#I nearly cried when I saw Bunny's statue

[staryeyed-spacegirl]

Oh my god oh my god they were beautiful!!! Im so happy I actually got to see them!! Bunny's statue was right outside a chocolate shop!! How perfect!! After years of wanting to take the trip, I finally did. Worth it, so worth it.

[mqgriett]

Tech- Princess

Request: hello darling, i saw you were taking requests (it’s okay if you aren’t anymore, just disregard the rest of this) and I was wondering if you’d be able to write something for Tech? I’m absolutely starving for content surrounding him and I’d take literally any crumb you’d be willing to spare🥺 prompt/genre is totally up to you! @bandaid-bunny

Pairings: Tech x Fem!Reader

Warnings: small mention of death (very very minor, like a sentence)

Summary: you left the Jedi Order a year ago, which meant also leaving the Bad Batch. Tech’s feelings for you never faded, and neither did yours for him.

Notes: I really want to write a part 2 to this!! Please lmk if y’all would want a second part!! 

Tech adjusted his tie for the fifth time, looking at himself in the reflection of the silver elevator. He licked his hand, smoothing back any stray hairs on top of his head. 

“Nervous much?” Hunter muttered next to his brother. 

Tech shook his head, “of course not. Why would I be?”

“Because this is the first time you’re seeing her in a whole year.” Crosshair replied, a smug smile on his face as he crossed his hands over his lap. 

“And why would that make me nervous?” Tech scoffed, rolling his eyes and straightening the cuffs of his suit. The collar of his dress shirt felt increasingly tight and he pulled on, further giving his brother more of a reason to tease him. 

“Last time you saw her you couldn’t talk right!” Wrecker slapped him on the back, making Tech choke on his own spit. 

“That-”, cough, “is-”, another cough, “not true.” He finally caught his breath and repeated his sentence a little clearer. “That isn’t true.” 

“Really?” Crosshair raised an eyebrow and turned to Hunter, who was giving Tech the same look. 

Sarg intertwined his fingers, bringing his fist to the side of his face and making his voice a few octaves higher to mock Tech, “You look especially beautiful in the night time, it hides all of your imperfections. No- it highlights your imperfections. No- you have no imperfections in the night time. No- you’re perfect” 

Tech crossed his arms, his cheeks glowing a shade of bright red as Hunter reenacted the scene from a year ago.

“We’re here for a surveillance operation, that’s all.” he swallowed the ball in his throat, “I might not even get the opportunity to speak with her, so I have no reason to be nervous.” 

The quiet ding of the elevator reaching the top floor was his saving grace. Tech was the first one off and he automatically began to scan the crowded room for any sign of you. As Wrecker walked behind his brother he whispered, “surveillance operation.” He nodded and followed the rest of the Bad Batch, eyes still searching for any sign of you. 

“Sarg, good to see you.” said Cody’s strong tone of voice, catching Tech’s attention again. 

“Same to you, Commander.” Hunter replied, giving the 212th trooper a strong handshake. Cody pointed out that the Bad Batch and 212th were allowed to have fun that night, and that they were only to interfere with anything if it was a threat to the princess’s life. He pointed to the other troopers that had accompanied him that night. The majority of the 212th attack battalion dotted the ball room. 

There was no sign of you after roughly twenty minutes, allowing Tech to ease up a little bit. Crosshair returned from the bar, standing next to his brother and handing him a medium sized glass with a small amount of black liquid. Although he wasn’t much of a drinker, Tech downed the shot within seconds of having it in his grasp. 

***

“Nervous much?” Padme asked, watching from the corner of your room as you adjusted the front of your corset for the fifth time. 

You ignored her snarky comment, continuing to speak your thoughts out loud, “Out of all the squadrons he could have asked, of course he chooses 99.” 

“You’re going to smudge your makeup if you keep pacing and sweating like that.” she replied, walking to your side. “And, who knows? Maybe he’s not here.” 

“Hunt- The Sergeant, doesn’t go anywhere without him. He’s here.” you answered, taking a loud breath in to calm yourself. “It’s been at least a year. Last time I saw him I was allowed to go on missions and hold a weapon that’s bigger than my palm.” 

You reached behind yourself and started to undo the corset, “Now I need to go and sit in meetings, sit like a lady, smile and nod, and be pretty. That’s all… Could you re-tie this for me? The seamstress made it so I couldn’t breathe.” You motioned to the strings of the corset. 

“How about you wear that blue dress, you liked that one.” Padme suggested, trying her best to get you into a better mood. 

You sighed, “alright.” 

As you walked back to your closet, Padme spoke behind you, “if you look on the bright side, attachments are no longer forbidden for you.” 

It genuinely made both of you laugh, lifting your spirits a little as you unhooked the blue dress from its hanger. “maybe embrace that he’s here. You no longer need to follow the code, make the best of it.” 

She was right, the Jedi code no longer applied to you. 

About a year ago, when your sister had passed, it left you to take the throne of Alderaan as Princess. Your father, Bail Organa, was a senator and your mother, Breha Organa, was Queen. Someone needed to help her govern the planet, which led to you leaving the Jedi order and fulfill your duties as the only living legacy of your parents. 

It was a difficult decision to make, and tonight would lock it in. The majority of Senators were here, including a few other monarchs. Last time you had seen the bulk of them you were still a Jedi Knight, now you were Princess of Alderaan. 

This party was risky to throw, but it had already been postponed many times before. There was a small window to celebrate the new princess, which is no-doubt why the Bad Batch was called in. Majority of the troopers were on missions, and if the party was to be short on guards then it needed the strongest battalion available, Clone Force 99.

It was already twenty minutes into the celebration, and you had five minutes prepare to see them again. Last time you five were together it was a special operations mission, you were a Jedi and they were your designated clone battalion. Now you were tasked with pretending to be someone else, a princess. 

You tugged your dress on and allowed Padme to lace the back up, it was time. 

***

A loud sound of trumpets echoed through the room, quickly drawing everyone’s attention. The lights dimmed everywhere except the grand balcony with a staircase leading down to the main floor. 

Tech followed the voice of the announcer, who seemed to be invisible among the huge crowd. “It is with great pleasure that I welcome the Queen and the new Princess of Alderaan.” he said obstreperously. 

Queen Breha walked with grace down the steps, waving as she descended. 

Next came the princess, her gold-accented, sleek, pastel blue dress shining in the light beautiful. Tech’s heart raced as he saw you, his glass slipping from his grip. He had nearly forgotten how beautiful you were, and the way you quickly walked down each stair nearly made him faint. The expensive glassware would have broken if it weren’t for Hunter’s quick reflexes. 

The only other time he had witnessed the sight of you in a dress was during an undercover op, other than that you were frequently in your robes. Maker, you were breathtaking in that gown. He was going mad and you were still across the room. 

You turned over your shoulder, automatically scanning the crowd for any signs of the Bad Batch. It seemed that every free moment you had was interrupted by a Senator or distant relative congratulating you on your new status. So, you smiled and made small talk, a tiny headache beginning to creep up on you. 

As you thanked Senator Clovis for coming, a strong hand touched the small of your back. “Need a break?” Hunter asked behind you. 

In that moment you could have cried at the sound of his voice. You were so overwhelmed and tired, wanting to collapse every time you needed to start a new conversation with someone. As you turned, you straightened your back, “Sergeant.” You gave him a curt nod, “Thank you for coming on such short notice.” 

Hunter raised his eyebrow, waiting a moment before hooking his arm within your own. “Since when do you call me Sergeant?” he mused, beginning to lead you over to the edge of the ballroom. 

You were well out of earshot of anyone important now, and your whole demeanor changed. You let out a breath of air and slouched, letting your legs rest a shoulder-width apart. “You have no clue how happy I am to see you.” 

“Right back at you Command- Princess.” he said, letting go of your arm. 

“Don’t call me that, for maker’s sake.” you pleaded, your tone genuinely sad. 

He smirked, “not your thing, huh?” 

You shook your head, “where’s the rest of the boys?” 

“Wrecker spilled that Corellian wine on his shirt, Tech and Cross are helping him get cleaned off.” he responded with a shrug, as if it was a regular thing; on that thought, it was. 

Your heart fluttered, “Tech’s here?” 

Hunter chuckled deeply, combing his hair back, “he is. Why?” 

You pursed your lips while narrowing your eyes, “just curious.” 

Before Sarg could tease you any further, the large gold door to the men’s bathroom opened and the other three Bad Batchers stumbled back inside the room. You instinctively looked over your shoulder, your gaze catching Tech’s. 

You both froze, trapped in each other's presence. He smiled, eyes sparkling in the faint light of the ballroom. 

The group of three made their way to Hunter and you, Wrecker with a huge grin on his face. 

Crosshair performed a dramatic bow, “m’lady.” he slid his hands into his pockets, a smug smirk on his face as he greeted you. 

“I hate you,” You teased, shaking your head the smallest bit to show you disapproval.  

“Hi Princess.” Wrecker didn’t hesitate to pull you into a tight hug, but he soon let go once realizing that he was possibly transferring the wine stain onto your dress. 

Tech wrapped his arms around your waist and whispered, “you look nice.” 

You rested your chin on his shoulder, “back at you.” 

Crosshair interjected, “you got something on your dress.” he twirled his long finger towards your abdomen. 

Wrecker had accidentally transferred some wine on your gown. You frowned, knowing that you now had to change dresses. “Kriff,” you mumbled, secretly slightly relieved that you got to leave for a few minutes, “I’ll be back. If anyone asks, just say I’m touching up my makeup.” 

As you took a step forward, Padme’s words seemed to echo in your mind. Maybe embrace that he’s here. You no longer need to follow the code, make the best of it.

You smiled, “Tech would you mind coming along? I’m not supposed to leave the room without another person.” 

He looked slightly surprised at your offer, but after tripping over a few words he nodded and followed. 

Tech took a deep breath once you two were alone, clenching and relaxing his fists to ease a bit of his nerves, “I missed you, we all did. Missions aren’t as fun without you.” 

You grinned, “I missed you too. Everything goes by slower nowadays.” 

“You don’t enjoy your new life?” He asked, eyebrows creasing to form a concerned expression. He looked around at all the gold accented treasures hidden among the castle. 

“There’s no excitement. Every day is just a repeat of the last.” The elevator doors opened and you both stepped inside. 

They slid shut, officially making it just the two of you. “Do you miss the Order?” 

You shook your head, “Not as much as I thought I would, but I miss the adventures. I miss you.” you said the last piece quietly, hoping he didn’t hear. 

But since it was Tech, and he was the most attentive person you knew, he heard. He turned to look at you, making deep eye contact, “I miss you too. Co-piloting with Crosshair isn’t as fun as it was with you. I’m not as good at calming Wrecker down as you were.” 

You arrived at your floor, the doors opening again and both of you walking out. There was an awkward silence surrounding the two of you now, both wanting to say the same thing. 

As you stepped foot in your room, the energy shifted a little. You motioned for Tech to make himself comfortable and made your way to the closet. 

He sat at the foot of your huge bed, admiring how well-decorated it was. He turned to look at the wall his back faced, eyes wandering to your nightstand. In the middle stood a framed photograph. It was a picture that Wrecker had taken after a rough mission. You and Tech were both asleep, your head on his lap and his hand draped over your waist. He sighed and called out to you, “You know I’ve always loved you, right?” 

You froze, barely finishing at pulling the peach-colored dress over your head when his voice reached your ears. By the time you had turned around, Tech was standing in the doorway of your closet. 

No more Jedi Code. 

You walked to him, placing a gentle hand against his cheek and kissing him. He grabbed your hand and held it, leaning forward to deepen the kiss. He had waited too long for this to end quickly, and you felt the same. 

[amaterasususanno]

WangXian - How the siege could (should) have ended

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights of Mo dao zu shi/the untamed. All rights reserved by their respective owner

----

Summary:

Wei Ying cares for the Wen remnants. He desires to protect them.

The world wants Wei Ying and the Wen's gone.

In consequence: The siege could never have been avoided.

But: Wei Ying's story could still have been another one.

Rating: M [To be safe]

Status: Complete

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31961272/chapters/79156201

----

Since the day Wei Ying had confronted the different sects as they had planned his demise, the dark energy swirling around burial mount had grown several times heavier and harder to control – even though it had only been a few weeks.

Even Wei Ying himself could nearly not stand it anymore.

He kept seeing heart wrenching visions and haunting nightmares. His ears were filled with the wails of the dead. He could hear them pleading him to spare their lives. He could hear them cursing his name. He could even hear their blood rushing out of their bodies as the corpses he commanded ripped them to shreds.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he would see the murders he chose to commit – his acts as ‘war hero’ during the sunshot campaign, like the torturing and murder of worthless men like Wen Chao – and those he failed to prevent himself from causing – the murder of Jin Zixuan, Jiang Yanli and probably half of all his later kills, to be honest.

Only now did he understand that he had started to lose his senses somewhere along the path he had chosen.

He had believed to be in control of everything, but looking back, maybe he had already started going insane when he was first thrown into the abyss of the burial mount. He had just always been held back somewhere along the borders of being a genius before he could turn into a full-blown madman.

But now? What was there to ground him?

The sunshot campaign was over, Jiang Cheng wanted him dead just like everyone else, his shijie was dead – she had been slaughtered to save him and the people who had looked at him with admiration and called him the greatest war hero of the sunshot campaign, had all turned their backs on him now that they had started to fear his power. Even Wen Qing was gone, and Wen Ning had even died a second death.

And Wei Ying himself had lost all will to make the world understand, that he would not threaten them as long as they didn’t cross him.

Especially since they already gone ahead and crossed him anyway. After all they had dared to lay hands on the Wen-siblings, who had been innocent of all of Wen Rouhans’ crimes. They had even dared to continue trying to fault him for anything that went wrong anywhere – even though he and the Wens were only trying to live a peaceful life amongst themselves.

Besides, it was not like anyone would listen to him at this point of time anyway – after all he had killed a few thousands of cultivators a few weeks back.

And maybe the truth was simply cruel as life itself: A choice had to be made – there would be either the rest of the cultivation world or him. They didn’t want to live besides him. He couldn’t live besides them any longer either.

The hatred inside him had grown to strong – it overpowered all of his senses. It was numbing him, tempting him to do all the wrong things. No, at this rate he would just end up ending all of these cultivators miserable lives.

Wei Ying rose from his bed inside the demon slaughtering cave. He needed to get the rest of the Wens away from here. He needed to at least protect them from whatever war would follow between the world and himself.

Especially considering the fact that either the major sects would come here and try to kill him – taking the Wens down along with him even though they were only weakened people – or he himself would do something stupid and would end up endangering them, dragging them down to hell with him.

As he moved towards the mouth of the cave, Wei Ying found himself stumbling more than he was walking.

His head was full of noises again. His vision was dulled, the resentful energy gripped at his heart and mind. He could feel everything clouding up again.

Maybe the stygian tiger seal was partly at fault for that. It kept attracting the dark clouds around him even though he long since couldn’t deal with them anymore.

Maybe he had really created a weapon that no one should possess – him included.

Maybe Lan Zhan had been right. With everything. Maybe he should have listened to him. But then again, he hadn’t had a choice. He didn’t have a golden core anymore. He could only walk this narrow path in the darkness now – he could only rely on the dead and their hatred.

He had forfeited his humanity when he refused to die inside burial mount.

There was a saying befitting og this. And for him it had most definitely become true. ‘You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain’.

“Are you ok?”

Wei Ying looked up, his gaze found a strange red blotch of color in front of him. He blinked, trying to focus his eyes, trying to figure out who was standing on front of him.

But right now, couldn’t even identify the speakers voice – and suddenly panic kicked in. This could be an enemy!

Quickly reaching for Chenquin, all his senses kicked into an alarmed state of needing to kill the threat. He could feel the resentful energy bundling around the flute – and usually his targets fear would join the hatred he accumulated through his technique.

But right now, there was no fear. Who in their right mind could be stupid enough not to fear him? While he was off-guard due to shock, he felt something colliding with his right leg. A very familiar weight.

“A-Yuan?”

Suddenly his mind cleared again, his eyes free of whatever fog had blocked them before, his ears no longer filled with cries and death wishes directed at him.

Quickly looking at whomever he had nearly killed off, he saw granny Wen. His stomach churned. How could he have mistaken her for a threat? Especially when her lack of fear symbolized just how much trust she had in him, how strongly she believed he would not harm her.

“Sister, granny said I should come to you! She said you were looking out of it ever since you returned here!”

Looking down at the brightly smiling child twisted Wei Yings insides around even more. He quickly put Chenquin away, pushing his guild to the back of his mind so he could pick A-Yuan up, cuddling him close – already regretting having to send him far away to protect him.

“Is that so? What else did Granny say? Did she tell you how I returned?”

Trying to smile and not show that he did not at all remember his returning here, Wei Ying cast a short glance in the direction of granny Wen.

She smiled meekly, then uttered a sudden – and obviously fake – complaint about her back hurting and left.

Wait, what had she told the kid?

“She said you walked here looking like your soul had been sucked out! And you kept mumbling about random things like revenge, wanting to burn the world to the ground, oh and you talked about brother rich!”

The happy way the child chatted about all this made it obvious that he didn’t understand a single word of all that.

In fact A-Yuan seemed to only care about his dear ‘brother rich’, he nearly immediatly went over to telling Wei Ying just how much he wanted to see ‘brother rich’ again.

But Wei Ying didn’t listen anymore. He understood why he had been talking about the end of the world, or better yet: his wish to be that cause of the said event, but why would he talk about Lan Zhan?

Trying to think back on whatever may have made him talk about Lan Zhan, he remembered only bits and pieces of certain scenes.

Lan Zhan had stood among the rows of people discussing how to kill him – so Lan Zhan must want him to perish. Seemingly punishing Wei Ying by taking him back to Gusu was no longer enough to satisfy the man.

The ugly feeling of an all-consuming hatred boiled up inside Wei Ying. Why did Lan Zhan have to be this way? He had already wanted to punish Wei Ying when everyone else had still praised him. And now that everyone wanted him dead, even that overly honorable white marble statue of a man, decided killing him would be better than punishing him? And that even though the Gusu Lan Sect forbade killing?

But of course there would be exceptions. What a hypocrite!

“-mother and father.”

A-Yuans laughter ripped Wei Ying out of his thoughts. He had to blink a few times to progress what the child had just said.

“A-Yuan- what was that just now?”

The boy smiled even broader and ripped his small hands into the air, elated as he started to talk again – not at all minding that Wei Ying had seemingly not listened.

“Granny said you and brother rich had a special relationship! She always said you are happier whenever he is around – you will smile a lot more than usually. So I thought you must like brother rich just as much as me and that is why he should visit us more often!”

Still not comprehending what that had to do with the whole mother/father thing, Wie Ying shifted A-Yuans weight onto only one of his arms, so he could poke his nose with the other.

“Don’t talk such nonsense little radish. I am always a happy person, that has nothing to do with Lan Zhan. Besides, this has nothing to do with what you said before anyway, does it?”

A-Yuan scrunched his nose up, looking like a cute little bunny – especially when he went over to covering up his nose with his little hands – all in order to protect it from future assaults.

“It does! Granny said you liked brother rich like a mommy likes a daddy!”

Wei Yings teasing fingers, which had tried to catch A-Quan off guard and poke him again, froze in midair.

Wei Yings entire face fell and went pale.

What had A-Yuan just said? And why would granny Wen even tell such things to a child? What kind of old-people-joke was this?

Lan Zhan had never even just liked him, he even wanted him dead now!

So how could Wei Ying feel anything else than the desire to defeat Lan Zhan and be as far away from him as possible?

“Besides, he is my father, didn’t you say so yourself?”

A-Yuan may have been nothing but a child, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t smart enough to see when he could get a jab in. After all the kid had always been cheeky. And smart enough to use anything anyone ever said against them.

“I never said that!”

Not even knowing why he was defending himself against a mere toddler, Wei Ying went over to displaying a complete denial.

While he did so, a scene popped into his head.

Lan Zhan was walking through the village at the foot of burial mount with them. He was buying toys for A-Yuan – which earned him the nickname ‘brother rich’ from the child.

At some point A-Yuan had been hungry and-

Wei Yings memory flashed back to how he had found Lan Zhan that day in the first place. A-Yuan had run off somewhere. He had run straight into Lan Zhan.

And being panicked and the little child he was, he had started wailing at the man’s feet, clinging to his cloths.

A crowd had gathered, commenting about how ‘fathers would often be overstrained with their first child’.

And that scene, combined with the later one of them strolling around and Lan Zhan showering A-Yuan with presents, had brough a careless sentence out of Wei Yings mouth.

“The one with the money is the father, the one with the milk the mother.” – And in the context from back then, this made him the mother and Lan Zhan the father as Wei Ying normally provided A-Yuan with food and Lan Zhan provided the child with toys on this particular day.

Wei Ying flushed – God, why had he said that back then? That was super embarrassing!

“You should forget that again A-Yuan. Just call him brother rich, ok?” Wei Ying laughed it off, feeling a bit awkward. Looking back he was actually surprised Lan Zhan had taken all that so well back then. After all with his typical Lan-wits he probably hadn’t taken as long as Wei Ying to understand what his careless words had implied. The man really seemed to have a frightening self-control.

“Does that mean I should call you brother poor?”

The child had definitely seen Wei Ying losing control of the situation. And seemingly Wei Yings mischievousness and insolence had straight off been absorbed by the child.

“Just continue calling me brother. That is enough. And no, before you start calling me brother poor again, call me mommy. At least that gives me the image of someone pretty.”

Being jokingly diplomatic, Wei Ying shook his head, offhandedly noting how his conversation with A-Yuan, even though it most certainly had been a strange one, had somehow given him so much normality that his inner demons for once weren’t to be heard or seen.

Wei Ying smiled a bit more genuinely. The power this toddler had was unbelievable. It made it nearly inhumane to think about him being somewhere completely different than at his side someday soon.

But then again, that was the only way in which the boy had a chance to live and grow into a fine – or not so fine and more troublesome if he took after him – man someday.

“Oh well, never mind. Let’s join granny and the others for now.”

What followed wasn’t exactly what Wei Ying had expected. As soon as he had brought up the topic of the Wens leaving, he was hit with a hours long storm of ‘no’s and ‘we won’t leave you behind’s. Had A-Yuan not been there, the discussion would most likely have turned into a fight.

“Wei Ying, most of us are in no condition to travel anyway.” Uncle four gave Wei Ying a shrug. “We wouldn’t make it far anyway.”

Wei Ying had wanted to disagree, but before he could open his mouth, he felt a heatwave erupting in his left sleeve.

He quickly reached inside it, pulling out a burning talisman.

His face turned dark. The defenses of burial mound had been breached.

Someone was trying to sneak in. And ‘someone’ in this case was most probably an army of cultivators.

“Leave now!” Knowing it would be too late to run now but feeling more desperate to get the Wens out of harms way than ever, he rose up, making sure to make all of the Wens understand that the mount was under siege.

“We lived on borrowed time anyway. We have no issue with dying.” Granny Wen tried to calm Wei Yings down from his frenzied state but failed.

“And what about A-Yuan! Doesn’t he deserve to live!?”

Already holding Chenquin in an iron grip, Wei Ying could feel the resentful energy flowing into his body with the intent to swallow him whole and eating him alive.

And his soul offered no resistance. He wanted the strength, that the resentful energy could give him.

He needed it.

Else the Wens would die. A-Yuan would die.

“No, you must come with us then!” A-Yuan, even though he was much too young to understand what was going on, did so anyway. It broke Wei Yings heart and at the same time gave birth to even more hatred inside his body.

How dare the renown sects act as they pleased and even traumatize a child, making it understand the cruel twists of life much sooner than nature should ever have allowed.

“I will hold them up, I will follow you afterwards.”

Even though the darkness inside of him was starting to blur the lines of reality and hallucination already, Wei Ying made a last attempt on convincing the Wens too flee.

“You will only burden me if you stay around – my abilities aren’t suited to protect, they can only destroy!”

A ringing filled Wei Yings head. He could hear the resentful energy talking to him, updating him on how fast the enemies were closing in. They seemed to be numerous, intend on trampling everything down.

Wei Ying knew they didn’t have any more time to waste.

He turned, left the Wens and rushed towards the top of the demon slaughtering caves roof.

Overlooking the situation as much as possible, he took a deep breath and pushed all the air in his lungs into his flute.

A sharp shriek erupted from the instrument.

Hundreds of corpses rose inside the mounts abysses.

The already awakened dead bodies, which hadn’t already been fighting, lunged at the enemies.

Wei Ying played an aggressive, eerie tune, knowing full well that he was forcing too much resentful energy to move around.

With his instable state of mind and most importantly: his growing self-destructive tactics, he knew all this would backfire.

He suddenly knew he would die today.

All of his restraints broke – he decided to take as many his foes with him as possible, hoping to weaken them enough to give the Wens a last chance.

He closed his eyes, gave in to the darkness, surrendering in his inner struggle, letting the darkness eat away his conscience.

No cell inside him cared about the fact that he was about to murder about an estimated another few thousands count of cultivators just to save less than fifty elderly Wens and a child.

He didn’t care about truly becoming the devil they claimed him to be.

Whatever, in that case he would die as hollowed out shell of a man. This battle would turn him into a resentful spirit, his soul would have to be subdued by destroying it since cleansing would no longer be possible. But that was fine. May they shred his body and soul apart.

He drew even more piercing tones out of his flute, patching them into an ugly version of a beautiful melody.

He could hear the metal sounds of swords and sabers cutting through corpses drawing closer – music followed right after.

It was like an awful cacophony of war.

Wei Ying closed his eyes forcefully, focusing on producing wave after wave of corpses.

Finally, he had created so many of them that he could no longer control them with just Chenquin.

In a show of pure insanity, he fished for the two separated parts of the stygian tiger seal and put them together.

The resulting shockwave of dark energy blew even him off of his spot. He tumbled downwards, crashing down into the dirt, all air was knocked out of him. He tried to regain composure, but the seal was way too powerful.

He could feel the corpses breaking free from their reigns, he lost his control over them in a lapse.

Horror-filled screams filled the air.

The corpses now attacked everything in their way – may it be an enemy or another corpse.

Realising this, common sense suddenly kicked right into Wei Yings gut. The Wens! They wouldn’t be safe with the corpses going rouge!

Just like he had struggled back then – when his sister had run onto the battlefield in hopes of stopping him – he fought to get the corpses to calm down.

He fought to get back onto his feat, fought to clear his mind enough to overpower the resentment in himself, fought to fish out the full potential inside him to revoke whatever hell he had summoned forth.

But there was only one calming thing coming to his mind. A song. A song he had never seen the sheet music off. In fact, he couldn’t even remember where he had the melody from either.

But he focused on the music in his memories and started to put a few handfuls of corpses to sleep.

He needed to reduce their numbers to prevent losing control. He absolutely had to.

Then a scream ripped straight into his soul. Granny Wen.

Dread filled him.

As he rushed to where he had heard the scream coming from, he forgot all about repressing the dark energy. The seal started absorbing more and more resentment in his hand.

He could feel it starting to twist his mind.

Shortly before he could drown in whatever dark pool the seal was trying to pull him into, he was faced with the sight of Nie Mingjue towering above a split-up group of the Wen remnants. About seven of them were lying on the ground. – dead. They had not died peacefully. All of them had gruesome slashes on their bodies. Blood pooled around them, coloring the dark earth of the burial mount crimson like the blood pool.

Rage blinded Wei Ying, his inner pain killing his sanity.

He used the stygian tiger seal.

The Wens peoples corpses rose up – attacking the Nie sect leader.

Wei Yings insanity didn’t allow him to see whatever happened to the other Wens, he could only hear that voice inside his head.

Demanding him to kill everyone who stood against him.

And he gave in, commanding all corpses to go on a bloodly murder spree.

Letting the seal take over, then letting the corpses go loose, he rushed straight at Nie Mingjue, kicking him down onto the ground.

Never had he missed his sword this much. He wanted to slit the man’s throat and let him bleed out more than anything else. He wanted him to face the pain of a sword like he had made the Wens face his saber.

But since he couldn’t fight with a sword anymore and didn’t have it on himself either, he decided to go another path – one for which he did not need a golden core.

With his free hand he grasped for sect leader Nies face, pouring an endless stream of dark energy into the man’s body.

He could Feel Nie Mingjues golden core growing corrupt inside the his body as he went into qi deviation.

Wei Ying could feel the man dying underneath him, but he didn’t stop. He wanted him dead – even if he was the older brother of a guy he had once considered to be one of his closest friends.

“Elder brother!” The call may not have addressed Wei Ying, but it warned him of the incoming attack.

Letting go of Nie Mingjue, Wei Ying jumped backwards, in a quick movement pocketing the seal and getting out his flute, lifting it to his lips.

Lan Xichen, whose original intent it had been to save his elder sworn brother, was forced to dodge the incoming rain of three corpses attacks.

“WEI WUXAIN!”

The new voice didn’t reach Wei Ying anymore, the haze around his senses had become too heavy – Wei Ying could only tell that someone had screamed something.

He however felt an attack incoming and promptly twisted his flute away from his mouth and into the way of the incoming swords strike, effectively blocking it.

The flute didn’t crack or give way.

Instead, its dark energy transferred straightly onto the weapon, running along its blade and reaching for the attackers’ golden core, wanting to corrupt it.

Jiang Chengs sense of danger warned him before he had even understood the situation fully, his golden core alarming him quickly enough. He jumped back, sheeting his sword and summoning his mothers whip.

The ring on his finger quickly transformed into a violet, crackling manifest of a lightning bolt.

Making an attempt to hit Wei Ying with Zidian, Jiang Cheng failed to pay enough attention to his surroundings – as Wei Ying dodged, the whip hit a big rock, which promptly cracked into two halves, of which one nearly immediately tumbled down towards them.

Jiang Cheng moved to the side, Lan Xichen reached for Nie Mingjue and jumped out of the way as well. The boulder hit two unsuspecting cultivators who had been further behind of them, fending off the corpses that threatened to come too close to the sect leaders.

Both of them were crushed into a paste.

Even the resentful energy all around them could patch them up well enough for them to rise up as corpses.

“Wei Ying!”

Still hearing nothing, Wei Ying lifted the flute to his lips once again, playing the attack melody he had once written for Wen Ning. The music enhanced the corpses in a hundred-meter radius of his own position. Making them faster, stronger and most of all more resilient.

”Wei Ying!”

This time the call was paired with someone closing in on Wei Ying – and that he most definitely took note off.

“There is fire!”

Now that he was aware again, he recognized uncle fourths voice.

Summoning a bunch of corpses to keep the three sect leaders in front of him busy, Wei Ying worked on finding out from where the fire was coming.

He quickly noticed it crawling up the back of the mount.

What a great strategy – the sects waves of cultivators came from the front while a fire ate away the only escapes routes the inhabitants of the burial mount had.

Trying to assess how great the danger coming from the flames was, Wei Ying looked around.

He only saw uncle forth and A-yuan.

Neither of them looking good.

“Where is the rest!?”

Dreading the response, Wei Ying rushed over to the two, taking A-Yuan from uncle forth when he hunched over in a fit of coughs.

“Slaughtered, smoked out, burned, drowned in the blood pool, or pushed down into the abyss. And I don’t have too much air left, my old body won’t be able to survive this.”

Wei Ying didn’t even try to convince Uncle forth that he would live. He knew very well that the man wouldn’t live through the night – even without the cultivators threatening his life on top of the flames smoke poisoning the old mans system.

Instead, Wei Ying clutched A-Yuan to his chest, noticing that the boy to be unconscious and running a high fever already.

Again he reached for the stygian tiger seal.

Weij Ying clutched it harshly, using the force of all the resentment in the air, that it cracked.

The crack immediately loosened large bits of the control the seal held over the corpses, making them grow even more fierce and bloodthirsty.

Wei Ying allowed the side effect of the crack, a painful backlash, to shake his body, ripping at his mind and heart.

He knew this little crack was enough to make the corpses all over burial mount run wild – feed only by resentment and not restrained in any form or kind.

Even Wei Ying himself felt the resentment taking him over more and more. But he didn’t allow it to overpower him. Not while he had A-Yuan in his arms.

Forced to watch on as uncle forth drowned in the resentment and died at its hands, he looked on as uncle forth became one of his corpses.

Giving a short whistle, Wei Ying gave uncle forth the command to protect A-Yuan and escape with him – to bring him somewhere far away and put him down at some families doorstep. Wei Ying would just hope the best from there on.

After he was sure the corpse wouldn’t defy his orders, he laid the unconscious toddler into the corpse’s arms.

A few moments later he found himself engaged in a fight with Lan Xichen.

Since his mind was still rather clear, he could easily see through all of Lan Xichens attacks. He had crossed swords with Lan Zhan often enough to know all the Lan sects preferred moves.

And mind you, Lan Zhan was much better than Lan Xichen when it came to fighting.

Lan Xichen lacked the fierce determination to come out as the victor. He was too soft. He tried to reason things out. To bad, Wei Ying didn’t feel like reasoning things out.

In fact, he managed to gain the upper hand and push Lan Xichen back more and more.

Only a little bit more and he would have him-

“Don’t move Wei Ying!”

Turning, surprised to hear his adoptive brother behind him, as he had never noticed him move there, he was even more shocked when he saw A-Yuan in Jiang Chengs grasp.

The purple clad man was holding the poor child by his ancle, letting him dangle down from his hand.

“Let go of him!” Not watching Lan Xichen in his panic, Wei Ying suffered a sidewards incoming blow to his upper arm, a deep gash ripping his flesh wide open.

He only felt a dull pain, the resentful energy had taken most of his senses out already.

His eyes stayed on A-Yuan.

“So, this kid didn’t get kidnapped by you? Is he yours?”

The way Jiang Chengs voice went from gruesome to pleased in a sickening way.

Wei Ying growled.

“Let. Him. Go. This is between you people and me. A-Yuan has nothing to do with this.”

“Shijie had nothing to do with this either!”

With that Jiang Cheng lifted the blade of his sword, pointing it at A-Yuan dangling from his other arm.

Wei Ying blackened out.

Within a split second he had lifted his flute to his lips, commanding all dead spirits of burial mount forth at once.

Vengeful spirits didn’t take as much effort to summon as corpses did, so Jiang Cheng found himself drowning in them within a heartbeats time.

He had to let A-Yuan go unless he wanted to be corrupted right on the spot.

Wei Ying rushed forwards, moving to catch the child before he quickly distanced himself from the scene, not wanting to risk his own spirit being overwritten.

As soon as he was a safe distance away, he looked at A-Yuan.

His breathing had gone from labored to shallow.

The child was dying.

And that was when Wei Ying finally lost it completely.

Now not only were all of the Wens gone, no, even A-Yuan would be dead soon. And he himself too.

And that was when it hit him. Yes, he had known he would die along, but he hadn’t had what it took to end his life right on the spot.

But now he had gained exactly that.

So may the suicidal mass murder start.

He fished out the stygian tiger seal and slammed it into the ground, kneeling down next to it – holding A-Yuan cradled to his chest.

Drawing in all the resentful energy he could accumulate, Wei Ying gathered it where his golden core would usually have been sitting.

After he was sure he had bundled enough hatred, he then proceeded to push it directly into the stygian tiger seal, intending to crush it once and for all.

He could see Nie Mingjue, Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao, Su She and a bunch of other cultivators close in on him. They seemed to have gotten past the corpses.

But that wouldn’t do them any good. The spirits around Juang Cheng quickly washed over to them as well, giving Wei Ying the time he needed to execute his plan.

He only had to obliterate that evil-summoning seal. That way no one would be able to use it ever again – not him and not anyone else.

And everyone on this mount would be whipped out as side effect.

A-Yuan and he himself would perish due to the backlash of the whole affair. The rest of the cultivators, who were further away from the seal, would die due to the fierce corpses going absolutely rampant.

And the corpses that were left standing after all this was over would roam burial mount for all times, keeping everyone else away from it – that way no one could ever come here again and start to accumulate this raw evil energy, like he had done it after being dropped here.

This would be the final battle – taking out the grandmaster of demonic cultivation and all the sects who had been stupid enough to come here on this day. Or at least all the cultivators of said sects who were present.

The seal started to crack more and more. Wei Ying watched on, his eyes cold, uncaring – in the face of death he found himself calmer than ever.

Then suddenly, he saw a flash of a memory.

He saw the seals memories.

He saw the times he had used it.

He saw… Lan Zhan?

Focusing on that particular frame, he saw the battle a few weeks ago.

He saw himself going wild, loosing all sense and even consciousness as he blacked out and fought simply fueled by resentment. He saw what happened after his memory had stopped keeping track of his doings.

He had murdered nearly everyone. No surprise there.

Only a few were left standing – and even they weren’t really standing anymore.

He could see the poor few still living crawling on the bloodied ground, trying to get up as he towered above them, crushing the hand of a cultivator reaching for his sword.

Then he saw Lan Zhan.

He was limping, his usually pristine white robes were dirtied and bloodied.

His headband was slightly crooked, his hair no longer neatly styled – he no longer looked like an untouchable god. He looked�� exhausted. Human.

“Wei Ying”

Lan Zhans voice was still strong, but it sounded pleading. It sounded like a ‘Please stop’.

Wei Ying saw himself, saw how he didn’t even take note of it. Saw how he was attacked once more.

And then he saw the impossible.

It wasn’t him who blocked the blow. It was Lan Zhan.

“Traitor!”

Wei Ying had absolutely no idea who that ruffled up guy was, but he seemed familiar. Su She? Maybe?

Lan Zhan remained quiet.

Wei Ying himself as well. He watched the memory, saw how his past self remained unmoving, looking like an angered corpse that was somehow still shedding tears.

“How can you defend him again! I always knew you weren’t as upright as you always acted! You court the devil by keeping that man alive!”

“No.”

The way Lan Zhan spoke made it obvious that he did not think of Wei Ying as evil.

Wei Ying couldn’t help but be surprised.

He kept on pressing down onto the seal, hoping to see the rest of the memory before the seal broke and he perished along with it.

He needed to know why Lan Zhan had been defending him.

And he did find out.

The memory progressed with Lan Zhan bringing Wei Ying from the battlefield.

Wei Ying could see how out of it he was, he could see that nothing would have ever reached him in that state, but Lan Zhan kept trying.

He was taking Wei Ying to a safe spot – a cave far away from the battle.

And as though that was not already enough, Lan Zhan started to take care of Wei Yings wounds, speaking soft reassuring words while Wei Ying kept trying to push him away, even cursing him.

But Lan Zhan tolerated it all.

And that was when Wei Ying got a glimpse of Lan Zhans eyes – in that memory he looked different.

And suddenly something clicked inside Wei Ying. Lan Zhan didn’t hate him.

But before the stone, that had been kicked into motion, could turn into a landslide, the memory showed its last scene.

Thirty three men appeared behind Lan Zhan, they demanded him to hand over Wei Ying.

Lan Zhan blocked them, even though they were clearly all elders from his clan.

He told them to step back – they did not.

He warned them not to try and touch Wei Ying – they tried.

Lan Zhan fought them all, striking them all down. In the end he said he would accept punishment for his crimes, he would go with them, but he wouldn’t let them harm Wei Ying.

Seeing how little choice they truly had, the elders accepted. Otherwise Lan Zhan could and probably would have cut them apart.

Lan Zahn faded out of the memory, just like the elders.

Tears suddenly filled Wei Yings eyes. But not because of himself.

He had been a student at Gusu Lan for long enough to know what punishment someone would get for hurting an elder and defying them.

And hurting thirty-three of them would mean thirty-three times the punishment: thirty-three lashes from the disciplinary whip.

Lan Zhan couldn’t have survived that.

Wei Yings emotions scrambled into place, finally he understood.

Lan Zhan had never accepted anyone breaking the rules, touching him or calling him by his birth name – but Wei Ying always got away with it – even if he was punished.

Still: Lan Zhan had never punished him any more severe than the rules asked for.

And back then when they had fought the tortoise of slaughter, he had refused all ideas that would have ended in Wei Ying sacrificing himself.

And much, much later, when everyone had called him a genius, a war hero, Lan Zhan was the only one who had told him off.

He was the only one who told him how much Wei Ying was harming himself.

So looking back, Lan Zhans ‘Come back to Gusu with me’ had probably never referred to a punishment.

Lan Zhan had wanted to help him.

Only an Idiot wouldn’t get that after seeing that memory.

Lan Zhan had looked at him with so much fond caring, there was no way that Lan Zhan didn’t care for him in one way or another.

Suddenly Wei Ying wanted nothing more than to see Lan Zhan and apologize.

Hopefully they would meet in death.

He pushed down onto the seal a final time, watching it crashing apart, finally giving in underneath the pressure and breaking into a million tiny pieces.

Wei Ying closed his eyes, accepting his fate with the last few tears slipping down his cheeks.

“Here I come Lan Zhan, I hope you can ever forgive me.”

When the wave of resentment came, it felt different than Wei Ying had assumed.

He had assumed it would rip his body into thousands of shreds.

He had assumed it would make him feel like he was burned and eaten alive.

He had assumed it would be an oppressive force taking all his life force from him.

But instead, all the energy crawled into his body, seeking a spot where it could be assembled and bundled – it didn’t want to be destroyed.

In consequence it didn’t destroy him either, it made him a vessel once again – like he had been before he had created the seal.

And instead of killing him off with the sheer amount of resentment that now swam around in his body, it formed something that felt like a golden core inside him.

He lived.

A-Yuan survived too. Still looking sick and weak, but breathing nonetheless.

And –

Wei Ying couldn’t believe his eyes.

Before him sat the one person he had been dying to meet.

Lan Zhan.

Ok, maybe he was dead.

“…Wei…Ying?”

Hearing the mirage in front of him speaking, Wei Ying tumbled forward, throwing an arm around Lan Zhans neck, crying into the mans neck as he pulled himself closer, nearly squishing A-Yuan between them.

“I am so, so sorry Lan Zhan, I misunderstood you – I take everything back. You were right, I was wrong – with everything. Please forgive my insolence!”

Wei Ying could feel Lan Zhan freezing up, could feel him flinch, then he felt something wet on his arm. The arm that he was embracing Lan Zhan with.

Before Lan Zhan could say anything, Wei Ying moved himself away and took Lan Zhan in.

He was only clad in sleeping wear. He was looking pale and sweaty. He didn’t smell like sandalwood like usually, instead he smelled of blood and bitter medicine. And there was blood on Wei Yings arms. Meaning that blood had to have seeped through Lan Zhan’s robe in his back and neck.

In fact Lan Zhan looked like he should be in a med bay instead of sitting around in the dirty burial mounts where his wounds could infect.

“Lan Zhan, I-”

This time Lan Zhan cut him off. “Minor wound. Don’t worry.”

Wei Ying went numb.

Wait.

The blood had come from Lan Zhans back and neck, right? Had these heartless Gusu People really whipped him thirty-three times? If so, how had he survived that?

But that much was clear as day: if Lan Zhan could bleed then he must be alive – in consequence both of them were alive. And on burial mount. During a siege on nonother than him – Wei Wuxian the cultivator who became the devil.

Wait, that actually brought forth many more questions. For example: how had Lan Zhan even gotten here? He didn’t look like he had participated in the siege after all.

Was that something the seal had pulled off? Some sort of ‘fulfilling your last wish’ joke?

“Wangji.” The shocked voice behind Land Zhan riled Wei Ying up.

How could Lan Xichen permit his brother to be punished this much and then act worried only a bit later!?

Without thinking about it, Wei Ying rose up and moved around Lan Zhan to block him from his brothers view.

“Wangji, I have already seen you. And even if I don’t know how you got here, please listen to reason and come here. You have been punished enough. Ask yourself – is this worth all your pain?”

Wei Ying was indignified at Lan Xichen ignoring him like this, but unwillingly he saw that Lan Xichen had a point in his words.

After all this was a siege against Wei Ying. And if Lan Zhan sided with him – should he ever do so – he would be taken down as well. And that was not at all acceptable.

Especially not now that Wei Ying was aware of how good and noble Lan Zhan truly was.

“Brother, Wei Ying is good.”

Wei Ying froze. Lan Zhan sounded like he was accusing his brother and the rest of the cultivators for having pushed Wei Ying into a corner – he spoke like he saw no wrongdoings in Wei Yings actions – like he believes Wei Ying was just exercising his right to defend himself and live. Like Wei Ying was just using the wrong means for the correct causes.

“Wangji!”

“I am impressed, how did you manage to twist the esteemed Hanguang-Jun like that? Since when have you two been this close?”

When Jiang Wangji stepped in, Zidian crackling in his hand, Lan Zhan stepped besides Wei Ying, showing no sign of intending to justify anything or rectify any accusations Wei Yings brother had made.

Wei Ying himself didn’t bother with his brothers’ words either. Instead, he just found himself puzzled as to why the vengeful spirits seemed to have been destroyed by the few cultivators in front of them.

They shouldn’t have been that weak.

And no one other than him should have been able to call them back – and he definitely hat not done so.

“Wangji, please.” Never had anyone seen Lan Xichen this pleading. “Return home with me. You shouldn’t let your feelings lead you onto the wrong path.”

“Not the wrong path.” Lan Zhans tone was harsh, unforgiving. “My choices.”

“Then go down with Wei Wuxian for all I care!” Jiang Cheng flicked his wrist and like a snake, Zidian shot forward.

It didn’t take a genius to see that Lan Zhan wouldn’t be able to dodge. He couldn’t block either. He had no weapon.

Without thinking Wei Ying moved, standing in between the whip and Lan Zhan, letting his back being frayed open as he faced Lan Zhan – shielding A-Yuan and Lan Zhan.

“Wei Ying!” Lan Zhan made a move to reach for Wei Ying to stabilize him, but with his injuries the movement was too fast, forcing him back to his knees.

It had been a wonder for Lan Zhan to be able to stand in the first place anyway.

“Wangji!” While Lan Xichen only called out for his brother, Wei Ying went down with him, hugging the other man to his chest to help him take weight off his back. A-Yuan now lying across Wei Yings legs as he kept his back turned to his enemies so he could adjust Lan Zhans posture.

“It’s enough Lan Zhan. I understand. But that won’t change my crimes anymore. I will be convicted for them, so don’t involve yourself anymore. Thirty-three lashes are enough. I know you are the most righteous person in this world, but you shouldn’t have to suffer for my wrongdoings. Please don’t let your morals cause your death.”

“Don’t act like the generous hero here!”

A second lash came in, crackling down on Wei Yings back, but Wei Ying didn’t turn. He only looked at Lan Zhan. Trying to convince him of his words.

“Sect leader Jiang, let me handle this, please.” Lan Xichen spoke up, earning a huff from Jiang Cheng but the whip-lashes indeed stopped.

“Wei Wuxian, please let Wangji go. He has suffered enough on your accord.”

“Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan’s soft tone shocked all present people equally – just for very different reasons.

Nie Mingjue, who seemed to have been able to avoid qi deviation, was pretty sure that Lan Qiren would go into qi diviation pretty soon too. Now that he had heard the absolute devotion in Lan Wangjis voice, he suddenly understood why Lan Wagji and Wei Wuxian had continuously fought among themselves during the sunshot campaign. He may have been a savage man in his nature, but he wasn’t stupid. He could differentiate between fights caused by being too different and fights caused by emotional involvement and worry. He now understood their relationship to be of the second nature, not the first one like the world had always assumed.

Su She on the other hand saw the man he had assumed to be incapable of producing any positive emotion, an arrogant block of ice, speak as though he was trying to convey all his thoughts and feelings in just one name. And he remembered. Back then, when the Gusu Lan disciples had fought the waterborne abyss, Wei Ying had dived down to rescue Su She from said abyss. And when Wei Wuxian had been at risk of sinking as well, Lan Wangji had swoped down and dragged them both up even though that was just abut the most dangerous thing he could have done. Su She felt his insides go cold. Seemingly Lan Wangji had been all about Wei Wuxian even back then when they were all just kids – his weakness had never been studies or fighting, it had always been another man.

Jiang Cheng surprised himself: he couldn’t help but feel jealous. He suddenly saw how his own bond with Wei Ying had broken apart while Lan Zhan had managed to stick around even though his situation hadn’t been much different for Jiang Cheng’s own. It was an eye-opener. After all Jiang Cheng had faulted his brother for everything while Lan Wangji seemed to have chosen to believe in Wei Ying. Maybe this siege could have been avoided, had he chosen to have faith in his brother and given him backing instead of forcing him to go rouge.

Lan Xichen, in comparison to all others, was the only one who went downright pale. He could see his brothers love for Wei Wuxian so clearly, that he was sure everyone else would notice it as well. On top of that he saw his brother being more than just willing to die for his love. Right here. Right now.

“Lan Zhan, please don’t do this to me. Don’t make me watch you die.”

Even more than before, the surrounding people underwent sudden enlightenment.

Jiang Cheng’s reaction was immediate. He paled. He had never known his brother to be gay.

Nie Mingjue facepalmed. No wonder had that guy always flirted with every woman but never started anything. He had already suspected Wei Wuxian to be asexual during the war, but this? Yea, that certainly explained a lot.

Su She was more extreme in his reaction. He was simply and downright disgusted. But then again, he wasn’t surprised. Looking back at how Wei Wuxian had always clung to Lan Wangji nothing else would make sense as explanation. Wei Wuxian had wasted more breaths and eye battings at Lan Zhan than all the females around them. It was still a revolting discovery though – especially when Su She thought about the fact that Wei Ying had actually seen him naked once.

Lan Xichens stomach churned for another reason. So his brothers love wasn’t one sided. But even though this wasn’t intuitive: this actually made nothing better. Wei Wuxian would find his death after all. What about his brother then?

“Wei Ying.” I was amazing how Lan Zhan managed to convey so many things with just his name. Wei Ying found himself smiling even in this situation.

“’Then don’t make watch you die’? Aren’t you just too sweet?” Wei Wuxian belatedly noticed his tongue slipping up, but as always, he couldn’t stop his tongue anymore. “Well then lets both live happily ever after with our son?”

Before anyone could react to the ‘son-comment’, a sudden burst of resentful energy washed over them.

The destroyed stygian tiger seal had set the corpses into beast-mode after all.

The onlookers of the Lan Zhan-Wei Ying-scene turned, getting ready to fight.

Wei Ying lifted his flute as well, preparing for a draining attempt at subduing the corpses while moving A-Yuan off his lap.

“Wei Ying!” Lan Zhan reached for Wei Yings wrist as he stood up.

“Lan Zhan, please let me go, I am the only one who can call them back.” Wei Ying shook his wrist lightly, but Lan Zhan didn’t let go of him.

“Will you live?” Lan Zhan looked at him seriously. His eyes intense.

“Good question, I don’t know.” Wei Ying gave Lan Zhan an easy smile, trying to keep the mood light. “But if I do nothing, we will both die. We all will.”

Lan Zhan remained unmoving at first, then he reluctantly let Wei Ying go.

“Thank you for your trust.” Wei Ying gave another smile and turned to face the corpses. He let his senses reach out and tried to sense in what areas of the mount the corpses still roamed free.

The answer was quite frustrating: Everywhere.

Taking a deep breath – drawing all the dark energy in his body outside and into his breath – he started blowing air into the instrument.

The quickest cultivators ahead of him immediately turned towards him. Nie Mingjue, Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen attacked Wei Ying without second thought – assuming he was trying to aid and coordinate the corpses. A moment later Su She started playing some attack music on his gequin.

The other cultivators remained still and unmoving, still facing the front so that they could see the incoming corpses and hold them off, while the others dealt with the Yiling patriarch.

Wei Ying made no attempt to defend himself, he even closed his eyes as he continued playing a connecting melody – trying to tie the corpses energies into a single string so he could calm them all in one go later on.

But his goals weren’t visible to his attackers, so Jiang Cheng – the only one who could deal physical damage effectively from the distance – lashed out with his Zidian first – attempting to stop Wei Ying from whatever he was trying to do.

His plan didn’t work out though. Lan Zhan caught the whip without hesitation, letting his hand be seared and his body be shocked. He nearly dropped to the ground again – after all standing and fighting weren’t exactly a piece of cake after those thirty-three disciplinary whip lashes.

But he remained standing, showing the incoming attackers a straight up glare for daring to attack his beloved one.

In the end, Lan Xichen was the one who saw that his brother would protect Wei Ying until the bitter end or die trying – so he swooped in and fought off Nie Mingjue and Su She while Lan Zhan kept holding onto Zidian, hereby immobilizing Jiang Cheng until the man finally gave in and retracted the whip.

Lan Xichen still remeined standing in front of his brother and Wei Wuxian – not at all liking the fact that he had to defend a mass murderer, but he would gladly do so for now if that meant his brother got to live.

“I am done. I can deal with them.”

Surprised at Wei Wuxians tone Lan Xichen threw a single glance at the black clad man. He was smiling at Lan Zhan.

“How?” Lan Xichen didn’t miss out on the fact that his brother by no way doubted Wei Wuxian, in fact his brother seemed worried about the man at most.

“A secret melody.” Wei Ying winked at Lan Zhan. “It has been playing in my head whenever I needed to calm down – and let me tell you: it works miraculously well!”

Lan Zhan gave Wei Ying a questioning look but let the vague answer pass anyway.

“Go.”

“I will.” With another smile Wei Ying passed by the Lan brothers and all other cultivators around them – except Lan Zhan they all tailed him with suspicious glances.

Wei Ying didn’t care though. He was used to mistrust. Besides, if he wanted to calm those corpses down, he couldn’t let his mind be disturbed.

So, he stayed serene, thinking of the music in his heart, closed his eyes and started playing.

Behind him Lan Zhan wavered, his eyes shooting open as he had to steady himself against a boulder.

That was Wangxian – the song he had written for Wei Ying! And as far as he knew, he only hummed it to Wei Ying once while said man wasn’t even fully aware.

How had Wei Ying remembered the notes?

And-

His heart jumped. Wei Ying remembered. Wei Ying had said this song had clamed him when he needed it. Wei Ying must have carried this song in his heart.

And most importantly: he used it to calm down the corpses around them – showing that his heart must have a strong attachment which he could write onto the corpses by plying the song.

Lan Zhan burst with love for this man.

He couldn’t stand by, he brushed his worried brother off, who had attempted to steady him, walked straight at Su She, took the guys gequin and joined Wei Ying – on his way already starting to play his own song. Effectively shutting Su She’s screaming about Lan Zhan’s audacity to steal his instrument up.

The cultivators could only watch on in bewilderment as they witnessed Lan Zhan and Wei Ying duetting a song all of them had never heard before.

It was a song these two obviously shared in between themselves.

And watching it was nearly scary: Lan Zhan was obviously boosting the effect Wei Yings music had, his pure cultivation nourishing Wei Yings demonic one.

One after another the corpses were put to rest.

Not only did they lose all life, they even sank right back into the earth, vanishing like they had never been there.

The duo played the song twice until all corpses were subdued, the resentful energy in the air fading – just like the resentful energy within Wei Ying and the energy all-in-all within Lan Zhan.

Shortly after having played the last note, Wei Ying wavered and fell unconscious. Lan Zhan caught him and went down with him, landing straight on the ground with his arms wrapped around Wei Ying.

When the other cultivators closed in in them, Lan Zhan glared at them – warning them not to make a wrong move.

And that was how – against all intuitions – Lan Xichen ended up bringing the Yiling patriarch to Gusu. Otherwise, his brother wouldn’t have gone back there for treatment himself.

In fact, because of that, the remnants of the siege, the rests of the major sects and a few others, had come together to discuss what should be done from here on.

Most of them still wanted the Yiling patriarch dead and Lan Wangji punished until he dropped dead, but there were also those who suddenly weren’t in favor of destroying Wei Ying anymore.

Like Nie Mingjue – he had seen how little evil intent had been inside Wei Wuxians eyes after he wasn’t threatened by them anymore. He had been there when Wei Wuxian had called the corpses off, clearly defending all of them even though he could simply have escaped alone. So, if they left Wei Wuxian alone, he probably wouldn’t be an issue at all.

Jiang Cheng was the same. Now that someone else had stepped up for his brother, he couldn’t really remain standing against him. And even if he couldn’t forgive him for killing his sister and her husband, making Wei Ying live and take responsibility would probably be more satisfying than just killing him once anyway. Besides, he had not forgotten his jealousy from before either. He wasn’t blind – he wanted his brother around. He had just denied that up until now – all because of his stupid pride.

Lan Xichen opposed a severe punishment as well – even if he only did so to keep his brother alive and in the best case scenario also allow him a live with his love.

Naturally there also where those who wouldn’t listen. Su She and Jin Guangyao wanted to execute a punishment ‘to set an example’, while others wanted ‘the evil removed from the word’ – all the while not knowing, that said evil was currently inside the Gusu med bay, arguing with Lan Zhan.

“Stop being so petty! I know you hate others touching you but the head doctor isn’t here right now and your bandages must be soaked if your clothes look like that! Let me change them already!”

“Wei Ying-” It was a warning, clearly, but Wei Ying couldn’t have cared less. “No, you are being unreasonable. Do you want your wounds to infect?” Wei Ying crossed his arms, looking impatient. “Or are you afraid of letting me see your wounds?”

Lan Zhan didn’t answer.

“Whatever it is Lan Zhan, get over it and let me help you. Please. I want to do at least that much after all the trouble I caused you.”

Lan Zhan looked like he still wanted to say ‘no’, but he didn’t. He was clearly affected by Wei Yings display of guilt.

“Besides now that you are my husband it is my duty to take care of you!” Wei Ying realized what he has said belatedly once again. Well, he just had to go and ruin it, right? Him and his loose tongue. He really should get rid of that flirting habit.

“Husband?” Lan Zhan looked deadpanned. His voice devoid of anything. But contrary to his expression, his eyes had taken on a dark sparkle.

Was he angry? Or maybe just on the way to getting riled up like when they were teenagers?

Suddenly very much desiring to tease Lan Zhan like he had done when they were young Wei Ying gave an enthusiastic nod, speaking enthusiastically. “Yes, husband! I mean you saved me, right? With that I am the damsel in distress, and you are my prince – thus a wedding is in order, right?” Wei Ying winked at Lan Zhan, puckering his lips in an act of expecting a kiss before he added a sweet sounding, “Besides we have a son already. And A-Yuan remembers what I said back then. Plus he said I was looking at you like a mommy looks at a daddy, so-“

Ah yes, there it was: Wei Yings teasing backfiring on him. He had not watched his mouth and was punished for it. And he most definitely had to fix that. As in right now.

“But then again, forget it, what do kids know?” Laughing it off Wei Ying gave Lan Zhan a small shove, making him sit down on one of the beds in the med bay, acting as naturally as he could, as he acted like he still only cared about changing Lan Zhans bandages.

“Children are honest. You are not.”

Surprised Lan Zhan would actually say such a thing, Wei Ying stilled his hands before they could come into contact with Lan Zhans robes.

“What is that supposed to mean? I will have you know that I am a very serious, very honest guy. That is why everyone likes me!” Wei Ying paused, then signed and corrected himself. “Ok, why everyone liked me. Past tense. The demonic cultivation gave my image a little blow.”

“Wei Ying?” Asking his ‘Are you ok?’ in the manner that was so much like him, Lan Zhan looked at Wei Ying in mild worry. He did not like the undertone Wei Ying had just used.

“Ah, never mind. It is too bothersome to constantly be surrounded by people anyway.” Wei Ying closed his eyes. “Besides, most of the people I knew throughout my life and actually liked are gone by now, so…”

Lan Zhan fell silent, not knowing what to tell Wei Ying to make him feel better. Social contacts had never been his forte. That was always more of his brother’s talent.

“But you know Lan Zhan…when I understood that you didn’t hate me, that was good enough. It made me happy.”

Lan Zhan’s eyes widened. “Never hated Wei Ying.”

“I know that now.” Wei Ying signed, this time reaching for Lan Zhan’s robes for real. “But I didn’t get that for a long time. In fact, when we were young, I thought you at least liked me a bit but as time passed, I was surer and surer that you hated me for acting the way I acted, saying the things I said and in short, well just hated me being me.” Wei Ying undid the front of Lan Zhan’s belt, careful not to rip at it in case it would pull the fabric of Lan Zhan’s cloths and drag them over his wounds or the bandages. “But at burial mount I saw a memory of the stygian tiger seal. It showed me how you defended me and cared for me after the last battle before the siege.”

“You didn’t remember that?” Lan Zhan sounded surprised, he even sounded a bit pained.

“No, sorry. My cultivation tends to block things out whenever I am going through phases where I feel dark emotions very strongly.” Throwing the belts aside as their backs where bloodied, Wei Ying bent down a bit more so he could start taking Lan Zhan’s robes off.

“How much do you remember now?” Lan Zhan caught Wei Yings hands, not letting him touch his clothes any further.

“Well, you saved me, cared for my wounds, spoke some words I do not recall but remember to be spoken softly and then you were led away for-” Wei Ying nodded at Lan Zhan’s robes, clearly meaning the punishment. “And now do me a favor and set my hands free, I need them to undress you.”

“Don’t.” Lan Zhan’s voice sounded strained – quite apparently so.

“Oh, come on Lan Zhan, I already undid your belt, so we are halfway there anyway. Besides, it’s not like I will peel you out of your pants.”

Apparently, Lan Zhan didn’t take it the humorous way. His grasp on Wei Ying tightened even more.

“I will wait for the doctor.”

“You don’t trust me to do this properly, do you?” Wei Ying suddenly had lost all jokes and fun comments. He didn’t know why, but he was growing angry – the resentful energy escaping his body made that quite noticeable for Lan Zhan as well.

“Wei Ying-” That was a ‘no, that is not the issue’, a ‘I trust you’, an ‘I am sorry if I offended you’ – but Wei Ying wasn’t willing to listen. With Lan Zhan things always had to end like that. Ever since he had crawled back out of the burial mounts.

“Ok then, what is it if that’s not the issue? And don’t tell me it’s your hatred for touching as long you would let another touch you.” Wei Ying tried to pull himself free, but Lan Zhan didn’t let go of him. And Lan Zhan had always been stronger than Wei Ying.

Wei Ying still tried to free himself two more times. All the while Lan Zhan remained quiet, not willing to tell the truth.

“Yiling Patriarch!” Hearing the call of his title, Wei Ying finally managed to pull himself free, quickly using the chance to distance himself from Lan Zhan.

“Yes?”

“The child has woken up. He wants to see you.”

Wei Ying immediately forgot his anger, rushing towards where he knew A-Yuan to rest.

The boy had recuperated quite well. His fever had gone down, he had been clad in new clothes – and even through they sadly were the white mourning robes of the Gusu Lan sect and not something pretty, they were at the very least clean. A-Yuan had even had been provided with a few snacks.

By the time A-Yuan had finished them and gone back to sleep – strangely not asking for anyone of the Wens, which caused Wei Ying quite a few worries, even if it may just have been a trauma from the fever – the doctor had already changed Lan Zhan’s bandages.

That is how he ended in this situation: As he went back to join Lan Zhan again, feeling like he should inform him about A-Yuan’s health, the female doctor – who had just finished her work on Lan Zhan and clothed the man again – went straight up towards him and demanded him to take off his coat so she could change the bandage on his arm. The gash Lan Xichen had left there was quite nasty and bled quite a lot after all.

Not at all thinking about what he was doing, he undressed his clothes right on the spot – until he was only left with his pants.

“You aren’t exactly shy, are you?” The doctor smiled as she got to work.

“Me? No, I have never been the shy type.” Wei Ying send a semi-heartfelt glare into Lan Zhan’s direction, wanting to add a ‘not like the statue over there’ – he was taking the whole bandaging affair quite personally – but ended up with his words stuck in his throat.

Lan Zhan was looking straight at them – or him to be exact. With quite dark eyes. The look was close to an angry one but somehow different.

Anyhow, it went straight to Wei Yings gut, setting something alive in there.

Especially since Lan Zhan had his eyes everywhere but on Wei Yings eyes – he didn’t even know he had been caught staring.

“Oh, what is this? I didn’t notice it before when I wrapped you up for the first time.” The doctor ran a hand along the burn-mark on his chest. “It looks like the Qishan Wen sects coat of arms.”

“That’s because it is their coat of arms.” Wei Ying scratched his head, looking down at his own chest. “I got that mark when I pushed a girl out of the way. I haven’t seen her since though.”

“Do you want me to get you a cream for that? It may lighten up the scar.”

“That isn’t necessary. It has been healed for many years now anyway. Besides, I have so many scars that it doesn’t matter if this one if visible or not.”

“I see.” The doctor smiled. Her mien was a tat bit sad. “Take more care of yourself in the future. Your skin may heal but the tissue will never be the same once it was hurt that deeply.”

“Yes doctor!” Smiling in an easygoing way, Wei Ying watched the doctor disappear, then looked back at Lan Zhan, surprised to find him standing nearly directly in front of him.

“What is it?”

“When did you get so many scars?”

Blinking at Lan Zhan’s question, Wei Ying looked down at himself. “It’s not that bad you know.”

“There were a lot less.” Wei Ying looked up again, starring into Lan Zhan’s eyes.

“What? When did you ever see me naked before!”

Lan Zhan remained silent, instead just continuing to look at every single scar, his gaze hardening when his eyes found the burn mark on Wi Yings chest.

“You should have accepted that cream.”

“You sound like you really hate that scar.” Wei Ying laughed a bit, lifting his hand to feel over the scar. His skin had a strange texture there – much rougher and harder.

“I do.”

Surprised at Lan Zhan not only hating a scar, that was not even on his own body, and even admitting to it, Wei Ying looked at Lan Zhan again, this time moving into his line of sight so that Lan Zhan’s eyes meet his own instead of the scar. “What? Why? Didn’t we agree back then that it was better for me to have it, than for MianMian to have it on her face?”

Lan Zhan remained silent.

“Hey, I am talking to you! You are being rude, you know!” Making a scene was one of Wei Yings strongest suits, so he went and acted spoiled – just like he had done so many times before.

“Besides, I don’t see why you would hate something I got because I was selfless for once!”

“That is not the problem.”

Not having expected that Lan Zhan would actually entertain him by letting himself be teased, Wei Ying smirked, forming yet another glorious plan inside his head.

“Well, what is the problem then? The one who I got the scar for?” He wiggled his eyebrows, hinting how he had teased Lan Zhan for liking MianMian back then in the cave of the tortoise of slaughter. “Ah Lan Zhan, rest assured, I never did and never will love MianMian, she is all yours.” He snickered seeing how Lan Zhan’s face shifted into something akin to annoyance.

“Oh and one more secret-” Deciding to add another layer to the teasing, Wei Ying stood straight, coming closer and closer to Lan Zhan’s face before he finally moved to the side a bit and whispered straight into the other mans ears. “-I would have acted the same way if you were the one about to be burned, we can’t have the most beautiful cultivator disfigured, can we?”

Instead of getting Lan Zhan to turn bashful or turn red or anything else that was cute, Wei Ying was shocked to see Lan Zhan flinch.

He immediately felt something wasn’t right. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have come that close to you. Or said that. Or done whatever I did wrong.”

Wei Ying stepped backwards, lifting his hands upwards in a show of ‘I give up, it was my fault’.. Lan Zhan didn’t react. Now this was bad.

“Lan Zhan? What is it? Talk to me please?”

Lan Zhan turned around and went back to the bed, Wei Ying could see how he was forcing himself to walk straight and upright. It must have been hurting his back more than anyone else would ever been able to bear. Or at least more than Wei Ying himself could have been able to bear.

“Lan Zhan, please don’t ignore me, ok? You know I say and do a lot of things, but I don’t mean them, so please-” As Wei Ying hurried after him, completely disregarding the fact that he was still half naked, Lan Zhan let out a shaky breath.

“That is also a problem, yes.”

Wei Ying froze. Just what had he done to mess up this badly? Before Lan Zhan had often been angry at him, but the silent treatment was new – and he did not like it, not at all.

“Lan Zhan, you are making me feel disliked again, I-”

“Disliked?” Even though Wei Ying had only tried to fix the situation by telling Lan Zhan what kind of misunderstanding would come from this, he seemed to have worsened it all. Lan Zhan was definitely in a bad mood now.

“Ok sorry Lan Zhan, I didn’t think about what I just said, forget it. I just-” Wei Ying broke off. What had he wanted? Why were things this complicated right now anyway?

“You know Lan Zhan, I just like you, so I want to tease you, I am sorry.” Giving up, Wei Ying rubbed his face, not knowing how else he should tell Lan Zhan that he was someone he regarded highly and had always wanted to be friends with. He just couldn’t control his tongue. But that changed non of his feelings.

“Do not say things you do not mean.”

“But I do mean it!” Exasperated Wei Ying found himself, for the first time ever, thinking Lan Zhan to be blockheaded and stupid. What would it take for Lan Zhan to take him serious for once? Sure, he joked around a lot but even he had his honest moments! Then it hit him, a genius idea.

“I know what to do to show you the truth of my words!” Rushing past Lan Zhan, Wei Ying went to the doctors table, snatched a paper and a brush plus the liquid ink, and returned to Lan Zhan.

In front of Lan Zhan Wei Ying ripped a piece of the paper off and started to write something onto it. “There! A truth-talisman! I developed it so A-Yuan couldn’t lie to me whenever I asked whether or not he had brushed his teeth!”

Lan Zhan gave him an empty stare, clearly not believing him – once again.

So, Wei Ying took the liberty to take Lan Zhan’s hand and put the makeshift-talisman on top of his palm.

Then he asked a question, his eyes glinted mischievously. “I presented you with two rabbits back in our teen days. Did you like them?”

“Yes.” Lan Zhan’s eyes widened hearing his own answer, his ears started to turn pink in embarrassment.

“See, you can’t lie with that talisman!” Wei Ying snickered at Lan Zhan before taking the paper into his own hands again. “And now ask me all questions you want an honest answer to, I won’t be able to lie or evade the question for once so use this chance.”

And Lan Zhan did. It was nearly a surprise with him being such a goody-two-shoes.

“Did or do you like MianMian?”

Wei Ying laughed; Lan Zhan was way too cute asking that question even though the answer was so obvious. “No.”

“Why did you push her aside then?”

“Because I didn’t what her face to be marred.”

“Would you have done that for everyone else too?”

“Hell no” Wei Ying made a face. For all he cared Wen Chao for example could gladly have been burned. And Jiang Cheng would have had to save his ass himself, sorry not sorry, but being saved was a sweet-person-privilege not an angry-person-privilege.

“Then why did you say you would have taken that burn for me then?”

“Because you being burned would absolutely not be an option – ever. It was bad enough that the Wen sect dared to break your leg back then. I was already angry enough at them for that.” Wei Ying huffed, in fact, yes, his answer reminded him just how angry he had been back then. He would gladly have broken Wen Chaos legs as thank-you back then.

Lan Zhan fell quiet for a moment.

Wei Ying moved his head to the side, looking puzzled. “Wait, aren’t you going to ask me if I like you? I thought that was what you didn’t believe coming from me first and foremost.”

Lan Zhan hesitated for a moment. He didn’t know if the answer to that question would make him happy, even if Wei Ying did indeed like him as friend.

“Come on Lan Zhan, just ask me. Or else I will be sad because you will never believe me that I like you.”

Lan Zhan half-signed, finally giving in. “Fine. Do you like me?”

“I do. You always have been and always will be my favorite person.” At first Wei Ying smiled, glad to finally be asked the important question, but as he heard himself answer he nearly suffered a heart attack.

What was that with the favorite person? Hey, hey, the talisman was supposed to make him say the absolute truth – how did something that mushy come out?

And how could Lan Zhan always have been his favorite person when at some point his shijie had been around as well?

Or…wait a minute – the talisman was making him say the truth.

Wei Ying blinked. He had just realized he was seriously stupid.

He liked Lan Zhan more than his siter because he wasn’t just a friend.

Only now did he noticed how much more of his time he had always spend on Lan Zhan than on all others – girls included.

And he had always cared about Lan Zhan’s opinion more than anyone else’s.

Plus, he had only been this fierce in all his fights and arguments with Lan Zhan because he assumed Lan Zhan wanted to punish him for his ways or condemned him and that was the absolute last thing, he wanted Lan Zhan to desire when it came to himself.

So yes, he was in love with Lan Zhan. Which was kind of suboptimal.

Couldn’t he at least have fallen for someone who might like him back one day? Fate really was cruel.

“Do not lie.”

“Lan Zhan, I literally can’t lie right now!” Ah, good, Lan Zhan seemed to be stupid in this area – just like Wei Ying himself. He hadn’t realized what Wei Yings words had meant. Lucky him – that spared him the rejection and the awkward atmosphere afterwards – plus the heartbreak. Wei Ying however still averted his eyes, sitting down on the floor leaning back with his face directed at the roof instead of at Lan Zhan – who was seated on the bed across from him.

“You make it sound like you love me.” Ok correction: Lan Zhan was neither obvious nor stupid in this area. But he was stupid in another area. He said his words as statement, not as question: meaning Wei Ying could evade the truth since he frankly speaking would not be lying.

“Well I guess-” Wei Ying couldn’t help himself and sneaked a glance at Lan Zhan, wanting to see how Lan Zhan may or may not take a confession – just as theoretical knowledge. He however broke off when he saw Lan Zhan’s Face shifting through dozens of emotions.

“Are you ok?” Asking Lan Zhan that question had come naturally to him but since he was the one holding the talisman and not Lan Zhan, he may not get an honest answer anyway, even if he asked him. Then again Lan Zhan had probably not lied once in bis life. After all it was against the Gusu Lans sects rules.

“Wei Ying, put the talisman aside if you don’t want to tell me. Otherwise, I will ask.” Confused about what Lan Zhan was even talking about – especially since he had just completely ignored Wei Yings question, which could be counted as rude, which in turn would be against the Gusu Lan sect rules – Wei Ying failed to put the talisman aside.

“Wei Ying, did you ever like someone?”

“Yes.”

“Me too.” Now that Lan Zhan had already admitted that much, Wei Ying suddenly had the desire to turn tables – especially since Lan Zahn’s last question for him had hit too close to home. Thus, he quickly took the talisman and slapped it into Lan Zhan’s lap.

“How many people did you like in your life Lan Zhan? Romantically I mean.”

“One.” As Lan Zhan hadn’t been quick enough to get rid of the talisman, he was forced to answer. Even if he was visibly not comfortable with having been made to admit that.

Wei Ying decided to make it up to him with a bit of his own honesty. “Me too. I only loved one person as well. Even though it took me half my life to figure that out.”

Saying it out loud was kind of embarrassing but seeing Lan Zhan’s surprised reaction made it worth it.

And suddenly Wei Ying went devil-may-care. He wanted to know who the lucky one was, who Lan Zhan was in love with, even if he had to admit his own feelings in turn. He was sure Lan Zhan would be too nice to force him out of his life.

Good thing that Lan Zhan was still holding the talisman.

And yes, Wei Ying knew fully well that Lan Zhan would be angry at him for drawing the next bit of information out of him – but whatever, he was a fool in love so he was allowed to do stupid things.

“Who is the one you love?”

Wei Ying had never seen Lan Zhan cast a silencing spell this quickly. Especially not on himself.

“That is cheating!”

Lan Zhan gave Wei Ying a that-question-was-off-limits-look. Wei Ying pouted.

“Fine, fine. Then another question, ok?”

Lan Zhan didn’t lift the silencing spell, seemingly afraid of the prior questions answer tumbling past his lips – or he was simply burdened with serious trust issues now.

“Come on Lan Zhan, I promise to be good. I won’t pull such a trick again. I will even tell you something more intimate about me, that you want to know as apology. So, pretty please, forgive me?” Trying his best to look cute and lovable, Wei Ying gave Lan Zhan the puppy dog eyes – which was ironic given Wei Yings fear of dogs.

But Lan Zhan remained unmoved.

So, Wei Ying did the only thing he thought to be possible.

He played the game with and against himself to get back on Lan Zhan’s good side.

“Did you ever attempt serious advances at someone other the one you loved?” Quickly snatching the talisman from Lan Zhan, Wei Ying made himself force-answer the truth.

And he was quite glad he added the ‘except the one you loved’ clause – after all he was quite sure he had been serious to a certain degree when flirting with Lan Zhan at times. “No.”

Putting the talisman back into Lan Zhans lap, Wei Ying smiled again, trying to get Lan Zhan to loosen up. “There you have it, I am actually quite a sensible man. So please talk to me again?”

But instead of talking to him right away, Lan Zhan seemed to progress what he had just heard first. Then he picked up the talisman again and pushed it back at Wei Ying before lifting his silencing spell and asking his next question – quite obviously happy that the answer he had priorly hidden had not tumbled out along with the question.

“Did you ever kiss someone?”

To say Wei Ying was shocked at such an intimate question would have been a grand understatement but given the fact that he was holding the talisman, he had to answer. And actually, he was surprised at his own answer – wasn’t it a lie after all? “No.”

Lan Zhan froze. “You lied. How is that possible?”

Wei Ying, still under the effect of the talisman, answered right back. “I didn’t and it isn’t. I never kissed anyone.” Well ok, as long as he said it like that it was true. After all he had not done the kissing – he had been kissed.

Wei Ying had never seen Lan Zhan look so furious as he did right now. “Do not lie to me. I know you have kissed someone before.”

“Lan Zhan I really can’t lie right now as long as you ask me something! Besides, how would you know whether or not I had-” Wei Ying broke off. Wait, wait, wait. The only kiss he had had and thus the only kiss Lan Zhan could know of was that one – or rather the series of kisses – that was stolen from him at Phoenix mount. And no one except him and that overly strong girl should have witnessed that. The resentful energy inside him was way to weary of all people to not inform him about another presence had there been one. So that only left…the girl?

Oh. Wait: had that girl gone running around telling everyone about that!?

Well, that made it kind of embarrassing.

Or wait, no, right: After that kiss Wei Ying had meet Lan Zhan and they had talked about kisses. Or rather Wei Ying had told Lan Zhan about how many kisses he had had and teased Lan Zhan about how his lips would probably stay virgin for the rest of his life.

Suddenly Wei Ying had to laugh – so that was what this was about. “Ok, I admit it Lan Zhan, I lied to you back then.” Holding up the truth-talisman to empathize that he was indeed telling the truth right at this moment, Wei Ying smiled even broader, even now still feeling amusement at his teenager self’s way of acting. “Back then at Phoenix mount-”

Wei Ying definitely saw Lan Zhan’s eyes dodge his at that – which was strange. Hadn’t he wanted the truth in the first place after all?

Choosing to ignore that detail, Wei Ying continued with his explanation. “-I told you I had already kissed dozens of people dozens of times, right?”

Watching Lan Zhan turn back towards him, like he had not expected this but something else to be brought up, but now that it was something else than what he had feared, he was interested again, Wei Ying just had to smile again. How could anyone be this cute at Lan Zhan’s age and size?

“Well, my dear Lan Zhan, that was a lie.”

Lan Zhan’s eyes widened once again, suddenly the tip of his ears shone a bright red. “So, your first kiss was…?”

By the Lan Zhan trailed off, Wei Ying couldn’t stop himself from answering anymore. His reflexes of putting the talisman had been too slow and he couldn’t silence himself, so yes, he was in for an embarrassment.

“My first kiss was stolen from me just before I meet you on Phoenix mount. I don’t even know who it was.”

Lan Zhan didn’t move an inch – but the way his eyes suddenly seemed to have turned into deep, dark swirling pools of something powerful, made Wei Yings mouth go dry.

On instinct he licked his lips – not realizing how sensitive his lips seemed to be. His stomach however knew – if that flutter was any indication.

And Lan Zhan, who seemed to be tracking his tongues movement with his eyes, wasn’t helping to ease that feeling inside him either.

So, in order to get his attention somewhere else, he did what he always did. He started to ramble. “Well but you know, it was really strange. You know, I was already cultivation the dark path back then but the resentment inside of me made no move to defend me. Thus the one who kissed me must actually have been someone who the energy knew and knew of that I trusted them.”

Lan Zhan kept starring down at Wei Ying, making the other one’s mind grow even more chaotic, casing Wei Yings rambling to worsen – with the worst part being that Wei Ying still held onto the truth talisman.

“But I didn’t have that many people whom I trusted enough to let them come that close to me. Basically, there were only my shijie, and she wouldn’t have kissed me, just no, besides she loved the peacock back then already – my brother, and oh Lord, believe me, if he was the one who did that I would castrate him, but I think I am safe from that ever being a real danger, considering that he doesn’t know anything about love and will probably be a single for life anyway – and well, then there is…you?”

Wei Ying stopped at that. Wait a minute, did this truth talisman turn him into a detective? First off, he found out with whom he was in love with – and generally even just that he was in love with someone – and now he seemed to be finding out who had stolen his first kiss from him?

But Lan Zhan wouldn’t do something like that, right? After all-

All of Wei Yings thoughts skitter to a halt.

Lan Zhan was no longer sitting on his bed.

He was down on his knees in front of him. His hands on his cheeks. His lips on Wei Yings. And he wasn’t going slow either – in fact he was quite aggressive.

Lan Zhan was devouring Wei Yings mouth. He kept going in for more, not even waiting for Wei Ying to respond to him as he separated their lips by the tiniest fractions to bring them together at another angle just a split second later.

Lan Zhan made sure to move his lips from side to side, giving Wei Ying the feeling of their lips being inseparable even if they weren’t glued into one position.

There was no shyness, no hesitation – just an obvious hunger and passion that did not seem to be like Lan Zhan at all. But it was very much like the heated demanding kisses he had received on Phoenix mount.

So, it had been Lan Zhan!

Suddenly feeling as though the sun had decided to rise from within his body at this exact moment, Wei Ying threw his arms round Lan Zhan’s neck, responding as well as he could with his mind not being able to come up with a single coherent thought or course of action.

But it seemed to do the trick for Lan Zhan. He let out a low growl, his hand leaving Wei Yings face now that Wei Ying was pressing back so fiercely.

Possessively, he slid them down Wei Yings naked sides, one hand grasping his hipbone while the other traveled to his lower back, pulling him flush against Lan Zhan.

Wei Ying felt electrified, his whole body was buzzing. His mind went places that had never been explored before.

“God, I love you, Lan Zhan.” Not even realizing how he has started babbling again just moments after Lan Zhan had started to kiss down his neck, instead of shutting his stupid mouth up, he clutched the talisman – which he still held in his hand – even harder, withering under Lan Zhan’s lips.

But the very heartbeat that the words had come out of his mouth, Lan Zhan stopped his ministrations, lifting his face back up to look at Wei Ying.

To others, Lan Zhan may have looked normal, but to Wei Ying, there was a whole other dimension written over Lan Zhan’s features.

The usually golden suns that were his eyes, had turned into deep rich amber colored honey. And even if his face itself remained pretty much unchanged, his ears were red, his breathing a little quick, his lips parted, and there was a fervor written right onto his soul, which spoke volumes of how much and how long Lan Zhan had been dying to kiss Wei Ying like this.

“Repeat that.” Lan Zhan sounded like he was demanding it and yet was pleading for it at the same time.

And even in his dizziness, Wei Ying understood how fragile this moment was.

So, he loosened his hold around Lan Zhan’s neck – startling the man for a second, probably making him fear that Wei Ying had come back to himself and was filled with regret.

“Don’t let your mind come up with something ridiculous now Lan Zhan.” Speaking oh so lovingly, Wei Ying showed Lan Zhan the talisman once again before he held it to his heart.

“Lan Zhan, Lan Wangji, Hanguang-Jun, you are the love of my life. You have been since I came to Gusu, even if I only got it today.”

Lan Zhan didn’t move, but he was listening. And he was yearning for whatever Wei Ying was willing to give him.

So, Wei Ying decided to make his confession a grant one. Lan Zhan certainly deserved that. “Lan Zhan, you are not only my sun, you are my entire solar system – without you the sky isn’t infinite and the earth has no gravity. You are my oxygen, and I am dying to breath. I will walk to the end of this earth for you, I will go to and through hell if that means I can earn myself a place by your side.” Wei Ying couldn’t help himself, his lips just started smiling on their own accord. “I liked you when I first saw you, standing there in the moonlight with that regal countenance of yours, those all-seeing beautiful eyes of yours and that smooth voice, telling me about all the rules I broke. Then I came to adore you when you sat in class, all serious, and before I knew it, I loved you when you and I were alone in the library – I loved being around you so much that I took more than one month longer to copy all the texts than I would have needed.” Wei Ying gave Lan Zhan a peck to the lips. “And in case you didn’t notice – I flirted with many, but you were the only one I ever gave a present to. These bunnies were like us, weren’t they? A calm and responsible white one and a quirky, troublesome black one. And even they were lovers. We must truly be fated, I-”

Way Ying had no chance to sprout any more words of eternal love.

Lan Zhan had already shut him up, diving in for more and more of the only substance that could drive him mad with desire. “Like you, adore you, love you.” Lan Zhan was whispering against Wei Yings lips, staying so close to them that his lips dragged over Wei Yings as he spoke. “Want you so much. Always have. Back then too.” And suddenly Lan Zhan went even further, licking Wei Yings lips, biting them, pulling them and finally parting them as his tongue infiltrated Wei Yings mouth.

A wanton sound came out of Wei Yings throat, taking both of them by surprise. But while Wei Ying for once nearly fell into the pit of feeling shame, Lan Zhan seemed to have decided that just one of these sounds wasn’t enough.

He quickly turned Wei Ying into an instrument, pulling all his strings, making him use his voice to create all kids of new noises.

“Want to bed Wei Ying.”

These words shot straight down to Wei Yings lower half – not that that part of him hadn’t already come very much alive anyway.

“Want to bed Wei Ying every day.”

Nearly going insane from all the sensations and words, Wei Ying could only throw his head back, letting Lan Zhan do as he pleased as he sucked on his neck, making sure to lay a very visible claim on his beloved.

“Then marry me Lan Zhan, I’ll be the first and lace face you see every day.”

Wei Ying was only half aware of what he was saying, but Lan Zhan made up for Wei Ying’s lacking attention, by searing Wei Yings words into his mind, making sure to hold Wei Ying to them.

“Would Wei Ying want to marry me?” Lan Zhan pulled back after he had created a satisfactory mark, going back to kiss Wei Ying, talking to him at the same time – being cattier now than ever before.

“Yes, of course, I would marry you on the spot if I could. I have loved you for long already, I have no doubt I will love you for the rest of my life.”

Wei Ying kissed Lan Zhan back with an equal amount of passion, sneakily moving his arms while Lan Zhan was drowning in the sensation of his beloved kissing him back with no less affection or passion than he himself felt.

Then suddenly, Lan Zhan felt his robes parting, his belts and outer garments sliding open as Wei Ying moved his hands underneath them.

“But you will have to live with me being naughty and flirting with you all day and night long.”

Lan Zhan had no complaint regarding that.

His world, his life, was not only in love with him, no he wanted to touch him and marry him too – it made something in Lan Zhan roar in triumph. He bend over Wei Ying, covering the others entire sight. Wei Ying softly raked his nails up and down over his bandages.

Surprisingly Lan Zhan couldn’t feel his back at all – it might have been the pain killers or just his drunkenness of what was happening right now, but either way, he saw no reason to hold back,

For once he went against schedule, against plans and the proper order of things, giving himself to his racing heart and pulsing body.

He pushed Wei Ying down onto the floor, ridding himself of his upper and inner garments at the same, leaving him equally clad or rather naked as Wei Ying was.

Wei Ying drank in the sight of him, and even with the bandages, he saw the most perfect man he had ever laid eyes on.

“Gods, how did I land you – what have I ever done to deserve you.” And with that Wei Ying pulled Lan Zhan back down, demanding to be kissed senseless – Lan Zhan gladly obliged.

At least until Wei Ying drew a leg up and – whether accidentally or not – brushed against a rather neglected part of Lan Zhan’s body.

Lan Zhan’s breath came out in a strained puff. “Wei Ying, if you don’t what to be taken right here, right now, I would suggest you stop playing with fire.”

“And what if I do want it?” Wei Ying took a lock of Lan Zhan’s hair and twirled it in between them. “What will you do if I want my husband to make me his in all ways he can?” Traveling up the smooth lock of hair, Wei Ying grasped Lan Zhan’s ribbon. “Oh, and will I have a ribbon like that too after I marry you? I always liked it on you.”

Lan Zhan turned feral, ripping his ribbon off and tying it around Wei Yings wrists, tying him up before hooking Wei Yings bound-up arms around his neck. “You can have my ribbon right now. You are my husband; you are allowed to touch.”

Wei Ying suddenly paled. “Wait! That is what it means!? God, I am sorry for all the times I just touched it and even pulled it off without even thinking about it!”

“Have always loved you, have always loved the feeling and sight of you holding my ribbon, have always wanted you to take it after you knew the meaning.” Lan Zhan’s mouth didn’t stop forming words, making him talk so much that Wei Ying felt tears welling up – Lan Zhan was so obviously so in love with him, that it wrenched his heart.

“I know now. But I won’t take it off again.”

Lan Zhan froze. But then Wei Ying laughed happily, seeing his games being successful for once. “I’ll just straight up keep it. You are mine! Let the world see. You will get my headband in turn!”

“Then hurry up and get your headband.” Lan Zhan kissed Wei Ying again, relishing in the knowledge that whenever he felt like it in the future, he would be able to claim as many kisses as he craved for.

Wei Ying was finally his; Wei Ying had finally come back to Gusu. And this time Lan Zhan would make him stay – giving Wei Ying the life he wanted right her by his side.

Lan Zhan could feel Wei Ying looked arms around his neck pulling him down with even more force, making him feel like suddenly everything in this world had found it’s place.

He had certainly found his. He smiled a rare but honest. “Do you remember the song you played before? To calm the corpses?”

Taken off guard by the question, Wei Ying tried to figure out where this was going as he nodded.

“It is a song I composed for you. I hummed it for you in the Cave of the tortoise of slaughter.”

Wei Ying stopped moving all along, his mouth open, his eyes wide. “You composed that? For me?”

“Yes.” Lan Zhan gave Wei Ying an endearing look. “I not only loved you back then, I was also aware of my feelings.”

“Are you teasing me Lan Zhan!?” Seemingly not believing it, Wei Ying smiled that happy grin of his. “I can’t believe it! Ah wait- you never told me the songs name!”

Lan Zhan nuzzled Wei Ying as he said, “Combine our names.”

“Oh, so wait, the top comes first, right? And with us, you are definitely the top, I am very sure of that much. So it’s Wangxian?”

Lan Zhan couldn’t help but fall even more for the man in his arms. “Yes.”

“Did you compose any more songs dearest?”

Lan Zhan smiled again, completely besotted. “I will play them for you on our wedding night.”

“Then I will take you to Lotus pier for our honeymoon!”

Lan Zhan hummed in agreement, imagining them side by side, clad in red.

He hoped the wedding would be soon.

And that his uncle would not go into qi deviation over this matter.

____________________

Autors note:

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the FanFiction!

By the way, all sorts of feedback are very welcome :)

And please feel free to tell me if you have another scenerio in mind that I should attempt to write :)

[patagucci34]

Be Together? Vince Dunn

Warnings: swearing, self-esteem/body image issues, but nothing too serious! 

Word Count: 3.4k 

You and Vince had been hooking up for a while now. If you were being honest, you had no idea why it was even happening. You weren’t his usual type, not the gorgeous Instagram models that he was seeing and although you didn’t talk about stuff like that with each other, it’s all you could think about.

You had met through Sammy, he was one of your oldest friends and so naturally, you had spent a lot of time with Vince too. It wasn’t long after you had met that you started hooking up, you both had made it clear that it would just be a friends with benefits type deal. Especially since his hot shot, superstar status was rising quickly. Surprisingly, you had made all these years without anything going awry.

You always had a soft spot for him, and naturally feelings developed. But you had always been able to just live with it because you liked what you had going, you didn’t want to complicate things, and you never thought that he would feel the same way. Especially when he had these gorgeous women at his beck and call.

You spent a lot of time trying to figure out why you were still having sex when he did have these women around. You chalked it up to convenience and maybe the fact that it was good? It was always really good for you, and you thought that it was good for him but you didn’t know how these other girls were in bed.

For the most part it was strictly friends with benefits. You didn’t do too much together that was “couple like,” but you were very good friends. Most of the time when you hung out it was with Sammy and some of the guys. You texted some, mostly just snap chatted when he was on the road and wanted to sext, but what got you the most was all of the pillow talk. Before, after...it didn’t really matter. He was so sweet with you, that’s when you talked about your families, friends, deep dark secrets, fears, just about anything. That’s how you became so close. For you, he was really the only one that ever stayed the night and through the next morning. You knew Vince’s M.O. wasn’t to have people stay but you were sure there were a few girls that did with him. When you first started hooking up you did it quite often. As time went on it was more sparse, mostly when neither of you had anyone to go home with, or if it was just convenient.

You were aware that you were really kind of his last resort most of the time. It was shitty but you just tried not to think about it that way because you liked hooking up with him and in some ways you did the same thing to him. Although you had canceled on a few guys once Vince reached out which you were sure he would never do for you.

Nights out could be tricky. If you had someone to go home with then you didn’t spend the night trying to suppress your jealous feelings when Vince was with another girl. But when he was going home with someone else and you didn’t have anyone, it was tough for you to watch. But you just had to grin and bear it because you were just friends.

Remarkably enough, for a long time no one really knew about you and Vince besides your friends and the team. You were thankful for that because you knew how much hate girls that hook up with players usually get. You had seen your fair share of bunny blogs and you wanted to keep your name out of them. However, that ended when someone spotted you two kissing outside of a club one night. Rumors started flying, hateful comments came rolling in, but of course Vince didn’t really pay any attention or even noticed what was happening. You knew it wasn’t his fault, and you weren’t mad at him, but you were definitely upset and unfortunately mostly taking it out on him.

You decided to just distance yourself a bit, not be the one to reach out first, avoid him at gatherings...you weren’t really sure why because you knew that wasn’t going to do anything, but it made you feel better, at least you thought it did. It got worse when you were at a game with Sammy’s girlfriend, Amy, and the girls in front of you were talking about you. You were sure they didn’t know you were there, but up until that point, you just had to read about how fat you were and you had no chance of competing with the girls after Vince, you didn’t have to hear it in person. You didn’t want them to win so you promised yourself you would stay at the game, but you’d opt out of going out with the team after. You tried to scoot out after the game but Amy pulled you down to the locker room so it was nearly impossible to get out of it. You tried your best but Sammy wouldn’t allow it.

So that’s how you ended up miserable in a booth, watching Vince dance with some tall, skinny, blonde, who also just happened to be one of the lovely girls who was talking about you. If you were going to make it through the night you were going to need lots of alcohol so you were pounding vodka sodas. You had just gone to get another one and were heading back to the booth when someone stopped in front of you and took it out of your hand.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” You glared up when you saw that it was Vince and tried to grab it but he held it over your head.

“Give it back.” You said, not so smoothly as you stumbled a bit as you tried to reach for it.

“You’re wasted, y/n/n. You’re done.”

“No I’m not, I'm fine.”

“I’ve been watching you all night, you’ve had about 6 of these.”

You rolled your eyes, “Vince, not tonight please. Just give me the drink and go back to your little barbie doll.”

“Is that what this is about?”

“Is what about?”

“Why you’ve been ignoring me and why you’re completely obliterated tonight?”

“Wow, obliterated, that’s a big word.”

“What the fuck, y/n? Why are you acting like this?” He asked, dragging you to a quiet corner. You really didn’t want to get into it here, especially not while you were this drunk, and you really didn’t want to cry in the club so you tried to end the conversation.

“I’m sorry, I just wasn’t in the mood tonight but Sammy dragged me here anyway. I’m just gonna go.”

You tried to walk away but he grabbed your arm. “Not alone, you’re not.” “Let go of me.”

“No, you’re too drunk to be going home alone.”

“I’m going to Uber.”

“Not by yourself!”

“Yes, by myself. You can’t tell me what to do, Vince.” With that, you pulled your arm out of his grasp and stalked off. You didn’t check to see if he was following you because you were sure he was and you didn’t want to slow down any and have him catch up to you.

You made it outside of the club and down a block before you felt a hand on your shoulder. “Y/n,” he said softly, “will you please tell me what’s wrong?”

You turned around to face him, you contemplated what you were going to say next, and just as you were about to start, you saw the girl trailing behind him.

“Just forget it, you’re an ass.”

He made a move to try and stop you but you shut him down. “Don’t.” With tears streaming down your face you turned and walked away.

When you finally made it home, you had a bunch missed calls and texts. A few from Vince but mostly from Sammy and Amy. You were too tired to listen to the voicemails and read through all of the texts so you just sent a text to Sammy telling him that you were home and you would talk to him later. After that, you shut your phone off and cried yourself to sleep.

The next day you woke up with a pounding headache. You sighed as you remembered last night's events, not wanting to deal with it you turned over and buried your head in the pillow for a few more minutes.

Once you had accepted that you weren't going to fall back asleep you got up and went to make a cup of coffee. You sat down on the couch and went through all of the text and voicemails from the night before.

You looked through Sammy’s texts first.

Okay... are you okay? What happened? Vince said you seemed really upset.

I'm coming over tomorrow morning whether you like it or not.

You rolled your eyes but texted him back telling him that you'd be here and he could come anytime.

You went through Vince texts next.

What was that all about?

Will you please let me know when you're home?

I'm really worried about you, y/n/n.

Can we talk tomorrow?

You were going to wait to respond. You weren't quite ready to talk to him, maybe after Sammy comes you'll text him back.

Your stomach growled and right as you moved to get up and make something Sammy called you.

"Hey, Sammy." You greeted softly.

"How are you?"

"I'm okay."

"Can I come over in a few?"

"Yeah, I was just about to make something for breakfast."

"I was gonna stop at Henderson's, do you want me to bring you a sandwich?"

"That would be great."

"Alright, I'll see you in a little bit."

"Thanks, Sammy."

You sat back down on the couch and turned on the TV while you waited for Sammy to come over. Your phone dinged and you saw another text from Vince.

Please text me back, y/n/n. I want to talk to you.

You sighed as you contemplated what to do. It really wasn't super fair of you to be ignoring him, he didn't really do anything wrong. You finally decided to text him back.

Sammy is coming over, but maybe later?

You didn't have to wait long for a response.

Alright, just let me know. Are you okay?

That's a pretty loaded question, Vince. But yeah, I'm fine. I'll see you later.

As soon as you put your phone down Sammy walked through the door. You stood up to help him with the bags he had in his arms and you walked into the kitchen. As soon as he set everything down he pulled you in for a hug. Once he let you go you both went and sat on the couch and started talking about what happened.

You told him what he already knew, that you had feelings for Vince and that you had been able to handle them but once people got wind of the two of you people had been so nasty towards you. You told him about the girl at the game and how she ended up being the one with him last night.

"I just don't know what to do anymore, Sammy. I really like hanging out with Vince but I just can't do this anymore, I can't keep doing this to myself. I know that he cares about me and I know that it's a little more than just a hookup, but I'm never going to be enough for him, and I can't keep putting myself through this kind of stuff. It's not fair to either of us."

"I'm sorry, y/n/n. I hate that you feel this way."

"It's okay, I knew what I was getting into, I've let it go on for 4 years so…”

“I think that you should talk to Vince before you make any decisions.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I mean, you haven’t actually told him about these feelings, and I think it would be worthwhile for you two to have this conversation. You don’t know what he’s feeling or what he’ll say.”

“Well, he’s coming over later I guess.”

“Good. I think you should tell him exactly what you just told me.”

“I know, I just…I don’t want to hear what I know he’s going to say.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a part of me that really hopes if I tell him this stuff that he’ll feel the same, but I know deep down that he doesn’t and I just know that I’m going to be crushed. That’s why I want the end to be on my terms.”

“I get that, y/n/n, I really do. But I think you should talk to him.”

“Do you know something that I don’t?”

“No, I just think you’ll regret it if you don’t.”

You sighed and sat back against the couch, “I know...you’re right.”

Sammy patted your thigh, “it’ll be alright. And if things don’t go your way, then it will give you the chance to start moving on.”

You put your head on his shoulder and he pulled you in close. You sat like that for a little bit before focusing back on your food and talking about other things.

He hung out for a few more hours and then left so you could have Vince over. You texted him a little bit after Sammy left and he replied right away saying he’d be over in a few.

You started to get nervous. You were honestly kind of embarrassed about your outburst last night and you didn’t want to have to face him. But you weren’t left too much time to dwell as you heard a knock on the door. You reluctantly got up and went to the door, just now realizing that you still had on the sweats you slept in last night. He had seen you like this countless times, but you felt more vulnerable right now so you contemplated changing quickly.

“Just a minute!!” You called through the door and you ran to your room to throw on some leggings and a sweater.

You composed yourself and then opened the door. A small smile met your sheepish grin and you moved to the side so he could step around you. He walked over to the couch and sat down. You followed behind him but didn’t sit down quite yet.

“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” You offered softly.

“Water?”

You nodded and went to grab two glasses of water before sitting down next to him.

He took a sip and then put it down on the coffee table and looked over at you. “So? What’s going on with you?”

You sighed, trying to find the right words, after a few moments you just went for it. “I can’t do this anymore…”

“What do you mean? Sleep together?”

“Yeah…”

“Why not?”

You sighed again, “I just, when we first started hooking up we said it would just be friends with benefits and I tried really hard for that, but I’ve developed feelings for you. Feelings that I’ve tried really hard to get rid of, and it worked for a while, but lately it’s been harder to do. I’m not sure if you even know this, but people found out about us, people have been talking, and they’re not good things. They’re awful actually. I’ve never been so insulted in my life, and it was starting to really get to me. And last night...that girl that you were with, I heard her talking about me at the game. She said some really hurtful things and it just really hurt to see you with her last night. I know you probably didn’t know that she said those things, but it was still really hard to see. It’s hard to see you going home with anyone that’s not me. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way, I know you probably don’t. And if so, I'm just going to need a break from you for a little bit. I really value our friendship and I really hope that we can still salvage that part of our relationship but I can’t keep doing this to myself.” You tried to gauge his reaction but his face was unreadable. He sighed and sat back against the couch as he ran his hands over his face and through his hair. He didn’t say anything for a few moments, he just sat there looking in front of him. “Can you say something? Please?” You asked, getting very nervous.

“Yeah, sorry, I’m just, I had no idea that people knew and were saying things to you...I feel awful, y/n/n. I know how mean people can be...god, I’m so sorry. I, um, was really trying to protect you from this. I thought that by keeping our relationship the way that it was would prevent this from happening…” he paused and ran his hands through his hair again and then turned to face you. He took your hands in his and looked into your eyes. “Y/N, you are so important to me, I hope you know that. I know that I probably haven’t done the best job of showing you that, but you really are. I have feelings for you too, I don’t know how I couldn’t. You’re perfect. You’re smart, funny, kind, beautiful...you keep me honest and you check me when I need to be. I’m so mad at myself because I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought that in order to shield you from all of the hate we had to just stay friends. I know that was unfair of me to do, it was selfish. I want you to know that I don’t care what other people think. It’s just, you’re so sweet, it honestly breaks my heart to think about the things that people are saying about you. You don’t deserve it. They don’t know you, babe. They don’t have the right to say those things about you. I definitely don’t want to lose you because of it. Please let me know how I can fix this...I can’t lose you.”

You had started crying at this point, Vince was wiping away your tears as you thought about what to say next. “It’s not your fault, Vince. I think that no matter how much you tried to protect me from it, it was inevitable. It comes with the territory, believe me, I know. I’ve been dealing with this kind of thing my whole life, it was just so much more of it, and I just got in my head about it, and I was starting to believe what they were saying...unfortunately you can’t stop them from saying these things. But can we just forget about them? And be together?”

“I would love nothing more. The whole world is going to know how perfect you are and how beautiful you are to me, I’ll reply to every nasty comment if I have to.”

You smiled at his eagerness, “okay, you don’t have to go that far, but I appreciate your willingness.”

“Anything for you, y/n/n…” he said, kissing you softly, “and I meant every word that I said. You make me a better person, and I don’t want a life without you in it.”

“I don’t want a life without you either, Vince...god, as much as I hate to admit it, Sammy was so right.”

Vince quirked an eyebrow, “what do you mean?” “He convinced me to tell you how I felt. I wasn’t going to...I was convinced you would never feel the same way that I do and I didn’t want to be let down.”

He chuckled at your admission. “He’s never going to let us live it down. He’s going to be taking credit for this for the rest of our lives…”

You smiled and sighed, “I guess there are worse things.”

Vince put his arm around you and pulled you close to him. You cuddled into his side and spent the rest of the afternoon snuggling and watching TV.

You knew that people were still going to have things to say about you and your relationship with Vince but you knew that you could through it with him by your side.

[red-elric]

this week’s episode has me in a momiji mood so let’s talk about why his curse was the first to break (after kureno’s) and why i think his is the only curse break that tohru caused almost entirely (albeit accidentally; and really, it was tohru’s effect on him, rather than her direct actions breaking the curse).

a note on my interpretation of the breaking of the curse: the zodiac curse seems to be broken by a combination of time (ie, the curse broke this generation as opposed to any previous due to the length of time it had affected the sohmas) and a sohma prioritizing bonds with the outside world over god and the other zodiacs. i believe kureno’s curse broke mostly by happenstance; before it broke, i believe akito wasn’t nearly as possessive and psychotic about keeping the zodiacs near her (she clearly snaps after his curse is broken, not wanting any others to break), and that combined with kureno’s tendency to blend in with the background compared to the other strong personalities in the zodiac, kureno was likely passed over a lot compared to other zodiacs, and just in general had a normal, fulfilling life up until high school, when that normal life caused his curse to break first. obviously after it broke, he became completely entrenched in the zodiac world far more than before, but the damage was already done. after momiji, hiro’s curse breaks; i attribute his curse being broken to his family. every other zodiac member has a family deeply tied into the more.... vague, symbolic representations of the curse; their parents fall into the trap of being ‘too overprotective, or rejecting of their child completely’ and continue either way the tight bond the zodiacs have with the sohma family’s toxic mindset. hiro, however, grew up with parent who genuinely loved him no matter what, who expected normal things from him and didn’t really gain or lose anything from the curse. the birth of his sister, cementing the nuclear family structure that so many zodiacs secretly long for, managed to overthrow the bond hiro had with the curse and replace it with gentle familial love. as for the rest of the zodiacs; akito was able to see she was being unreasonable, and that there was still hope for her to be loved without the curse, so she overthrew it herself (and freed the rest of the zodiacs along the way). tohru had a pretty significant impact on breaking akito’s curse, obviously, but so did kureno, shigure, and even ren; tohru as the voice of reason, kureno as the martyr and direct object of visible pain that the curse provides, shigure as the hope for a better future, and ren as the example of what she could become if she stayed on her current path. nothing tohru did for akito, however, compares to what she did for momiji, ever so subtly and quietly throughout the entire manga.

ive talked in detail before about momiji’s coping mechanism of pretending to be more childish and innocent he is in a much larger post about momiji/kimi, and why i relate to them both, but to summarize: consciously or subconsciously, momiji tries to make himself seem cute, harmless, and entirely altruistic for his own benefit. whether that’s to hide from akito, or to avoid providing additional stress to his father, wracked with guilt over abandoning his son for his wife and daughter, or merely to get closer to a girl he likes (trying to share a bed with tohru lol); it’s an effective strategy, and there are definitely cracks in that cutesy armor that we can see throughout the story. the first major moment we can see this: when he first tells tohru that his mother doesn’t remember him. in this scene (which is HEARTBREAKING--i cried when i saw it in the anime (every momiji scene i’m going to mention, i’ve definitely cried about)), momiji stays smiling the entire time, up until the end. he talks about how difficult things must have been for his mother, about how he’s resolved to never forget a memory, no matter how painful; he glosses over the actual events of his childhood, hiding them from tohru. but she sees through it, and empathizes with how horrible his childhood must have been (spurred in part, perhaps, with her childhood fears that her mother was going to ‘leave’ her to follow katsuya); tohru bursts into tears and wraps him in a hug, and only here do we see momiji’s bunny face crumple and shed a single tear. i really suspect this is the first time in momiji’s life that he has allowed himself to honestly think about his family situation and acknowledge that it was a really fucked up thing to put him through. this is the first time he is able to think ‘no, the adults who have power over me were wrong, and my pain is justified.’ it’s an obvious mindset to us--of course that was a fucked up situation--but it’s not something anyone in momiji’s life has confirmed for him before. the only person i would imagine might validate his concerns would be hatori, who we’ve seen kind of acts as a foster father to momiji, but hatori is the one who wiped his mother’s memories. despite any words hatori might offer to reassure momiji if he asked, momiji was never going to ask because his actions show support for the sohma family and his parents’ decision. however, tohru’s support and empathy has given momiji grounds to doubt his family situation, a reason to allow himself dissatisfaction with the status quo, and that moment spurs leaps and bounds of character growth for him.

the next scene that pops to mind when i think of momiji growth is, of course, the end of the beach arc and the confrontation with akito. tohru, the very person who reassured momiji that his pain was valid, and who has been a constant friend to him for a while now, is threatened by akito, the ultimate representation of The Sohma Family who has brought everyone so much pain. he fears for tohru, and refuses to let akito see her, despite a direct order from his symbolic god; i don’t know how long he would have been able to hold out without tohru’s own interference, but the fact that he was able to speak against akito at all speaks measures to momiji’s growth away from the sohmas and the zodiac curse. once tohru steps in to protect him, however, he is unable to do much more directly; we see his anguish over his inability to do anything over tohru’s shoulder, as he’s forced to watch akito say horrible things to tohru and claw at her face. eventually, though, momiji is able to step away from the situation and find the adults (hatori and shigure), who can help more than he can. after akito leaves, we clearly see momiji’s frustration that he couldn’t do more, and tohru comforts him as he cries. this is the first time he has completely, out in the open, rather than in tohru’s shoulder as she cries for him, expressed frustration, fear, anguish--all the bottled up feelings he’s had to hide under ‘cute’ for so long. this is a frustration, however, that he uses proactively to spur him into action in the future.

obviously, this weeks episode is the next important momiji moment: when he deliberately helps tohru sneak through the sohma compound. in this whole chapter/episode, there’s a subtle theme of momiji trying to help tohru as much as she has helped him; verbally, he offers to play a violin concert just for her in thanks for the news that momo is truly interested in momiji and wants him to be her big brother. helping tohru speak to kureno is also an act of thanks, i believe: in this, he is trying to make up for his perceived ‘failure’ at the beach house with akito. and we can see his growth in this scene as well: he first states that it will be difficult to see kureno, but then realizes that it may only be zodiacs who see things that way, and admits that his perception may be flawed and that things may be easier than they seem. he tries to convince tohru to let him come with her, and failing that, tells her to give anyone who catches her his name. later, when tohru is caught by kureno, we find that momiji followed her anyway, and he drags he away from kureno (a member of akito’s inner circle who, to momiji, is a big representation of the sohmas and the curse) very protectively. we’re left with the impression that if kureno had been inclined to lock up tohru or take her to akito, momiji would have fought him every step of the way, and that resolve, bravery, frustration with the status quo and doubt of those in power is representative of how much momiji has grown by this point.

and the next major moment for momiji is the breaking of his curse. after demonstrating tremendous personal growth (emotionally, but also by this point physically (and of course his height is symbolic of his emotional growth as well)), all for the sake of protecting tohru, and spurred by her faith in him, momiji’s curse breaks. breaking the curse is the furthest thing from his mind at the moment, of course; momiji relies on the bonds with the other zodiacs more than anyone else, barring akito, and the end of his curse brings him very bittersweet feelings. but his curse is broken, and it’s thanks to tohru :,)

[fallsofnoir]

Honey is Not Enough

Lukloe (Luchloe) | Luka Couffaine | Viperion/Chloe Bourgeois | Queen Bee One-Shot | 3,124 words | Hurt/Comfort, Slightly Fluffy

AO3 | Beta-reader @angrycroissantt  (thank you so much!)

Summary: 

Luka wasn’t even supposed to be at this party, but it was Chloe’s party and he couldn’t stay away.  …  Even if she didn’t know his identity.

// in which Luka deals with his own girlfriend treating him like a stranger and struggles not to reveal his identity. 

.

Luka wasn’t even supposed to be at this party. He’d been just about to work on a new chord progression for the band when Rose had come running into his room. She’d gasped and started to complain about what he was wearing, he heard something about a party as she dragged him with the strength of a mighty... bunny to his wardrobe. 

Despite his protests and questions, she managed to wrangle him into a clean pair of jeans and a less worn hoodie. Juleka had thankfully put his guitar back in its case by the time Rose was done with him. 

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Rose clapped her hands together and made her way to the door. 

“Where are we going?” He asked.

She stopped in her path and turned around with a grin, “to Chloe’s party.” 

“I wasn’t invited.” There wasn’t any bitterness to his tone, there wasn’t. 

“Rose and I can’t go out this late without you anyway so her highness will just have to let you in,” his sister explained as she handed him his shoes. They stood next to each other with such hopeful gazes that he really couldn’t say no. 

Looking around the party, he could see nearly everyone from Chloe’s class, the only person missing was Chloe herself. He tried not to look for her. Marinette and Adrien were keeping him busy by discussing some plans for the band to see if they could get Adrien to schedule in some more jam sessions. He was excited to be able to do more music with Adrien, the kid could seriously rock the keyboard. Finding a free evening, however, was proving to be difficult, if Adrien was free it was likely Marinette was busy or the other way round. Luka didn’t even want to factor into how many evenings he’s busy. They finally settled on the following Thursday, he’d just have to ask to see if one of the other heroes could cover his patrol. No big deal. 

Alya soon dragged the pair away from him and he made his way over to the food table. There was a slice of pizza with his name on it. Chloe might just kill him if he ruined his body from the pizza, but it was so worth it. He was just taking a bite when the blonde in question strutted into the room with Sabrina in tow. 

Fashionably late, but wow. She was gorgeous. He didn’t know how anyone could look that good in white jeans. 

She made a beeline for the microphone set up in the corner and brought it to her lips. “You all better not have been having too much fun without me, but now that I’m here the party can really start! Let’s see if any of you can beat me at karaoke first.” Smirking, the girl held out the other microphone as if daring someone to challenge her.  Luka knew that look, it was similar to the look she gave him when she raced him to the Notre Dame. A challenger stepped forward, he was pretty sure Alix pushed him, Kim. He didn’t back down though and from then on the game was set. 

Five rounds later it was clear she knew the songs too well. Knowing Chloe, she’d probably spent her whole childhood playing this game. A quick glance at Adrien proved him to be mouthing along to the words too so Luka assumed he was correct in that assumption. Slowly, though, her voice wore out and she ended up handing her champion status over to Marinette with much resentment. Promises of winning next time were made and soon she was stalking over to the drinks table. 

“You’re very talented,” he commented. 

The blonde grinned and flicked her hair over her shoulder. “Of course I am.”  She downed some punch and poured herself some more to sip at more leisurely as she perched on the edge of the table near him. “Who are you?”

“Oh, sorry, I’m Jules’ brother,” he held his hand in greeting. She shook it, pausing ever so slightly when she noticed his painted nails. “She dragged me here so she could stay out later.”

He noticed that her eyes widened and the corners of her lips turned up ever so slightly before she schooled her features.  “More like so she and Rose could find some alone time.” He knew that wasn’t the case, but he couldn’t exactly prove when the two girls were currently locking lips on the opposite side of the room. 

“I think they get plenty of that at ours,” he grinned at her. She should know that they were here for her. “Mum’s pretty chill with that sort of thing. And Rose has always said that you throw the best parties.” 

Chloe smiled back at him and tapped her fingers against her cup. “That’s because I always have the best sound system.” 

“It is pretty great, Adrien was saying earlier about how nice it would be for the band to practice here.”

“You’re in his band?” Chloe looked surprised. He wondered if the girl had stopped listening to Adrien talk about the band once she found out Marinette was in it too. He had heard both sides of the story on their rivalry and he wasn’t about to get involved. 

“More like he’s a part-timer in my band. Poor kid’s got no time to join us most days.”

“Yeah well, his dad can go walk off a cliff for all I’m concerned.” 

He hummed in agreement and they both turn to look at the boy currently singing his heart out to what he thought must have been a Disney song. “The only thing stopping me from pushing him off the cliff myself is that Adrien would be alone.”

The girl turned to look at him, a question on her face. Perhaps she didn’t realise how close he was to Adrien. Or maybe she just didn’t expect anyone to agree with her suggestion. Either way, she didn’t have a chance to ask when a shockwave ran throughout the room. 

“Everyone get down!” He heard Adrien shout through the mic. Luka threw himself over Chloe, rolling them under the drinks table.

The lights blew out and then they appeared. A glowing white. Their body seemed to float, dancing past the glass windows without looking in the room. Everyone in the room seemed to wait with bated breath as the figure inched closer to the balcony. Chloe wriggled underneath him and he let her up. She gestured for him to remain quiet and made signals to someone across the room. He saw her motion towards the door. 

One by one he could see the hands and knees of his friends make their way towards the doors and away from the balcony. Relief went through him when the doors opened. The pale person was still outside the balcony doors. Just floating.

Until.

 Someone made a run for it. He jumped up when he could no longer see the ghostly being outside and shouted to Chloe that they’d vanished. 

“Boo!” He heard from behind him. Turning he could see the ghost thing in front of a terrified Kim. “You thought you could ghost me! I am Remembrance and I’m going to make sure everyone remembers the love they have lost!” With that, she grabbed Kim’s hand and disappeared into thin air. 

Great, just great. Marinette stared at him and Chloe with wide eyes before Adrien grabbed her hand and pulled her out the room. He knew he needed to move. He just had to try and find a place to transform. 

The rest of the crowd streamed out the doors quickly after that. Chloe dodged his attempt to grab her hand and ran over to the balcony door. She was gone before he even had the chance to chastise her for running into danger. He transformed in the empty room and found his fellow heroes on the rooftop. 

Finding Remembrance when she could literally phase through walls was the hard bit. Defeating her was not. And soon he was untransformed back at the hotel waiting for Chloé to return. With only Sass as company. 

He had expected everyone else to come back to the room the party was held in. But he hadn’t seen a single person. He didn’t know how to take that. Didn’t know what to think. He knew Ladybug and Chat Noir had to take the person who was akumatized and Kim back home. The poor guy was going to get a lecture from one of the heroes no doubt. His sister had probably filled her quota for socialising today and taken Rose home. But the rest? He didn’t know why they weren’t here.

He’d just managed to feed his Kwami when the doors opened and he looked up expecting the crowd to steam in. There was no crowd. 

Chloé slowly walked into the room, her eyes rapidly moving around the room before her shoulders slumped. She spun around and faced him. “Just you?” 

He nodded. He had a really hoped her friends would pop up from behind the tables or something, anything to happen to stop the sad look from being on the girl’s face. 

He could see her blinking rapidly from across the room and he knew she was trying not to make a scene. “I think that means the party is over, you can show yourself out.” With that, she was hurrying back out of the room.

Would it be alright to follow her? He didn’t know, but he damn well was not going to let secret identities get in the way of comforting her. Ladybug can kill him later. He ran out of the room. 

For someone wearing heels, she sure ran fast. Her lift had already started heading to her floor before he’d reached it. He mashed the lift buttons but the next one was still 10 floors away, he’d never reach her in time. The stairs it was. 

. 

Her breathing was quick and her hands were shaking as she exited the lift. Her palm came to rest against the nearest wall and she bent over to try and catch her breath. This was how Luka found her. Sobbing next to the door of her suite. 

“Oh, honey -“ he started. She gasped, pausing in her sobs. His hands came to rest on her shoulders to stop her from turning around.  “I’m sorry, I’m not transformed.”

“How are you here?” She breathed out between her cries. She didn’t throw him off her, however, and that was enough encouragement as any. 

“I was here when the Akuma hit,” he explained. His hands slipped past her shoulders and wrapped her in a hug from behind. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You don’t have to explain anything, but know that I‘m here and I love you.” 

If possible she crumpled even more. Her hands came up to cover her face and she allowed him to rock the two of them together. He wasn’t entirely certain why she had broken down, but he had a feeling it was to do with the lack of people that returned to the party. 

“You know me?” She asked after not very long. Her breathing increased. He hadn't managed to calm her down. “How do you know me? I didn’t want you to know me, you can’t... please tell me you don’t know me.” 

He didn’t know why he shouldn’t know her, he’s known who she was since day one. How could he not? Chloé was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen, of course, she’d be Queen Bee. He told her as such. 

“No, no, no I’m not,” she mumbled. “I’m not supposed to be a superhero, I’m not good enough.”

“You are.” 

“No, I’m really not,” she shook herself out of his grip to hit the wall with all the force of a superhero. It left a dent. “If I was people would have come back.”

“Maybe they were busy?” He tried. He knew for certain that some of them were busy doing superhero duties. Chloé had patrol tonight so she was excused. Ladybug had offered to drop the civilian home instead of him because it was a girl so he’d been given a free chance. Yes, the others should have come back, but who knows why they couldn’t. It wasn’t Chloé’s fault. 

“If anyone of my classmates thought I was worthy of being a superhero they would have been here. I’m just the mayor’s daughter, they can’t say no to me, can they? I practically force everyone to come anyway. Stupid, stupid, stu-“

“Hey, hey, hey,” Luka grabbed her hands to stop her from hitting the wall again. “You’re not stupid! They’re the stupid ones if they can’t see how amazing you are! Bee if anyone should be a superhero it’s you.” 

“You’re just saying that.” 

“I’m not!” He glanced at the door next to them. “Can we go to your room?“

“Oh! Yeah of course,” she replies, she sounded like she’d forgotten she wasn’t in private. 

They shuffle in an odd way to the room. Luka unwilling to let her go and Chloé needing to unlock the door. She immediately went to her bedside to grab a sleeping mask to cover her eyes for the time being. 

He smiled when she turned around to face him blindly. The Ladybug mask seemed strange on her face. “I think I prefer your actual mask.”

She snorted, and he was glad to see a smile on her face, albeit small. But he wasn't done yet.

”You, Chloé Bourgeois, are every bit deserving of being Queen Bee as Ladybug is herself,” he said, his hands moved to grab hers. “Who was the one who brought ice cream for us when we were baking in the super-suits on the hottest day of the summer? Who is the one who always jumps in front of their teammates when they’re in trouble? Who is the one who did patrol every single night for three weeks when the rest of us were stuck with flu? On their own? Well, mostly,” he placed a kiss on her knuckles. “You are caring, thoughtful, crazy loyal, smart, powerful and absolutely ready to put your teammates first. That, honey, is what makes a superhero if you ask me.”

She had tears dripping down her cheeks by the time he was finished. His kissed them away too and a smile lit up her face. 

“How do you always have the right words?” She stomped her foot in mock protest. “I bet I look like a mess.”

“I’m only being honest,” he answered, smiling when she reached up to wipe her tears away. “You look beautiful.” 

“I don’t, but thank you.” He couldn’t stop himself from kissing her then. Her arms went around his neck and his around her waist. Sweet and leisurely, like pure honey. And he was addicted. 

She pulled back before he could get too carried away. “This mask is so not made for kissing.” It had been bunching on her nose making breathing even more difficult than usual. 

“Maybe we should save that for our next patrol then, Queenie,” he suggested but it didn’t stop him from stealing another kiss or two from the blonde. “In fact, I think you probably need to get going, don’t you? It’s Saturday.”

“Oh right, what time is it?” She mumbled. 

“10:47.”

“Oh phew, I’ve got like what 10 minutes to get to the other side of town,” she stepped away from him and called for Pollen. She asked for her transformation but kept a hand over her eyes. “I’ll have to invest in a better mask for next time you plan to stop by as a civilian. You will come back, won’t you?” 

“I’ll wait in eager anticipation, my queen.” He bowed and kissed her hand. 

Queen Bee wrinkled her nose, “don’t start coping the cat. Ladybug and I couldn’t take it if there were two of him.”

He spat out a laugh. Chat Noir sure was a bit over the top lately with his affections for their leader. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You better be there, Scales,” she grinned at him before her wings took her out through the window. 

He grinned the whole way home. 

.

Epilogue 

“I want to apologise!” Ladybug stood in front of a very confused Chloé Bourgeois with what looked to be a gift box. Chat Noir stood just behind her. 

“Apologise for what Ladybug? As if you could have done anything wrong.”

“I - um - It was your party this weekend-“

“And? I had a ton of people turn up, I don’t expect you with your busy schedule to be able to make it.” The blonde rolled her eyes. 

“Well yes but I’m sorry-“

“And besides we had that stupid Akuma hit right in the middle of it anyway, the party ended after that,” Chloé looked at her nails as a distraction. She wasn’t sure how much Chat Noir knew about her, but she wasn’t about to give her identity away to the cat. 

“I guess so, but still Chloé,” Ladybug had shoved the box into Chat Noir’s arms at this point. She grabbed the blonde’s hand. “I wanted to be there and I know how much effort you put into it. I can’t give away my identity, but no one is more annoyed than me and Chat about that Akuma happening.” 

Chloé looked up at Ladybug’s face to see her staring at her. There was something in her eyes that she couldn’t place, but she knew she had to accept whatever the superheroine was apologising for. 

She shook her out of her grip and walked over to retrieve the box from Chat Noir. She noticed an infamous logo on the box. “Macaroons? How did you know where to find my favourite bakery?” 

She had never told anyone that she was partial to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. 

Both of her teammates' eyes widened. “Uhh, lucky guess?” Ladybug shrugged, sheepishly. 

Chloé wasn’t about to complain anyway and she opened it and popped a macaroon straight into her mouth. “Apology accepted, Ladybug, not that you needed to.”

Ladybug grinned before nodding at her partner and grabbing her yo-yo. “Thank you Chloé, I’ll make sure to clear my schedule the next time you throw a party.”

“Yeah, no Akuma will be there to stop us from partying next time,” Chat Noir added. The two heroes left Chloé with the macaroons. The blonde wasn’t sure how she knew to, but Ladybug always managed to cheer her up. And she was going to do everything in her power to help out the heroes when they needed her too. 

Fin.

[hollowedrpg]

CONGRATULATIONS, CAISEY! — You’ve been accepted for the role of Amos Diggory. It’s no secret how much I love Amos. I adapted him from a version of him I wrote myself, and I’m so so excited to see someone take him on in a way that does his character such justice. Originally, I never saw him as a Slytherin, but you wrote him in such a way that it makes sense. He’s manipulative and deceptive, not in a malicious way, but for his own survival. I can’t wait to see how you have him interact with the other characters. 

Thank you so much for applying. Please create your account and send in the link, track the right tags, and follow everyone on the follow list. Welcome to Hollowed Souls!

ooc. 

Name: caisey

age: 27

preferred pronouns: she/her

timezone: est

activity: I’m between jobs rn so like, I have a lot of time while I search for a new job.

are you applying for more than one character?: I’m applying for my second character

how do you feel about your character dying?: “please let him die” “don’t kill my sweet Amos, he’s too good for this world” “but that’s why he has to die!” -the argument that’s been going on in my head. If Amos dies, I’ll love the angst; if he lives, I’ll love the angst.

anything else?: nothing else!

ic details.

full name: Amos Noor Kiran Diggory

Paper #1: Amos Kiran Patel. His birth name.

Amos is from the Hebrew amas, meaning load or burden. There is a Hebrew prophet of the name.

Kiran is from Kirana, his mother’s name. Kirana is a Sanskrit word meaning dust, thread, or sunbeam.

Later, he takes the name Noor, Arabic for light, though he picks it because it is like Nora--not the woman who birthed him, but the one who raised him. He is named for his mothers; their names live in his.

He adds Noor when he adds Diggory, and the day they sign the papers officially, Nora--Mum--hugs his head to her chest and cries.

date of birth: November 15, 1953. Because his eleventh birthday fell just after the deadline for first year students, he began Hogwarts a year older than most of his classmates.

former hogwarts house: Slytherin. 

Nora was taken aback when he wrote home about it, though she hid it well. She expected Ravenclaw, perhaps Hufflepuff--she, for what it was worth, had been a Ravenclaw in her day, and she had been reasonably confident Amos fit that mold as well. The Hat saw several things in Amos, however, that nobody else did: first, that he had arrived at Hogwarts without any preconceived notions of house meanings, and thus donning green meant nothing different to him than donning red or yellow or blue. Second, that Amos was a people-pleaser, one so desperate for approval that he was a master manipulator, able to convince nearly anyone that he was exactly what they approved of. Third, that Amos was insecure and his soul still malleable, and in any other house he would become something insufferable: he would absorb all the worst qualities of any group of children who didn’t accept him for something unconditional. For better or for worse, acceptance due to blood purity was only guaranteed in Slytherin, and for all the mystery of his background, the Diggory name was a soft assurance of his bloodline (paper #2: he is a halfblood. His mother recommends he keep that information to himself). Only in Slytherin would Amos be able to find friends regardless of how he acted, and thus only in Slytherin would he be able to explore an independent personality. Besides, the Hat mused silently to itself, the boy could do worse than to land in a house that frequently taught its members excellent leadership skills.

sexuality: bisexual/biromantic (graysexual)

gender/pronouns: cis male, he/him

face claim change: nope!

more. 

how do you interpret this character’s personality? how will you play them? include two weaknesses & two strengths. 

Positive: gentle, eager to please, open-minded

Negative: credulous, indecisive, manipulative

He wanted, so badly, to be loved and accepted. He was a child, little more than a toddler, when his entire life changed. After days of being trapped inside with the unmoving, slowly decomposing body of his father, he had enough trauma to last a while. He barely spoke his first two months in the orphanage. Yet young Amos still tried to please everyone, to anticipate their needs and understand what they wanted of him. He clung to hands, leaned on legs, sat in laps and clutched at his stuffed bunny, tried to say what they wanted him to say and do what they wanted him to do. They wanted him to recover from his trauma, so he did, or at least pretended to--they wanted him to be winsome and sweet, obedient, and so he was. By the time he reached Nora, Amos had perfected his innocent smile and followed every rule set for him, even the ones that didn’t make sense at the time. It gave him something to focus on in the floating, chaotic milieu of his life.

Eventually, he grew adept at it--learning what they wanted, convincing them he was that. He could read between the lines and interpret body language. Mold himself to fit the expectations, or mold the expectations to fit him. He helped his friends study for exams, sneak into the kitchens, successfully navigate crushes, playing any role they needed in their lives, until he knew them so well he could coast on the goodwill he’d built up. The persona he’d convinced them existed didn’t require much maintenance after it was established. He could be anything and everything, as long as it made people like him.

And it worked. People liked him, even the ones who hated Slytherins on principle. Even the ones who were raised by pureblood supremacists and were suspicious when he couldn’t confirm his blood status. But because they liked him, he liked them, and Amos was a trusting sort of fellow. He wouldn’t call himself gullible, but he often subscribed to the law of parsimony: the simplest answer is probably the right one, and he used it most frequently to avoid getting in a debate or argument. It was simpler to believe what his friends told him, vague explanations for their odd behavior and disappearances, hidden tattoos they all acquired around the same time, rather than question it and risk a fight--or, worse, uncomfortable realizations about the people he’d gotten himself mixed up with. The best way to be accepted, Amos has learned, is to make people think you’ll agree with anything they say. Do that long enough, and you actually start to agree with them.

He hasn’t outgrown that credulousness, though; his friends are just different now. All he has learned is suspicion and doubt. He used to believe that he could at least trust those he loved, his friends, his found family, but he’s coming to terms with the fact that he cannot--look at where trusting got him. Being played for a fool, constantly, by everyone around him. Could he have done something to stop it? Should he have done something? Would he have made a difference? Amos is paralyzed by this uncertainty, and he covers it up by raising his voice, echoing those around him who seem the most sure of themselves. He’s trying a new track: trying to force himself to believe in something as vociferously as he can act like he does. Maybe, if he forces it on himself, he will, eventually, believe it.

It’s all he has, really: words. He does his best at his job, but he doesn’t think of it as anything benefiting the Order much, besides just being in the Ministry. One could make an argument for his friendships with now-Death Eaters, but honestly Amos doesn’t keep in touch with them as much as he used to. He’s too soft for what this war is demanding of him, and he knows it but tries to ignore it. When Moody asked him what fighting experience he had, he choked on his incredulous laughter. Is this what they expect of me? he wondered. He doesn’t know how to be a fighter. Nora Diggory didn’t raise a warrior. She unlocked the secret passion within a broken boy, taught him to channel his energies into those soft beautiful broken things he could fix--plants and pets, animals, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures--she taught him to express himself through art and appreciate the curiosities in life. Amos is a gentle boy fighting an unwinnable war, parroting the words of others and covering up the desperation in his eyes while he speaks them.

how has the war affected this character, emotionally and otherwise? 

He’s ashamed to admit that he’s comfortable living in ignorance. The kind of person who’ll laugh awkwardly when his friends make jokes about Muggleborns, but never contradict them. Why rock the boat, Amos figured; even if he didn’t agree with everything they said, there was no point in arguing about it. He kept his head down, focused on his work, brushed off invitations to political rallies from all his friends, regardless of their ideological leanings. It was better, he decided, to not engage in those kinds of conversations. He was terrified of change--all he ever wanted was to fit in--so it was easier to turn a blind eye to the changes going on around him if it meant diminished conflict.

By the time he was ready to question it, most of his friends had picked a side, and those he hadn’t convinced of his neutrality believed he was siding with their opposition. The Death Eaters seemed to have forgotten to recruit him, and the Order had written him off as a pureblood supremacist lite for his inaction. Nobody answered his letters when he wrote for help. For clarification. For someone, please, to explain to him what was going on, whether this war was serious or not. Only Alice replied.

He joined because of the massacre. He’d been on the fence before that, torn between options, wondering if it was better to pack up and run while he was still alive. The massacre happened, and he realized: he had nowhere to run to. All his friends were already here, standing on one side of the war or another, but nevertheless here. His childhood friends were killing his current ones--he couldn’t pretend not to see it anymore. The questions were pressing in, the worry, wondering what darkness his old friends were mired in. Wondering why he trusted them. His mouth went dry when Alice showed him the list of confirmed Death Eaters: he’d played Gobstones with those boys. He knew those names. How, he wondered, had this happened to them?

He’s been doubting himself, doubting everything he knew, since the day he joined the Order. Feeling responsible for so much, not because he had been involved but because he hadn’t been. He’d ignored so much in favor of personal comfort, kept his slate clean, thought he was keeping his conscience clean at the same time. Well, it turns out when you pretend not to notice that your friends are all slipping into fanatical blood supremacy, your conscience bears the weight of all their crimes.

He’s a coward with a hero’s mouth. He joined the Order with the knowledge that they didn’t want who he was, quiet man of the bureaucracy, grasping his friendships as they slipped through his fingers. They wanted people with voices who carried, like Amelia Bones, people who faced death with strength and dignity, like James and Lily Potter. Fighters like Alastor Moody. Spies like Arabella Figg. Name after name, all better than him, all with more to give, more to believe in. All he has to offer is his role in the Ministry and his knowledge of the people who make up the Death Eaters now. Everything else is bluster.

where does this character currently stand? with those who wish to hide in godric’s hollow until the war ends, with those who wish to rebuild the order and continue fighting the war, or on neither side? Why?

So much of him wishes he could side with those who want to hide. That’s where his instincts lie, after all. Hiding and keeping his eyes down. Ignoring the war raging around him. Anything to make the discomfort go away, anything to dispel the wrenching in his chest, the guilt and suspicion that he could have done something if he’d acted earlier.

But he can’t be his old self here. As far as emotional trauma goes, his is mild compared to everyone else. His mother died peacefully of old age when the war was barely a glimmer, when the tattoos were still fresh on the arms of his old playmates. They attended her funeral, for Merlin’s sake. They along with the Order members when the phoenix was still a fledgling. Back when Amos still straddled the line, a foot on either side of the stream, when being divided just meant balancing the sensitivities of your friends, before murder became a viable option.

So he tries to be a better version of himself. For them--the Order. He argues with those who want to fight, because he honestly thinks that’s the right thing to do--even if he feels like it’s not. Inaction terrifies him, right now.

Amos kept his ties to pureblood society longer than anyone else who was once associated with them. Does he feel guilty for this? Has the Order treated him any differently because of it?

Oh, so guilty, so so guilty. Guilty that his fond childhood memories are all about men and women who helped kill the friends and family of the ones he loves now. Knowing for a fact that, if he had been allowed to accompany the Order for the Malfoy Manor raid, he would have broken down at the sight of all his old friends. They don’t trust him and he doesn’t blame them--he knows he wilfully ignored signs of horrible things. He doesn’t know if he could have done anything to stop them, not without getting killed himself, but he knows he saw it happening and did nothing to stop it. At least that’s how many in the Order see it. He tries to pretend that there’s no reasonable way he could have realized what was going on, but anyone with a brain can see that the clues were there. He suspects at least one person believes he’s a spy for the Order. They think he’s either incredibly stupid--stupid enough to be friends with Death Eaters and not sever that friendship when the horrors started hitting the news--or far too smart and hiding something from them. It’s made Amos nervous to be in Godric’s Hollow, even though he’s one of the ones allowed to come and go as needed.

He doesn’t trust the Order as much as he’d like to, and they don’t trust him, except for maybe Alice. He wants to prove himself and make up for all the bad things he ignored, but he’s not sure how to do it.

extras.

Pinterest: https://pin.it/r6eylc4pplnz6d

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYJYtzrTjb2YkRmqG8BK7TxvC6_PFRn81

relationships.

Alice Longbottom: He’s been in love with her so long it’s ceased being something he feels consciously. Amos had never been the type to desire someone, his love always preferring to settle into something background, but he also has never loved anyone as long as he’s loved Alice. He was around sixteen when he realized what he was feeling, how the love for her had gradually crept up in her peripherals for years now. By then, it was too late: anyone could see that she and Frank were made for each other. So he settled into the background and his love for her became the white noise that enveloped his thoughts of her. Amos was comfortable with that: he could manage his own feelings. He loves her, and that means he’ll never do anything to hurt her.

Alastor Moody: The man terrifies him, but Amos wants to earn his respect more than pretty much anything right now. He wants Moody to believe in him, because that’ll go a long way in convincing the rest of the Order to believe in him, too.

[davidcarner]

Chuck vs The Uprising Ch 9, The Ride of The Valkyrie

A/N 1: Sickness in the family, daughter in 2 plays and more regional and state competitions than I can shake a stick at. I've missed this, I promise you more than you've missed reading. March looks to be even more busy, but I'll write when I can. It's my mental health escape from my Asperger's and I need it. Enough about me, let's go.

A/N 2: Apparently the fanfiction website is having an issue getting out alerts about stories right now. If you are interested, I am posting all of my work on my tumblr, davidcarner. You're welcome to follow if it helps. As pointed out by several, Chuck is getting taken advantage of…A LOT…in this story. What does that say about my dreams? I don't know. (Sorry Zac) This chapter…please remember this is a dream I had, it is Sci Fi, and don't ask me to explain to you exactly how it all works because I have NO idea. Ch 9. Ride of the Valkyrie

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, Terminator, Norse Mythology, Richard Wagnar, or Bugs Bunny…you all have seen What's Opera, Doc…right…right?

Frigga watched the monitor as the status bar slowly loaded. It was currently at 89%.

"I thought this union was supposed to go smoothly?" she asked, becoming irritated…again.

"Well, he's not dead," the words came to the monitor. Frigga's eyes narrowed.

"What about the third upload?" she asked, scared to hear the answer.

"I predict few problems," the screen replied.

"Given your assurances about the other two, that doesn't comfort me one bit," she said, her head in her hand.

}o{

Ambulance on the way to Frigga's headquarters

"Hogun, are we being played?" Valkyrie asked. She blamed herself for this. No, not her, Chuck. He wouldn't quit, with his kindness, his heart, his love…he had caused her to lower her guard and now he lay there motionless. But could she really have prevented this? If she was honest, this was bigger than her. She felt things she didn't know she could, and the fact this happened the day after she finally gave in to herself…she felt like she had to blame herself. She knew, deep down, if he was awake, he'd tell her she was wrong. He'd tell her what they had couldn't be taken away. She knew what she had, and now, she didn't have to wonder anymore. She would do whatever it took to get him back, she didn't care who she had to go through. Hogun's words pulled her out of her thoughts.

"I don't get it, Valkyrie, IF Frigga is his sister-" Hogun said.

"We don't know that she is," Valkyrie replied, cutting him off. "All we know is that she never denied it. Actually we don't know that, she may be setting us completely up."

"You're going to slice them from end to end," Hogun said, not asked. Valkyrie looked at him, her blue eyes flashing.

"I going to send them straight to the gates of Hel if they've hurt him," Valkyrie said softly, but intensely.

}o{

Frigga's base

"That's it, Systir, protect him," Frigga said, smiling.

"You know that's us she's talking about sending to the gate of Hel," the monitor read.

"Maybe that will make sure you don't hurt him," Frigga said testily. "How much longer?" The monitor popped the status back up. It was at 99%. "That last 1% could take an hour," she muttered. No sooner than she said it, it turned to 100%

"You were saying?" the screen read.

"You may be more annoying without a body," Frigga said.

}o{

Ambulance

"Uhhh," Chuck moaned. Valkyrie grabbed one of his hands and put her other hand on his shoulder.

"Chuck?" she asked, worried.

"What's that noise?" he asked.

"It's a heart monitor," Casey said.

"It needs to stop," Chuck said, holding his head.

"Chuck," Valkyrie began, but then she realized. She turned and looked at the heart monitor; it was off. She looked back at Chuck, he was looking back at her.

"That's better," he said. "Hi, Beautiful, sorry if I scared you. Thanks for turning that thing off Casey." Sarah just stared at him.

"I didn't turn it off," Casey said, he was about to say more when the vehicle stopped moving. "We've stopped." He looked out the back window and saw vehicles behind them and a stop light a block further down. "It looks like nothing's really changed here, and it's like it was before the machines came. We're probably stopped at a stoplight."

"I wish it'd turn so we can go on," Chuck said. "I want to get this over with." Suddenly they heard a squeal and a crash in front of them. Casey and Sarah shared a look.

"Chuck me," Casey said, opened the door, hopped out, and looked. The light was green in front of them, and from the way the two drivers were arguing in front of them, all the lights were green. Casey turned, his mouth opened. Sarah hopped out, holding Molly, and looked around. "He's affecting electrical objects."

"Casey, they said Ragnarok," Sarah said. "Ragnarok is the battle between the powers of Hel led by Loki and the Aesir. That includes Frigga, and Odin. Is Chuck going to face off against his family?"

"Are those two really his family?" Casey asked.

"Really?" Chuck said, climbing down. "You two haven't figured it out?" he asked, smiling. "It's okay, if it wasn't for whatever happened, I wouldn't know," he said as he pointed at his head. "The Norse terminology wasn't used until the machines showed up. Their father, or…"

"Odin," Sarah said, starting to understand. "They pulled him in. Odin is Orion." Chuck nodded.

"Apparently Dad's consciousness or something," Chuck said. "They, well, the machines that Dad controlled, apparently took Ellie that day, but they named her Frigga."

"Why?" Sarah asked.

"Best I can figure out, it was a truce between Dad and the machines," Chuck said. "Ellie was put in charge of marriages, and family. This side of the world got to live normal, Dad would quit trying to destroy the machines. The only destroyed T-800 we know of is in the Governor's sector."

"So what does this mean?" Hogun asked, wary of Chuck. He assumed Chuck was in control of himself, but what if the machines…

"Hogun, if you try anything, I will personally end you," Sarah said. Casey blinked. He wasn't about to go after Valkyrie.

"Guys, I know where we need to go," Chuck said. "We can end this. We can finish them, I just need one more update, and I need you two." Sarah walked right up to him.

"I don't like this," she said.

"I am aware," Chuck said grinning.

"You are soooo gonna owe me," she replied, a smirk growing.

"I'll gladly pay up, but I need the Valkyrie to ride one more time," Chuck said. He looked up at Hogun. "You too, big guy." Casey grinned.

"I get to shoot things?" Casey asked. Chuck nodded. "Of course I'm in!" The guards that were driving the ambulance were watching them, not sure what was about to happen. Chuck finally turned to them.

"Is there something else we can ride in?"

}o{

Over ten hours later, the team pulled up at their destination. Sarah, holding Molly, and looking less like Valkyrie every passing moment, was rolling her eyes at Chuck.

"I'm just saying, of everything to survive, Vegas?" Chuck said.

"The world's ending, or so people think," Sarah replied. "Where do you think most people will go in their last hours? Those that have families would go to them, but others….Vegas makes a lot of sense, one last hurrah before the world ends." Chuck stood there nodding. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Inside these doors are either my family, that I thought was dead, or the most evil plan-" Chuck didn't get any further when an ear splitting shriek hit them and the front door burst open. Before Sarah or Casey could react, a brunette blur hit Chuck right in the chest and grabbed hold of him. Sarah was about to pull the crazy woman off, when an arm grabbed her neck and pulled her in as well.

"You're all three alive!" she cried.

"Ellie, you're killing us," Chuck choked out. Ellie let go and pulled back. Tears were in her eyes. She turned and looked at Sarah with admiration and love. Sarah nearly stepped back, but it was too late, she pounced again.

"Thank you!" Ellie said. "You kept him alive, you loved him, you protected him, and you gave him hope!" Ellie pulled away, looked at her, and pulled her back in again.

"Ellie, she is the Valkyrie, you might not want to upset her," Chuck warned.

"Hush, Chuck, I'm hugging my sister," Sarah said. Ellie squealed even more. Casey had his eye shut, wincing. "Meet your niece." Ellie reached in and took the little girl. "This is your Aunt Ellie," Sarah said. Molly cooed, and Ellie pulled her in again with her free arm.

"Holy hell," Casey said. "I've seen it all." Ellie broke the hug, handed Molly to Sarah walked over, and punched Chuck right in the arm.

"What did I do!"

"You didn't get captured with me," she said.

"Dad," Chuck said, and Ellie nodded. "Crap, he sent those machines to get both of us. Before that we were never in a position, were we?"

"He was dying, Chuck," Ellie said. "The machines were trying to keep him alive, but couldn't. They needed him alive or his consciousness would float in those things forever, messing with them. I was the one they had to have, but they wanted you. If you had been here sooner little brother, this might already be over." Sarah stepped up beside him.

"No it wouldn't," Sarah said. "He wouldn't have us to watch his back." Ellie's smile was huge.

"You're right, now, shall we go inside and continue the family reunion?" Ellie asked. They all nodded and headed in. "Dad was able to hold back the machines and keep this part of the world as it was. We let those crazy theories run wild in the rest of what remains of the US. It was awful, but we only had so many resources, and we had to try to win this war."

"Is Dad going to survive this?" Chuck asked. Ellie took a breath, and set her shoulders.

"I don't know, Chuck," she said. "What I do know is he won't rest until he fixes this mess." Chuck nodded. "What we need you to do is dangerous."

"That's what being the trickster is all about," Chuck said grinning. Ellie gave him a grin.

"I figured you'd be pleased to have the code name Loki," Ellie replied. They all stopped as they reached the control room and saw the huge chamber that housed the body of Stephen Bartowski. Chuck walked up to it. There was a screen attached to the chamber.

"Glad you could make it son," the screen read.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming that day?" Chuck asked.

"It was all I could do to control the machines, I didn't have the ability at that time to send a message and do what needed to be done. I wanted both of you back, but I had to have Ellie to survive," Stephen said. Chuck nodded.

"Dad, we need you to survive this," Chuck said.

"Let's defeat the machines, and then go from there, okay?" the screen read. "There is a third upload, the one that will give you the power to turn off the machines. What I need you to do is make sure to broadcast it over their internal communication hub to each other."

"Are we gonna do Independence Day to them?" Chuck asked grinning. Casey grunted in confusion.

"It's a movie where to beat aliens humans put a computer virus into the aliens' systems, destroying them," Ellie explained. "And, basically, yes."

"So how do I get in?" Chuck asked.

"Why can't you just upload the program since your already in the machines, Odin?" Casey asked.

"The program is incompatible with me in my current state," Odin answered. "Look, Son, I'm not going to lie, this one…it's going to hurt, and it may knock you out."

"How long?" Sarah asked.

"Not too long," Odin answered. "Two or three days, max."

"TWO OR THREE DAYS!" she screamed.

"TWO OR THREE DAYS!" Ellie also screamed. Chuck had never seen a screen look nervous before, but he was pretty sure he it did right then.

"He'll be alright," Odin assured them. "Once the three merge, Chuck will wake up, we'll attack the T-800, Chuck will figure out how to turn off the power to the T-800, and turn on the transmitter to infect the other seven machines."

"That doesn't sound quite so easy," Chuck said.

"I don't like this," Sarah said, giving the screen a threating look.

"Breaking the screen won't hurt him," Ellie said.

"How many?" Chuck asked, grinning.

"Dozens," the screen said. Chuck laughed.

"I'm the only one, huh?" he asked. "So ,what will happen while I'm out?"

"Supercomputer genius here thinks we should transport you to the site while you're out," Ellie answered.

"Not a terrible idea, he won't talk as much during travel," Casey grumbled. Chuck gave him a look.

"Think we can wait until morning?" Chuck asked. "I would really like some alone time with my wife before this…you know, just in case." Sarah just looked at him.

"Don't you mean your family?" she asked.

"Yes," Chuck said nodding. "My wife, and daughter?" Sarah nodded. "And, Sister?" Sarah nodded again. "And, Dad?" Sarah nodded and gave him a look. "And my dear friend who is the older brother I never wanted, Casey?" Sarah smiled.

"What in the fresh hell did you do to her, Bartowski?" Casey asked.

"I believe you called it being, Bartowskified," Chuck answered grinning. Casey grunted and shook his head. For the rest of the night, the mission was dropped, a family reconnected, a new family was forged, and there was a growing belief this would not be a one-time thing. There was a true feeling that after this mission, this gathering would be a regular occurrence. As the night ended, Sarah noticed something against the wall she never had before.

"What is that?" Sarah asked, handing Molly to Chuck and walking over. Ellie smiled, and never looked in that direction.

"I believe you call it a sword," Ellie said. "It's made of a material strong enough to hurt the T-800. I don't know if you could kill one with it, but you can sure make it mad."

"It would be a good thing to have to give someone a distraction if they needed it," Sarah said, looking at the sword in awe.

"That's why you're going to take it, you are the Valkyrie," Ellie said, grinning at Chuck. Sarah's face broke into a smile, she sprinted across the room, and hugged Ellie.

"This is terrible," Casey said grumbling. Chuck winked at Sarah and handed Molly over to Casey as he continued his tirade about lady feelings. He never once thought about not holding the little girl. "I only hope that I can save you from this madness," Casey ended his speech talking directly at Molly and having a huge smile on his face. He looked up, saw everyone looking back at him. He turned to Chuck. "I hate you."

"Love you too, Big Guy," Chuck said, his arms out for his daughter.

"Oh no you don't," Casey said. "I know what you two are going to do tonight, and you're not corrupting her. I've got her for this evening." With that, he picked up the little girl and headed off to bed.

"Your bedroom is on the farthest side of the compound," Ellie said, a grin on her face that said she meant exactly what they thought she was saying.

"Probably best," Sarah said, making Chuck's chin bounce off the floor. She led him off, Chuck's brain trying to reboot. "Just for the record, I'm still in the lead."

"Just for the record, losing to you, really isn't losing," Chuck replied. She stopped and faced him.

"Chuck, I'd say you won," she said, smiling.

"Thirty minutes of silence and then cuddling?" he asked, grinning.

"Can you be quiet for thirty minutes?" Sarah asked.

"OUT!" Ellie yelled at them. "I don't want to have to scrub my brain!" The two left, leaving Ellie with Orion. "I hope this isn't the last time we're all together," she said softly.

"If it is, those that make it will have to honor the others," the words said on the screen. Ellie nodded, and went to lay down, a worried feeling in the pit of her stomach.

}o{

The next morning found them all gathering in the main room. Chuck's hands were sweating like crazy.

"I need you to promise me something," Chuck said. Sarah looked at him. "IF, this goes wrong, I need you to make sure you raise Molly. I can't have you going out there being the Valkyrie and going on a suicide mission. She needs her Mom, and don't give me that you're not her Mom, because you are now." Sarah nodded, tears in her eyes.

"Chuck Bartowski, if you don't come back, I will haunt you the rest of your days," she said, tears now streaming down her face.

"Sweetie, I don't think it works that way," he said softly. There was a glint in her eye.

"Trust me, Buster, it will," she said. He believed her. He gave her a chase kiss and leaned his forehead against her.

"There isn't a T-800, big enough or bad enough to keep me from coming back to you," Chuck said.

"Damn, straight," she mumbled. "Especially since I've got that cool sword to watch your back with. Be careful, Chuck, there are people here who need you." With that she gave him a toe-popping kiss, smacked his backside, and walked over to the rest of the group. Chuck nodded, walked over to the monitor, turned to Ellie, and nodded.

"Good luck little brother," she said. "When you wake up, you will definitely be the trickster they never wanted to see." She pressed a button and the images flew. His eyes watched them all, and when it was over, he fell straight back. "I knew I forgot something," she said, wincing at his crash.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road," Casey said. They all packed the gear, and Chuck, and departed, leaving Ellie, Molly, and the chamber holding the body of Stephen in the compound.

"He'll be okay," the monitor read.

"I hope you right," Ellie replied. "If not, I'll let you deal with Sarah." She swore the monitor shuddered.

A/N: We've got one more chapter to go. Next up, Valhalla I Am Coming. Just go ahead and put Immigrant Song on repeat…Take care, see you soon

DC

[takebettercareofyourself-blog]

Gabe/Angie :3c

ULTIMATE SHIP MEME! Send in two (or more) names and I’ll fill all this out about the ship!Status - Accepting

General:

Rate the Ship -  Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? - Till the HQ explosion.

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - Angela had a crush on him from the second she saw him. It took Gabe a little longer to get past her age, but once he did it was pretty quick.

How was their first kiss? - Gabriel instigated. He knew Angela had feelings for him, so waited till it was late and there was no one around, and then kissed her. She nearly passed out. He won’t let her forget it.

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Gabriel

Who is the best man/men? - Jack

Who is the braid’s maid(s)? - Lena, Ana & Genji (No dress for him)

Who did the most planning? - Angela

Who stressed the most? - Angela

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - No one, they wanted everyone there!

Sex:

Who is on top? - Gabe 

Who is the one to instigate things? - Both of them. Though he’s more likely to instigate in places other than the bedroom

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - Well, he’s a super soldier and her blood is made of Coffee. If they’ve got the time (or make the time) a fair long while!

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - They try to. Sometimes they lose count.

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - 1 (I EVEN HAVE A FACECLAIM FOR HIM AND HE IS SO CUTE!)

How many children will they adopt? - 2. It was an accident, they said they didn’t want anymore children. Angela found them on the street and brought them home with the plan to feed them and phone social services. No one ever phoned social services.)

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - Gabe. It’s so rare that Angela actually sleeps, so when she does, he leaves her alone. Because of this, he’s on nappy duty.

Who is the stricter parent? - Angela

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - Angela

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - Gabriel

Who is the more loved parent? - Both of them (though the adopted 2 lean more towards Angela)

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? Both of them

Who cried the most at graduation? - Angela. Gabe NEARLY did, but he held it together!

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - Gabriel. And out of trouble with their mother, too.

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - Angela. She likes to cook.

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - Neither are particularly picky. You eat what’s in front of you.

Who does the grocery shopping? - They try and make sure they both go, but it’s normally ‘whomever noticed the fridge was empty first’

How often do they bake desserts? - Almost Never. Angela can’t bake and while Gabriel CAN, he chooses not to.

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - Meat

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Gabriel. He’s an old romantic at heart.

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - Gabe. He likes to show off~!

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidentally while cooking? - Angela. If she gets distracted while she’s meant to be cooking.

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Whichever one of them snaps first and gets tired of living in mess.

Who is really against chores? - Both of them.

Who cleans up after the pets? - Both of them (Animal mess is the one thing they do actually clean!)

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - Both

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - Angela

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - Neither. They don’t look between the cushions!

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - Gabriel. Sometimes Angie joins him. 

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - Both of them.

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - Angela LOVES halloween, so they go all out then. Normally a tree and a few twinkly lights around Christmas.

What are their goals for the relationship? - A long life together.

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - Gabriel

Who plays the most pranks? - Gabriel. Angela is #SoDone with his shit most of the time.

[riverofmemoriesft]

. Obsessive Impulsive . 18

Full Summary: “‘I’ve been trying to find you alone for weeks, but you’ve been avoiding me.’  He clicked his tongue, as if scolding her.  'I tried approaching, but you always had someone with you to give me nasty words and looks.  They turned you against me, Miss Levy.’"

Pairings: Gajeel x Levy

Warnings: I strode for a darker fic again.  This is not for sensitive readers.  Violence, stalking, etc.  

Author’s Note: This is a very, very twisted gift for Bubbles, who has not been allowed to so much as read a single chapter.  This will update every other day.

Gajeel hit the ground with enough force to shake the floor. Levy didn't take her hand away from her mouth, trying to stifle her ragged sobs, blood staining her blue hair and clothes and staining her skin-

Gajeel heard her and whirled around, nostrils flaring and a deadly look in his eyes. The look vanished when he found Levy finally lowering her hand and trying to struggle free of the body that had slumped over her. "Levy-"

"I killed him," she whispered as she was hauled free. Sitting up, she looked at her blood-slicked hands, shaking. "I... I killed him-" Her voice cracked, a hysterical sound from the back of her throat escaping her lips.

Gajeel rumbled low in his throat. Rage flooded him at the reeking stench of blood, the fact that half of it covered Levy. "You good?"

Understanding flashed through her, distracting her from her terror. "Y-yeah," she stammered. "I'm...I'm not…" She licked her lips, suddenly gripping an iron-cuffed wrist. The one on her own was scratched and battered. Gajeel furrowed his pierced brow when he realized it had cracked and didn't hesitate to ripe it from her wrist. It crumbled into dust.

"You ain't hurt?" he checked. She shook her head, telling him he wasn't, and then tightened her fingers on his arm. "C'mon, let's get outta here then."

"Gajeel," she breathed, "I stabbed him with his own scissors."

He grimaced. Levy was one for defending those who needed it. She'd dealt with problematic monsters, imprisoned horrible people, and had even watched innocents die in her care when she couldn't protect them in time.

But this was new.

Levy McGarden had never killed on purpose.

Never had she taken a life in her hands and erased it and he flinched when she looked to him expectantly, seeking instruction. He'd taught her Draconian - or parts of it at least. So why shouldn't he know what to do here? Why shouldn't Gajeel Redfox, previous member of the Phantom Lord guild, know what to do with one's self after killing another?

He hated that she thought he knew how to feel about the matter.

Hated that he did.

It wasn't a secret. He'd murdered in his time with Phantom Lord. Only a handful of times. He could count on one hand how many people he'd murdered, but even one was enough to change you.

"You didn't kill him," he said suddenly, gripping her chin tightly enough that she flinched in pain, her hand still gripping his wrist. "Ya hear me, shorty? Ya didn't...do anything bad. He was tryin' to kill ya."

Her eyes welled with tears. "He was...he was trying to 'free me' by...by shoving the scissors in my eye."

Fuck, she wasn't doing well. Not that he blamed her. "S'called self-defense, Levy. You didn't do anythin' wrong."

"It feels wrong," she mumbled. "It feels...horrible."

"I know," he muttered, and he did. Gently, he tugged on a lock of blue hair. "We need to get ya to Wendy and the crazy witch lady. And Bunny Girl's losin' her mind outside."

Levy took a deep, shaken breath, and whispered, "I want...Gajeel, can I stay with you?"

He blinked. "At my place?" She nodded. "Yeah. 'Course ya can." She could move in and he'd let her. Not that he dared to suggest it just yet. "Ya can come over whenever, even if I'm not there." Gajeel grunted when she nodded slowly, shivering. "C'mon, let's find a way outta here. If all else fails, I'll have Lil' lift us out."

"Can we just...I want to get out of here."

"Sure." Gajeel cranked his head back, squinting at the mess he'd made. "Hey, Lily!" he shouted. "Can you get us out?"

"Of course." The Exceed peeked his head through the massive hole. His gaze landed worriedly on Levy. "Are you okay, Levy?"

"No," she mumbled.

She wasn't entirely sure if she'd be all right ever again.

Levy found herself tackled in a tight hug the second she was on green grassy ground. Lucy gave a relieved cry, ignoring the blood that stained nearly every inch of her. "Levy!"

"Lucy!" she gasped, throwing her arms around her blonde friend. She took comfort in the warm embrace as Lily went to fetch Gajeel from inside. Lucy looked anxious, wanting to know what had happened, but was wise enough not to ask. "Elroy is...he's, um-"

"Dead," Gajeel said bluntly as he was dropped beside them. "Fucker's dead. Lil', head back again and tell 'em that Levy's safe."

"And tell Master to summon a member of the Council. We'll need to explain what happened and report the death," Lucy added. She released Levy, touching her injured cheek with care. "That'll leave a nasty scar...Levy, do you want Cancer to clean your hair when we get home?"

Home.

She'd wanted to go home throughout everything.

But now, faced with the prospect…

She shook her head. "No," she whispered, "but thanks, Lucy. I just…" She looked to Gajeel, gaze flickering.

He jutted his chin out. "She's goin' to my place. And no one's gonna bug her. Got me?"

"I've got Natsu to worry about," she said quietly. "I mean, I'll worry, but...well, you know."

Levy barely heard them as she looked in the direction of Magnolia, hazel eyes blank.

Home.

She'd wanted to go home throughout everything that had happened here with Elroy.

But now, she was a murderer.

Fairy Tail was a guild of good people, people redeeming themselves, and those who had succeeded in it, like Gajeel. It wasn't a guild for murderers. It wasn't a guild that should welcome her back with open eyes.

And for that reason alone, Levy silently decided she'd do what had to be done.

The guild exploded when Levy walked in later in the evening, cleaned up - though that wasn't the best term for it after everything that had happened. She yelped as Jet and Droy, scuffed up but happy to see her, tackled her in a hug so tight that she felt like she was suffocating.

They yanked back, however, when she cried out and pressed a hand to her shoulder. She flinched as it came away, slicked with fresh blood and pus. Jet gently squeezed her good shoulder and shouted for Wendy and Porlyusica as Makarov made his way over.

Seeing how everyone had gathered around Levy, excluding Lily and Gajeel, who'd both hung back, and Lucy, who'd run to find Happy and Natsu, Makarov went to speak with the iron mage. Gajeel's crimson gaze darted to him when he saw that the guildmaster was coming. "What happened?" the old man asked quietly.

Gajeel dropped his voice, aware of Lily listening. "The bastard is dead. He went after Levy with a pair of scissors and she defended herself. S'all there is to it. I ain't gonna go demanding details when she can barely stand up. She reeks of infection. Bastard dragged her through the sewers when she was hurt."

Makarov shook his head. "I'll have you mark a map later when I contact the Council." His gaze rested lightly on the woman surrounded by others. "She's had enough trouble for today. Good work, Gajeel."

"I don't think she can handle it," Gajeel said suddenly, speaking quietly. "She's never really gone for the kill before. I found her beneath his body covered in blood, Gramps." Gajeel glanced over at where Wendy had appeared, hugging Levy tightly around the waist as Porlyusica chased everyone away, earning laughter. He could see the ghostly look in her face even now. "She's not…" He struggled for the word.

"She's not okay," was what Lily supplied quietly.

Makarov nodded. "Keep an eye on her. I'll put her in your charge rather than sending her home to Fairy Hills. Take care of her."

Gajeel proudly raised his chin. "Like I'd do anything else."

Lily chuckled and flicked his tail. "We'll take good care of her, Master. I'll be there, too."

Makarov nodded and then left them to their own devices, intending to contact the Council and inform them on the status of Magnolia.

"Here you go, Levy," Mirajane said gently. The blue-haired mage was settled in the darkest corner of the guildhall, watching everything. Wendy and Porlyusica had done their best to heal her shoulder and had done fantastically. It was still pretty bad, but the infection had been cleared up and it didn't hurt every second of the day.

"Thanks, Mira," Levy said quietly, taking the drink she'd been given. It was coffee, she realized.

"You shouldn't have alcohol right now," Mirajane said with a fierce look that promised violence should Levy try to get her hands on some anyways.

"I know." Levy took a sip of the delicious coffee and hummed her appreciation.  Her hair curled freely around her face. Her hazel eyes lit with a hint of life for the first time in hours. "Thank you, though. Seriously. For everything."

Mirajane smiled warmly and reached out to gently touch her arm. "If you need anything, you let me know," she said fiercely.

The barmaid moved to leave and then paused, looking back when Levy asked, "Mira...is Gajeel around? I haven't...I haven't seen him in a while."

"He's in Makarov's office." Mirajane winked, smiling gently. "He's in a meeting with Master, Lucy, Lily, and a Councilman on what happened when they got in and what they need to watch out for when they go to check out the cabin."

Levy grimaced. "Okay. Thank you."

Mirajane nodded and left. Alone, Levy sipped contently at her coffee. Her shoulder ached, though not too badly, and her gaze lifted to study those around her.

Seeking.

Always, always seeking for someone who she'd murdered.

[honeyedmilks]

the longest gtk me tag to ever exist 🍰

i was tagged by the lovely @meanyoongis (thank YOU!! <3) for this extravagant tag! she is so long, even without my rambling, that under a cut she must rest!

the last…

drink: water! please stay hydrated this summer my friends!  time you cried: literally at 5 am at some point early in the week

phone call: my mum

text message: it’s literally me messaging rezka this: “did u just tell me to find a sugar daddy?” we were discussing my shitty laptop and a peach phone cover i wanted to buy- don’t ask anymore questions about this please lmfao.

song you listened to: don’t stop by shinee :’( (i’m going to report choi minho for his rap in this as well as my love jonghyun for his vocals that nearly killed me)

 have you…

dated someone twice: but… i’ve not.. even dated someone.. once… 

kissed someone and regretted it: nope! 

been cheated on: nope!

lost someone special: not in terms of them passing away but i have lost many friends and relationships i still remember; i feel their loss sometimes

been depressed: dfhhdjd i be livin’ that mental illness life right now hskjxk

gotten drunk and thrown up: no, but during my very bad times, i thought about doing just that, a lot. 

list three favourite colours…

omg okay: browns, pinks, blues 

in the last year have you…

made new friends: yes! i love them!! shout out to my cute tumblr friends :’))) 

fallen out of love: hmm… i would say so… THANK GOD 

laughed until you cried: i wish lmfao but rezka and allie have made me laugh loads :’)) 

found out someone was talking about you: hmm yes, but it’s ok :(( 

met someone who changed you: i know some people now who have given me sound advice that i try to remember, but other than that i don’t think so

found out who your friends are: yes :(( though i would like to think the ones who didn’t check up on me had their reasons 

kissed someone on your facebook list: i’m literally the most un-sensual person ever?? can u tell?? no action up in dis bitch y’all!

general…

how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: i should’ve mentioned before that i’m not even on that… place… imagine having all my asian family members tryna peep me on ‘the facebooks’ as my dad calls it… a living nightmare… also it just looks far too complicated to use and not worth the energy getting used to it, i love the memes that i see from facebook here though lmfaoo they’re lit

do you have any pets: no! :(( i used to have a bunny called bubbles but he is no longer with us :(( rest in peace bubbles :(( but our family wants a new pet! hopefully we’ll get a cat or another rabbit when my littlest brother is a bit older! i’m so lonely… i want a dog.. my family is so incomplete… so cold…so devoid… I JUST WANT AN ANIMAL FRIEND!!! but i would also have to get over my weird fear of all living things, and the pain that comes with having them such as scratches etc 

do you want to change your name: actually no, i’m okay with my name right now :’) though i feel like i have two depending on how people pronounce it! its more commonly pronounced as sof-ee-a but it’s actually soft, like sof-ya! also here’s a fact! my name’s already been changed :D when i was younger i was actually named bariah (pronounced br-ee-ya) but it was changed because my parents and stuff thought it was causing me lots of bad luck… i also somehow got picked on in primary school for having my name changed?? people eventually ended up saying i had changed my name like three times (the real case is that white people fucked up how to pronounce bariah and when my mum corrected them, they all flipped shit lmfao ah my head hurts thinking about this- it got worse after it went from bariah to sofia)                               

what did you do for your last birthday: it was so miserable this was the worst year to ask me this question, lmfao i’ll try not to give you any miserable details but i ended up buying myself cake and trying not to make it my departing date too

what time did you wake up: near 1pm i think! 

what were you doing at midnight last night: i think i was either watching the princess’ man or making my posters for it! 

name something you can’t wait for: honestly don’t know lmfao i want to go to the beach though so here’s hoping i finally do that, or go swimming 

when was the last time you saw your mom: like an hour ago, she’s making dinner i think… i can smell it… all the way from my depression hole (bedroom)

what is one thing you wish you could change in your life: so much? but mostly i would like my dad to get better and my mum to not have to do everything :(( and then go on more holidays and live life more :(( also mental illness be gone!!

what are you listening right now: fuckin artificial love by exo dropped on ma shuffle, i’m getting terrible flashbacks to the cane dance  

have you ever talked to a person named tom: aye i know a guy called tom, he got a part of his tooth chipped (It was a whole big wild thing and i don’t know the details but that’s all i remember of the dude) and he was in my english class once, but like, we don’t talk no more… i don’t even know if i’ve seen him around school when i used to go… 

something that is getting on your nerves: lots of things… my potato laptop… myself… no one in my gotdang family listening to me!!! the fact that it’s been two weeks and i still don’t have delicious cake… also the fact i end up hating everything i make on here- thank you guys for being so lovely in your tags tho :’(( 

most visited website: tbh tumblr, pinterest, pixlr and dramanice

about me…

mole/s: i don’t think i have any? maybe some small dark dots here and there on my legs and neck

mark/s: i have some burn scars and a bit of a scar thing on my elbow where i scraped it really badly as a kid, i also have stretch marks on my waist/hips etc and a blotchy mark in my inner left thigh

childhood dream: i think i was set on being an interior designer at one point? lmfao or a celebrity chef (i watched a lot of food network as a kid) 

hair colour: black

long or short hair: very very long, but i want to get it cut soon so it’s a bit shorter. 

do you have a crush on someone: i mean there’s this one boy in real life… but i don’t see him that much right now :(( i don’t think it’s full on infatuation though… but y’all also know i love jonghyun and changkyun 

what do you like about yourself: AKDNSKJDKJADDJ i broke out the caps for this!!! lemme think… i guess my eyebrows can be rather nice! and i can be funny sometimes i guess lmao… i like how i can be empathetic with people, though it’s not at all always fun being so sensitive

piercings: i have my ears pierced! just one in each lobe :) 

blood type: you trippin if you thought i would know this LMFAO 

nickname: binch i gots so many oh my god… my family, such as my aunt, call me brian (derived from my old name bariah- thank god i told you guys about that otherwise none of you would know why my nickname was fucking BRIAN), some people call me sofie/ sophie, and my mum calls my sofie pofie sometimes- my dad calls me sofar (so-fur) in the most desi way possible- he once accidentally called me sofa and it just stuck, it also explains my instagram user name (sofarsoogood) lmfao its a cute pun and i don’t know if this is a nickname but i get adressed as baji/baj by my younger brothers and sisters and cousins- its like the desi term for older sister 

relationship status: your local potato head (that’s me) is on her lonesome… she single as hell bitch!

zodiac: aquarius (i’m sure i spelt that wrong, rezka once dragged me for spelling it as some other dumb shit before BUT OH WELL) 

pronouns: she/her!

favourite tv show (s): i don’t even know, parks and recreation is a good one though :’)) oooh and I LOVE CRIMINAL MINDS though i’ve not seen much of the new season :(( oh and an idiot abroad is fucking funny bye i need to rewatch that ooh also lots of cooking shows and the jane eyre bbc (2006) mini series 

tattoos: no, but i would like to get some more henna done this year :’D

right or left hand: right!

surgery: i don’t think so? but i did get some teeth taken out when i was younger so i don’t know if that counts lmfao 

hair dyed in different colour: no, but it would be nice to get it done one day!! i’ve been thinking about it… but i don’t know what colour would suit me and my mum doesn’t want me to lmfao 

sport: i like cycling (its been ages tho) and i like badminton, yoga and i really want to go swimming :(( but i don’t do any of that anymore. the most i do is long walking 

vacation: i’ve been to pakistan, england, stopped in dubai for a while, italy, france, turkey and egypt! it was all so long ago though! and i would like to go to so many more places!

pair of trainers: i have converse! though i much prefer sandals over converse

more general…

eating: these days i’m very into chips and cheese plus donner (don’t knock it till ya try it!) and my mum’s roti salan lmfao 

drinking: hmm water! or icy drinks! iced tea is fabulous but i also gotta start drinking green tea again! i miss her 

i’m about to: pass out from trying to answer all of these LMFAO JOKES i might get something to eat.. such as ice cream… or actual dinner… and then maybe watch more of the princess’ man or make some stuff! but who knows i might just fall asleep lmfao 

waiting for: a new laptop, my mental health TO GET BETTER SDHKSHKSDH and for just… i dunno what the heck i’m doing, i’m just winging my life right now and for my dad to get better so he can go on trains and buses with me so i can get used to them  

want: new bath bombs and clothes, my writing passion back, hugs, affection, allie to reunite with her chicken hat one day

get married: i most likely will when i’m older! though i’ve been told i’m already in a relationship with jp and bevy maco 

career: HONESTLY DON’T KNOW!!!!!! but if i filter all my shit out then i can say, i want to get into film, defos want to be a published writer, maybe go into graphic design… who knows tbh maybe counselling? 

which is better…

hugs or kisses: it depends on what kind of kiss/ where it is, but i often get in moods where i just need to be held :’(( so both i guess!

lips or eyes: both :’) but eyes over lips i guess unless we’re talking smiles :’) 

short or tall: i guess tall but if i’m in love it might not really matter              

older or younger: hmm, i would say the same age as me or a little older, but it really depends on the mentality of the person :) 

nice arms or nice stomach: arms are nice :’) 

sensitive or loud: hmm i don’t know… probably loud, just not obnoxious or annoying

hook up or relationship: relationship :’) 

troublemaker or hesitant: hmm i don’t know! the boys i’ve liked have ended up being some troublemakers, but i guess it depends on what kind of trouble! 

have you ever…

kissed a stranger: nope!

drank hard liquor: never 

lost glasses/contact lenses: i don’t wear glasses or contact lenses but i have lost some sunglasses on holiday lmfao, it doesn’t even have to be a day before i lose something on holiday, or leave it behind

turned someone down: hmm i don’t think so! though one boy did try give me a valentine on valentine’s day but i was really having a terrible day and i didn’t take it from him, the encounter was a mess and i don’t know why he was tryna give it to me in the first place? i think he was just tryna get rid of it?? i don’t trust boys if they do stuff like that/ try ask me out tbh lmfao for many reasons

sex on the first date: oh no not my shy ass lmfao

broken someone’s heart: i don’t know :( most likely not! though there was one person i think i did hurt and let down  

had your heart broken: i’m not sure in the romantic sense, but i know it’s felt a lot 

been arrested: nope! i’m an angel ;)) LMFAO 

cried when someone died: hmm i can’t remember, i think i cried seeing my mum so upset when her mother passed away, i also have shed tears over michael jackson (i used to be a very heavy mj blog back in the day lmfao shout out to my mj mutuals who stuck around) 

fallen for a friend: i don’t think it was genuine, so i’m going to say no 

do you believe in…

yourself: pfff depends really, there are times when i don’t feel an overwhelming sense of insecurity and there are times i do                    

miracles: i guess so :)

love at first sight: i think you can be attracted to someone when you first see them or have a liking to them but real love is such a complex thing that i don’t really believe one can fall in love at first sight

santa claus: kjdcnjdcnjd who dat i only know dat cool guy in narnia who gave dem kids of old their death devices

kiss on the first date: hmm… depends… but in reality… probably no

angels: yes  

other…

current best friends name: rezka, allie, mhairi, (a mix of tumbly friends and irl) im such a loser bye but i love y’all, i honestly don’t talk to a lot of people these days :(( 

eye colour: so dark they look black and you can’t see my pupils sometimes

favourite movie(s): hmm… sabrina (1954), the mummy one and two, peter pan (2003), pride and prejudice (2005) and spy! i have lots more i’m so fond of!  

phew! time to tag some lovely people! : @youngjei , @allonsy-allie , @dansphil , @seokjinings , @junyeol-s , @bovrilcat , @alcenos , @astraelogy , @mahnoorjahan , @timrggins and @bonqhee! 💗

[anna-something]

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people.

Tagged by @yikes-anotherkpopblog. <3 <3

THE LAST: 1. Drink: Teaaa 2. Phone call: The mother 3. Text message: a tutor of mine 4. Song you listened to: oh erm System of a Down - Aerials 5. Time you cried: are we counting laugh/crying? Because it was two days ago over Zelo posting acid-spongebob after Yongguk had just teased a bloody, dark solo song. If not, then a week ago when I saw the victims of the London fire.

HAVE YOU: 6. Dated someone twice: noo 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: No? I mean I probably wouldn’t do it again but I don’t regret it. Better to experience and learn. 8. Been cheated on: Nah 9. Lost someone special: I’ve lost a lot 10. Been depressed: hahaha yes I have a whole cocktail of mental illness problems 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: with how much I’ve drunk in the past this should be yes but no - never

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14: RED, neon (in general), blue (I want to say black here as well)

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: ah yes? 16. Fallen out of love: Romantic love no 17. Laughed until you cried: ah so many times 18. Found out someone was talking about you: Probably. I find it incredibly entertaining. 19. Met someone who changed you: of course 20. Found out who your friends are: I’ve been pretty fortunate with friends but I guess a few? 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Yea

GENERAL: 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Nearly all I think 23. Do you have any pets: At the minute I have a bunny rabbit named Alfie next to me but technically he doesn’t belong to me (don’t worry I’m bunny-sitting I haven’t kidnapped him) 24. Do you want to change your name: Absolutely not 25. What did you do for your last Birthday: I was in Greece? with a friend. I had a really lovely time. 26. What time did you wake up: Not entirely sure it’s about 8 in the morning now, I’ve been up for a couple of hours or so? 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Midnight I was attempting sleep 28. Name something you can’t wait for: exams to be over (preferably having gotten into uni) 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: she quite literally just gave me a hug 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: hmm. I want to manage things better.  31. What are you listening right now: my music taste is as diverse as it is vast. B.A.P, the Pretty Reckless, Banks, System of a Down, Shakira, Avenged Sevenfold, Florence, Dreamcatcher, AlunaGeorge, Mary J. Blige - I have a random playlist and this is just a sample of artists haha 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: yep he’s a nice one 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: inequality? people’s lack of compassion? why do wasps exist? 34. Most visited Website: youtube probably

LOST QUESTIONS. I JUST PUT IN RANDOM INFO ABOUT ME  35. Mole/s: A couple of little ones on my hands and arms 36. Mark/s: Does my blaze count? I have no pigment in a part of my hair running down the middle of my back 37. Childhood dream: I was an highly ambitious child and wanted to be a doctor and I was so close and then mental illness hit

38. Haircolor: Brown, mid-dark?  39. Long or short hair: My hair is butt-length. I’m going with long. It gives me neck pain. 40. Do you have a crush on someone: noo 41. What do you like about yourself: my lips? hair? 42. Piercings: ear-piercing 43. Bloodtype: I don’t know? once my platelets are healthier I’ll donate blood and find out 44. Nickname: don’t really have one anymore - I used to be called Mother by my friends 45. Relationship status:  singlee 46. Zodiac: Virgo 47. Pronouns: she/her 48. Favorite TV Show: OH Buffy the Vampire slayer top-tier love of my life (Outlander, Peaky Blinders and Brooklyn Nine Nine for ongoing) 49. Tattoos: none :( I’m an incredible perfectionist with tendencies to not like commitment so 50. Right or left hand: Right (though it’s injured at the moment) 51. Surgery: Never 52. Hair dyed in different colour: No I have hyper-sensitive mast cells so dyes and any irritants are a v v bad idea 53. Sport: DANCE, Basketball 55. Vacation: I’m going back to Greece this year 56. Pair of trainers: I have Nike at the minute

MORE GENERAL: 57. Eating: well I’m part Italian so. But Thai and Turkish food is good. (ed sufferer though so just bear with me) 58. Drinking: Tea 59. I’m about to: Cry over complex ions 61. Waiting for: death to come in the form of my final exams? 62. Want: BANG YONGGUK’S SOLO WHERE IS IT 63. Get married: eh who knows 64. Career: I’ve applied for Biochem. Let’s see if that particular shit-storm works out 65. Hugs or kisses: Hugs 66. Lips or eyes: Eyes 67. Shorter or taller: well I’m 5ft10 so preferably taller? 68. Older or younger: Older 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: on others? If so I don’t much care about abs so arms all the way 71. Sensitive or loud: Bit of both? too sensitive and I really struggle 72. Hook up or relationship: I don’t particularly like either at the moment 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Hesitant wouldn’t be a good descriptor of me so... troublemaker? I guess? *shifty eyes*

HAVE YOU EVER: 74. Kissed a stranger: what like just met them? barely know their name and know nothing about them? Why yes I have - proud moments of my life 75. Drank hard liquor: Yep 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: I don’t need glasses or contact lenses 77. Turned someone down: Ah yes unfortunately 78. Sex in the first date: Noooooo not for me 79. Broken someone’s heart: I don’t think so? 80. Had your heart broken: no?  81. Been arrested: Nope 82. Cried when someone died: Who wouldn’t? Like? Of course  83. Fallen for a friend: No

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 84. Yourself: hahahaah 85. Miracles: well B.A.P exists 86. Love at first sight: not love per se ? 87. Santa Claus: WHY YES OF COURSE (no) 88. Kiss in the first date: sure 89. Angels: ah I’m not religious but I’m utterly open-minded to be proven wrong

OTHER: 90. Current best friends name: hmm I’m going with my longest-lasting - Annabel. Been going strong since we were toddlers. Our friendship was based off of ‘oh my goodness our names are similar’. We’re deep people. 91. Eyecolor: Blue / Grey (yellow too) 92. Favorite movie: Battle Royale probably

I’m not going to tag anyone but feel free to do it if you want!

[a-myriad-of-stars]

rules: answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people

tagged by: no one

LAST:

drink: peach vlavored Vodka

phone call: my partner

text message: my sister

song you listened to: “The Greatest Show” from “The Greatest Showman”. As a former circus kid, it speaks to me.

time you cried: 11/24/17, because of “Coco”

HAVE YOU:

dated someone twice: ...yes but only for 3 months after the 1st breakup. We didn’t end well.

kissed someone and regretted it: yep, every kiss with my Ex.

been cheated on: probably

lost someone special: they lost me because they betrayed my sister.

been depressed: oh yeah

gotten drunk and thrown up: nope! I don’t drink to get drunk.

LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS:

purple, blue, green

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

made new friends: I’ve made acquaintances

fallen out of love: yep, and into it again.

laughed until you cried: yes but it was a while ago

found out someone was talking about you: no but my ears burn a lot

found out who your friends are: yes!

kissed someone on your facebook list: yeah, like, 7 of them, but I blame spin the bottle

GENERAL:

how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: almost all of them.

do you have any pets: two cats, and a step-cat

do you want to change your name: yeah

what did you do for your last birthday: are, went to a local garden, drank an entire bottle of wine with my sister.

what time do you wake up: usually 7:00am for work.

what were you doing at midnight last night: watching stranger things.

name something you can’t wait for: “THE GREATEST SHOWMAN” and “Loving Vincent” on DVD.

when was the last time you saw your mom: about a week ago. She travels a lot for work

what is one thing you wish you could change in your life: i wish that I had a car that didn’t scare me when I drive it. I’m so afraid that my engine is going to explode. I need a new car.

what are you listening to right now: my sister sleeping next to me. (Happy birthday sis!)

have you ever talked to a person named tom: yep. Tom Blasco.

Something that gets on your nerves: when people say they’ll do something and then they don’t.

most visited website: Tumblr

moles: no, but lots of freckles.

marks: scars on my lower lip, my inner left upper arm, my right knee, my right big toe, my right forearm, and my hands.

childhood dream: singer, mermaid, dolphin trainer, paleontologist, costume designer, baker

hair color: reddish blonde

long or short hair: shortish, like, just past my shoulders

do you have a crush on someone: my partner

what do you like about yourself: my eye color, my lips, my hands, my heart

piercings: two earlobe piercings in each ear.

blood type: O-

nicknames: Bunny, lovie, sis, babe, punkin, dearie

relationship status: taken

zodiac: Aquarius

pronouns: she/her

favorite tv show: Stranger Things

right or left-handed: ambidextrous

surgeries: one in my upper left arm to remove an infected lymph node and oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth

hair dyed in different color: a few times to red

sport: I played soccer when I was 3, and I swim recreationally.

vacation: Caribbean cruise

pair of trainers: n/a

MORE GENERAL:

eating: nothing

drinking: coffee

i’m about to: go to sleep

want: a new-to-me car that runs without terrifying my passengers

get married: when I’m 26 to my partner

career: massage therapist

hugs or kisses: hugs. More universal

lips or eyes: eyes

shorter or taller: 5’2”. You decide

older or younger: younger, nearly 22

nice arms or nice stomach: strong arms. Strong like bull

sensitive or loud: sensitive

hook-up or relationship: relationship

troublemaker or hesitant: depends

HAVE YOU EVER:

kissed a stranger: no

drank hard liquor: yes

lost glasses/contact lenses: oh my god yES

turned someone down: yes because I thought I was straight at the time

sex on the first date: no

broken someone’s heart: sorry Haighleigh.

had your heart broken: yes

been arrested: nope

cried when someone died: yes

fallen for a friend: yes and I’m better for it!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

yourself: nah

miracles: yes!!

love at first sight: used to. Not anymore

Santa Claus: NO

kiss on the first date: depends on if it went well.

OTHER:

current best friend: my sister! I’m ride or die for her!

eye color: hazel green

favorite movie: The little Mermaid and Labyrinth

[empress-imperia]

CHAPTER 2

IN WHICH CHIEF IRONS GETS SOME BAD NEWS

Not one of the six travellers who had heard Jerry Mousekewitz’s dying words had missed the look of deepest temptation in the others’ eyes.

The first in the line of vehicles departing the scene of Jerry Mouskewitz’s tragic demise was the truck bearing Stu, Bonnie and Pop-Pop Hopps, and the scorching heat of Sahara Square was beginning to get to the eldest rabbit. He hadn’t stopped ranting to catch his breath once since seeing Judy’s partner for the first time.

“… The ZPD really takes the cake, you know that?!” Five minutes after starting he was still going strong, waving his cane as best as he could manage in the cramped space. “I knew they had a penchant for dangerous predators, but a fox. A FOX? A fox as a cop?! And Trudy’s partner to boot?! Over my dead body!”

“Pop-Pop, please!” Bonnie jumped in at the first opportunity. “You don’t know him and you can’t say things like that!”

“After what happened when she was a kit? After Gideon Grey?”

Bonnie looked affronted. “He’s changed for the better, you know that. And I thought we agreed to let that go.”

“No, you soft whippersnappers agreed to let that go! I agreed to bust his nose if I ever saw him again!”

Bonnie rubbed her eyes. “Stu, help me out here!”

Stu, who had been deep in thought since starting the car, looked at his wife and father uneasily. “Look, I’m awfully sorry for changing the subject, but there’s something I gotta tell ya. It’s really important and I need to hear your opinion.”

“More important than your daughter being joined with the devil?!”

Stu grimaced, but kept his cool and went on to explain what had been troubling him. He got as far as mentioning the location of the money before Pop-Pop butted in.

“Ripe Carrot Park?!” He yelped, ears shooting up straight as sticks. “Me and that park have been around since before WWII and I never heard of no Blue Goliath!”

“Me neither, but that’s what he said.” Stu said, nodding.

Pop-Pop reached around Bonnie’s shoulders and poked his son in the shoulder. “Listen, Stuart. I want you to tell me everything that rodent told you! Every word, got it?”

“Let it go, Pop-Pop.” Bonnie lifted Pop-Pop’s arm and put it back on his side of the truck. “We don’t know where that money came from, it could have been stolen from a bank or something. We should just ignore what he said and let Judy and her friend handle this.”

Stu swallowed and squeezed the steering wheel as the road straightened and they found themselves heading for the great wall separating Sahara Square and Tundratown. The heaters were bright red and blasting full force as usual. “Er, about that, Bun…”

Bonnie’s ears went flat. “You did tell them what Mr. Mousekewitz said, didn’t you?”

Stu tried to stammer out a response, but Pop-Pop beat him to it. “Are you barmy, Bonnie?! Why would he tell a fox where to find a lost fortune? It would be the last we see of him or the bucks!”

“Stay out of this.” Bonnie said icily before turning back to her husband. “Stu, please tell me you didn’t withhold information from your own daughter.”

Stu gulped. His silence said it all.

Now it was Bonnie’s turn to start ranting. While Stu shrank in the driver’s seat and endured, Pop-Pop kept glancing through the rear window at the three vehicles lined up behind them. ——————————————————————- “You watch the truck in front, I watch the ones in back, right?” Pronk asked.

“Yep.” Bucky replied from the driver’s seat, in what might just be the first time in five years that they’d come to an agreement without fifty minutes of hollering.

Pronk leaned back in the passenger’s seat, leaning towards the open window as he kept his eyes on the rear view mirror. Sahara Square seemed twice as hot today. “They’re not fooling anyone. I bet you six-point-five millions dollars that they’re all going for it.”

“Pronk, get the map. We need to find where this Bunnyburrow is.”

Pronk pulled the map book from the glove box and started scouring the A-Z for their rabbit neighbor’s hometown. After a few minutes he looked up. “Do you hear that?”

“What?” Bucky replied, not taking his eyes from the truck in front of them.

“Someone’s shouting… and it’s not us!” Pronk looked completely flummoxed.

Bucky’s ears perked, and he heard what Pronk was hearing. “It’s coming from the truck up front. What’s going on up there?”

“Maybe they’re arguing about what the mouse said.” Pronk rubbed his chin. “Hey, d'you think he really meant it?”

“Who meant what?” Bucky asked, no longer really paying attention.

“The mouse. How do you know he wasn’t making it up? The more I think about it, the more I think it sounds like a plot from a movie.”

Bucky looked up at the heavens. “Is he kidding?” Then he looked at his partner. “Are you kidding? What kind of idiot makes up a movie plot when he’s on freakin’ death’s door?”

Pronk paused to think. “James Cameram?”

“… HE’S NOT EVEN DEAD!” ——————————————————————- With both his windows open, Finnick could hear the couple in the second car quarreling their crazy hearts out. He wondered what they were arguing about this time, whether it was about if the mouse was telling or truth, or if they were going to try for the dough.

Finnick smirked humorlessly. He already knew the answer to that last one. It didn’t take a career criminal to know they were all going for it. Hell, he even had Bunnyburrow on his catnav right now. Nick and his bunny pal were going to be royally ticked when they found out he had lied to them, but that was nothing a million bucks each couldn’t fix. There were only two major things that he was worried about right now: the other people in the cars and the Blue Goliath.

“Blue Goliath… Blue Goliath…” He muttered to himself as the cries of the arguing pair up front continued to irritate his giant pointy ears. “What the heck’s a Blue Goliath?”

There was only one Goliath he knew of, and that was the giant warrior from the Bible. The one who got his butt kicked and his forehead smashed in by a tiny shrimp called David. Talk about a bad day. Keeping a paw on the wheel, he pulled out his phone and zoogled Bunnyburrow Ripe Carrot Park. After five minutes he found nothing on Goliath statues, Goliath trees, Goliath anything. Finnick threw his phone on the passenger’s seat. He should have figured it wouldn’t be this simple.

Goliath… Goliath means big. Finnick thought about all the big things that go into a park. He’d already thought of trees and statues, so what else was there? Benches… ponds… cafes… Finnick sighed and leaned back in the weathered seat. It was times like this that he missed his old partner.

Maybe he would get somewhere if he thought about all the things in a park that could be blue. Flowers… playground equipment… he rubbed his scalp. “Urinal cakes?” ——————————————————————- It was ten minutes into the drive before Kevin got a good enough signal on his phone. He put in on speaker so Raymond could join in the conversation as he drove.

Mr. Big picked up the phone quickly. “Yes?”

“Boss, we’ve got good news and bad news.” Kevin said.

“Bad news first, if you please.” Mr. Big said in his distinctive European accent. No doubt he was at his mansion right now, sitting comfortably in his omnipresent chair as Koslov held an ornate polar bear sized telephone to his face.

“Jerry Mousekewitz is dead.”

Several seconds passed. “What happened?”

“He went too fast on a bend in Sahara square and went over a cliff. We saw the whole thing.”

When Mr. Big spoke again, there was no missing the annoyance in his voice. He’d wanted the thief alive. “Most unfortunate. Now the good news, please.”

“He was still alive when we got to him.” Raymond said. It took less than a minute to explain everything.

“Bunnyburrow, Ripe Carrot Park.” Mr. Big said slowly. “And what of this Blue Goliath? Do you know what it is?”

“Not a clue.” Raymond said. “All he said was that we couldn’t miss it.”

“Hmmm…” Mr. Big’s voice rumbled from the phone. “It is true what they say about a silver lining. Where are you now?”

“We’re just about to enter Tundratown.” Kevin said. “Do you want us to come back to the house?”

“No. If the others have indeed chosen to go after the money, then there is no time to waste. Go to Bunnyburrow. Find the Blue Goliath before they do. I want what’s mine.”

“What about the rabbits?” Raymond asked.

“You know what to do with them.” Mr. Big’s voice responded with a hard edge. “Nothing. Don’t forget who their daughter is.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, Mr. Big ended the call, and they entered the tunnel beneath the wall separating Sahara Square and Tundratown.

Raymond and Kevin looked at each other. Then they looked at the three cars in front of them. Inside them, six competitors including the woman and old man who hadn’t joined them at the crash site. First thing to do was to lose them. ——————————————————————- “… And furthermore, the last thing Judy needs right now is to have her own family lying to her!” By now Bonnie had stopped shouting, but she was still burning like a forest fire. Even the ice and snow of Tundratown, the district they had just entered through the great wall, could not cool her down completely. “She wasn’t even supposed to be on patrol in the first place with that head cold of hers!”

“Well, a headache never kept me from the fields.” Stu defended.

Bonnie wasn’t listening. “You should have told them the truth.”

“For the last time, we are not revealing the location of millions in cash to a fox!” Pop-Pop growled.

“Never mind the fox!” Bonnie snapped. “Even if what you did wasn’t illegal, Stu, if Judy finds out about this the stress could make her worse! The reason we came out here in the first place was because of her illness!”

“You mean her mental illness!” Pop-Pop butted in. “And that illness should have been cured years ago! You ignored my recommendation to have her tested and this happens! She becomes a cop, leaves her family to live amongst predators bigger than our truck and then she gets hitched to the devil’s spawn!”

Stu nearly swallowed his tongue. “HITCHED?!”

“Pop-Pop!” Bonnie cried, completely appalled. “They are not hitched, Officer Wilde is not the devil’s spawn and I can assure you that Judy is quite sane!”

“Yes, she was quite sane the day she ran up a tree, surfed on the branches like Tarzan of the Crocs and drop-kicked a carrot rustler!”

Stu nearly lost it completely at that, but then something in the rear view mirror caught his eye. “What are those two in the big black car doing?”

Pop-Pop and Bonnie looked out the back window. The giant car driven by the polar bear pair was speeding up along the other lane and quickly overtaking the other three vehicles.

“Ah-hah! What did I tell you about those preds?” Pop-Pop reached over and jabbed Stu with his cane. “What’re you waitin’ for, son?! Show those polar brutes what kind of rabbits he’s dealing with!”

Stu put on his best game face, turned his hat back to front and stamped on the pedal. ——————————————————————- “Shut up!”

“No, you shut up!

"Shut up and look!” Bucky pointed the moment he saw the polar bears trying to over take the line of cars. “See, I told you they’d go for it!”

“No, I told you!” Pronk retorted.

“Shut up and put that map down! We can’t let them give us the slip!” Bucky starting pushing the speed up to fifty even as the farm truck in front started to speed up. It looked like the bunnies didn’t like being left in the dust either. He didn’t look to see what the mini fox in the minivan was doing, assuming that Mr. Finnick was doing the same thing they were.

By the time they’d reached fifty miles an hour the black car had fully overtaken them and was now right in front of the farm truck. Now that the other vehicles had picked up the pace, the black car seemed to be having trouble getting away from them. It was stuck in front of the truck as if the front bumper was a magnet. Bucky felt his drive start to give way to worry. Tundratown was the polar bears’ turf. All they needed was a right turn and they’d have the advantage. There was no guarantee that they wouldn’t lose the black car.

Pronk was poking Bucky’s shoulder. “Hey, where did the van go?”

Bucky glanced sharply out the back window. The minivan with the mythical imagery had vanished and there was no way to know where it went.

“Aw, great! That’s just perfect!” Bucket shouted, slapping the wheel. Burning with anger, he turned his attention back to the big black car, now more determined than ever that it wouldn’t get away.

Now what the heck were they trying to do?!

First they were speeding off, and now they were slowing down. The farm truck had to slow down itself to avoid getting rear-ended, and Bucky and Pronk were quickly forced to follow suit. In seconds they’d gone from fifty to ten.

It was quite a sight for Chip and Dale, two little chipmunks harvesting nuts in Tundratown Park, when they looked to the road that ran alongside the park and saw four vehicles, each a different type and size, gliding on the tarmac within inches of each other, travelling at a snail’s pace like a giant multicolored caterpillar. They would be chittering about the incident to their friends for days to come.

They finally came to a stop on a quiet road three blocks from the park. Bucky and Pronk were the first to get out, and they saw why the polar bears had slowed down.

The minivan had taken their place as front vehicle. ——————————————————————- Raymond and Kevin knew the streets of Tundratown like the back of their paws. So did Finnick.

With a triumphant smirk worthy of Nick Wilde and a baseball bat longer than his entire body, he jumped out the van at the same time the polar bears sheepishly got out of their car. Stu Hopps climbed out his truck and joined the others in surrounding the bears. “Hey there, old buddies.” He said snidely. “Mind explaining what that was all about?”

“Yeah, what’s your hurry?” Bucky crossed his arms, glaring superciliously at the bears. “What, a family emergency?”

“Yeah, your grandma dying or something?” Pronk added.

“No, we just got a call from our boss…” Kevin started, but then he caught the steely glint in Raymond’s eye. “I mean we needed to… okay we were… aw, nuts!”

Stu twisted his hat in his paws. “Look, I think this is all a big mistake.”

“What d'you mean?” Finnick demanded, his bat leaning on his shoulder.

“I mean we’re making a big mistake driving around like this.” Stu spoke a little stronger this time. “We shouldn’t be driving against each other, it’s just gonna get us in trouble.”

“Actually he’s got a point.” Pronk jerked a thumb hoof at the bunny. “Imagine if a cop had seen us just now. We’d be snookered!”

“There’s a parking lot over there.” Stu pointed at an empty ice-ridden parking lot that stood in the shadow of a derelict apartment block. “How about we take our cars over there, get together and discuss this like reasonable mammals?”

He looked around hopefully at the other animals. Bucky and Pronk were stiff as boards, trying to hide that their clothes were not meant for Tundratown’s climate. Finnick jabbed the end of the bat into the ground like a large thick cane. “You’re right. That’s a heck of a lot better than drawing attention to ourselves. What do you two weightlifters think?”

Raymond and Kevin merely nodded and snorted vapour from their nostrils, not looking happy about all this in the slightest. Finnick would have to keep a very close eye on them during all this, but things could be worse. For one thing, the fuzz could be on to them. ——————————————————————- Chief Brendan Irons, hippopotamus, four-time watermelon contest victor and Chief of Precinct Two, heard the phone ring.

His thick black leather chair squeaked as he leaned over the large, handcrafted desk and picked it up. “Chief Irons speaking.”

“Irons, this is Chief Bogo.” Came the voice from the receiver.

Irons leaned back in the chair with a sigh, gazing as the expensive paintings that surrounded him to hold back exasperation. What did he want this time?

“What do you want this time?” Irons asked as politely as he could.

“I’ve received some bad news from two of my officers. Jerry Mousekewitz is dead.”

“He’s what?!” Irons turned his wide eyes to the phone.

“He crashed his car about half an hour ago. He attempted to escape when they tried to pull him over for speeding, but he lost control on a curve.”

“One moment.” Irons pushed a button on his second phone. “Captain Bitter, get your sorry buttocks in my office right now!” He returned to the other phone without waiting for a response. “Was he killed outright?”

“Not according to the commuters who witnessed the accident.” Said Bogo. Anticipating Irons’ next question he added, “They said he didn’t say anything of interest.”

“And you believe them?”

“For now. If they lied, we have no proof.”

“Did they find anything at the scene?”

“Nothing outside the car, and it’s too badly wrecked for that. We will need to send it to forensics.”

“Actually, you’ll send it right here.” Irons replied, muscles tensing. “This is our case, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“Didn’t forget. Just trying to co-operate. You should try it sometime.”

Self-righteous bull-headed…

Captain Maxwell Bitter, a middle aged moose who looked more like a detective in his grey suit, brown trench coat and black satchel, knocked and entered the office. “What happened, sir? Is it Mousekewitz?”

With the patience of a toddler Irons told him what had happened before returning to the receiver. “The captain investigating this case is here. Where did the accident happen?” He gestured for Bitter to go to the map to the right of the desk. With a dark glare at the turn of events, Bitter went to the map, and as Irons repeated what Bogo reported, marked the location of Jerry’s accident and the path leading up to it with a red marker pen.

“Chief, do you have the names of the witnesses?” Bitter asked after putting the pen lid back on.

“In a moment.” Irons soon had the names of the eight commuters, plus the two officers who’d reported the accident. Of course it had to be the famous Hopps and that trickster fox.

“My officers have all their contact details. We can question them again if we have to.” Bogo said.

“No!” Irons stood up, stretching the coiled phone wire as his nostrils flared. “Send me the details! This is our case and we can solve it ourselves!”

There was a short silence on the other end. “I’m not trying to steal the credit if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

“No, you won’t.” Irons replied coldly. “You’re over decorated enough as you are.”

“Thank you.” There was a sharp bang before the phone beeped. Bogo had slammed the receiver.

Irons did the same and sat back down, feeling a small satisfaction until he caught the disapproving glint in Bitter’s eye. “What?”

Bitter crossed his arms, his satchel dangling from one hoof. “Sir, with all due respect Precinct One is our ally. You keep antagonising them like that and it’s going to come back and bite you.”

Irons locked on him with tiny grey eyes. “Don’t you have an accidental death to investigate?”

Bitter visibly bit back a sigh. “Yes sir. I’ll contact Precinct One and get all the information I can.”

Irons put his large hands behind his head and relaxed. “See that you do.” Bitter uncrossed his arms and walked out, leaving Irons to seethe behind his desk.

Chief Bogo and his elites were not going to win the glory of solving this case. Not this time.

[girlstattoosboobspiercings]

1-100

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? Spotify.

is your room messy or clean? Clean.

what color are your eyes? Blue/Hazel.

do you like your name? why? Yes and no.

what is your relationship status? Singleeeee.

describe your personality in 3 words or less? Chilled, easy going, friendly?

what color hair do you have? brunette.

what kind of car do you drive? colour? I don’t have one at the moment.

where do you shop? Topshop, H&M, pretty little thing, asos, miss guided.

how would you describe your style? Casual, stylish.

favorite social media account? Twitter and Tumblr?

what size bed do you have? ¾ and double.

any siblings? 2.

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? America or Australia.

favorite snapchat filter? At the moment the bunny one.

favorite makeup brand(s)? I don’t really have one.

how many times a week do you shower? Nearly everyday.

favorite tv show? I don’t watch TV that much.

shoe size? 4-5.

how tall are you? I don’t even know 5ft 5′

sandals or sneakers? Sneakers.

do you go to the gym? Sometimes.

describe your dream date? Something to do with penguins.

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? like £3.

what color socks are you wearing? Black.

how many pillows do you sleep with? 2.

do you have a job? what do you do? I work in Next.

how many friends do you have? Quite a few.

whats the worst thing you have ever done? Not sure.

whats your favorite candle scent? White Jasmine or something like that.

3 favorite boy names? I don’t really have any other than Teddy.

3 favorite girl names? I really only like India.

favorite actor? I love Kevin Hart.

favorite actress? Margot Robbie or Mila Kunis.

who is your celebrity crush? ^^^^

favorite movie? I have TOO many.

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? I don’t really read.

money or brains? Brains. do you have a nickname? what is it? I have a few, just Em and Spanners.

how many times have you been to the hospital? A few times.

top 10 favorite songs? I cant choose.

do you take any medications daily? No.

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) Oily.

what is your biggest fear? Losing people I love.

how many kids do you want? 2-4.

whats your go to hair style? Down.

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) Average?.

who is your role model? My parents.

what was the last compliment you received? About my eyes.

what was the last text you sent? ‘I love you’.

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? I don’t have a clue.

what is your dream car? Mercedes amg 4x4.

opinion on smoking? I don’t myself, but its other peoples choice.

do you go to college? I go to uni.

what is your dream job? Photographer.

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? Either.

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? Of course.

do you have freckles? No.

do you smile for pictures? Sometimes.

how many pictures do you have on your phone? 719.

have you ever peed in the woods? Once.

do you still watch cartoons? Sometimes.

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? McDonalds.

Favorite dipping sauce? BBQ.

what do you wear to bed? Just a t-shirt.

have you ever won a spelling bee? No.

what are your hobbies? Photography, drawing.

can you draw? Kinda, yeah.

do you play an instrument? No.what was the last concert you saw? I cant remember, Kids In Glass Houses, maybe.

tea or coffee? Tea.

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? Starbucks.

do you want to get married? Yes.

what is your crush’s first and last initial? I don’t have one.

are you going to change your last name when you get married? I would like to keep my name but I guess I would.

what color looks best on you? Black (even though its a shade, not a colour)

do you miss anyone right now? A lot of people.

do you sleep with your door open or closed? Closed.

do you believe in ghosts? Kinda.

what is your biggest pet peeve? People who are cocky.

last person you called? My parents.

favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate.

regular oreos or golden oreos? Regular.

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? Rainbow.

what shirt are you wearing? Just a black one.

what is your phone background? Me and my grandad.

are you outgoing or shy? I can be both.

do you like it when people play with your hair? omg LOVE IT.

do you like your neighbors? Not really.

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? both.

have you ever been high? Yes.

have you ever been drunk? Yes.

last thing you ate? Chicken and Pasta.

favorite lyrics right now? ‘I’m in love with the shape of you’.

summer or winter? Summer.

day or night? Night.

dark, milk, or white chocolate? Dark.

favorite month? July.

what is your zodiac sign? Cancer

who was the last person you cried in front of? Myelf.