#I guess they're just dead asleep as soon as they lay down

[transfinan]

I find it so funny in the scene with eadith and the kids by the waterfall. They lie down and Uhtred is like "everyone get some sleep." and then Eadith and Uhtred IMMEDIATELY start talking. Like directly across little baby Aethelstan talking about how everyone in mercia thinks she's a whore. How tf are those kids supposed to get to sleep.

[adawasneverhere]

Reparations pt.1

(@) means the characters inner dialogue that other characters aren't capable of hearing.

July 23 2024 It was Carmen's fifth-teen birthday...It was also the day that her father Kenneth overdosed, she slept until 2:00 pm in the afternoon because Kenneth was being noisy like he usually was at that time and that's what scared her the most anytime it got this quiet he was usually away from the house, and was probably going to leave her with no explanation for three months or so, but this was worse, when she finally opened the door she found him on his back foaming at the mouth lying completely still, from the way it looked he was probably like that for hours while Carmen was asleep, the foam near his mouth was a little dried up. She felt so out of control, all she could really do was stand at the creek of her door and silently watch taking in the last moments of her dad.

Operator: "911 what's your emergency?"

Carmen: "Um.....my...."

She went silent for a moment holding the phone to her ear

Operator: "Hello?"

Operator: "Sweetie how old are you?"

Carmen: "I- I'm fifteen years old."

Carmen was stuttering over the phone

Operator: "Where do you live baby?"

Carmen: "I live at 1589 35 ave North Florida city, our-...my house was just recently painted white."

Carmen had a pace to her voice making it difficult to understand what she was saying

Operator: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, can you tell me what happened?"

Carmen: "My dad isn't moving, he's laying on the floor with dried up foam near his mouth."

She felt a knot in her throat, she felt like she was going to cry

Operator: "We're going to send officers to your location."

Operator: "Are you okay?"

Carmen: "I guess so...nothing happened to me."

Operator: "How long has he been like that?"

Carmen: "I don't know ma'am."

Operator: "Where is your mother?"

Carmen: "I'm not sure, I've never met her."

Operator: "That's okay, what's your name?"

Carmen: "Carmen Avery Maliiese."

She stopped talking because she didn't know what to say, all she could do was silently stare at her fathers cold dead body

The police sirens were getting louder

Carmen: "I think they're here now."

Operator: "If you don't mind I'd like to have a conversation with you when you get to the station, okay?"

Carmen: "Yes ma'am."

She heard a knock on the door and hung up, then she went over and opened the door

There were three officers and a paramedic standing over her all of them had a good height

Carmen: "Hi."

Paramedic: Where is he, and what is his name?

Carmen: "His name is Kenneth Maliiese, I meant was."

Carmen opened the door all the way and pointed at the figure lying flat on the floor.

Officer: "How about you have a chat with me on the curb?"

Carmen: "Alright."

She walked over and sat on the curb.

Officer: "This must be very traumatizing for you."

@ Carmen: "Well no shit."

Carmen: "Yeah."

Officer: "You seem to be very calm about this whole thing."

Carmen: "Yeah sorry, I'm just a little tired."

Officer: "How old are you?"

Carmen: "I turned fifth-teen today."

@ Carmen: Where am I going live now? Where will I sleep tonight? I swear if they put me in foster care I'm done for.

Officer: "Oh...happy birthday!"

It was very obvious that the officer was trying to hide the disappointment in their voice but Carmen didn't find it necessary to mention it.

Carmen: "Thank you."

This whole situation made her uncomfortable so she was thinking of leaving and trying her best to avoid eye contact.

Officer: "Um...how old did you turn today?"

Her mind was so scattered she forgot that they even asked her a question.

Carmen: "Oh, I'm fifth-teen now."

@ Carmen: "Right now I just need a hot shower and a nap."

Officer: "That's cool, you're going to have a sweet six-teen next year."

Carmen: "Yeah-"

She stopped talking as soon as she saw them stringing out her dad in a body bag, the officer quickly stood up and held her hand leading her to the police car.

She could hear someone talking on their walkie talkie.

Unknown: "We checked his pulse, Mr. Maliiese is dead but we still have to-"

They quick turned the volume on the walkie talkie down and started the car.

Officer: "Sorry about that."

@Carmen: "I have ballet practice tomorrow and they didn't even let me pack my bag before we left."

The car was driving as she heard the sound of sirens ringing in her ear enforcing her headache to hurt more than ever, she could see the officer nervously glancing at her through the mirror as if they where trying to figure out what was on her mind

@Carmen: "Maybe I was a bad person in my past life, today has to be the worst day to have a deadbeat mom, I should just play subway surfers so I can get my mind off of this."

She pulled out her phone and played subway surfers to get her mind off of things but her thoughts just kept getting louder and louder

After several minutes the car finally stopped at the police station and all she could hear was this reoccurring buzzing of a fly in her ear, there were no flies to be seen though, she began to thing that it was all in her head

She sat in the empty room they left her in a vacant room, she gazed around the room it had no decor only a loud inaccurate clock on the wall

All of a sudden the door barged open, Carmen saw a woman in her thirties that looked well put together in a work wear outfit with straight tied up hair, it perplexed her but she didn't let it show on her face

Operator: Hi Carmen, I was the person talking to you over the phone. My name is Quinn, do you have anyone to stay with while we rearrange you living situations?

@Operator: I just wanted to see her face at least once, why did I even make the suggestion to interview her when she came to the station? Of course this is my baby, She looks exactly like Kenny.

Carmen: Hi.

*Quinn just took a moment to stare at her in silence, all she could think about was Kenny, Carmen looked exactly like him except as a girl, she had his face, his long legs, his awkward mannerisms, the only feature she had that didn't line up with Kenny was her eyes. Carmen had her mothers dark brown almond shaped eyes, they were so dark that they nearly looked black. Quinn just could't help but stare until she finally came back to reality, Carmen tilted her head a little to meet her eyes*

Carmen: Are you okay ma'am?

*Quinn felt like her mind was going to explode*

Quinn: Yep.

*she was nodding frantically like a crazy person*

Carmen: Oh okay...

*Carmen started avoiding eye contact again*

Operator/Quinn: Can you think of anyone you could stay with tonight?

*Carmen thought about one of the girls she was friends with in her ballet class but disregarded that idea right away because she didn't want to be a pain in the ass*

Carmen: Nope,not really.

Operator/Quinn: You don't have at least one friend?

*There was no response Carmen just stared at her blankly*

@Carmen: Did I not just give her an answer?

Operator/Quinn: Okay, well there's someone your dad listed as your godfather named August Jones, should I call him to pick you up?

@Carmen: I mean that's the only option...

Carmen: Sure, I guess...

Operator/Quinn: Okay, do me a favor and go wait down the hall for me while I call him.

*Quinn gave her a half smile but she could see that she didn't really want to smile at her, she just left in silence walking down the hall and taking one of the empty seats, there was an elderly woman over the counter who took a peak at her.*

*after 30 minutes or so Quinn came over saying that she called her godfather*

Like him- By Tyler the creator featuring Lola Young

[casspurrjoybell-25]

Skating on Thin Ice - Chapter 42 - Part 2

*Warning - Adult Content*

Elijah Ellis

It was no use waiting around for Joshua to get out of bed, so the four of us ate breakfast without him.

Joshua tended to sleep like the dead at times and after we got in late last night, he would probably sleep for a few more hours.

I had planned to do the same but my internal clock wasn't on the same page.

Once I was done with breakfast, I showered and got dressed, trying not to stare at my phone waiting for Fox to text or call.

It didn't take long for my cell-phone to ring with his name popping up.

"Hey," I answered.

"Are you on house arrest?" he asked.

I laughed.

"No, are you?"

"No, come over," Fox insisted, his tone light.

"I'll be there in a little bit."

"Okay, be careful driving. I know how you are," Fox said, his tone serious.

"You're rude," I told him, to which he just chuckled.

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

I hadn't even thought to ask him if he had come out to his parents yet before we hung up.

I didn't have time to dwell on it as I said goodbye to my parents and drove over to Fox's house.

When I got to his house, he had opened the front door before I had even gotten out of the car as if he had been watching out the window to wait for me.

"Glad to see you made it here in one piece," Fox greeted me, stepping aside so I could enter the house.

The bruises on his face were healing but the one under his eye remained dark.

It looked painful but I didn't want to bring any attention to it.

"I'm not as bad as a driver as you think I am," I told him with a pointed look.

"I haven't crashed yet."

"It's only a matter of time," he retorted, leading me up the stairs and into his bedroom.

I shook my head at him, not even bothering to respond as I sat down on his bed.

Fox took that opportunity to sit down on my lap, his legs straddling my hips, and nudge me backward so that I was flat on my back.

He laid his head down on my chest and my hand found its way into his hair.

"Are your parents home?" I asked, stroking the top of his hair.

"No," he mumbled against my shirt, his fingers tapping my chest.

"They're supposed to be home soon though. They're getting stuff for tonight because they're having friends over."

"Did you tell them yet?" I wondered.

"No," he muttered.

"I may or may not be nervous."

Fox kept his head down on my chest as he said this.

I knew it was hard for him to admit his nerves since he always seemed to be so confident and sure of himself.

Even though he knew his parents would love him no matter what, it didn't change the fact that this was a big deal to him and the aftermath of coming out to them scared him.

That was what insecurity did to a person.

"You want me to be there when you tell them?" I guessed and his fingers went still on my chest.

"If you want to be there," Fox answered.

"I want to be there if you want me to be there."

Fox chuckled, his fingers moving to draw circles over my shirt.

"Okay."

I felt him relax against me.

His body wasn't as stiff and he allowed his body to mold into mine more easily.

It must have been at least an hour that the two of us stayed in that position, Fox's breathing evening out as if he had fallen asleep.

I knew he hadn't because he continued moving his fingers up and down my abdomen.

Fox's head perked up a bit when we heard the front door open and close downstairs, signaling that his parents were home.

I felt his body stiffen and I placed a comforting hand on his back.

He sat up, his legs still on either side of my hips while I continued laying down while I looked up at him.

He sighed, standing up and holding his hand out for me to take.

Fox pulled me up off the bed and started toward his bedroom door.

"Might as well get this over with," he said, opening the door and motioning for me to follow him.

[zoeykallus]

Crosshair – My Beloved Enemy 13 – A Helping Hand

Crosshair x Female!Reader (FF)

Warning: A little Angst, I guess. Slight Fluff and Comfort.

Author's Comment:

------

Okay, I know that the clones have been provided with an acceleration of aging. But! I just imagine that as soon as they are no longer treated, fed, etc. by the Kaminoans, the effect wears off. That means our boys age normally, as a human being should. In other words, they're not old men in this fic, just a few years older than they were at the time of Order 66. And even though I'm crossing timelines here, I don't really care. If any of you are itching, I'll gladly scratch your back, but Crosshair and co are not old men in my fic. Sue me :P -------

What Happened Before:

Part 1 - Crash Landing

Part 2 - Hot And Cold

Part 3 - Hello Kitten

Part 4 - Look Who’s Back

Part 5 - Rebel Darling

Part 6 - Burning Anger

Part 7 - Love And Pain

Part 8 - A Difficult Reunion

Part 9 - The Bitter Taste Of Blood And Failure

Part 10 - Where The Dead Ships Dwell

Part 11 - A Lonely Firefly In Space

Part 12 - Broken Wings

Part 13 - A Helping Hand

In artificial gravity, the pain seemed even worse and you kept drifting in and out of a kind of unconsciousness that your body was trying to force on you. Rex carried you very carefully, yet every step while he carried you was like someone trying to break the ribs out of your body.

Whining softly, you bit your lower lip to keep from being too loud. You didn't want to seem snivelly.

"It's okay ad'ika, I know how painful broken ribs are," he said quietly, laying you down very carefully on his bunk in his little converted gunship.

"I wish Kix was here," he spoke softly, more to himself than to you.

Dazed with pain, you asked, "Who is Kix?"

Rex smiled sadly as he answered, "One of my brothers, he was a medic."

You wanted to ask him more questions about this, but you needed your concentration at the moment to keep from screaming as he carefully cut you out of the suit. He couldn't take the suit into consideration and he couldn't take it off you normally without torturing you, so he cut the thing open without further ado.

He had already taken the helmet off of you. Rex cut the suit with a knife he was carrying from your collar to your crotch carefully so as not to hurt you and folded the material aside like a pelt. Carefully he reached for your shirt and pushed it up a bit.

The right side of your rib cage was already turning dark blue.

"That looks bad"

"We can treat that later, we need to get the boys out of here or they'll run out of oxygen," you said seriously.

"But-"

"Rex" you looked at him pleadingly "Please. That's the only reason I was out there in the first place. We need to save your brothers, there's probably not much you can do for me right now anyway."

Rex sighed, but nodded. He gave you another painkiller before hurrying into the cockpit.

As the painkiller began to take effect, you fell asleep, for the moment finally largely relieved of the pain, at least temporarily. You were with Rex, you knew you were safe, you could rely on him.

You heard voices talking softly to each other as you slowly regained consciousness. You opened your eyes and saw Crosshair sitting next to you. He was holding your hand and looking at you with concern.

"Hey, Kitten, how are you feeling?"

It took a brief moment before you could speak.

"Broken, but alive," you said softly.

He sighed, more or less relieved.

"For a moment I thought I had lost you when you were suddenly torn from my sight. I saw the wreckage coming too late, tangled with your line," he spoke, lowering his gaze.

You gently squeezed his hand that was holding yours and said, "It wasn't your fault."

Hunter and Rex appeared in your field of vision.

"Thank God" you said so relieved that you almost cried when you saw Hunter "So you made it".

The sergeant nodded.

"A civilian freighter was kind enough to pick us up and take us to Bespin, where we are for the moment."

You looked around and only now really realized that you seemed to be in a well-lit sickbay.

"We had a little help from someone who was supplied by said freighter" Rex noted.

"Thanks Rex, none of us could have done it without you," you said with a smile.

Rex was about to wave you off with a smile when Tech said from the background, "Theoretically, Crosshair could have made it, but he would have dragged your dead body through space with him, and in the event of an atmospheric entry, you would have burned up and burnt to dust."

You frowned.

"Even if I didn't know that voice, I would know immediately who made that macabre remark" you said dryly.

"Sorry," he said meekly.

Crosshair, stroked your hair gently, he still looked worried, what had happened seemed to have affected him more than you had thought. He must have really thought he was going to lose you, you'd never seen him like that, at least not when others were around.

"So who helped us?" you asked, trying to sit up.

Crosshair gently but firmly pushed you back onto the pillow.

"Lie still Kitten, your treatment isn't over yet".

"I did that," you heard the answer to your question.

Hunter and Rex took a step to the side and a young man came into your field of vision. His skin was dark as chocolate, his clothes looked expensive and classy. He had a winning, mischievous smile on his lips and a saucy glint in his eye.

"Lando Calrissian, always at your service, lovely lady".

You could see Crosshair biting his tongue, this man had saved your life and his brothers, which was the only reason he didn't give in to his jealousy when Lando cheekily took your hand from his to give you a kiss on the hand.

With a surprised blink you introduced yourself "Y/N, very pleased to make your acquaintance. We are very grateful for your help."

He waved you off and said, "It's nothing".

Lando escorted you and Crosshair to another room in the infirmary where you would spend the next two days mainly in a bacta tank to heal the broken ribs. You had been changed by the sickbay staff earlier, for the tank. A medical droid helped you into the tank while Crosshair watched with wary eyes.

Lando who was standing next to him and saw how tense he seemed to be said, "She is in good hands and safe here my friend, if you wish you can join your brothers and help them with the repairs."

Tech and Echo were in a private hangar owned by Lando, they were trying to get the Marauder up to shape again in there.

"Tech and Echo got this covered, I'm staying here".

Lando raised a brow and finally asked, "Are you two um... together?"

Crosshair growled, "My name is Crosshair, like my tattoo and the necklace Y/N wears around her neck. Take a wild guess."

Lando chuckled unperturbed.

"That you have feelings for her I could tell right away, I just wasn't sure if you were really a couple".

"We are," Crosshair returned curtly.

He sighed and said, "Thank you for treating her here, she was in a lot of pain".

Lando nodded and said quietly, "It's hard to see the ones we love suffer pain."

Crosshair nodded, and saw you lying in the tank, your eyes were closed, probably you were still tired from the painkillers he thought. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to the tank, crossing his arms in front of his chest and letting his eyes roam the room as if he were the gatekeeper of your bacta tank.

Lando smiled and said, "Let me know if you need anything," and left the infirmary.

Hunter, Rex and Wrecker were off with Rex's ship to get spare parts while Tech and Echo took another look at the damage and started fixing the things that could be fixed without spare parts.

The Marauder looked bad, in fact it had never looked that bad before and it hurt Tech's soul to see it like that.

This ship was more than just a ship, it was practically his home, his refuge, a weapon and an escape vehicle. It was so much more than the naked eye could see. To each of them, but especially to Tech, the Marauder was practically part of the family.

Echo said thoughtfully, "I still don't understand what happened. The connection between the two ships should not have broken, everything was maintained and connected correctly, I'm sure of it."

Tech nodded slowly and replied, "Actually, I was sure of that too. But it did indeed tear open, however I wonder why. The material was fine, no signs of exhaustion, neither technical nor human failure makes sense. Y/N didn't try to disconnect while we were in hyperspace, she wouldn't do something that stupid."

Echo shrugged uncertainly and interjected, "Ever thought of Crosshair?"

Tech looked at him critically.

"Crosshair may be a lot of things, but he's not a saboteur. Besides, he would never put himself or Y/N in danger. Did you see how upset he was when he saw her so motionless and badly injured?"

Echo nodded.

"I know," he said quietly " I have to say I'm surprised at how open he is with her. Usually Crosshair was very closed off. But the thought just came up anyway"

Tech sighed. He knew that the past with Crosshair would stay in their memory for a long time, but he was sure, Crosshair would never put you in danger like that.

He picked up his scanner to do another analysis, this time an even more thorough one, and looked intently at the data that was gradually appearing on the display.

"This doesn't look good," Tech said suddenly, very seriously.

He pored over an evaluation of his scanner, vigorously and thoughtfully adjusting his goggles. What he had just found was troubling, to say the least.

"What exactly do you mean?" asked Echo who was in the process of fixing a cable connection for him.

Tech held out his scanner to him with a somber look and said, "I found traces of purposefully placed explosives in the damage scan. The accident we had was notan accident."

Echo looked up from the scanner into his brother's face.

"But who would sabotage us in this way?"

Tech sighed, "I don't know, we've made a few enemies over the years that probably wouldn't back down from something like that. But I honestly can't tell you who specifically that might have done."

Echo said seriously, "We should let Crosshair know right away, maybe whoever did this followed us."

Tech nodded.

"I'll go to Crosshair and you send a message to Hunter".

"I'm sure he won't get it right away, probably on the way back" Echo noted.

Tech said seriously, "Let's hope that by then it might not be too late."

@twinkofthedink

@tazmbc1

@kristinainspace

@ladykatakuri @inthemoshpitt

@whore4rex

@rexandechosandwich @anndraco0523

@revan-posting

@dwarfnip

@ben-is-a-hoe

@ttzamara

@ilikemymendarkandfictional

[resident-leevil-old]

okay well anyways somebody asked me if i felt like talking about my raccoon city survivors au with mia and ethan again and the answer is YES.

> AU MINI FACTS <

- Ethan's mother died while giving birth.

- Ethan Winters and his father moved into Raccoon City when Ethan was a baby, around 3-4 years old.

- Ethan trans ftm because im trans and i said so.

- Mia trans mtf because im trans and i said so.

- Ethan & Mia are childhood friend to lovers in this au.

- Ethan's father worked for Umbrella, and Mia's father worked for the Connections while her mother also worked for Umbrella.

- Mia was born in Texas, but her family moved to Raccoon City after she was born. They still owned property in Texas, though.

- Mia & Carlos are related because I said so.

- so yknow the "dude its been three years" guy? that's their childhood friend and his name is Kyde because i said so.

- Albert Wesker Personally was ordered by Spencer to kill those scientists btw.

- a lot of this au is because i said so tbh

> AU SUMMARY <

Ethan Winters, Mia Oliviera, and Kyde Wells work together to survive six days of the Raccoon City Outbreak. In the process they uncover secrets and encounter many obstacles that just nearly cost them their lives.

> CHAR.BGROUND <

ETHAN W, SR - A scientist who worked for Umbrella. He lost his wife during the birth of his child E///// Winters. Struggling with the death of his wife and the harsh decline of his mental health, he began to experiment with viruses and vaccines in an attempt to bring his wife back, even using his child as a subject at certain points due to the child having strong genes from the mother. He acknowledged that he was a horrid father, but justified his actions by claiming he would bring back a better mother. He thought of Albert Wesker as a friend, and told him the truth of his research.

ETHAN W, JR - A quiet 14 year old that had a hard time making friends. Due to experiments from his father, Ethan is a culmination of infections and viruses that each impact him in different ways. As he grew up Ethan refrained from talking too much as to not interrupt his father's work, causing him to become selectively mute.

MIA OLIVIERA - Younger sister of Carlos Oliviera. Mia skipped a grade due to her intelligence and advanced knowledge on many things kids her age normally didn't. She very easily got sick as a child, though she seemed to outgrow it as she got older. She was schooled both at home and at school before the outbreak. She shared classes with Ethan Winters (Jr) and Kyde Wells.

KYDE WELLS - A friend of Ethan & Mia, known for his cowardice. Kyde has a heavy sense of self preservation, but a weighted sense of compassion as well. He only ever has risked himself for his two friends.

JAMES HARISON - Mia's father. He worked for the Connections as a scientist and a researcher. Harison and his wife often exchanged information they learned from their jobs, aiming to and succeeding at "fixing" their daughter's proneness to viral sicknesses.

MARISA OLIVIERA - Mia's mother. He worked for Umbrella as a researcher. Oliviera and her husband often exchanged information they learned from their jobs, aiming to and succeeding at "fixing" their daughter's proneness to viral sicknesses.

JAKE VERANO - An Umbrella worker who had been trapped in the underground facility for a week, listening to the sound of his coworkers being eaten alive. Unstable because of his experience, he tries to create a cure using the intel of Ethan W (SR).

> FULL AU <

[September, 25, 1998.]

Ethan Winters walked home from school when his father failed to pick him up. He walked through the streets, paying no mind to a big fight breaking out near him. On the way home, he meets up with his friend Kyde who had also been walking home. They talk and walk together for a bit, before splitting up.

When Ethan arrived home, he noticed the front door of his house had been opened slightly. Confused, but wary, he entered the house, knowing it was uncharacteristic for his father to forget the door was open.

He entered the living room, and found his father laying on the ground dead, shot twice in the head, having just been killed moments prior. Ethan moved over to his father, before Albert Wesker walked out of his father's office.

Ethan barely has much time to react to him, overwhelmed by his own panic and the death of the only adult in his life. Wesker - wanting no witnesses - shoots him three times in the chest, and leaves under the impression the child is dead for good.

Ethan Winters dies for the first time that evening.

[September, 27, 1998]

For the past two days, Mia and her parents have been barricaded in their home, unable to leave safely. Mia sat in her room for most of the time, unable to look out of the windows due to boards covering them. During those two days Mia tries to call Ethan and Kyde several times in hopes that they were safe. Neither of them answer.

Until this day, the 27th, at 2:00 am, when she calls Ethan. And he answers.

{TRANSCRIPT OF THEIR CALL:}

Ethan: h-hello?

Mia: [Ethan]! You're alive! Are you okay?

Ethan: I'm breathing. [Pause] I'm breathing. You okay?

Mia: I'm boarded up in my house, we can't leave safely. Everything is a mess. I'm so glad you're alive, [Ethan]. Are you safe? I'm guessing you're safe.

Ethan: Not sure. Not sure. Find you soon, here alone. Alone.

Mia: Alone? What happened? Where's your dad?

Ethan: [Pause.] [Loud sound in the distance.]

Mia: [Ethan]? Are you okay?

Ethan: [Dial tone.]

Mia speaks with her parents about the call, expressing worry about her friend. She spends a while trying to convince her parents that Ethan may be alive (purposefully omitting the dial tone) and need their help. Finally, they agree, and at 12 pm, they head out with all the resources they could gather.

Managing to stay out of sight, the family make it to the Winters' household. They find Ethan hiding in his bedroom, one infected laying in the hallway with a pole through its head and Ethan's father laying in the living room dead.

They rescue Ethan, and flee from the house. Mia's parents explain that they need to evacuate the city, but that they wouldn't be able to drive, so they'd have to move on foot. They returned to their house and rested for the night.

[September, 28, 1998]

The family and Ethan head out again, this time aiming to evacuate the city. After several close encounters with large groups of infected, the kids and Mia's parents are unfortunately separated. Given instructions by her parents, Mia leads Ethan through the city, having to take detours due to infected blocking pathways.

Eventually, during the night, they run into Kyde, who has lost his parents trying to escape the city. The three of them take refuge in an empty abandoned house, and rest for the walk in the morning.

Ethan sits up for a while, thinking about what happened to him, and trying to figure out how to explain it to his friends. Eventually he falls asleep, unable to figure it out. In the morning they head out again.

[September, 29-30, 1998]

During another detour taken due to large groups of infected, Ethan is kidnapped by a man in a white lab coat.

Mia & Kyde go after them, refusing to leave Ethan behind. They manage to find him after roughly half a day had passed.

Ethan had been in a hysterical state and through tears he explains to Mia and Kyde what had happened to him in his house a few days ago, confessing that he had died and revived two days later. He warns the two of them that whatever Jake, the white lab coat man, did to him, it made him dangerous and unstable.

Mia and Kyde refused again to leave him behind, and spend hours gathering information from files and research left scattered around. They manage to make Something that was able to calm him down and cleanse what they had learned had been called the "T-virus" from his body.

As soon as Ethan had woken up again, they fleed the facility, Mia & Kyde both making sure he didn't collapse on the way.

[October, 1, 1998]

They don't stop running when they're out. A broadcast goes out saying that the city will be blown up in four hours due to being unable to contain the outbreak. The three of them realize they won't be able to get out if they take anymore detours unless they find a vehicle with gas in it and a clear road to drive on.

Three hours later, out of options, nearly to the city boarder, and faced with another group of infected blocking the only straight shot out, they decide to risk a run through. However, just as they were pushing through, a helicopter flew overhead and spotted them. Calling to them, the pilot tells them to attempt making it up a building nearby if they could.

Through pure bullshittery and luck, they manage to make it up, and they board the helicopter. Just as it begins to take flight, the city starts to blow up bit by bit. In the distance, they see other helicopters flying.

> AFTER THE AU <

Mia and her parents reunite, her parents having managed to get out before the children did. Kyde goes to live with his relatives in Texas, and Ethan is offered to live with them as well.

Mia's parents move back to their texas home, and everyone who had been in the city were given therapy. Eventually the three grow up and graduate from highschool, and move on to other things, never once separating.

The three of them eventually move into a single house together in California, and some time after that Mia and Ethan get married. And for a while they live happily

And then, Mia witnesses Ethan having some sort of attack in the middle of the night one time, and realizes that he hadn't been completely cured of whatever had been infecting him in the city at all, and that it had only gone dormant for some years. While he wasn't vicious or attacking anyone, Ethan had just been really plagued and didn't even remember the fits that only seemed to happen every other night.

Out of worry and fear, Mia begins to work for the Connections, hoping there was something she could learn from them in order to help her husband finally be cured. And years after, RE7 began.

And THAT, my friends, is my Raccoon City Survivors au with the Winters, also known as Raccoon City Winters.

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

White Lies (Pt. 03 of 21)

Pairing: Keanu Reeves X Reader

Word count: 1.7 K

Summary: Keanu found the girl almost dead, in the wrecks of what was once her car. While she was in surgery, stuck in a coma, he gathered the best doctors of New York to attend to her. They told him she is likely to have some kind of brain damage, what may lead to memory loss. And this possibility added up wit the fact that she's pregnant, made the council come up with an odd idea. They asked Keanu to pretend to be her husband, since the stress of finding out everything that happened could put the baby in danger. He reluctantly agreed, but only if she does has some kind of memory loss. He still goes she'll wake up soon, with her memories intact.

But when you finally wake up, there's nothing inside. You're quick to find your head is empty, void, like a blank canvas. The only thing that brings you some relief, that makes you feel less lonely is the mention of a husband. And you can't wait to meet him, because you know you can't deal with this by yourself.

<- Previous part (02)

Next part (04)->

{Keanu Reeves Masterlist}

{John Wick Masterlist}

×

Keeping The Promise

Smiling, you listen to Mrs. Ellyne stories. It's been a week since you woke up, and three days ago they told you to take walks around the hospital every once in a while. And that's how you met Mrs. Katherine Ellyne, eighty-four years old, staying here to treat a broken leg. She's the one distracting you when Keanu is out to rest and eat, or in a meeting with your doctors. She's very kind, and you enjoy listening to her.

Seated in the small cafeteria, which is empty at the moment, you give her all your attention as she tells you about her High School sweetheart. You wonder if you had any crushes back then, but it's useless to try. So far, nothing came back. Not even a flash, as Dr. Harris said it could happen. Maybe a dream, she said, but when you fall asleep, everything you see it's the hospital, Keanu, and the doctors. Everything else is blank.

“(Y/N)?” Someone calls, and you recognize Dr. Wright's voice. Turning at him, you mutter a ‘good morning’. “There's someone here to see you. But you must be sure you feel fine.”

Furrowing your eyebrows, you give a glance to Mrs. Ellyne, saying goodbye before standing up. “Who is it?” You ask, walking over him.

“Her name is Laura. She's a friend of yours.”

Laura. Keanu told you about her. “Alright. Let's do this.” Nodding, you start following him through the hospital.

Laura has been your friend since Elementary school, and, even though she moved away for High School, you never lost contact. You didn't know why Keanu was telling you all this yesterday, but now you do. He wanted you to know at least something before meeting up with her.

When you enter your room, a very worried woman with teary eyes stands up from the couch. There was a spark of hope in your heart, that her long, blond hair and green eyes will bring something back. That her face would somehow feel familiar. It doesn't.

“(Y/N).” She mumbles, running to pull you into a hug. It hurts a little, despite the medication you've been taking for the pain. But you don't complain, hugging her back. “I can't believe it, honey. I'm so sorry.” She cries, and you don't know what to do. “I should've come sooner but the doctors told me it was too soon and–”

“It's alright.” You assure her, offering a small smile when you pull away. “Everything is... Complicated.”

“You... You don't... Recognize me, do you?” She stutters, wiping some tears away.

Shaking your head no, you look down. “I'm sorry.” It doesn't take much for you to realize you want Keanu. You don't know what to do, what to say. Laura is breaking down, and it's your fault. And you just don't know what to do.

“My God.” She says, a hand covering her mouth. You notice when her eyes fall on your belly. She knows, of course she does. Keanu did say you two are pretty close. Or were pretty close.

“Don't worry. I'm... I'm alright.” Assuring her, you turn around when you listen to the door opening. A wave of relief washes over you when you see Keanu. Smiling at him, you gesture at Laura. “Uhm... Hi. This is Laura.” Your head hurts badly, and you're not sure what to do. “Laura, this is Keanu, my husband.”

“Oh my.” She exclaims, and you remember who Keanu is. “It's really him.”

“Didn't you know I was married to him?” Furrowing your eyebrows, you ask her.

“I-I did. Of course, I did.” She speaks fast, and her nervousness takes you by surprise. She must be a fan. “But I've never met him in person, I... You lived in Miami and only now you came to New York so...”

“Alright.” Nodding, you exchange a glance with Keanu. “Do you want... A selfie or something?” You're not sure if you can even offer her that, but you're lost here. Taking a deep breath, you move to the bed to sit down because the room is starting to spin around.

“Oh, no.” She bursts out, speaking fast. “Not in a hospital at least.” Laura stands there awkwardly as Keanu comes to your side. “So you two... Are you two alright?”

Laura sounds weird, and you want to ask what's wrong. She probably doesn't know what to do, seeing you in this situation. And neither do you. “We're doing fine,” Keanu answers before you can, glancing at Laura. “Actually I have good news.”

“What is it?” Looking at him, you move up on the bed, resting your back against the headboard.

“You'll be discharged tomorrow.” He says in a low voice, putting a strand of hair behind your ear. “And we'll be going home.”

“Finally.” You say, unable to describe how happy you are to finally leave the hospital.

(Y/N) couldn't even begin to understand the feeling her smile provokes in his heart. Keanu has to control himself not to touch her, to take her hand, caress her cheek. He's caught among too many confusing feelings. He doesn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, but maybe she's expecting him to be more intimate, since to her, they're married. But he knows it's a lie, and he knows he shouldn't be too touchy with her. It's a constant fight between his morals and the agreement he made of looking after her.

“I'll leave you two to talk.” He says, giving her a small smile before walking away.

“Tell me how you're feeling,” Laura asks just as he's closing the door.

Keanu needs to talk, and, as much as he doesn't want to, he has to find Dr. Harris. He's still uncertain about this whole marriage idea, and part of him will blame her if this backfires. But she's one of the best psychologists in New York, and he has to trust her to do what's best for (Y/N).

It takes a while, a little more than thirty minutes for her to enter her office, where Keanu has been waiting. He's bouncing his legs nervously, hands resting on his lap. He lets everything out to her, all his worries. He's taking (Y/N) to his house, a place she believes to be her home. What is he supposed to do? Sleep on the same bed? Give her some space? Let her set the pace? But what is she's counting on him to do that?

“Mr. Reeves, you're thinking too much.” Dr. Harris says, taking her glasses off and lying them on the table before her. “I need you to have a clear head about this. If she suspects and figures out, it could be too hard on her. She's still recovering and it could endanger the child.” Keanu leans forward, both hands running through his hair. “I know it's a lot to ask of you, Mr. Reeves, but you agreed. And I don't think we can end things just now. She could–”

“Everything I want is for her to get well. But this... I'm lying to her.” He raises his voice, angry, worried. Too much depends on him now, and if he does something wrong, something that could affect her in any way, he'd never forgiven himself. He just needs to know how to do things right. “Damn it, she thinks I'm her husband. She thinks I'm the father of her child. This isn't fair. She's trusting me.” He punches the table before getting up.

“Mr. Reeves, we can call this off of you want.” She sighs, and Keanu paces around the room. He can't do it. It isn't right. She needs her true husband, the one who's dead.

Shaking his head, Keanu's thoughts are racing. Closing his eyes, her image comes to his mind. When he first saw her, how she cried and hugged him. The promises he made, that he'd be by her side through the process. And the pregnancy. He couldn't call this off now, he couldn't leave her alone. “I got this.” He says, leaving the office and letting the door close with a loud thud behind him.

Right now, he hates Dr. Harris. He hates Dr. Wright and everyone who put him in this position. But it's not because of him. It's because of her. Keanu can't believe what he's doing to her. He's betraying her. And he can't even imagine what will happen when she remembers. When this lie is torn apart. She'll hate him, and he can't blame her for doing so.

Stopping by her room, his hand on the door handle, Keanu looks through the square window. (Y/N) is seated on the bed, with Laura caressing her stomach. She's smiling, and if anyone else looks, they'd never guess what she's going through. He didn't even notice the smile on his lips, lighting up his features. She's so beautiful, he can't deny that. And he can't stop looking.

Slowly, making sure to make his presence known, he opens the door and walks in.

“You have to start thinking about names,” Laura says, both the girl's eyes laying on him. But Keanu's attention is on her alone.

“I couldn't know.” She mutters, eyes on him. “Do we have anything in mind yet?” As she speaks, Keanu moves closer to her, making up his mind. He would let her choose the names, obviously. He wouldn't make any decisions for her. It's her child. Her voice is so sweet, so soft... It makes his heart beat a little faster.

“Not yet.” He answers, standing beside her.

“Alright.” (Y/N) smiles, turning her attention back at her friend.

The two women engage in another conversation, and he moves to the couch. Keanu tries to focus on his phone, but eventually, his eyes are attracted to her. Laura manages to make her laugh, and the sound is sweet, like a song. He's still staring when (Y/N)'s eyes meet his. She furrows her eyebrows a little, her smile getting a little brighter. Keanu couldn't help but sigh.

He knows it suddenly, that he'll do everything he can to help her. And when it's over, it's over. But until then, he'll keep his promise. He'll stand by her.

×

@multific @inumorph @aestheticallywinchester @bvbwestfall @liviiii98 @allie1804-fan @gian-giannina @playboygeniusphilanthropist @partypoison00

[echo-three-one]

Chapter 40

THE ROAD SO FAR

It's not that hard to say goodbye. But it's really sad for the notable few who enjoyed it.

The SIXth Ship

"Alex"

Sierra Leone, Africa

"Echo 3 - 1 to Hunter One One. We have confirmed the presence of a suspected SAM Turret. Advising not to deploy air support until it's down, over." Alex muttered over the radio as he lowered his scope.

"Copy that, Three One. We'll stand by for your go signal." Roach replied as Alex signaled his team to move forward, covering Alpha Team's six.

"This place is suspiciously quiet." Price muttered over comms.

"It's 5 am. Bad guys probably needed sleep too." Alex commented, scoping on what's head of Team Alpha.

"Well, I want Volt awake, so I could beat Nero's location out of him." Price spat.

"Guardhouse on the east. Single guard, fast asleep."Alex shot his suppressed rifle as the guard dropped to the ground.

"Good Night."

"I'm hearing an engine starting on our east." Soap whispered as Alex turned his scope east. There was indeed a truck load of food arriving at their base.

"Civilian delivery truck." Alex warned.

"Let him pass. He'll notice the dead guard and run." Price predicted and it actually happened as the innocent driver sped off away from the base.

"How long till he calls the cops?" Alex asked.

"Never. France already bribed the guy." Soap answered.

"What?" Alex was puzzled.

"Welcome to Africa." Soap chuckled and they hid into the supply truck while Price drove inside.

"Alright, we're in. Soap and France should plant charges on SAMs and Comms. Once their alarm rings we light things up." Price ordered as Alex's team advanced and circled the perimeter, protecting the gates.

"Where could Volt be hiding?" Alex asked.

"Could be anywhere. This base has lots of buildings." Rocket replied not far behind him.

"There are also six ships by the dock. He could be in one of those." Royce added.

"Alpha Team, we've got movement on your six. Looks like they're looking for their supply drop. They're by the truck and unloading their supplies." Alex warned as the three remained quiet.

"Tango by the guard house down." Rocket confirmed his kill as the body dropped on the ground.

"They're about to discover their dead allies. Prepare for the alarm!" Alex roared as their alarm system activated, dozens of troops from their camps emerged carrying weapons.

"Shit! I'm taking sniper fire by the rooftops!" Soap yelled over comms. Bravo team immediately turned their sights to the rooftops and took down the snipers with ease.

"There's no sign of Volt here. He must've woken up early. Rendezvous with me by the tower." Price muttered.

"Sir. This is Meat from Charlie Team. We've confirmed movement on the docks. No positive ID of Volt yet."

"Copy that meat. Proceeding to the docks." Price said as gunfire echoed through his comms.

"Seeing multiple reinforcements from the gate!" Alex alerted as they attempted to shoot down armored cars loaded with more enemies.

"Alex! This area is compromised!" One of his allies suggested as smoke started to cover their forest.

"Shit! We'll have to meet up with them inside! Change to assault weapons and advance to the gate. You two cover our six using thermals." The two nodded as Alex switched to his assault rifle, advancing towards the gate, taking down reinforcements as they arrived.

"Price? Soap? France? Sitrep?" He roared through comms as his team was now barraged with heavy fire as they hid for cover.

"This is Bravo Six. I made my way inside the last ship. Looks like he's trying to escape. France and Soap are by the docks taking heavy fire. I'll handle Volt from here. You hold out for extraction. It looked like we didn't have a choice." Price said.

Alex felt the heat of the explosion as the ground shook. Soap had detonated the charges they set and help was on the way.

"Roach!" Soap sounded hurt.

"Way ahead of you!" Roach said as the air support bombarded the base with grenade shells, blasting every enemy away as the ground troops recovered.

"Reloading for another round. Stand by." He said as the plane circled back.

"Okay team! Their numbers have reduced. Let's finish this." Alex informed his bravo team as they finished off the remaining waves of enemies, which were too resourceful as they also had attack hyenas, something they didn't expect.

"These dogs are furious!" One commented as they entered the gates, securing the whole base or what's left of it, for valuable intel.

"Echo Three One to Actual. Jack, it looked like they cleaned this place already."

"Actual to Three One. Looks like it. I guess their getaway ship had all his latest work."

"Charlie team found a way to follow them. Bravo team resume recon on the five ships." Jack commanded and the rest followed

"Copy that, Actual. Proceeding towards the ships with caution." Alex replied as they carefully pressed deeper into the base toward the pier. Alex wondered how many piers and ships had been involved on his missions. Looks like Nero doesn't trust air travel.

The ships were rusted and broken, but the components inside were new stacks of equipment possibly used for his bomb making.

"This sly guy hides his stuff inside these rusty ships." Alex reported, his voice echoed around the ship.

"We're all clear, Alex. This ship is empty of tangos." One of his allies reported.

"So are the other ones." Another one reported.

"We found the rest of Alpha team by the pier. Looks like Soap's injured." Said another.

"Copy that. Stay frosty. We have no visual of the entrance so reinforcements might arrive." Alex replied to everyone.

"Roger that." The rest of his team replied in unison. Roach's Air support chopper hovered ahead of them and followed the getaway ship, providing support to Capt. Price. Charlie team had borrowed some small boats to aid in Volt's capture.

"It's all up to him now." Alex muttered as they resumed securing the enemy base.

"So, how was your day?" Samantha smiled, slipping herself inside the covers as she lay down beside Alex. The tired man huffed out a sigh and looked at her beautiful girlfriend, whose eyes were staring at him longingly. It's been almost a month since the task force was created and they were on separate beds, but Alex always makes sure he sleeps over every time he's free.

"Oh, you know. The other kind of usual. We beat information out of Nero's bomb maker today." He said in an interesting tone.

"I know beating people is wrong, but when you've been played with by these kinds of people, it's kind of pleasant to the ears." She chuckled, her hand gliding on his arms and looked for his hands.

"Yeah. I'll never stop doing it until they get a taste of their medicine." Alex breathed and looked at Samantha. Her eyes that once looked blank and lost now looked happy. It was tragic how she just wanted to live a normal life but had everything taken away from her.

"What would you do when this is all over?" She asked, questioning his last statement.

"Well, I could finally take you out on a nice date. Maybe say hi to your dad or something." he blurted, making Samantha's eyes widen in surprise.

"Aww.." She smiled as she leaned in for a kiss, while Alex slowly lifted her so that she's now lying on top of him.

"Why is it that every kiss feels so different." She mused as she leaned for another one.

"Maybe because my love for you grows stronger every second?" He replied.

"Haha. You're funny." She said sarcastically.

"That I am." He grinned as they rolled over, giggling at whatever they were doing.

"I love you, Samantha." Alex whispered in the sexiest way that he could resulting to Samantha actually giggling in disbelief.

"I love you too, Alex." She replied.

"Now, go to sleep. I want you well rested for your work tomorrow." She added as she turned the lamp off. Alex groaned like a kid who doesn't want to go to bed yet.

"How can I sleep, when even in the dark, I could still see your pretty face." He whispered as Samantha laughed.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, mister." She said as she turned back, letting Alex hug her from behind. She always loved his warm embrace beside him, a feeling of security amidst all the times that she'd been kidnapped.

The next morning, Alex came back to the base after breakfast with Samantha. It has been a while since he had that and thought that it wouldn't hurt to go late once in a while.

"Where have you been?" Roach asked as soon as he got to the base.

"I overslept." he lied as Roach scoffed.

"You? Hahaha. Nice try. I know full well that no matter what happens you always wake up at the exact time." Roach laughed.

"Why? Is there something wrong with Volt?" Alex pressed on to the main topic at hand.

"The guy had a little fight. But he actually talked."

"Yeah? About what? Nero's location?"

"No. And This isn't like the official thing, it's just rumors. Price slept at the infirmary today and hasn't woken up yet. So the news is that his EMP tech is now capable of killing humans on a set radius."

"Shit." Alex hissed.

"I know. It could launch anywhere anytime and no one could hide from it. A whole new kind of killing weapon." Roach wondered, making them worry about what Nero's about to do.

"Volt better get talking soon."

"Yeah. He better." Roach approved with an encouraging voice.

Later that afternoon the whole 141 was briefed about a message sent from Nero himself. Thousands of humans, civilians and soldiers alike, were nuked just outside the American capital.

The blast didn't do much damage to infrastructure but machines and humans suffered more than ever. Some were able to withstand the mental damage while some were left in a trance state. Some who already had some form of mental problems suffered horribly and dropped dead on the streets.

It was estimated that about half a million people were affected as the nuke exploded by the ocean. Some say this was a miscalculation and others speculated that this was Nero's warning shot.

America had raised itself on high alert, any time Nero's troops would charge on American soil ignoring all authorities who wanted to stop him. This was it. His plan finally came to fruition.

As for the task force, they have located the main signal of the nuke's control. A place somewhere in Cuba. Alex and Jack knew this place was once visited by older CIA SAD members and rumors had it that one of their Black Ops comrades died there. It once housed the reverse engineered Greenlight nuke. Alex never told anyone in 141 about this as history would tend to repeat itself. He hoped that this was not the case.

This would be the lead that the rest of the task force will be focusing on. As the war rages, Alex was sure that the following days would be the toughest so, while waiting for any potential final lead and orders from above, they spent the rest of their time training for the final showdown against Nero.

Optional Chapter : The Fall of the Capital - Pvt. Ramirez

Next Chapter : FIVE Seconds

Notification Squad my Beloved

@enderio @samatedeansbroccoli @smokeywhalee @ricinbach @bumblingbee1 @whimsywispsblog

[lostbetweenvampiresandmusic]

Heya! First off, I love your imagines they are awesome! Secondly, I wanna thank you so much for reblogging my own posts because every little bit of exposure I can get helps grow my new oage! I was wondering if I could get each of the Lost Boys reacting to their S/O being hurt. Like, the Frog Brother's mistake her for a vampire, and in the confusion she gets stabbed and is half alive. It doesn't all have to be gore and drama, maybe a little fluff after she's finally okay.

I totally love your stories! I'm so happy you're an active lost Boys writer 😊💕 I hope you like this :)

..........

David:

She wasn't supposed to be there. She had been sleeping next to Laddie in the cave, and now she was here, hurt, because of the Frog brothers. Right before he woke up he heard her scream "No!" and merely a second later she was stabbed, and those boys ran. He had scared them away, terrified of losing her.

"I need to remove the stake," he told her softly, her head laying on his lap. She nodded quietly. "It hurts.." Davids hand brushed against hers. He then pulled the stake out, quickly bandaging the wound. "My blood can heal-" "Not yet, please," she mumbled quietly. "You'll have to if you get worse, okay?" David looked at her, glad to see her nod.

"Please don't hurt those boys."

"They could've killed you." David was angry, rightfully so, but when he saw the look on her face he nodded. "I won't okay. I'll just let them know that if they hurt you again they're dead meat."

She smiled softly, carefully moving to sit in his lap. "You should try and get some sleep," he kissed her softly, as she looked at him. "Stay," she asked him, already half asleep. David chuckled, holding her close. He carefully stood up, laid her down on a bed and laid down next to her, holding her in his arms. Nothing would hurt her anymore.

.......

Dwayne:

Before she can fully fall to the ground, Dwayne is already next to her. He moves quickly to remove the stake, bite his wrist and give her his blood. In all that time she's unconscious.

It worries him. He lays her down on a bed, sitting next to it in the hope she wakes up soon. It's only an half hour later when she does, and the worry is written on his face. "Dwayne?" she asked softly, feeling a dull ache in her stomach. "What happened? Are- are you okay?"

He looks up and can't help but chuckle. "Yeah, I'm okay. You got staked. How are you feeling?"

"I- I guess I'm okay.. Are they gone?" she asked as she tried to sit up. Within seconds Dwayne sat next to her, helping her get comfortable. "They ran. David and Marko will go after them." "They wanted to kill you." "But they didn't. We're okay, and so are you."

She nods quietly, hugging him. "I was scared I'd lose you." He kisses her softly, helping her lay down. "Me too."

.........

Marko:

He'd felt the stake almost touch his stomach when it suddenly disappeared. And then he heard her cry. He jumped down, wanting to end the live of those boys, but needing to help his girl. He sat down on the ground next to her, pulling the stake out. He immediately let her drink from the bottle, knowing it would speed up the healing.

Anxiously he sat next to her, hoping the wound would heal soon. His hand brushed through her hair as he tried to calm her down. "That hurt," she mumbled quietly. Marko sighed. "No one asked you to jump in front of a stake." A small grin played on his lips.

"They were going to hurt you and-"

"I don't want you to get hurt because you feel the need to protect me. He wasn't hitting anything vital. I'd lived."

"But you would've gotten hurt."

"And now you are." Marko pulled her closer. "If you wanted my undying attention you could've said so you know."

"Do I have it?" Both of them smiled.

"Definitely," Marko kissed her softly.

..........

Paul:

Paul didn't know what was worse. The fact they'd let their guard down, the fact they were about to be killed or the fact his girl had been there to save them and got hurt in the process of doing so. He'd managed to take the stake out, and luckily it wasn't bleeding to badly.

"Can you distract me?" she asked him quietly.

Paul was quiet, before putting on some music. "What do you want me to do? Dance, sing-"

"Cuddle?"

Paul chuckled softly, laying down next to her on the couch. " C'mere."

She cuddled closer, laying her head on his chest. She played with the chains on his jacket, humming along to the music. "It still hurts."

"I know baby," he said softly, rubbing her back. "But you'll be okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. You got me to take care of you." a teasing smile played on her lips before she responded.

"And that's a good thing?" she was interrupted by Paul kissing her. "I think it is," she smiled, before falling asleep.

[cruciferousjex]

The Attendant Five:

Make The Bad Thing Good

"Look, I don't have the temperament for...for whatever the fuck this is, " Glimmer said. She paced back and forth before the couch where Catra sat, hugging her arms around herself, still in her bloody clothes despite Hordak following her about with a folded nightgown, desperately urging her to take it.

He had reacted badly to the blood. He was still at his post outside the dining room door when Prime finally dismissed them, after a hours of grilling about Etheria and the weapon it contained. Hordak straightened on seeing the girls exhausted and covered in blood, his green eyes going wide. He took Glimmer by the shoulders and turned her, looking for the wound. 

"It's okay," Glimmer said tiredly. "It's not my blood."

He glanced conceredly at Catra.

"Not hers either."

He looked back and forth between them. Something flickered in his expression. His eyes narrowed. He glanced back inside the dining room as if to hold someone accountable for this offense to his charges, but the dining room was empty. He returned to the girls,  placed his hands protectively on their upper backs, and gently urged them back towards their rooms, dead eyeing any clone who passed them in the halls. As soon as they got there he retrieved fresh clothes for them, which Catra opted for, but Glimmer was too much of a nervous wreck to do anything but pace.

Catra lay on the couch, wearing the simple white nightgown Hordak had handed her, sipping tea as she watched Glimmer traverse the living room, Hordak following her with a nightgown. 

"How are you so calm!?" Glimmer snapped at Catra.

"Look Sparkles, nobody just 'has' the temperament for this. Especially not you. You're a Princess, of course you don't understand anything about rulers."

"The fuck this that supposed to mean?"

"That means if you ARE the ruler you never have to learn to work a ruler."

"Oh, because you learned to work Hordak, is that it?"

"Pretty much," Catra said, drinking her tea.

Glimmer glanced at Hordak, who at this point was wide-eyed and limp eared with concern, practically begging her to take the nightgown. She turned to Catra with a look of quiet horror.

"Catra...was...was Hordak like that?"

His ear flicked slightly at the name.

"No," Catra said. "No, Hordak was...I mean he could get angry and violent, but he wasn't like...twisted." She looked at him. "He was actually kind of pathetic. All he cared about was trying to buy his way home."

"By using Etheria as payment? How is that not twisted?"

"I meant in the sense that he never forced me to eat a bowl of myself or walk around with my tit out."

Glimmer frowned. "Well that's...something. I guess." She turned to Hordak and took the nightgown. The relief on his face was palpable. "Why would you ever want to come back here?" she asked him.

Hordak quirked his head at her, not understanding the question.

"I mean...when something is all you know,  it's all you know. Even if it's bad," Catra said, looking down into her teacup. "It's like you have to make the bad thing good. You have to make the bad thing good or ...or you'll die, or something."

Glimmer 's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about? There's nothing good to be made from Prime. What did he think he was going to change?"

Catra didn't reply at first. She sighed.

"Sparkles...Glimmer...your mom loved you, right?"

Glimmer seemed taken aback. "Yeah? Of course she did. Everyone's mom loves them."

Catra laughed grimly. 

"What?" 

"Okay first of all, no, not everyone's mom loves them. Some moms are fucked up. Some dads are fucked up. Sometimes parents have their own fucking goals and you aren't one of them. But like… that doesn't matter when you're the kid, you know?"

"I don't."

"Even if they're fucked up you still...love them.  And like...you want them to love you. More than anything. More than like...breathing. Even if you don't like them, even if you HATE them, you literally feel like you'll die if they don't love you, like there's a huge…hole...in you...and you'll do anything…." Catra's voice broke. She grimaced. "You'll do anything you think you have to do. For Hordak, that was take over Etheria." She sighed. "At least I think that was what was going on with him."

Glimmer considered this. 

"Is that...is that also what was going on with you?" Glimmer asked softly.

Catra's mouth made a tight line. She gazed into her tea.

"Go get changed,  Sparkles. Take a bath or something." She turned to Hordak. "Attendant, draw a bath for the queen."

He leapt into action, seemingly overjoyed to be put to work.

"Catra-"

"Look how happy he is," Catra chuckled. "He's drawing the living fuck out of that bath. Go. You'll hurt his feelings."

Glimmer frowned. 

"Go!" Catra said. "I can't watch you freak the fuck out anymore, okay? Go calm your royal nerves."

Glimmer gave an exasperated sigh and followed Hordak.

"Careful he doesn't make you absolutely squeal," Catra called after her.

Glimmer shuddered and made a big show of pretending to vomit. Catra laughed.

"I'm absolutely horking chunks," Glimmer said. "Prime's so gross."

"He's so fucking gross," Catra agreed. 

***

While Glimmer bathed, Hordak joined Catra in the living room and carefully folded their bloodied clothes, then dumped them in what she assumed was some sort of hamper. His eyes narrowed as he did this. Mouth made an even straighter line than usual.

"You're… you're pissed off, aren't you?" Catra asked softly as he refilled her tea. "I know that look."

Hordak did not reply. He stood next to the couch with his hands clasped behind his back, servant like, at the ready. 

"Sit down," Catra said. 

He made to sit on the floor.

"On the couch, dipshit," Catra said. "God, we were taking over Etheria together and now you don't even know how to sit on a couch. Remember building all those cool robots? Coming up with all that...stuff? You used to really love being in your lab tinkering with things. You called it your Sanctum." She took a sip of tea. "Fucking nerd. Now look at you. All of that...all of this...for him? For that guy, Hordak? He doesn't love you, he was never gonna love you, and now you're-"

Hordak watched and listened patiently, green eyed, expressionless.

An ache rose up in her.

"Whatever, " she muttered into her teacup. "You made your bed. This was what you wanted, right?" Her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes burned. "Bet you thought winning would be different, huh? You thought Prime would hug you and spin you around? Tell you you're a good boy?"

He tilted his head. Blinked.

"I'm sorry he did this to you, " Catra said, sniffing. "You were a real piece of shit, but…." 

Hordak took a napkin from the tea tray and handed it to her. 

"What's this for?"

He pointed to her cheek. It was wet.

"Aw. Aw fuck," Catra said, dabbing at her cheek. "I know I'm not crying over you."

He stared at her.

"I wish you'd talk," Catra whispered.

Hordak frowned, and with much effort, said, "Good...boy."

"Yes," Catra said. "Yes, you're a good boy."

And he smiled, as though that were all he needed to hear.

***

After Glimmer's bath Catra had one, then Hordak herded them into the bedroom like a sheepdog. 

"Oh is it bedtime? Is this like, enforced bedtime?" Glimmer asked. "What are you my mom?" 

"I could go for some enforced bedtime, I'm exhausted," Catra said. "One bed. Thanks Prime, you sicko weirdo fuck." She frowned at it. "Though to be fair it's huge."

"Prime sized," Glimmer muttered.

"He wishes," Catra said.

"He clearly does and it scares the shit out of me," Glimmer said. 

There was a knock on the door. The girls froze. Hordak's eyes narrowed with the same anger Catra had seen while he folded their bloody clothes.

"What the hell does he want now?" Catra asked. "It's the middle of the night."

Hordak went to answer the door. Catra and Glimmer remained in the bedroom listening.

"Prime requests the presence of the Queen and her Lady," said a clone.

There was silence for a long moment. Glimmer and Catra exchanged worried looks.

"Sleeping," Hordak finally said, as though it was difficult for him to find the word.

"Prime requests the presence of the Queen and her Lady," the clone repeated.

"Asleep," Hordak said. "Sleeping."

Catra peeked around the door frame. The clone tilted his head, peering at Hordak.

"Prime. Requests the presence. Of the Queen. And her Lady," the clone insisted, slowly, as though Hordak were too stupid to understand him. 

Hordak lifted his chin.

"Sleepy," he said, crossing his arms. "Sleepy girls."

The clone frowned. There was a tense standoff, which ended when Hordak simply took a step back and allowed the door to slide shut between them. 

Catra and Glimmer gave big sighs of relief. Hordak joined them in the bedroom, glancing back at the door as he walked.  

"Thank you, Hordak," Glimmer said. "Good boy." 

He smiled.

"Are you going to get in trouble for that?" Catra asked him.

"Oh no," Glimmer said. "Oh god, do you think-"

"I don't know. I mean I'm pretty sure he just disobeyed a direct order." Catra's eyes widened. "Holy shit, Hordak. How did you-"

She stopped talking when Hordak slowly raised his arms and placed his hands on top of each of their heads. He looked at them both in turn, as though trying to impart something, but what that was wasn't clear. 

"Sleepy girls," he finally said. "Sleep."

And with that he left the bedroom. 

When they awoke the next morning he was sat in a chair facing the door, standing guard. There had not been another clone messenger knocking in the night. Prime had chosen to leave them alone.  

"Was he here guarding us like this the whole night?" Glimmer asked.

"Looks like it. Good morning, Hordak," Catra said. 

He did not turn, but he did glance back. His ear gave a slight flick.

"Did you see that?" Glimmer asked. "He's starting to think that's his name."

"It is his name," Catra replied.

"Yeah," Glimmer said. "Yeah he gets to keep his name. Attendant!"

He turned and rose from the chair. 

"Stay seated," she commanded. She walked over to him and paused before him with a royal gravity. He looked up at her with wide eyes,  as though she truly was his queen. 

She held her palm vertically before him, touching one shoulder with the side of her hand, then the other.

"I dub thee Hordak," she said. "Rise."

[ziracona]

me: about to start a trial in dbd. my cat: Lays on my hands. me: ok nvm i guess. Ty for answering my michael ask. Hope it didn't come across as me saying "does this go away" and more "does he find out ways to manage his symptoms better?". So. What made him change his mind about listening to the voices in the later chapters? ALSO. Do Frank and Julie hesitate from interacting with the survivors out of guilt? or just because They're Like That. Does this ever change? - Sleepy

Lol, cats be like that. And np!

Hmmm, Michael—apologies if some of these things weren’t as self-evident as I thought they were in-fic :’-) — So! For him, it was a combination of several things. DbD Michael has had years of isolation and suffering to ruminate, and the only source of familiarity or anything that’s not a blanket negative in his life for all those years has been Laurie. He’s never hated her. He used to love her. As an adult, his motivation for killing her was never anger; it was just the price the voices told him they needed for him to be left alone in peace, which is all he really wanted and has been desperate for for years. But like, a couple decades of hunting in the realm were not pelasant for him. He hated being trapped there, and eternally unable to accomplish anything. It was hell. Laurie wasn’t exactly a source of community, but she was literally the only thing in the whole realm that he had any connection to at all. And once she started talking to him, that kind of did a lot. I mean, no one since he was a small child has even spoken to him by name outside of Loomis, who calls him ‘it’ and a demon as much as anything else. He’s starved for recognition and connection and affection, whether he’s aware of it or not, and he does remember Laurie. She’s like, one of the only good memory sources he has of his entire life. He liked her, they were happy as kids. Once she recognised official who he was and started talking to him about being her brother, it was confusing, because no one had treated him like a person—much less a person they were even as positively disposed towards as ‘sad’ or ‘conflicted’—since he was six. He’d never been offered any version of the future besides the one the voices and Loomis carved out for him and threw at his face every day. In Family Matters, Laurie tells him he’s supposed to protect her, and that they look the same when she sees him without the mask, and that he should keep it off because he’s so much less scary without it while she’s dying, and I think more than anything he just doesn’t know how to feel about all that. Laurie has been with him for years and never done it. In fact nobody has ever treated him like this before, and it’s nice just kind of universally to be liked or shown affection and familiarity or kindness, and it’s completely alien to him, but it’s not bad, and it’s the first not bad experience in decades, so he’s confused and it’s odd, but he also wants to hear more and tries to not kill her so she can talk more—tries to shake her shoulder to wake her back up—but it’s too late by then and she bleeds out. I think Dwight mentions later in a different chapter that even though Michael kills Laurie within a few minutes, he’s gone the entire trial until the very end. It’s because he spent the rest of that time trying to get her to wake back up before finally giving up and accepting she was dead.

He’s more open to talking in The Tower once he finally sees her again, and he still wants suicide pact, but is willing to compromise to get what he wants, and is kind of enjoying himself for once because stuff is happening and he has hope. He gets chewed out by two small strangers for being a bad brother, and then flips out when he realises Laurie was not going to do joint suicide today (and honestly a part of why he flips out so much in The Tower is Laurie’s “I meant like in a few months, not in 12 minutes! Why would you think I meant that?” embarrasss him and hurts his feelings. Michael is sensitive and does not like feeling mocked). Then Laurie shows up to have a showdown with him after he has calmed down a little, and the stuff she says about him having to be dead to her so she can still remember him as a kid as someone she loved really hurts, I think, even if he’s not introspective enough to get why. But at the end of it, when Laurie can’t kill him while he’s unconscious and chooses to leave him instead, he’s not unconscious for that whole speech. He’s awake a lot of it, because he’s smart enough to play dead (and routinely does in Halloween films when in his best interest) and is playing dead waiting for a chance to stop her from killing him for real. So, that means he’s awake and just super injured for her whole “I can’t do it. I can’t kill the memory of you. I hate myself for it, but I still love you. I wish that things could have been different. I wish our lives were good, and that I understood you. I wish I’d been old enough to do something. I wish you still loved me.” speech to what she thinks is his unconscious body, and while he didn’t get everything she said, he got most of it—he’s not stupid. And it was sweet, and sad, and overwhelming, and I don’t think anyone has ever said they loved him since he was six, and the people who did once are all dead now. I don’t think it occurred to him anyone could, or should, or would want to. And he doesn’t understand Laurie, because their lived experiences are so different, but what she says means something to him too. Laurie says in 600 Seconds that he’s all she’s had for forty years, and in a lot of ways, even if he felt it very differently, that’s true for Michael too.

When he finds Laurie in Vs., he’s still looking for his way out, but more than that, he’s just looking for her. Laurie immediately assumes he’s there to try to commit suicide with her again, but he doesn’t actually make her try that initially. Just comes to collect her. And then as soon as she gets attacked by Krueger, starts kicking ass and taking name on her behalf. Listens to her about not killing Quentin, partially because she’s threatening him with a knife, but partially because at this point he trust her as much as he’s ever trusted anybody. And she and Quentin work to save him, and do, and she gets him out of the realm, and so by the time he comes to find her for the last time in 600 Seconds, she’s not Cynthia Myers: the second sister I need to kill to obtain peace anymore. She’s Cynthia, the baby sister who remembers me and fought someone to protect me, and said she loves me, and is going to kill herself with me so we can both be at peace. And so when she begs him not to kill her, he cares. You have to understand, his few memories of Laurie from the last year or two in-realm are like, the only memories from his adult life that are even partially good. He’s never had a real shot at being a normal human because of Loomis, but she’s been working so hard to treat him like one just the same, and it matters to him that he can tell how much he matters to her. So when she asks him, his initial response is, “...Well. If I kill her and live, I can be at peace, but then what? What does life really have that I want?” And the answer is, as far as he knows, not really anything. He never thought past the quiet. And if he dies? He could be at peace that way too. So if Cynthia wants to live so badly, he can let her, because he doesn’t really want to kill her, and if she kills him instead, it’ll still be quiet. And that’s kind of nice. He can have looked out for her once before the end, like she wanted.

And then of course, Laurie is distraught over that response and tries to talk him out of killing himself too, and to convince him they could have a normal life together as family and deserve one. That it’s what she wants, and even if it seems impossible, she knows they could find a way to make it work for him too and to be okay, and says she had been good on her word so far. And she has, she got him out of the realm like she promised. And she wants it so bad, and Michael doesn’t really want anything but quiet, or he hasn’t, not for years, but he does now, because being with Laurie he’s almost felt like a real person again. And Michael has always disconnected himself from the killings—not in a DID way, just, he doesn’t think of the desire as his, because it’s not—it’s the voices—so he wears the mask if he’s going to kill. And it’s the voices who want Cynthia dead, but she’s asking him not to do it and not to die either, not them, and so he just makes his own choice for the first time in years, and says no to the voices, and does what she wants, because he hopes it’s what he wants too. Being with her is the closest to alive and happy he can remember feeling, and wants that. He wants to be Michael again, and not the Shape, he just doesn’t know if he can. But he decides to try. And then again, when she comes to find him in Out of Darkness, there’s that scene where he considers killing her when she’s asleep, because the voices are so overwhelming and he can’t stand it and he’s so depressed, but he remembers he promised her he wouldn’t kill her, and so he doesn’t, and then she wakes up a little when he goes back to the couch, and smiles at him and uses him as a pillow because she loves him and trusts him and isn’t afraid to touch him or show physical affection, and if almost kills him because being touched in any way not meant to hurt or move him is a thing he can barely even remember anymore. But it feels good, like, unbearably. And he doesn’t know who he is anymore or what he wants, except that he wants to try just in case maybe things can be okay. And so he does, and they are. Slowly, but they are. And he gets to be happy.

So, in short. The TLDR is his whole life he had two doors: Listen to the voices, or suffer alone in misery forever. And someone offered him a door number three, and because that person loved him, and he wanted to try for a life where he could keep being loved and maybe remember for real how to love somebody back, he took it. He never wanted to kill Judith, or Laurie. He did it out of desperation. And if he’d gotten help, he’d never have even killed Judith. He was just never presented with an alternative. Nobody ever gave him a way to choose to be Michael anymore. Until Laurie. And that’s what he really wanted—has always wanted. To get to be the fragments of a person he managed to keep alive through all those years of abuse and loss and isolation. Laurie was just what it took to convince him he had a choice. And that it might be one that even maybe could succeed.

As for Julie and Frank, they avoid the survivors out of a mixture of guilt, and also discomfort. It’s not super fun to be around people who hate you or judge you, no matter how much you deserve it. And they do feel bad, and neither one likes to think about that or the shit they did very much, much less be actively reminded of it. This does get better though! It takes a while, but the road trip Julie and Frank end up joining does a lot to help. Gets a couple of bridges built, and things get a lot better. It takes time, especially for them to not feel like totally shit around the people they hurt the most, but the more years pass, the better that gets, and they become a lot less prickly and defensive or self-isolating when around the survivors.

[be-the-creature-fan]

The River by be-the-creatue-fan (Read my first story AIN'T NO TIME LIKE 1969 before reading this story)

Chapter 1

"Martin? What are you doing here again? Dr. Corvado was looking everywhere for you!"

Martin turned around to see who was talking to him.

"Mom?! What are you doing here?"

"It's a good thing that we've found you in time." Linda Kratt said as she grabbed Martin arm and took Martin away from the tomb stone.

"Mom, what are you doing? where are you taking me?"

She didn't say a single word and they both continued walking until they got to the parking lot. There stood an ambulance type vehicle with several doctors and police officers that ran towards him.

"Mom? MOM! What are you doing? what's going on!?"

Linda remained silent but her eyes were starting to water up as the doctors restrained him and shoved him into the back. One of the doctors looked very familiar, Martin looked at the name tag that was on the doctors shirt. Dr Corvado.

"Aviva! Oh man it's so good to see a familiar face!"

But Aviva didn't say a word, and ignored him. Martin being very confused still tried to talk to her, but with no luck.

"Aviva it's me Martin, Me, You, Chris, Koki and Jimmy would go around the world to rescue animals. you're a genius inventor and-"

"Smith! he's speaking crazy talk again, we should probably give him the shot now."

"Alright Corvado he's your patient."

"Wait what shot? Aviva you have to listen to me we were friends you have to beli-"

And just like that Martin was out cold.

Chapter 2

(Flashback to July 20th 1973)

It was what you would call a perfect summer day, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and excitement was still in the air. Chris had just celebrated his 4th birthday and he was still hyped about being another year older, but he was even more excited to go with Martin and his older sisters to the near by river at the place where the whole family camped.

"Bill are you sure Chris is old enough to go with them to that river?"

"Linda, of course he's old enough, they're going to the shallow part of the river, and plus I'll be close by incase the kids need anything."

"Oh alright, have fun you guys!"

As Bill, Martin, his sisters and Chris got closer to the river the more excited Chris became.

"Martin are we there yet?"

"It's going to be awhile until we get there, but don't worry we'll be in there in no time"

But Chris wasn't the most patient kid and decided to run ahead.

"Now Chris don't run to far ahead yah hear!" Bill called out.

"I won't!"

After a while of walking and running they finally made it to the river, only to find it flooded from the storm the night before.

"Welp, looks like we can't go swimming gang"

"WHAT!? But why Daddy?" Chris winned

"Well you see squirt, the river is over flooded, it's too dangerous to go swimming, but, it's not to dangerous to go berry picking" Bill said as he pointed towards some blackberry bushes. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Uh I guess" Chris said a little disappointed.

So Martin, his sisters and Chris started picking blackberries close to the river as Bill went fishing just up river not to far from them.

"Man it's hot outside, I'm gonna cool off in the river"

"But Martin, Daddy said to not go in the river because it's to dangerous" Chris said

"Yea, he said it was dangerous for you because your to little"

"I'm not too little, I just turned 4!"

"Yea, and I'm 7 almost 8, I'm technically a man, and I'm old enough to go into the river if I want to."

Chris didn't take that to kindly and wanted to prove that he wasn't the little kid that everybody thought he was. When no one was watching he decided that's when he would make his move to go into the river.

"Chris what are you doing?" Susan said (one of the twin sisters)

Chris didn't respond as he jumped into the river. Chris underestimated the depth and power of the river as he was swept away by the strong current.

"MARTIN! Chris jumped in the river!" "He's getting carried down river!"Both Christine and Susan screamed.

Martin turned around to see Chris's head pop out for a split second, before the current pulled it back down.

"Susan! Go and get Dad! Me and Christine will try to get Chris out!"

Susan ran to get Bill as Martin got out of the river because even he knew that the current was to strong for him.

"MARTIN! HELP ME! *GASP* MOMMA ,PAPA *GASP* SAVE ME!...... save me....." Chris's head went under again.

"CHRIS! NOOOOO!"

(A few hours later)

Mr and Mrs. Kratt, we've found your son's body down river and I regret to inform you that your son didn't make . We are so sorry for your lost. we need-....................................

Martin and his sisters were sitting inside the trailer, he could hear his mom screaming in agony, he looked out the window to see them both crying. That's when Martin knew, but that's not how it was happen, Chris didn't die, he couldn't have died, he didn't die, he didn't die, he didn't die!

(Back in Present day)

Martin woke up to find himself in what seemed to be some sort of jail cell.

"Martin, you awake?"

"Jimmy? Is that you?"

Chapter 3

"Jimmy! Oh my gosh I'm so glad you're here! Where is here anyways"

"We're in some sort of insane esylem, but that's all I know because HOW ON EARTH DID WE GET HERE!!!"

"What is the last thing you remember?"

"Well, I was asleep in the Tortuga and the next thing I heard was sombody screaming and when I woke up I ended up here. I saw Aviva but for some reason she didn't respond, it was like she didn't recognize me"

"Wait do you remember Chris being alive?"

"Yea why wouldn't he be alive...unless. What happened while I was asleep?"

Martin explained what had happened to him, Chris's gravestone. the strange dream and how Aviva treated him on his way to the esylem.

"Oh my gosh...OH MY GOSH!"

"Jimmy what is it?"

"Its all wrong, this wasn't supposed to happen, when Chris went to the past, something happened that messed up the space time continuum."

"Well, how are we going to fix it?!"

"I-I don't know, its going to be hard to find the cause of how or what caused this to be our new reality. Time is very complicated stuff."

"Wait, how do you know about this stuff?"

"Martin, I don't just sleep, eat pizza and play video games all day. I usually subcaunsely listen to what Aviva and Koki talk about when it comes to complicated things like time trampolines and such."

"Oh"

"Hey Cell 37! SHUT UP!"

Martin and Jimmy turned to see one of the guards banging his fist on thier cell door. Then they saw the shadows of two other faceless figures before the door opened.

"I don't know how you escaped this time, but we'll make sure that it doesn't happen again yah hear?" The first person said

Martin and Jimmy were very confused as the 2nd figure walked in. Aviva walked in with a huge syringe. That was the last thing both Martin and Jimmy remembered.

Chapter 4

Martin and Jimmy were laying on their bunks. Numb, Cold, Afraid, their heads were pounding and they both were uncontrollable twitching. Martin's eyes began to water from the pain that he felt. Jimmy on the other hand felt anger and rage, his blood began to boil. Jimmy jumped from his bunk and ran to their cell door.

"YOU HEARTLESS SWINE!!! WE'RE NOT THE CRAZY ONES, YOU'RE THE CRAZY BIT-"

"Jimmy?" Martin said with a weak voice. "Was Chris ever alive? Or was I just crazy this whole time?"

"No, Martin, your not crazy, we're not crazy, Chris was alive. He was alive..."

The Next few days were rough for Jimmy and Martin as their hope began to dwindle. Martin kept having the same nightmares of his brother's death as well as having the same horrible dream of him just disappearing from existence like what he had originally witnessed, as the days passed it was getting harder to believe what was true. Jimmy was also going through a rough time. He still felt utterly betrayed by Aviva and missed Koki dearly.

"I wonder where Koki is?"

"Who knows." Martin said kind of miffed

"You know I loved her, right? I-I wanted to tell her how I felt...b-but I was always too chicken, a-and now I might never get the chance."

"Well sucks to be you. At least Koki might be alive somewhere, but guess what, Chris is dead and everyone thinks I'm a looney!"

Jimmy fell silent as he was to angry to say a word.

Weeks turned into months and not a word was spoken.

Until one day Martin overheard a conversation.

"I think I did it!"

"Did what Ms Corvado?"

"Well, for the past couple of years I've been working on a time machine and now I've think I've done it!"

"So she has been working on a time machine" Jimmy said kind of miffed.

"But what good would that do" Martin said feeling rather hopeless "it not like we can fix any of this, or can we..."

(Meanwhile with Chris)

Martin, that was the last thing Chris saw before he felt as if he was drowning. Fear was the last feeling that Chris had before he dissapeared into the abyss.

"Wh-Where am I?"

But the only response he got was an echo. His surroundings were white at first before becoming more clear. The first thing that came into focus was the green grass and the surrounding tombstones, soon more things came into focus he spotted Martin standing infront of one of the tombstones.

"Martin!" Chris yelled as he ran towards his brother to embrace him, but he went right through him.

Martin didn't hear him, he couldn't hear him, he couldn't feel him, Chris was nothing more than a soul.

(I'm putting this story on hold I am so sorry for leaving this on a cliff hanger I just need to think how I'm going to continue the story because honestly I ran out of ideas. Oop)

[kileyrose-2003]

Rose the Hat x Fem! Reader: Part 2

A/N: Hello lovelies! This is continuation of what @merci-bitch requested. I am putting the link to Part 1 down below if you haven't read it:

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! @mewbleu I am working on your request and I'll be in touch with you once I get closer to finishing it.

Love you all and hope everything is well!

One bottle of wine and less than a twenty minutes drive later, Rose had you already figured out and in her bed at the Bluebell Campground.

She drove you mad that whole time and hours after that. It was 2:17 in the morning and you both were still going to strong. Her head was tucked in between the soft flesh of your thighs as she ran her tongue across your clit.

"Damn it, Rose!" The older woman laughed and you gripped your fingers into her knotted tresses. "What's the matter, my sweet? I told you I'd punish you for running from me."

"You can't do it any other..form?" You grimaced. She smirked and stuck her fingers inside you quickly, getting a gasp out of you. "So eager for me," She mused and pulled them out.

You let out a whine and shook your head. "That's not fair!" Rose smiled gamely though there was a hint of maliciousness in her eyes. "It's fair, sweetheart. You've had control of all your previous relationships and now I'm the one in charge here and what I want, I always get."

She ran her fingers teasingly across your clit and you squirmed. "Just give it to me..please!" You grunted.

"For such a dominant woman, you're so submissive to me. I almost forgot how much I like hearing you beg underneath me from the last time we seen each other." She inserted her fingers inside you again. "Beg for me again."

Your cheeks went red at the mere thought of begging but it all felt so right. "Rose, please! I want you." You cried out and she grinned. "Much better." She quickened her pace, eliciting moans of pleasure from you.

"It's fun pleasure though, isn't it?" You bit your lips and let out a whine, hoping your neighbors couldn't hear what you were doing through the walls even though they very well knew how you were.

"Y-yes," You rasped, answering her questions. "You haven't had a true, passion fuck in a while. You're mine, Y/n. You know that right? All mine. I won't share you with the others. In a way that's what you've always wanted, haven't you? Someone to call your own.

"Y-yes..." You nodded and she started peppering kisses on your stomach. "That's my girl." She nipped at your belly button and you hissed, pushing her head away.

"Rose, that hurt!" You yelled more loudly than you would of liked too. None of the True knew you were at their campsite yet and you planned on keeping that a secret for as long possible. You didn't exactly have the feeling Rose told anyone she was coming for you.

"Oh please, you enjoyed it." She smiled and quickened her pace. "You feel so tight."

"I don't think I'm going to..make it much longer! Please Rosie, I want to come!" You begged, feeling like you wanted to cry.

"Then come for me." Her hands slipped away from your folds and you instantaneously orgasmed.

You arched your back up into the air in euphoria. It all felt so surreal and it was by far the best night of sex you ever had.

When the sensation began to fade you plunked back down on the bed next to Rose who pulled you close to her.

"My special girl," She cooed and ran her thumb across your cheek lazily. You smiled softly at first and shook your head, thinking of all the times someone called you special it probably wasn't in a good manner. "Don't call me that."

"Oh? Why not?" There was slight amusement in her voice. "I don't know. I don't think there's much special about me..I guess after being told you're crazy for so long you just start to believe it." You shrugged.

"You know..if you really wanted, we could always pay that back." She nipped your cartilage.

"It wouldn't matter anyways because they'd end up with the satisfaction of knowing I'm not in my right mind in that moment."

Rose sighed and kissed your cheek. "You're sane and very special. I've found over the years, people are afraid of what they can't explain or others who are more jealous of them. It elicts a sort of jealousy. That's why people who aren't special like us are rubes in my families eyes. They're all idiots. You were born into a family of people who didn't understand and appreciate you. It's a shame too because you're extra steamy. Something I haven't seen in a while."

"It's not that as a whole they didn't appreciate me. It was just my parents." Rose shrugged. "Still, idiotic rubes."

"Do they know I'm here?"

"Who?"

"The others?"

"My Crow is out on business so it doesn't matter but do you care?" You decided you didn't and shrugged slightly. Laying your head on her bare chest. "You love Crow?"

Rose chuckled and kissed the top of your head. "You got a twinkle in your eye, don't you?" You blushed and she shook her head. "No, no. No shame. I despise the term love. It's such a rube thing to declare. A foolish promise if you ask me."

You nodded and nuzzled closely to her. "True..but you're avoiding the question."

Rose sighed. "I guess you can say I love him. We have a very deep bond. We're knotted together. The whole family is. I do enjoy him more than the others though."

You laughed and squeezed her hand gently. "For someone who insist I'm such a busy girl, you get around too."

Rose smacked your ass in a way that said she was being playfully but also in a 'don't you disrespect me like that.' nature.

"He knows how I am besides the fact I'm not exactly so patient as to just be satisfied with just his welcome home greeting."

You snorted and she gave you a nasty look before pulling your head close to her warm breast. "Comments?"

"None at all." She raised a brow and placed a sloppy kiss against your cheek. You wiped away some of the spit and the woman laughed throatily, no hint of apology on her face.

"Oh yes..you and I are going to have alot of fun together. Rest up dear, you're going to have a long day tomorrow. You'll be one with us and one of us." She caressed your cheek and kissed your temple. "Goodnight, Y/n."

"Night, Rose." You hummed softly and nuzzled closely to her. She felt so warm and smelled earthy in a good way. It almost reminded you of your childhood but this time it didn't cause you any pain.

You could feel Rose running her fingers through your hair and your eyes began to flutter shut. Soon enough you succumbed to your exhaustion but Rose stayed up for a while, watching you sleep.

She could feel your emotional scars and all the trauma like weights in your mind. Some of it from her but she tried not to focus on thag. It wasn't a wonder how you hid from her for so long now. You locked everything away in the closet. You had to unless you wanted to become a statistic on accidental drug overdose.

Part of her wondered and knew if that your first meeting did go different, despite your age, you would of tasted amazing.

She wasn't concerned with that though. Now it was just going to be the matter of ridding you of your emotional baggage.

"So much pain inside for such a short time in this world..I guess that doesn't matter though anymore. I know what I have to do with you. I'm going to fix you up like my Andi, pretty little things the two of you."

You squirmed slightly in your sleep and Rose hushed you, sending you waves of calmness with her shine. "Nothing to be afraid of, my sweet. I have you and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you like that ever again."

You ceased your squirming and Rose grinned. "Now you get it." She kissed the top of your head and shut her own eyes before falling asleep next to you.

When you awoke the next morning it was to the roar of a car engine followed by the crunching of twigs from the impact of the tires.

At first you attempted to brush it off as some nearby car speeding down the road but the noise was too close for comfort.

Rose groaned and held herself up using the back of her hands. "What time is it?"

"I don't know but I heard a car." Rose smiled and sat up, not bothering to cover herself up. "Oh that's just my Crow."

"Y-you're not going to cover yourself or tell me to get out?" She laughed and rubbed your cheek. "Honey, in case you haven't noticed, norms don't matter around here."

"I know but isn't he going to mad? It's not like we exactly got off on the right foot."

"He'll get over himself. Like I said-" There was a slight knock followed by the sounds of the doorknob jiggling.

You squeezed your eyes shut, preparing for the worst. "Rosie, I'm back. Sorry I'm late but I stopped at District X and-" Crow turned to look at Rose and his jovial expression began to melt. She was completely naked.

Not that it was unusual to him, he was very familiar with her in this type of setting but your presence completely threw him off.

A pang of jealousy hit the inside of him. He knew of Rose's amorous nature and considered himself to bisexual as well, though his experience was limited with men and who was he to judge on what she did while he was gone but you..

You were a rube, their lost food at best and you had seen his Rosie in a way no other person should of. As far it was his concern, you should of been dead the second you struck out at him.

Crow Daddy's posture stiffened and he met Rose's mystical eyes. "What the hell is going on here and why is that little whore in my spot?"

Rose would of been lying if she said the appearance of his rare temper making itself known didn't shock her slightly.

She pulled you close to her and you shoved the blankets around your sides to try and prevent your breast from popping out.

"Crow, this-" She gestured to your form. "Is Y/n. She's going to be our newest recruit."

He made a face and you returned the look with as much crudeness as he gave to you. "Who is laying in my spot." The words came out like an animalistic grunt. "Rose, I thought we agreed we weren't turning her after our last experience with her."

"I didn't promise you anything. I'm the leader of this group. I'll do what I want." Her eyes turned predatorial and you cringed.

"We need food more than we need new members. She might just be on that age bracket where still taste good for her age."

The look in his eyes was no longer one of anger but a hungered expression and you shifted uncomfortably around in the bed.

Rose ignored you and stood up off the bed, approaching Crow. She laced her fingers through his hair and smiled sweetly, laying it on a little thick.

"We're not eating her. That's the end of it . Admit it, you said you thought she was cute." He sighed and wrapped an arm around her bare waist. "Yeah but-"

"But nothing. You wanted to turn her originally. Did you not?" Rose leaned up and nipped the cartilage on his ear. You would of been lying if you said you didn't envy him in that moment.

"I did." His hands pressed gently into Rose's side. Leaving little red imprints on her pale physiognomy. "What are you planning at?"

She smirked and pecked his lips. "You'll see. Now go on. I'll see you later, alright?"

"Sounds good." You could of sworn you seen Crow narrow his eyes at you before walking out the door.

"He's very..intense." Rose chuckled and shook her head. "Not usually. He's just very protective. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just got a little scared for a second." You chuckled nervously to try and brush off some of your anxiety.

"There's something else on your mind too. You want to tell me about it?" She pet the back of your head. "I just..I don't know. I guess I'm afraid of getting stabbed in the back. Every person I've ever gotten close to has either hurt me or just abandoned me and I'm scared of that happening again."

"When you join our family, we have each other's back. We might get at each other's throats at times but we don't betray each other because after being alive for a while we've pretty much seen everything. So we get how it feels to be in someone else's shoes, okay?"

"Okay." You nodded as Rose got up and threw some clothes in your direction. "Come on, I think it's time I introduce you to the others."

Once you met the members of The True and they weren't trying to murder you, you found their company to be very enjoyable.

You instantly connected with Andi who like you, didn't have an easy past. Plus she was around your age which made it easier for you to talk to her.

It made Rose a little jealous but she tried to let it get to her so much. She didn't have to be in your head to know you were hoping this was going to be a way for you to settle down and she planned her hardest on trying to give you that.

Later on that night after dinner was cleaned up you sat down on the muddied ground as you looked up at the stars.

Normally seeing them made you feel serene but tonight it made you scared. You didn't know how long you sat there for until you felt Rose tapping your shoulder. "Are you ready?" You nodded and wiped a tear away from your eyes. "Yeah."

"Good.. why are you crying?" You sniffled a tiny bit as she nervously forced your head back into her lap. "I'm nervous."

She let out a snort and had to fight the urge to chuckle. "Oh please, a girl like you? You are a force to reckon with. Just think, no pain after this. All bliss and all you have to do embrace it."

"Okay." Rose wiped your eyes. "Is it going to hurt?" She rubbed your temples. "A little but no fear, you understand?" You nodded and relaxed your posture.

"Grampa Flick, we're ready when you are." You looked up and the entire Knot was hoarded around you. Some of them were smiling while others looked mad.

"Lodsam hanti, we are the chosen ones," All of the True repeated after him. "Cahanna risone hanti, we are the fortunate ones. Sabbatha hanti, sabbatha hanti."

"We are the True Knot, and we endure. Here is a woman. Would she join us? Would she tie her life to our life and be one of us?" You felt everyone's eye fall on you and you tensed, that inner voice screaming to run while you can.

(Say yes.)

"Yes." You whispered it but it was enough for Rose. She pulled out a cannister from her dress and held it up in the air.

"This one is special like you. Her name was Abra and like you, she thought she could run from me. There's still plenty of her left and she taste-" The cannister cracked open, letting out the scream of someone fighting for their life to a pitiful whimper. "Like spice."

You watched in horror as she inhaled the steam. You figured that if they were going to eat your steam, then possibly it was what they lived off of but you thought it was just adults they killed. The scream sounded like it could of belonged to a child.

Your blood ran cold and Rose's hair tckled your face as she leaned infront of you, the steam floating infront of your face. "Breathe deep!"

For a moment you thought about refusing then thought of that girl's scream. If you refused, you would end up with her fate. That was the last thing you wanted.

Despite the moral dilemma you breathed in the steam. You could feel the coldness of it along with the kick it gave on its way to your stomach.

For a moment you felt nothing but then everything went cold. You opened your mouth to try and ask Rose what was happening but nothing came out.

Your throat felt tight and Rose grinned down at you. "Embrace it." Your body began to arch and you could feel your stomach burning.

"It burns!" You screamed and clawed at the dirt. "I know..I know." You could practically feel Rose smiling at you.

There were hands clamping down your arms and legs and you screeched. "No! No! NO!" A big blue burst of energy flashed infront of your face and soon everything around you faded into darkness.

The next morning when you woke up your face and hair was caked with sweat and mud was all over your clothes.

Their was a near by puddle of water and you looked at yourself in it. You looked the same but you felt different. You heard laughter and took your attention away from your reflection.

"Well hi there!" You turned to face Rose. "You fucking bitch! You said it wouldn't hurt." The other woman had to stuff her bad temper in a sack and smiled as she knelt down to your level, brushing a piece of hair away from your eyes. "Well it doesn't now, does it sweetheart?"

'You can pull one over on your little boyfriend or the others, but not me. I don't go for people who lay it on thick,' You thought to yourself then shrugged. "I guess."

"Then there's no need to for us to act like a child, is there?" There was a hint of malice in her voice. You gave her a face as if to say 'I hate you' and Rose chuckled.

"It's okay. You'll feel better after you eat." She took your hand in hers and caressed the tops of them. "What's the matter?"

"Am I even a human anymore?" Rose offered you a cheeky grin. "Do you care?" The words were cold and had no feeling of comfort.

"I guess not." She patted your head. "Good. Now come. I have something special I want to show you."

You raised a brow. "What is it? Like a gift?" In the short amount of time you spent with Rose, you loved her smile but in that moment it sent chills up your spine.

"You'll see. Crow, help her up please." In a moment the dark haired man took your hand in his and swiftly swept you up off the ground.

The other members of The Knot were already back to their previous engagements and from the look on Rose's face, she seemed fine with that so you let it go.

She wrapped an arm around your waist and lead you forward towards the edge of the all too familiar woods.

"You know, I remember the last time I was here," You said, pretending to think. "You tried to murder me."

Rose smiled tightly and squeezed your sides. "Yeah well, no need to hold grudges over things to small."

"I don't know if I'd say killing trying to kill someone as something that everyone should just brush off." For a moment there was very awkward silence.

"Well you woke up in a pissed off mood, didn't you?" You shrugged. "Well after feeling like I was dying last night, wouldn't you feel the same in that situation?"

"It's a gift you should be grateful for, now close your eyes," She commanded. "Why?" You never exactly were fond of surprises.

"Because, it's a surprise," She answered like it was so obvious. "Yeah I know but I'm not so fond of the unexpected."

"Well, I guess it'll be my job to give you a sense of adventure." She smiled in a friendly manner and held a hand out to you, releasing her hold on your waist. "You know I wouldn't let anything hurt you, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"Good. Now just keep them shut and follow me." Rose held your hand and lead you forward. "You'll let me know if there's a rock or something infront of me?"

"No, we'll just let you trip and break your face." There was a hint of sarcasm in Crow's tone and you could hear Rose slap his arm with her empty hand.

"Don't be an ass," She scolded. The further you went into the woods, the more it began to lose it's earthy smell and a more unearthly one began to set in.

"Now wait, wait! Don't open them yet. Now tilt your head down- No, not up! The other way! That's it now now open your eyes."

You hesitantly did as she asked and peeped both eyes open before letting out a gasp.

There was a boy laying on a ground in a situation much similar to the one you were in except their steam floating above him.

"Tada!" You narrowed your eyes and turned to look at Rose. "What the hell is this?"

"Honey, he's your 'welcome to family' present." She drew a knife out the pocket on her sweater and wrapped her arms around your waist.

"As you know, there are people out like us who have steam. People like us, the steamy ones, we're above the others. However, there is a chain involved. The hunter and the hunted."

She knelt down and took a jab at the child, a large whiff of steam floated into as a residual effect. "Pain purifies steam, fear too. That's why we took you before turning you, because you're so pure."

You shifted in discomfort, trying to move the steam away from you. "Their pain. Our gain. You can have as much as you want from him. All you have to do is take it."

She handed you the knife and you locked eyes with the boy and bit your lip. You didn't have to use your shine to know he just wanted it all to end.

You didn't consider yourself to be a sentimental person or one who restricted themselves from their vices but this was too much.

Eternal life or not, it was just wrong. You bit your lip and tried to reach out the boy with your shine to give any sort of comfort but all you could see was a wind storm of broken memories. "N-no!"

Rose's arrogant face turned shell shocked. "No?" You shook your head. "I-i can't..I just can't! Just look at him." She furrowed her brows in a way that almost made her lose her respective queen stature. "And?"

"And he's suffering! Just look at his face." The child let out a pained sob and you sat down next to him, making sure to keep a semi safe distance from Rose as you ran your fingers through his hair and shushed him.

Despite the hunger you were feeling from his steam, you felt the urge to pull him close and just take him back home.

"He's an innocent child! He doesn't deserve any of this. He didn't ask to be born this way or for people like us to be around. This is wrong! All of this is just so wrong!" You screamed and started sobbing. "It's not fair!"

"Honey, life's not fair. Do you think Andi over there at camp, wanted or planned on having the humanity literally fucked out of her? Shit happen sometimes. It's the same thing with livestock cows. They don't-"

"For fucks sake! This isn't a cow! It's a child. Call me silly, but I think a person has more value sentimentally and in life then a cow."

Rose's posture straightened like a board and her fair skin turned cherry red with lividness.

"Rosie-"

"Quiet, Crow Daddy! Now you're just being ridiculous, Y/n! I tried being nice but now you've pushed too far. One way or another, I will get you to give in and you will kill."

"No, I won't! What are you going to do? Kill me or spank me?" You taunted.

You knew you crossed the line but you wouldn't give in and even in that moment you revelled in getting Rose all riled up even if that meant your anxiety would go through the roof because of it.

Rose huffed and went to stand up from where she was kneeling on the ground but Crow grabbed her shoulders. "If you know what's good for you right now Crow, then you'll let go of me because now she needs to be punished."

"Rosie, if I let go of you right now you're going to kill her. No one needs to know you as long as I have to know that right now. It's blazing like fire in your eyes. Just breathe for a second."

"I'll breathe later. Just let me at her!" She shoved him away and stomped towards you but Crow grabbed her by her waist. "Rose, you're going to do something you regret."

"Regret, my ass!" She kicked him in the groin and he immediately released his grip on her. She took the knife out of your hand and pushed you down on the ground next to the kid.

"I'll show you how it's done." She raised the knife above her head and you expected it to come down plummeting down on you but instead it landed in the boy.

Blood splattered all your face and you screamed. "Rose, stop!" You begged and attempted to get the child away from her.

"No! Now you'll get to have a front row seat on his pain." She leaned forward to grab your wrist but you kicked away before running.

"Y/n, you bitch!" You heard radiating through the trees but you didn't care. Tied to them or not, you wanted out. Even if that meant death.

As you reached the bottom of the hill you stumbled over a tree stump and all that was heard by those nearby was a thump followed by a crack.

"Y/n?" Andi ran towards you. "Oww! Oww! Oww!" You screamed, looking at your broken ankle.

Meanwhile in the woods a very pissed off Crow Daddy struggled to get Rose off of her prey. "Baby..this is a little over board. I don't think there's any steam left in the kid at this point."

She ignored him for a couple of minutes, making stab after stab until she own hands were cut open from all the pressure she put on them. "They all give in at one point! I don't understand it. I could practically the yearning in her eyes!" Rose seethed, hysteria still in her eyes.

"I know but some take longer to adapt than others. Not everyone is like Barry and Andi." Rose thought back on the first time she seen the two harvesting steam.

Andi's especially was pure irony in her eyes. For a girl that could 'never hurt anyone' based off how innocent others perceived her as, she tore her victim apart limb by limb.

"What do we do if she doesn't give in? Just let her starve and cycle out?" She barked. "When she's ready to eat, she will. It wouldn't be the first time someone had a lapse of faith and we had to deal with it."

Rose sighed and Crow massaged her shoulders. "We'll figure that out when the time comes but for now just let her be."

Rose actually listened and nodded, wrapping her arms around him. "Where did she go when she ran?"

"I don't know. I couldn't keep track. I'm sure she's close by though." He rocked her back and forth gently in his arms.

"I should go to her." Crow shook his head. "You're shakey. You need to relax before talking to her. You both will feed off each others emotions and it won't end well."

"Stay with me until I calm down?" He nodded and held her close.

Meanwhile down at The True's campground you sat in Andi's trailer as she wrapped a bandage around your ankle.

The steam healed most of the fracture but there was still some soarness around the area of the crack. Normally, The True Knot never kept first aid kits around but Andi was glad she had one in this situation.

"..and that should be good," She hummed as she placed the last piece of medical tape on the gauze.

"Thanks, Andi." You sniffled and she gave your shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "You're welcome hun."

She grabbed the towel laying at her side and began to scrub the blood off your face. "You want to talk about it?"

You shook your head and curled your knees close to your chest. "She's probably so mad at me right now," You whispered softly.

"Well, she'll learn to get over it. Rose is scary when she's mad but she can't stay mad forever." Andi paused for a moment and moved the towel away from your face. "How bad was it?"

"R-really bad." Your voice cracked and tears began to stream down your face. "Okay..okay." She held her arms out to you and you flung yourself into them.

"I'll never forget the look on that boys face!" Andi patted your back, trying her best to comfort you even though she hadn't felt a shred of sympathetic emotion in her in a long time. "I know."

"I should of stopped it. It's my fault!" Andi shook her head. "No, it's not your fault. It was inevitable. If it wasn't you that was going to hurt him, Crow or Rose would of."

"It just seems so wrong because I know what it feels like to be in pain and I mean yeah, others deserve to feel that same pain sometimes, but not a child."

Andi had to bite her tongue to keep from saying the first thing that came to mind. "Yeah but think of it, just a little bloodshed for a life long gain."

"It's a child, though. A child doesn't deserve that." She could say no more and pulled away from you. "Get some rest, okay? Maybe you'll feel a little better in the morning."

"Okay." Andi stood up and let you get all settled under her covers before opening the door to her trailer. "Hang in there, Y/n. I'll see you a little later."

"Bye, Andi." You grabbed one of her pillows and held it tightly against your chest, trying to relax yourself. 'You're such a damn fool to think of this would work, Y/n,' You thought to yourself as you stared at the walls.

Your eyes burned from all the crying you did and you felt so drained. You shut your eyes for a little bit, trying to just find yourself when you heard the door to the trailer open and shut again followed by a pause.

"Y/n?"

"Yeah, Rose?" She didn't have to look at you to know you were crying.

"I'm sorry." You turned your body to look at her. "About everything earlier..look, I don't want to make you do something you're uncomfortable with but harvesting steam is unavoidable."

"I know, I know..just give me time, okay?" You begged. "Maybe it's just because I'm not used to the bloodshed but I'm just not ready for it, yet. In all honesty, I might not be ready for it in a while."

Rose sat down across from you and took one of your hands off the pillow, holding it gently in her's. "That's fine. I just- You know what, it can wait."

"You're sure?" She ran a hand across your cheek, the bloodiness on it showing you the unholy deeds she did after you ran. "I'm sure."

Rose enveloped you in her arms, running her hands through your hair as if to reassure herself you were still there.

"Rose?"

"Yeah, Y/n?"

"I like you."

The older woman found a smile forming on her face and she placed a kiss against the top of your head. "I'm glad because I like you too, my patchwork doll."

You pulled away momentarily. "Patchwork?"

"Because you're such a pretty thing made out of horrible memories." You thought on her words for a moment and nodded. "I can live with that, being a patchwork doll."

Rose grinned and placed a kiss gently against your lips. "I love you," You told her with such honesty gleaming in your eyes.

"I do too." She smiled and held you close for a long time. For the first time in a long time, despite all the blood and violence, you felt at home. You were home.

[permian-tropos]

In response to the "fic you wish I'd write" post: Snoke backstory, main characters Rae Sloane & Gallius Rax (they meet him and all interact somehow. Snoke is more than a creepy old raisin. Rae worries that they're in over their heads...)

And I wish I had a more detailed Snoke backstory at this point.

I know I used to be really interested in him, but it was really interest in a character like him, and the way he’s defeated in TLJ makes me want to give him a different sort of role in the story. I’m not sure if I want him to be an ancient evil awakened in the Unknown Regions or a plutocrat who learned the Force but isn’t only powerful for his Force ability, he’s also secretly the CEO of big space oil or something. It depends on what story I’d tell.

Anyway here’s a loose rambling fic description

-

In this version of things, Rax is neither alive nor dead because his soul is trapped in the holocron he tossed into the Jakku borehole. Jakku spat that thing out when it stopped having its planetary indigestion. The lingering wisps of life energy emanating from the core of the planet stole the last breath from Rax’s body and sucked it into this new vessel.

Rax doesn’t find his existence as a cursed object too different from his old life, where he mostly lurked behind the scenes and played with people’s desires and instincts so they’d enact the dramatic scenes he wanted to see. He entices a stray stormtrooper to the Observatory to get himself picked up off the floor, and lures a junk trader to fight this trooper over the beautiful glowing red artifact, and so on, until he’s traveling into the Unknown Regions on the desk of a particularly boorish Imperial captain who wants a piece of the Sith legacy as a trophy.

Holocron Rax has vague aims, he wants some sort of body and he wants to find her again, his equal, his rival, his fellow outcast. He isn’t sure he wants to rule. He lost that game. Time to play a new one.

Sloane finds out Rax is back, but she knows he’s back before her knowledge, as philosophers might say, is both true and justified. She guesses, on instinct, because of the fingerprint he seems to leave on the cosmos.

Leading the Order has been bitterly oppressive, she’s sure everyone hates her, she first thinks it’s because they blame her for Rax’s constant betrayals of the remaining fleet, but it’s not that at all. They seem to hate her because they think she’s overstepping her station, that she’s high-minded and looks down on everyone else, but she knows it’s a double standard because they look down on everyone else too (including her).

And she tries over and over to prove that she’s strong and capable and dutiful. But she never got along with the upper echelons of Imperial command. She always pissed them off with her high-mindedness, too self-motivated, too determined, not groveling at their feet enough, and she’s been burning with humiliation from that -- and, in fact, a sick desire to please someone for once, they’re never happy with her, maybe that’s why she fell for Rax for so much longer than she should have; for a time he seemed to be endlessly pleased by her, even when he knew she was plotting against him. I’ll be good this time, she keeps promising herself, but how is this good? Why do they get to tell her what good means when they’re sneering at her for being merciful or patient?

And it makes her want to be cruel and ruthless. And she is. Just to impress them, she realizes. They’re never impressed.

And she runs away, but not all at once. Bits of her run away where they can.

Sometimes she makes fake identities and takes a few days off to visit planets that wouldn’t be happy to see her if they knew who she was. Sometimes she spends hours playing games for cadets against a computer and when her good sense returns she erases the evidence of this foolishness. Sometimes she runs by staying asleep and dreaming. Sometimes she runs away to research, losing herself in narratives of ancient history.

Anxiously, at her lowest, most depressed point, she visits the Imperialis and finds opera. Watching the holotapes is an exercise in self-flagellation, because of how tense they make her. She never even sits down, because that would make her feel vulnerable to attack from the shadows in the private theater hall. But it wakes her up, because it feels like a fight, and fighting these imaginary demons is easier than putting up with the constant scorn of her supposed colleagues. She sometimes pauses the recordings just to pace.

So this is where they both are when they meet each other again. Sloane hears about a Curséd Artefact that’s been causing a miasma of strange behavior aboard a ship, and that strange behavior includes hearing strains of faint music as if carried on the wind (and there’s no wind in pressurized starship corridors), and that’s when she knows-but-doesn’t-know it’s Rax. He’s being dramatic again.

It’s such a perverse relief to lay her hands on that red crystalline pyramid. It is definitely accursed, though; it hums with evil energies (or maybe it’s buzzing with pleasure at her touch).

Sloane promises herself she won’t fall prey to the Wiles again. She keeps the holocron locked in a vault but the ghost tiptoes up through the ship to visit her dreams.

The place where they meet is an enormous astral chessboard. (Sloane calls it chess, Rax calls it shah-tezh). Fine sand is strewn in patches across its huge carved tiles, as if someone has cracked their turn-counting hourglass over it like an egg. Sloane can’t see the edge of the board, but she sees scattered ruins marring the smooth plane. If the board was the tiled floor of a temple as big perhaps as the entire Imperial Palace, the ruins could be what’s left when it collapsed and eroded.

Neither of them have particularly ornate clothing. They’re both dressed up as what Sloane recognizes to be the Outcast piece, her in white rags, him in black.

He’s very cryptic and avoidant, but this time, Sloane sees through it at last. He hasn’t got a plan for her, he just wants to talk. At the same time she realizes she wants to use him to maintain her power. He’s something special that no one else has access to — and she might be jealous if that turned out not to be true. She’s troubled by these dark temptations, and tries to distance herself from them.

Rax discovers, as dream Sloane is not as good at hiding feelings, that Sloane has fallen into a deep depression.

It’s very uncomfortable to consider because he would have to admit she’s weak enough to be inferior, according to what Palpatine taught him. He rationally considers if this is the case, if she’s too much like him to be worthy, but his gut feeling is that he can’t dislike her, so he wants to consider other options first. He starts to find evidence for her being psychically attacked by a powerful entity in the Unknown Regions who is trying to usurp her.

Sloane is skeptical but when Rax gets her looking for patterns, she sees them everywhere too, they begin to seem inescapably real. Her dreams of this chessboard become a dream of a game played against a mysterious opponent. Rax becomes her ally and fellow strategist.

And then, what you might expect happens: Snoke manifests. He reminds Sloane a lot of Rax, but more hideous and openly contemptuous. Sometimes, Sloane is energized by knowing her emotional state is caused by a real enemy. Sometimes, it makes her feel less in control.

Snoke announces that the Order will belong to him soon.

Holocron Rax eventually gets a corporeal body in the form of a reprogrammed Sentinel droid, the ones with Palpatine’s face for holograms but of course, replaced with Rax. It’s a secret project that Sloane is willing to undertake once the threat of Snoke seems close at hand.

And does it turn out that Snoke is a being that becomes more real the more he is believed in? Maybe, but maybe not. After all, depression is real whether you believe in it or not, and so is a structural problem in your society. Maybe it would be interesting if it turned out Snokestuff was real, emanating from the Dark Side, and is copying Sloane’s underlying problems and using them as a template. Snoke comes across like an amalgam of everyone Sloane has been trying to impress, all the smug rich old white men.

She finally confronts Rax about this. She doesn’t want his admiration. She doesn’t think anything she’s done is admirable. She wants to fail in his eyes, because at least that’s honest. Snoke targeted her because she was on the verge of breaking down anyway.

And Rax? Has to face facts about whether he cares about Sloane as a great figure of history or just as a friend.

They’re both left to wonder what makes a possible friendship or love between them meaningful if they’re not part of a grand triumphant narrative. In the end, close interpersonal connection turns out to be more mundane than they realized, and the mundanity of it is what matters.

[nowplayingblog-main]

Guns Don’t Kill People

read on AO3

Written for @irondadbingo

Tony woke up to a bright light in his eyes, surrounded by darkness. He had heard about the light at the end of the tunnel just before you died, but he somehow felt that if he was dead, or even dying, that he shouldn't be in this much pain. Even if the last thing he remembered was his own missile blowing up in his face.

He turned his head, and the room he was in came into focus. Or maybe “room” was too kind of a term. The walls were rough, uneven, wet rock, and the furniture that made up the area was thrown together, rickety and dirty. In the center of the room was a steel beam that Tony hoped to God wasn't holding up the place. At the other end of the room there was a sketchy looking bunk bed, with a boy - maybe in his then years - laying lopsidedly on the top bunk, staring lazily at the ceiling, as though he we're on drugs.

Turning his attention away from the room, Tony felt around his face, feeling a tube coming out from his right nostril. In a moment that was probably not his best moment of judgment, Tony pulled on the tube, which caused a burning sensation in his nose, and triggered his gag reflex as the tube brushed past the back of his throat. He stopped, but that felt even worse. Tony continued to pull out what he now realized was a feeding tube until it was completely out - gagging the entire time.

He threw the offensive tube across the room, and sat up in his cot, trying to move away to walk around the room, get a better sense of his surroundings, but he was stopped by a tugging sensation in his chest, which sparked extreme, crippling pain that Tony hadn't been fully aware of. Tony looked down at the stained bandages underneath his shirt. From underneath those bandages there were cables that led to a car battery at the side of the cot he was once lying on. He wrapped his hand around the cords, ready to tug.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” The boy on the bunk said tiredly, as though he were half asleep. Tony looked up and saw that the boy was staring at him, his pupils dilated. He looked as though he wasn't truly there.

He turned his attention back to his bandaged chest. The pain underneath them had become unbearable. He tore away the bandages to reveal a monstrosity - a hunk of metal in his chest, surrounded by red, irritated skin.

Tony fainted.

The next time Tony woke up, the kid was cooking something over a fire, which was shabbily built near the center of the room. The kid seemed less delirious than he had been earlier, but there were moments when his hands paused, or he would catch himself leaning too far to one side.

He sat up, and the tugging at his chest reminded of the presence of the metallic monstrosity in his chest.

Tony looked up at the kid. “What did you do to me?”

The kid met his eyes, and Tony could see his pupils were still slightly smaller than normal, especially for someone sitting in a dark, cave like room.

“I didn't do anything to you,” he had an American accent, which surprised Tony, and his words were slurred. “I'm not a doctor. But I did give them the idea. It's an electromagnet. You were hit with a lot of shrapnel, and it was going to pierce your heart. They got out as much as they could, and whatever was left in there is being stopped by that magnet.”

“I'm sorry, are you high right now?” Tony asked brashly.

The kid went cross-eyed for a moment, and leaned a little too far to the left, catching himself before he could actually fall over. He looked sheepishly back up at Tony. “It's not my choice.”

Before Tony could ask what he meant by that, there was a pounding at the door, strains of Arabic filtering through.

The kid stumbled to his feet, placing his hands behind his head, “Get up.”

Tony remained seated, eyes trained on the door.

“What are you, crazy? Get up! Do as I do!”

Tony stood up, placing his hands behind his head, mimicking the boy, just as the armed terrorists barged through the door.

There were seven or eight men, each armed with what Tony recognized as Stark Industries issued weapons. Then, another man walked through. Clearly the leader.

He walked up to the kid first, speaking in Arabic. Tony couldn't understand a word he was saying, but he spoke with a praising tone of voice, but in a somewhat condescending tone.

After a while, the man turned to Tony, continuing to speak in Arabic.

“He says welcome, Tony Stark, the greatest mass murderer in the history of America.” The kid translated, which stunned Tony for a moment. “He is honored.”

The terrorist leader cut him off continuing to speak in his foreign tongue.

“He says he wants you to build him a missile - the Jericho missile, which you were demonstrating earlier.”

The man pulled out a black and white printed picture of the Jericho.

“That one,” the kid supplied, somewhat needlessly.

Tony looked up at the man, eyeing the armed men behind him.

“I refuse”

The torture that followed would haunt Tony for the rest of his life.

The next day, Tony was being led outside. It was blindingly bright, but when his eyes focused, he saw several of his weapons, as well as assorted parts and pieces from what Tony guessed were cars and explosives.

The kid was there. He was being restrained my a much larger man, his arms pinned behind his back. He had guns trained at his head at all times. The poor kid seemed to be taking this all in stride, as though he was used to it.

The leader was speaking again, and Tony looked to the kid for a translation, feeling bad about the position they were in.

“He says, what do you think?”

Tony grimaced. “I think he has a lot of my weapons.”

The leader spoke again. The kid translated. “As you can see, they have everything you need to build the Jericho. You will write a list of materials, and get to work right away. When you're done they will set you free.”

Tony glanced around at the armed men around him. Some of them stood on top of the rocky peaks. One of them stood out among the rest, and Tony suspected he was the leader of all of them, even the guy he was talking to right now.

He held his hand out and shook it with his captor.

“No he won't.” Tony said, mostly to the kid.

“No. He won't.” The kid agreed.

That night, Tony was laying on the bottom of the rickety bunk bed. He thanked his lucky stars that the kid appeared to weigh no more than a feather - any heavier may have caused the whole thing to capsize.

The kid was more alert now than Tony had ever seen him. He was sitting upright on the bunk. And Tony could tell by his positioning that he was staring at the door.

“You got a name, kid?”

“Peter,” he said softly, his voice wavering, but it wasn't slurred.

Tony hummed in acknowledgement. “I'd introduce myself, but -”

“I know who you are.”

Tony nodded silently.

“It's scary isn't it?” Peter said. “How many weapons they have. How many parts.”

“Yeah,” Tony said softly, “they weren't supposed to be the ones who had them.”

“Have you ever heard the saying, 'guns don't kill people, people do’?”

“Yeah, what's your point, kid?”

“You make the guns,” Peter explained, “and once they're out there, you can give them to the people you want to have them, you can guard them, but somehow, some way, they're going to end up in the hands of the people you don't want to have them. And the guns don't know any better. They won't just stop working. They just do as they're told.” He took a breath.

“I don't quite understand what you're trying to tell me,” Tony said passively.

“That's okay. Maybe someday you will.”

There was pounding at the door.

“What's going on?” Tony demanded. Standing up and putting his hands behind his head. “They said they wouldn't come until tomorrow.”

“They're not coming for you,” the kid assured him, climbing off the top bunk.

The armed men crowded into the room, and grabbed Peter by his arms, pinning them behind his back, tying them too tightly with thick, dirty rope. Those who weren't busy tying the poor kid up had their guns aimed at his head.

“Woah, woah!” Tony exclaimed, “What's your deal, what are you doing to him?!”

A few of the gunman swiveled toward him when he spoke, turning their guns on him

“It's fine Mr. Stark,” Peter assured him. “They have you here to build weapons. I'm here for the same reason.”

Tony had no idea what that meant, but just as soon as the had entered, the terrorists left the cave, locking the door behind them. Tony was alone.

Tony had managed at get a couple of hours of sleep between his tossing and turning, the pain in his chest, and his worry about a teen-aged stranger keeping him awake.

When the sun had finally started to shine through the small, thin window near the ceiling, the door finally opened again. Tony stood up, placing his hands behind his head like the kid taught him, and once again armed men came into their room, Peter hanging limply from where they held him by his arms. They dumped him onto the ground, and promptly left.

The poor kid was covered with his own blood, which oozed sluggishly from small cuts littering his body. The back of his right hand was bruised, and displayed a puncture wound above his vein. His arms were covered in puncture wounds, really.

His breathing was ragged, and Tony knew that being thrown into his stomach wasn't doing him any favors. He slowly moved toward the kid, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you with me, Peter?” He asked gently.

The kid groaned, the sound trailing off into a whimper.

“I'm gonna move you to the bed, okay? It's probably not a good idea for you to stay on the floor like this.

“M'fine,” Peter insisted, his words slurred so severely it took Tony a money to realize he was speaking.

“No, you really aren't.”

“M'Okay...really...I've...done this....'fore” the kid turned his head weakly to one side, his eyelids only half open.

“C'mon kid,” Tony insisted, hoisting him from underneath his armpits. “Up you go.”

Peter whimpered and whined as Tony staggered over to the bed. It wasn't hard to carry him, the kid was pretty light, but Tony had an awkward hold on him due to his own gaping injury in his chest, and he had to stop every so often to go back and shift his car battery so that he wouldn't get disconnected.

Once the kid was on the bed, Tony could tell he was pretty out of it, not to mention exhausted.

“Why are they doing this to you, kid?” Tony tried to ask, “What do they want from you.”

Peter's reply was too slurred for Tony to discern. He lifted one of the kids eyelids and saw that his pupils were blown.

“They're keeping you on pretty heavy drugs, aren't they?” Tony removed his hand from the boys face, resolving to wait to ask him in the morning.

“From what I can tell they're trying to create some kind of super soldier serum,” Peter told him the next time Tony asked. He was sitting up in the bunk, since Tony wanted him to rest, even though Peter insisted this wasn't the first time this had happened. “They have some kind of notes from way back in the 40s or something -”

“Steve Rogers,” Tony realized. “Captain America.”

“Well, it didn't work at first,” the kid said. “They injected me with something, but it didn't do much - nothing bad, but nothing good either, at least for them. I kept feeling dizzy, and passing out. Then they got these new notes, a whole lot more modern. From what I can tell, they're coming from some company in America. They only started recently.

“They injected me with this new serum. It was crazy. Right after they injected it, it was like my senses we're going haywire. It was so bright, and loud, and everything I felt was so intense and uncomfortable. They thought it was a fluke at first, but when I woke up the next morning it was like everything evened out. It was still intense, but I'd adjusted. And I was stronger. Way stronger. I fought back, and I almost escaped. Now they keep me on the drugs to make sure I don't try anything. I also think my metabolism increased, because they started giving me less food, to keep my strength low.”

Tony listened to the kid as he cooked they're extremely low rations over the open fire. “so they want me to build them weapons, and they want you to become their weapon.”

“Sort of,” Peter shrugged, “I get the feeling I'm just their guinea pig. They're just using me to perfect their formula, before they give it to their more willing soldiers.”

“How did they get ahold of you?”

“I was visiting with my parents on a business trip. They're geneticists, and they were here doing research,” Peter's eyes glazed over, “They shot at the car, broke the windows. My father was killed in the driver's seat, and my mother was shot a moment later. I kept waiting. Waiting to die. When they broke into the car I thought they were going to kill me. But instead they just knocked me out and I woke back up here.”

Peter looked up at him with apologetic eyes. “They had your weapons, Mr. Stark.”

Tony focused on the kids dirty, worn down sneakers, sitting beside the bunk, not willing to meet the kids eyes. “I'm sorry.”

“It wasn't your fault.”

“I made the weapons,” Tony insisted.

“It's not like that,” Peter countered.

Tony decided to change the subject. “And what are they gonna do to you when they're done?”

Peter looked him in the eye. “Kill me, I would think.”

Tony met his gaze. “I won't let that happen.”

“Why?” The kid asked. “You hardly know me. Besides, you've got your own life at stake.”

“I don't have to know you,” Tony said. “You're a kid. You have so much more to live for than just this. You deserve a chance to live.”

“Mr. Stark, with all due respect, I don't have any reason to stay alive, my parents are dead. There's nothing left for me. Do you even have a plan to get out of here?”

Tony looked up, eyeballing one of the camera he had noticed we're stationed around the room.

“We'll see.”

Later that day, the cave was crowded with people carrying things inside. Tony was barking orders, Peter standing close by translating as fast as he could.

Soon the workspace was set up to. Tony's liking, well lit and equipped with everything he needed. There once open and large room was suddenly full of Stark Industries weapons and mechanics.

Once everyone had filed out of the cave, Tony began to work, sketching out blueprints for his big project - as well as a smaller one, one he would need to start working on as soon as possible. Glancing over, he caught Peter staring at the Stark Industries logo on one of the missiles. He looked like he wasn't really there.

“Kid,” Tony called, causing Peter to jump, snapping out of his reverie “Come make yourself useful.”

Peter cautiously came over toward him. Tony picked up a long tube - a missile. The kid stopped walking.

“Relax, they took out the explosives before they gave them to me. They're crazy, but not stupid. Now watch.”

Tony very meticulously and carefully broke apart the missile extracting what he needed. Until finally he pulled out a small piece metal with his tweezers.

“Okay, we don't need this,” Tony threw scrap pieces over his shoulder.

“What's that?” The kid asked.

“Palladium,” Tony said. “About .15 grams of it. I need at least 1.6, so why don't you start breaking down the other eleven.”

The kid was actually a very good helper. When he wasn't drugged up to his eyeballs he had remarkably steady hands, and he clearly knew how to break stuff apart the right way.

“I used to do this all the time, back at home,” Peter had explained. “I would get old broken computers from the thrift store, break them down and rewire them. I made some pretty cool stuff, or at least I liked to think so.”

Tony had waited for moment when Peter was more aware to have him heat up the palladium in the crucible and pour it into the sand mold Tony had constructed. Tony couldn't do it himself, since he had to hold onto his car battery.

“Careful,” he warned. “We only got one shot at this.”

“If you stop psyching me out,” the kid countered, “I might be more steady.”

Despite their banter, Peter had successfully poured it into the mold, and the next morning Tony pulled out a freshly made ring of palladium. By that point the poor kid had returned from one of his torture sessions and was the equivalent of a vegetable lying on their bunk.

Tony got to work, installing all the pieces, soldering and wiring, until his finished product whirred to life, glowing a faint blue in front of him.

Peter materialized over his shoulder, and it was at that point Tony noticed how much time had gone by.

“What's that?” The kid spoke in an awed whisper.

“It's a miniature ARC reactor. I've got a bigger one at home, powering my workshop.” Tony explained. “This one will keep the shrapnel out of my heart.”

“What does it generate?”

“If my math is correct - and it always is - about three gigajoules per second. Enough to power my heart for 50 lifetimes.” Tony turned and made eye contact with Peter. “Or something big for 15 minutes.”

The kid looked at him with wary eyes. “What are you planning?”

Tony stood up, leading the kid over to his blueprints, flattening them out to show him his other project - his much bigger project.

“Woah,” the kid breathed.

Tony wasn't sure how much time had passed before he was almost completely done with his project. He had about a week of work left to do, when once again there was a pounding on the door.

He and the kid exchanged nervous glances. It wasn't anywhere near time for Peter to be taken away again. They stood, hands behind their heads.

Man flooded the room, all armed with guns - no surprise. What was different this time was that the old leader, the one Tony had grown used to seeing, wasn’t there. Instead, another man took charge, a man Tony remembered from his one trip to the outside world since being imprisoned here.

“Relax,” The man said.

Tony and Peter tentatively let their hands fall to their sides. The man circled them, and began examining Tony’s blueprints. Tony’s heart leapt in fear. He doubted than man would be able to piece together what he was making, but still, it set him on edge.

“The bow and arrow was once the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine,” The man gave up trying to make sense of the blueprints. “Today, whoever has the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. Soon it will be my turn...”

The man turned to Peter, and started having a conversation with him, no longer talking in English, so Tony couldn’t follow along. Suddenly, Peter was forced to his knees, and his head was shoved down onto an anvil. Tony’s heart raced, unsure what to do. He didn’t want to let the kid get hurt, but he knew trying to help him might make things worse. The man picked up a set of Tony’s tongs, using them to remove a hot coal from the fire, and started maneuvering it towards the kids head, still shouting at Peter in a foreign tongue.

“What do you want, a delivery date?” Tony asked stepping forward to try and help the kid against his better judgment. The armed men quickly trained their guns on him, shouting words of warning, on Tony stopped, raising his hands in surrender. He looked around, trying to think of something that might help them. He looked to the man who was still holding the hot coal with his tongs, too close to the kid’s face for comfort.

“I need him,” Tony insisted. “He’s a good assistant.”

The air was still and tense. The room became so silent that Tony could hear Peter trying to take deep, calming breaths. Finally the man dropped the burning coal, signaling to his men to let Peter go.

“You have until tomorrow,” He warned, “to build my missile.”

Then they left.

Thankfully, the kid wasn’t dragged away for experiments again, which let them work more efficiently on the suit throughout the night. What would have taken a week was now being done in one night.

“What did they want?” Tony asked while hammering at the metal chest plate to give it shape.

“They’re onto you,” Peter warned, working on the wires and electrical work. “They kept asking what you were really building. I told them that you were working very hard on the Jericho, but it was very complex.”

“We need to get this done before sunrise,” Tony decided. “Otherwise they’ll come too soon and we won’t have a chance.”

By the time the light behind their small window had begun to turn orange like the morning, Peter was helping Tony into his suit, and they waited for the data from a small, old computer to load so that they could power it up.

“Say it again,” Peter prompted.

“41 steps straight ahead, 16 steps from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right,” Tony rattled off.

Peter took a shaky breath and nodded.

“Hey,” Tony said, trying to sound as calm as possible, “It’s gonna be fine.”

Peter nodded again. “Say it again.”

Tony knew it at this point, but he repeated it so that Peter could feel better.

“Almost at 100%,” Peter reported.

“Okay, remember than plan, kid. Stick to the plan. Remember your checkpoints, and make sure everything is clear before you follow me, okay?” Tony looked Peter dead in the eye, and the kid gave him another shaky nod. “It’ll be fine, It’ll -”

There was banging at the door. Peter gave a shaky gasp looking fearfully at the door. There was shouting.

“Say something to them,” Tony prompted.

“They’re speaking Hungarian,” Peter said. “I don’t know how to speak Hungarian.”

“Speak Hungarian,” Tony pressed, “Just say something in Hungarian.”

The kid’s eyes were wide with terror, and he loudly called out a couple of wavering words. It didn’t appear to work however, because the door was opened.

There was a loud ban, and both Peter and Tony felt the wave of the explosion that had been a trap that they had set on the door. It was supposed to be how they got out of here, but it was too soon.

“Okay, times up kid, we gotta go.” Tony moved to disconnect his suit.

“No!” Peter shouted, “You need more time -”

“Kid, we don’t got time, we need to make our move, now!”

“You stay here and wait for it to power up,” Peter said. “I can buy you a couple of minutes.”

Then, the kid ran to one of the bodies of the men who had been at the door, picking up one of their guns, then he ran out the door.

“Kid!” Tony yelled. “Kid! Stick to the plan! Stop!”

After several agonizing minutes of waiting, the loading bar on the computer reached 100%. The lights flickered, before the eventually powered off. Tony disconnected himself from the cables, and maneuvered the suit out of the cave, through the hole where the door had once stood.

Tony found the kid near the mouth of the cave, laying over a pile of sandbags, bleeding and panting. Tony had successfully picked off everyone inside the cave, and seeing that it was safe, he knelt by the kid and raised the helmet.

“Kid, c’mon, we have a plan and we’re gonna stick to it.”

The poor kid moaned in pain, whimpering when Tony rolled him over. He was bleeding profusely from his stomach. Tony could tell he had been shot. Peter let out agonized shot as Tony pulled one of the kid’s hands over the wound.

“Keep pressure on that, okay? I’m gonna deal with those guys out there, then I’m gonna come back, and we’re gonna get out of here okay?”

Peter whimpered. “- hurts, it hurts. Mr. Stark. Please. I don’t wanna die.”

“Shh,” Tony soothed. “You’ll be fine. Just put pressure on that wound and I’ll be back in a few minutes to get you, okay? You’re gonna be fine.”

Peter nodded, pressing down on the wound, he yelled from the pain.

“Shh,” Tony soothed. “I’ll be right back, okay kid?”

He closed the mask and made his way outside.

Just as Tony had killed all of his captors, the suit lost power. He shed the heavy metal and took of the protective extra layers he had worn underneath of it so he wouldn’t get dehydrated too quickly.

He raced back to the kid, much more mobile now that he didn’t have the suit on. Remarkably, Peter had managed to sit up, and the wound underneath his hand was somewhat healed.

“The experiments,” Peter explained. “They didn’t drug me last night, so I’m stronger now, and I can heal quicker.”

“Yeah, but it still isn’t good that there’s still a bullet in there,” Tony said. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

When Rhodey found them with the air force helicopters while they braved the desert, Tony had never been more relieved.

[leonawriter]

The Rest That’s Still Unwritten - pt. 2 (Of Hats and Bandages)

Read it on AO3

Fandom: Bungo Stray Dogs

Characters: Dazai, Chuuya

Summary: Dazai wakes up from flying through half a forest, and Chuuya sees something he shouldn't have. Things go from there. 

Notes: Follow-up to part one featuring Book!Dazai, and that should really be read first. Warnings apply for Dazai-typical suicide references. Can be taken as pre-relationship or gen. 

...

Dazai is still preoccupied with the sensation of air burning back into his lungs, too preoccupied at first to notice the way that being thrown back like that through the trees that he could still remember catching at his arms and legs had affected him.

He groans, a hand reaching (painfully, and oh but he hates this, because he hadn't planned on being thrown through the forest like that again any time soon) for his forehead, thankful that there isn't any sign of bleeding coming from his head, or having come from there at all.

(His neck hurts, he thinks, and ah, so that's what did it. It's a statement of fact, and a little bit disappointed at that, that it didn't work, but then again he supposes there are still things to do, the story isn't over yet.)

He hears a sharp inhale of breath, and he tenses, because maybe Chuuya already knows about the fact that he can't stay dead, but that doesn't mean he enjoys someone being that close to the truth of who (what) he is.

He's ready to put the masks back on, wave in Chuuya's face and make a nuisance of himself, when-

"Dazai," he hears Chuuya say, in the exact same low tone that's threatening not to stay level as he'd heard the first time Chuuya had seen him die and come back to life, "what the fuck?"

And that's familiar, too.

Dazai's hand drops from his face, and it's then that he realise that he can feel air touching directly onto his skin, instead of having the constant barrier of bandages wrapped around his arm, the tug of one frayed end just coming loose from where it was held making it obvious that one of the tree branches must have caught the wrappings and pulled it loose, perhaps even causing his (temporary) death.

He looks up at Chuuya, from the ground, because apparently Chuuya had been the one to get him down, had been about to cut that last bit of bandage free, when he'd seen-

Chuuya had seen-

The world slows down and in an instant, possibilities lay themselves before him, all sorts of potentials for how this might play out, and perhaps once he might not have been afraid, but Dazai is just as much a part of the story now as anyone else, carried along on the pull of its ebbs and flows, and whatever Chuuya chooses-

Whatever he chooses to do, to say, who to go to, Dazai can't stop, can't change, can't-

"That's not- those aren't just scars, that's ink."

-control

"I'd say 'that's some fucked up tattoos you've got there', but they're moving, and... the hell."

anything-

"Dazai?" Chuuya had used that tone before. Each time he had, someone had wound up half dead. "Dazai... why can I see what I'm saying on your arm?"

-at all.

He can't take back what Chuuya's seen. He can only grab at the frayed end of the cut bandage, and hastily wind it back around his arm. He doesn't say a word. Not until he's satisfied that he's properly covered up once more.

And then, expression as blank as one of Kunikida-kun's unused sheets of notebook paper, he turns to meet Chuuya's eyes.

"Why do you think you saw what you saw, Chuuya?'

The smaller man, his ex-partner, huffed and looked away. They'd been on the same side, once, and now they weren't, but at the same time... could he really be said to be on anyone's side, given that he was what he was?

"Hell if I know. Why else would I be asking you, dimwit? The only thing I can think of is that damn Book shit, and there's no way-" Chuuya's eyes narrow, and he looks back. "That thing's stronger than any human ability. Did it do something to you?"

"No," Dazai says, because it's the truth.

The possibilities are narrowing down, which makes focusing on the one that he's living through that much simpler, and less headache-inducing.

Chuuya is still mafia, one of the last ones suggests, loyal to Mori, not you, and even if one doesn't know the full truth about the Book the truth about Dazai's link to it would be enough to override Mori's willingness to simply let him be. It would only take a single misplaced word....

The possibility fades into crumpled up draft paper, and the simple fact that it does causes Dazai to take a sharp breath, and when Chuuya looks at him, a dozen more possibilities are discarded, thrown away.

"You aren't going to tell Mori you saw that," he says, and although it comes out flatly, part of that is because he can barely breathe for not knowing what to do with this information.

"Only because I don't even know what the hell that was," Chuuya says, and sits down hard on the ground in front of him. "Fuck, Dazai. Anything else you wanna... I dunno. Maybe it'd explain a lot if you were somehow the human version of that book. You've both got messed up abilities and you always get everyone around you into trouble."

Dazai closes his eyes. The buzzing in his head from the branching off directions that things could go in quieting down by the second.

"You're supposed to laugh, you know." Instead, a sigh is what escapes him. "Dazai."

"Maybe I'm still concussed from being thrown through a forest."

"You're not concussed."

"But I could be."

"I've seen you concussed, idiot."

He finds himself smiling, remembering having been knocked unconscious and kept awake by an increasingly annoyed Chuuya by order of Mori. He himself hadn't been all that happy about it - the idea was, after all, that if one fell asleep while concussed, then they might never wake up.

The silence stretches, for a while, and although it's now silent in Dazai's head, it's no less comforting. 

Eventually, Chuuya breaks the impasse by snorting, and then, a bitter sort of laugh.

"If you were some human Book... you mind telling me the fuck you thought you were up to a few months ago? Those Detective Agency friends of yours were being hunted down, you got yourself arrested, and I fucking lost people, you bastard-"

Dazai's eyes darkened, and he took ahold of the loose piece of bandage with his other hand. There's still an uncomfortable sensation of looseness there, which he can't do anything about until he can get around to fixing up his entire arm again. It truly is a pain.

"I couldn't control that," he says, absently. Or perhaps, not so much absently, as that he felt that he himself was absent, only hearing himself speak as if from a distance. Chuuya is still staring at him, eyes full of fire. Trying to pull him back down to earth. There's something else in them, too, which he can't put a name to yet, which flashes from the moment he admits that Chuuya's at one point joking suggestion was right. "We're two halves of one whole, after all. The Book, which is written in, that can change the story..."

"...and you," Chuuya finishes, flatly. Which sounds wrong wrong wrong, because Chuuya is never flat. He is short and he is angry and he always has had the best reactions, and none of the ones that Dazai likes (which are most of them) are flat.

He nods, however, with a smile.

"And me," he says, confirming the truth. "I'm what happened when the story in the pages of the Book came alive. Did you know, an author can create a set of characters, traits, ideas... and yet, it is much like expecting a pack of stray dogs to always do as they're asked, if they want to keep a certain storyline on track. Much like anyone, they do as they please." Much like people who aren't fictional, lies unsaid. Unspoken. But if if he looked under the bandages, he isn't completely sure that it lies unwritten. From the disquiet on Chuuya's face, he thinks that despite his partner's comparative shortcomings in the mental intelligence department, he can guess. Probably because he knew Dazai. Dazai, who with dark eyes and numb curiosity, tilts his head. "Do you hate me, Chuuya?"

Chuuya laughs, not looking in Dazai's eyes anymore.

"I've always hated you, dimwit." Ah, of course. And, no one liked to know that their story had been set in stone. That there was someone to blame for everything going wrong. In this case, Dazai himself was the closest any in this world had to that person. "I hate you for a hell of a lot of reasons. But..." Chuuya sounded - tired. Dazai closed his eyes, feeling the decision coming on. "Hating you for this would make me feel like a fucking hypocrite, open-book-dumbass."

His eyes fly open again, and now he's staring, looking at Chuuya like he's never seen him before, because he'd expected to be blamed for all of Chuuya's problems, for knowing or being able to know, and maybe that will still come later, but right now all he's able to do is laugh.

He'd spent all this time comparing the two of them in his mind, and at the very point that it became relevant, it was Chuuya who had the thought come to mind first.

"You're really weird, you know that," Chuuya's saying, but now that he's looking Dazai can see his mouth twitch, meaning that Chuuya's trying not to laugh too-

And then the dam breaks, and it's the two of them, two people who aren't even really people at all, just trying to be as human as possible with what they had, and finally, finally, seeing each other and recognising that.

It's a while before Dazai feels like moving again, and when he does he nearly falls flat on his face. Nearly, because he falls onto Chuuya instead. 

"Chuuya... I think I twisted my ankle..." He makes a face. "I twisted my ankle and I need new bandages," he continues with a whine. "The trees stole some, and you helped them, so you owe me now."

"I should deck you and drag you back unconscious just for that," Chuuya says as he drags him upright again, cursing the way Dazai's ability (and although it was, it was also his nature, whether he liked the implications of that or not) made it impossible for Chuuya's own ability to make this any easier. "How'd you even get this far without someone seeing that, anyway?"

"I usually have enough warning to be able to hide it."

"Huh."

"But, it isn't comfortable, so I prefer not to have to."

It's hard not to stare at the site of the destruction that must have occurred after he'd been thrown through the forest (and died, temporarily), and Chuuya had gone to town. It's magnificent, truly, the way that there were small craters and broken trees simply from Chuuya using his ability without any need for Corruption.

The one they'd been fighting was taken care of, of course. Chuuya wouldn't have spent so long out of the battle, even with what had happened.

"...Oi, Dazai." He makes a sound to show that he'd heard, that he was listening, even though he wasn't about to stop watching where his feet were going. "This means you don't get to call me 'hatrack' from now on, got it?"

He blinks, and laughs. He still hurts all over, but it's worth it.

"Ha... only if you stop calling me the 'extra-stuff-that-comes-with-the-bandages'."

"Ugh." A beat. They both knew how likely either of those things were. As in, not at all. "You've got shitty coping mechanisms." Which, to be fair, Chuuya has known for quite some time now. "And no, that's not an invitation to start taking my hats, damn it!"

...Shame, Dazai thinks to himself, Chuuya's hats would probably look good on me.

[internethorrorfan]

Commentarypasta: Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack (originally posted on deviantart in 2017)

You know what's almost as creatively bankrupt as Jeff the Killer wannabe stories and Slender Mansion fics? Versus stories. Today's gem, hailing from the Spinpasta wiki, is one such story. Because why write original suspenseful horror stories or possibly put a new creative spin on an older idea or character when you can just take two unrelated creepypasta icons and have them lay a WWE smack down on each other, right? Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story... Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack by OptimusPrime27 There are legends of the Slender Man. Some say he's a kind nurturing father figure that lives in a big beautiful mansion full of other monsters and killers as one big happy loving family who do all sorts of cute family activities with each other when they're not going on mass murder sprees. Nobody over the age of 12 believes such things.

He is a dark spirit. He is truly evil. Wait, what you mean to tell me is that the murderous, child snatching eldritch abomination who forces people to become his slaves in order to commit horrific acts on his behalf is evil? You don't say? He stalks people and murders them. But now he is gone. He's been gone. People don't know why, but he just... disappeared. Everything changed after the Fire Nation attacked. One day, he just left. Never to be seen again. Except in terrible fanfiction written by pre teen girls. Only a few people still remember him. This sentence is so easily contestable that I won't even bother. I wouldn't even know he existed if it wasn't for that dark, dark night... and that video-game that made. That sort of helped... This joke might have been funny is the grammar wasn't messed up.

You see, Slender Man disappeared because less people feared him. This sounds awfully similar to Freddy's plot in Freddy vs. Jason. Instead of that dark, mysterious force he became that cool, popular guy. "Yo Slenderbro, pass me that brewski when you're done droppin' those phat beats!" Just that guy. People didn't care how terrifying he really was, they just liked him. What if people liked him because he was terrifying? I like Slenderman because he's creepy.  Creepy if done well at any rate. Video-games, toys, shirts, Hold the phone here, since when has there official Slenderman merch? he was everywhere. Less people feared him, and he became more of an internet icon than a despicable creature. So you can't be a despicable creature and internet icon at the same time? Someone better tell [insert well known internet personality who gets a lot of hate here)! More people knew him and they learned to stay away from him, how to avoid him, There's no official way to avoid Slenderman. and thus he didn't get their souls. Many people don't know this, but Slender Man needs souls. Many people don't know this because you completely made it up. They give him energy. He harvests them. He feeds of them. He lives. But now people don't fear him at all. He's just that guy.

That guy. He's just that guy who stalks people, kidnaps kids and drives people insane. Ya know, nothin' special.

But you see, Eyeless Jack is a different story. A story so bad its own writer personally asked for it to be deleted from the creepypasta wiki.

Eyeless Jack is a dark, undead spirit. Says who? A young boy brutally murdered, his eyes ripped out of their sockets. A vengeful spirit, Eyeless Jack's a ghost now? he spent the rest of his eternity getting his revenge. Which he accomplishes by eating random people's kidneys. Out to find the man who killed him. Until then, he could never truly be at peace. Less powerful and less famous, Jack was just a little kid compared to Slender Man. Which might have something to do with Slenderman being 6-10 feet tall. No match for this monster. Stories over! Goodnight everybody! Slender Man is basically the king of modern horror. I'm a huge Slender-verse fan and even I think that's bit of an overstatement. How can he be the king of modern horror anyway if supposedly no one takes him seriously or cares about him anymore? Creepy, mysterious. Slender Man has given existence to many wannabes and copy-cats like Jeff the Killer or Laughing Jack. Laughing Jack and Jeff the Killer have nothing at all to do with each other let alone Slenderman.

Slender Man saw potential in Eyeless Jack, and decided to use his superior power to manipulate the poor lost soul. This is literally just the plot of Freddy vs. Jason. One night, Jack was lurking through the forest, when Slender Man, now weak but still more powerful than Jack, appeared before him. Jack was shocked, but then the figure seemed to disappear into thin air. Jack turned around as Slender Man reappeared in front of him. Slender Man began to stalk the evil spirit as he ran through the forest. What sounded like static assaulted Jack's ears. He fell down and began to faint, everything else in the world fading away... Slender Man was now in control of Jack, and ready for the harvest. Now this is where I get involved. Me and my friends were having a sleep-over. It was a dark, rainy night. Lemme guess: You really wanted to write "it was a dark and stormy night" but you realized that was too cliché even for something called "Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack" so you thought wording it differently would mask the unoriginality.  Newsflash: it didn't. We were watching a crappy, blood-filled generic horror film, yet we kept screeching. We didn't know what true horror was yet. It's certainly not this story, I'll tell you that much. Not yet. You could’ve removed those last two words entirely and just said you "didn’t know what true horror was. Yet". We heard the back door creek open, so me and my friend Anne went to go see. The suspense was killing us. Suspense from what? The door creaking open? Do you guys flip out every time there's a light breeze? The entire house was pitch black. Turn on the lights then. We stepped into the dark hallway and slowly stepped closer and closer to the door. We heard heavy breathing from behind the door. And...JUMPSCARE! We went to grab the door knob, and when we saw what was behind it, we shrieked in terror. It was just our friend Mark. You held the tension here for 1 sentence. He and his friends Brad and Chuck were here. The idiots tried to scare us. "They're gonna be dead soon is what I'm saying." Me and Mark are sort of more than friends, but not really dating. Just sort of... into each other or something. It's complicated. We watched the movie together, and the guys kept making fun of us when we got scared, but they themselves kept getting freaked out now and then. Suddenly, we heard glass breaking. Mark volunteered to go check it out because how we were such "chickens". His words, not mine. I'd say that last sentence was completely superfluous but this whole story is completely superfluous. He walked into the hallways, closing the door behind him. He saw broken glass on the floor. He knew somebody had broken in. He turned around to warn us, but saw a masked, hoody-wearing creature. I thought he was a spirit. Now he's a creature? The mask was blue, with deep, empty, black holes where the eyes were supposed to be. I asked myself this same question when reading the original Eyeless Jack but how can they tell he has no eyes when he's wearing a mask in the dark?

The creature grabbed Mark's throat, squeezing it tightly. Mark gasped for breath, but the grasp on Mark's throat increased in strength. Tighter, tighter, until Mark couldn't breathe. Mark closed his eyes and dropped down onto the ground as the creature finally let him go. The creature observed his corpse, as if marveling at his own work of demented art. Oh no, not Mark! He was such a well developed character that we knew so well!

It was half an hour later, and we were worrying. I went to go check on him and found his corpse. So all of you just stood there and waited for 30 minutes while a monster choked Mark to death instead of alerting the police? What truly wonderful people you guys are.  I nearly puked. There was no brutal damage or harm to it, but that's what scared me. In the movies it's always bloody and chopped up, nearly unrecognizable. But this was... was so real. Just a lifeless body there on the ground, nothing more to it. The police said he was strangled to death by... something. Poor Eyeless Jack always getting described as a "something". The finger prints on his neck Fingerprints is one word. Like, nobody writes "head aches" or "bed rooms" do they? were something odd. They tasted great! They scanned them and all, but the person they belonged to was murdered long ago. Jack Robins was a young boy who was brutally killed back in the 1970's. I sure am glad these cops committed every important detail of this decades old case to memory. His parents were on a date, and he was being babysat by a local teen trying to get some quick cash. You say that as if all teen babysitters aren't just looking for quick cash.

A strange man broke in while he was asleep and the sitter was busy on the phone. Being on the phone doesn't automatically cancel out all other sounds. I think she'd be able to hear someone breaking in. The man went through the house stealing everything he found useful. The sitter saw him and shrieked, only to be shot down by the robber. The robber found Jack and pulled out his carving knife. Jack saw him and shrieked. The robber, not wanting to get caught, shot him, and then cut his eyes out with the knife. Why? How could cutting out Jack's eyes possibly benefit him in any way? If he's trying to be sneaky then carrying someone's eyeballs around would be super easy to trace. There is literally absolutely no reason for this guy to cut out Jack's eyes other than "well he's gotta become Eyeless Jack somehow!"

I was shocked when I heard this. That poor kid. But what was the killer doing with his fingerprints? Was it a coincidence? You don't know what coincidences are, do you? Was the killer the same one who did this terrible, terrible thing all those years back, and the sicko kept Jack's hands with him? If the killer took Jack's hands the cops would've said that. How is that your first thought? Why would a robber cut off the hand of someone they murdered, keep it on their person and use it decades later to strangle some random person to death? I was scared. Me and my parents were staying in a hotel room since the murder, but I couldn't help but wonder if he was still in the house... Meanwhile, in the woods, Jack woke up. He saw that he was in Slender Man's body. I'm sorry, what? This is a body swapping story now? Why does "Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack" need to be about body swapping? But more importantly, he actually saw. He discovered that Slender Man didn't just take over his body, he switched both of their souls into each other's bodies. I have so many questions. This story keeps calling Jack a spirit so how can he have even have a body/soul to swap? Since when did Slenderman have a soul? Didn't this story also say Slenderman ate souls?  How would swapping souls allow Eyeless Jack to see? How can EJ do all the things he does if he can't see? I have the sneaking suspicion that none of these questions will go answered. Jack, now able to see, used this to follow the Slender Man's foot prints to the house. The police were investigating the scene of the crime, and went into the basement. The entire house was totally dark. If the power went out it'd be nice of you to let us know that. The two police man walked slowly down the stairs, and entered the dark room. The basement was flooded up to the police men's ankles because of the rain. Our house was an old one and it was always in a really crappy condition. Get it remodeled it then.

They found the old light switch and flipped it, only to be attacked and killed by Slender Man in Jack's body. He took on the other cops as they ran down the stairs. Their bullets did nothing. The body may have been harmed, but it was just flesh and bones. Useless flesh and bones. If they're so useless why did Slenderman even do this whole body swapping thing in the first place? How does switching souls with Eyeless Jack benefit Slenderman in anyway?

As the battle in the basement was going on, Jack in Slender Man's body broke down the front door, searching for his impostor. He rushed down the stairs to confront Slender Man. Slender threw his knife into Jack's face, distracting him as he grabbed a metal pipe up from off the floor. He hit the already dazed Jack in the head, knocking him to the floor. Remember: Jack's in Slenderman's body. So according to this story Slenderman can be stabbed, dazed and knocked to the ground. Jack got up and pulled the knife out of his head, impaling Slender Man with it. Slender Man seemed to slow down for a bit, but no real harm was done. "Besides the gaping chest wound I mean." Slender Man tore the knife out and dropped it to the ground. It was useless. Slender Man hit Jack with an uppercut, grabbed him and threw him into the furnace, closing him in and turning it on. Jack struggled to break free, but Slender Man was holding him in with all his strength. Eyeless Jack's body is capable of picking up and throwing the body of Slenderman, who is a 6-10 foot monster with teleportation powers, tentacles, and psychic abilities. Ok then. Jack pushed against the furnace with all his might, and finally jumped out, tackling Slender Man over. He held Slender Man's face down under the water, trying to drown him, but Slender Man managed to push up and knock Eyeless Jak down. Wow, Slenderman knocked Eyeless Jack down so hard the c fell out of his name! Jack reached for a nearby tool bag and pulled out a drill, sticking it into Slender Man's face. He turned it on, and it began to cut into his face. Why is EJ trying to kill Slenderman when they've switched bodies? I assume the body swapping is the reason EJ is mad at Slenderman in the first place so why would he ruin his chances of ever getting his real body back? Guys, Eyeless Jack is drilling into his own face. Slender Man grabbed the drill and pulled it out, throwing it over onto the stair case. Getting shot, drowned and stabbed didn't kill him so cutting into his face with a drill probably wouldn't either. Shouldn't Eyeless Jack know the limitations of his own body? Slender picked up the carving knife, slashed Jack across the chest with it, and jumped up and cut a pipe above Jack's head. Tons of sewage poured down onto Jack, knocking him to the ground and covering him with the slop. Did the writer of this even know Slenderman's power set?

Slender Man left, leaving Jack to die. Slender Man grabbed a thing of matches on the kitchen counter, lit one, and threw it to the ground, burning down the building as he turned and ran out the back door. The entire house burnt up and collapsed in, crushing Jack completely and seemingly finishing him off. Slenderman is leaving his own body to burn to death. Slenderman of all beings should know fire doesn't hurt him! The police told me and my parents about what happened. The cops that were there were killed before any of this crap even happened. They didn't know anything about the two killers or what really went on, but they knew that the house burnt down. I was devastated, but I was hoping that... that THING... was killed in the fire. Can't be, the story's not over yet. Unfortunately. I thought it was all over. I wish it were all over so I could do something more productive with my time like watching paint dry. I told my parents I was ready to go back to school, but they hesitated to let me. We talked it through, and they decided I was okay.  What teenager wants to go to school?

The next day at school, my friends from the sleepover, Anne and Lauren, asked me what happened. I told them everything. Jack, how Mark died, the house burning down, etc.,etc. They were shocked. Everyone who overheard was shocked too. One kid approached us. He said that Jack never really died, and that he is still alive. Everybody that he was crazy, but he said that Jack's spirit still wanders the Earth, searching for the man who killed him. Who is this kid and how does he know any of this? The janitor saw all the commotion, and told the kid to go down to the principal's office. He turned to the rest of us and said to get to class. The principal told the kid that the legend of Eyeless Jack was just crazy talk.

Rumor spread that all these stories of monsters and ghosts and stuff was all actually real and the adults were keeping it from us, like some crazy conspiracy. This kind of conspiracy I hope. Now it was like a rebellion was on the horizon. How could these things really exist without anybody letting us know? It's our right to know these kinds of things! If they're trying to protect us it clearly isn't working because now Mark has been murdered! OK we get it author, you really like Freddy vs. Jason. Can you please quit rehashing plot elements from it?

I was angry. We were all angry. I'm angry because it feels like this story should be over by now. But we still had to carry on. The prom was coming soon, and I planned on asking Mark to go with me and maybe we could officially start dating, but then this whole crazy thing happened. Multiple people, including your own boyfriend,  have been brutally killed by supernatural forces and you're worrying about the damn prom? I went with Brad, Mark's friend, but I felt really guilty. Just because Mark was killed I went out with his best friend? It was messed up, I knew it. Yeah, taking your boyfriend's best friend to the prom the day after said boyfriend was murdered is pretty messed up.

Everything was fine at the prom, until... it happened. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xe0Ba… Chuck and Anne sneaked away to make out or something dumb, and then he came. Obvious joke is obvious. They went over by the lockers and made sure nobody was looking, but then they heard footsteps. They thought they were caught, but it was much worse. That masked man that strangled Mark. It was here! It grabbed Chuck and held him up against the wall by his throat. Anne shrieked in terror as the creature stared into Chuck's eyes. Stared deep down into his soul. You'd think someone called "Eyeless Jack" would have a hard time staring at people. Then it took him and it threw him straight out the window. A car was driving by, and Chuck's body landed straight on the windshield, nearly shattering the glass. The principal and the gym teacher both came running to help us out, but they were no match. The masked man grabbed both of the two and hit their heads together, knocking them unconscious, and then he stuffed both of their bodies into a locker. He slammed the door, locking them inside, and then turned around to face Anne. He ripped a locker door off of the wall and hit her upside the head with it, knocking her down. Why is Slendy-in-Jack's body here in the first place? Doesn't he have better things to be doing than picking off stupid teenagers? She got up and ran, and the man... no, not a man... the DEMON rushed after her. Demon? Wasn't he a spirit earlier?

She ran into the gymnasium, where we all were, and told us to run. Too late. The creature bursted in and impaled her with a leg he tore off a desk. Ah yes desks: a common thing to find in gymnasiums. She dropped to the floor, and he tore the leg out of her corpse. We all ran out screaming, but some of us weren't as lucky. Me, Brad, Lauren, and the janitor all got out alive and took off in Brad's van. The janitor drove us away, and said that he knew about Eyeless Jack. What a totally non contrived coincidence that some random janitor at some non descript school knows all about Eyeless Jack, Slenderman and the conspiracy covering them up. He confessed to us, telling us that the kid from the hallway was right all along. He was privy to this information how exactly? They just didn't want kids knowing to try and keep them safe, but it clearly didn't work. As we were driving, a flaming man in a tuxedo ran out into the road,   Tuxedos and business suits aren't the same thing. and we accidentally hit him. The janitor thought it was a victim of Jack from the prom, He didn't notice that Slenderman was 6 feet tall and you know, lacking a face? so he rushed out to save him, but the faceless man got up and grabbed him, throwing him into the sky with all his might. We screamed in horror, and Brad leaped into the driver's seat, ramming over the man. So did the janitor come down or did he fly into outer space or something?

We drived off as it tried chasing us on feet, but we managed to escape. We were all scared, and none of us knew what was going on. I remembered the faceless tuxedo man, though. I could never forget him. It was the Slender Man. But he was real? Of course he's real! You've seen him attack people and you just ran him over with your car. UGH. We didn't know what was happening, You and me both. we just knew to get away as quick as possible. Meanwhile, Slender Man and Jack had a score to settle themselves. Jack (in Slender Man's body)arrived at the school to face his foe. A high school: truly the best place to stage the climatic showdown of your story.  The two saw each other, and nothing could stop them. Nothing else in the world mattered. It was just them, face to face again at last. Sure, Slender Man had won it the last two times, but now Jack knew better. Jack grabbed the knocked-over punch table, lifted it up over his head, and threw it right at Slender Man, knocking him over. It's damn confusing reading this and having to remember that EJ and Slenderman have switched bodies. Almost like it's pointless or something. Jack quickly ran over and started punching Slender Man repeatedly. Is EJ gonna use a single one of Slenderman's powers while inhabiting his body? Slender Man kicked Jack in the chest and knocked him over. Guess that answers my question. Slender Man started to kick Jack in the face over and over, even stomping on his head. Jack got up and overpowered Slender Man, picking him up and throwing him up on the stage. Jack ran over and jumped up, hitting Slender Man in the chest several times and damaging his decaying ribcage. Jack grabbed Slender Man by the throat and threw him down onto the ground. Jack grabbed one of the band's amps, lifted it up with all his strength, and dropped it down onto Slender Man. Jack picked up a bottle of water off the floor and poured onto his semi-crushed opponent, frying him completely. Eyeless Jack has apparently succeed in destroying his own body. Hooray?

Jack, victorious, left to find me and the others. We were at Brad's house, Can we please just stop with the constant POV and tense changes because this story is testing my patience as it is. and we went inside we saw his dad, dead, hanging from the ceiling by a rusty metal chain. NO! Not Brad's dad! He was almost as well developed a character as Mark! We were shocked, and Brad broke out crying. Me and Lauren let him have his moment, so we went in his room to discuss it. Lauren said that maybe somebody in the town was the one who killed him and that's why this is happening, but I knew it had to be something more. You think it might have something to do with those 2 monster guys running around? You know, the ones you killed your friend and that janitor right in front of you?

I mean, why was Slender Man there? Better question: why is this story still going? Brad walked in, still sad, and asked what was going on. Lauren told him her theory, but he didn't believe it either. Suddenly, a corpse was thrown straight through the window, crashing onto the foor. We all shrieked in terror as we saw the message. It was... written in blood on his chest! It said "If you yourself do not release than it will come to take a piece". "YOU ARE WRONG". He was spying on our conversation? How? Why? For what reason? Suddenly, Jack kicked the door down. Of course, he was in Slender Man's body so we couldn't tell it was Jack at first. How could you tell it was Jack after the fact? How do you know any of this crap involving Jack and Slenderman? He as holding the corpse of Brad's dad, and threw it right at Brad, knocking him to the ground. Brad screamed, and we all ran off, being chased by Jack. We got outside and into the van, but the tires were slashed. Suddenly, Jack ran out of the house and jumped up on the hood of the car, kicking the windshield. It shatter and broke open, and he reached in to get us. Brad kicked him in the face and we ran out, trying to escape on foot. Suddenly, a beaten up and bloodied Slender Man (in Jack's body) I think everybody knows they've switched bodies by now! ambushed us and stabbed Brad in the heart several times with his knife. We shrieked and ran off, when suddenly a car stopped right in front of us on the road. It was Brad's mom, home from shopping! How wonderfully contrived. She said she heard about what was happening and immediately left the store to get us! We drove off as the two monsters fought each other once again. Slender Man stabbed Jack in the face several times, but Jack was unharmed. Which Slenderman should know wouldn't work because it's his body. He grabbed Slender Man, lifting him up off the ground, and threw him into the streets. Jack charged at him, but Slendy kicked him in the stomach and then got up and punched his face several times. Jack overpowered Slendy and pushed him down to the ground, elbowing him in the face. The two struggled and pushed eachother around, until Slender Man managed to push Jack up and throw him off of him. Slender Man got up and ran off to find us, leaving behind Jack. Just finish him off already! There's no reason whatsoever to chase after these dumb kids!

We told Brad's mom what happened, from what happened to Mark, to Jack, to the house burning down, and what happened at the prom. She was depressed that her husband and her son were both murdered, and we were sad about all the murders too. "All these murders are a major bummer, man."

Suddenly, a truck rammed into the car and sent us off road into the forest. The truck chased us into the woods until we hit a tree and the car went tumbling down a path. We jumped out the first chance we got and watched in horror as the car rolled down the nearby docks and fell into the water. You're still alive...how, exactly? 

The truck came crashing after us, and Slender Man stepped out. He began to chase us, and we managed to get to an abandoned factory. We picked up a wooden plank and put in through the door handles, locking him out. If Slenderman was in his own body he could just teleport in the building. Hell, he could've teleport them outside the building if he had his old body. See what I mean about how switching bodies with Eyeless Jack doesn't benefit him in anyway? We went into another room so we wouldn't be able to hear the freak pounding on the door. We were terrified. There was no hope left. What could save us now? Hopefully nobody because all of you are such bland characters that I couldn't care less whether you lived or died.

Suddenly, Jack arrived. Slender Man turned around to face the creature, and was immediately kicked in the gut. He stumbled backwards and slammed into the door. Oh goody, another fight scene. Because we haven't had enough of those now, have we? He grabbed Jack by the throat and began to strangle him. He eventually just lifted Jack up by the throat and threw him down into the ground. He kicked Jack in the face several times, but Jack got back up. How do you kick a faceless man in the face? Jack grabbed Slender Man and threw him over into the distance. Slender Man saw a little canoe and picked up the ore, charging at Jack and impaling him through the ribs with it. Slenderman's body can apparently be impaled with a rock. Sure. Why not?

Jack pulled the ore out and hit Slender Man upside the head, knocking him down. Slender Man got up again, only to be smacked by the ore and sent flying. Slender Man landed on the docks, and Jack ran over at him. Meanwhile, we thought the coast was clear so we opened the door and looked outside, stupidly enough. We saw the two fighting on the docks and couldn't help but watch. Standing there and watching the two fight is obviously a better option than running away.

Jack hit Slender Man with an uppercut, knocking him over. Slender Man got back up and punched Jack in the face repeatedly, knocking him back a bit. Jack picked the ore back up and hit Slender Man in the face with it, knocking him down. Jack was serious now. This time...it's personal. He lifted the ore up above his head and pushed it down into Slender Man's chest. He kept stabbing him and stabbing him with it until Slender Man managed to get up and take the ore from him, throwing it into the water.

Lauren yelled out to us, pointing at a stick of dynamite she found. Oh there just happened to be a stick of dynamite lying around on these boat docks? Oh how convenient. What's next, is Brad's mom going to pull out a lighter she just so happened to have and use it to light the dynamite so they can kill Slenderman and Eyeless Jack? Brad's mom pulled out her lighter and lit it. I was joking! We threw it onto the dock as the two were fighting. This was it. Our last hope. Slender Man and Jack were brutally beating each other, and didn't notice the TNT. Suddenly, it finally went off, and it blew the two into the air. They went off into the sky, and crashed down into their watery graves. It was finally over! Oh thank God! Finally I can move on with my life! We were saved! We ran out to get back to town, but little did we know it wasn't over. Why not? Everything's been resolved. There's no reason to keep going.

Slender Man and Eyeless Jack awoke in a fiery pit, surrounded by a whole crowd of demons. They seemed to be chanting some weird spell, when a strange, creepy statue of Link from the Legend of Zelda series Oh come on! appeared before the two, and smiled deviously.

"Men..." he said, "What seems to be the problem?" You couldn't even have BEN say either of his catchphrases? Either "You shouldn't have done that." or "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" would have worked here. I sort of appreciate the shout out to one of the unused endings from Freddy vs. Jason but missed opportunity here, come on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that, my friends was "Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack". I have but 1 question to ask: What the hell was the point of any of that? Slenderman eating souls, Eyeless Jack being a spirit, the town trying to cover them both up, Slenderman needing people to fear him in order to gain power and Eyeless Jack's whole backstory were all introduced and then forgotten about. None of the human characters were interesting and they barley impacted the plot at all. The body swapping was completely unnecessary and just made everything extra confusing for no reason and there were just way too many fight scenes. The whole thing just dragged. On the plus side the sentence structure was good and there were relatively few grammar mistakes. It's just that on top of all the other problems the whole premise was silly and it took itself way too seriously from the get go, which is my problem with most vs. fics to be honest.