#King Missile holds a very special place in my heart

[raeynbowboi]

How to Play as Yugi Muto in DnD 5e

A long time ago, I made a build for the Dark Magician (I’ll leave a link [here].) At the time, I’d considered trying to make a build for Yugi, but since Yugi lacks any real powers of his own, there wasn’t really enough to go off of. But with new UA spells that prioritize summoning and new UA subclasses, the time has finally come to give Yugi his proper build. For this build, we are considering Yugi and the Pharaoh to be one character. We will also be treating this build as though Yugi has the Dark Magician as his Deck Master, a special feature used in some side content and video games where the Deck Master actually assists their duelist. So Yugi’s spell list will merge two primary conditions: summoning creatures to fight on his behalf, and spell effects of cards in Yugi’s deck, including one-off cards and less famous cards he’s used to fill out his Wizard Spellbook.

Yugi is an anime character. In the past, my general rule for anime characters is to make them Variant Humans. This is primarily because Anime Characters are stronger than normal humans and often have magical powers that make them not quite human. I’ll be using the Variant Human option, however Kalashtar also works due to Yugi’s split minds and resistance to psychic mind games. Halflings aren’t my favorite race to play, but Yugi is abnormally short, and the Pharaoh is uncannily lucky, so it can definitely work for their build. As a Variant Human, we’ll pick up the Lucky feat and give ourselves +1 INT and +1 DEX.

The Pharaoh is willing to kill Kaiba to win a children’s card game. Yugi is not. They average out to Neutral Good.

The Pharaoh was the King of Egypt. Obvious Noble Background is obvious.

Heart of the Cards

WIZARD    Order of Scribes. This ended up being a perfect storm. Firstly, the new UA batch of summoning spells primarily landed under the Wizard umbrella. So, this gives Yugi a nice variety of summoning options. But it gets even better once you look at your subclass abilities. The Wizardly quill is about the only thing that doesn’t really fit for Yugi, but everything else will. Awakened Spellbook grants the pages Yugi summons from a level of sentience. In Yugioh the cards house duel monster spirits, and Yugi’s grandfather taught him to value the Heart of the Cards, the very idea that Yugi’s deck is a sentient thing. This subclass technically talks about a bound book, but Yugi’s still channeling his magic and spells through his cards, so I’d consider Yugi’s deck a reflavor of his spellbook, thus he’s able to use it as his spellcasting focus. Yugi’s able to alter the damage type of a spell he casts. You could flavor this as classic season 1 Yugioh where nobody played by the rules, or as Yugi pulling a card out of his deck that he’ll never use in any other duel, which tended to be a common deus ex machina for him. Master Scrivener can allow Yugi to copy a card onto a scroll and pull it out of his butt whenever he wants. a fun cheeky way to mock his plot armor. It also casts at 1 level higher, meaning Yugi is one again breaking the rules because he’s the King of Games. Manifest Mind is where the Deck Master concept becomes more clear, as you can create a tiny spectral form of the Dark Magician fighting beside you, and really lets you fully embrace the partnership between Yugi and the Dark Magician in combat. Since this feature does specify using a tiny specral creature, Kuriboh is another good Deck Master monster for Yugi. Finally, One with the Word allows Yugi to swap places with the Dark Magician to avoid one or both of them from being killed. Yugi can also destroy some of the cards in his collection to bring him back to life if Dark Magician is on the field and his spellbook has the resources. This also motivates Yugi to want to collect as many cards/spells as he can, even if he doesn’t prepare them all or use them in his deck. If you really want to play up the roleplay aspect of this build and commit to the gimmick of playing as Yami, you could write spells on sheets of paper and treat them like an actual deck of cards. It’s really just for roleplaying purposes, and could make the game needlessly challenging, but it could also be a fun challenge to hope you draw the spell you need right when you need it. This could be as vague as just having a card that says “3rd level spell”, or as specific as having say as many copies of a specific spell as you have spell slots to cast it. As it’s just flavoring and roleplaying mostly, come up with your own fun ways to incorporate the deck aspect into a mechanic for gameplay and tell me your ideas. I’ll bet there’s many fun ways to make this character work in an inetersting way. 

King of Games

SUMMONING

Find Familiar Flock of Familiars Spirit Shroud Summon Fey Spirit Summon Lesser Demons Summon Shadow Spirit Summon Undead Spirit Conjure Minor Elemental Summon Aberrant Spirit Summon Elemental Spirit Summon Greater Demon Conjure Elemental Infernal Calling Summon Fiendish Spirit

SPELLS & TRAPS

Brain Control // Dominate Person, Dominate Monster, Enemies Abound Change of Heart // Charm Person, Charm Monster Lightforce Sword // Banishment, Plane Shift Magic Jammer // Antimagic Field Burning Land // Blight, Abi’s Horrid Wilting Magical Hats // Blur, Mirror Image Raigeki // Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning Trap Hole // Circle of Death Magic Cylinder // Counterspell De-Spell // Dispel Magic Heavy Storm // Whirlwind Spellbinding Circle // Hold Person, Hold Monster Swords of Revealing Light // Imprisonment Thousand Knives // Power Word Kill Mirror Force // Prismatic Wall, Wall of Force, Wall of Light The Eye of Truth // True Seeing Yami // Darkness Makiu, the Magical Mist // Fog Cloud, Cloudkill, Stinking Cloud Cursebreaker // Remove Curse Dust Tornado // Dust Devil Premature Burial // Animate Dead, Create Undead Ragnarok // Melf’s Minute Meteors General Magic // Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield Setting a Trap Card // Glyph of Warding Anime Protagonist Plot Armor // Wish

As a Wizard, our most important stat is going to be Intelligence for casting. Our Manifest Mind feature gives our Dark Magician our AC, so we’ll want a high Dexterity modifier to improve our Armor Class. Yugi is pretty hard to fool, so that’ll give us a good Wisdom score. Yugi is pretty good at destiny speeches and turning enemies into allies. We’ll give him a pretty decent Charisma score so he can persuade people to adopt his philosophies, or send people running into the shadow realm with his Intimidation. Our build prioritizes amassing strong minions between us and enemies, so we can neglect our Constitution a bit. That leaves our Strength stat to be ignored. Lifting all those small thin pieces of paper doesn’t exactly get Yugi ripped.

Name: Yugi Muto  Race: Variant Human Background: Noble Alignment: Neutral Good Class: Order of Scribes Wizard (20)

Base Stats:

Strength: 8 (-1) Dexterity: 20 (+5) Constitution: 12 (+1) Intelligence: 20 (+5) Wisdom: 14 (+2) Charisma: 10 (0)

Saving Throws:

Strength: -1  Dexterity: +5 Constitution: +1 Intelligence: +11 Wisdom: +8 Charisma: 0

Combat Stats:

HP: 102 AC: 18*  Speed: 30 Initiative: +5 Proficiency Bonus: +6 Passive Perception: 14  Dark Vision: 0 feet

Proficiencies:

Acrobatics (+5) Animal Handling (+2) Arcana (+11) Athletics (-1) Deception (0) History (+11) Insight (+8) Intimidation (+6) Investigation (+5) Medicine (+2) Nature (+5) Perception (+2) Performance (0) Persuasion (+6) Religion (+5) Sleight of Hand (+5) Stealth (+5) Survival (+2)

Spell Slots

1st (4) 2nd (3) 3rd (3) 4th (3) 5th (3) 6th (2) 7th (1) 8th (1) 9th (1)

Yugi’s Deck

Cantrips    Firebolt    Frostbite    Lightning Lure    Message    Mind Sliver

1st Level    Charm Person    Find Familiar    Fog Cloud    Mage Armor    Magic Missile    Shield

2nd Level    Blur    Darkness    Dust Devil    Flock of Familiars    Hold Person    Mirror Image

3rd Level    Animate Dead    Counterspell    Dispel Magic    Enemies Abound    Glyph of Warding    Lightning Bolt    Spirit Shroud    Summon Fey Spirit    Summon Lesser Demons    Summon Shadow Spirit    Summon Undead Spirit

4th Level    Banishment    Blight    Conjure Minor Elementals    Summon Aberrant Spirit    Summon Elemental Spirit    Summon Greater Demon

5th Level    Conjure Elemental    Dominate Person    Hold Monster    Infernal Calling    True Seeing    Wall of Light

6th Level    Chain Lightning    Circle of Death    Create Undead    Summon Fiendish Spirit

7th Level    Plane Shift

8th Level    Antimagic Field    Dominate Monster

9th Level    Imprisonment    Wish

Features:

Arcane Rociety. covery. Regain 10 or less level 5 or lower spell slots on a short rest.

Awakened Spellbook. You can alter spell damage type and cast a ritual spell instantly once per long rest.

Lucky. 3 lucky points, add a d20 to rolls before you know the outcome.

Manifest Mind. Your spellbook projects a tiny spectral construct. Its HP is your INT + your Wizard Level and it uses your AC and saving throw die. It has darkvision at a range of 60 feet, sheds dim light at a range of 10 feet, and can pass through solid objects.

Master Scrivener. Copy a 1st or 2nd level spell from your spellbook onto a scroll. Use the scroll any time, and the spell is cast as being one level higher.

One With the Word. When you would die while Manifest Mind is active, purge spells from your spellbook whose level adds to 3d6. They can only be restored with a Wish, and are otherwise lost to you.

Position of Privilege. You belong in high society. People bend over backwards to accommodate you, and you can get an audience with other nobility.

Signature Spells. cast Summon Fey Spirit and Summon Undead Spirit once without using a spell slot.

Spell Mastery. Cast Mage Armor and Hold Person without spell slots.

Wizardly Quill. Less time and money copying spells into your spellbook.

A major downside to this build is that all of his summoning spells require a gold cost, but if you’re fortunate, your DM will be generous enough with the gold to support the costs of this build. Technically, this build really could work for any duelist, and there’s plenty of other yugioh cards that could translate to DnD spells, but we were focused on Yugi’s canon spell and trap cards. We’re also extremely reliant on summoning, so if Yugi can’t summon, he’s going to have a bad time, and the build won’t be so useful.

[be-more-chill-evan-hansen]

BLACK FRIDAY SPOILERS

The following post contains spoilers for the new musical, Black Friday, by Team Starkid. Continue reading at your own risk. 

MY FAVORITE PARTS FROM THE BLACK FRIDAY DIGITAL TICKET + OTHER COMMENTARY (IN ORDER OF HOW THEY APPEAR) WHILE WATCHING IT FOR THE 4TH OR 5TH TIME [contains very harsh and explicit language]

**These points will be brought up in another post (involving the Hatchetfield Universe theories)

The ENTIRETY of the Wiggly jingle at the beginning

Jaime saying “his belly’s so squishy!” while jumping up and down

The tights

“Uncle Wiley, where does Wiggly come from?”

James Tolbert (Team Starkid choreographer-turned-actor) STOLE the show

Curt Mega’s dancing in that song killed me

“DO THE WIGGLE!”

ROBERT AND JAMES DANCING WAS EVERYTHING

**Paul still doesn’t like musicals? (I have a theory of where this show takes place in the Hatchetfield Universe but that’s for another post)

The way Paul looks at Emma when she’s on her Cabbage Patch Kid rant!

“I’m Paul. I’m Emma’s...boyfriend.”//“Well, we haven’t put a label on it yet.”//“But we are intimate.” (Bonus: Emma’s glare)

Paul is still awkward I love him.

“I do not get flashbacks. I remember bad things vividly.”

“Thank you for your service.”//“I didn’t do it for you.”

“Ski-ball sucks.” (I wholeheartedly disagree but whatever)

Grace Chastity is Tom’s babysitter for Tim confirmed

Okay. Okay. Okay. OKAY. 

TOM JUST WANTS TO MAKE IT UP TO HIS SON BECAUSE HE FEELS GUILTY ABOUT THE CRASH I’M SOFT

DYLAN SAUNDERS STILL STEALING HEARTS

WHY DO YOU GIVE DYLAN ALL OF THE HEART-WRENCHING SONGS????? I DON’T NEED TO CRY AT 4AM

THE LIGHTING 

 “Excuse me, miss. Do you think it’s okay for me to park here?”//“Yeah, it says ‘no parking at any time’ but I’m sure the loading trucks can just park across the street. Does that work for you?”

“If I won’t support my drinking habit, who will?”

“Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to a newborn king. A fuckin’ furry little monster’s gonna make me a pile of cash.”

“Tell me, Lex. Do you know why they call it Black Friday?”//“Because it comes after Thursday?”

“Well, friend-o. I have a feeling that these little babies are going to take you so far into the black that you ain’t never comin’ back.” *long uncomfortable pause*

“Oh, you’re gonna make a killin’. That’s an Uncle Wiley’s Toys guarantee!”

FRANK HUGGING THE BOX OF WIGGLYS

“Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to a newborn king. Peace on Earth, and lots of money. MONEYMONEYMONEYMONEY just for ME.”

JON’S VOICE AS WIGGLY I CAN’T

“mALL security we got a shoplifter. Drop that doll!” (His voice crack killed me oh my God)

HIS OUTFIT (The first time I saw him I went “Oh my God he’s emo”)

“Where’s my sister?”// “Oh no.” *stares dramatically* “Hannah?” *even more dramatic* “Is that what you’ve been telling me every day for the past four weeks? To pick up your kid sister?” *grabbing Lex* “Oh, I must’ve forgot because I’m so stupid.” Ethan needs to take up drama

“Do I gotta put a leash on you like a dog, or my cousin Oliver?” 

“Don’t pull her.”//*voice crack* “I’m nOt.”

“Alright banana split.” i’m not crying 

“You see this hat? This was gifted to me by a great warrior.” *Lex laughs*/*Ethan turns around slowly* “Don’t you fuckin’ laugh.”

“I’d make a great dad, I’m just sayin’.” (Ethan isn’t a horrible person he’s just misguided)

“My mom’s a bitch!”

Honestly the way Ethan looks at Lex

*in the middle of singing* “That’s not how cameras work, babe.”

Hannah’s dancing

ROBERT’S WIGGLES DURING “We’re missing in action.”

“Dear mom, it’s been real."

“I’d say you did your best, but I’m not a liar.”//“Oh, L-I-E-R, babe.”//“We get it Ethan, you’re a good speller.”

“PS: Get yourself a new trailer, because this one? Is BROKE AS SHIT!”

Robert in skinny jeans. Can Robert wear skinny jeans more often please?

Hannah doing the “smoking” thing with her hands.

“Hannah! What the fuck is this [imitating it]?That better be fucking FLOSS.”

UGH LAUREN AS LINDA MONROE IS LEGENDARY

“That’s called a bribe, sir, and it’s illegal...or it should be.”

“I have four boys. Four beautiful, blond, boys.”

“Do you really think your children are better than everyone else’s.”// “In so many words, YES.”

“I hope you don’t get a Wiggly. I hope you fucking die.”

“Well, my children were accidents.”

“Stop crying, Gerald. I wasn’t talking to you.”

The way Tom and Becky looked at each other when they met again ugh.

Whatever that song is called when the Hatchetfield citizens were gossiping about it like I think it’s called “What Do You Say?” or something?

“Tom’s put on some weight.”

“I heard Tom is seeing things.”

Jon is serving looks.

The dance they did when they said “all the years that had fun” killed me

Curt Mega is a treasure

“It’s cold out.”//“Nothing really.”//“How are things?”//“Haven’t seen it.”

“Oh my, God, it’s a train-wreck.”//“My favorite.”//“Give me my tub of popcorn.”//“Just skip to the fucking.”//“She’d never--.”//“Either way this is torture porn.”

“I think I’ll step in and save her.”// “You don’t have half of a chance, bitch.”

“THERE, she looked at his crotch.”//“He looked at her boobs.”

“I like dolls. I’m just kidding. I don’t like dolls. At least, not like that.”// “I missed you.” *everyone freaks out*

The dance that looks like a beating heart around them I love.

“Did you know if you spend money, your kids will love you maybe.”

COREY DORRIS NEEDS APPRECIATION BYE

“Give us your fucking money. Give us your fucking cash.”

SERIOUSLY I CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS RECORDING

“Do we have any morality.”

“What’s a grown man going to do with 85 dolls?”// “Well, one will stay in the box for posterity. One will be used exclusively for bath time.”

“If you’re going to make with the hysterics, TAKE IT TO MACY’S.”// “How dare you. Are you hearing this, Gerald? Yes, call my attorney.”

“I’ll tickle one doll, and one doll will tickle me.”

The bidding war.

“Get your hands off her.”// “Fuck YOU.”

The lighting slowly gets red when they start bidding.

“$800.”//“$3.”//“Can I use these coupons?”

“Well, if you’re not going to sell me that doll, I guess I’ll just gonna have to take it.”

“If he gets one, I’m getting four.” *Linda climbs the counter like Draco*

So the lighting during “Feast or Famine” is just???? The green and red??? Like holiday colors but at the same time it’s representative of greed and rage???? 

Just all of “Feast or Famine”

“What’s shaking banana, you okay?” I’M HAVING FEELINGS UGH

“What’s up with that grammar. Even I know it’s ‘more badder’.” Ethan no

ETHAN NO

“Give me that fucking doll I’m in a hurry.” Okay, Jeff you freaking gremlin man

WHO BRINGS A KNIFE SHOPPING?? Unless he stole that, too.

“Do you see him? Do you see him? Do you see him?”//“YES, I fucking see him!”

James as “Obama” I’m crying

“I’ll hold onto the little...uh...whippersnapper.”

“While you three devise a strategy, I’ll hold on to the little friend.”// “Shut the fuck up!”

“You’re nothing more than a Harvard Law School community organizing prick!” I’M SCREAMING

“Take one step closer to my fwendy-wend and I’ll rip your fucking throat out with my own teeth.”

“No, he’s mine! Back off or I will send a laser-guided ballistic missile to your house in Denver. You’ll be scraping off what’s left of your kids off the FUCKING pavement.”

“MORRIS. Give me that COCK-SUCKING MOTHERFUCKING COCK-A-DOODLE-DOLL” CURT MEGA IS A TREASURE 

“I’ll bite your dick off!”

THE AUDIENCE (AND MY) REACTION TO MCNAMARA 

*Obama voice* “Oh, I’m gonna vomit.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I let myself in.”// “Into the oval office?”

“Monsters and Men” IS A BOP

*yeets the Wiggly off stage*

“DECK THE HALLS” IS A BOP

I would 100% watch “Santa Claus is Going to High School” unironically

“Jingle! Jangle! If anyone sees two elves in my locker, I’ll get expelled for sure.”

The dancing UGH

Lauren is the cutest elf ever

PART THREE OF LAUREN AND ROBERT DOING A CUTE DANCE TOGETHER

“What the fuck am I watching?”

Becky talking about her ex-husband breaks my heart. I would die for her.

“You say you killed your family. I hope I killed mine.” My heart is breaking help me

Becky and Tom are freaking CUTE

“Take Me Back” is the cutest song ever

All of the times the characters mention other dimensions and stuff??? Each has a different context, but Joey’s character did say that Hatchetfield was a special town earlier in the show so????

All of the making out I’m done

Becky’s leg

“I knew you weren’t Santa.”//“A red tricycle.”//“SANTA!” *starts making out*

“This is the best movie ever!”

Robert has to make out with two people every day.

**PEIP deals with Paranormal, Extraterrestrial, and Interdimensional stuff, so if TGWDLM was Extraterrestrial, and BF is Interdemensional, will Nerdy Prudes Must Die be Paranormal? Will we see PEIP again? [I’M GOING TO MAKE A SEPARATE POST ABOUT THE THEORIES WITHIN THE UNIVERSE]

**“There are many dimensions, sir.”

“You want to send me into the fucking Twilight Zone to have a sit-down with the devil?”

“They will build him his birth canal.” Ew

Sherman Young is so freaking creepy

“Wiggly is good. Wiggly is just.”

“Bring forth the infidels.”

*as Linda walks onto the stage* “MOTHER MOTHER MOTHER”

“I dislike that word, Gerald. Cult. No, it’s a new, exciting religion that I started.”

“I’ve met God, He had nothing nice to say about you.”

“Adore Me” is a BOP

“You’ll kneel before me. Kiss my toe.”

“I will destroy everything, and then I will destroy everything. I guarantee I’ll destroy everything in my path. Unless I get what I--shit, Gerald.”

The followers repeating “I get what I shit.”

THE TIE AROUND JON’S HEAD KILLS ME

“I want you to know what I mean when I say my evil shit, ‘kay?”

TEAM STARKID PLEASE MAKE LAUREN A VILLAIN MORE OFTEN

“What’s shaking banana?” DON’T DO THIS TO ME

Evil Ethan hurts me

Hannah doesn’t deserve this

“I’m in the Black and White now. It’s just like California. It never ends.”

“I swear on my own grave.” I’M

Hannah calling Wiggly out on his bullshit

“Well, Webby is a stupid bitch.” JON UGH

“I’m going to eat you riiiight the fuuuuck nowwwww.” This scene just makes me want to give Hannah a hug

“We don’t get tricked. We’re grown-ups.” GROWN-UPS ARE THE ONLY ONES BEING TRICKED I CAN’T WITH THIS MUSICAL

“Tom, how could you? You let her get away!”

Dylan jumping at an audience member

I know people think that Ethan’s magic hat thing was bullshit but like the syringe missed Hannah so like?? 

“You think that in the Netherlands they care about some toy? Hah! Nah, they’re too busy enjoying their free vacations and free health care.”

Made In America is A BOP

THE SNIGGLES

BIG WIGGLY

I feel like Made in America won’t have the same punch on the soundtrack.

Joey’s falsetto

R.I.P. General John McNamara

“MERRY CHRISTMAS MOTHERFUCKER!”

“Uh, oh, Mr. Prezy-wez. It seems you’ve misplaced your bomby-womb. Don’t worry. I’m sure it will turn up somewhere.”

“We’ve lost Moscow, sir.”

“He baited us into World War Three.”//*Wiggly giggles* “That tickles.”

“Is this what I live for? To be choked in a toy store?”

“Black Friday” is such a beautiful song though

“Did I need her more than she needed me?” I’m crying please stop

“I’m authorizing you to use my firearm.”

“Monsters and Men” reprise is PERFECT

“Kids don’t want that piece of shit.”//“What?”//“They’re all into Fortnight, dude!”

“I mean, you’re like 40! You probably think your life is over!”

“Everyone is dying, and that includes me, too.” Jeff is a lyrical genius but he needs to back off of whatever angsty juice he’s drinking.

“If I fail you one more time, the punishment won’t match the crime, cause there’s no pain that could ever explain how I let you down.”

“I failed you once, and I will fail again.” I cried when I watched this the first time

“If I Fail You” is such an emotional song

“Alright, let’s go.”//“Fuck, yeah! Should I move these boxes first?”//“Fuck, yeah.”

Charlotte? Where did you come from???

“The only man that’ll have her now is Jack Daniels.”

“And you, you little shit.” Says Draco, the little shit.

“A magic hat? That’s ridiculous. Only dolls are magic.”

“Is this some kind of a joOoOoOoke?”

“Answer me, or I’ll cut your mouth open with my FUCKING KNIFE.”

“You’re a fucking moron.”// “Then you’ve been out-fucked by a fucking moron.”

Lauren’s wiggles during “He will wigglewigglewigglewigglewiggle his way into life.”

“Wiggle” is such a silly song but the harmonies and choreography????? Iconic.

ROBERT’S TWIRL???

JAMES’ DEATH DROP????

EVERYONE’S SEPARATE WIGGLES????

The crying when Becky shot Linda.

“Gerald? It’s Gary. Yep, we need to talk about the will. Goldstein!”

The red light that symbolized Wiggly being on fire.

The followers deciding to burn with Wiggly.

“I have this cooky, reclusive Biology professor.” *audience loses their shit*

“What am I supposed to do without my iPhone?”//“Wear a watch?”

“What If Tomorrow Comes” is such a haunting song

Kendall’s voice is so GOOD!

HOT CHOCOLATE BOY?

MR. DAVIDSON?

BILL?

The dabbing

Hannah and Lex hugging

Paul hugging Emma and Bill

The Hot Chocolate Boy and the Cinema Kid holding hands honestly adorable and I lowkey ship

A little bit of instrumentals from “Not Your Seed” in the end-credit music?? (From the lyric “Look what happened, nightmare time.”)

That’s it. It’s very long, but those were either my favorite parts or small things I noticed. Mostly just my thoughts.

[bitsandbobsandstuff]

Safe with me (14)

Summary: When an unknown threat enters your life, protection is offered at the highest level. As Bucky Barnes comes into your life, the game changes, and you realise falling for the man tasked with keeping you safe is the last thing you expected.

Characters: Bodyguard!Bucky Barnes x Reader Warnings: Bad language. Graphic descriptions of violence. Minor character death.

A/N: Bucky has methods to his madness and you are just done with these people. Stuck in the middle of a battlezone is a terrible place to be.

Tags for this story are CLOSED Link here for posting schedule

SAFE WITH ME MASTERLIST PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Previously…

The room is silent.

All eyes are on Bucky, who stands at the screen with his hand still raised. Steve releases him slowly, when he feels the panicked movements go suddenly rigid. From behind, a peculiar shapeshifting appears to take place. His posture changes, his neck flexes, his shoulders roll back.

Bucky stands up straight.

When he spins around, even Steve takes a step back at the sight.

Deadly rage burns like blue fire in the Soldier’s eyes.

*****

MID-1990s

Jack Bernstein pours a cup of coffee and parks himself behind the large wooden desk, propping his boots on Pierce's crisply folded suit coat. He takes a long drink, coughing when the scalding liquid scorches his throat. No matter. He enjoys the pain, because he needs something simple to ground him before he buzzes out of his skin.

That was exhilarating.

Every fantasy he's entertained about this day, about meeting the Soldier for the first time, all of it pales in comparison to the real thing. In life, everything about him was infinitely more than Jack ever imagined. Harder. So obedient. Beautiful and perfect. What a marvelous gift.

Scanning the white walls and bits of clutter adorning the small office, Jack memorizes every detail. He knows he'll remember this day for the rest of his life.

Sighing in contentment, he selects the top folder from a large pile, one appropriately stamped with the word "INDUCTION" in chunky red script. He begins to read.

-----

BASIC HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS The Asset requires minimal formal care, but it is biologically enhanced and dangerous if not handled properly. The following instructions will minimize risk to handlers. See related appendices for detailed information.

Removal from cryofreeze: Asset will be sluggish and non-responsive. Hosing down with cold water is recommended before wiping. Clothing is optional, but not preferred during removal phase.

Wiping process (see detailed instruction manual): Asset will tolerate wiping process as long as it is completed shortly after leaving cryofreeze.

Nutrient management: Asset does not eat standard food. Calories should be administered in the form of IV fluids.

Drug enhancement: Adrenaline may be given through injection but should be used sparingly as it enhances agitation levels. 'Oblivion' can be given in limited amounts. Technicians are recommended to hold Asset's jaw shut until clear the drug has dissolved / been swallowed.

Weapons selection: Asset will select its own weapons. DO NOT try to remove weapons from the Asset's body once they have been strapped in place, may result in loss of life or limb.

In the unlikely event of death due to mission failure, Asset has no personal affairs or effects to manage. If available, body should be cremated to reduce risk of knowledge transfer.

-----

He moves slowly through the Asset's files, absorbed in hundreds of pages exploring every detail of the disturbingly long life. Memorizing lab reports and doctor's notes, tracing wondering fingers over the blunt block letters of his mission reports, captivated by photos showing bullet holes and knife wounds littered across a broad chest.

Shivering with delight at the idea that all of this belongs to him.

He was disappointed to put him back on ice, but the Algeria mission was unnecessary and it's best to be patient. He has years to learn him, to understand his Soldier inside and out. Every intricate nuance of his body, every sparking neuron in his brain. How to obliterate everything and how to piece him back together.

A perfectly indestructible toy.

Jack tips his head back and laughs, the sound bouncing around the small room.

And after all – toys are meant to be played with.

*****

PRESENT DAY

5 HOURS AND 10 MINUTES AFTER ABDUCTION

To this day, Bucky marvels at the difference between a Hydra mission and a mission for himself.

Now, Bucky takes blisteringly hot showers before every mission. He despises the cold, hated it during the war, hated it even more with Hydra. He doesn't have time tonight, so instead he stuffs heat packets in the pockets of his tac pants. He loves the way they make him sweat.

Now, Bucky doesn't rely on IVs and pills and manufactured enthusiasm. Instead, he drinks a special cherry flavored Gatorade Bruce had engineered especially for him and Steve, and he raids the Tower cabinets of every king-size Snickers he can find. Chocolate and peanuts make him happy and help him focus, and Bucky swears their tagline was written for him. He is definitely not himself when he's hungry.

And now, perhaps the most stunning difference, are the personal affairs he puts in order. As the Soldier, Bucky had less than nothing. He remembers the vague feeling of wistfulness, of emptiness, that often intruded before a mission – he consistently took unnecessary risks, because he had nothing to draw him home. When he joined the Avengers, he behaved the same way – until Steve reminded him that he had his own real life with people and possessions he loved. So, Bucky sat down and wrote a will. He still doesn't have much, but now the little things he cherishes all have a place to go when the inevitable end arrives.

On that note, Bucky digs out the sheet of paper from the bottom of his desk, finds a chewed-up Bic pen, and makes one small amendment.

Under the Brooklyn apartment, he adds your name next to Steve's.

*****

5 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES AFTER ABDUCTION

Steve can actually feel his body thrumming when he reaches Bucky's bedroom, tension climbing over his skin. Pausing outside the door, he steels himself for a full-scale brawl, because as he well knows, his best friend is a stupid god damn fucking idiot.

Throwing open the door he stomps inside, kicks it shut, and starts speaking.

Loudly.

"Look, I know you're pissed as hell right now, but you need to take a beat and think about things. You can't go barging in, shooting everything on sight with no back-up. It's fucking suicide."

Bucky hums in agreement, fishing through his loose change jar for the key to his bedside weapons cabinet.

"Seriously Bucky, we need a plan. This is very obviously a set-up."

The small key snicks when the lock clicks open, revealing a cache of knives and guns, several old grenades and a handful of Widow's Bites he won off Natasha in a poker game.

"They know you'll come. They expect you'll come. Traps, Buck. There'll be so many traps."

Bucky nods along with the tirade, but the absentminded move proves he's not listening. Frustration bubbles over and Steve's now yelling.

"James Buchanan fucking Barnes, why are you such a stubborn asshole all the time?"

At the words, Bucky looks up in startled surprise.

"What the hell Rogers? Why am I an asshole?"

"I don't know Buck, why are you an asshole?"

Tossing an armful of knives on his bed, Bucky plunks his hands on his hips, head tilted in genuine confusion as he stares at Steve.

"What am I – "

"You're not going alone Bucky."

"Whoever – "

"There's no guarantee you're not walking right into a god damn trap."

"No sh – "

"Why the hell can't you ever let anyone help you?"

"Steve, I – "

"Jesus Christ, you're an insufferable prick!"

Bucky looks on the verge of laughing.

"Are you done? Can I talk?"

Steve grabs a bottle of cherry Gatorade off Bucky's dresser and chucks it at him, growling when Bucky dodges the missile.

"Yeah I'm done. Jerk."

Bucky sighs patiently. "Steve. I'm not going in blind and obviously I need your help. Assumed the whole damn team was coming, so I'm not sure why the hell you're standing here. Stop being a little bitch and suit your self-righteous, spangly ass up."

Steve opens his mouth to argue, but – yeah, he's got nothing. Bucky raises his eyebrows and goes back to sorting knives, separating his favorites and setting them aside.

"Well," Steve clears his throat, still spoiling for a fight, but struggling for a reason. "Well okay then. Long as we're clear. About time you stopped acting like a self-sacrificing dumbass."

Bucky snorts. "You should talk. Meet me in the lab in 10, we leave in 40. Only got a few hours until the sun rises. I want this finished before then, I'm not leaving her there a minute longer."

"Good," Steve grunts, and turns to go. The door's almost closed when he hears the question.

"Steve?"

Spinning at the sound of Bucky's low voice, Steve's heart skips a beat when he sees the expression. The façade has broken, harsh emotion filtering through the cracks. In the entirety of their crazy fucked up lives, Steve's never seen his best friend look so desperate.

"If he kills her – I won't stop. Not until every last one of them is dead." A dark look settles on his face in place. "I'm telling you right now, don't get in my way. Don't make me stop."

Steve contemplates him for a long moment.

"I know you won't. And I'll help you do it."

Thank god for Steve Rogers. Bucky gives him a brisk nod and goes back to his knives.

*****

5 HOURS AND 25 MINUTES AFTER ABDUCTION

Bucky storms into Tony's lab, a wraith in head to toe black. The silver arm is emitting a constant whir, endlessly clicking and shifting, a physical representation of the anxiety pulsing through his veins.

"Stark, I need your help."

Tony looks up at his arrival, blanching at the image. Mission ready, Barnes is just a little terrifying.

Black tac pants are tucked into a pair of comfortably worn combat boots, and each boot holds two long serrated blades, rough black handles within easy reach. Strapped around both thighs are matching holsters, the right side holding a Sig Sauer P320, the left side holding a Beretta M9. A black utility belt sits low at his waist, holding extra clips of ammo, a cylindrical tube with five round mini-grenades, and a pack of bandages. Flat against each hip, are two fixed blade combat knives, and tucked into a holster at his lower back, sits his Glock.

Strangely, the most striking feature about the whole ensemble isn't the ridiculous amount of weaponry. It's the ordinary black tank top he wears.

Normally refusing to let anyone see the thick red scars streaking down his shoulder, he always ignores the curious questions or dismisses the thoughtful comments with an icy glare. But tonight, for the first time Bucky appears oblivious to the furtive glances and open stares.

Well, he's not actually oblivious. He's just totally out of fucks to give.

Rubbing both hands down his face, Tony slaps them on the table, fingers splayed wide. Disappointment rolls off him in waves, and Bucky thinks he knows what's coming.

"Stark, listen – "

"I'm sorry," Tony interrupts, curling his fingers into hard fists, rapping his knuckles restlessly against the table. "I screwed her tech up, that's on me. I wasn't – "

"Stop," Bucky holds his hands up. "Seriously. I'm sick and tired of us taking the blame for the shit these assholes do. Forget it and help me fix it."

Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes stare at each other for a long moment. Their relationship's been disproportionately burdened by a shared history, but with this common purpose, each is relieved to find the other willing to wipe the slate clean.

"Done," Tony says tightly. "What'd you need?"

"Remember the throwback outfits we had for that charity event? With Steve's stupid USO outfit and my Commandos uniform?"

"Sure," Tony says, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "They're in storage. Why?"

"I need the blue jacket."

"You need it right now?"

"I need it right now," Bucky confirms.

"Are we stopping by Fashion Week on the way? You're not wearing it on this mission, are you?" Tony asks, bemused by the odd request.

"I most certainly am."

Tony purses his lips and chooses his words carefully.

"Uh, not that I don't condone wearing whatever makes you feel comfortable with your bad self, I mean clearly I love red since it highlights my boyish good looks and all, but you're supposed to be stealthy. That's kinda your thing. The blue is bright, Barnes. No clue why Howard ever made that dumbass design, they'll see you a mile away."

Bucky doesn't reply. Instead, he offers a slow smile and there's something so astoundingly sinister, it makes Tony's teeth chatter. Bone-chilling and lethal, he sees the anger simmering just below the surface, Bucky's murder face on full display.

"Ah. Right. So. The color was bright on purpose," Tony guesses. "You wanted to be seen."

"I did," Bucky affirms, his tone easy and conversational. "And now I want every one of those fuckers who took her to shit their pants when they see me. I want them to know exactly what's coming for them."

*****

6 HOURS AND 5 MINUTES AFTER ABDUCTION

Down in the cargo hold of the Quinjet, Bucky's screams grow louder and louder. Sitting quietly on the above level, the team remain stoic.

*****

6 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES AFTER ABDUCTION

The world around him is dark and blessedly quiet.

Alone now, Bucky leans a trembling forearm against the window, rests his aching forehead on the cold glass and takes a shallow breath. The beads of sweat dripping down his face finally begin to dry, so he shuts his eyes and lets his mind wander, searching for something sweet to calm the nightmare still wracking his body. Like a slideshow, the pictures in his brain flip at lightning speed, until they stop on his apartment in Brooklyn and zero in on the book you left tucked under a fuzzy velvet blanket.

The Book Thief.

When he watched you pick it up that day, Bucky fought back a smile. It's one of his favorites, something he's read a dozen times. When he feels anxious and fidgety, the story is soothing, the pages crinkled and bent, the poetic words smoothing the edges of his soul in a way he could never explain. Tonight though, Bucky begins to understand why the story holds so much appeal.

Through the horrors that made up the bulk of his life, first during his war, and later as the Soldier, a concept always played in the back of his mind.

Some people are born into this life with the desire to command, to play God. Some demand the role and some accept the burden when it's given. That was never him. No, Bucky was always asked to play one role above all others, one that led him to find a kindred spirit in the narrator of his favorite book.

Death.

It's been his calling card since the first day of Basic, when the US Army plucked him from obscurity and shoved a rifle in his peculiarly steady hands. From that day forward, he owned every life around him. Some he spared, some he protected. Some he reaped with a broken neck in the dead of night, some he bartered with a sharp blade and a sharper tongue. This has been the way of his life for so long, it boils down to a single truth.

Most of Bucky's life – has always been death.

Now he stands silently, accepting once again the bleak mantle laid across his shoulders and he thinks of you curled in his leather chair, warm in a patch of afternoon sun, your finger unconsciously marking his favorite quote as you drift to sleep, not realizing you equally loved the one line that always gave him pause.

"Even Death has a heart."

Most of Bucky's life has been death, but that's okay. Because those words are a poignant reminder that he can be so much more than the hollow shell he was. In this life with you, he finally understands how his head and his heart really are better together.

So, he holds the words in his mouth, tests them on his tongue, accepting that if the inevitable happens, he has a reason to come home.

"Even Death has a heart."

He certainly does, Bucky thinks wryly. He opens his eyes and gazes into the star strewn blackness, his heartbeat a steady rhythm driving him forward, back to you. And it's all hers.

*****

All you can think right now, is that this compound is freezing and you'll rage kick anyone who comes near you.

Slouched in the chair from earlier, a constant throb of pain shoots up your awkwardly bent arms, still secured behind you with a plastic zip-tie. Earlier struggles had done a number on your wrists, the unforgiving plastic slicing open the delicate skin and even now, blood oozes from the lacerations. It offers a small amount of warmth though, the sticky liquid running down your fingertips and catching under your nails.

You're a little disappointed when it cools.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

How did you not know?

You knew Jack. You knew him. He supported you, encouraged you. Offered helpful life advice even when you didn't ask for it and bought you a bottle of champagne to celebrate your first by-line. How could you not see that charming, amiable façade, hid a full-blown unhinged psychopath? How was it possible to be so utterly wrong about someone?

Maybe you should fire yourself for being the world's worst investigative journalist.

Huffing in frustration, pain flares anew when you shift, searching out a comfortable position. The stripes on your arms burn, your ribs are bruised, your jaw aches.

Everything hurts.

Bucky, where are you?

Closing your eyes, you let your mind drift, reaching for the imaginary comfort of your favorite place. An apartment in Brooklyn filled with piles of fuzzy blankets and soft pillows. Shelves of books and bowls of peanut M&Ms. The fresh scent of the river and Bucky's laughing blue eyes.

Did he see the video? Did he know where you were? Would he figure it out in time? The grim reality of this whole thing, was that you desperately wanted to leave, to be back in Brooklyn, warm and safe in his arms, but there was one glaring problem.

You wanted Bucky to find you.

You wanted Bucky to never face these people again.

Success was an impossible duality.

The faint sounds of movement outside your door grow louder, inaudible voices making you tense. Electronic beeps sound and the door whooshes open, revealing two men dressed in faded combat fatigues. One is tall and lanky, bald head shining under the fluorescent lights. He spares you a brief glance, before striding to the table and rifling through the knives and lengths of rope.

The other man is short and thin, with red hair buzzed military short. He gives you a little smirk as he ambles inside, making a show of locking the door and letting his eyes roam over you.

"Don't worry sweetheart, we're just here to tidy up," he says.

Sauntering over, he stops beside you, cocking his head and staring down, waiting for you to acknowledge him. Fixing a bored expression on your face, you ignore him, keeping your eyes trained on the door handle straight ahead.

"I'd look up if I were you," he advises. Heart pounding at the implied threat, you stare forward in silence. Suddenly his fingers are gripping your jaw, pressing into the bruises left by earlier knuckles, and the startled gasp melts into a groan as you struggle away from the rough hand.

Tears prick your eyes when you look up, meeting his mocking stare.

"There she is," he croons, pinching your jaw tighter. The pain makes your vision swim and you blink rapidly, fighting to stay conscious.

"I gotta say, we've been running real low on women around here. Be nice if you could help some of the guys out," he says casually. "Maybe later, once we get your man back under control. Hell, maybe he'll even have a go. I hear he'll do anything if you know the magic word."

Releasing you, he drags the tips of his fingers over your face, tracing the bruises, swirling his fingers through the blood still leaking from the gash high on your cheek. The pads of his fingers come away stained red and he brushes them over your mouth, painting your lips with the taste of salt and copper.

"How about it sweetheart?"

Eye level with you, his thumb is still rubbing your lip, waiting for an answer.

You can almost hear Bucky's voice begging you not to do it, but you're so god damn pissed off.

The taste of copper appears again, when you snap your teeth, sinking them into his finger. He screeches and jerks the hand away, hugging it to his chest as he stumbles backward.

"Bitch," he rasps furiously, raising his hand while you brace for the hit.

"Dude, would you get away from her? You're not allowed to mark her up," his partner cuts him off with a sharp rebuke. "Wait until the Asset's finished and packed away, you'll get a turn after. If there's anything left."

The nonchalant way they speak about you should make your skin crawl and it does. It really does.

But the way they speak about him, about your Bucky, as if he's nothing but a mindless animal and not the sweetest, snarkiest, most infuriatingly wonderful man in your life, makes you shake with anger.

"Makes your nervous, huh?" The redhead sneers, sucking petulantly on his damaged finger. "You should be. I hear he's a beast once he gets going. Brain's so fucking fried, he'll probably get confused halfway through, won't remember if he's supposed to fuck you or kill you, but either way – sucks to be you."

Nothing would be more enjoyable in this moment than stabbing this prick in the eye with a rusty knife, but you'll have to rain check. Taking a soul cleansing breath instead, you settle for your best Bucky Barnes murder face impression, letting a grim smile slowly lift your lips, while glaring in total silence.

"What the hell?" he grunts, unnerved at the creepy expression.

A long-suffering sigh comes from the bald man. "Stop talking and help me."

"Aw come on man, I'm just – "

The sound of a low sonic boom suddenly vibrates the floor beneath your feet.

Both men freeze, turning wide-eyed to each other.

"What the hell was that?"

"Something in the upstairs lab?" the other guesses wildly.

A long pause follows, the world quiet.

The second boom knocks the wind from you, raising dust from the floor. Lifting your eyes, you watch a long crack appear in the plaster ceiling, stilted bursts of movement as it spiders outward.

Silence follows again.

Then the distant pop of gunfire reaches your ears.

"Shit," you hear one of the men behind you whisper in panic.

The surge of happiness floods through you, promptly tempered by the panic of knowing Bucky was here, surrounded by these bastards once again.

"How'd he get here so fast? Bernstein said it'd take a couple days for him to figure it out!"

"How do I know? I wasn't planning to be here when he – "

There's a high-pitched scream in the hallway that's cut short.

Silence.

Suddenly the screeching whine of metal on metal rings through the room when something heavy slams against the locked door.

Once.

Twice.

"Fuck," the bald man spits out, lifting his gun and taking aim at the shuddering door.

Three times.

Next to you, the redhead draws a pistol from the holster under his arm, and you close your eyes when you feel the cold kiss of a metal barrel pressed against your temple.

Silence.

You can hear the ragged, panting of the man above you, deafening in the quiet room. He smells stale, like fear and cigarettes, the scents bleeding from his skin.

Silence stretches on, further and further, and you pray Bucky won't pass, that he knows, that he comes back.

The respite forces a shift in the room. Weapons lower slightly, muscles soften. Perhaps the Soldier has moved on.

A rookie mistake.

A catastrophic mistake.

With an ear-piercing metallic crunch, the door in front of you explodes open, ricocheting off the wall. A knife whistles through the air, cold steel whispering past your ear, before the wide blade lands in the man's neck with a wet thunk. The force of the throw knocks him flat on his back, fingers scrabbling uselessly at the rough hilt, and you squeeze your eyes shut when the gush of hot blood splatters across your face.

Roaring gunfire sets your ears ringing as the bald man fires five hasty bullets at the hulking presence in the doorframe, but each one is swatted away with a lazy flick of a metal hand. There's a sharp retaliatory crack, and the man wobbles for a second, before collapsing to the floor, a bullet drilled straight between his eyes.

Bucky steps into the room, gun raised while his eyes scan the corners, check the ceiling, sweep under the table. Swinging around, he catches the edge of the door and slams it shut, before grabbing a chair and jamming it beneath the busted handle.

When he stalks forward, a small fraction of your heart cowers in fear at the viciousness in his face. This is him, the unreal ghost story, the legend in the flesh.

"Don't look," he orders harshly, bending down to the twitching body beside you. Eyes closed, you turn away when you hear the cracking noise the knife makes as Bucky jerks it from the man's throat. A brief bloody gurgle follows, before it's effectively silenced, and you hear the sound of a body dragging across the concrete floor, landing with a soft thump.

Breathing fast, sharp little pants that make your chest ache, you keep your eyes closed and wait.

A moment later, you feel the light touch of cool metal on your swollen jaw. Opening your eyes, your heart leaps into your throat.

Leaning over you, he gently cups your face, patiently waiting for you to see him. And now, looking into those blue eyes, you wonder how on earth you could have ever been afraid, because this isn't him, he's not the Soldier.

This is your Bucky, through and through.

Reaching down to his boot, he pulls up a long knife, slipping it behind you to snap the plastic on your wrists. They feel like deadweight after being locked in that position, so he helps ease them forward, working out the aching kinks. Two quick flicks and your legs are free, and you see a minute tremble in his fingers when he returns the knife to his boot.

Kneeling before you, Bucky looks up, the penitent man with his heart on his sleeve. He swallows thickly, throat working as he gathers his courage.

"Hi," he finally whispers.

"Hey," you whisper back, voice cracking.

He sees the cuts and bruises scattered over your face, the raised welts down your arms. Reaches a tentative hand to your neck, fingers brushing over the thin line of rope burn, a broken sound rising from deep in his chest when he feels the raw texture of your skin. That sound alone is more painful than anything you've experienced, so you reach for him, cradling his face between your hands and his eyes close. Leaning into the touch, he turns to press his lips to the palm of your hand.

"You came for me," you murmur.

"I’ll always come for you," he responds, lifting blood-stained hands to cover yours, tangling your fingers together. "I love you. I love you so god damn much and I'm so sorry for everything."

Tears flood your throat at his declaration, at the heat behind his words.

"God you're such a pain in my ass Bucky Barnes, but I love you too. More than you can imagine," your voice is painfully hoarse, but his response makes each syllable worth the strain.

Speckles of blood cover one side of his face, sweat plasters strands of hair to his forehead, and there's white dust caught in the dark stubble covering his neck, but at your words, the grime and exhaustion fade away. Bucky's face lights up and his excited smile steals your breath.

"Really? Seriously?"

"Really seriously," you confirm with a smile, voice still weak but growing stronger. "Take me home Bucky."

"I will," he promises. "I'll get you out of here, I swear."

Taking your hand, he curls a warm arm around your waist and stands, lifting you carefully to your feet. Swaying at the move, you lean heavily into him and he wraps his arms around you, folding you close to his heavily padded chest.

And sure, the world may be falling to pieces outside that door, and god knows what you'll find when you leave, but in this moment, the only thing you need is the solid presence of the man surrounding you.

Comforting and stable and brimming with love, he is enough. He is everything.

Finally, reluctantly, he lets go. Stepping backward, he pulls his Glock from the holster at his back, cocks the hammer and flips it around. He presses the grip in your palm.

"Listen to me. We get out there, and I want you to shoot first, ask questions later. If you feel threatened at any point, pull the trigger, okay?"

"Okay," you agree.

"You remember everything I told you?"

It takes a moment, but you fish for the memory and reel it in, remembering that day at the Tower gun range.

"Yes. Squeeze the trigger, don't jerk. Both eyes stay open. Be ready for the recoil," you repeat.

He looks surprised but pleased at the automatic recitation. "I honestly didn't think you were paying attention that day. That was – kinda hot."

"Your face is kinda hot," you sass back instantly.

Pulling a fresh clip from his belt, Bucky snaps it into his Sig Sauer and grins. Watching his movement, you notice something new, something different.

"Hey. The blue jacket – it really did match my dress. I like it. You look really handsome in blue," you say softly, tugging his sleeve. "Sorry, I've been super behind on your compliments. Lots of catching up."

There's a blazing look on his face at your statement, and he wraps a gentle hand behind your neck and steps closer, resting his forehead against yours. Closing your eyes, you breathe each other in, a swirl of blood and death, of safety and protection.

"I love you," he murmurs the words again, reveling in the pleasure they bring.

"I love you," you answer, pressing a light kiss to his chin.

He hums at the response, giving himself one more delicious second to enjoy, before grudgingly stepping away. His voice shifts and he speaks quickly, sharing the basic intel necessary before leaving the room.

"There should be very few people left out there, I swept the majority of the lower level before I found you. There were people here, but it wasn't heavily guarded. Which makes me nervous. I don't know exactly what this place is now, but it used to be a secondary research lab. This is – it was here, where I met him. The first time."

It's clear who the him is in this scene. And while Bucky's voice is calm, you notice a flicker of confusion cross his face, and that small waver makes you want to find Jack and cut his heart out. Gripping his hands, you give him a small shake, forcing him to meet your eyes.

"Listen to me. You got out. You won. You never ever have to go back," he clings to your words, riveted by your conviction. "You came here to get me Bucky, but don't forget – I've got you too."

"I know," he agrees heatedly, pressing his lips to your knuckles. Then he shifts the chair blocking the door and squares his shoulders. "Alright, you ready?"

"Ready," you confirm. "Let's go fuck shit up."

Fingers pause on the handle and he sighs, equal parts exasperated and entertained. Glancing over, he looks like he wants to say something stern, but the serious expression melts and his shoulders shake with laughter.

"I really fucking missed you," he nudges you.

"Same," you whisper back, elbowing him in return.

Keeping one hand fisted in the smooth cloth of his jacket, you take a deep breath as he pulls open the door and steps outside.

Once in the hallway, his demeanor switches back to the man who kicked your door down only a few minutes before. He's overwhelming in this form, towering and tense, confidence in every move, so obviously capable it puts you at ease.

The corridors are eerily quiet, the tracks of fluorescent lights lining the ceiling giving off a steady buzz and the occasional flicker. The smell hits you in that moment, a strange burnt earth smell floating through halls, of gunpower and guts, and it makes your eyes water. People don't seem to talk much about what it's like on a battlefield, the visual horror and the stomach-churning smell. Now you see why.

Turning the corner, you see bodies scattered along the hall, the stench of blood a dense fog hanging heavy in the air. Bright red halos spill around surprised faces, and you see now that bullets leave very large holes. It draws your eyes with each body you pass, and your breath comes faster.

"Breathe through your mouth, not your nose," Bucky urges, his voice a grounding force as he propels you forward. "Look at me or close your eyes, okay? I won't let you fall."

"Yeah," you say weakly, turning your face toward calming blue. "Yeah, okay."

Rounding the next corner, the hall is thankfully empty of human remains. Bucky keeps his gun raised, eyes sweeping along. All seems deserted, until the whisper of rolling wood, like a closet sliding open reaches your ears and you see part of the wall begin to shift. Bucky swings around, but your finger already hovers dangerously over the trigger, and without thinking, you squeeze.

The bullet makes a solid thwack when it hits, and a body crumples to the floor.

A sickeningly familiar body in fact. One with a faded red tattoo crawling up his neck.

He groans, curling around himself, gasping as blood pumps from his abdomen. In one quick stride, Bucky is standing over the writhing body, and he stomps down, grinding his boot into the man's wrist. Screaming in pain as his bones are crushed, he drops his gun and Bucky kicks it away.

Walking slowly forward, with the smoking gun still raised, you stare down into the face of the man who's haunted your dreams for the better part of your life. Who spent the last several hours smiling while he slapped your face. While he snapped a leather strap across your arms. While he tightened a thin rope around your neck.

Who smiled the day he shot your father and took away the only person you had in the world.

Bucky's pistol feels perfect and right in your hand, as you point it at his face. Vengeance, retribution, revenge, whatever word fits, you're feeling it right now, surging adrenaline making you light-headed. Finger brushing the trigger, you steel yourself for the final shot, for the chance to end this on your terms.

The moment drags on and on, the sounds of his wet gasping the only thing in your ears.

"Come on little girl, do it!" he manages to taunt, choking on the words.

Pull the trigger. Pull the trigger. Pull the trigger.

This man killed your Dad. He tortured you. He destroyed your childhood.

Pull the fucking trigger!

Your arm begins to tremble, precious moments allotted for escape now lost as you stare down. A strangled sob suddenly breaks through and your heavy arm begins to lower. Tears fill your eyes, and you rub them furiously away, trying to raise your arm again.

And then Bucky reaches over, gently pushing the gun down. Looking at him, the tears spill over, sliding down your cheeks, dripping from the tip of your nose.

"You're not a killer," he says quietly. "Once you pull the trigger, you can't take it back. If you want to do it I'll help, but don't become something you're not, just because you think you should."

Firm and compassionate, his familiar voice shakes you out of the haze. Sniffling, you hesitate for another moment, before letting the gun relax at your side. With a deep breath, you turn away instead, snipping the strings tethering you to the survivor's guilt that's hung around your neck for so long.

Bucky nods encouragingly, and together you walk away from the bleeding man. Putting his arm around you, he pulls you in tight. Covers your ear and presses your head against his shoulder, muffling the world.

Then he raises his arm behind him and fires one quick shot.

The hallway goes quiet once more.

*****

Moments later, you turn another corner, relief palpable when you hear Bucky speak.

"We're close, there's an exit in two turns," he mutters, his body still tense, eyes wary as he tugs you along. He taps the comms in his ear, letting it go to the loudspeaker so you can hear as well. "Steve, we're near the north exit, where are you?"

Clear as a bell, Steve's voice comes through sounding annoyed. Gunfire sounds in the background and you hear the clatter of tin cans on concrete, followed by a slow hiss.

"We're coming, just – finishing something up. Apparently Nat decided this was the right time to test Stark's new gas grenades."

"Don't be lame Rogers, these guys are assholes," you hear Nat laughing in the background.

"Yeah no shit, just wondering why – ouch, god dammit – why you couldn't wait 10 seconds. Buck, we'll meet you at the rendezvous point in 10 minutes. Did you find Bernstein?"

"Negative, no sign, I think he ghosted from – "

The comms crackles and goes off. Bucky taps it impatiently, but it stays quiet.

Stark technology will not fail a second time and it takes a split second to connect the dots.

Something is happening.

Swearing fiercely, Bucky pushes you behind him, his arm keeping you pressed against his back.

"Stay against me. Do not move away," he grits out, eyes scanning the empty corridor, searching, searching, searching.

He hears the sound before he sees it happen. It raises the hair at his neck, and with sizzling burst of heat, a web of electricity blooms before you, a curtain of transparent white light. Spinning around, you find the same thing behind, a crackling fence of fire trapping you together.

"Fucking hell," Bucky hisses, eyes whipping back and forth, assessing the electric barriers. Hesitating slightly, he stretches a tentative metal finger forward.

"Bucky, don't – " the warning is still leaving your lips when his hand makes contact. The harsh zap flings his arm back.

"Dammit, I didn't think these'd still be here," he growls in frustration. His fingers curl into a hard fist, metal plates whirring as they reset after the electric shock.

Looking through the waves of energy, you can see beyond them, but there's no possibility of passing. "What are they?"

"Fry zones. Barricades to trap people," he mutters. "When a building was under attack, they were set up like alarms. Someone must have triggered them earlier, because I killed everyone else in the building."

"Well that's just awesome," you mumble, pressing close to him. Bucky turns to face you, hugging you against his chest.

"Okay, it's alright. The team are coming this way, they'll find us when we miss the rendezvous, so we just wait. Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah," your voice is muffled against the thick fabric.

Bucky leans down to press a feather-light kiss to your forehead, the barest hint of a touch. For a second, you wonder if the sound of electricity is still the walls around you, or if it's the feel of his mouth on your skin. Snuggling closer, you relax in his arms, while his hands rub long, soothing strokes up your back.

For a long, happy moment, all is well. The world is right. A bright future together is so close.

But inevitably, it doesn't last.

The measured, deliberate click of dress shoes on concrete rises above the steady hum of electricity, and Bucky's body goes rigid. His arms tighten around you, but when you raise your head, his jaw is clenched and his face is white, sweat already slicking his forehead. His eyes are fixed on something above you, beyond you, and still clasped in his arms, you slowly turn.

Jack stands on the other side of the barrier, his face flooded with desperate, hungry longing as he gazes at Bucky. He licks his lips and comes closer to the cage, and even through the thick fabric of his jacket, you feel Bucky's heart racing.

"So, here we are then. After all this, there he is," Jack breathes fervently, moving closer, unable to help himself. "I see him under there Barnes. Let him out to play. Let him come home."

Bucky lets go of you, tugging you behind him and extending both arms, widening his stance.

"Drop the barricade and let us go," he says calmly. "She has nothing to do with this."

With a snort, Jack shakes his head.

"Wrong. She has everything to do with it. It's because of her that you're even here. She's a weakness. She's your weakness, don’t you see that? You think you're in control, but she stole that from you. Look at you! Following her here like a pathetic dog. Jesus Christ, what did you do to my Soldier, you've ruined him Barnes."

"Seriously Jack, eat a dick you dramatic piece of shit," poking your head around Bucky, you try to move in front of him, but he holds you in place.

"Don't, it's not worth it," he murmurs warningly.

Jack looks amused for a moment, but it fades as he considers an idea.

"She's scrappy, I'll give her that. We could make a deal you know – give me back my Soldier and I'll let him keep her if he wants. She can be his pet, something soft and breakable to entertain him. Maybe that's what was missing before."

Bucky feels a swoop in his stomach as he considers Jack. Hearing his voice now, he's baffled how in seven hells he could have ever forgotten this man. It's so clear, so god damn obvious he wants to scream. But in the midst of that anger, Sam Wilson's voice pops in his head, and Bucky suddenly remembers the closing remarks of his first group therapy session down at the VA.

"Some things you leave behind, some you carry home. It's your decision what you need to let yourself heal."

Bucky understands it then, the choice he made. The only way he could let himself heal, to get better and move on, was to let go of the horrors in his past. Including this one.

"No deal you sick fuck," he says flatly. "Let us go or I swear to God, I'll rip you to pieces with my bare hands."

Jack shrugs at the response.

"Alright then, if that's what you want," he steps even closer to the barrier, so close you can see the gleaming white of his eyes. "I gave you a chance, so – just know that what happens next is your fault Barnes, it's all on you. I hope you remember that. In the end."

Jack reaches behind him, grasping for something in his pocket, and Bucky crouches slightly, a snarl on his face as he settles into battle stance.

When his hand reappears, Jack's holding a thick paperback book.

He smiles.

*****

Next Chapter

*****

[cecilspeaks]

139 - The Birthday of Lee Marvin (I)

To err is human. To forgive is also human. The possibilities of human action are a multitude. Welcome to Night Vale.

Today is a very special day, listeners. Yes, for once your calendars are not deceiving you. Today is the 30th birthday of longtime Night Vale resident and Hollywood legend, Lee Marvin. Mr. Marvin is on break from the filming of “The Rise of the Hobbits, Part 4,” the anticipated next chapter of Peter Jackson’s 8-part film series, based on the copyright page of “The Hobbit”.

The town has declared the birthday a civic holiday, and are holding a fair in honor of Mr. Marvin in Grove Park. The man himself is said to speak later today, but head over now to play fun carnival games and eat local snacks. John Peters – you know, the farmer – will be there selling boiled imaginary corn dipped in theoretical butter. A tasty and extremely healthy snack, containing practically no calories at all. More on these birthday celebrations, as there continues to be a birthday to celebrate. Ah, I’m just so excited! I’m sorry, I really get into birthdays, always have. I just, I wish I could remember when mine is.

But first, some important facts about the moon from local moon scientist, or moon-ologist, Ross Sutherland. The moon is a weak egg, set to crack at a glance. The moon is a maniacal scent sniffed out by tidal waters. The moon is a barbarous necklace upon the neck of our barbarous world. The moon is a (ritzy) cloak, too gaudy for daywear. The moon is an accidental height, one that may some day be catastrophically adjusted. Thank you, Ross, for those fascinating facts.

The birthday celebration is in full swing. This is a town that loves our local legends, and no one is more local or legendary than movie star Lee Marvin. And not only a movie star, he has also been doing work in the theatre. Just this year, he staged a one-man version of “Angels in America” at the community theater, playing every single character over seven and a half hours, except the angels. Angels have a strong union and it turns out that no one is allowed to play an angel, unless they are themself an angel. The angels who participated in the production also found the play offensive, saying that it stereotyped angels as flying beings shouting prophecies and wrestling with divinely chosen humans. “Yes,” said an angel who once was the town’s richest man. “I have shouted a prophecy or two in my life, and yes, I wrestled a human over a divine message. But that’s a tiny part of my lived experience, and I want this work to better represent my whole being.” As such, the play was drastically rewritten and was mostly about angels attending school board meetings, throwing dinner parties, and hanging out at the parking lot of the Ralphs. I was deeply moved.

Anyway, come on down to Grove Park. You don’t wanna miss this birthday party. The angels brought sheet cake.

And now a public service announcement. Trish Hidge and Simone Rigideau are seeking volunteers for their new community service organization that puts cute paper hats on dogs. “Sure,” said Trish Hidge from within her darkened house, speaking through a narrow gap she had pulled in her blinds. “Dogs are cute, but have you ever seen a dog in a paper pirate? Or, or, or a chef’s hat? Wha-wha-what about a paper the shaped like another dog, perched on top of the first dog’s head. It is these kinds of experiences we wish to bring to the world with our new organization. What was that?!” she finished, suddenly snapping the blinds shut and disappearing. There was a series of loud thuds and a slow dragging sound from inside, and then the whites of her eyes against the blinds again as she hissed: “Did you see that? What did you see? You saw it, didn’t you?” Until your friendly reporter decided it would be best to back away from your house and then, having reached the sidewalk, turn and run, his breath rattling in and out of his chest. Simone Rigideau only commented that she is happy to devote her time to such a good cause. And that also, the world ended a long time ago. “This isn’t the world,” she said. “I don’t know what this is, but I know dogs are in it and so that’s what I’ll focus on.” Anyone wishing to sing up with the organization should just tell the next dog you see, and they’ll take care of the rest.

And now, traffic. A scattering of roads in the desert, far from human habitation. These roads are only roads in the most theoretical of senses. They are merely packed down dirt, cleared of plants, and no vehicle has passed over them in years. Is a road that is never used still a road? Or is it something else? A marking, a monument to movement that never came to be? One of these not-roads meanders its way over a rise and back down through chapallar. 

From high up in a plane or sitting in the clean white interior of a flying saucer, it would appear as though someone had taken a pen and let it trail loosely over the earth. Eventually, it meets up with another scattering of dirt roads. These have a few farms and businesses along them, not many but these roads are sometimes used. Maybe the people here are aware that one of their roads drifts off far into the desert, ending at an abandoned cross-hatching of lanes. But more likely, they only know that one of their roads goes nowhere, and they ignore that road. From this barely populated area, one of the dirt roads heads out, becomes paved, goes its two-laned way into a small town with a high school and a Walmart. This small town has a road that ends at the highway.

The highway merges eventually onto the interstate, an 8-lane river of cars pouring into and out of the city, a vast pool of life. Some of that life is only there for the day. Others will live and die never having left their neighborhoods. And you could, if you wanted, get in your car in the heart of this metropolis and take the interstate to the highway, to the two-lane road, through the small town, to the sparsely populated dirt roads, and follow that one meandering road over the rise and come to an intersection of markings that are only roads in the most theoretical of ways. And you could get out of your car and walk along these roads, the first human to touch them since their creation, and perhaps even then, but no one ever has, and no one ever will. This has been traffic.

The party is still rolling along down in Grove Park. Martin McCaffrey, local representative of the TSA, has set up an art sale with some of his works, all of which contain strange dark hunched figures. It seems wildly inappropriate that he has chosen to set up a private art sale at a public birthday party for someone else, but you go Martin, I guess.

Oh, oh! The crowd is buzzing! Lee Marvin has arrived. Everyone stop buzzing, I’m trying to hear what Lee is saying! He must be so happy about celebration. Uh he’s approaching the mic, it appears he has prepared a speech to thank us for this party. Ah, that’s wonderful. We will return with that speech in just a moment, but first, we absolutely must Check in on the weather.

[“Impasse” by Juliana Finch, https://music.julianafinch.com]

Lee Marvin: Hello. Thank you for coming to my birthday party. [chuckles] It has been my 30th birthday for a long time. Hundreds of years, maybe thousands of years. Continuously my 30th birthday. [chuckles] I never grow a day older. I don’t know why this of all the days that are my birthday is the one on which you chose to throw a party, but it’s sure nice of you to think of me. That cake looks fine.

How is a person supposed to track time outside of the context of the world? If it was my 30th birthday when George Washington declared himself god-king of America, and it was my 30th birthday when Stanley Kubrick staged the moon landing. And my 30th birthday today, then how old am I? How much time has passed? It is impossible for me to have a sense of time, I’m not on a ship sailing to some great destination, I am floating on my back in the sea of time staring up at cruel and alien stars. The currents take me. I will never wash up on any golden shore. Perhaps I will someday sink. Without the context of history, my memories are flat, each holding equal weight. Each with the possibility of having taken place the same amount of time ago.

I remember standing on this land, when no one else was here. Even the land wasn’t quite here yet. It was still part of a larger land mass that would shiver out all over the earth, holding in the contour of its coast lines the memory of its schism. The air was heavy and warm and breathing felt like drinking. It was my 30th birthday that day. I sat under a few branches to protect myself from the rain. This was thick forest then, the sea lapped up against it and all of this, all of that, has dried up. It hardly ever rains.

On my 30th birthday, I stood with the town elders as they declared the formation of this community. I signed on the original charter. Go see for yourself in the civic history museum, in the lobby of city hall, admission is free. And anyone with a secret or top secret clearance with any major government agency is welcome to take a look. There you will see that tattered bit of paper and on it, among the scrawls of men whose names have decayed along with their bones is a signature that remains as clean and clear as the day I wrote it. It says “Lee Marvin”, and in parentheses it says “30”, with several exclamation points.

Perhaps we were wrong to create this town. Even in the moment of signing, we were avoiding each other’s eyes, there was much we didn’t understand about this place that we were naming and giving boundaries to, but we felt in debt to something much larger than us. And the town of Night Vale was one of its demands. Later, on my 30th birthday, I watched missiles streak across the sky and knew we were all doomed. And then we weren’t doomed, and it was still my 30th birthday. I don’t know what happened. I only know what it smelled like. There was a smell like cloves on the wind, and a smell like plastic wrap that has gotten warm in the sun. A-and a smell like an elevator just after it’s been cleaned. I stood outside and I took great whiffs of air, understanding that by all rights I shouldn’t have been able to do that anymore. In that moment, I shouldn’t have existed. But I did. And so I breathed and breathed. Maybe it had smelled like that before outside, maybe it always had and I just never truly noticed until that moment.

I love Night Vale. But I’m afraid of Night Vale. I-I think many of us feel that way, although we don’t speak of it. We announce our love of civic leadership and of our town pride but – sometimes we find that we are standing in front of a shed in our garden, and the door is cracked open a little and in that darkness of the shed there is a depth of terror so great that no one world could contain it. And we stand barefoot in grass made sharp by drought and we gape at the shadows within the shed, without knowing what we are seeing and by the time we realize what we are doing, the sun has long gone down and the stars have infested the sky and we are still standing in front of that garden shed with the door ajar. Or, well, maybe that’s just me. [chuckles] Certainly that has happened to me on, on many of my 30th birthdays, but no more. I seek for my unchanging life to change. I seek context, I seek one moment in which I understand what time it is.

Thank you for coming to my birthday. Well, I don’t believe it’ll be my birthday much longer. Looks like the cake is all gone now.

Cecil: Wwwwwwwwwhatt is there to sayyy about ssomeone on the date of their birth Iiii.. I suppose, uh the same things to say about them on any other day although – too often we don’t. He is… a kind man. Uhhh, a good friend. He helps sometimes, and thinks about helping often. He tries. It doesn’t always work, but he tries, or he doesn’t. But he thinks about trying. He is, in other words, like any of us, and today is his birthday, and so for today we say about him the warm things that we perhaps should be saying about each other all of the time. Why wait for a single day to say a kind word?

Lee Marvin, happy 30th birthday. Here’s to many, many more.

Stay tuned next for this one weird click that your elbow makes if you turn it just so. Did you hear that, that click? What do you think that is? Better search online and read the most frightening answers and sit in your bed for long waking hours of dark, moving your elbow and listening. Click, click, click.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: Every example of irony in the song “Ironic” is completely correct, because that song singlehandedly changed the common parlance definition of “irony”.

[hendratds]

Religious Robots

Esh’s Dream Journal: Entry 4

Bringing this back, because why not. But this time, I’m writing it all out in a full fic. Warning, this is a long post (it was 22 pages long in Word)

<> <> <> <> <> <>

The following is a recalling of a dream I had. This is by no means meant to be accurate. Characters are guaranteed to act OOC and events are sure to be jumbled and will make no sense. After all, this is a dream and not a well thought out fic. But anyway, enjoy!

<> <> <> <> <> <>

             When I fell into the deep void of sleep, I had a very strong feeling that things were about to so into weird dream town. As the world of reality faded and I felt myself diving into the deep abyss that is the mind, I started hearing something. It sounded like rain drumming against the roof of a car. There was no engine running, but I felt like I was sitting in a car seat.

           When I finally opened my eyes, I was indeed in a car. It looked like the inside of a Jeep Cherokee. No memories of my life in reality were present. All I knew was my name and my powers from my imagination world.

           I was wrapped in a soft blanket (that I later remember to be a larger version of my childhood kiddy blanket), seated in the passenger side of the car. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know how I got here. After a few moments of contemplation, I sat up and began examining my surroundings in more detail.

           There was no one else in the car. The keys were in the ignition but were not turned. There were no decorations other than the plush toy bunny hanging from the rear-view mirror. After freeing myself from the softness that was my blanket, I grabbed the car keys and exited the vehicle, determined to find out where I was and what to do. When I got out, there was no rain. Had I imagined the rain? Was it a part of a radio broadcast? I don’t know.

           I found myself on the outskirts of a city. To the back of the car was a large, towering cityscape. The buildings rose up into the sky, and the silver and glass made it shine in the setting sun. The sky showed it to be nearing dusk. A clear day, with the sun setting behind the buildings and giving the city an almost ethereal glow.

           To the front of my car, down the road I was parked on, was a flat plain with no end in sight. The road went straight into the horizon, which showed no faraway structures. I could only guess that it was a vast meadow with no real end. The next settlement must be far away.

           As I twirled the keys around, trying to decide on my next course of action, I hear a voice.

           “Hey! Over here!”

           Startled, I turned to see someone approaching. A tall young man with silver hair and bright aqua eyes. I recognized him almost instantly as Riku from Kingdom Hearts. He was wearing the attire he wore within the game Dream Drop Distance. He was waving at me and jogging to approach.

           I waved back, of course. I couldn’t just be the broody girl on the side of the road. When Riku reached me, he spoke again.

           “Hey, are you okay with giving me a lift?” he asked. “I need to get to the next big city,”

           “Of course!” I replied. “Though… I can’t guarantee I’ll know the way. I mean, I don’t even know where I am right now,”

           “What do you mean?” Riku asked.

           “I kinda just… woke up here?” I looked up into the darkening sky, squinting my eyes as I try to find the right words to describe my situation. “I don’t really remember much of what I was doing before this, but I do know that I just woke up in this car. I don’t know where I am or what to do,”

           Riku seemed to take a moment to take in what I said. He looked like he wanted to ask a question but couldn’t find the words. He also seemed concerned, as if my situation was something he was familiar with.

           “I mean, if it’s a straight shot down this road, I could probably take you there. I know the basics of how the drive,” I continued, my memories of only having one driving lesson in a run down parking lot evading my mind. “Maybe it’ll also help me remember what happened to me,”

           “Maybe,” Riku replied. “Do you know anything else?”

           “I know who you are,” I said immediately. This caught him off guard, as he seemed to tense up a little. “Like, I don’t know why I know who you are,” I added quickly. “I know your name is Riku, and I know of Sora and your journey with King Mickey and all that. I don’t know why I know, but I do,”

           Riku didn’t respond. I can only guess it was from being on guard. I could see why, though. I am pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to respond if someone was telling me the same thing.

           “My name is Esh, I know that,” I said. “I’m not sure I can really remember much else except my powers, but I’m not too sure if I can use them or not. I don’t know my situation,”

           “Perhaps… You can test them out?” Riku said slowly, as if he was unsure whether or not to say it. “We’re in a rather big field right now, after all,”

           “That is true,” I nodded, looking down at my hand and flexing my fingers into a fist a couple times. For a moment, there was a bout of silence. Riku seemed to be sizing me up, wondering if I was a threat or not. Given the information presented, I’m not surprised he was on his guard. I decided to take the bull by the horns.

           “I… I think I can understand that hearing me say I know about you and stuff would come off as… untrustworthy. I’m pretty sure I raised a lot of red flags,” I told him. His eyes widened, as if he wasn’t expecting me to address this. “I don’t know how to prove it to you, but I can assure you that I’m telling the truth. I really have no idea how I got here or where I am. And frankly, I just want to find out what happened. And if helping you is what I need to do, then I’ll do it,”

           After my speech, I stood up straight and sighed. I really didn’t like making speeches like this. I was always afraid of messing up my words. I’m glad I was able to get it out without any hassle.

           “I see,” I heard Riku mumble. My head shot up to face him. He was deep in thought, his arms crossed and fingers on his chin. “If you really have lost your memories like it seems, then perhaps I can help. Where I’m going should be a place that can help you,”

           “Really?” I asked. I found myself smiling with relief. I really didn’t like being kept in the dark about this stuff. “Thank you, Riku. I mean it,”

           “It’s the least I can do, since you’re offering to take me on a road trip,” Riku replied. “It’ll be a long drive. Are you up for it?”

           “I’ve sat in a car for an entire day, for three days before. I can handle this,” I responded, giving my chest a light punch. “Ah, but… I do still need to test if I can use my powers. I don’t want to be a burden in battle, you know?”

           “What powers do you have?” Riku asked as we began making our way away from the car and towards the open grassland.

           “I have an elemental control over something called Atomic Fire,” I explained. “It’s a really bright blue fire that sparks a lot and explodes on contact with… anything really,”

           For a moment, I almost began explaining to him my powers over Darkness as the Incarnation of Darkness. But knowing his experience with the dark, I kept my mouth shut on that. I probably wouldn’t need those powers anyway.

           “Really?” Riku tilted his head a little. “Sounds pretty useful for area damage,”

           “When you have a lot of control over the energy of it, you can do a lot of things,” I explained. “I can use the heat and energy from the fire to create a strong laser beam, I can set things on fire without it exploding, I can use it’s power to give myself a speed and power boost… It took a lot of training and a special artifact to help me learn all I could about it,”

           “Well, let’s see if you can do it,” Riku gestured to the open pasture. There were not animals from what I could see. I stepped forward and breathed in. I really hoped I could use my element. I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of my favorite Kingdom Hearts character by dancing like a drunken pelican.

           I closed my eyes and searched for the unstable heat I had grown to know, deep within my Being. I opened my eyes and swung a hand back, fingers clenched like I was holding a baseball and arm ready to fling forward as if I was throwing one. I swung my arm forward, and out came a wave of sparking, scorching hot blue. The Atomic Fire raced out of my hand and into the air, quickly igniting the oxygen and exploding out like a missile.

           The blast startled me, and I found myself jumping back as the explosion flattened the grass and scorched the ground in front of me. The flames soon turned into black smoke, rising up from the aftermath. I turned to Riku, who looked just as startled, if not more, as I was.

           “Well… I guess it works!” I said as the resonating boom faded like rolling thunder.

           “That is some power,” Riku told me. “I’m sure nothing would stand a chance against that,”

           “Well, it’s only if I can do anything to them,” I replied, shaking my hand out. “You fight Dream Eaters, Heartless, and Nobodies. Heartless and Nobodies? Yeah, I think I’d be able to do that. But Dream Eaters? I don’t know,”

           “They are a tricky bunch,” Riku agreed. “But you never know until you try. If we run into any Nightmares, I’ll take care of them,”

           “If my fire doesn’t work on them, that is!” I told him with a wagging finger. “But your Keyblade is one nifty weapon. I’m sure we’ll be safe,”

           “I agree,” Riku said. “Now, shall we go? It’s better to go before the sun completely sets,”

           “Agreed,” I followed Riku back to the car. This time, he took the passenger seat and I took to the drivers seat. I started up the car, we buckled up like good people, and began driving down the road.

           “It is basically just a straight shot,” Riku explained. “This road directly connects the two cities,”

           “If I may ask, what’s in the next city?” I asked him. “You know, the reason why you’re going there?”

           “Well- Ah, you said already know about what happened… The keyhole for this world is in the next city. I need to get there to unlock it,” Riku explained.

           “So, this is a slumbering world, I guess?” I pondered. Riku nodded, responding with a mhm! before continuing.

           “Master Yen Sid told me and Sora that we needed to enter the Sleeping Realm,” Riku explained. “It took a couple of tries for Sora to get into it. I think this is my second attempt. I found Nightmares in the city behind us, so I can only guess that I made it,”

           “For your Mark of Mastery Exam, right?” I asked.

           “Yeah,” Riku said.

           “It must be so cool to be a Keyblade wielder,” I said, leaning back onto my seat. “I mean, I get all the training and discipline and experience, but I’d choose that over my life before I woke up here. It’s pretty boring,”

           “You can control an explosive fire, how is your life boring?” the silver haired boy asked me.

           “Well, I do remember that I was kinda stuck in a way,” I began explaining. Memories of my fantasy situations in reality came forth, but I believed them to be reality. “I’m not sure how, but I was stuck in full human form, all my powers locked away. My current theory is that I was blasted back in time and forced to live a human life. Frankly, it’s getting a little tiresome,”

           A paused for a moment. “I guess this is a little breath of fresh air. I can use my powers again, but it looks like I’m still in human form,”

           “What form are you usually?” Riku asked.

           “Well, it’s a little complicated,” I said, watching the passing scenery as we went down the road. “I’m about… less than 25 percent human? The rest is alien, alien deity, and Primordial. It’s all really confusing. I don’t even understand it totally yet,”

        ��  “That does sound confusing,” Riku told me, though I could tell he didn’t fully believe me. To which I could understand.

           “It’s all really jumbled,” I sighed. “It would take an entire book series to explain it all,”

           “Well, we have time. Explain away,” Riku assured me.

           I took a good three hours explaining my origin story from my fantasy worlds. The sky turned black with the night and the stars shone like there was no light pollution. Riku was an amazing listener and asked plenty of questions. I also caved in and explained to him my powers over darkness. At the end, he nodded in understanding.

           “What is your… opinion on Darkness?” he asked me. “I know you have powers over it and were born into it… but what do you think about it?”

           “It’s a part of our existence,” I answered with full confidence. “Dark. Light. It makes up everything that we know. Darkness isn’t evil. And Light isn’t good. It’s what a person does with it that matters,”

           “I… I didn’t think about that,” Riku said after a moment of silence.

           “Balance is… What I strive for,” I added. “I know a perfect balance is impossible, but I do try to keep it as centered as possible in my life. Because tipping the balance is never a good idea,”

           “I do agree with that,” Riku said, staring off into the dark sky.

           “It’s pretty late. Why not get some sleep?” I offered to the Keyblade wielder. “I just woke up, technically,”

           “That sounds good,” Riku said. He shifted into a more comfortable position and began to doze off. I leaned into my seat and let my mind wonder while still focusing on the road. It was a lot to take in at the time. I woke up in a weird car, in a strange place, with my powers back. It was so ethereal it didn’t feel like it should’ve been real. It was kind of ironic.

           I didn’t know how long it would take to actually make it to the next city. I hoped it wasn’t too long, as I was getting hungry. After a good long while of driving, I saw something up ahead. It was a rest stop. The brightening sky showed that the sun was on its way to rising. Slowing down, I turned into the rest stop and parked. I then turned to Riku.

           “Hey, Riku,” I called, shaking his shoulder. He started, looking up and around as if disoriented.

           “We stopped?” he asked, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

           “At a rest stop,” I confirmed. “We don’t know how long it’ll be until we reach the next city. Might as well stock up on some food while we’re here,”

           “Good idea,” Riku said. We exited the car in unison and entered the rather fancy looking rest stop building. The inside was dressed with marble and carved stone, with silver chandeliers hanging from the pointed ceiling. I found myself gazing around at the décor, wondering if I should take a picture for future reference for my drawings. As I looked around, I heard one of the vending machines vend something. Switching my gaze from the room to the machine, I saw Riku grabbing a couple of drinks.

           “Here,” he held one out to me. I couldn’t discern the label. It was a brand I had never seen before, but I took it nonetheless.

           “Thanks!” I replied. Opening it, I took a swig. It tasted like a citrus soda, with a hint of Mountain Dew. It was really good.

           “Ah, that’s good. Lemme get us some breakfast,” I said, pointing to the other vending machine that was filled with snacks. “Any preferences?”

           “Just no sour stuff,” Riku told me. I took out my wallet, but Riku stopped me from taking any money out. “Watch this,” he said.

           Summoning his Keyblade, Riku punched in the number of what he wanted and then proceeded to hit the side of the machine with his weapon. The vending machine then proceeded to vend out the wanted product.

           “Whoa,” I said. “I didn’t know that Keyblades could do that,”

           “I didn’t either until now,” Riku responded. We proceeded to get one of each item and three of each of our favorite snacks.

           “If I can down this,” I was holding a large chunk of black licorice. “In one bite, then you have to drive,”

           “That stuff is horrible,” Riku looked disgusted at the mere thought of eating it. “I highly doubt you’ll win that bet,”

           “You wanna wager?” I said before stuffing the black candy into my mouth. It tasted like burning rubber and NyQuil, and I nearly gagged it back up. But I kept a straight face (Lord Chaos knows how I did that), and then swallowed it. Riku looked stunned.

           “Did… Okay, I guess I’m driving,” Riku said. I silently tossed him the keys and took a deep breath. He caught the keys, and then stepped forward to look at my face. “Are you okay?” he asked.

           “That shit was horrendous,” I said in an overly dramatic voice and as blank of a face as I could keep. The result was worth it. I grinned as Riku chuckled, clearly amused by my antics. Mission accomplished: make Riku laugh.

           “Hey, let’s see if there a map somewhere,” I said, slinging the bag of snacks over my shoulder. “That way we can get a better grasp of how far away our final stop is,”

           “Sounds good,” Riku agreed.

           We looked around the building and found no map. There was no other floor other than the ground floor, and I wasn’t one for acrobatics. Riku made sure to check above in the rafters for some reason. The walls were bare of any map or indication of a map’s whereabouts. I thought maybe there was a map somewhere outside?

           “Hey, I’mma go check if there are any maps outside!” I called up to Riku.

           “Wait! What if Nightmares-” Riku called back, but I had already turned and exited out the door.

           The air outside was crisp and clear like it was in the winter, yet it wasn’t cold. It was quite warm, but a comfortable warm. Like the kind of warm you would feel when you’re wrapped up in a blanket.

           I looked around the front of the building. Through the window, I saw Riku jump down from the rafters and onto the floor. He raced out of the building and to me.

           “Hey, don’t just go wondering off like that,” he said.

           “Sorry, I thought it was a good idea,” I said, not feeling much remorse or guilt. “You know, splitting up to cover more ground?”

           “Nightmares could appear anywhere,” Riku argued. “We need to stick together in case they ambush us,”

           I placed my hand up in surrender as Riku wagged an accusing finger at me, as if he was scolding a child for breaking the movie the parent’s had planned to watch that same night.

           “Okay, okay!” I said. “Lead the way then,”

           Riku gave me a curt nod of approval, then began leading me around the building. We checked the right side first, which consisted of a few cobblestone columns and flat marble walls. Using the parkour skills I had apparently developed, I climbed the cobblestone and checked the roof. Riku followed close behind.

           As I examined the shingles, I noticed a tall chimney that reached four or five times higher than the actual rest stop building. I thought to myself Hey, maybe I can try and get a better vantage point from up there!, and began to climb. The chimney was made of a reflective metal that crunched easily in my hands, allowing me to create hand and foot holds for myself as I climbed. The actual structure of the chimney didn’t seem affected by the dents I was creating, as it stood tall and proud and unmoving.

           Once I reached the top, I balanced myself into a one foot crouching position, holding on to the chimney with one hand as I shielded my eyes from the sun with my other. The plains were vast and ongoing. There weren’t even any trees or shrubs, it was just flat grassy land with no imperfections in the landscape.

           To the south I spotted the tiny dot of the city me and Riku left behind. It was so small that I almost didn’t notice it had I not checked the road. To the north, the road continued on. For a moment, I did not notice anything else until I squinted my eyes and saw the faint, foggy outline of buildings in the distance. They resembled skyscrapers.

           “Hey, Riku!” I called down.

           “Did you see anything?” Riku called up.

           “Yeah, I see a settlement up ahead!” I announced. I jumped down without a second thought, landing hard but unscathed. I dusted myself off. “Did you find anything?”

           “Yeah, I think I saw someone near the back of the building,” Riku responded. “Let’s go talk to them,”

           “Roger that!” I saluted, following Riku again as we hopped down from the roof and into the back of the rest stop.

           The back area was shaded my a large stone canopy, with benches sitting comfortably in the shade and two pill shaped garden beds under both corners of the awning. On one of the benches sat a middle aged man with a greying beard, a pipe hanging from his lips, a fishing hat on his head and fishing attire adorning his body. I wanted to question why a fisherman was out here in the middle of a pondless plain, but I knew I needed to focus on the task at hand.

           The man was holding and reading through a newspaper. He didn’t look up as me and Riku approached him.

           “Excuse me?” Riku started. The man did not move other than turning the page of his article of literature.

           “Uhm, hello? I need some directions,” Riku tried again, with no response once more. Riku looked to me, as if hoping I would step up. And step up I did, walking up to the mand and flicking his newspaper to get his attention. The man started violently, looking up at me with wide eyes.

           “Oh, I’m sorry!” he said. He had the voice of someone who had smoked a lot, as the voice was hoarse and gravely and it grated on my ears. “I get so distracted…”

           “It’s fine,” I say, taking a step back. “Sorry to startle you, but me and my friend here need some directions to…?”

           I turned to Riku, who nodded and aided me.

           “Satellite City,” Riku responded. “We’re heading to Satellite City. You wouldn’t happen to know how far it is, do you?”

           “Oh, that big town?” the man rubbed at his beard, as if it itched and he wanted to rip it off. “It’s a good three day drive if you’re coming from Crown City, to the south,”

           “That’s where we came from,” I say with a nod. “And what about the settlement just north of here? I saw some buildings,”

           “Oh…” the man seemed to shrink back and deflate, as if he was trying to hide away from the topic and mere thought of my question. “Regional Center. It’s a messed up place, kids. You best just drive pass it without lookin’ at it. It’s nothing but trouble,”

           “What do you mean?” Riku asked.

           “They used to be the most advanced settlement between the two main cities,” the man explained, his eyes darkening and his face growing solemn, as if he was dragging out a horrid memory. “But they’re under a new management, and since then the place has become akin to a cult haven,”

           “Is there anything else we should know?” I asked, my curiosity about this place growing by the second.

           “If you do end up stopping there… Don’t speak to anyone. Their words will crawl into your brain and never leave,” the man whispered.

           “Thank you, sir,” Riku said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I took that as a sign it was time to leave before things got weird. I gave the man a warm farewell, and we made out way back to the car.

           “Three days, huh?” I sighed, resting my head in my hands as I reached up to place them behind my head. “Well, we already got passed one night, so we have two and a half days to go,”

           “And we don’t have time to spare,” Riku said, making his way to the driver’s side of the car. “Get in, let’s go,”

           I got into the passenger’s seat and watched as Riku started up the car and began driving down the road. I eyed the silhouette of the town that was named Regional Center as it got closer and closer. It looked like a cluster of skyscrapers in the area of a small town that could barely fit 500 people.

           “I wonder how bad it really is,” I pondered out loud. “From technological prodigy to cult club haven? That’s a story waiting to be told,”

           “If they are in trouble, then maybe we do have to make a stop,” Riku commented. “Even then, we’re running low on gas. We need to stop to refill anyway,”

           “Oh, that sounds fun,” I drawled out sarcastically, rolling my eyes. “Let’s hope we don’t have to talk to anyone. I know how it feels to get words stuck in my head. It’s not fun,”

           Regional Center was, indeed, like a miniature city. The signpost that told that we were entering the town was old, rusty, and told of a population of under 500 people. As we drove around in search of a petrol station, I surveyed the land and the people. The people seemed okay, though their outfits looked to belong in America’s colony days. The buildings were mostly old and run down brick buildings. The tall skyscrapers with modern perks and designs seemed further down the road. The architecture was all over the place, giving the settlement a wacky aesthetic.

           “I can’t see one, you?” Riku asked, eyeing the people staring at us as we stopped at a stop light.

           “Nope. Perhaps we have to ask around?” I offered.

           “Good idea,” Riku agreed. After the light turned green, Riku exited the intersection and pulled to the side of the road. I rolled the window down and waved over a couple of old ladies. They hobbled up to me with identical smiles.

           “Excuse me, can you tell me where the nearest gas station is?” I asked them.

           “The only fuel you need is His grace,” the ladies said in perfect unison. “He shall make us human, like the Father promised us,”

           “He?” I asked. “And what do you mean human?”

           “The one called God,” said one of the old ladies. “We’re modern creations of men, with metal skin and electricity for blood. He will turn us to flesh and bone,”

           “Ooookay…?” I raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re all robots?”

           The ladies nodded.

           “And you believe that Christo will turn you in humans?”

           A synced nod.

           “That’s great. Can you please tell me where the nearest petrol station is?” I asked, wanting to end the conversation.

           “We already said-“ the ladies began, but Riku tapped my shoulder.

           “We can probably find it in that modern looking place,” Riku said to me. “Let’s look there,”

           “NO!” the old ladies screamed, bringing attention to our car from the surrounding automatons. “You mustn’t go where the sinners go!” the old women said, reaching to me. I quickly raised my window, and they knocked on it.

           “Sorry, but we’re trying to get to Satellite City. We need gas,” I told them as Riku began to pull away.

           “Don’t let them drag you down!” the ladies screamed. “They’ll doom you to the pit!”

           “Oh great, religious robots,” I mumbled, leaning back into my seat.

           “It’s quite weird, I’ll give it that,” Riku said with a nod. “I’ve seen some weird things, but this takes the cake,”

           “If I’m right…” I started. “If they call the modern place the place where sinners are, then that probably means the people there don’t follow the religious teachings. Extremists tend to outcast those who don’t agree with them,”

           “Do you think we’ll get more info on what’s going on from them, too?” Riku suggested.

           “Probably. Maybe we can even help them,” I offered with a mischievous grin. “You know, overthrow the corrupt extremists and save the town and become small town heroes?”

           “Your mind is weird,” Riku said. At that moment, I had a small jolt in my body. My mind was weird. My mind usually came up with weird things. Things as weird as this. I began looking around at things in more detail. Though I didn’t know why there was something buzzing in the back of my mind, I feel that this was the first hint of the true nature of this adventure.

           As we approached the towering silver buildings, the denizens were all waving at us and yelling, trying to tell us to turn around before we entered the territory we were heading towards. Some of the robots even tried to jump in front of our car, but Riku deftly dodged them and kept driving forward.

           Once the road went from gravel to asphalt, the people in the town behind us stopped yelling. They stared at us with unblinking eyes filled with sorrow, disappointment, and anger. Oh well for them, I thought.

           The modern part of the town was mostly desolate. No lights were on, the streets were empty, as plastic bags and paper flew around like modern day tumbleweeds. Riku pulled over and parked. I immediately climbed on top of the car and looked around, trying to see any movement.

           “Hello!” I called out, cupping my hands around my mouth to amplify my voice.

           “Hey-“ Riku looked ready to shush me, his brows furrowed. But I continued.

           “Is anyone there?” I called out. “We need some gas for our car!”

           My voice echoed off into the distance, bouncing off the buildings and fading away. There was a long pause, and then I saw movement in the buildings. All of the buildings. Metal heads began popping up, their eyes glowing blue and staring at us. Human shaped machines, looking more cybernetic than the robots of the older looking part of town, began emerging. They had silver and white plating for skin and black, wire covered indo-skeletons.

           “Over here,” came a heavily automated voice. Me and Riku turned to see a robot sporting a platinum blonde wig and wearing a scarf like a sash.

           “Hello!” I greeted as a slip down off the car and to Riku’s side.

           “Greetings,” the adorned robot said. “I’m glad you got through our counterpart’s territory. They can get drastic when it comes to stopping people from coming here,”

           “Well, I’m Riku. This is Esh,” Riku introduced us.

           “You may call me Andra,” the robot told us. “I am the… leader of these outcasts,”

           “If I may ask, what made you all outcasts?” I asked.

           “Before that, allow me to do you a favor,” Andra said. She turned to a group of five robots. “You, go and scavenge the gas from the petrol station for them,”

           The group wordlessly got up and began jogging away.

           “Thank you,” Riku said, watching the robots run towards their quest.

           “It’s no problem. Please, let us sit down,” Andra led me and Riku to the sidewalk, where some more cybernetics had laid down some blankets and milk crates for seats. I took to sitting up against the nearest building.

           “I’m sure you’ve heard, but our village was once the center for all technology,” Andra began as Riku sat down. “That is why a majority of the population is synthetic. However, the scientists once guided this town perished to disease. And in their place rose… the Father. He and his group quickly began spreading the words of their beliefs around. Now, this wasn’t a problem. We synthetics didn’t mind following the belief,”

           “So, what happened that made everything go downhill?” Riku asked.

           “It wasn’t long before the Father began preaching illogical things,” Andra said. “He told us that if we followed his word, the almighty would turn us human. He and his human followers had fed us all the wonders of being biological. We didn’t think anything of it until he began making us follow a mundane, repeating schedule. Wake up from recharging during the night, go to church, pray, and then sing to the heavens in hopes God will send an envoy to grant us true life. We were forbidden from diverging from this schedule,”

           “What happens if you do?” I asked them, leaning forward like an excited child listening to a campfire story.

           “We’re sent here, to the last remnants of the old days,” Andra responded. “We oppose the word of the almighty by opposing the Father’s word. Thus, we are banished here to rust away,”

           “You all don’t seem to be rusting,” Riku pointed out. Andra gave us a rather poor attempt of what seemed to be a smile.

           “The Father didn’t count of us being able to build charging stations and sustain ourselves,” the adorned robot said.

           “Maybe we can help?” I offered, earning a glance from Riku. I ignored him and continued. “Is there any way to talk to the Father?”

           “The Father is very set in his ways,” Andra said, shaking her head.

           “I can be very persuasive,” I assured Andra. “Here,” I stood up, placing my hands on my hips and standing proudly. “I’ll go talk to the Father. I’ll see if I can plant the seeds of doubt into the circuits of your brainwashed brethren by hitting them with logic,”

           “I hope you can,” Andra said. Riku stood as well.

           “I guess we’re doing this…” he said with a sigh. He shook her head and rubbed the area between his eyes with his knuckles, then looked to me. “In that case, I’ll stay here and work out a strategy for these robots. If Esh can talk to the Father into letting you guys back into their society, or something similar, then you will need some strategy of entering,”

           “I concur,” Andra said, standing up and extending a hand to each of us. Me and Riku shook her hand, which felt strangely warm for a hand made of metal.

           “Alright! Any idea where I can find the Father?” I asked, pumping my fists like an excited child.

           “You may find him at the church near the road,” Andra pointed to the northwest. “Today, the town should be gathering to sing chorus,”

           “Alright! Good luck, Riku. I’m off!” I said, and I turned to run back into the run-down part of the settlement. In order to save time, I leapt onto the building’s roofs and began jumping from roof to roof. The streets and sidewalks were now bare of any denizens, probably gathered at the church to sing.

           I closed the distance to the road and followed it north until I saw a red brick, rectangular building with a stone cross on each wall. I heard the echoes of singing automated voices coming from that building, so I could only conclude that it was the church.

           I hopped down from the roof and snuck around the building to the front. I slowly peeked around the corner and bore witness to the largest congregation of singing robots I had ever seen. They were all wearing block robes (except for those who resembled old women), and were throwing their voices up towards the sky. I stepped out of hiding and tried to wave at them, but they didn’t seem to notice me in the slightest. I weaved around the congregation, trying to spot anyone who looked like the Father. As I realized that I should’ve asked what the Father looked like, I spotted someone walking through the mass.

           I quickly gave chase and found the man slowly walking down a pathway walled by the mass of robots. The Father wore a long black rode with dark blue and faded yellow trim. He resembled the fisherman from the rest stop, only his beard was shorter, scruffier, and was dark brown in color instead of grey. He wore large framed, black glasses and had his arms spread like he was expecting someone to hug him.

           “Excuse me?” I called. The Father didn’t seem to acknowledge me.

           “Hello? Father? I need to talk to you!” I called, but to no avail.

           I raced up to him with plans to grab his robe to get his attention, but the Father turned at the last second and dodged me without losing a beat to the harmony of the music. This continued for a long moment, with me calling to him and him dodging my attempt to grab at his robes.

           It was as he dodged me again and I stumbled to land on the ground that I had an idea. I got up, dusted myself off, and made my way to the church building. I used some loose bricks to help me climb to the flat, brick roof. Once I was situated and was looking over the entire group, I took a deep breath.

           Reaching in and tapping into the darkness I had come to know and represent, my form made a very flashy and very noticeable change. In a flash of light that turned into rays of black shadow, I found myself cloaked in a vantablack cloak. My hands were adorned with black, clawed gloves, and I wore black boots with rattling chains wrapped around them. Giant, black, feathered wings exploded out of my back, spreading up and reaching up to block out the dawn sun.

           Needless to say, the mass ceased singing.

           “Who are you?” called the man who I thought was the Father.

           “What my name is is none of your concern,” I announced. “I have a few questions for you and your followers, Father. Let us all speak inside,”

           I gestured to the doors of the church, which swung open on my will and wordless command. The robots were all looking amongst each other, whispering about angels and finally being able to call down one of His messengers. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as everyone poured into the church.

           I entered last, closing the door behind me. The entire church was just one big room. Everyone was sitting on the floor, their only cushions being white colored blankets. The entire room was lit with only candles. On the far side of the room was a small, Christian themed alter made of marble and gold. The Father and I were the only ones standing. He glared at me, clearly knowing that I was not here as a messenger from big gun’s upstairs.

           “Are you an angel?” asked one of the robots. Before I could answer, another one piped up.

           “Are you here to grant us humanity?”

           “No,” I told them. “I am here to grant you a reality check,”

           “What do you mean?” asked a teenager looking robot. One of their eyes was missing, replaced with a red marble.

           “I want you all to tell me exactly what your Father here,” I pointed to the Father, my eyes glowing red. “has taught you. What has he said about the word of the almighty?”

           The robots all took turns telling me what Andra had told me, but in a more suppressed way that told that these robots thought that they were in the right.

           “And sin is bad,” one continued. “We cannot sin, not if we want to be healthy when we become human,”

           “What do you mean? If you want to be healthy?” I asked. I was slowly walking around the robots like a lion stalking its prey.

           “Sin is a mental illness,” one of the robots told me. “If we sin, we’ll get sick when we turn human. We’ll get covered in boils and we’ll be marked, doomed to the pit and never to regain true humanity,”

           “We sin when we go against the word of His mouth,” someone else stated. “The Father is his voice. We sin if we don’t listen and heed his words,”

           “If we diverge from his words, we sin. We must stay on His path forever and always.”

           “To oppose his word is to doom yourself to the pit,”

           “I’ll tell you right now,” I started, cutting everyone off. “That this total bullshit,”

           The gasp that resonated through the room was almost comedic in style. Had I not been seething with anger towards the Father, I would have laughed.

           “Sin is not a mental illness,” I announced before they could start protesting. “What you have been taught is not sin. There is nothing wrong with practicing your free will,” I shot a harsh glare towards the Father. “Something your Father here seems to have taken away,”

           The Father stayed silent.

           “Sin will not make you into a deform monster,” I continued. “If we were to go on that, then I would be deformed, covered in boils, and whatnot. Do you see me as deformed?”

           “No,” the robots said in unison.

           “I don’t follow the teachings of Christianity,” I told them. “I follow my own path. I do what I want to do. There’s nothing wrong with following a belief. But when it starts taking away your basic freedoms and teaches you to outcast those who dare to be themselves, then it’s time to rethink what you’ve been taught,”

           There was pause, and the synthetics were all mumbling amongst their own. I heard phrases ranging from disbelief to words that proved that I was getting through to them. I looked to the Father, who was red in the face and looked ready to tear apart the nearest robot circuit from circuit.

           “According to your belief, Christo gave life free will for a reason. To take away that free will would technically be going against his word, would it not?” I offered. Heads turned towards the Father, showing that everyone knew who I was referring to. There was another long pause, and then…

           “So… we don’t sin if we follow our own wishes?” someone called out.

           “As long as you’re not hurting anyone, I don’t see anything wrong with following your own path,”

           “What about our humanity? Is it even possible?” someone else called.

           “I think you shouldn’t worry about becoming human,” I told them. “Embrace who you are and what you are, and work to be the best you can be. You don’t need to become human to be alive,”

           The robots began talking amongst themselves again, this time with increasing fervor. I watched as some robots began standing up and stripping off their robes, revealing their metal bodies and slipping off the masks they were wearing to make themselves look human. They looked a little too real to me, those masks. I had many a dark idea as to where they came from.

           “You all are doomed,” the Father finally spoke, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. He turned to the only door in the church, one that he was leaning on. I did not notice it before, but I’m guessing that it led to another room.

           “You all are listening to a creature of darkness, a black wing,” the Father growled, swinging the door open. “It’ll drag you all down to the darkest parts of the pit,”

           “But… You did take away our free will,” said one robot. “I used to build street lights before all this,”

           “I was once a caretaker at our orphanage,” said another. “I miss it so,”

           “I’ve always wanted to run track!”

           “I can take up magic again…”

           “I can work on my wing invention. Soon we’ll all be flying like angels!”

           “Doomed idiots, all of you!” The Father barked. He turned and entered the dark room, slamming the door behind him. I growled, marching up to the door and quickly kicking it back open.

           “I’m not done with you, Father!” I roared out. As the door fell to the ground, I bore witness to the Father raise his hand up. I spotted a translucent glass ball in that hand before he threw it to the ground in an explosion of red dust and blinding white light.

           When I opened my eyes, the church building was gone. The synthetics were all safe and unharmed, but they were all fleeing the area coated in red dust. Suddenly, the light from above was blocked out. I looked up and watched as clouds formed and swirled like a hurricane. Thunder rolled and the clouds darkened into a thick, dark grey mass. In the eyes of the storm, the clouds opened up a path to a bright white light. I noticed something, someone, was coming down from this light. Feeling the presence of someone powerful, I leapt into the air to meet them halfway. I hovered below the cloud line and watched as the figure approached me.

           The being before me was all black, with stars in his skin and eyes shining like the sun and moon. A black, dark blue, and purple robe fell from his shoulders, and six enormous black wings were spread wide like my own. A bright halo of light shone behind its head. I knew I was looking at an Archangel. As I stared, a name etched itself into my head, as if I knew who this was, and I was realizing their name. This was the Archangel Gabriel.

           This Gabriel looked like nothing like the Gabriel from the show Supernatural. He radiated power. I knew, as he pulled out a black blade, that I was in for a fight.

           Without a word, Gabriel launched himself forward. At the last second, I was able to summon my own weapon to block his attack and push him back. In my hands was a dual scythe that was taller than myself, with dark blue and purple blades on either end of the dark silver staff. I recall its name being the Dual Scythe of Obsidian Fear.

           I held my ground, determined not to make advances towards this being. I had never fought an Archangel before, I knew I needed to stay on my guard. From below, I heard the Father shout “A servant of the Lord shall vanquish you! Let it be your last attempt to tempt any more souls!”

           As if his words were a trigger, Gabriel charged again. He darted to my right, to which I swung by scythe and quickly swung around to keep facing him. Our wings clashed in a mass of black, ethereal feathers as I blocked his attacks with the black blade.

           At one point, we clashed our weapons in unison and then proceeded to jump away from each other. As his large wings folded forward, I rushed him the blunt of my weapon aimed for starry his chest. I hit true, but he quickly grabbed the staff and threw it to the side. Since I was still holding onto the staff, I was thrown off balance. I saw the edge of Gabriel’s blade swinging towards me, so I reached out with a hand to grab the sharp blade. I caught it with my hand, but the blade easily sliced open my gloves and my hand. Garnet colored blood ran down my arm and soaked into my cloak, but I held onto the blade and yanked it out of Gabriel’s own hands. Flipping it so that I was holding onto its hilt, I charged Gabriel once more.

           Gabriel’s glowing eyes had widened, as if he was astonished that I was able to even wield his sword. Using my scythe and my own wings to keep his wings away, I grappled with Gabriel as he tried to grab his weapon back from me. I felt the wind rushing through my hair and cloak, and I barely noticed that we had begun plummeting down towards the earth.

           Taking the moment into consideration, I yanked the sword away and tossed it. Gabriel turned and looked ready to dart after it, but I blocked his path with my scythe and dashed forward to grab at his neck. We sped down and hit the ground, the force sending up a cloud of red dust.

           When the dust settled, Gabriel was on his back with me standing above him. One of my hands was resting on his color bones, holding him down with my claws close to his neck. My other hand held my scythe above and behind me, red to swing down in case I need to knock him out. His sword landed a few meters away, landing blade first and sticking up from the ground like the sword in the stone.

           The spectators watched in amazement. I didn’t see their faces, nor did I see the reaction of the Father, as I was focusing on Gabriel.

           “Release me,” he said, his voice sounding like the howling winds of a hurricane.

           “Why were you summoned?” I asked him, tapping my claws on his vitals.

           “I was summoned to dispose of a dark entity,” Gabriel responded, not making a move to try and escape.

           “Well, as the Incarnation of Darkness, I would be considered dark,” I told him. “But I’m not the one who took away these robot’s free will and turned them into husks,”

           “What?”

           “You heard me. The one who summoned you has been siphoning the free will from these robots and teaching them lies, saying that Christo would turn them human and that sin would deform them into beasts that were doomed to Hell, without any hope of forgiveness,”

           “Let me get up,”

           “Why?”

           “I have business with someone now. I plan to deal with him,”

           I slowly moved off of Gabriel, allowing him to rise up to his full height of seven feet tall. He opened his hand, aiming it to his sword. It rose from the ground and into his hand, to which he placed it on his belt. With a wave of his hand, the world shifted, and reality warped to make it look like he had opened an invisible door that led to nothing but white. Gabriel entered in, but left the door open.

           I heard footsteps and turned to see the Father marching up to me with eyes seething and face red with rage.

           “You beast! What have you done?” he screamed at me, spittle flying from his mouth and barely missing me by centimeters.

           “I don’t know what I did yet,” I answered.

           “You-“ The Father suddenly jolted, looking down at his feet. I followed his gaze and watched the as the ground seemed to open up. The fires of Hell burst through as scaled red hands adorned with black claws rose up from the cracks and grabbed onto the Father’s legs, dragging him into the fiery pit.

           The Father screamed and clawed at the ground, trying to keep from being dragged down. He even reached for my own cloak, but I stepped away and watched as he was swallowed by the earth. Once the cracks closed, Gabriel emerged from the door of light once more.

           “Was he dragged into Hell?” the Archangel asked.

           “Very dramatically,” I confirmed.

           “Good. I called a demon to drag him down,” Gabriel said. “He was doing a great evil, keeping these synthetics from practicing free will,”

           “Yeah. Hey, sorry for the whole body slamming thing,”

           “I’ve been through worse battles, Esh. But I do hope you realize precisely why you won that fight,”

           At that moment, it clicked. Everything rushed back into my head so quickly that I almost flinched. Why my powers were back despite me still being in human form. Why everything seemed so wacky and out of place. Why I was able to defeat an Archangel.

          A dream. I was in a dream.

           “Farewell, Esh,” Gabriel said, clapping me on the back before heading back to the door of light. “Your friend Riku comes,”

           The door to the light shuts just as I hear Riku’s voice call to me from behind me. I quickly quelled the darkness that altered my form and returned back into my normal human shape, then turn to see Riku running up to me with the rest of the synthetics from the skyscraper district in tow. Riku hurried over to me and looked me over.

           “Are you okay? I saw the battle from the city!” he asked. He had a Keyblade in his hand. He was clearly ready to fight. But my body felt stiff, I felt light headed. He wasn’t going to fight anything any time soon.

           “I’m okay. We cleared everything up. The Father is no more,” I told Riku with my best smile. Riku sighed with relief and patted my shoulder. We turned to see the two groups of synthetics converging, reuniting with each other. Andra was jogging up to us with her weird smile.

           “You did it!” she exclaimed, taking me in her arms and spinning me around. When she put me down, I felt dizzy. Luckily, Riku was there to be a good support figure. “My kind has come to its senses!”

           “It took a bit more than just talking,” I told her. My arm refused to move from its position. It was glued to my side, and I felt the fabric of my bed sheets rubbing on it. I tried to force myself to stay asleep. I needed to stay asleep for a little while longer. My arm began to move again, the feeling of my bed sheets fading.

           “We all agreed that I will be taking charge,” Andra said. “I will lead this town to a better future, now that we’re not tied to a schedule. We can just do what we wish, within reason,”

           “That’s always a good thing,” Riku said. “I’m glad we were able to help,”

           “You two are headed to Satellite City, right?” Andra said, reaching into her metal plating and pulling out a rolled up piece of paper. She handed it to me. “Here’s a map of the city for when you get to it. It’s a big city, so I bet this will aid you in your quest there,”

           “Thank you!” I said, handing the map over to Riku. The silver haired boy took it and placed it in his pocket. “But now, we should get going. Riku’s got something he’s got to do,”

           “We both do,” Riku said, flashing me a small smile. “Thanks for all your help, Andra,”

           “No problem. Here comes your ride,” Andra, Riku, and I turned to the sound of a car pulling up on the road. It was our Jeep, in mint condition. The robot driving it exited and made its way to us.

           “Let’s go,” Riku said. We waved goodbye to the synthetics and went to meet the robot who drove our car halfway. It gifted Riku with the car keys, wished us goodbye, and went to join its brethren. Riku and I got into the car and breathed simultaneous sighs of relief.

           “That was a wild ride from start to finish,” I commented.

           “That was a really intense battle, as short as it was,” Riku said, turning to me with a worried expression. “Are you sure you’re okay? You seem dazed,”

           Riku’s voice seemed to echo around, the world growing fuzzy. I knew I couldn’t stop it this time.

           “As well as I can be,” I told him. “I’m a little sad, though. My journey with you is about to end,”

           “What do you mean?” Riku questioned, placing a worried hand on my arm. I barely felt it. “We still have a whole two and a half days until we reach Satellite City. We still have a long way to go,”

           “You have a long way to go, Riku,” I said, turning to him with a pained expression. It hurt to leave him. “Thank you, Riku. I had a lot of fun on this trip. But I have to wake up now. Goodbye,”

           As I muttered the last syllable, I found myself blinking open my eyes. The blurry sight of my room filled my near-sighted vision. Everything that transpired in my dream replayed in my head, and I found myself letting a few tears fall from my eyes.

           I didn’t even get to hear Riku say goodbye.

[asidian]

I... woke up with a prompt? @_@ One of the bros dies at some point in the journey, but the spirit of this bro follows the group around and is still able to influence the surroundings. (like he can still move things with the same strength as when he was alive) However, Noctis is the only one who can see/hear this spirit.

Author’s Notes: Thank you for this lovely prompt. I… kind of got carried away with it, and it ended up a bit longer than drabble length. >.>

===

Someone to Watch Over

===

It only takes a second.

In a single missed strike – in a single call for backup on the radio – the tide turns.

The metal soldiers of Niflheim arrive, and they stream out of their drop ships like water from a faucet. Standing on the edge of Insomnia, backed up against a cliff overlooking the city that used to be their home, the crown prince of Lucis and his retainers struggle to stay alive.

They keep it up until Noct's arms tremble when he tries to lift his sword. They keep it up until Prompto asks for a potion and Ignis calls back, "I'm afraid we've reached the end of our supply."

They keep it up until Gladio says, "We can't stay here," and starts cutting his way through the snipers blocking the narrow canyon they came through.

They all follow. Prompto is bleeding – stumbling – barely on his feet. Noct is scraping the very end of his magic reserves, so exhausted he can scarcely put one foot in front of the other.

Gladio clears the path, and Ignis brings up the rear, and they almost make it.

Almost.

But the next drop ship holds a swarm of MT assassins and a mech the size of a small house, and in a flurry of screaming missiles and the heat of the ensuing explosion, everything changes for good.

===

The first night is the hardest.

They set up camp outside Hammerhead, three where there used to be four.

"I could, uhm," says Prompto, hovering by the empty cook station. "I know how to make salad?"

No one answers, and finally he sits back down.

At quarter till midnight, Gladio adds some hot water to a pack of Cup Noodles and shoves it Noct's way.

He stares at it until it goes cold, and they throw it out in the morning.

===

They get lost in the Weaverwilds, out in the hot dusty desert. 

None of them know the lay of the land, and Ignis had the map.

They spend the better part of a day out there, wandering across the packed, parched earth, and by the time they stagger into the hotel room at Longwythe, they're all footsore and filthy. 

They drop their clothes onto the scruffy hotel carpet and leave them where they fall. They take turns in the shower, one after the next, and then they crawl, exhausted, into bed.

No one bothers to pick up the clothes.

But in the morning, when the sun's rays first peek in through the battered hotel blinds, the discarded shirts and pants make a trim line across the table, folded crisp and careful.

===

Prompto's sitting cross-legged in his camp chair, hunched over his phone, when the paper bag falls off the cook station and into his lap. It tips too far before he can grab it; a pot lid clangs out onto the stone ground of the haven, and a cascade of spoons follow.

Prompto jumps – yelps – knocks his phone onto the ground and manages to get his arms around the bag before anything else spills.

"Hey," says Noct, barely glancing up. "Tone it down."

"It wasn't me," says Prompto. "It just fell."

Gladio snorts. "What, like the wind blew it over?"

"I guess," says Prompto, uncertainly.

He kneels down and repacks the paper bag, one piece of cutlery at a time. He sets it back up by the cook station, and he ignores the fact that there's not so much as the hint of a breeze.

Five minutes later, the bag's in his lap again, and this time half of what's inside is spread across the glowing runes, stretching out toward the campfire.

"Okay," says Prompto. "Dude. That was not the wind."

Noct's tapping at the screen of his phone. He makes a quiet "hm" sound, noncommital, without so much as looking up.

Gladio rolls his eyes and says, "No one cares if you knocked it over. Just pick it up again."

Prompto opens his mouth to say that he didn't knock it over, but one look at his friends' faces makes him change his mind.

Careful hands reach to retrieve Ignis' cookware from the ground. He tucks away pots and spoons, and he wonders how Iggy always made it look so easy to find space for everything.

Prompto's just trying to cram in the last frying pan when he catches sight of the scrap of paper.

It's nothing special – just the torn out page of a notebook, covered in small, immaculately neat handwriting. At the sight of the letters, so painstakingly formed, Prompto's eyes well up with tears. He ducks his head so that Noct and Gladio won't see, and he reads through a recipe for chilli that Ignis never got to make. 

Then he scrubs the back of his hand across his eyes, and he says, "Hey, guys. I'm gonna try and make dinner tonight."

He gets no answer from Noct, and Gladio fixes him with a strange, lingering look. But no one says not to, so Prompto stands up with the paper bag. 

He unpacks the pots and the spoons. He digs out the meat and the beans. He follows the directions with more care than he's ever spent on anything in his life. 

The chilli's not great. He burns it a little, and it sticks to the pot.

But it's the first real meal they've had in a week and a half, and nothing else knocks itself over for the rest of the night.

===

"Okay," says Gladio. "Which one of you assholes touched my sword?"

Noct shoots him the kind of dirty look he used to reserve for getting woken up at 6 am on a weekend. He says, "You think I'm gonna do weapon maintenance for you?"

And Prompto puts his hands up, the universal gesture for "I'm unarmed, please don't kill me," and says, "Don't look at me, dude. If it doesn't have a hammer and a barrel, I don't know how to clean it."

"Well, it had to be someone," snaps Gladio. "I sure as hell didn't do it in my sleep."

Noct's still scowling down at his phone, but Prompto's got this bemused sort of expression on his face. "Could've been the wind," he says, and the corners of his lips creep up a little.

"You get weirder every damn day," says Gladio. "You know that?"

===

They can't afford a hotel room, not really – but it's been a rough couple of weeks, and Noct says they can make it up by taking a hunt or two.

No one has the heart to argue with him. He doesn't really insist on much of anything anymore.

But even with a clean bed calling, he plunks himself down in one of the room's chairs and bows his head toward the faint white light from his phone's screen. 

Hours slip by. Gladio finishes his book and calls it a night, and not much later, Prompto finally gives up on staying awake and crawls under the covers.

"Dude," he calls, half muffled by the pillow. "Come to bed already. You know your back's gonna kill you in the morning if you fall asleep there."

But Noct just says, "In a little bit," and hunches over further.

He drifts off around 2 am, still stretched out in the hotel room chair, chin on his chest and legs sprawled out, like a child who couldn't handle being up past his bedtime.

When Prompto wakes in the morning, the first one to greet the new day, he finds that the spare blanket from the top of the closet is draped over Noct's sleeping form.

===

"Just one," says Prompto. "Come on, dude. I haven't asked for a photo op in like a month and a half."

He hasn't asked for a photo op since Galdin Quay, that day when all four of them stood on the overlook by the ocean. He still has that picture, with the sky wide and blue behind them, smiles on their faces. The water stretches away into the distance, light shining on the placid surface, and Ignis is raising a can of Ebony as though in salute.

Maybe Noct remembers, too, because his face goes shuttered and still, the way it always gets when he thinks about Ignis, these days. 

That would have been enough to make Prompto wish he'd kept his mouth shut all by itself, but then Gladio's turning toward him with a flat sort of look, the kind of stare that could wilt a cactus.

"You know what?" says Prompto, all in a rush. "Nevermind, it's cool. We've got places to be, right?" He's already fumbling to put the camera away, fingers clumsy. 

"It's fine," says Noct, and his tone has just enough of an edge that Prompto knows very well it isn't fine. "Just take the picture."

Prompto ducks his head and bites at his lip. "It's really – it's no big deal. The lighting's no good, anyway."

"Prompto," says Noct, and he sounds so tired.

Prompto cringes a little, because he did that. He made Noct sound like he needs to lie down and nap for the next century and a half. He opens his mouth again, to try and wave it off, but Noct says, "Just do it already," and the words feel like shards of broken glass.

The last thing Prompto wants anymore is a stupid picture.

But Noct's watching him, and so's Gladio, and trying to back out is only making it worse. Better to get it over with.

So he gets the camera out, and he props it up on a nearby outcropping of rock so he doesn't have to waste time fiddling with the tripod. He sets the timer, and he tries for a smile, and he says, "Okay, guys. We're go in fifteen seconds."

Then he darts around to join Noct and Gladio, standing there with the Duscaen arches stretching away behind them.

The camera clicks, and whirs, and Prompto circles back around to get it. 

"Sorry for the holdup," he says.

Noct inclines his head in acknowledgement and turns to start walking. Gladio falls in behind him him.

And Prompto brings up the rear, still cradling the camera. Usually, he checks the shot – but this time, he doesn't want to look. 

This time, he wishes he'd never asked.

===

"How was it?" says Noct, three days later, sometime close to midnight.

His voice seems too loud in the quiet dark of the campsite; gone are the nights when they filled their idle hours with poker and King's Knight. Now there's only the silence, and the endless echoes of their own thoughts, and – very occasionally— Prompto's awkward, hopeful attempts at making conversation.

Prompto glances up at the words, blinking owlishly. "How was what?"

"The picture," says Noct, and holds his hand out, expectant.

Prompto doesn't know. He still hasn't looked at it. He hasn't turned the camera on at all, since then.

But he fishes it out and hands it over – tries for a smile. "You tell me," he says.

Noct rolls his eyes and presses the on button. 

Prompto waits. He expects some kind of comment on the scenery, maybe, or the light. 

He doesn't expect Noct's voice, low and shaking, to say, "Is this some kind of joke?"

He doesn't expect Noct to look up at him, jaw set and eyes bright with rage.

He doesn't expect that anger to disappear in the space of a single heartbeat, or for Noct to scramble to his feet so fast he knocks over his own camp chair, eyes wide and shocked, face so pale he looks like he's been struck.

"What?" says Gladio, looking up from his book for the first time. "What is it?"

"There," says Noct, and Prompto looks where he's pointing – sees only the forest surrounding the haven, half lost in the darkness. "Don't you see him?"

"See who?" says Prompto, but he thinks of the wind, and he watches Noct press a trembling hand to his mouth, and he knows the answer to that already.

===

Things are better, after that.

Noct talks again. He stirs himself out of the depths of his phone, and he engages in conversation, and sometimes, when they need to make a decision, he'll pause for a bit too long before laying out a plan that's actually quite tactically brilliant.

Prompto cooks, most nights – follows the instructions on scraps of paper that always seem to be tucked away in the bag with the cooking implements. He's not good at it, but before long the notes start to include helpful pointers for the things he struggles with. In time, the burned sauces and lopsided pastries become edible.

Gone is Gladio's perpetual scowl. He doesn't point fingers, now, when he wakes to find that his swords are cleaned and sharpened, set all out in a row. And every night, when they make camp, he unfolds the fourth chair.

===

The light of dawn streams in through the high windows in a wash of brilliance.

It catches the dust motes in the throne room, soft and lovely; it paints the two men standing before the throne like something from a book of children's fairy tales, picking out their Crownsguard insignia in glittering strands of silver.

Gladio's face looks carved from granite, somber and stern. Prompto's cheeks are wet with tears.

Noct watches them for a long moment.

It will be harder for them, he thinks. His part is over, but theirs – theirs has just begun.

"Highness," says a voice, softly.

Noct knows that voice. He's known it since childhood, when it tried without success to talk him out of kitchen raids and late night expeditions into the gardens.

When he glances up, past the place where two of his friends are mourning, he sees Ignis: prim and proper, eternally twenty-two. He's wearing the button-up and suspenders that he died in, and his glasses, broken on impact after that long-ago missile launch, are clean and whole.

"Hey, Specs," says Noct, and he's proud when his voice only wavers a little. "I was wondering if you'd show up."

"Honestly," says Ignis. In his tone there's a mild, fond sort of reprimand. "You know as well as I do that I've been here all along."

He takes the stairs to the throne at a stately pace – comes to stand in between Gladio and Prompto, the final missing piece of an incomplete puzzle. He holds out his hand, an offer of assistance, and Noct hesitates only an instant before he reaches out to take it in his own.

When he rises, the remnants on the throne stay behind, still pinned by his father's sword.

"Shall we?" says Ignis.

Noct glances back to where Gladio and Prompto stand, heads bowed, paralyzed in their grief. "Will they be okay?"

Ignis' hand settles on his shoulder, warm and reassuring. "We're quite capable of checking in on them from time to time, you know."

"Yeah," says Noct, and his smile is crooked and uncertain. "I guess I knew that already."

He spares one last, lingering look for the two they'll leave behind. He swallows, hard, and he silently wishes them well.

Then he says, "I'm ready," and he follows Ignis down the stairs and out the Citadel doors, into the bright light of the dawn.

[berfometalpha]

Legacy of Eternity Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins Part 2

 When the team arrived at the bridge head they saw Kent was furiously punching the air when they saw a white energy field spreading across the face of the bridge.

Rex got down from the transport as one of the troopers were busy contacting the other rebel camps. The troopers reported that Aisha and her party placed a powerful barrier around the capital city preventing the marines or knights from following them. 

Kent had been trying to break the barrier using his fists for the past several minutes but his knuckles were already bleeding bad. 

He looked furiously at the marines asking where are the mages as he ordered to break the barrier. They will arrive in about 30 minutes sir, according to the mages we have here sir this barrier will be impossible to break since Lady Aisha was the one who made it.

“Then get to it... I will not accept idleness from these mages... We have to save them from doing something they shall Regret!” Kent shouted as he slammed his fist to the barrier.

“Commander, Stop you are going to break your arms...” Rex said.

“Rex, good bring Clayton and his railgun we can use it to break the barrier! Clayton get down here and bring your Railgun!” Kent shouted.

“Boss, my Railgun’s out of commission the fuel cell converter is ruptured that’s what I forgot to mention to you earlier!” Clayton replied.

Kent looked furious and extremely frustrated at the situation as he walked away for a bit when Rex and Willow approached Clayton asking if what he told Kent was true.

“Rex, Willow dont get mad but I lied to Kent...” Clayton whispered.

“Clay you know that is insubordination right?” Willow stated.

“I know but have you seen how Kent is right now? If he uses my Railgun... well remember the last time he linked it to his bio-cell reactor...” Clayton explained.

“Ohh... Right... Almost forgot that incident...” Rex said.

“What incident?” willow asked.

It’s a long story and it happened before the rescue operation on Vega... In short we were captured at the 1st legion’s ship the crusader of domination, the first legion thought we were renegades at the time... And we were escaping the ship since they captured the Night Hawk... Kent used my railgun and linked it to his bio-cell reactor core that he made on the fly using his blood. When he linked it into my railgun and it generated enough power to light up 30 industrial cities for 50,000 years... My Hyperburst railgun fired and destroyed an entire ship while we were in it... Though we did survive but believe me... We all agreed that we wont let Kent hold a Hyper cannon class plasma Railgun again! That would be a death sentence for us all!

“That Explains everything... But look Kent really is angry and frustrated... It’s as if he is... Frightened...”  Willow stated.

“True but... Rex should we mention that thing? Lady Charlotte said that we should only mention it unless it is absolutely necessary?” Clayton said.

“Do you mean Blight Taker? that sword is off limits Clay Lady Charlotte has said it herself...” Rex replied.

“This counts as an emergency... Rex I am telling you now... You need to make the call...” Clayton stated.

“Wait What’s the blight taker? That sounds a bit familiar... But What is that any who?” Willow asked.

Rex made the call to The Strike Base Lasting hope which is a massive fast deploying space station/ battleship that acts as a forward station for the Strike Fleet and can defend itself against anything that is thrown to it by any other legion. 

“Lasting Hope this is Captain Rex Crosswolfw from Strike Team Zero-7, i need to speak with Commander Charlotte Sentinel please respond over?” Rex asked.

“This is Lasting Hope Strike Base Commander Charlotte Sentinel Speaking... Rex What’s going on?”Charlotte asked.

“Commander... ““Sigh”“ We need help... Lady Aisha and her party of heroes sneaked out of their room and headed straight for the capital without back up... We confirmed your suspicion Ma’am... Rio swordtaker has betrayed the heroes and nearly killed everyone in the camp... Now we are currently pursuing the Heroes but they had placed a powerful barrier around the capital city... Lady Aisha placed a barrier around the city preventing us from pursuing any further... Any use of artillery would endanger the militants and civilians around the capital... We are out of options Ma’am...Permission to use Blight Taker Ma’am the last time they faced the King they nearly died Ma’am... Kent is really angry and frightened... Ma’am!” Rex reported.

Their was a silence that shrouded the communications line after a brief moment Charlotte told Rex to get ready. Meanwhile inside the armory of Lost hope the Blight Taker was heavily guarded by Class 7 Primal Wolves Champions the Grey Fangs. The Knights noticed the Vault where the Blight Taker was kept as it kept shaking as if a monster was trying to get out. 

Attention to All knights on Deck 7 be advised Blight Taker is awake and is trying to break out of her containment do not try to stop the sword let it out... For the Knight Eternal is now awake... 

The Grey fangs immediately unlocked the vault but by the time they opened the vault door the Blight taker sliced its way through the vault as it spun rapidly cutting through the thick Zennomite hull of the space station as if it was a hot knife on a piece of paper.

One of the knights was unlucky to be passing by the path of the Blight Taker just before it hit the young knight initiate. It turned into a ball of purple light and phased through the ship entering the upper atmosphere in mark 40 speed. 

As it was entering the atmosphere every knight on Ren’veil was alerted to the presence of the sword that devours darkness. as it flew past the Vai’lien sky a group of New Kingdom dragon riders were unfortunate enough to pass by it’s way as nothing will stop her from being reunited to her master.

It easily tore through a dozen dragons with relative easy as if they were a leaf in the wind. The blight taker reached the team’s position in about a few minutes later but as it reached out to the young knight it shattered the barrier as it faded into dust as it collided into Kent. 

The Blight Taker disappeared into his left arm as the barrier fell apart Rex and the others didn’t know what happened.

“I guess we are lucky now that the barrier is gone... I’ll go and start up the APC!” Clayton said.

“Kent, Get aboard now we’re Red lining it to the Capital!” Rex shouted.

Kent looked back to his friends and immediately boarded the APC and flat lined it to the capital city as many marines immediately rallied all their squads pursuing their General. 

As the APC was fast approaching the gate’s of the capital city they had more problems to deal with aside from the barrier.

“Boss Man we have a gate sized problem!” Clayton shouted.

“What now! We are running out of time.” Kent said.

“The gate is closed shut and their are a lot of archers on the wall and they don’t look happy!” Clayton said.

“Big brother... Don’t worry I got this! Now where was it again...” Genji said as he was trying to find something in his pocket.

He pulled out an old world music tape and played it in the APC as it started playing music about searching for a hero. 

“Why do that Genji?” Kent asked.

“To set the mood Boss man Lady Aisha needs a hero and you’re it so lets set the mood and... BIG BRO KICK IT!!!” Genji pointed as Clayton smashed the pedals.

Clayton nodded as he buried his foot on the pedal as the Apc was about ramming speed into the magic infused reinforced Steel gate. 

Genji grabbed the twin rocket launcher loaded with Clayton’s special Explosive rocket worth 50KG worth of compressed High explosives including Liquid Jormite the most volatile and high explosive liquid used for cracking class 3 asteroids. 

“It’s time to make a hero Boss Gen your up! Oh yeah say something cool before you fire.” Clayton shouted.

As arrows began to pelt the APC Genji opened the top door carrying the rocket launcher with a smirk on his face as he mounted the rocket on his shoulders. “Back check done... OKAY YOU FUCKS YOU CAUSED OUR BOSS MAN SOME HEART ACHES SO TIME TO MAKE THINGS GO BOOM!!! WARGH!!! HA HA HA” Genji said as he pulled the twin triggers on the rocket firing both missiles at the same time.

As both missiles flew into the gate causing a massive gate was blown to shreds along with a portion of the walls protecting the gate. As the gate came crashing down the APC jumped over what was left of the gate they somehow made it through as many of the New Kingdom soldiers. 

As they broke through several defensive lines with in the city causing a major distraction where ever they go. 

“Boss we’re almost at the King’s Castle what ever your going to do boss... I mean I know your the man with the plan... OH SHIT!” Clayton as he swerved to the left.

A massive iron golem suddenly appeared slamming into the APC nearly destroying it. After it rolled several meters from the main road colliding into an abandoned house though incapacitated the team was all accounted for at the very least. 

Kent got up as he pulled out the Excalliburst blades from his bio-cyber cell converter slicing the underbelly of the APC. 

As he walked out the knight was greeted with more than 5,000 soldier and 100 Iron Golems. Kent moved his neck slightly as his body re-connected the bones that were disconnected.

“Okay... That’s it... I am Very angry right now... So I am giving you all one chance to drop your weapons... and surrender peacefully before i start cutting off arms and legs? You have 10 seconds to comply...” Kent said as he started to limber up.

As he started to count down his body started to heat up as he started to raise his arms and crossed both blades together and made his approach to the army. 

Those who surrendered he left them alone but those who just disregarded his warning he cleaved off at least one arm or leg or even both arms and legs. 

The 5,000 highly trained soldiers were mere child’s play towards the young knight specially his time in the Hell’s gate. Several minutes later many of the New Kingdom army were either dead because of the dismemberment and immediate cauterization of their wounds through the excaliburst blades or had their heads bashed in by Kent.

“Well At least the boss cleared the way I guess...” Genji said as he rubbed his head.

“How can you... Oh...”Willow said as she saw the carnage her General did.

“Well one thing is for sure he cleared the path ahead... So everyone...GET up... and RUN!!!”Clayton shouted.

“You don’t have to shout Clay... And Yes lets run... Wait... Where’s Micheal?”Willow said.

“Of all the time.. Okay I’ll go with you WIllow Let’s find the little dude... Rex I can’t believe I am saying this but... Take the smart ass and my big brother and head to Kent’s location... He is going to need back up!” Marky said. 

“Understood Marky you two be careful we are not out of the woods yet...” Rex said.

Before the team went their separate ways Clayton stopped Willow for a brief moment with a heavy sigh he told her I’m not like the boss man but Willow... Um... Just watch your back the only one who gets to run you down is me!”

Willow smirked at the sergeant and looked at him with a smile I know you can’t really say some nice things because you got brought up differently but... I Will watch my back... And dont think im letting you go for saying that... I will discipline you later. 

“I’m counting on it... Rex lets go!” Clayton shouted.

Willow and Marky ran to the side streets in hopes to find her brother while Rex and the others followed the path made by Kent leading into the castle. 

“So you and Willow Big bro... NICE!” Genji said with a thumbs up.

“Be quiet lil bro... And yes... It’s nice to have a bitch like her... She is like... Fucking shit stick I cant think of a good word”Clayton said.

“You do realize that you can be a little nicer when talking to her right?  I understand Clay that you want to be a bad ass all the time but you could ease up on the curse words... Im just lucky that you haven’t gotten suspended for sexual harassment...” Clayton said.

“Still you can be a little nicer to everyone else... Like Kent and have you been attending your anger management sessions?” Rex asked.

“Yes... I’ll try to be a little nicer... We are chosen by Kent not because we are friends and all but we put something on the table that makes the team effective in our daily missions believe me if we were put in other teams we would either be dead of in the firing line.”Clayton replied.

“Right Let’s hurry the General must be kicking butt right now.” Rex said as they heard a massive explosion from the upper levels.

The three fought their way through what survived of the New Kingdom army as the explosions were getting louder and louder. They reached the entrance to the throne room or what was left of the main door Rex was about to enter the throne room when Clayton grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back before several blades skewered him. 

“Thank’s Clay I owe you one.” Rex said. 

“You’re welcome you have kids Rex it would be very bad if you got killed Fiora and Korra will be sad my guy.” Clayton said as he pulled out his chain gun.

“Okay then... I’ll take a page from Kent on this one... It’s time to nutt up!” Rex said as he pulled out his pistols.

“Or Shut up!” Clayton and Genji said at the same time. 

The three entered the throne room to see the heroes of Ren’veil were down on the ground badly wounded or incapacitated. 

“Rex over their Kent’s locked blades with the King and that bastard Rio!” Clayton stated.

“Way to state the obvious Clay... Genji check on the heroes Clay with me maneuver 5 Clay!” Rex shouted as he started firing at the two.

Clayton Fired his chain rotary gun to the left where the three were locked blades while Rex fired at the opposite direction hitting Rio on the shoulder while the King used his Dragon-snake cloak to block the bullets giving Kent a chance to break off. 

Kent Jumped back to his surprise to see Rex and Clayton standing behind him while Clayton poured on the pain with his chain gun. 

“Rex where have you guys been?” Kent asked.

“We took a Sunday’s stroll, looking for Micheal... well you know our usual start on a monday...” Rex said.

“Right... enough said captain... We are in trouble these two are drawing power from a massive manna pool reserve somewhere in this castle we have to find the manna conversion crystal or this fight will just drag on forever... Wait Where’s Willow and Marky?” Kent asked.

“They are looking for Micheal I‘m sure they are heading towards our way now.” Rex replied.

Rex pulled out an impact grenade and threw it towards Rio knocking him across the room Kent immediately pointed towards Rio as he had a score to settle with him. Rex, Genji and Clayton were to face off against the King the young knight rushed in delivering a powerful sword swing at Rio. 

The Swordtaker managed to dodge Kent’s sword swing and summoned 3 smaller muramasa blades that bounced off his skin. 

Clayton kept the king pinned with a seemingly endless barrage of energy bullets while Rex pulled out a pair of combat high frequency knives and tried to cut off the King’s hands but the King summoned a legion of undead soldiers that were dealt by Kent earlier.

Genji ignited his plasma blades and cleaved through the undead with relative ease but every time he puts down more and more kept on resurrecting. 

“We can’t keep this up forever Boss I’m running out of energy for my blades...” Genji said.

“Damn it... THAT’S It I AM DONE WITH THIS FARCE!!!” Kent shouted as his body began to unlock 7 of the 49 limiters placed by the Black Queen.

Rio laughed at Kent as he summoned over a dozen Massive muramasa blades and fired them like meteors falling from the sky towards the young knight. Kent grabbed one of the blades and crushed it with his bare hand as his fingers turned into claws and most of his left arm turned into a heavily armored dragon layer scale arm greatly increasing his strength to absurdly outrageous levels. 

He then interlocked the Excaliburst blades into the Skull breaker swords and charged towards Rio. Kent’s original strength which could be compared to 600 tons of force per swing when one of the 7 discipline limiters are removed. 

The Discipline limiter that was removed was his Rage when removed his strength, speed, reaction time by 5,000% though it increases his power for a short time without it’s counter discipline limiter the Discipline of Serenity to maintain Rage mode will increase the risk of Kent going berserk the longer he maintains rage mode. 

Kent’s left eye changed into a dark red as he entered rage mode he grabbed one of the muramasa blades mid-air and threw it back towards Rio. Though he was barely able to dodge it in time the blade throw was able to destroy a massive section of the throne room wall. 

Rio didn’t even bother to look back as he charged at Kent with an upward swing followed by a spin kick and double slice combination attack. Kent dodged the double slice countering his sword swing by throwing his Skull breaker sword like a boomerang before it could return to Kent. He followed up with a three punch combination with a reverse ax kick with a rushing upper cut directly to Rio’s jaw and kicked him in the chest sending him flying towards the throne.

He slowly walked towards Rio seeing fear in his eyes overwhelmed the Sword taker and summoned blades left and right trying to push Kent back to no avail.

The young knight walked towards Rio grabbed him by the neck and raised him up Kent was slowly crushing it with a satisfying smile on Kent’s face as fangs started to appear.  

Kent smiled seeing  Rio struggle and beg for mercy since he couldn’t break his grip. Rio summoned more blades that tried to strike Kent but the blades were merely bouncing off his skin.

“Mer...cy!!!” Rio pleaded.

“You said a long time ago... that you will Kill my champion... that you can kill him with one swing of your sword... You boasted your strength to Kent... Though he didn’t do anything... But I wanted to snap your neck... From the start... But... My Daughter would never forgive me for such... Instead I will leave you with a parting gift...” The Dark voice said as he raised his right hand towards Rio.

He slowly pierced Rio’s soul barrier the Dragon that took over Kent snapped off Rio’s legs and right arm and took away most if not all of his sword skills and gave it to Kent as Punishment for his arrogance.

“What.. did you... DO!!!” Rio asked.

“As punishment for killing the children of Ren’veil and selling them to those wretched dark gods... I took 

“Kill ME!!!!” Rio shouted.

“Not even death can save you From me Human... but I shall Gladly oblige your request... For my Champion of course... And one more thing... The one eyed Knight will not save you this time around...” The Dragon said as he snapped Rio’s neck and ripped him in half and threw the corpse off the edge.

Oh well... good riddance to bad rubbish... Now then to deal with the King... But first... a change of pace... The dragon said when he turned to face the King but he returned  Kent to his sanity and reviving the discipline of rage. 

Kent remembered Killing Rio which brought him great satisfaction though most if not all of his memories were still a bit hazy but he remembered throwing Rio off the edge of the throne room plummeting to his death. 

“Wait, what happened... Ugh... my head... Wait no time to be dizzy... We have a battle to win!” Kent said out loud as he picked up his Skull crusher swords and regrouped with Rex to fight the king. 

He turned around to see Clayton flying towards the young knight as he Grabbed the Promethian Gunner’s collar and shoulders catching him before he was sent out the hole Kent made earlier.

“Thank’s boss man you saved my neck back there! By the way where is the bastard Rio did you do him in?” Clayton said as he got back up. 

“Yeah... It was oddly satisfying to be rid of that retarded man who boasts consistently of his power and courage... What a pathetic display of his status as a Hero no less.” Kent said as he cracked his neck.

“Well good riddance to that piece of filth boss man...”Clayton said.

“GUYS I DONT MEAN TO INTERRUPT YOUR TALK BUT... HELP!!!!” Genji shouted as he was barely holding back the King’s relentless sword strikes.

“Right... sorry Genji... Clay... Remember that one move I really hated?” Kent said.

“Oh you mean maneuver 69.1?” Clayton asked.

“Yeah, Lets do It I still got one in the tank!” Kent replied.

Clayton smiled as he grave Kent some active grenades giving them to Kent as he grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him towards the king, The young knight immediately threw three of the five grenades at the King making him dodge as he got closer Kent ignited one of the grenades and threw it right in front of the King which he was able to knock out the air.

Kent was locked blades with the king as he pulled out of the last grenades Clayton gave him and stuck it towards the King and kicked him away. The grenade exploded but that was no ordinary grenade a proton plasma grenade.

“That should have killed him right?” Clayton asked.

“Well if not I am calling bullshit on that big bro!” Genji said as he got back up.

“Well that was a proton plasma grenade... one of Clay’s special explosives... That should be enough to kill him... Right?” Kent asked.

“It should be enough boss man that grenade is the same thing I used to blow up the armory back at Dawn base... oh shit!” Clayton said as he felt a chilling tap on his shoulder..

“SO IT WAS YOU WHO BLEW UP MY ARMORY YOU ASS!!! I was building my new Exo-frame suit... ““Crying”“ It took me 2 years to build that frame and it just melted in seconds...” Kent shouted.

“Guys the battle is not over yet! We got a king sized problem...” Rex said as he reloaded his pistols.

As the King stood back up when most of his body was torn to shreds by the Plasma grenade which Clayton quoted that he shouldn’t have survive the impact from the Grenade alone.

“Hey you fucker Just drop dead already! that is just cheating.” Clayton stated.

“I dont think this counts as Cheating my friend... Lady Arra said before she got knocked out since he is still wearing the pendant of Life he is drawing from the massive manna reserve underneath the castle and using the life energy to heal himself... Now that I think about it... that does sound like cheating...” Kent replied.

“Yeah boss man that is utter Bullshit it’s like some weird writer is making our opponents ridiculously overpowered so we can drag this along then another player comes in kicks ass take names and then chew bubble gum... What an Ass move narrator!” Clayton said as he broke the 4th wall.

“Seriously my friend... You are talking utter nonsense and stop 4th wall breaking Now is not the time to break walls now is the time for the Action Clay!” Kent said as he disengaged the Skull breaker swords.

“Still this is utter bullshit Boss man!” Clayton said as he fired his chaingun at the king.

The king raised his hand stopping all 600 bullets at once and threw it back to the team. though they were able to barely dodge in time. The King then sat back on his throne laughing at the efforts of the team.

You dare to come to my world... Stopping my right to rule and cleanse this beautiful world of all imperfections... and you even have the audacity to stop me... well then... Let’s see if you can stop THIS!!!

The King said as he started to absorb more and more life energy had begun to seep from the ground and went into the King’s body as more and more tendrils went into his body the bigger and more monster like he became. 

A few minutes later he became more than 45 feet tall with more horns sticking out of his body than can be counted and his sword mutated into a demonic blade and revived the dead soldiers into death knights.

“Well we are in trouble... unless someone can pull out a trump card or something like... Right now?” Clayton said. 

“Wait I just remembered something... Rex what was that purple light that fused to my left arm?” Kent asked.

“Oh yeah how could I forget... I requested Lady Charlotte to send the Blight Taker relic sent to you... Kent did you get it?” Rex stated.

“Wait THE legendary Blight Taker... The same Blight Taker that if she gets angry will turn her wielder into a deathly puppet THAT BLIGHT TAKER?!” Kent asked.

“Yes the same thing... That was our only chance to save those kids... We will buy you some time figure out how to summon the sword from your arm! Genji Clay Formation 3!” Rex said as he started shooting the king.

“Okay then... Time to meditate...”Kent said as he kneel down and cleared his mind. 

Kent was brought before the Temple of the soul where he could commune with his own persona and other personalities. Before he could take a single step the young knight was dragged out of the temple and into the Phantom void. 

The Phantom void according to ancient legend this is the only realm that the Blight Taker maintain’s for it’s wielder should the Warden of the Blight taker judge the wielder true then she will allow the full might of the Blight taker to it’s fullest potential.

So you are the new Knight that dares to summon me? The warden said.

The warden waved her fingers at Kent forcefully dragging him towards her forcing him to sit across a coffee table. 

I sense fear in you... Good are you afraid of me... young one? Well... you should be... The Warden said as she was about to snap her fingers and turn Kent into a Undeathly puppet. 

Before she could snap her fingers their was not a single ounce of desire or lust for power and others inside the knight that wielded 

“Interesting... unlike my previous wielders who searched for power... you on the other hand... Despise it as if you want to throw it all away... Very well I will lend you my power for now... Let us see how far will you go... tell Charlotte my regards for me child...” The Warden said as she snapped her fingers again.

Kent was snapped back into reality when he saw his team was getting beaten down as Clayton was literally throwing rocks at the king’s Face. 

“WAIT this is!” Kent said as he saw a bright blighted light emerged from his left hand.

Kent stood back up as he saw the blight taker emerged from his left hand in the form of a long single blade sword. The warden sent a message to her wielder saying I reshaped the Blight Taker into a form more... comfortable to your specifications and skills... Use the power I am letting you borrow and prove to me that you are worth of the Role of the Eternal Knight... 

Then we shall talk again... 

Kent looked at the blade as it roared out of hunger for the blood of the guilty he was eager to feed the blade though his left hand was still shaking after suffering internal damage when using Rage mode. 

He had no other choice but to push it beyond it’s limits as he placed himself into a quick draw stance. After a brief moment of concentration his left eye started to bleed the pupil turned black while the retina turned red in color.

He didn’t had time to think Kent unleashed his skill called provoke luring the king towards Kent. 

“That’s it you ignorant bastard... Come here... just a little more!” Kent whispered as his left arm veins were exploding.

“NOW!!! SHADOWFIRE COMBINATION ART... BLIGHT MOON QUICKDRAW... BLOOD VIOLET PETAL DANCE!!!” Kent said as he disappeared in flash of black light.

After a brief moment Kent emerged from behind withe the Blight Taker drawn as beautiful heart shaped petals began to fall around them. The Blight taker was drawing the blood of the king into it as it finished it’s dinner Kent turned to his team to check on Rex who was shoved into the wall and Ben who had his body stuck to the floor. 

The King looked at the one who killed him as he said one more time before his body turned into black petals I shall... Return... 

“Don’t count on it ass wipe!”Kent said as he threw the Blight taker hitting the King in the head.  

The Blight taker turned the blade into a massive jaw as tendrils began to dig into the king dragging his soul out of his dead body. He struggled to get away but the Blight Taker is a place no soul on creation should ever go to as the blade already devoured 4 dark gods already and hundreds if not millions of demon class champions. 

Let your sins burn you for all eternity... Repent for all the souls that you had wronged... Repent for you shall never know peace... Repent knowing that you had sacrificed your people for your own gain... I Warden Kyrisu of the Blight Taker judge you to Eternity of torment... Know that you shall never escape from me... Not even your gods can save you now!

The Warden said as she burned her message into the Kings soul as he struggled to maintain connection to his body as he got devoured by the Blight Taker. 

It’s over isn’t it... Kent thought to himself as the sword returned to his left arm he then checked on his friends and got them all out safely though they all suffered some form of injury.  Marky and Willow along with Micheal and the rest of the Strike team Zero Dawn made their way to the throne room to aide their leader.

The Knights immediately secured the throne room before Kent could take a breather he checked on Aisha and the others. 

Before he could approach Aisha he knelled down to check on her if their was any injuries but his arm started to feel as if a thousand needles were piercing the insides of his left arm. 

Fenris immediately ignited his Plasma knife and cleaved Kent’s left arm and tossed it aside as it exploded sending no more than a thousand miniature Muramasa blades flying in all directions hitting most marines who were busy aiding the other heroes.

Though they were okay but are in critical condition the knights removed the lodged blades from the mariens and carried them to safety. 

Fenris immediately applied first aide to Kent’s Arm but nothing seemed to force or provoke the regeneration protocols of the Virus inside his body. 

“Damn why isn’t it working!” Fenris thought.

He could hear laughter echoing in the throne room as it sounded familiar Did you think that I’ll die that easily you cocky prick... Now Look at what you did to me!!! Now I’ll kill you and become the king and become immortal! 

“Rio is still alive!” Rex said as he coughed out blood.

“Lily get Rex Kent and the others out of here we shall taker care of this!” Fenris said igniting his Vibration plasma claws. 

“Okay, Fenris kill Rio for Kent!” Lily replied as the medical teams carried the heroes and the injured team out of the king’s castle. 

The Iron wolves began searching the throne room for Rio as one of the Iron fangs (a special team made for the strike team that specializes in drop assaults and heavy type close quarter combat and siege warfare is their main specialty) as they searched the throne room they found the dismembered remains of Rio sword taker who clung onto life using the muramasa’s manna stores. 

“Master Fenris look... The bastard is still alive... Ha... and he had the gull to call our lord a monster... Let’s kill him right now!” The younger Iron Fang stated.

 “Wait... I have a message from Lady Aliyshia before we kill him.” Fenris said as he took the recorder.

Rio, I was already aware of your treachery when you said my Father of all people abandoned Angel city to it’s fate... I knew you were a traitor... and you had the gull to keep comforting my daughter... I cannot believe you... I guess that’s why your sister looks down on the Sword Taker clan...You all had abandoned your duty in search for greed and power... I hereby announce the annulment of the arranged marriage between the sword takers and the Ayekawa Clans... you are on your own... I will announce the betrayal personally so no one will even bother to work with the Swordtakers anymore... This is payback and revenge for my people of Angel city... 

“Their you have it... you don’t deserve this Relic... Ill make sure that I will find another person worth of it... I’ll take this first then you lot can murder him!” Fenris said as he took the Muramasa Pendant from Rio’s neck.

Fenris showed it to Rio and stole it from the Swordtakers the other Grey fangs began to mutilate Rio to the point he was not even recognized. 

As the battle for Ren’veil finally had drawn to a close the rising sun had finally came to greet the Knights of the Strike fleet. As Fenris took off his helmet and approached the edge of the breach. 

He sat down as he took out his kanteen of alcohol and raised it high Cheers to our brothers and sisters... Let your memories be the seeds for tomorrow! Hail to the fallen! Fenris saluted as many of the Grey wolves followed Fenris and drank from their Kanteens in celebration for Ren’veil shall have a new and better tomorrow that starts today... 

[mooneyedwanderer-blog]

Horizon Zero Dawn - Video Game Review

What an absolutely phenomenal, open world video game. I’m so glad that I got to play this before 2017 ended because man, this was highly addictive. I thought it was the perfect length too!

So this game is set far, far into the future and the world is living in tribes which are separated by vast amounts of land populated by machines that on sight, will attack. The origin of these machines and their hostile nature is not known, but that is exactly the reason why we follow Aloy’s story.

We start right from Aloy’s birth, where the mysterious stranger Rost goes all ‘lion king’ on baby Aloy and holds her above a mountain. Then we follow her growing up and her curious nature allows her to find a mysterious device called a focus. This gives the player the ability to learn extra information about the objects scattered around the world and the weaknesses of the machines that need to be targeted to destroy them!

 As Aloy sees the other children in the tribe, she learns that she is not welcome to play with them and is an outcast, as she does not have a mother. This leads to her wanting to win a rigorous test to prove her worth to the tribe called ‘The Proving.’ By doing so, she can get the answers to who her mother really is. Though she had initially thought that the Proving would be her biggest obstacle, she had never anticipated that this would be only the smallest of mountains that she would have to climb. She goes on a journey to discover the origins of the hostile machines, the answers behind her own origins and also how she’s ever going play a part in defeating those that want to use the machines to take over the world.

So let’s get to the actual robot machines that you will spend the vast majority of the game battling. Firstly, there are watchers. These guys have one eye and are really good at finding you when you’re making too much noise. As an added bonus, they alert all the other machines to your whereabouts too! What a joy right!? Then there’s striders, that are the machine equivalent of a horse. Ok so there’s heaps and heaps of machines that you’ll get the chance to battle and they all provide a challenging and fun experience to take down, but I’ll let you know just a few of my favourites. So we’ve got a Thunderjaw. Man…these guys are tough! They have like multiple types of gun/missiles that they can shoot at you and they can also charge at you if you get too close. Then there is the Stormbird that is this huge flying thing that shoots lighting at you if it sees you…man this guy was tough to beat! Oh…and one of the hardest ones to beat, other than the final boss would be the Stalker. This guy can turn invisible and shoot a whole tonne of stuff at you and once it sees you…it stalks. That’s right, running doesn’t do much against this relentless beast. So as you can probably tell by now, this game offers huge variety that keeps you hooked all the way through.

Now let’s move on to how you actually defeat this plethora of monsters. So Aloy is primarily an archer and she can use arrows that have special abilities like freezing, shocking, burning or tearing off the armour of the machines. Alongside the bow and arrow, there’s also a thing called a rope caster which is super fun to use as you can tie down the machines so they can’t charge at you while you beat them up. Alongside this is a trip caster, which allows you to set traps, lure the beasts to the traps and then BOOM. They’re toast. Another one of my favourite weapons was the blast sling which allows you to lob elemental bombs at your enemies that can deal a huge amount of damage. The skill trees are also really epic and they allow you to do cool things like sprint past machines without them hearing you and to slow down time whilst you’re shooting, which really comes in handy!

Aside from the main plot, there’s a huge amount of things to do! Aloy is able to learn techniques to turn the hostile machines into friendly machines. Though these involve going into these creepy places called cauldrons where you have to face really challenging boss fights, they are absolutely worth it! When you can take over these menacing machines, they can even fight on your side against the hostile machines. It is really great fun!

The amount of things you can collect in this game for rewards from merchants is ridiculous! Amazingly ridiculous of course! The map overtime gets so crowded with places you can visit, objects you can collect…oh, and bandit camps you can defeat. These are super fun to clear out as you can use a combination of melee, ranged attacks and stealth around the enemies to take them all down.

Music? Phenomenal. Art…absolutely breathtaking. Especially the vast amount of clothes with special abilities that Aloy can buy and rock. My favourite was the Carja Blazon because Aloy looks absolutely badass, but all of them look absolutely amazing and have so much detail and intricacies about them.

The only negatives would be the lack of diversity in melee options, as I did like hitting the machines with my spear a lot and wanted ways in which I could make that ability stronger. Though the plot is very detailed and uncovering the mysteries of the past is really fun, the one thing I would have liked is more constant characters along the way, as Aloy being a lone wolf type does get a little bit boring at times.

I know this was a super long review, but this game just has so much to offer. It will forever hold a special place in my heart because the of the final battle, which I had lost a million times. On my last try before I called it quits, I had 150 health which is very low, 10 seconds left and I decided I would risk it all and run right into the line of fire to shoot these short range, super destructive bombs at the boss…and then I won! Just the million feelings of badassery I felt during that battle was absolutely fantastic! Go check this out…though warning, you’ll get sucked in. No regrets though.

[thepaperpanda]

Call of repentance || Part II

Part I

Summary: reader is a member of the Golden Path. Under Amita’s command you have to sneak to the Royal Palace to kill Pagan Min. But when you’re about to fulfill your mission, you find youself unable to – under charm of king Min, you decide to switch the path and stand by the side of the Royal Army, becoming one of the leaders.

Word Count: 2211

Warnings: strong language

A/N: Part 2 of the story.

Author: Rouge

The Royal Palace was located on the northern part of Kyrat, near the Himalayas.

The building had a red openable door just like what other outposts and fortresses had. It was a huge building, placed on the large hill.

 Pagan, with a glass of cognac in his hand, went out at the terrace, located on the third floor. From this point a beautiful view at the North Kyrat was streatching.

Pagan sat on a swing with a canopy and he started to sip on an alcohol.

He was delighted on the spectacular view, admiring it in silence. But his consternation soon has been interrupted by a grunt.

“My King, De Pleur has checked everything and it seems that it wasn't Golden Path who set the bomb at Baghadur” Gary, Pagan's the most loyal and trusted assitant said calmly.

Min only nodded, finishing his drink.

“Did he check EVERYTHING?” he asked.

“Yes, my King. He cooperated with Noore in that matter” Gary grunted again, still standing on the threshold.

“So he wants to say that it wasn't that fucking monkeys fault?” King asked coldly, not paying any attention at Gary.

“Uhm... Yes, my King” Gary confirmed with weak voice, swallowing hardly.

 At the same moment, Pagan crushed on a glass he was holding in hand, yelling viciously.

“Find whoever is responsible for this attack! It was an attempt on my fucking life!” he yelled.

The blood drops fell on the wooden floor of the terrace from his injured hand, but he didn't pay an attention to this fact. “I wanna have their heads on a silver plate till midnight. Otherwise I won't be nice anymore!”

Gary nodded and quickly left the terrace to avoid Pagan's anger and frustration.

Pagan hissed while he was pulling out a piece of a glass from his hand.

“KHAN!” he yelled.

After a while, a tall, well-build soldier entered on the terrace.

He was a commander of the Royal Guard. That man was responsible for death of about 200 people in last half of a year. His name was Khan Ajmal and he was working for Pagan since many years. Kyrati citizens, however, knew him under other name...

A lot of them used to call him the Headhunter, because he would do everything to find out people, who were suspiced of conspiracy against King Min.

“It's probably the work of these cowardly whores from the Golden Path. They know they can not beat us, so they began to resort to bombings” Pagan clenched his hand into the fist. He looked at the man. “Find out, who's behind this. You have to pull out everyone who's responsible for this attack even from under the fucking ground! When you find them, take them to Paul's fortress and then let me know. Then I will come to Varshakot and we will decide, how to kill them, just to make sure that they know they are dying.”

It was still the night, when you has been assigned to the little Golden Path branch, which had to secure the little convoy with weapons. The convoy had to transport a lot of stuff to an outpost, which was belonging to the Golden Path since few months.

In the face of last event, it couldn't wait any longer, so Amita and Sabal got to the conclusion that it has to be done before dawn.

You were traveling in the last car, when you noticed that rest of the convoy has stopped. Two other Golden Path's cars were standing on the side of the road and people with flashlights were entering the bushes to explore the area.

“What's going on?” you carefuly asked, looking at one of the rebels as you got out of the car.

“They said they saw something nerby” man shrugged slightly and jump on the semi-trailer to check the cargo.

As carefully as you could, you walked into the direction of the bushes, your hand was on the kukri knife hidden in your pocket, just in case..

You walked through bushes and when you got out of them you noticed you were standing at the top of the little hill, but even from that distance you could see a huge crater carved in the ground and fire, which has destroyed a part of the forest around the lake. Thick black smoke hung high in the air.

You covered your mouth with a hand to secure yourself from breathing with choking smoke.

“You see, Y/N, it's here. The bomb had to be large” one of the rebels, a young boy approached you, rubbing his eyes. “My father said that Royal Army for sure did it by itself to put the blame over us all.”

You sighed sadly, but in the same moment you've heard something.

 At one point, suddenly and unexpectedly, from the direction of Baghadur, a military convoy of several cars of Royal Army has arrived. When people from the Golden Path noticed this, it was too late for any proper reaction.

Royal Army soldiers quickly jumped out of the cars and they started to shoot with guns. Two of them boarded on the trailer and got places behind a big machine gun placed on the cars' roofs.

 The regular exchange of fire has started.

 You watched the situation with horror in your eyes and heavy heart in your chest. Without thinking for a long time, you jumped on the semi-trailer of one of the Golden Path's cars and digged to look for a weapon you could use.

The only thing you've found was an bow with a quiver. When you lifted your head and realized, how close the fighting was, you put the quiver on your back and pulled out an arrow from it.

Almost at the same moment you noticed Ajay, Longinus and Sabal, who had arrived in the wrong place in the wrong time, they were hidding behind one of the Golden Path's cars, occasionally shooting to enemies behind the cover. One of the rebels, who stood next to their hideout, was hit by a machine-gun shot straight in the head and fell dead on the ground. Longinus leaned out from behind the car and when he tried to shoot at the enemy, he almost has been hit by them also. By this movement he betrayed their hiding place.

The remaining rebels after using all of an ammunition headed to grapple, unfortunately, most of them almost immediately was killed by De Pleur's soldiers.

You saw two soldiers of the Royal Army, they were called the Exterminators and your heart almost stopped. Dressed in bulletproof vests with special material, reinforced with heavy CKMs in their hands, they were walking in the direction of the hideout of men to get them from behind. Sabal at the last moment had realized, that they were surrounded and started shooting with little avail, as none of the missiles did not even hit the soldiers, who marched relentlessly towards them.

You had a last chance to prevent the tragedy, you imposed an arrow on the bowstring, aimed it and fired. The arrow with a low whistle flew through the air, sticking straight in the helmet of one of the soldiers. Almost immediately he fell down dead to the ground.

Longinus, Ajay and Sabal turned eyesight to see, who helped them and have almost immediately astonished themselves.

“Y/N!” Ajay yelled.

But you didn't seem to listen.

You reached for an another arrow and this time you also gave a good shot, beating second enemy.

“Y/N, don't do it!” Sabal shouted loudly, trying to stop you.

But it was too late.

About 10 meters away, there were standing cars, which became to the Royal Army and next to them there were the rest of the soldiers, who were not killed. One of them picked up the sniper rifle to the eye, aimed and pulled the trigger.

Just at the moment, when you were about to pull out another arrow, you has been shot just above the left knee. The bullet passed through and sticked into the bodywork of the Golden Path's car.

You screamed in pain.

You rolled over a bit on the side and laid on your back, breathing heavily. You felt the throbbing pain in the left leg.

Suddenly you heard the reloaded gun and realized, that next to you one of the soldiers of the Royal Army was standing. A bit further, few of his companions were standing.

“Get up” ordered the man.

With problems, you slowly got up from the ground.

Immediately you noticed, that Ajay, Sabal and Longinus were brought out of hiding place and now they were kneeling on the sandy road. Behind each of them stood one soldier with a rifle leveled directly at their heads.

At this sight you stopped breathing.

The soldier, who told you to get up, turned to the kneeling men and approached them.

“All of you have the right to remain silent, you shall testify before Paul De Pleur.”

“I won't make any statements in front of anyone” Sabal snapped sharply.

It was enough to provoke the commander.

He raised his rifle and aimed straight at Sabal's chest.

“If so, you won't live to a fucking dawn” man smirked.

“He did not want to say that” Ajay threw his hands up in a gesture of peace.

“I'm not talking to you, mongrel” commander snapped roughly.

He raised his head and nodded to the soldier, who stood just behind Longinus.

There was a loud bang.

You heard your own cry vaguely.

Longinus' body fell limply to the ground.

“You motherfuckers!” Sabal yelled, jumping to his feet, but he was quickly brought back to the ground by two soldiers.

The commanding officer came up to him and put the barrel of a gun to Sabal's temple.

“Now it's your turn” he laughed haughtily.

You found enough courage to shout:

“Noooo!!!”

Surprised, commander turned to you, taking off the finger from the trigger.

“It seems to me, that I did not ask you about an opinion” he hissed.

You looked straight into his eyes.

“Shoot me, but let them free” you said defiantly.

Other soldiers murmured in surprise.

“Y/N, shut up!” Ajay called with anger. “Leave her alone, she is still very young, she does not know, what she says” he began to beg.

The commander laughed lasciviously.

“The young, you are saying? That's good, I like this kind the most, haha!”

You looked sternly at the man.

He came to you and standing only a few centimeters from you, he looked at you intently.

“You're beautiful. Tell me the fuck, why such a beautiful woman is packing herself in such trouble?” man circled you slowly, watching you closely on each side.

“I have my own reasons” you barked, carefully tracking his every move.

“Well ... You look as the girl, which is lacking a real man in bed” he laughed bluffly. He hugged you from behind, grabbing your breasts firmly. “Nice tits. Bet you're a little whore, aren't ya?”

You were watching as Sabal got purple on his face from nerves and started to struggle. He was angry, that a stranger, in addition a soldier of Paul, has fondled you.

The truth was Sabal had a crush on you, but he didn't want to admit it before others...

“Fuck off, this is not your thing” you snorted loudly.

The man suddenly pulled your ponytail thus rendering, that you fell to your knees, gasping in pain.

“You should be polite, bitch!” - he shouted at you.

You closed your eyes and gritted your teeth, to not say a few words too much.

“I'm begging you, leave her” Ajay carefully got up from his knees and with hands raised, he turned to commander. “Let her go, you got us. The leader of the rebellion and his deputy, I think it's a quiet good solution.”

The soldier looked at Ajay with pity.

“I will decide, whom I take and whom I let go” he said.

Again, he turned to you.

“You will be the perfect gift for De Pleur” he summed. “Maybe he'll teach you how to behave properly, scum.”

You froze. But then you said:

“I will not be anyone's gift!”

 But then a quick reflection came to your mind.

It was a good way to sneak into De Pleur's troops. You knew Varshakot fortress very well, but at the same moment you knew De Pleur wasn't trusting you. Of course, you were working for him since few weeks and you never was a problem to him nor his people, but still he had a limited trust towards you.

You took a deep breath.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path, you thought to yourself.

You briefly looked at Ajay and Sabal, then you turned your head to the commander.

“I surrender. Can't fight anymore, I'm injured. You got me.”

A wry smile appeared on man's face.

“Good slut” he gave a look to one of his men. “Inform De Pleur I have a surprise for him.”

[thatboomerkid]

Flawless Scarlet Chaperone

Flawless Scarlet Chaperone -- Pathfinder Combat Feat

“Every living thing in this throne-room -- in this kingdom, truthfully, and farther beyond your borders still; across seas and skies none here can comprehend -- has ample reason to cower at the merest shadow of my blade or the barest whisper of my name.

“All except you, Your Majesty.

“War and treason surround this place; anarchy screams upon the very wind; hungry marauders haunt your roads & woods, sparking dissent into the open flames of rebellion.

“I come to guard your line, in the name of He Who Walks in Blood.”

Most of those amongst your hidden faith seek simply to emulate your patron's role: never targeting nor slaying any rightful monarch, just as Achaekek himself is incapable of killing the truly divine.

You, however, take the ideology of the Red Mantis one step further: you comprehend that the murder of royalty is an utterly blasphemous and abhorrent act, the single unforgivable sin. For are the kings & queens of this mortal world not the anointed agents of the very gods?

Never, then, shall a single drop of royal blood be spilled in your presence.

Brought to you absolutely free to play, to test & to share, as always, by the fine folks of my Patreon.

original image from here

Prerequisites: Lawful Evil alignment; Blessed Pawn of He Who Walks in Blood feat or divine caster in service to Achaekek

Effect: At-will as an immediate action while you are holding or wielding a saw-toothed sabre (here; but see Special, below), you may swap places with an adjacent monarch who has been struck by an attack.

This monarch must be a creature that you truly recognize as royalty, the sovereign head of a nation, one that you may not -- yourself -- ever target or harm. Your own definition of “monarch” is personal, and may -- or may not! -- include the immediate family or blood of such royalty; once your decision is made, however, it is final.

You must be conscious and able to move, and cannot be flat footed, to use this ability. Only attacks and effects that require attack rolls can be intercepted in this way; you cannot prevent a monarch from being hit by a magic missile, for example, nor by a dragon’s breath weapon.

You can make the decision to use this ability after seeing the damage and all immediate secondary effects dealt by the attack. This prevents the monarch from suffering any damage or effect; you instead become the target of the attack and you are automatically hit by it. This is true even if the original attack would not have hit you: the act of intercepting this attack requires that you briefly lower your own defenses and thus leaves you vulnerable.

You do, however, gain the benefit of your own saving throws, DR, and resistance against all secondary effects that allow such defenses. Thus, for example, if you became the new target of a ghoul’s claw attack, you would use your own saves -- rather than the monarch’s saves -- against the ghoul’s paralysis ability.

You and the original target always trade positions as a result of using this ability. You can use this ability on a monarch up to one size category larger than you, but the monarch must be able to stand in the space you originally occupied.

After you have moved in this way, you can immediately make an attack of opportunity against the original attacker so long as that creature is now within your melee reach.

Special: If you are a Scythe-Waltzing Reaper with the Red Reaper of Achaekek feat (as illustrated above), you may also use this ability while wielding a scythe.

Campaign Note: A creature with this ability does not need to be loyal to any monarch in order to gain the benefits of this ability, nor to treat their “social betters” with deference or respect; in fact, many of the sanctified killers trained in this technique are dangerously -- even, some would say, egregiously -- honest with those royalty whom they are sworn to protect.

Many of those who learn this art-form eventually gain the official royal title of spymaster, executioner, judicial champion or scourge; oftentimes, such creatures are the only beings allowed to carry a weapon in court, and spend their days embroiled deep in the complexities of counter-assassination and counter-intelligence operations.

Designer’s Note: A character with this feat can make an interesting and memorable part of an otherwise good-aligned party, especially if tasked to protect a forthright and kind-hearted royal heir.

This feat may be of use with the Sworn Blade in Darkness archetype; it is the antithesis of the Iron Warblade of Shattering Chains archetype.

This ability is based upon the Armiger class.

———–

NOTE:

This website uses trademarks and/or copyrights owned by Paizo Inc., which are used under Paizo’s Community Use Policy. We are expressly prohibited from charging you to use or access this content. This website is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo Inc. For more information about Paizo’s Community Use Policy, please visit paizo.com/communityuse. For more information about Paizo Inc. and Paizo products, please visit paizo.com.