are they in? Are they active in the dance or keep a safe distance? How would they personalities change? 👀

the ot4: house of the dragon au

this kind of spiraled out of control and would obviously need a shitton of work to smooth everything out but here's what i (and annie) put together quickly. a lot is inspired by the book and show but a lot had to be changed around to make this work. also the hp canon titles and social statuses are waaay different in this one.

“then the storm broke, and the dragons danced.”

when king aegar I targaryen names his second son his heir instead of his eldest, the seeds of civil war are sown. aegar's choice is heavily influenced by a prophecy passed down in his family since the days of old valyria, and all signs point to his younger son being the prince that was promised. or so aegar believes...

prince elyan grew up as the prince of dragonstone, destined to one day rule over westeros. but his father deemed him too rash, too unpredictable to ever sit the iron throne, so he named elyan's little brother theodric as his heir on his sixteenth nameday. theo has no taste for ruling but he wanted to make his father happy so he obliged. when king aegar dies only a few short months later, the realm is torn asunder. many lords and ladies still deem elyan the rightful heir, while some, such as the hightowers, lannisters, and baratheons support theodric's claim (maybe because they respect aegar, maybe because they think theo will be easier to control than his brother...)

elyan is a formidable warrior and commands the loyalty of many, especially men of the city watch in king's landing, whom he personally oversaw for a time. he's charismatic and politically savvy but also vicious and cruel, often jumping headfirst into danger. theo, on the other hand, is studious and prefers to keep to himself. his father believes him to be the one of whom the prophecy spoke of and it could be argued that he has a calmer demeanor than his brother, but in truth, theodric can be just as fearsome and unpredictable.

henry hightower grew up in king's landing, where his father thomas served as the hand of the king for both king elyris I targaryen, and king aegar I targaryen. he's not a renowned warrior and prefers books to swords. he loves riding though, and is an exceptional horseman. when war erupts, henry ends up on the opposing side to elyan, with whom he has been in love with for years. he has to choose between duty and love as he finds himself increasingly friendless in the city he once called home.

malcolm stark is the new lord of winterfell after the sudden death of his father. though he is young, he's determined to look after his people as winter approaches. in the middle of preparations, king aegar dies and war starts brewing in the south. malcolm's father alexander once swore an oath of loyalty to king aegar and his then-heir, prince elyan but now the succession has been changed. malcolm must decide whether to march his men south to defend prince elyan's rightful claim or to stay in the north and face the oncoming winter.

lady primrose baratheon is the only surviving child of lord vincent gray and lady victoria baratheon. she stands to inherit her mother's claim to storm's end but lady victoria's claim was contested on many fronts already, and she only held onto it because she was already married and with child at the time of her brother's death. the lords of the stormlands were hoping she would have a son and put such foolish things as women inheriting storm's end to rest. when, despite years of effort, primrose remained the only living child of her parents, tensions in the stormlands started to brew again. prim's position is precarious and now she has a war to navigate. house baratheon is sworn to defend king theodric but elyan is one of primrose's oldest friends. when her mother dies a few weeks into the war, primrose technically has the power to shift her house's allegiance, but can she convince her lords to follow her lead?

"we are as the gods made us. strong and weak, good and bad, cruel and kind, heroic and selfish. know that if you would rule over the kingdom of men."

elyan, theo, henry, and prim all spent a considerable amount of time together in king's landing

there would definitely be pressure from the councils of both sides to put the other to sword so the war doesn't rear its head again but do the brothers actually want to kill each other?

elyan and henry are gay and in love and take romantic flights on dragonback over the crownlands until the war tears them apart :( the whole affair was doomed from the start but now it's EXTRA doomed

eventually malcolm and prim join the war and meet and fall in love BUT there's a huge issue because primrose has to marry some suitable minor lord from the stormlands (who preferrably has older brothers so he doesn't have the pressure of carrying on the family name) and not the frigging lord of winterfell, warden of the north!!! her liege lords don't want some stark bossing them around. if the two manage to make it work and get married then who's gonna inherit storm's end? who's gonna inherit winterfell? we just won't know...

estelle is The Stark At Winterfell while mal is off to war

lots more dragons would be involved than what is mentioned here. theo has a dragon called scrambles called something metal like bloodfyre i'm sure

the other houses like the velaryons and the lannisters would also be involved heavily but i decided to not go as far as to start assigning other characters or i'd never be able to get this out lol

although the slytherins might be velaryons in this, so kerina is a velaryon, and the current lord of driftmark is either kerina's dad or brother

i have no idea who would eventually win although the odds are stacked against theo pretty hard at the minute, poor guy...

feel free to offer your thoughts!🐉⚔

this isn't like a simple elian = rhaenyra (obvs he's more like daemon anyway), theo = aegon II, henry = alicent etc thing. while some characters do fill the roles of actual characters from hotd, it isn't exactly a working comparison. that being said, i love the ottohightowerification of thomas of alderly.

[renbenreybey]

Eddie/Chrissy - Hades x Persephone AU

You are the kindest thing that has ever happened to me, even if it is not how our tale was told.

When everyone else told me I was destined to be a forgotten nymph that nurtured flowers and turned meadows gold,

you saw that the ichor that resides in me demanded its own throne. You showed me

how a love like ours can turn even the darkest, coldest realm into the happiest of homes.

By Nikita Gill

Chrissy has always been under the watchful eye of her mother. Never allowed to make her own choices, and it was suffocating. Chrissy was at her limit.

She despised the other gods, and even the humans, that didn’t have to abide by their parents' every rule.

During the yearly meetings on Olympus, Chrissy always found interest in Eddie, the god of the Underworld because he listened to no one, always making his own path. She had wanted to get to know him, but her mother made Chrissy swear she would never ever speak to him. Everyone spoke of how he was deceitful and cruel, but Chrissy never understood where those assumptions came from.

He would always stand up for himself, and others, when he visited Olympus. She knew he was one of the most powerful gods, but seeing him take control of the room and not be afraid of everyone’s scrutinizing gaze made her envious of him. He was an outcast, but didn’t seem to care at all.

Whenever she tried to speak up, although it was a rare occasion, he always gave her his full undivided attention. His soft brown eyes on her always made her feel warm, and she knew her face would go beat red, but it was nice knowing at least someone was listening.

She had recently brought up how the humans had recently been less kind to the forests, and he had eased her concern by saying those who harm the forests will be punished for it in death, which would lead them to be better while they were alive. She had been stunned by his admission. Why would he do such a thing for her? She didn’t know, but she appreciated it. She was only allowed to give a nod in thanks.

She hoped it wasn’t obvious to everyone how quickly her heart began to beat when he met her gaze and nodded back.

That was a year ago, and now Chrissy wandered the grounds with her 6 guards as she waited for the next meeting to take place. She felt the happiest she had in awhile at the thought of seeing Eddie again. She wished she had the freedom to see him and speak to him when she wished. Any freedom at all, would suffice.

Her guards grew bored and began to fall behind as she traveled through the woods growing flowers. She loved her abilities, as the goddess of spring, she had an adoration for plants and animals. It made her heart soar knowing she could bring happiness to everyone by simply using the power in her veins.

She let her power flow through her as she grew a red rose and had it wind up a tree she stopped to stand in front of. As the rose slowly made its way around the trunk, a figure appeared before her, coming right out of the ground.

A scream stuck in her throat as she realized it was Eddie. He must be coming up for the yearly meeting, but why would he come before her? He looked as beautiful as ever with his long brown hair and dark clothing adorned with jewelry that shined without needing the sun. To her surprise he smirked at her as she held a hand to her chest trying to calm herself down.

“Who gave you the right to scare a lady like that!” She said in a high whisper, hoping not to make her guards aware she was speaking to none other than the god of the dead in the woods.

“I’m surprised you’re out this deep in the woods, considering your mother never lets you out of her sight.” He sighed and looked around the tree at her guards who were much further back and messing around. “It seems your guards aren’t doing their jobs.”

“I’m so sick of it all,” Chrissy couldn’t help but say, “I am glad they aren’t paying attention to me. I never get any alone time… I wish I were anywhere but here.”

“I can fix that.” Eddie says and Chrissy’s head shoots up to look him in the face. The flutter of hope she feels in her chest as his words causes annoyance to course through her. Who gave him the right to tease her like that? He may not know the depth of her despair over essentially being a prisoner, but he must have noticed based on what he said prior about her mother.

“How do you plan to fix all my issues, whisk me away and hope my guards and mother don’t notice?” She said with sarcasm. She was surprised at how well she was speaking with the man she has admired for most of her life.

“Yes, exactly that.” Eddie responded as he threw his cloak away from his arm to hold out his hand to her. He wore black leather gloves. “Let me take you away for a while. I can show you the underworld and have you back before dark Only a couple hours away won’t make your mother too mad.”

Chrissy knew her mouth was hanging open in shock, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. Eddie had just offered to take her away. It would be the first time she hadn’t been on Olympus. It would be the first time she wouldn’t be under her mother’s scrutinizing gaze.

“And, you promise to bring me back the moment I want to?” Chrissy asked, jutting out her chin. She didn’t want him to know how nervous she was at the idea of disobeying her mother and going away with him, but it was more out of excitement than fear.

“Of course.” He replied with a soft smile, and she knew he was telling the truth.

Chrissy had nothing to lose. Her life revolved around what her mother wanted, never what she wanted. Was she meant for more than sitting pretty and picking flowers? She wondered about that question often, and as she looked at the regal dark man before her who had a kingdom at his fingertips, she knew the answer.

She took his gloved hand and followed him into the ground.

[astradrifting]

GRRM really created so many parallels and foreshadow using the DoD characters that honestly we could just figure the asoiaf ending by analyzing it. My favorite is the Aegon III-D@ny parallels, the fact that one of his closest allies was a face-scarred Master of coin Lannister who ended as Hand to Bran' parallel character just make it so obvious its funny.

Oh my god I didn’t even realise Tyland Lannister was initially on the greens’ side! I’m not super fond of Tyrion ending up as Hand, but you’re right that it’s so obviously meant to reference him. There’s so many parallels that it’s a little crazy. I don’t want to say that the second Dance will end exactly as the first did, it’d be a little too neat if history repeated entirely, but you can see so many echoes of it even in the show’s bastardised ending.

“The broken, shattered realm suffered for a while yet, but the Dance of the Dragons was done. Now what awaited the realm was the False Dawn, the Hour of the Wolf, the rule of the regents, and the Broken King.”

(TWOIAF, Aegon II)

I’m not sure what the False Dawn is going to parallel to, it refers to the period of time after Aegon II’s death but before Lord Stark got to King’s Landing, when people thought that peace had finally come. It kind of brings to mind the War for the Dawn, though personally I think that the threat of the Others will be resolved before the Dance is over. The Hour of the Wolf is obviously about House Stark’s rise back to power, and the Broken King is Bran - though if he actually becomes known as Bran the Broken I might end up committing violence ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. 

The parts about Lord Corlys Velaryon are why I’m so hopeful that Jon’s book ending will be completely different from the show’s. He’s arrested for Aegon II’s death by Cregan Stark, even though Cregan had previously declared for Rhaenyra, because as TWOIAF puts it, “to kill a cruel and unjust king in lawful battle was one thing. But foul murder, and the use of poison, was a betrayal against the very gods who had anointed him.”

Corlys didn’t deny his guilt, and expressed no regret. “What I did, I did for the good of the realm. I would do the same again. The madness had to end.”

Cregan Stark declared him to be guilty of murder, regicide, and high treason, and he was sentenced to execution. But many spoke in his defence, even people who had fought against him in the Dance. Baela and Rhaena Targaryen, Corlys’ granddaughters and Aegon III’s half-sisters, convinced Aegon to issue an edict pardoning Lord Velaryon, which Alysanne Blackwood then convinced Cregan to let stand. Lord Velaryon was pardoned and even restored to his offices and honours, made one of the king’s regents and given a place on the small council.

Corlys’ words definitely could be Jon’s as well, a much more in-character declaration post-D@ny’s death than the drivel GoT tried to feed us. I was worried for a bit that this would be how Tyrion is let off scot-free, but Baela and Rhaena, who were vital to his release, are such obvious Arya and Sansa stand-ins, and they’re certainly not going to expend any effort in helping Tyrion. So Corlys’ circumstances more likely lays the groundwork for how Jon will be freed and remain in political power, while Tyland frankly inexplicably becoming Aegon III’s Hand after he was in favour of brutally killing him parallels Tyrion managing to fail up, as a way of reconciling the old regime with the new one.

This makes Tyrion becoming Hand more palatable IMO. Either Jon and Tyrion both should have been punished or neither should have been punished, not the travesty where Tyrion gets everything he’s ever wanted while Jon is exiled to a Watch with no purpose and a Wall that’s already half-collapsed, so what exactly can it protect against? I suppose they were afraid of seemingly rewarding Jon for killing d@ny, especially if pol!Jon had been revealed, but most people noticed how nonsensical his ending was, and it just led to ‘Bloodraven/Bran is the real villain’ takes anyway.

(Side note: Asha/Yara basically still being loyal to D at the end annoys me so much, and made no sense. Jon did more to help save her by giving Theon that pep talk than D@ny did. Maybe it was a leftover from her taking Victarion’s role in the story, but in no reasonable world is anyone going to listen to the Ironborn who brought the Fire threat over in the first place.)

Of course Tyland Lannister isn’t actually Hand for long, given that he dies barely two years later from Winter Fever, feared and hated, alone except for a maester and King Aegon. It might be an indication that Tyrion will face a similar fate, that he’ll die after he’s seemingly won, exactly what he threatened Cersei with:

“A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid."

(ACOK, Tyrion XII)

So that I can stop talking about Tyrion, here’s some facts about Rhaena and Baela that are obviously meant to reference Sansa and Arya, so much so that it feels a little bit like GRRM is winking and going “See what I did there? Huh? Huh? Did you see??”:

- their descriptions: “Rhaena was slender and graceful; Baela was lean and quick; Rhaena loved to dance; Baela lived to ride...” + “Baela was wild and willful”, “more boyish than ladylike”, and kept her hair cropped short as a boy’s

- Rhaena spent most of the Dance in the Vale, where she lived in relative comfort as the ward of Lady Jeyne Arryn. Baela was a dragonrider and so moved between Dragonstone and Driftmark, but was captured on Dragonstone when Aegon II descended upon it

- Rhaena was favoured to be queen after her brother, considered more qualified than her wild sister

- Baela liked to spend time with “unsuitable companions” she would bring to the Red Keep - including a comely juggler, a blacksmith’s apprentice whose muscles she admired (!!!), a legless beggar, a pair of twin girls from a brothel, an entire troupe of mummers once

- After her brother’s regents tried to marry her to a lord 40 years older than her, Baela escaped the Red Keep by climbing out of a window, trading clothes with a washerwoman, then walking right out of the front gate. She ran away to Driftmark and married her supposed cousin (though more likely he was her half-uncle), the legitimised bastard Alyn Velaryon, which might have had me worried about j0nrya if Alyn weren’t best known for being a daring sailor who went on many voyages, including sailing the Sunset Sea, until he was finally lost at sea during Aegon IV’s reign. Alyn’s mother was also called Mouse, for being “small, quick, and always underfoot.”

- another fun fact about Alyn: he’s a bad haggler, and had to agree to a high ransom and many concessions in order to get Prince Viserys returned to Westeros. This automatically disqualifies him as a Jon stand-in, because as we all know, Jon Snow can haggle like the best of fishwives.

- My absolutely favourite detail that has my jonsa heart singing - Rhaena was more dutiful than her sister and would have married a man that the king and council chose, saying that as long as he was “kind and gentle and noble, I know that I shall love him.” She was able to marry her first choice, whom the regents didn’t immediately approve of but that they ultimately accepted  - Ser Corwyn Corbray, the brother of the Lord Protector of the Realm, a second son (!) whose late father had gifted him the Valyrian steel sword Lady Forlorn (!!!)

And as a treat for @istumpysk, some similarities between Rickon and Viserys II!

- the youngest child of their family

- separated from their older brother after they were forced to flee their home, trying to get to safety while their other brothers and mother were at war

- worshipped their oldest (half-)brothers, but were closer to the brother nearest their age

- spends the war stuck on an island, populated by people closely linked to their family’s origins - Skagosi are descended mostly from the First Men, while Viserys was on Lys, where the blood of Old Valyria still runs strong

- sought by/held hostage by a powerful and wealthy family, who will treat them well but whose intentions are dubious

- will be brought back from exile by an upjumped bastard/commoner from a port town who was raised to lordship and became their monarch’s chief admiral

- after they are returned, long after the wars and crises, is happily welcomed as the heir to their older brother’s throne (shhhhh just let me have this, let the baby live)

Thanks for the ask!

[starksinthenorth]

Musings on ASOIAF Ladies and Ambition

I’ve noticed people use “ambition” to describe Sansa and Daenerys as if it’s a bad word or an insult (often called “power hungry”). Yet in the text of the series, neither of them are shown to be ambitious people as a core characteristic. I blame the series for a lot of this, because it failed to explore the internal dialogue of Sansa, Arya, and even Cersei, who ends up more humanized than either of them by the end (because of the maybe baby).

Cersei Lannister is the classic ambitious ASOIAF lady, whose point-of-view is introduced in perhaps the most iconic sentence of any introductory chapter:

She dreamt she sat the Iron Throne, high above them all.

I can’t think of a sentence in ASOIAF that better introduces the internal thoughts and view of its leading character.

In comparison, Sansa’s first sentence is receiving news about her father’s whereabouts, Daenerys is shown her new dress to meet Drogo, and Arya has crooked stitches again. Arya’s works to frame her relationship with Sansa and her internal struggle to fit the feminine Westerosi mold, while Sansa and Daenerys are setting up plot points. None of these interactions signal ambition, bad or good. Daenerys did not arrange her wedding, Sansa is just told the information by her Septa, and while Arya is aspiring to have straight stitches, that’s hardly an ambitious goal for a girl of nine.

Fans rarely, if ever, deny Cersei’s cruel, cold, often stupid ambition. In fact, it’s one of the reason people seem to love her. She’s internally open about what she wants - power - and when she wants it - now:

All of them are burning now, she told herself, savoring the thought. They are dead and burning, every one, with all their plots and schemes and betrayals. It is my day now. It is my castle and my kingdom.

- AFFC, Cersei III

The rule was hers; Cersei did not mean to give it up until Tommen came of age. I waited, so can he. I waited half my life. She had played the dutiful daughter, the blushing bride, the pliant wife. She had suffered . . . She had contended with Jon Arryn, Ned Stark, and her vile, treacherous, murderous dwarf brother, all the while promising herself that one day it would be her turn. If Margaery Tyrell thinks to cheat me of my hour in the sun, she had bloody well think again.

- AFFC, Cersei V

Cersei is the definition of a power hungry lady, scheming and cheating at every point. Yes, Sansa learned from her, but most of Sansa’s internalized lessons of Cersei’s were to do the exact opposite. 

"The night's first traitors," the queen [Cersei] said, "but not the last, I fear. . . . Another lesson you should learn, if you hope to sit beside my son. . . . The only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy."

"I will remember, Your Grace," said Sansa, though she had always heard that love was a surer route to the people's loyalty than fear. If I am ever a queen, I'll make them love me.

- ACOK, Sansa VI

Cersei isn’t the only POV character who views herself outside of conventional Westerosi standards and aspires to something beyond being a wife and mother. Arya Stark has ambition writ clear on the page, though it is not so cold or denying other people their rights or chances. Compared to Cersei, Arya doesn’t want everything, crown and throne and kingdom and all. She just wants something, and even that is denied to highborn women in Westeros. Even when she asks her father about her future, a man who wants to do right by his children and loves them, Eddard Stark is blinded by Westerosi patriarchy:

Arya cocked her head to one side. "Can I be a king's councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?"

"You," Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, "will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon."

- AGOT, Eddard V

With Arya in this, I see some parallels to Elaena Targaryen, who was so good at math and management she served as the secret Master of Coin while her husband carried the title. Elaena was “more willful than Rhaena, but not as beautiful as either of her sisters,” yet is also said to have been “more beautiful at age seventy than at age seventeen,” growing into herself like Arya is expected to. They both even cut their hair, Arya to hide her gender and Elaena to hide her beauty, both instances to gain freedom from captivity in the Red Keep.

Despite both these examples of ambition - Cersei’s all-encompassing, without care for how it affects the realm, and Arya’s attempt to find a place in the world outside the Westerosi model - it still becomes an insult when people speak of Daenerys and Sansa.

Critics claim Sansa is ambitious, and negatively so, because she “wants to be queen.” But this criticism misses a vital point of Sansa’s character. Unlike Cersei, she does not want to be queen because of the power and political influence, but because she will be living a song. In the start, Sansa’s got her head in the clouds, not to the dirty world of politics. Her very first chapter lays out this motivation incredibly clearly:

All she wanted was for things to be nice and pretty, the way they were in the songs.

When she thinks of Joffrey and being in love with him, it’s because he’s “handsome and gallant as any prince in the songs” (AGOT, Sansa II), 

Alternatively, it has been said that Sansa is ambitious because of her claim to Winterfell. But compare how Sansa thinks of her claim to how Big Walder Frey does. Despite being far down the inheritance line, he is certain he will someday possess the Twins. He’s likely willing to kill his family to become Lord of the Crossing, and already has killed Little Walder.

In comparison, Sansa isn’t the one who realizes her claim as heir to Winterfell, even after her two younger brothers are believed dead. It’s Dontos who mentions it, and after she still thinks that Robb will have sons to inherit.

But she had not forgotten his words, either. The heir to Winterfell, she would think as she lay abed at night. It's your claim they mean to wed. Sansa had grown up with three brothers. She never thought to have a claim, but with Bran and Rickon dead . . . It doesn't matter, there's still Robb, he's a man grown now, and soon he'll wed and have a son. Anyway, Willas Tyrell will have Highgarden, what would he want with Winterfell?

- ASOS, Sansa II

Sansa’s not ready to kill Bran and Rickon if they show up. Her arc is about taking off the rose-tinted glasses and seeing reality, but also working to make reality like a song. For example, her idea of the Tournament of the Winged Knights for Sweetrobin. It’s a song come to life, all by her making. TBD how the ending goes, of course, but it shows that trajectory.

And finally, Daenerys.

Daenerys is not driven by some lifelong desire to win and dominate. She’s forced into it, a la Brienne’s “no chance and no choice.” If Daenerys were raised in a stable environment, I have a feeling she’d be much more like Sansa: dreamy, hopeful, sweet and studious. Happy.

But instead, her eyes are open.

When she’s introduced as a character, she shows an awareness for the schemes and politics of the world. She knows her brother is called the Beggar King in the Free Cities, and is doubtful of the smallfolk’s secret toasts to Viserys III that Illyrio Mopatis claims happen across Westeros.

Like Sansa and Cersei, there’s evidence of her goals, hopes, and wishes in the very first chapter:

"I don't want to be his queen," she heard herself say in a small, thin voice. "Please, please, Viserys, I don't want to, I want to go home."

. . .

Dany had only meant their rooms in Illyrio's estate, no true home surely, though all they had, but her brother did not want to hear that. There was no home there for him. Even the big house with the red door had not been home for him.

Daenerys remembers home as the house with the red door in Braavos. It’s her brother whose only home and stability was the Red Keep, not her.

Throughout her journey of power to take back the Seven Kingdoms, she is doubtful at every turn and most of her wishes are for happiness, for peace, for stability.

Dany had no wish to reduce King's Landing to a blackened ruin full of unquiet ghosts. She had supped enough on tears. I want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by, the way Viserys said they smiled for my father.

- ACOK, Daenerys II

A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros?

- ADWD, Daenerys II

Even later, Daenerys is determined to bring peace to the lands she currently rules. She does plan to return to the Seven Kingdoms, but it’s not driven by pure ambition. And this is, notably, from a conversation when Prince Quentyn Nymeros Martell asks her to come back and claim them now, saying she has allies for that conquest. And still she turns him down, with promises that it will only happen eventually:

"Daenerys said. ". . . .One day I shall return to Westeros to claim my father's throne, and look to Dorne for help. But on this day the Yunkai'i have my city ringed in steel. I may die before I see my Seven Kingdoms. Hizdahr may die. Westeros may be swallowed by the waves."

- ADWD, Daenerys VII

And yet in both Sansa and Daenerys, these visions and hopes for the futures they might have are considered unbridled ambition, although they turn more on happiness and peace for themselves and their people, rather than the type of ambition Cersei has, which is clearly her own power and being heralded above everyone.

Daenerys’ thoughts in her sixth chapter of ADWD have the same energy as Sansa’s “I will make them love me.”:

"A queen must know the sufferings of her people."

. . .

A queen must listen to her people, Dany reminded herself. 

Daenerys has figured out how to make her people love her, by wearing her “floppy ears” and appealing to the masses, listening to them, et cetera. She’s also a bit ahead of Sansa in the realm of ruling, to be sure.

But how are these similar thoughts ambition in either of them? It’s an attempt to empathize and connect, not to throw away and disregard and rule by force and domination. Both these ladies are more nuanced, and the fandom does them a disservice by painting them as ambitious or power-hungry when at the end for both of them, it’s a desire to have a happy, stable, loving life.

[kadeuxhyeonju]

A LEAP THROUGH TIME ~ When do we begin to hope?

5 October 2021

Idris,

I’ve arrived back in Kadeu safely. I have firmly planted the Vega Gem’s doors shut for the last six months and it is taking everything in me not to swing them wide open this very instant. I’m sure you’re chuckling now, insisting it would have been like this anyway given that that ridiculous winged oaf threatened me into keeping it closed for at least four of those months. Nonetheless, you silly creature…it’s good to be home.

Home. I’d never thought I’d say that about Kadeu without all the vitriol I’ve always—and still do—feel for this gods forsaken continent. Especially after the tensions of that civil war that was brewing in Club earlier this past summer and the other factions’ subsequent reactions to such chaos. But it is. Home. I’ve come to terms with this truth. In part thanks to you. I still laugh thinking of your shocked expression when we met face-to-face after decades apart. It seems that all it took to surprise my favorite, silly Fae was to sail across the sea in search of your whimsical heart. And look at all the trouble it’s caused me. I have dreams now, Idris, you bastard. I have hope.

How close was I to staying by your side, across the sea so far from these lands? Remembering the ever-so-slightly faded tattoos marring my skin—far closer than anyone can imagine. So much hope born in me partly in thanks to you and the realization that even these marks were not permanent.

Perhaps, it is also partly due to my mother no longer having a hold of me. After all, how can the dead grip us with rotted fingers? No longer, Idris. No longer. I want to forget that part of my life, and with her gone I hope that I can. But this ache…what is this ache? I have discovered so much in that time I was by your side, but it seems I have still more to learn.

’Til next time Old Friend,

Hyeonju

25 September 2022

Idris,

I can’t help but think of our time together during those six months. Those apprenticeships I took on simply because I could. Not for survival. Not in your name or honor, nor anyone else’s. Doing what I wanted for the first time in my 153 years simply because I could. It was…freeing. I’ve never used that word for myself. Gods, I sound so whimsical. I sound like you. 

That time has changed me. It makes me want to open another shop, maybe two. For clothing. Creating fashion suited for any rank. Clothes that compliment the jewelry I craft with such care and adoration they might as well be my blood-born children.

Idris, what have you done to me? I tell you this in every exchange and in every exchange you mock me in that knowing way of yours, but I’ll say it again. You have ruined me to the life I had grown accustomed to in Kadeu. I thought this feeling would die naturally on its own after a few weeks. But here I am still dreaming hopeless dreams.

Hopeless because that bastard of gold has set his sights on me. Or rather, he refuses look my way. He hasn’t said in so many words, nor does he need to. He no longer uses my shop. He walks around in gaudy jewels fashioned from jewelers of far lower caliber than you or myself—all for his pride. All because he knows I despise him. So be it. I rose to this rank without him. And while he may set the precedent for much of Heart, I take pride in knowing I set the precedent for its continued refined appearance.

Ah. I’ll end the letter here. Another letter from Luke has reached my doorstep. I should answer before he thinks I’ve all but cast him away again. And before you put quill to paper, Idris, no I have yet to forgive him for Lita.

…but I’m not adverse to having him in my life again.

’Til next time Old Friend,

Hyeonju

7 July 2023

Idris,

It is so quiet and calm this year. Boring, even. Yes, I dare say that despite only being halfway through. The Resistance is silent. Clubs are far more reasonable and less prone to violent tantrums in the street. Spade is as dull as it’s always been, stiff and musty like waterlogged wooden planks. I daresay the Diamonds have become almost bearable in attitude (the low and midrankers, at least) thanks to Ms. Moon’s much needed hand to guide their wayward, gaudy souls.

They still dress like they fashioned clothes from their grandmother’s lint balls and bags of misshapen enchanted confetti, though. In other words—there’s room for significant improvement. But it’s better than it was just a few years prior.

I wish I could say the same of Heart. Idris, my friend, that beast in gold has been starting up Fae-run businesses and education. That in itself is not a bad thing. In fact., I’d welcome it from any other person if it didn’t originate from the mind of someone as calculating and cruel as the one I shall not name. But because these wonderful ideas were founded by him I do not trust them. I do not trust his motives, nor do I trust the gradual influx of Fae migrating under his rule.

From what you’ve told me of Fae and their realm, I’m suspicious of why they’d come here despite preferring their own realm. I doubt they’re all like you--actually enjoying and preferring the company of this world. What his he up to? I don’t like these murmurs of his guards growing in size and strength. I worry for Heart—and the rest of Kadeu with it.

I’ll spare you more morbid talk. I know how much you dislike it. Let me tell you instead of the of all the plans I’ve made for those shops I’ve spoken of so many times. Wonder at the names I’ve created for each…!

**The rest of the letter’s writing is faded with time and illegible.**

9 August 2024

Idris,

This heat is no good for my fur. Even my ears are frizzing in this humidity. The customers and Alexei have told me I look “cuddly”. Disgusting. A child with her mother waltzed right up to me and began to give my tails too-hard thumps with her little Strongarm fists. You will be proud to know I did not growl at the sudden and violent touch. I am better at reminding myself not every hand coming at me will bring me harm. Still hurt like hell, though.

I am finishing up a commission today. It’s beautiful and will fetch a high price. The money is being set aside, as always, for my new shops. I hope to open the first one by the end of this year if all goes well. I’d ask for you to wish me luck, but we both know it’s my blood, sweat, and tears that have gotten me this far and will continue to do so.

Idris, you silly creature. My old and dearest friend. I hope this letter finds you well. That you are taking in the world. That you find what you have been looking for all these years. Just as I know you wish the same for me. And as always I hope even if we should meet again many, many, many centuries from now we are still comfortable companions in whatever way it takes shape.

Now excuse me while I go and chastise this overly energetic Shapeshifter trying to tell tall tales about ghosts haunting my jewelry. For a Spade, I’m amazed I see her wandering this faction so often. Shamelessly even. I like her. As much as I can like any Spade, I suppose. But she needs to stop alarming my customers.

’Til next time Old Friend,

Hyeonju

[the-clari-net]

Princess in a Castle (Tie Me Down So You Can Wear Your Crown)

Also on AO3

Princess Dorathea doesn’t remember much from her time alive. She knows some things. She knows that she and her brother were inseparable growing up. She knows that she used to spend a lot of time alone reading while alive as the princess. She knows that because she was the youngest her mother favored her less than her brother (no matter how discrete she tried to be).

She knew that no matter what her family thought of her, she was tasked with holding and keeping part of her family’s legacy alive. To protect one half of their family heirloom with her life if necessary.

Dorathea was told that she was not allowed to take off her amulet, not even to bathe. She remembers finding it odd that the chain never rusted, especially since the chain itself was incredibly light and didn’t weigh much, unlike gold.

The memories and knowledge Princess Dorathea kept from her time spent alive were few. Once she became a ghost, she tried to protect her memories and guard them from ever escaping her mind. She has seen the ghosts who have forgotten and sees the hollowness and desperation in their eyes to find a Purpose, a sense of who they were to understand who they are meant to be.

She swore to do whatever it took to protect herself from becoming “single-minded” as she liked to phrase it. The back of her mind countered her phrasing, hissing a single word that was embedded in her core which she knew was the true title of what she feared to have. An Obsession.

Dorathea has seen this phenomenon spread all across Aragon’s Kingdom. Memories fade, and over time the strongest emotions and core parts of a ghost’s essence take center stage. Sometimes, it depicts something harmless, as it has with her ladies in waiting who shower her with care and affection beyond the grave. While sometimes their caring nature could become overbearing, the princess for the most part enjoyed her time spent with the ladies.

Most of the time the shift in demeanor is not as pleasant. Take her brother Aragon for example. She didn’t see much of her brother by the time the kingdom fell to ruin due to him taking over the throne and being too busy to spend time with his sister. They were distant, but even so, Dorathea knew that there was a familial love and bond between them somewhere. In their final moments, as they both burned and died alongside their people, Dorathea reached for her brother’s hand and he squeezed back so hard that she felt her bones creak while the rest of their bodies were engulfed in flames.

There was a sense of common ground when they both first entered the Ghost Zone. The siblings realized that the amulets that they had been wearing during their final moments brought about an incredible ability in their new afterlife. Aragon was ready to work hard, to be stronger, and to be more powerful so as not to disgrace his people again. He began to spend more time training his ghostly abilities, forcing his dragon form to last for longer periods of time.

At first, Dorathea was proud of her brother’s perceived noble actions at the time. However, things changed once the sky darkened, and a new inescapable Dark Age was born.

Dorathea realized too late the shift in her brother, her mother, and the people in the kingdom. The layer of malice that coated their words and actions, the fading of shared memories of their time before this realm, and finally the loss of their identity. There was no recollection of past bonds, no memory of the land they once knew as home. Not even Dorathea, try as she might, could remember the name of her homeland. The only name she knows is one that has been accepted and recognized by the people, as well as their leader. Aragon’s Kingdom.

To see her people fall victim once again, it reminded the princess of painful memories from her last moments alive. Those memories, so close to her demise, drowned her core in grief and sorrow for being unable to protect and prevent her people from being hurt again. She was helpless to change the outcome, yet she wishes she could do more.

Once the Dark Age had settled in the realm, Dorathea understood how rare it was that she hadn’t succumbed to losing as much of her past as the people around her.

Her mother very early on had become more cruel in her time over this realm. What used to be slight disdain had escalated to controlling, bullying, and finally hatred. The words she would spit at her daughter at first would make Dorathea run to her tower and sob for what felt like days. It wasn’t long before her brother joined in on the cruelty. His words hurt her more than anything. She remembered that as a human Aragon had always been stoic, yet his eyes shone with softness when he saw her. Unfortunately, since Aragon had mastered the power of the amulet, his bright red eyes were frigid and hard. There was a coldness that emanated from her brother that she knows (hopes) it cannot be real.

“That’s not how ghosts change, you know that this realm only enhances attributes, it does not have the ability to create a person anew,” her head whispers. Dorathea had pushed that thought from her mind when she first saw her brother after seeing the malicious glint in his gaze.

However, that was long ago at the beginning of Prince Aragon’s rule of the realm. The princess learned how to act and behave to avoid the majority of her brother and mother’s wrath. The words thrown at her ( useless, pathetic, a waste ) no longer felt like a physical stab wound. The effect her family had on her never fully went away, but it was more of a twitch to her core. After spending what felt like centuries in this realm, the princess understood that whatever bond and love was shared in their human lives has long disintegrated along with their corpses.

She is loyal to her brother, but not out of any real love. Not anymore. The bond that chains her to her brother is the connection that the amulets share.

Those damned amulets.

Dorathea treasures her memories and emotions more than the amulet that has followed her into the afterlife. She wears it out of habit, at least that’s what she says.

To be honest, she doesn’t ever recall having tried taking it off. Something about doing so feels as if she is admitting defeat. It feels wrong. As if she would lose more of herself than she already has.

Perhaps it is because it was the most important task given to her while she was human. When Father passed, he had instructed that Aragon and Dorathea be given the amulets to wear until the next generation of the royal line could take them. Neither of the siblings understood why Father urged that the jewelry be protected at all costs. Even now, Dorathea is not quite sure what Father knew. Any possible secret behind the amulets disappeared along with the King’s final breath.

The point is that Dorathea adapted to her new environment. She learned how to act and behave in the realm, and has survived. But she’s tired. Each new day has her feeling as if a chip of her existence evaporates every time she looks outside and sees the infinitely dark and cloudy sky.  

Dorathea wonders if she will ever feel whole again.

***

Recently there have been whispers from the people in the kingdom.

The border between the Ghost Zone and the human world is thinning.

A portal is forming from the humans’ side. It feels unnatural.

There is tittering from the ladies in waiting, there’s unease, yet also a buzz of energy surrounding the kingdom.

Dorathea feels it too.

It has been a long time since a portal has opened in such close proximity to their realm to be able to feel it this strongly. The last time it had happened, Dorathea created an elaborate scheme that allowed her to escape into the human world, if only for a bit.

She knew the dangers of natural portals. The instability, the real risk of being stuck in the human realm and unable to return for an indefinite amount of time. Yet, she had gone.

Dorathea ended up in the kingdom of Mali, and it was a memory that she looks back on quite fondly. However, due to certain social mishaps, Dorathea learned quickly that the human world had changed quite a lot and it would not help to enter the human realm naive. Since her last adventure, the princess has spent much of her time meeting with the Ghost Writer (she’s unsure how he manages to enter their realm given the “safety” protocols the prince has) and absorbing any information that he is able to bring to her. Most of the time, they’re fictional stories that transport her to new worlds and adventures. They’re bittersweet to read, but the envy fades quickly once a new curious piece of technology or slang appears. When the Ghost Writer comes back to pick up her book, a list of questions spew forth and he gladly answers all her questions.

With the appearance of the new portal, Dorathea is determined to leave again. With the way this human-made portal is operating, it feels to be in one location, and constantly open.

Aragon is in the midst of planning a ball. It’s not so much a ball as it is an excuse for the kingdom’s subjects to bask in Aragon’s power and pretend to enjoy the music that to Dorathea’s ears makes her crave a second death.

The princess knows that the human realm would have a better ball (nowadays called dances, according to Ghost Writer) than anything her brother has hosted. Between the preparation and everyone’s wariness about upsetting Prince Aragon, it was painfully easy for Dorathea to escape towards the portal despite her mother’s words against doing so.

Touching the portal felt nothing like the natural one she had passed through before. This one felt as if her body wanted to simultaneously split and compress. The immense pressure hit her immediately from all different directions, pushing and pulling on different parts of her body. She felt parts of her involuntarily distort. Her legs merged into a tail without her control, an undetectable wind was blowing against her face and hair. There was static in the air that felt like tiny needles poking at her body. The space was screaming into her head.

Wrong, unnatural, LEAVE!

Still, Dorathea pushed on and forced herself to keep moving forward despite the strain it was putting on her body. The only part of her that felt steady was the amulet across her chest. She felt it tugging her towards a direction, which she blindly followed hoping that it would lead her to the other end of the portal. This feels nothing like the last portal I had taken, Dorathea thought to herself.

After what felt like eons, she passed through to the other side.

She collapsed onto the ground, slightly dazed at the intense strain that this portal had placed on her body. Just how strong was this portal? Dorathea made herself invisible, worried about what the powerful and terrifying human beings who managed to create this portal would be like.

She was lucky to notice that the space was empty. Things looked odd here, very metallic and cold. It felt almost like a dungeon. There were glass beakers everywhere, an odd box with a shiny black surface on one side of the box was in the corner of the room. When she saw a green residue on one of the far tables of the room, she concluded that her initial impression wasn’t that far off. The princess decided to avoid the strange box as she looked for an escape. Dorathea saw a staircase that looked to lead up towards the upper levels of this... whatever this place was. Whatever she’s read and learned from the Ghost Writer and his books did not prepare her enough for this strange space. Actually, she’s unsure how long it has been since she came into the human realm.

That doesn’t matter. We came here to find a ball, and a ball is what we shall find, Dorathea reminded herself.

Until she could find a ball to attend, she would remain invisible. Her amulet will protect her, (it might be a chain tethering her to her brother, but is still powerful and allows her to present more human traits) but it would be best to err on the side of caution. After all, she does not want any unnecessary trouble from the humans who created this portal.

Princess Dorathea’s core thrums in excitement, and in her high spirits, she begins to quietly hum to an old tune that has been lost to time and memory to the living and undead worlds. A tune Father had taught her and although she had forgotten the lyrics long ago, the melody plays in her head crystal clear.

She hopes that this new experience will bring memories worth keeping.

[capri-ramblings]

Yikes,I know there's bound to be questions but trust me, chapter 3 will answer most of them. Aha,I'm sorry if this chapter is kinda confusing at first,I'm not good at planning out thoughts or stories systemically,it kinda makes it harder for me to write whenever I try to. But here,the second chapter of Raptured! Thank you for reading! ( ꈍᴗꈍ) ♥️

[ R a p t u r e d ]

Chapter 2: Banter

In the moment Riddle had finished telling his brothers what conspired with their human captive, the first to speak up was Azul.

"They offered what?" His words were a mix of shock and amusement, gaze fixated on Riddle who seemed almost flustered from how red his cheeks were.

The red haired sighed, sending him a narrow eyed glare before crossing his arms.

"The head of their own brother"

"By their own hands?" Kalim asked aloud, his features scrunched up worryingly. "Isn't that bad? Why would anyone want to kill their own brother so suddenly?"

From the chaise across the room,Leona let out a scoff, lips upturned into a smirk.

"What are you? A five year old? If you give a herbivore the chance of freedom,they'd leave their entire fleet open to make sure they survive. Humans aren't so different."

"Indeed" Vil joined in with a smile of his own. "Humans are very fickle things, they live out their life struggling and as a result they stink of repulsion."

"They can barely even stand on their own.." Idia added thoughtfully and as the gazes of his brothers turned to him, the flames on his hair flickered and he looked away.

"Maybe the isolation's got to their head?"

Riddle let out a scoff, his lips upturned in a sneer almost too vicious to be formed on such a delicate looking face.

"The cottage they were in was secluded from the rest of the village,they were already a reclusive. Why should it bother them now?"

"Maybe Idia has a point" Kalim interjected then "Before they were on their own by choice...and they weren't exactly trapped in a tower either"

"It's all the same" Leona snapped " Damn herbivores will always be too fragile."

"Though, our soft-shelled brothers have a sound reason" Vil's lips curled in an effortless smile,his ever sharp gaze glinting like jewels.

"At this rate our small hare is going to die before the homage from her brother, and that makes all of this pointless."

The room went silent then. Each males having their own thoughts wrapped around the situation.

When they came to a decision to face the hunter who killed their family beast, he was nowhere to be seen and left tending to his cottage was none other than their captive human, a young sibling unaware of what their fool brother had committed. They opted it was easier to simply kidnap them and have their brother come looking since neither one of them wanted to wait around. There was also the fact that the death of the beast had affected their Mother's health greatly, and all seven brothers fumed with rage.

"Our methods doesn't matter anymore" Riddle spoke up, "What's done is done. We can't exactly just put them back where we found them."

"I agree" Azul said "Though if the human dies in our care now, when we're fully able to change their situation, I fear the price of that loss would be great."

"What? Are the humans going to chase us around with pitchforks?" Leona sneered,his sharp fangs visible as he leaned back into the chaste. "You saw how further in their cottage was, chances are the herbivore doesn't even go down to the village often enough for people to notice them missing."

"They can't die." Idia drawled the words out this time,his gaze sharp and harsh as he stared down Leona who all but grinned at his brother.

"Why? Because you like them?" The laugh that barked out from Leona was cruel and Idia flinched.

"Go ahead and save the poor herbivore then,Prince Idia of the lands of burrowed moles. You think they'd ever look at you fondly?"

"Enough." Riddle came between the fight with his own ire and before he sent a glare towards Leona, he let Idia catch the solace in his.

The situation was getting worst. They needed a decision quick.

"You're not a five year old as well,Leona, so keep that tongue of yours tamed"

"What are you? Suddenly playing the role of the Eldest when you can't even reach his height?" Leona scrutinized Riddle with an aggression that seemed ready to claw him in the face, but Riddle kept his own spite and promptly choose to ignore his brother.

Instead,he turned to Azul.

"The hunter should've came back and see his sibling gone, you even sent those eels of yours to make sure he got the hints. Why hasn't he made a single move? It's been two months."

"Maybe he's forgetful?" Kalim chipped in, eyes glowing. Riddle wanted to tap the side of his face and gently tell him to shut up but Vil patted his head instead.

"A forgetful hunter managing to kill a wild beast is unlikely, mein bruder"

Azul crossed his arms,gaze narrowing.

"They've sent word that they have information regarding our human and the whereabouts of their brother"

"And?" Vil prompted.

"I told them to come meet us as soon as they can, which shouldn't be long."

The moment those words were uttered, a dull thud came from the would-be-entrance of the tower, and a familiar voice calling out.

"My Princes! Open the door please!" The urgency of the voice had all the present Princes turning their head, though the one who seemed genuinely surprised and concerned was Kalim.

"That voice..." He said, turning to Azul "Is that who I think it is?"

Azul's lips curled into a knowing smile and with a flick of his fingers, the sound of a door being swung opened then slammed shut could be heard within the tower itself,followed by light rapid footsteps approaching them.

Out of breath and desperately panting, a young girl made a hasty bow as she came before the Princes, though the way her legs slightly trembled suggested that she was near collapsing.

"It is her!" Kalim's eyes grew wide with familiarity, the worry in his voice replaced with joy as he came up to place his hand on the girl's shoulder.

"The last time I saw you, you were still learning how to walk!" Kalim's loud voice seemed to make her flinch but the girl met his gaze with warmth before she bowed her head again.

"Pleasure to meet you again,Prince Kalim." She's heard stories of him, the Prince Fae known to give out bits of his treasures to those who come wishing at his well. It seemed odd to act as if she's known him, but she knew better than to put logic before courtesy. He was one of the seven Princes after all. Acting too smart with them was a fool's mistake.

Before Kalim could say anything else, Azul stepped forward and the girl promptly met his side with a suddenly serious demeanor.

"I'd ask you for the information I had you fetch but I wonder why you were running in the first place?"

The girl laughed dryly if not nervously.

"Floyd wanted to see who could win in a race in getting here,your Highness."

Azul frowned, internally sighing.

"Why on Earth did you agree to that?"

Again, the girl laughed. "He terrifies me,my Prince."

Riddle couldn't place where he's met her, but hearing her words had him internally sympathising her. Azul's leeches were a pair he'd gladly avoid for eternity as well.

"So,you got a changeling to be at your beck and call as well,Azul?" Vil sounded amused as he turned to Azul, but the degrading glance he gave the girl bellied the smile coyly sitting on his lips then.

"She's indebted to us anyway" Azul stated simply "Why not put her to work?"

His gaze returned to the girl.

"What do you have about our human then?"

It took a full ten minutes for the young changeling to inform them of what she's managed to compile on their human and hunter. Turns out they aren't related by blood but by marriage. Apparently most of the villagers knew of the hunter but rarely saw the younger sibling as they took more liking in staying indoors. There was also talk that their relationship with one another was never close and answered Riddle's question as to why he hadn't showed up yet.

"So, he's just going to leave his sibling at our mercy?" Kalim asked,he had his expression scrunched up with worry and pity again but Leona shared none of it and only growled with distaste.

"There won't be mercy if they're left with us a second longer"

Riddle caught the flicker of Idia's flames and instantly reacted.

"Threaten to murder our captive one more time and I'll have your head,Leona."

"Hah, you're trying to scare me,Riddle?" Leona sneered,fangs glistening with malice. He's been irritated by the whole situation since the beginning. Taking in a human in hopes that another would appear to save them, it was all a damn fairytale. Leona knew humans were selfish, his brothers should've had that piece of common sense drilled into their heads as well. No one was going to play hero for their captive.

Riddle gritted his teeth and again instead of lashing out senselessly, he swirled around to face the changeling. Every bit of his anger flaring in his grey gaze.

"Where's the hunter now?" He asked,though it sounded painfully like a death threat.

The changeling bowed her head.

"He's at the human King's palace,Prince Riddle. King Aothor ...of Nostorne"

The words sent the entire room tilting, and Riddle would've gripped her by her neck if Azul hadn't stepped forward.

"King? Since when did the humans have a King?" The last time they came to the world,their mother's shrine was built almost everywhere to acknowledge her ruling. Had times changed so drastically since their absence?

"Yes. It's been this way for years now. A dukedom raised after Her Most Divine's departure from the human realm and ever since then a lineage of human nobles have taken the throne as the Human ruler."

"My, how futuristic, and here we were in the guise that we still sat on the top of their world" Vil was laughing but his words cut into the tension of the room like a blade coated in venom and the changeling girl shifted uncomfortably.

"It seems like the order of the slaughtering was made by him and ultimately fulfilled by the hunter. His name is Cyril and he's being celebrated by the King for his bravery."

Leona heaved a heavy sigh,leaning once more into his chaise. He looked ready to fall into a deep slumber already but his irritation kept him awake.

"So,we have information. Now what's the plan?"

***

Jade and Floyd,two of Azul's trusted companions came into the situation while the Princes were sorting out their thoughts and opinions (Which all greatly contradict one another) and brought word that their hunter had refused to save their sibling in a conversation Jade overheard him had with another hunter right before he was called on by the King.

"He said he knew of the Fae's trick and that by taking something of theirs as his own, he'd gladly give anything they took from him as compensation." Jade explained in his usual matter-of-fact tone,his mismatched gaze still and knowing.

Riddle clicked his tongue, brows furrowing. Idia's was the most sympathetic along with Kalim while Leona and Vil seemed ready to send a fleet of their army to storm into the human villages.

"I'm not really surprised though" Floyd spoke up lazily "He seems like a guy who'd do that kind of thing anyways"

"But now the Princes are stuck with keeping a human captive in their care", Boe,the young changeling from earlier, pointed out grimly.

"What if we sent you to negotiate with him in our stead?" Idia suggested which earned a rather hasty look from the girl.

"Human royals don't take too kindly to my kind,Prince Idia. I doubt he'd even let me enter"

Leona let out a menacing growl. One that reverberated through the tower walls.

"This is going nowhere. Riddle, go up to that damn herbivore and have them beg their brother come and pay his homage so we can give them back."

Riddle frowned.

"You heard the changeling,Leona. If their relationship with their brother is as bad as we've heard, do you really think they'd beg for him to come save them?"

"Couldn't you talk some sense in them?" Azul had eyes turning once more to the young changeling who all but reluctantly slumped her shoulders.

"I don't see how me being the one talking will get them to cooperate..."

"Clamshell,you should at least try,right?" Floyd's smile was sickly sweet and when he attempted to sling his arm over her shoulders, she avoided the outcome by shifting close to Jade.

"What would you want me to say to them?"

"The offer they gave" Riddle said "Have them elaborate more on that. I'm not going into a deal without knowing why it was proposed in the first place."

There was hesitation in her eyes but it was swiftly changed to a silent resolve as she nodded her head.

"I'll see what I can do."

[justthehiddleswrites]

Destiny Has Other Plans | Loki x OFC (Alexis Randall) | Chapter 1

Pairing: Loki x OFC

MASTERLIST IS HERE

Summary: When Loki goes to ask his father for permission to marry, he is shocked to discover his destiny has already been made for him.  He is already betrothed to Sjofn, the daughter of the King of Vanaheim.  An arranged marriage to bring the two kingdoms closer together and strengthen the bond.  Never mind that Sjofn and Loki can’t stand each other.  

After The Battle of New York, Loki is sent to live at Avengers Tower as punishment for his misdeeds.  But it doesn’t mean he has to like it.   A year later, he has adjusted to life on Midgard but has avoided any romantic or emotional entanglements, still bitter over his lost love.  Dr. Alexis Randall is skilled at helping others fix their relationships as a couple therapist, but can’t help her own love life.  A chance encounter with Loki in a dive bar has life altering consequences for both of them.  Now, Alexis and Loki must figure out a way to co-habit without killing each other in the process, plus navigating impending parenthood and other roadblocks along the way.

This Chapter:  Loki’s plans to grab the throne have gone horribly awry. Having been defeated by the Avengers, Loki must now pay for his actions on Midgard. Rather being throwing in the dungeon to rot, he is sent to live in Avengers Tower and repay his debt to the citizens of New York. One year later, he is adjusting to life on Earth. The only things missing would be a love match. But Loki’s heart is closed to the prospect of falling in love again, much less with a mortal, preferring a string of one night stands and casual sex to a relationship. A chance meeting with Alexis Randall in a dive bar seems like a perfect opportunity to continue his streak.

Warnings: Arranged Marriage, Forced Marriage, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Smut, Angst,  Semi-Public Sex, Mentions of law enforcement, Oral Sex, Cursing, Vaginal Sex

Taglists are Open, please let me know if you wish to be added.

-

Loki’s chains clinked along the stone floor of the Asgard throne room. This is not how he imagined his grand entrance as the new ruler of Asgard, Midgard and the rest of the Nine Realms. Nothing had gone as he imagined, hence the chains.

Odin stared foreboding down at Loki and Thor, who stood by his brother’s side. Frigga was off to the side, her eyes pleading with Loki.

“Hello, Mother. Have I made you proud?”

“Loki, please let your brother speak.” Frigga told her son. “Don’t make things worse.”

“Define ‘worse’.”

“Enough!” Odin voice echoed. “Explain yourself, Loki.”

Loki stepped forward, clicking his heels together before chuckling.

“I really don’t see what all the fuss is about.” Loki commented, a smirk appearing on his face.

“Do you not truly feel the gravity of your crimes?” Odin countered. Thor’s eyes darted between the two of them. “Wherever you go there is war, ruin, and death.”

“I went down to Midgard to rule the people of Earth as a benevolent god. Just like you.”

“We are not gods. We are born, we live, we die. Just as humans do.”

“Give or take 5,000 years.”

“All this because Loki desires a throne.” Odin mused.

“It is my birthright.” Loki grew weary of his father’s games.

“Your birthright,” Odin spat. “was to die. As a child. Cast out onto a frozen rock. If I had not taken you in, you would not be here now to hate me.”

Loki stepped forward, chin lifted. “If I am for the axe, then for mercy’s sake, just swing it.It’s not that I don’t love our little talks, it’s just... I don’t love them.” Loki’s eyes begged for the conversation to end.

“It is only because of Frigga and Thor, you are still alive. I had intended for you to spend the rest of your days in the dungeon, but Thor…” Odin gestured to the tall blond god who stepped forward. “… has convinced me otherwise.”

Loki’s head snapped to glare at his brother.

“And what decision have you made for me? Once again?” Loki hissed.

Odin bit his tongue. “You live on Midgard, with those who defeated you.”

Thor piped in. “The Avengers.”

“And you will make amends for your crimes.”

“If it’s all the same, I would prefer the dungeon.”

“Which is why you will go to Midgard. Thor will be responsible for you.”

Loki rolled his eyes as Thor clapped his hand hard on Loki’s shoulder. “Are you sure you won’t reconsider? I am certain over time, I could learn to hate the dungeon as much as I despise you.”

Odin said nothing and waved his hand at the guards holding Loki and they lead him out of the room. Thor remained behind.

“If anything goes wrong, I am holding you accountable, Thor.” Odin snapped. He didn’t enjoy the idea of Loki being so far away but Thor assured him it would teach Loki some humility.

“Yes, Father.” Thor left to make the arrangements for their return to Midgard.

-

Tony met Thor and Loki at the entrance of the new rebuilt Avengers Tower, wearing a scowl.

“I don’t like this, Point Break. Don’t like this one bit. What is going to stop him from trying to kill us all again?”

Thor shoved Loki hard. “I promise I won’t kill you. Please let me stay. I promise to be good.” Loki responded with a flat affect.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Real believable, Reindeer Games. Appreciate the effort. Fortunately for you, I’ve made some upgrades to living quarters. Here.” Tony shoved a slim bracelet at Thor, who snapped it around Loki’s wrist, only then releasing him from his cuffs. Loki twisted her hands, stretching.

“Aww, Tony.” Loki smirked. “I didn’t know you cared enough to give me jewelry.”

“I don’t.” Tony smirked back. “It’s a tracking device and if you remove it with anything other than the key. Well let’s just say you will wish you were in the dungeons.”

“I already do.” Loki sighed. “Now if you don’t mind, please show me to my cell.”

Tony laughed. “Oh you are not a prisoner. You are working off your debt, buddy. Thor take him upstairs.”

Loki was silent until the elevator doors closed. “What did he mean, I would be working off my debt?”

“Another condition of you coming here was that you work to not only help rebuild the city but to help the Avengers when needed.”

Loki wrinkled his nose. “Like going on missions and what not?”

“Not until we can trust you.”

“We?” Loki raised his eyebrows. “You always were the joiner weren’t you?”

“There is nothing wrong with having real relationships, Loki. You should try it sometime.”

“I did, only to have Odin destroy whatever shred of happiness I had or ever will have.”

The elevator doors opened. Thor nodded.

“Odin told me about Lady Sigrun. I am sorry it did not work out.”

Loki’s nostrils flared. “It was working out fine until Odin decided that my future for me while I was still in diapers.”

The elevator doors opened, revealing a common area with couches and a TV. Around the corner, a full equipped kitchen.

“Sometimes destiny has other plans for us, Brother.”

Thor guided Loki down a hallway to a nondescript door, unlocking it with a keycard. Inside was a sparsely furnished apartment, little more than a couch, table and chairs. Loki spied a bed in the bedroom with a closet and dresser and a bathroom behind that.

“Destiny is a cruel mistress, Brother.” Loki flopped onto the bed, tugging off his boots. “The sooner you learn that, the better off you will be.”

Thor shook his head at his brother. “Stark says to ask JARVIS to order anything you may need for the apartment. You can wander the floor and to the lobby freely. We will expand access as you earn it.”

“And he said I wasn’t a prisoner. It is a prison of a different sort.”

Thor gripped Loki’s shoulder, shaking him hard. “Try and make the best of things, Loki.”

“How do you suggest I do that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, find a hobby, make some friends, fall in love.”

“Love.” Loki scoffed. “Why bother? To fall in love with mortal to watch them wither and die? I would rather not. But your sentiment is touching.”

“I do not know what has soured you so, Brother. I only hope you meet someone that makes you realize love is worth the trouble.”

Loki flashed a smug smile. “Not likely. Now leave me.”

Thor rose, squeezing Loki’s shoulder, leaving the keycard on the nightstand. “I’ll meet you in the morning. And I am just down the hall, if you need anything.”

Loki shooed him away. Once the door shut, Loki groaned and laid back on the bed.

-

One Year Later

Loki sipped his large caramel mocha coffee and smiled. Of all the wonderful treats created by the kitchens of the palace, nothing compared to designer coffee of Midgard. A small pleasure he granted himself each morning on his walk. Today he also purchased a chocolate chip scone which he devoured before reaching the Tower and a small regular coffee for Thor.

The pedestrians no longer swerved or sneered as he walked by. Even the barista took to smiling at him when he came in to order. He hated to admit Thor may have been right about making the best of his time here on Earth.

There was a spring in his step as he entered Avengers Tower, waving at the security guard on his way to the elevators. Once he reached upstairs, Loki knocked on Thor’s door. Thor opened the door with a groan and Loki shoved the coffee into his hand.

“De-briefing in twenty minutes. I suggest you get dressed.” Loki commented.

“I liked you better when you were brooding.” Thor grumbled, walking away, but leaving the door open for Loki.

Loki finished his coffee, discarding the cup. “You were the one to make the best of things. I am merely following your advice.”

Thor downed the coffee in one gulp, emitting a large burp. Loki wrinkled his nose. Thor smiled back at his brother.

“I also suggested you find a nice woman and fall in love. Still sticking with one night stands?” Thor grabbed a mug from the small kitchenette in his quarters and poured himself another cup.

“My love life is no concern of yours.”

“One night stands it is.” Thor smirked and disappeared only to return a few minutes later dressed for the day in jeans and a hoodie. A stark contrast to Loki’s grey dress pants and matching button-down shirt. “Ready?”

“Lead the way.”

The two Asgardians made their way to the 20th floor, where most of the Avengers operations were housed. Loki was given free range of the Tower’s facilities three months ago except for the ARC reactor, Bruce’s lab, and Tony’s private workshop. The bracelet, however, remained in place.

“Glad you could grace us with your presence this morning.” Tony joked. “Take a seat. Donuts and coffee are for closers.”

Loki beelined to the pastries, selecting a chocolate glazed donut. Steve blinked at him.

“How can you eat so many sweets and never gain weight?” Natasha questioned.

“A god-like metabolism.” Loki countered, shoving a quarter of it in his mouth.

Tony tried to snatch the donut away, but Loki was too quick.

“Hey!”

“I said donuts are for closers.” Tony lunged for the donut again.

“Who defused the bomb?”

“Temporarily. You nearly kill the Cap.”

Loki glanced over his shoulder where Steve was scowling, arms crossed. He smiled back at Tony.

“And yet he lives, despite my best efforts. Now if you will excuse me, you’re delaying the de-brief.”

Loki grabbed a chair and squeezed between Steve and Bruce, despite there being no room. Loki made a show of finishing his donut. Tony rolled his eyes and started the de-briefing, only talking to Loki with absolutely necessary.

“And so for future reference, we confirm we deactivated a bomb before batting it around like a beach ball.”

Everyone stared at Loki, who gave a thumbs up. His mouth filled with his second donut of the day. Tony ended the meeting and the group scattered to handle other assignments. Loki was due in Bruce’s lab later that afternoon to help with a Chitauri artifact.

“Loki!” Steve jogged to catch up with him. “Some of the team are getting together tonight for drinks at Tilted Gimlet. Would you like to join us?”

Loki rocked back on his heels, contemplating the offer. He technically didn’t have plans for the night. But when he drank, Loki alone. He preferred to not have an audience.

“Another time? I am indisposed this evening.”

“Oh a date?!” Steve’s eyes widened. Loki nodded, not bothering to correct him. “Way to go, man. She’s a lucky girl.” Steve’s brow furrowed. “Or boy. Your brother mentioned something. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. Now if you excuse, Master Banner is waiting for me.”

Steve nodded and hurried away, Loki imagined in fear of insulting him again. Loki wasn’t insulted, but the Cap didn’t need to know that.

The rest of the work day dragged as Bruce poked and prodded the artifact. Loki sat down on a stool, being less than helpful. Bruce shooed him away an hour earlier, complaining Loki was in the way.

Loki returned to his quarters and showered. He replaced his dress pants with black jeans and knit polo. A bit casual from his general attire but a dress shirt would stick out like a sore thumb in the dive bars he frequented. He ate dinner in his apartment, avoiding his brother and the rest of the Avengers. Around 8 p.m., Loki slinked out via the service elevator and headed to his favorite watering hole, The Whiskey Front Room.

-

Alexis was nursing her third Manhattan at the bar. She thought she was all cried out when Eric sent the text breaking up with her earlier that day. She cancelled the rest of her appointments and sobbed at her desk. Alcohol was solution, that is plain science.

“I would peg you as a Cosmopolitan kind of woman.” A smooth voice purred into her ear.

She turned and squinted in the smoky haze of the bar to find the source of the voice. Standing beside her was a tall man wearing black jeans and polo hugging his lean form. His hair was long and dark, hanging loosely around his shoulders, while his piercing green eyes undressed her. Alexis had a nagging thought she knew the man, but the tendril of a thought blew away before it came to fruition.

“And I would have pegged you as a gentleman, so we are both wrong.” She turned back to down the rest of the drink.

The man sat down in the empty stool beside her. “Give me a chance. Name’s Loki.” He extended his hand. Alexis shook it.

“Alexis.” She tucked her chin length brown hair behind her ear.

“So whatever particular sorrow are we drowning today?” Loki ordered a whiskey neat.

“Breakup. By text.”

Loki winced. “And you say I’m not a gentleman.” He downed his whiskey and ordered another. You finished up your own drink.

“I don’t want to trouble with my relationship issues.” Alexis stood too quickly and wobbled a bit on her feet. Loki wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her. Alexis shrugged him off. “I’m fine!” She smoothed down her top. “I’m just heading to the restroom.”

Loki pressed his hand to his chest. “Allow me to escort.” Alexis raised an eyebrow at him. “To help with reputation as a gentleman.” Loki flashed a killer smile and Alexis’s knees buckled, this time not due to alcohol.

“Fine.” She suddenly wanted Loki’s arm around her again. As if he read her mind, his arm wound around her.

“Lead the way.”

Loki did not plan on ending up in the ladies’ room of the Whiskey Front Room. Once Alexis and him made their way to back of the bar, he planned on waiting outside to take her back to the bar or even walk her to her car.

Alexis had other ideas as she grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him into the bathrom. She continued to pull him into an empty stall, latching the door.

“You seem like a perfect rebound guy.” Her hands ran up and down Loki’s torso. His muscles twitched under her touch. “Tall, dark, polite, hot as fuck.”

Loki blushed. “I wouldn’t want to take advantage.” Alexis palmed his crotch.

“Little Loki would disagree.” she giggled, squeezing him through his jeans.

Loki’s eyes snapped to stare at her. “Don’t start things you have no intention of finishing.” he growled, pushing her against the stall.

“I always finish. Usually first.” Alexis grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into a rough kiss. Loki bit her lower lip and she gasped, allowing Loki to explore her mouth with his tongue. Her hands trailed down his Loki body to tug at the fly of his jeans. Loki followed suit with her jeans.

His cock sprung free as Alexis shoved his pants just past his ass. Loki moved to suck along her neck, his lips left a trail of purple marks. She didn’t care.

“Well, that is certainly a surprise.” She pumped his cock a few times.

“I’ve never had complaints. Turn around.” Loki guided her around.

Her hands pressed against the cool metal wall as she bent at the waist, wiggling her ass. Loki smirked as he pulled her jeans down around her knees and smack her ass hard with his hand.

“Ow!” Alexis called out.

Loki pressed his torso against her back, warmth radiating through the fabric. “Can you keep quiet or do I have to gag you?” He rubbed his cock along her ass.

“I can keep quiet. Please fuck me, Loki.” she begged, bucking back against him.

He playfully slapped her ass again, and rubbed his hand along her smooth skin.

“Such a eager little thing, aren’t you?”

“Yes… please…” she continued begged.

Loki impaled himself inside of Alexis’s pussy, warm and wet.

“So wet, pet. Aren’t you a treat?” He gripped her hips and thrusted into her rough and fast. The time of niceties long gone as he stared at the dingy bathroom tile. Alexis did her best to muffle her moans, biting her lip hard enough to almost draw blood. She locked her arms to push against Loki’s cock. The walls of the stall shaking with each snap of Loki’s hips.

Alexis’s walls fluttered around Loki’s cock. “Loki. I’m… cum…” Her words cut off as Loki pressed his thumb against her clit and she screamed while she came.

Loki realized he should pull out, come on the floor, the stickiness would not be noticed. But Alexis’s pussy clenched him so tight, so perfectly that two thrusts later, he spilled inside her. She slumped against the wall, leaning on her arms. He pulled out and tucked himself back into his pants.

With a tender touch, Loki turned Alexis to face him. His lips softly kiss hers. He helped her dress, pulling her jeans back up and smoothed her head back away from her face. One of his hand slipped between them as he continued to kiss her, until it lighted on her lower abdomen. A green light glowed as he cast a spell, the same one he did every time passion overtook him. No need for the messy entanglement of a pregnancy.

Loki parted to share into Alexis’s blue eyes. “Your boyfriend was a fool to leave you.”

“I’m always unlucky in love.” she murmured, still coming down from the euphoria of great sex.

He kissed her one more time before slinking out of the bathroom. Alexis took a minute to collect herself before heading out into the bar proper. Loki nowhere in sight.

She hustled out to the street but nothing besides the night sounds of New York.

“Another rejection, what else is new?” She turned and headed home, hoping she wouldn’t regret tonight come morning.

[killiansprincss]

Never Forget You Ch. 11

Summary: Season 6A Canon Divergence.Emma is happy. Finally happy with her parents, son and boyfriend. But this happiness is taken away from her when the Evil Queen curses her and turns her into a toddler.

Heartbroken and angry, Killian and Henry run away to Neverland to wait for Emma to break her curse. But when she does break it and comes looking for them 25 years later, she soon realises this Neverland is very different now it is no longer under Pans rule. Will she be able to save Henry and Killian in time, or will this new ruler of Neverland keep them hostage forever?

Also on A03

I have not updates this fic in ages I’m sorry to anyone who actually reads this lol. This fic is my baby, it’s the first multi chapter fic I have written in a very long time and It also will be the very first mc I ever finish as I’ve almost written it all which kinda makes me sad as I’ve so enjoyed writing it, but 2021 is my year to write and I have a lot more planned so check out my other stuff on A03, (not the stuff posted in 2016 I promise it’s not worth it!) ❤️❤️❤️

The Jolly Roger was a safe haven for Killian. It was more than a ship, it was his home. Killian had never had a home, he and Liam never had a proper home; it was just moving from ship to ship, their father trying to escape his debt.

But the Jolly became his home. When Liam became Captain, the Jewel of the Realm-as she was called back then-served as a home for them. Then she became the Jolly Roger when a crew of pirates were born, and she became his only home. The only place that had any remnants of Liam. For 300 years, it was home. It was small, it wasn’t perfect, but it was still home.

And then he met Emma. Never before had he loved someone so much he would give up his ship. Not even Milah. But he knew he had to do whatever it took to get her and Henry back to Storybrooke. He never mentioned it to her either until she asked. He didn’t do it to score points against Bae, he did it because it was the right thing to do. Even if she didn’t feel the way he felt, he wanted-needed to get her back to her family.

By some miracle, thank the gods, she shared his feelings, even if it took a while to admit. And they planned their future and moved in together. Even if it was only for a couple of weeks before the incident. But for that short time, for the first time, home became a building with four walls and a white picket fence as Emma called it. But it was more than that. It wasn’t even that it had four walks and was on land. Emma. It was Emma. Home wasn’t so much a place, it was her. His happy ending. His true love.

And then he lost all of it in a matter of seconds. And because fate is cruel, the Jolly Roger became his home once again. He was foolish to think a villain such as himself, could truly get a happy ending.

It was also a safe haven on Neverland this time around because the fairies were not able to enter the ship without an invitation. It was an old unwritten fairy and pirate rule, which Killian was grateful for. When he gave the wrong advice to the young lost boy, he did not leave the Jolly for a while, it could’ve been a week, it could’ve been a year, he gave up trying to keep track of the days in Neverland a long time ago.

It was also a safe space because the Captains Quarters contained reminders of his past life. Of Liam and his pre pirate days, and of Milah. And now he had reminders of Emma. He didn’t want anyone to see them, it was his burden to bear, not anyone else.

____

“Henry. I really need to talk to you. Just,you.” Killian said, it was unexpected seeing the entire Charming family appear when he needed to talk to Henry most. He had angered Emma and ruined any chance of her forgiving him for all the horrors he put up with in neverland.

Henry looks to his grandmother who just nods, Snow knows Killian must be hurting and Henry is the only one Killian has been around for 25 years.

The two go down the ladder by the back entrance, away from where Emma and David were.                                

“I fear Cecelia knows of Emma's presence.” Killian tells him, nervous of his reaction.    

Henry doesn’t answer for a few seconds, “Oh no.This is bad.Very bad.”

“Aye. I thought you may have some ideas on how to stop her?” Henry always had good ideas, and Killian was sure he would know how to defeat the fairies.

“I do, but I’m not sure if it’ll work considering she’s a Neverland fairy.” Henry says nervously, he wants to defeat the fairies but he needs to be sure before he can let anyone in on his plan. “But as for getting out of here I have no clue, I was hoping Mr. Gold would’ve given mom an extra bean or something.”

“I have a feeling we are thinking of the same thing. We need to remember that Emma is far more powerful now than she was before, along with the young prince, who is not so young anymore. I’m sure they have a way.” Killian says with pride in his voice at how amazing his Emma is. He always believed she was powerful and incredible, he was glad to know she had finally learnt control of her powers.

Henry looks at Killian. “Whatever it is you and my mom were arguing about, it’ll be okay. She loves you. You’ll work it out and we will be back in Storybrooke soon enough.”

“You truly think she will still love me after all I’ve done on this Island? Who I’ve become?” He asks, even though he knows Henry would only ever be positive.

“Of course she will.” Henry states, “why wouldn’t she? I mean you were a pretty bad guy when you first met and she forgives you and knows that’s not who you are anymore. She knows this place is where you spent most of your days as a villain and that it can bring back bad memories. You just need hope.”

“I-I wanted to apologise lad. I haven’t been as friendly as I was.” Killian stammers, he made a silent vow to protect the boy, to make sure Neverland's tricks would not play on his mind. But he fears he failed. “But now that everybody is here-“

Henry cuts him off before he can continue. “It’s okay. I know this place isn’t Storybrooke, so it’s easier to fall into the darkness. It did hurt at first when you wouldn’t be around me, but I get it, and we’re going to get off this Island together.”

____

____

“Neverland”

Both Killian and Henry say as they walk through the portal Mr. Gold created for them. They look back and see the door to Storybrooke is gone. No going back now. They have to wait for Emma to come and rescue them in 25 years.

“Welcome back lad.” Killian says to Henry who looks uneasy. It’s a rough island filled with bad memories for both of them.

“What now?” Henry asks, still looking around at the Island where he almost died.

Killian reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tiny sized Jolly Roger. Rumplestilskin had allowed him to bring his ship with them to Neverland by using magic to shrink it down to pocket size, and when placed in water it would grow back to full size. They walk over to the water and Killian throws the tiny ship into the sea. In a matter of seconds, it had grown to the full pirate ship that he called home.

“Welcome aboard. You are welcome to stay on this ship while we reside on this damned Island.” Killian says with a smile as they walk onto the main deck.

“What do you think lives here now Pan is gone?” Henry asks, curious as ever.

“To be honest lad I have no clue. It could be another Pan type, or it could be something else entirely.” Killian admits, he’s nervous to think what could be roaming the Island, if there was even anything roaming the Island anymore.

“Gold said my blood can make us immortal here right?”

Damn. Killian thought. the Crocodile did say that.

“We do not have to do anything like that just yet.” He reassures Henry, ”It’s like you said, we aren’t sure what roams this Island. We do not have to do anything with your blood just yet.”

Henry gave a tentative smile,”Thanks. That makes me feel better.”

Waning to take his mind off the subject Killian suggests giving Henry more sailing lessons.

“Show me what you know already.”

And so that’s what they do. For hours. It takes Henry’s mind off Neverland, off of his mother and all that matters is he’s with Killian, having fun. It also makes him feel closer to his father. Killian would tell him stories of him, seeing as Henry was now the age Baelfire was when he met Killian.

Killian also felt that with Henry, he was getting the second chance. With Bae, he failed, he messed up and he regretted it. Now he had a second chance with Bae’s son. Obviously it was not ideal circumstances, but he would make sure he looked after Henry and he would care for him. And not just for Emma’s sake.

__

It had been 2 days of hiding out on the ship, and they had yet to see any danger in Neverland. They decided it was time to explore the Island, and restore the magic using Henry’s blood.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. Just a few drops of blood. I will be there right next to you.”

Dark Hollow, the source of Neverland’s magic. The magic in the hourglass had disappeared and it had a small crack near the top.

Killian hands Henry a small blade and he walks over to the spot where Pan took his heart a few years ago. Henry takes the blade and makes a tiny slice in the palm of his hand.and he allows a tiny drop of blood to fall. A few seconds pass and nothing happens, nothing feels any different. So Henry lets a few more drops of blood fall.

“Why isn’t it working?” Henry asks frustrated as he;s letting all the blood from the cut drip down after nothing happens.

“More. We need more.” A sinister voice whispers in Henry’s ear. He makes another cut in his palm and let’s the blood drip, drip, drip.

Killian is conflicted, he wants to save Henry and make sure he’s not giving too much blood. Bloody crocodile and his lies. But he doesn’t want to stop him and then something bad happens.

He makes up his mind pretty quickly when Henry falls to the ground.

“Henry!” Killian rushes over to him, his hand still dripping with blood. He rips off a piece of his shirt and ties it round Henry’s hand tightly so no more blood can escape.

Henry is on the ground not quite aware of what’s going on. “It’ll be okay. You’re gonna be fine.” Killian tells him over and over until a white light flashes before them.

The hourglass suddenly fills up again and the cracks are slowly being restored. Magic is slowly returning back to the island.

“Killian?” Henry says in a brittle voice, not quite sure what is happening as he slips in and out of consciousness.

“It’s okay lad. It’s okay” he says quietly.

“Is it here?  Magic? Did I do it?” Henry asks as he regains his consciousness.

Killian looks over to the hourglass that’s now pretty much full. “I think so lad.”

With Killians assistance, Henry slowly gets up and looks up at the hourglass now filled with tiny golden magic beads. He looks down at his bandaged hand, “what happened why did it take so much blood from me?”

Killian shakes his head, “I wish I knew the answer. My guess is this place has been void of magic for a few years now and the blood of the truest believer is powerful stuff, you gave it a little but it was greedy and wanted more. But let’s get you back to the ship, we can fix up your hand properly there.”

The two head back to the shore, taking note of where the dreamshade is and making a mental note to try and destroy it if they’re going to be here for a while.

“Hook?”

The pirate and his almost step son turn around to see where the voice was coming from. A beautiful female with ebony skin and red hair, purple wings and pointed ears. A fairy.

“Cecelia.” Hook recognised the beautiful fairy. He’d encountered her many times when he lived in Neverland the first time. She was a fairy native to Neverland which meant she was powerful, far more powerful than the Blue Fairy native only to the Enchanted Forest.

“Well well well Captain. Long time no see.” She says in a seductive tone.

Clearing his throat to ease the tension and to not give off any wrong signals, Killian simply says. “The woman I love has been cursed. Henry and I are here to wait until she can rescue us.”

Not taking any notice of the ‘woman I love’ comment, Cecelia steps closer. “I take it  you were the ones responsible for the restoration of magic? My sisters and I have woken up from what seems like a hundred year slumber.”

“My boy Henry here holds the heart of the Truest Believer. His blood is powerful.” Killain says proudly.

Henry smiles at the ‘my boy’ comment, he always looked up to Hook even if he wasn’t the best role model at first. He was a great sailing and sword fighting teacher, and was the only father figure he had that stuck around, even before he and his mother got together.

Cecelia just smirks, “well I’m glad to be awake when Captain Hook returns home.”

No. Neverland was not his home. It can’t be. He won’t allow it to be.

But over the years, without Emma, it was hard to not call the place he lived for 300 years, home once again.

[cooliogirl101]

Random MDZS fic idea:

The one where Wei Wuxian goes back in time, still in Mo Xuanyu’s body, and ends up adopting his younger self

- Which he wasn’t intending on doing, honestly. Just as he didn’t intend on landing in a dumpster when he came back-- which, ow-- he didn’t intend on the first person he came across to be his malnourished, too-thin, four-year-old self (gods, was he thin. He didn’t remember being that thin. Or tiny. How the hell had he survived before Jiang Fengmian had found him?!).  

- And like, it wasn’t like he could just leave him. The poor kid-- his past self, whatever-- had been eating out of a dumpster! It would be too cruel.

- He hunts down Guangyao-- currently Meng Yao-- and his mother. He’d been planning on hooking Meng Yao’s mother up to a nice, stable job as an accountant, maybe, or a storekeeper’s assistant, and taking her to a competent doctor who could do something about her illness before it became deadly-- if he could make sure she had a better life, maybe she would stop clinging to Jin Guangshan as her only hope for salvation. And maybe Meng Yao wouldn’t be quite so desperate for his father’s acknowledgement this time around. And wouldn’t turn out to be a backstabbing, corrupt, master manipulator with no regard for human life. Maybe.

- He did not expect for her to push her son towards him with a sly smile, because I’m sure a powerful cultivator like yourself has many duties and wouldn’t mind an assistant to help out from time to time; Meng Yao is very dedicated, very intelligent, and he requires no payment except maybe, if sir is so inclined, to occasionally teach him some minor things about cultivation? For the purposes of better serving you, of course--

- And so he finds himself leaving town with one more kid than he entered with, with a promise to visit often. Alright then.

- He spends the next few years sabotaging the Wen forces, destroying storage facilities, pranking top-level officials in their own homes (making them increasingly paranoid), and acting as a general nuisance. Wen Ruohan’s blood pressure is at a record high. 

- It has the added benefit of distracting the Wen forces from the fact that the other sects have been arranging secret meetings, quietly mobilizing their forces, preparing for war. Lan Qiren tasks several senior disciples to make copies of all their ancient scrolls; the originals are then hidden, their location known only to a select few members of the Lan Sect. Lotus Pier’s defenses have never been so fortified.

- Four-year-old Wei Ying knows nothing of all this, of course (Meng Yao knows significantly more, but hides it well). He only knows that Uncle Wei travels around a lot, but always comes back, with his signature bright, sunny smile and lots of gifts. He grows up with Yao-gege at his side and many homes-- the Cloud Recesses, the Unclean Realm, Lotus Pier. He has many friends and many siblings-- there’s Yao-gege of course, and Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli, and Nie Huaisang. He never doubts that he is loved and, just as importantly, that he belongs. That he is wanted. 

- Five-year-old Lan Zhan is quiet, doesn’t speak much (except to quote rules), and often seems sad (lonely). Wei Ying has never seen him smile.

That’s okay, though, Wei Ying thinks to himself. He can be happy enough for the both of them. 

(Jiang Cheng had told him to stop bothering the Lan Sect’s Second Jade. Uncle Wei had told him the opposite. 

“I don’t know. He seems so sad,” Wei Ying says doubtfully.

“He does, doesn’t he?” Uncle Wei agrees. “Give him space, when he needs it. But don’t leave him alone. The worst thing you can do to someone sad is leave them alone.”

Wei Ying thinks about it for a moment.

Jiang Cheng’s an idiot, he decides, and runs off to find Lan Zhan.)

- The older Wei Ying-- now Wei Xuanyu, because it’s not like there can be two Wei Yings/Wei Wuxians-- looks at his younger self, chattering nonstop to a silent (but still listening) Lan Zhan, and can’t help but smile, a little bittersweet. The constant, age-old grief in his chest aches painfully-- it’s so much a part of him now that he rarely notices it anymore, except during moments like these, when he is abruptly reminded of all he has lost. 

Ah, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, he thinks to his husband, his Lan Zhan. What would you think if you could see this, our younger selves together? It seems no matter what, whether I meet you at age four or fifteen, I always end up loving you. 

He’d known from the start, of course, that he could never have the same relationship with Lan Zhan this time around. It had been worth it though, to see him again, maybe even do something to make his childhood a little happier. And besides, a tiny adorable chubby-cheeked Lan Zhan was an infinite improvement over no Lan Zhan at all, which was all that the future (his future) held for him. 

He could deal with a world where Lan Zhan never looked at him the same way, never knew him the same way, never loved him the same way. What he couldn’t accept was a world where Lan Zhan no longer existed-- because where was the beauty in a world like that?

Wei Ying’s happiness is my happiness, Lan Zhan had told him once. As long as Wei Ying is happy, I am happy. 

And as long as Lan Zhan is happy, then I am happy, Wei Ying had replied. The context he’d originally said the words in no longer applies, but-- he glances at the shy, almost invisible smile on five-year-old Lan Zhan’s face, and can’t help but smile in response-- the sentiment still rings true. 

- From behind a tree, a figure watches Wei Xuanyu silently, concern in his eyes. He thinks back to the devastating grief that had momentarily crossed the older man’s face, and a frown mars his gentle features, edged with helplessness and a rare frustration. 

He doesn’t know the other man very well. He knows some things about him, just by watching-- he knows Wei Xuanyu is kind and fiercely loyal, creative and sharply intelligent, that he is one of the only people who can get Wangji to relax, that he likes spicy food and rabbits, that he knows every single one of the Lan Sect’s three thousand rules but pretends he doesn’t in order to get a rise out of Lan Qiren, that he plays the flute as well as any Lan, and that he is beautiful when he fights (and, well, when he’s doing just about anything, really). But he doesn’t know the other man well enough to ask who he’s thinking about in the rare moments he falls silent, a far away look in his eyes; he doesn’t know him well enough to ask Wei Xuanyu to confide in him, to trust him with his secrets and pain, to trust him with his past, to let down his ever-present cheerful mask around him.

He thinks he would like to. Wants it with an intensity that terrifies him at times.

- The war is over before it even really begins, when someone assassinates Wen Ruohan in the dead of night. Rumors abound that he incurred the wrath of a vengeful ghost. Far away, Wei Xuanyu’s lips curve up-- it’s a subtler smile than his usual ones, more relief than happiness.

It’s over.

- Somehow everything turns out, if not perfect, then at least okay.

- Jin Guangshan dies choking on a fishbone because fuck that guy. 

(First time writing anything for this fandom so sorry if characterization is a bit off)

[scarletfokx]

Regarding episode 58- Beware, there shall be spoilers!

Okay, so, Peacock and Runyu have a convo where Jinmi overhears them talking and figures out that Runyu knew that Xufeng wasn't her parents murderer before she killed him. Then after peacock leaves and Runyu wants to get some shuteye before the wedding he is confronted by Jinmi who shouts at him in angst.

It was a powerful scene. And extremely...unjustified.

I personally believe that in her mind Jinmi still wanted to escape the blame of everything bad that happened because it all revolved around her, and she obviously didn't want to marry Runyu, hell, she didn't even PRETEND to care about him. She didn't even show friendly affection. The thing is...is what she said fair or true?

I want to point out that it would have been cruel of him to tell her that peacock was the real murderer after she already killed Xufeng, and even if he wanted to tell her he couldn't because she put herself in a coma. He couldn't exact her revenge because even though he denys it and we know he is jealous of Xufeng, he still loved his brother deeply and the damn peacock was the only thing keeping Xufeng alive. I couldn't find the episode before the wedding/murder, so I'm not entirely certain that Runyu DIDN'T know who was behind Jinmi's parents murder, but I doubt he would have let her go through the injustice he had to, that's against everything he stands for and let's face it, he DID fix the heavenly realm and the six realms as best he could after the corrupt ruling of his parents.

I'm posting this because I really need to know what you guys think. I barely sleep at night now and this injustice infuriates me in bed for hours!

Jinmi didn't give him the opportunity to defend himself properly. She even scared him and riled him up with the fear of losing her. He just took her words like whips.

How did he use every inch of her? He didn't marry her, he didn't sleep with her...and as for her accusations of him never loving her and only loving himself...he never loved himself until he met her. He loved her because she taught him to love himself. It was sincere and honest and it never changed. (Love triangle my ass, they never gave Runyu a fighting chance! Xufeng always got seen and acknowledged for his actions but Runyu never did.)

He also genuinely never wanted the throne. He just wanted to give her the best life could offer, in a world fit for someone as pure and innocent as her to live in. He fixed it up and took on all the dirty work and responsibility...

When she accused him of approaching her in the beginning because she was close to Xufeng and using her to spy on him...LIES. I literally (in my obsession for justice) searched all the scenes and annalised them closely up till episode 16 for this, and no, he didn't ever spy on Xufeng intentionally, and he was genuinely interested in her because he liked her, NO OTHER REASON!

And he is smart, but even he didn't suspect that she was related to Water Immortal the day of the empress's birthday. Sure it surprised him, but the hail stone isn't far off from all the other wierd and unexplainable things she did. He didn't he know about his mother yet, or the conspiracy. He eavesdropped on them all after HE helped save her from the empress (no thanks might I add), to learn the truth about her. He didn't plan to use it against her or anything!

As for pretending to not have seen her father...guys and girls, if it got you brownie points when you were behind in the live competition, wouldn't you do the same? It WAS underhanded, but it wasnt a bad thing really. In a way it was cute and showed us how he wanted to impress his in laws, goddamn, he has been teased about the nonexistent fiance for ages and now he finally has her, AND it's the one and only girl that he likes!

Anyone else think that Xufeng SHOULD have stepped down because it was the right thing to do? It WAS the right thing to do. He was willing to leave her when he thought they were related, yet he still left his father with her to show her that his feeling didn't even change! So why should Runyu's have? It doesn't mean he knew anything! And for his brothers sake, his brother who never asked for anything but gave as much as he could to his brother who already had everything, he WOULDN'T step down. WTF?!

Yes there was something between Jinmi and Xufeng already which was ofc, 99% only Xufeng's affection anyway, but this was his brothers promised bride for gods sake! Is it wrong for Runyu to pursue her? It was wrong for Xufeng to pursue her in the mortal realm! And was Runyu wrong for restoring the elixir? No. He did it for selfish reasons, but also for her own health as he always does. Love, even true love, is NEVER entirely selfless. This gave him equal footing to Xufeng to try and win her love.

And for the record, she is the o e who said she liked Runyu, even though he did understand it as the 'friend' way, as he also proved by playing 20 Questions. He never pressured her into staying in the arranged marriage, even when he knew she was trying to get out of it. He really just wanted her to be happy.

Runyu didn't need her fathers help to fight Xufeng, he needed his help to overthrow his parents and to stop the tyranny. Her father was already wanting to exact justice for Jinmi's mother, so they had similar interests. Didn't Runyu's mother deserve justice? I get how she abused her son, and to me it will forever be unforgivable, however by that point she was already driven into insanity.

The beast of dreams part was also a low blow. It's one of the few things that actually belong to him and he gave it to her in a sincere gesture way before anything terrible happened. Sure maybe he could have been using it to watch over her, but hello, he was protecting her!

I have no doubt that he believed that Jinmi would go against Xufeng for him, but I doubt he expected THAT outcome. The way she screams that she only loved Xufeng...his heart...you can just see it shattering!

And hello again, he IS the most innocent, kindest person around there who doesn't even expect praise for anything he does! Xufeng shows off while Runyu hides away. I doubt he ever wanted the entire world to adore and respect him :'D I mean...does she know him at all?!

Can you really tell me he wasn't sincere when he professed his love to her? <\3 Can you imagine the hurt he felt seeing her and Xufeng having sex in the dream? By then they all knew she was Runyu's fiance, and even worse, Jinmi couldn't love or show romantic love so Xufeng ALSO manipulated her into feeling and doing what he wanted. There are no two-ways, that is a damned fact. Runyu knew he had no place staking a claim or getting revenge for something that still wasn't his yet so HE DIDN'T! Even when she spied on Xufeng in the demon realm and kept getting into trouble, he kept saving her again and again, more times than Xufeng, and yet he asked for nothing. She he hurt him by saying she 'owe's him' OUCH! He gave her half his life!

(Somebody You Loved is totally his song btw!)

I feel that Runyu is like a heartbroken husband who knows his wife is having an affair with his own brother but because he loves them both he just continues being good and hoping with all his heart that she will open her eyes and realise that he is the right person for her, not Xufeng. I can imagine a man laying alone in bed and being grateful that his wife still came home to sleep. That's how much its synchronizes.

He then bore his heart open for her to see and told her the things that mattered to him and she told him he didn't deserve to be loved...O.M.G. Okay, so, I won't lie...I'm a crier. I cry easy. But this had me bawling like an infant because both sides were just so...I'M STILL DYING INSIDE! He wasn't even lying about giving up being the emperor! He really meant it. <\3

How desperate he was made it so much worse. He made some wrong choices in life, who hasn't? She killed an innocent man for a crime he didn't commit, and yet...

Runyu believed that she would understand and learn to live him in time. She could have. He knew the self hate was killing her inside so he even told her to hate him. <\3 All he wanted was to love and protect her. And then she dropped his heart scale like it was nothing. NOTHING. O.M.G!<\3

And when he said 'In the future, if we get married you might not be treated fairly. Would you mind?' He meant that she would be treated the way he was which was horribly! She didn't mind then, so where did that faith go?

His memories at the end scene...just so sad. I think I got an eyelash in my eye. He brokenly picked up his scale. Despite how she hurt him he won't regret it because he did it all for her.

After she died and the flowers all disappeared, including the one in his hand...it was heartbreaking. That's all he had left of her. At the end when he sits on the throne alone and in the dark,(except for his aid and the beast of dreams), he doesn't even resent her a tiny bit, but he has everything except the one he tried to get it all for. That's just...they really did him wrong.

My problem is that (and I started a fanfic that I'm too muddleheaded to continue atm) I can't get over this injustice. I'm one of those people who really just can't take it. In all of two weeks I watched Novoland S1and2, Ashes of Love, and The Eternal Live S1and2, and through all that, this scene sticks out worst of all of the injustices. Not even Tingjun's cruel fate.

Am I the only one who see's Runyu like this? Tell me what you think, I need someone to sooth my poor mind!

[mystiika]

   i mean you can read if you want? but it’s mainly for my own notes to refer back to.    hades in ovid metamorphoses book v & the orphic hymns

Bk V:332-384

Calliope sings: Cupid makes Dis fall in love

 ‘This much she played on her lute, with singing voice. Then called on us, - but perhaps you are not at leisure, or free to listen to a repetition of our music?’ ‘Do not stop’ said Pallas, ‘but sing your song again as you arranged it!’ and she sat amongst the light shadows of the grove. The Muse renewed her tale ‘We gave our best singer to the contest. Calliope, who rose, with her loose hair bound with ivy, tried out the plaintive strings with her fingers, then accompanied the wandering notes with this song.

 ‘“Ceres first turned the soil with curving plough, first ripened the crops and produce of the earth, first gave us laws: all things are Ceres’s gift. My song is of her. If only I could create a song in any way worthy of the goddess! This goddess is truly a worthy subject for my song.

 ‘“Trinacris, the vast isle of Sicily, had been heaped over the giant’s limbs, and with its great mass oppressed buried Typhoeus, he who had dared to aspire to a place in heaven. He struggles it’s true and often tries to rise, but his right hand is held by the promontory of Ausonian Pelorus, and his left hand by you, Pachynus. Lilybaeum presses on his legs, Etna weighs down his head, supine beneath it, Typhoeus throws ash from his mouth, and spits out flame. Often, a wrestler, he throws back the weight of earth, and tries to roll the high mountains and the cities from his body, and then the ground trembles, and even the lord of the silent kingdom is afraid lest he be exposed, and the soil split open in wide fissures, and the light admitted to scare the anxious dead.

 ‘“Fearing this disaster, the king of the dark had left his shadowy realm, and, drawn in his chariot by black horses, carefully circled the foundations of the Sicilian land. When he had checked and was satisfied that nothing was collapsing, he relinquished his fears. Then Venus, at Eryx, saw him moving, as she sat on the hillside, and embraced her winged son, Cupid, and said ‘My child, my hands and weapons, my power, seize those arrows, that overcome all, and devise a path for your swift arrows, to the heart of that god to whom the final share of the triple kingdom fell. You conquer the gods and Jupiter himself, the lords of the sea, and their very king, who controls the lords of the sea. Why is Tartarus excepted? Why not extend your mother’s kingdom and your own? We are talking of a third part of the world. And yet, as is evident to me, I am scorned in heaven, and Love’s power diminishes with mine.

 ‘“‘Don’t you see how Pallas, and the huntress Diana, forsake me? And Ceres’s daughter too, Proserpine, will be a virgin if we allow it, since she hopes to be like them. But you, if you delight in our shared kingdom, can mate the goddess to her uncle.’ So Venus spoke: he undid his quiver, and at his mother’s bidding took an arrow, one from a thousand, and none was sharper, more certain, or better obeyed the bow. Then he bent the pliant tips against his knee, and with his barbed arrow struck Dis in the heart.”’

“Venus of Eryx, from her mountain throne, Saw Hades and clasped her swift-winged son, and said: ‘Cupid, my child, my warrior, my power, Take those sure shafts with which you conquer all, And shoot your speedy arrows to the heart Of the great god to whom the last lot fell When the three realms were drawn. Your mastery Subdues the gods of heaven and even Jove, Subdues the ocean’s deities and him, Even him, who rules the ocean’s deities. Why should Hell lag behind? Why not there too Extend your mother’s empire and your own….? Then Cupid, guided by his mother, opened His quiver of all his thousand arrows Selected one, the sharpest and the surest, The arrow most obedient to the bow, And bent the pliant horn against his knee And shot the barbed shaft deep in Pluto’s heart.” ― Ovid, Metamorphoses

Bk V:385-424

Calliope sings: Dis and the abduction of Proserpine

 ‘“Not far from the walls of Enna, there is a deep pool. Pergus is its name. Caÿster does not hear more songs than rise from the swans on its gliding waves. A wood encircles the waters, surrounds them on every side, and its leaves act as a veil, dispelling Phoebus’s shafts. The branches give it coolness, and the moist soil, Tyrian purple flowers: there, it is everlasting Spring. While Proserpine was playing in this glade, and gathering violets or radiant lilies, while with girlish fondness she filled the folds of her gown, and her basket, trying to outdo her companions in her picking, Dis, almost in a moment, saw her, prized her, took her: so swift as this, is love. The frightened goddess cries out to her mother, to her friends, most of all to her mother, with piteous mouth. Since she had torn her dress at the opening, the flowers she had collected fell from her loosened tunic, and even their scattering caused her virgin tears. The ravisher whipped up his chariot, and urged on the horses, calling them by name, shaking out the shadowy, dark-dyed, reins, over their necks and manes, through deep pools, they say, and the sulphurous reeking swamps of the Palici, vented from a crevice of the earth, to Syracuse where the Bacchiadae, a people born of Corinth between two seas, laid out their city between unequal harbours.

 ‘“Between Cyane and Pisaean Arethusa, there is a bay enclosed by narrow arms. Here lived Cyane, best known of the Sicilian nymphs, from whom the name of the spring was also taken. She showed herself from the pool as far as her waist, and recognising the goddess, cried out to Dis, ‘No’, and ‘Go no further!’ ‘You cannot be Ceres’s son against her will: the girl should have been asked, and not abused. If it is right for me to compare small things with great, Anapis prized me and I wedded him, but I was persuaded by talk and not by terror.’ Speaking, she stretched her arms out at her sides, obstructing him. The son of Saturn could scarcely contain his wrath, and urging on the dread horses, he turned his royal sceptre with powerful arm, and plunged it through the bottom of the pool. The earth, pierced, made a road to Tartarus, and swallowed the headlong chariot, into the midst of the abyss.

Bk V:425-486

Calliope sings: Ceres searches for Proserpine

 ‘“Cyane, mourning the abduction of the goddess, and the contempt for the sanctities of her fountain, nursed an inconsolable grief in her silent heart, and pined away wholly with sorrow. She melted into those waters whose great goddess she had previously been. You might see her limbs becoming softened, her bones seeming pliant, her nails losing their hardness. First of all the slenderest parts dissolve: her dusky hair, her fingers and toes, her feet and ankles (since it is no great transformation from fragile limbs to cool waters). Next her breast and back, shoulders and flanks slip away, vanishing into tenuous streams. At last the water runs in her ruined veins, and nothing remains that you could touch.

 ‘“Meanwhile the mother, fearing, searches in vain for the maid, through all the earth and sea. Neither the coming of dewy-haired Aurora, nor Hesperus, finds her resting. Lighting pine torches with both hands at Etna’s fires, she wanders, unquiet, through the bitter darkness, and when the kindly light has dimmed the stars, she still seeks her child, from the rising of the sun till the setting of the sun.

 ‘“She found herself thirsty and weary from her efforts, and had not moistened her lips at any of the springs, when by chance she saw a hut with a roof of straw, and she knocked on its humble door. At that sound, an old woman emerged, and saw the goddess, and, when she asked for water, gave her something sweet made with malted barley. While she drank what she had been given a rash, foul-mouthed boy stood watching, and taunted her, and called her greedy. The goddess was offended, and threw the liquid she had not yet drunk, mixed with the grains of barley, in his face. His skin, absorbing it, became spotted, and where he had once had arms, he now had legs. A tail was added to his altered limbs, and he shrank to a little shape, so that he has no great power to harm. He is like a lesser lizard, a newt, of tiny size. The old woman wondered and wept, and, trying to touch the creature, it ran from her and searched out a place to hide. It has a name fitting for its offence, stellio, its body starred with various spots.

 ‘“It would take too long to tell through what lands and seas the goddess wandered. Searching the whole earth, she failed to find her daughter: she returned to Sicily, and while crossing it from end to end, she came to Cyane, who if she had not been changed would have told all. But though she wished to, she had neither mouth nor tongue, nor anything with which to speak. Still she revealed clear evidence, known to the mother, and showed Persephone’s ribbon, fallen, by chance, into the sacred pool. As soon as she recognised it, the goddess tore her dishevelled hair, and beat her breast again and again with her hands, as if she at last comprehended the abduction. She did not know yet where Persephone was, but condemned all the lands, and called them thankless and unworthy of her gift of corn, Sicily, that Trinacria, above all, where she had discovered the traces of her loss.

 ‘“So, in that place, with cruel hands, she broke the ploughs that turned up the soil, and, in her anger, dealt destruction to farmers, and the cattle in their fields, alike, and ordered the ever-faithful land to fail, and spoiled the sowing. The fertility of that country, acclaimed throughout the world, was spoken of as a fiction: the crops died as young shoots, destroyed by too much sun, and then by too much rain. Wind and weather harmed them, and hungry birds gathered the scattered seed. Thistles and darnel and stubborn grasses ruined the wheat harvest.

Bk V:487-532

Calliope sings: Ceres asks Jupiter’s help

 ‘“Then Arethusa, once of Elis, whom Alpheus loved, lifted her head from her pool, and brushed the wet hair from her forehead, saying ‘O great goddess of the crops, mother of that virgin sought through all the earth, end your fruitless efforts, and do not anger yourself so deeply against the faithful land. The land does not deserve it: it opened to the abduction against its will. It is not my country, I pray for: I came here as a stranger. Pisa is my country, and Elis is my source. I am a foreigner in Sicily, but its soil is more to me than other lands. Here is my home: here are my household gods. Most gentle one, preserve it. A fitting time will come for me to tell you, how I moved from my country, and came to Ortygia, over such a great expanse of sea, when you are free of care, and of happier countenance. The fissured earth showed me a way, and slipping below the deepest caverns, here, I lifted up my head, and saw the unfamiliar stars.

 ‘“‘So, while I glided underground down there, among Stygian streams, with these very eyes, I saw your Proserpine. She was sad indeed, but, though her face was fearful still, she was nevertheless a queen, the greatest one among the world of shadows, the powerful consort, nevertheless, of the king of hell!’ The mother was stunned to hear these words, as if petrified, and was, for a long time, like someone thunderstruck, until the blow of deep amazement became deep indignation. She rose, in her chariot, to the realms of heaven. There, her whole face clouded with hate, she appeared before Jove with dishevelled hair.

 ‘“‘Jupiter I have come to you in entreaty for my child and for your own’ she cried. ‘If the mother finds no favour with you, let the daughter move you, and do not let your concern for her be less, I beg you, because I gave her birth. See, the daughter I have searched for so long, has been found, if you call it finding to lose her more surely, if you call it finding merely to know where she is. I can bear the fact that she has been abducted, if he will only return her! A spoiler is not worthy to be the husband of your daughter, even if she is no longer my daughter.’ Jupiter replied ‘Our child is a pledge and a charge, between us, you and I. But if only we are willing to give things their right names, the thing is not an insult in itself: the truth is it is love. He would not be a shameful son-in-law for us, if only you would wish it, goddess. How great a thing it is to be Jupiter’s brother, even if all the rest is lacking! Why, what if there is nothing lacking at all, except what he yielded to me by lot? But if you have such a great desire to separate them, Proserpine shall return to heaven, but on only one condition, that no food has touched her lips, since that is the law, decreed by the Fates.’

Bk V:533-571

Calliope sings: Persephone’s fate    

 ‘“He spoke, and Ceres felt sure of regaining her daughter. But the Fates would not allow it, for the girl had broken her fast, and wandering, innocently, in a well-tended garden, she had pulled down a reddish-purple pomegranate fruit, hanging from a tree, and, taking seven seeds from its yellow rind, squeezed them in her mouth. Ascalaphus was the only one to see it, whom, it is said, Orphne bore, to her Acheron, in the dark woods, she not the least known of the nymphs of Avernus. He saw, and by his cruel disclosure, prevented Proserpine’s return.              Then the queen of Erebus grieved, and changed the informant into a bird of ill omen: she sprinkled his head with water from the Phlegethon, and changed him to a beak, plumage, and a pair of huge eyes. Losing his own form he is covered by his tawny wings, and looks like a head, and long, curving claws. He scarcely stirs the feathers growing on his idle wings. He has become an odious bird, a messenger of future disaster, the screech owl, torpid by day, a fearful omen to mortal creatures.

 ‘“He indeed can be seen to have deserved his punishment, because of his disclosure and his words. But why have you, Sirens, skilled in song, daughters of Acheloüs, the feathers and claws of birds, while still bearing human faces? Is it because you were numbered among the companions, when Proserpine gathered the flowers of Spring? When you had searched in vain for her on land, you wanted, then, to cross the waves on beating wings, so that the waters would also know of your trouble. The gods were willing, and suddenly you saw your limbs covered with golden plumage. But, so that your song, born, sweetly, in our ears, and your rich vocal gift, might not be lost with your tongues, each virgin face and human voice remained.

 ‘“Now Jupiter, intervening, between his brother and grieving sister, divides the turning year, equally. And now the goddess, Persephone, shared divinity of the two kingdoms, spends so many months with her mother, so many months with her husband. The aspect of her face and mind alters in a moment. Now the goddess’s looks are glad that even Dis could see were sad, a moment ago. Just as the sun, hidden, before, by clouds of rain, wins through and leaves the clouds.

Orphic Hymn 17 to Pluton

Pluto, magnanimous, whose realms profound are fix’d beneath the firm and solid ground, In the Tartarian plains remote from fight, and wrapt forever in the depths of night; Terrestrial Jove [Zeus Khthonios], thy sacred ear incline, and, pleas’d, accept thy mystic’s hymn divine. Earth’s keys to thee, illustrious king belong, its secret gates unlocking, deep and strong. ‘Tis thine, abundant annual fruits to bear, for needy mortals are thy constant care. To thee, great king, Avernus is assign’d, the seat of Gods, and basis of mankind. Thy throne is fix’d in Hade’s dismal plains, distant, unknown to rest, where darkness reigns; Where, destitute of breath, pale spectres dwell, in endless, dire, inexorable hell; And in dread Acheron, whose depths obscure, earth’s stable roots eternally secure. O mighty dæmon, whose decision dread, the future fate determines of the dead, With captive Proserpine [Kore], thro’ grassy plains, drawn in a four-yok’d car with loosen’d reins, Rapt o'er the deep, impell’d by love, you flew 'till Eleusina’s city rose to view; There, in a wond'rous cave obscure and deep, the sacred maid secure from search you keep, The cave of Atthis, whose wide gates display an entrance to the kingdoms void of day. Of unapparent works, thou art alone the dispensator, visible and known. O pow'r all-ruling, holy, honor’d light, thee sacred poets and their hymns delight: Propitious to thy mystic’s works incline, rejoicing come, for holy rites are thine.

Orphic Hymn 28 to Pluton

Daughter of Jove [Zeus], almighty and divine, come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline: Only-begotten, Pluto’s [Plouton’s] honor’d wife, O venerable Goddess, source of life: 'Tis thine in earth’s profundities to dwell, fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell: Jove’s [Zeus’] holy offspring, of a beauteous mien, fatal [Praxidike], with lovely locks, infernal queen: Source of the furies [Eumenides], whose blest frame proceeds from Jove’s [Zeus’] ineffable and secret seeds: Mother of Bacchus [Eubouleos], Sonorous, divine, and many-form’d, the parent of the vine: The dancing Hours [Horai] attend thee, essence bright, all-ruling virgin, bearing heav'nly light: Illustrious, horned, of a bounteous mind, alone desir’d by those of mortal kind. O, vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight, sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight: Whose holy form in budding fruits we view, Earth’s vig'rous offspring of a various hue: Espous’d in Autumn: life and death alone to wretched mortals from thy power is known: For thine the task according to thy will, life to produce, and all that lives to kill. Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace; Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life with blest abundance, free from noisy strife; Last in extreme old age the prey of Death, dismiss we willing to the realms beneath, To thy fair palace, and the blissful plains where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto [Plouton] reigns.

[fireblight]

anenome, angelica, gladiolus :^)

anemone :   how does your muse view the world ;   as a cruel   &   unforgiving place ,   a land full of wonders ,   or something in - between ?  where does that world view come from   ( what experiences ,   life lessons ,   etc . ) ?

Karin is a complicated creature when it comes to worldviews; much like her zodiacal symbolism and her asymmetrical hair, she has a tendency to be split right down the middle of wildly varying outlooks. On the one hand, Karin has encountered cruelty, unfairness and outright evil since she was a child: alienated from her peers, a victim of petty war / territory bullshit that only emphasized how useless and doom-ridden it was, the things she saw ( and did, even to the point of enjoying, on some level, parts of it ) at Otogakure under Orochimaru's guidance, and everything that followed in her time during Shippuden. She's been betrayed by the person she loved most, and can literally feel the evil in people. There's a part of her that's deeply pessimistic and almost reliant on the idea that the world is unfair, unforgiving, and filled with useless griefs.

It's actually quite a comfort, in its own dark way: it assuages some of the guilt she carries about her part in condoning / creating some of the evil / cruelty in the world. Like, the idea of she's only playing by the rules established, just looking out for number one. It takes the edge off.

That being said, despite everything, she is kind and she is hopeful. She can't not be, because what's the point in surviving if you don't hope for something worth surviving for at the end of it? She'd probably rather die than admit it, particularly to her more morally-ambiguous circle of friends, but there's an equally strong part of her that sees the good in the world and wants so desperately to be part of it. I wouldn't say she has a hero's complex, but there is a mute saviour complexー survivor's guilt turned I'm never going to let that happen again. Meeting Naruto is a big turning point for this, too, and balancing her friendships with the more straight-laced good folk of Konoha and ball of sunshine Naruto with the remnants of her more unpleasant life brings to the forefront of her psyche her difficulties with her morality.

Ultimately, she really believes that love, above all, is the most important, powerful force that can be ー as we can tell from her databook's favourite phrase, a woman's desire can pass even through rock ( and its various translations ) ー which sends her teetering to a more optimistic, almost idealistic view of the world, albeit warped slightly by the fact that love does not exist outside of the realm of cruelty, ruthlessness or unfairness.

angelica :   where does your muse draw inspiration in life ? what motivates them ?

She draws inspiration from the people in her life, mostly. She actually can be quite impressionable in some ways, absorbing the better parts of people in order to better herself. Though I don't think she consciously acknowledges this, or even would have an answer for what "inspires" her; despite her softer, more idealistic and almost spiritual side, she'd give a pragmatic answer. She might even just say "nothing inspires me". In regards to motivation, she is motivated by two dual purposes: a) to survive, no matter what ( this is mostly due to her survivor's guilt, again; if she died for something not worth dying for then it would make her village's deaths and all the things she did in Otogakure all for nothing, which is an unbearable thought ), and b) to be strong enough to protect the people she loves. She never wants to feel that kind of grief ever again. Despite her survivalist tendencies, dying for the sake of someone she wants to protect is something she doesn't deem a waste or disrespectful to all the people who died so she could live.

gladiolus :   describe a moment from your muse’s life that they will never forget .

There's a plethora of very obvious things that come to mind, but ignoring the obviousーprobably one of the few positive moments she had before Kusagakure got murked ( that still remains, albeit mostly repressed because she doesn't like to actively dwell on the past ) is when her Genin team's sensei, Touya, came to find and comfort her after she skipped a training day ( again ). She was feeling super down about herself and very lonely, with no real direction or positive future; essentially, super depressed. Touya was in his early twenties assigned to his first team, and quite frankly, a bit clueless about what to do. He wasn't really prepped to deal with like, teenage angst and bullying, more-so how to teach said angsty teenagers how to kill people efficiently.

That being said, he made an attempt. While their lives were actually functionally almost completely opposite���coming from a civilian family with "genius" intelligence and his own technique, while she came from a renowned clan but had average abilities ( yet made to feel as if it was lower than average because of how high expectations were, based on her clan's legacy )ーhe identified with the feelings of pressure and loneliness she felt, and the disconnection to her family.

Initially she rejected his attempts to comfort her, bitterly pointing out the aforementioned opposition of their lives, but he was persistent in explaining that it was precisely those differences that were important. He recognized that despite differences, empathy was possibleー he understood her, saw her, even if nobody else ( bar her mother and her younger brother, who was too young to be fully inoculated into believing otherwise ) seemed to. He saw her for more than this nebulous "potential" attached to the mythos of the Uzumaki, instead recognizing her as a complicated, anxious and frankly scared little girl, who just wanted to be appreciated for what she was.

He acknowledged her intelligence, her unique perspective, and essentially told her that he couldn't wait to see the kunoichi she grew intoー not the image that was expected of her, but the natural progression of her talents and nature, noting that her hardships made her capable of great empathy and compassion for the outliers and rejects of the world, and that was more important than anything else.

It's hard to say how much that influenced her philosophy in life, but there's just something very sacred and important in those small fragments of happiness. Of course, that only made it hurt worse when he died, since he never got to see the kunoichi she did become. Karin thinks maybe that's a good thing.

[faraway-wanderer]

QUEER YA READS happy pride month here’s a list of lots of queer YA books!!

-          The Henna Wars- Abida Jaigirdar When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants—as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. Nishat doesn’t want to hide who she is, but she also doesn’t want to lose her relationship with her family. And her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic and Nishat falls for her instantly. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realizes there might be more to her than she realized

-          Red, White and Royal Blue- Casey Mcquinston   First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

-          You should see me in a crown- Leah Johnson Liz Lighty has always believed she's too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it's okay -- Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz's plans come crashing down . . . until she's reminded of her school's scholarship for prom king and queen

-          Tell me How you Really Feel- Aminah Mae Safi Sana Khan is a cheerleader and a straight A student. She's the classic (somewhat obnoxious) overachiever determined to win.Rachel Recht is a wannabe director who's obsesssed with movies and ready to make her own masterpiece. As she's casting her senior film project, she knows she's found the perfect lead - Sana.There's only one problem. Rachel hates Sana. Rachel was the first girl Sana ever asked out, but Rachel thought it was a cruel prank and has detested Sana ever since.

-          Like a love story- Abdi Nazemian It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing.

-          I Wish You All the Best- Mason Deaver At turns heartbreaking and joyous, I Wish You All the Best is both a celebration of life, friendship, and love, and a shining example of hope in the face of adversity.

-          The Falling in Love Montage- Ciara Smyth Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out. But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms.

-          The Fascinators- Andrew Eliopulos Living in a small town where magic is frowned upon, Sam needs his friends James and Delia—and their time together in their school's magic club—to see him through to graduation.But as soon as senior year starts, little cracks in their group begin to show. Sam may or may not be in love with James. Delia is growing more frustrated with their amateur magic club. And James reveals that he got mixed up with some sketchy magickers over the summer, putting a target on all their backs.

-          The Dark Tide- Alicia Jaskina The Wicked Deep meets A Curse So Dark and Lonely in this gripping, dark fairy-tale fantasy about two girls who must choose between saving themselves, each other, or their sinking island city

-          Summer of Salt – Katrina Leno Georgina Fernweh waits with growing impatience for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has been passed down through every woman in her family. Her twin sister, Mary, already shows an ability to defy gravity. But with their eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come.

-          Sawkill Girls- Claire Legrand Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find. Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is. Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

-          The Priory of the Orange Tree- Samantha Shannon A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens. The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

-          I was Born for this- Alice Oseman For Angel Rahimi, life is only about one thing: The Ark – a pop-rock trio of teenage boys who are currently taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything – her friendships, her dreams, her place in the world. Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark too. He’s their frontman – and playing in a band is all he’s ever dreamed of doing. It’s just a shame that recently everything in his life seems to have turned into a bit of a nightmare.

-          Summer Bird Blue  Akemi Dawn Bowman- Bowman’s sophomore novel follows Rumi, a young musician plagued with grief and survivor’s guilt after her younger sister is killed in a car crash. Her mother sends her to liver with her aunt in Hawaii, and is also now mourning the loss of the music she would create with her sister and is unable to recapture her passion. As she navigates her loss, and feelings of abandonment from her mother, Rumi is also starting new relationships with neighbors, one a cute, easygoing surfer boy, and the other a irascible 80-year-old crankypants, while also becoming comfortable with her aromantic and asexual feelings.An immersive aromantic, asexual journey through grief and understanding.

-          Felix Ever after- Kacen Callender   a novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

-          The Stars and The Blackness Between Them - Junauda Petrus Audre and Mabel, Black girls who find romance just in time for everything to fall even further apart.

-          By any means necessary- Candice Montgomery By Any Means Neccesary dives into the intersection of race and sexuality through the lens of its main character, Torrey, a gay Black college student.

-          Her Royal Highness -Rachel Hawkins- When Millie Quint discovers her best friend-turned-girlfriend has been kissing someone else, she decides to get as far away from her as possible – by going to boarding school on the opposite side of the globe. The only issue? Millie’s new roomate is the actual princess of Scotland.

-          Tash Hearts Tolstoy - Kathryn Omsbee, Natasha Zelenka (Tash), is a serious fangirl of Leo Tolstoy and a rising YouTube star with her webseries Unhappy Families, a modern-day adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, and Vlog, Tea with Tash. When a famous vlogger gives a shout out to the series, it goes viral. Now she, along with the cast and crew, are finding what it means to be a hit sensation and are managing the adoration, and the trolls, coming their way. Tash, a romantic asexual, has had a long time crush on the hit vlogger star Thom, who, as her online popular grows, so does Thom’s attention. Amidst the fame and romance, Tash is also dealing with her older sister creating distance, her parents announcing a new sibling on the way, college applications, the impending end of the series, and the big “What’s next.”An asexual romantic comedy coming of age.

-          Full Disclosure- Camryn Garratt Camryn Garrett’s debut novel follows a Black, HIV-positive teen as she explores her first romantic relationship. There are few books that discuss what it’s like to live with HIV, especially those that are light, relatable, and told through the lens of a young Black girl.

-          The Black Flamingo- Dean Atta Atta pens a coming-of-age story about a boy accepting his identity as a mixed-race gay teen, but then finds a place where he belongs as a drag artist named The Black Flamingo.

-          Juniper Leaves- Jaz Joyner   Kinky-haired  Juniper Bray used to believe in magic, until she lost her best friend: her grandmother. Now this 15-year-old shy girl is headed to her father's research trip on a farm hundreds of miles away, with a family she barely knows and the opposite of a best friend, her new arch nemesis, Bree Mckinney. As if she wasn't miserable enough. Little does she know the next few months Juniper will discover magical powers she never knew she had, get a crush on a girl she never knew she'd like and well, quite frankly, save the world.

-          Crier’s War - Nina Varela ‘In a world where humans are dominated by superior Automae, one human girl called Ayla takes the role of handmaiden to the Automae Lady Crier in order to help the human rebellion. But to Ayla’s horror, she finds herself falling for Crier.’

-          Queen of Coin and Whispers  Helen Corcoran -When a teenage queen inherits her uncle’s bankrupt kingdom, she brings with her a new spymaster – a girl who only accepted the role to avenge her murdered father. But faced with enemies at every turn, the two learn to rely on no one but each other . . . though it may bring their downfall.

-          Huntress- Malinda Lo – Ill fortune has befallen the land, and two girls have been tasked with the mission of setting things right. As Kaede and Taisin journey to the city of the Fairy Queen, adventure and romance awaits.

-          This Song Is (Not) for You - Laura Nowlin- This is not your usual love triangle. Ramona has been in love with her best friend and bandmate Sam for a long time, Sam has also been in love Ramona. When Tom joins the band, he completes them. Now Ramona is starting to have feelings for Tom, and those feelings are reciprocated. Tom is a romantic asexual, whose asexuality is fully explored

-          Seven Tears at High Tide-  C.B. Lee – After Kevin Luong drops, yup, seven tears into the sea, he ends up rescuing a boy from the waters. It’s love at first sight for Morgan who, unknown to Kevin, is a Selkie.

-          Loveless -Alice Oseman- (out on the 9th July!!) Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day.As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight. But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. With new terms thrown at her – asexual, aromantic – Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.

-          The Last Beginning- Lauren James-  (you probably need to read the next together first which I HIGHLY recommend) Sixteen years ago, after a scandal that rocked the world, teenagers Katherine and Matthew vanished without a trace. Now Clove Sutcliffe is determined to find her long lost relatives.But where do you start looking for a couple who seem to have been reincarnated at every key moment in history? Who were Kate and Matt? Why were they born again and again? And who is the mysterious Ella, who keeps appearing at every turn in Clove's investigation? For Clove, there is a mystery to solve in the past and a love to find in the future, and failure could cost the world everything.

[multi-fandom-imagines8]

Fate

Part 8

Summary: You finally make a decision about what to do next.

Fate Masterlist

Word Count: 2233.

“G- get him out of my site” you couldn’t bear to look at him.

“Wait, please! H-how are you alive?” Jon couldn’t believe his eyes but at the same time, deep down he knew you were alive.

“You’re not the only one that can be brought back to life” you turned your back on him.

“That’s enough. Put him in the cell” Daenerys ordered.

—-

“How are you feeling?” Daenerys asked.

“I’m alright” you lied.

“You don’t look alright. About before, I’m s-“.

“I’m sorry for calling you a traitor. I didn’t mean it. I know you want what’s best for me” you apologized.

“And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. It’s just that I promised your father”.

“Do you think we’ll see him again?” You asked.

“I hope so. I miss him everyday. One day, we shall all be together with everyone we’ve lost”.

“That would be nice” you smiled and she hugged you.

“One more thing, Jon refuses to eat before he speaks to you” she informed you.

“Then let him starve” you sighed.

“If you want him dead, I’d be more than happy to execute him”.

“No… at least not yet. Tell him if he doesn’t eat, I’ll bring sansa’s head on a platter”.

—-

“What did he do now?” You asked as you saw Gray Worm enter your chambers.

“Your mother talked to him and he said that he doesn’t believe you’re capable of such a thing” he informed you.

“Is that so? Bring him to the throne room” you ordered.

“Right away. I’ll inform her grace”.

“No, don’t involve my mother. This is between him and me”.

“As you wish”.

---

“Y/n-“.

“Don’t speak unless spoken to. I only brought you here to tell you that whatever plan you’re conducting is not going to work. If you hope to by your family more time, you won’t succeed” you were sitting firmly on the throne.

“I’m not planning anything”.

“I said do not speak until I allow you to. If you do not comply, I’ll let Gray Worm take you back to rot in that cell. When I said I’d bring Sansa’s head on a Platter, I meant it. You don’t know me, Jon. I’ve changed. The Y/n you knew died when you killed me. You’re still alive because I don’t know what to do with you yet and by that I mean I don’t know which way to choose to make you suffer”.

“May I speak now?”.

“Go ahead”.

“I didn’t come here to fight you. I am tired of fighting. I fought and I lost. You’re angry at me, I understand. You want revenge. I’m here to try and save my family. They had nothing to do with this”.

“Nothing to do with this? Sansa betrayed me, even after I promised to make the North independent again. Brann is sitting on MY THRONE! And you say they have nothing to do with this? The Northerners are stubborn, so I know they won’t bend the knee, that’s why I’m gonna burn Winterfell to the ground and there’s nothing you can do to stop me, unless you plan on murdering me again, but I can assure you, you will fail this time”.

“Please don’t do this” he begged.

“I’m not as cruel and evil as you think I am. I am a forgiving queen. I might show you mercy and spare your life once you are on your knees and apologizing for the treason you have commited”.

“I am sorry that I killed you but I won’t apologize for doing what I thought was right. You were going to murder thounsands of people”.

“So instead you murdered an innocent life”.

“You’re not innocent”.

“I’m not talking about myself”.

He was confused and you realized you might have said more than you intended to.

“Please, if you must, take my life” be begged on his knees and closed his eyes.

“You do not want me to spare your life, do you?”.

“No, just spare my family”.

“You do not think you deserve it? Look at me” you got off your throne, approached him and lifted his chin up, so your eyes could meet.

“I am sorry. I truly am and I won’t forgive myself for what I did to you” tears started forming in his eyes.

“How could I spare your family? If I do, the North will remain loyal to them. They’ll never bend the knee. And if I kill you, your family will want to avenge you and the North would never bend the knee to me for killing their king, so tell me, how do I spare them?”.

“I- I do not know, but I’m begging you not to kill them, please!”.

You were about to say something when you saw your necklace around his neck.

“You kept it” you knelt in front of him and held the necklace.

“I wanted something to remember you by” he placed his shackled hand on yours.

“I need time to think” you removed your hand after a moment of weakness.

---

“I do not know what to do mother”.

“If seeing him pains you, I’d execute him for you. He needs to be punished after all”.

“No. I- I don’t know why but I don’t think I stopped loving him. And I hate myself for it” you admitted.

“That’s alright. If you want to forgive him it’s your choice. Sometimes it’s better to forgive than to execute people who betrayed you. But You have to know for sure if these people deserve your forgiveness. Remember Jorah betrayed me but I cared for him and I understood his reason. I punished him but he redeemed himself and I forgave him. If you want to do that, you have to be sure of it. But I will never forgive the man who murdered my only daughter and don’t expect me to be happy with that decision. Even if you eventually choose to forgive him, you have to punish him first, as a lesson and so he wouldn’t dare do it again and for all the people to know that you’re not to be messed with” she advised.

“But how can I still love him after he killed me?” You were confused with yourself.

“Love does not disappear overnight. It takes time if you let it. There’s a side of your father that I never mentioned to you before. The truth is I never wanted to marry him in the first place. He was savage, a brute and vicious. During the first few months of being married to him, I hated and feared him, but with time I started falling in love with him. Although he’s long dead, I’ve never loved a man the way I loved your father. Sure, I care about Daario but it’s not the same. Sometimes hate can turn into love but other times, love can turn into hate. Be careful, my child! That’s the only advice I can give you”.

“So, no matter the outcome, you’d be alright with it?”.

“Yes, I trust you’d make the right decision”.

---

“Y/n” Jon greeted as Grey Worm brought him to the throne room again.

“It’s your grace to you”.

“I apologize, your grace”.

“After some careful thinking, I have reached a decision. You are to become the Warden of the North after I reunite the seven kingdoms. Bran will be banished to the North and never returns South, so will Sansa. If they ever leave, they’d be executed on sight”.

“But I do-“.

“Refuse and I’ll kill your whole family. You wanted me to not kill them for their betrayal, that’s the solution. I trust you’re still the honest man you once were which is why you’ll keep your family in check”.

“What about us?”.

“Us? There’s no us. You stand under my mercy and I can take your life anytime I want. You ought to remember that. I love you but if you ever betray me again, I will rip your heart out with my bare hands and make you watch after I slaughter your whole. The only reason you are still breathing now is because of the love I hold for you, but I won’t let that love blind me again or stand in my way, do you understand?”.

“I do. I am truly sorry and thank you for showing mercy”.

“Send a letter to your brother. Tell him to stand down and return home. Send another letter to your sister and order her to surrender. I expect complete obedience from her. Tell her if she doesn’t, you will die as she watches helplessly” you ordered.

—-

When you arrived at Winterfell, everyone was on their knees but not out of love or respect but out of fear ane hatred.

“You could’ve had it all, but you betrayed me. What a shame. Now you have nothing but regret for the rest of your life” you confronted Sansa.

“I made a mistake, your grace! Please forgive me” you could see that she didn’t want to speak those words but did out of love for her brother.

“Forgiveness must be earned and you haven’t yet. You’re alive today because of the love I hold for your brother, but even that won’t keep me from executing you if you ever betray me again”.

—-

You left Winterfell without looking back. When you arrived at King's Landing, Brann was gone but Tyrion was still there along with the allies that didn’t betray you after your death. You banished Tyrion and rewarded your loyal allies with Lannister money. The rest of it you gave to the poor. You abolished brothels and made it forbidden. Any man who’d try or rape a woman was punished by death.

You went on to free the cities from tyrants and the part that came true from the prophecy was that you burnt cities to the ground that refused to surrender, free the slaves, children and women. Sometimes, you’d manage to get everyone innocent out before burning the city to the ground, other times, some innocents burn alongside the tyrants. It was unfortunate, but nothing comes without sacrifice.

After making the world a better place you returned to King’s Landing to rule.

Your mother went back to Essos with the two dragon babies, a female and a male. Missandei and Jorah, after the people you lost. You kept the other female one along with Drogon and Rhaegal. You called her Valyria after your origin. And with that, the new dragon era began.

You often felt lonely but that’s the price you had to pay to achieve peace in the realm.

You were sitting in the throne room waiting for some problem to solve or some duties to do when Grey Worm informed you that Jon’s here to see you.

“Jon, you’re back! What is it? Did something happen in the North? Need my help with anything?” You stood from the iron throne and approached him.

He immediately knelt and greeted you “your grace! No, I’m here because I don’t want to be without you. I love you with all my heart. I do not want to be away from you again. I am willing to do anything to earn your trust and love again” he expressed.

“Stand up! You’re willing to do anything? Would you live in the South?” You asked.

“For you, I would”.

“Just like that? What about your family? Your loyalty to your house?”.

“My loyalty is to you and so is my heart. Marry me!” He proposed.

“What?” You were shocked.

“Marry me. I never thought I’d say those words to anyone but I made a mistake and without you my life was miserable and I cannot imagine my life without you. So marry me or kill me, but don’t make me rule in the North without you”.

You chuckled “I loved you and that was my downfall.I won’t let my guard down this time or be fooled by you again. You should go back and next time you want to come South, you should inform me beforehand” you ordered.

“Please do not make me do this!”.

“I have to. There is something I haven’t told you about, but now that you insist on being with me, I will. I was pregnant with your child and I was going to tell you but you drove a dagger through my chest and I never got the chance to. I even thought of names, it it was a boy, I wanted to name him Eddard after the man who protected you his whole life and if it was a girl, I wanted to name her Lyanna after your mother”.

“I- I didn’t know. I am truly sorry for all the pain I’ve caused you. If I had known-“.

“You wouldn’t have killed me?”.

“I- you should punish me. I deserve it”.

“You do, which is why I just told you. Now, you’ll carry on living knowing that you murdered your unborn child. You should go back North now and rule in my stead until I believe you’ve redeemed yourself. That is your punishment".

“I will never forgive myself” tears started forming in his eyes.

“I know” you tried to stay strong.

“Then, I take my leave and wish you a long and happy life”.

“Take care, Jon” tears left your eyes as he left.

---

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