#Me doing this was like partially/half talking to Stardust

[itsthesinbin]

Sins in Stardust [Chapter 6: Code Dorito: Cool Ranch] (Bill Cipher/Reader/Stanford Pines

Should go without saying that this is partially inspired by the Handyman Bill AU. I didn't wanna tag it as that, though, cause I'm not taking from that comic series' canon, just liked the general idea of it. We'll get into more shenanigans in the next couple chapters :3

Feedback appreciated!

Read the fic on AO3 here!

If you like it, reblog it!

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Wendy went from half asleep to predatory as soon as the words left Soos’ mouth. She grabbed an entire handaxe from under the counter, hopping over it in an instant. People screamed and ran for the exit.

Bill yelled as Wendy ran at him with a war cry. He dropped the expensive merchandise, scurrying behind your legs and trying to shove you in the girl’s warpath. Good to know you were expendable, after everything. You held your hands up, grabbing the handle of the axe as she swung. Your arm trembled at the impact- she was swinging to kill. She looked at you angrily.

“Why’re you trying to kill me, lady?! I wasn’t gonna steal it!” Bill paused. “Yet.” The axe-wielding woman frowned, looking at her boss. Soos looked between all three of you, concerned.

“You tried to KILL us, you little freak!” Wendy reached around, grabbing him by the hoodie and dragging him out from behind you. His hood fell back, exposing his triangle head. Not that he was particularly well-hidden to begin with, admittedly. His brow furrowed.

“I’ve tried to kill a lot of people, but I do NOT remember you. And I’d remember a face like THAT,” Bill protested, pointing at Soos. Soos let out a sad “oh…”, before Bill’s protest hit them both. Wendy’s grip loosened enough for you to wrench Bill from her. He hurried to your side, instinctively trying to snap them dead. Of course, nothing happened. Soos and Wendy looked at each other.

“I think we gotta talk, dudes,” Soos said as Wendy groaned. Your jaw tightened and your eyes flicked to the axe in her hand. Looks like you didn’t have a choice. Bill looked at you incredulously, throwing his hands up.

“They just tried to kill me and you’re gonna TALK? You’re not gonna defend me with your life?! I thought we had something, Stardust!” He feigned betrayal, hand to his forehead. You took a deep breath.

“Bill, I felt you shoving me toward them.” “WITH YOUR LIFE!” You grabbed the finger that was pointing at you, moving it out of your face, and turned back to Soos and Wendy. You motioned for them to lead the way. Soos walked through the employee’s only door. Wendy used her axe, subtly reminding you who was in control, to gesture for you to follow her boss. Bill started to say something, but you grabbed him by the hood and dragged him with you.

“Don’t argue with the axe-wielding woman twice your size,” you hissed. He slapped your hand, jerking away from you. He glared at you, walking ahead of you so you were between him and Wendy. You crossed your arms, looking down at the floor.

You were led into a small living room. Soos offered you the chair, since you were the technically-innocent party. He went to grab a couple dining chairs to bring in. You vaguely heard him talking with someone off in the kitchen, before he returned with chairs. A woman with light brown hair and kind eyes followed him, said eyes going wide when she saw Bill. Bill shoved himself up into your seat, sitting on the arm rest next to you. He definitely wasn’t scared of a few humans and a sharp object. But he’d rather you be the meat shield. 

Soos sat down and, after she introduced herself, Melody went to get tea for everyone. Wendy stayed at the doorway, blocking the exit and swinging her axe at her side threateningly. Bill looked away from her. You wrung your hands nervously as Soos spoke.

“So uh… Thought you died, dude. How’d you avoid that?” Bill blinked, looking at Soos like he was an idiot. Then he laughed, kicking his feet back and crossing his arms as he got comfortable on his perch.

“Funny! I wouldn’t get killed by a few fancy water balloons!” Wendy rose a brow and Soos furrowed his own. Then they both snorted and started laughing. Bill turned red immediately.

“Do NOT laugh at me or I’ll slice out your tongues and feed 'em to you!” Wendy laughed harder while Soos clammed up. He turned to you instead, figuring he’d get a more coherent answer out of you.

“How uh… How’d you meet Bill? Did he possess you or something?” Not what you were expecting him to ask, but you guess a dream demon would be able to possess people. Thank fuck you met him when he was powerless.

“No. I was driving into town and went to camp for the night. I, uh… found his statue, I guess. Thought he was an abandoned art project and said I’d take him with me. Had a weird dream and I think an… Axolotl dropped him off in it? When I woke up, he was there.” Bill’s eye snapped to you. His pupil constricted like an angry cat’s. He jumped up, grabbing you by the collar.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING? THAT STUPID AMPHIBIAN, I SHOULD’VE GUESSED HE WAS INVOLVED,” Bill yelled, voice growing deep and layered again like it did that first day. You flinched. Wendy moved to grab him, but Soos was closer. With a harsh yank, Bill was pulled off of you. You barely knew Soos, but the look of anger was clearly not something that was common. Wendy’s shocked face was proof of that.

“Listen, dude. Only reason you’re NOT in one of Mr. Pines’ cages is cause I wanna figure out what’s goin’ on. Do that again and I’ll quit bein’ nice.” Bill struggled, slipping out of the hoodie to get away from the huge, angry man. Soos sneered slightly as he sat back down. He motioned to you. You swallowed.

“The guy didn’t know where… he was at first, and said he might have friends in town, so I brought him here. My car was totaled by some kinda… bear, so we’ve been crashing at the motel.” Soos nodded. Melody brought tea out for everyone, placing a hand on Soos’ shoulder. He turned his attention back to Bill, who was still pissed.

“So… you don’t remember almost killin’ us? When Mr. Pines wiped you out?” “What about weirdmageddon, you remember that bullshit?” Bill snapped to Wendy when she asked her question. He was still pissed, but it was mixed with confusion.

“Weirdma- DID IT ALREADY HAPPEN? How I- I don’t remember-? Who built the portal?” Bill asked frantically. Wendy’s jaw unclenched as she stood up straighter. Melody had a hand over her mouth. Soos leaned down, hand on his knee to balance himself. Bill whipped back to him.

“Does the name Stanford mean anything to you?” Bill stared for a long moment, going red again. His eye inverted colors.

“Who the FUCK is Stanford? Is that who built the portal? WHERE IS IT, YOU OVERGROWN FUNGUS?” He tried to swipe at Soos, but the guy jumped back. Wendy stood, slack-jawed. Soos rubbed his eyes, feeling a headache coming on. Melody squeezed his shoulders. He nodded to Wendy, cutting his eyes at you. Wendy seemed to understand as she tucked her axe into her belt loop. She came over to you, motioning for you to follow her to the kitchen. You hesitated, but followed. Bill tried to follow, but Soos blocked his path.

Wendy grabbed a couple sodas from the fridge, handing you one. She sat and kicked her feet up onto the table, taking a swig before pointing to you. You sat down slowly.

“You are one lucky son of a bitch,” she huffed. “If he was all there, you’d be dead.” She circled her temple with her finger, the universal sign of “that shithead’s crazy”. You frowned. Wendy ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. Then, she began to explain.

“We’ve all had dreams about that Axolotl- did it say anything to you?” You shook your head. You just remember Bill- or at least him as a kid- just appearing next to you. The only words spoken were from him. Wendy grumbled when you told her as such.

“Yeah, me neither- apparently he talked to Soos, though. Said it did some rap about Bill and redemption, but we all thought the guy just ate too many hot dogs in that contest. But I…” She trailed off, looking toward the door. You could hear Bill arguing with Soos, who kept asking if he remembered this or that. Bill was consistent in not remembering things, and you could hear the big guy wavering.

“I guess he really doesn’t remember anything… That throws a wrench in things.” You took a small sip of your drink, foot tapping nervously. You finally had to ask: What was weirdmageddon? Wendy cringed a little.

“I don’t know the full details, but Bill opened a portal to another dimension a couple years back that made everything… weird. He was from some nightmare dimension and brought it here. Tried to take over the world.” You were dead silent. You took a long drink of your soda, wishing it was alcohol.

“You are VERY lucky there’s a walking triangle in there, and I’ve been attacked by gnomes, or else I’d call you fucking insane.” Wendy couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. You felt… a bit at ease, knowing she wasn’t pissed at you. In fact, she even nodded in agreement.

“Man… if I didn’t live through so much bullshit, I’d agree with ya.” She rubbed her temple with her free hand. You tapped your fingers against the can. You two heard footsteps coming into the kitchen. Bill came in first, arms crossed. Soos was scratching his head.

“What should we do?” Both he and Wendy asked at the same time. Soos pulled a “jinx”, laughing as Wendy sighed. Bill groaned as he hauled himself into a chair. His tophat drooped angrily and he kicked his feet like a child. The top half of him was still a furious red. Soos coughed, ending his giggle fit. He put on his serious face again.

“Okay, dudes. I think Bill’s tellin’ the truth- that he doesn’t remember anything. He doesn’t remember Stan, Ford, Dipper, Mabel… Anything I asked.” Wendy sat up fully, planting her feet on the ground and soda can on the table.

“How do you know he isn’t lying, Soos?” “The Axolotl guy said he’d be back eventually, and that they’d explain when the time was right-.” Wendy stood up at that, pulling her axe back out. Bill jolted at the sight of it, hopping to his feet to run if need be.

“We don’t even know if THAT thing is good or not! I say we just kill him while he’s weak!” Now it was your turn to get up. You stood between Bill and Wendy, to both their surprise. You had a scowl on your face.

“I already ran from a mutated bear and a bunch of little bearded freaks with this guy- I’m not gonna just let you kill him.” Bill jumped up onto the table, putting a hand on your back.

“Yeah! My little minion here knows how to beat a gnome to a pulp- can't be too different, right?” You removed his hand from you, giving him a side eye. He was still doing his grin, not realizing you were mad at him. Maybe you should let him die, actually.

No, unfortunately you were a good person. You didn’t fully know if Bill DID actually do that weirdmageddon stuff. It’s two strangers’ word against the guy you barely know but had a prophetic dream about. One kinda outweighs the other, to an extent.

“Well… Mr Pines and Mr Ford’ll be comin’ home in a month. We could keep him here ‘til then?” Soos offered. Bill threw his hands up.

“I am NOT staying at this shit shack for a month!” You frowned.

“Do you promise you won’t kill him?” “Only if he doesn’t try anything with us.” Wendy squinted at Bill, and Soos had his arms crossed. You turned to Bill. He was pissed.

“Bill, think about it. These two out right had a code for you, and almost killed you. If you really DID do all they said, the whole town will be at your throat if they find out you’re here.” Bill started to speak. Then he deflated. He had no power, no memory of even BRINGING armageddon to this place, and only had one person willing to help him. And apparently that Axolotl was involved, somehow.

“I’m… NOT staying here alone! Not after I almost got axed!” Bill looked at you, still pissed but… He almost had a desperation to him. Your face scrunched slightly, thinking. You knew you couldn’t just abandon Bill, but you didn’t know about staying here with the axe lady and her boss. You sighed.

“We’re staying in town- I don’t have a car, and he’s a fugitive apparently. What if we just… come back sometimes?” Wendy was instantly on the fence.

“No way, I don’t trust that little tortilla chip as far as I can throw him.” “WHO ARE YOU CALLING-?” You put a hand over Bill’s eye to tell him to shut him up. He shoved your hand away angrily. Soos put a hand over his mouth in thought. Then he snapped, a grin on his face.

“You need a job for the summer, dude?”

[crownedflora]

𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙻𝚅𝙴 𝙿𝙴𝙾𝙿𝙻𝙴 𝙸'𝙳 𝙻𝙸𝙺𝙴 𝚃𝙾 𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆 𝙱𝙴𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁

tagged by: @toestalucia Thank you, friend!!! Istillfindpeoplemistakingyoururlforsomethingelsehilarious everysingletimeHaAHahhdAHehaeahedasjdf- plsneverchangeit. unlessyoureallywanttoofcourse tagging: Feel free to steal it from me!

ONE ( ALIAS / NAME ): I've gone by many names over the course of my time on the internet, but none of them reeaallly stick. So, if you've known me as somethin' from elsewhere/before, feel free to use that name. Otherwise, give me one, I guess (honestly, I'm so bad at coming up with names)??? If I got a problem with you calling me by a certain name though, I'll probably tell you. There's only one person who knows certain names/aliases from long ago that are forbidden from being publicly uttered, but I don't think I'll have to worry about them ever doing that, so I doubt there's going to be many I'll actually have an issue with. I think. ...Actually, better yet, should probably check in with me if it's okay to use another alias/name in public just in case, please.

TWO ( BIRTHDAY ): March 8th

THREE ( ZODIAC SIGN ): Pisces

FOUR ( HEIGHT ): 172.72cm

FIVE ( HOBBIES ): Aside from writing? Playing video games, listening to music, watching stuff, reading comics/webcomics/etc. ...I should really get back into drawing...

SEVEN ( FAVOURITE BOOKS ): Ha ha ahaha ha ha... I don't remember. It's been a while since I've actually read a novel. ...Huh? I'm just feeling self-conscious over my real answer? Now whatever gave you that idea...?

EIGHT ( LAST SONG LISTENED TO ): Green Garden First heard this song in an anthropology course I took years ago. The instructor would play this song almost every morning before the start of class. Even though I was super tired, my face buried into my arms on the desk, I'd still somewhat try to rhythmically move to it. It hadn't taken long for me to decide that I HAD TO find out what it was called, but instead of asking my instructor (haha, social anxiety), I tried to pay attention to the lyrics, store 'em in my head for later, and then attempted to search the song using said lyrics when I got home. And now it's become a permanent addition to the list of songs I'll listen to every so often. Plus, I like to think it's a song that fits my Petey. Have definitely listened to it in the past while writing starters/replies or just working on various pages/info before.

NINE ( LAST SHOW WATCHED ): SO, I just finished watching-- Uhhh... Don't worry about it. All you need to know is I've watched many things, and am still juggling through several other things that I'm currently watching, and keep considering adding even more to the list.

TEN ( INSPIRATION FOR MUSE ): Music tends to play a part in inspiration. It used to have a larger role when I'd listen to his boss themes years ago and it'd get me all pumped and ready to write! It also depended on the scenario for the RP, too. Like if it was a more peaceful encounter/interaction, my usual go-to was 'Have a Nice Talk' from Bowser's Inside Story (even though Petey never appeared in that game). Otherwise, if it was something more battle or action-y oriented, then I'd listen to something at least somewhat fitting! If the interaction's a crossover one (which will be the case a majority of the time), I might listen to something fitting from whatever my partner's muse's series for the scenario (if applicable, and I like the theme and/or think it fits the tone/mood). These days, music doesn't have as big of an effect as before, and the music used for inspiration is more varied. Otherwise--whether they're directly related to the muse I'm playing or not--watching stuff, reading things, playing games, and listening to voicelines also plays a role in drawing inspiration.

ELEVEN ( MEANING BEHIND YOUR URL ): Matching URL with my friend! Also refers to my portrayal of Petey being a prince/king/royalty from headcanons and the story we were thinking about doing here together.

[realisticjojoxreader]

For writing requests: Hugging the Crusaders!!!!!!!! 😳🥺👉🏻👈🏻

this was very fun to write lol these guys suck

stardust crusaders x reader (?), part 3 obviously, 1.4k

JOSEPH:

You ask for a hug and he obliges instantly, starved for affection since his grandson will barely speak to him. His arms are warm around you, stronger than they should be at his age, and he holds you tight, like you’re the only thing in the world that matters. It feels like you’re the center of his universe.

Taking a deep breath, you wrinkle your nose. What is that smell...? Is that his aftershave? It’s like dust, almost, mixed with wet paper. Where on earth did he get something like that? Why does he use it? It stinks.

The hug is so comfortable, though, and you feel so loved, that you can ignore the weird old man smell. His shirt is scratchy against your skin.

After a long moment, he releases you, hands brushing gently through your hair. Then, something snags, tugging on your hair. Hard. Like, really hard. It actually really fucking hurts. You recoil instinctively, which just pulls your hair even harder, making your scalp burn.

“Oh no!!” screams Joseph, so loudly that you flinch, which just tugs your hair yet again, and you yelp. “Oh shit!! My prosthetic hand is caught in your hair!!”

“Why aren’t you wearing your glove?!”

He hisses apologetically. “I, uh, took it off when I went to the loo.” Oh my god, ew. What the fuck, dude? For a long moment, he stands there trying to undo what he's done, wiggling his fingers in your hair completely ineffectually. “I don’t think we can untangle this ourselves," he says eventually, taking the L. "Let’s go get my grandson.” He turns toward where the others are all standing and takes a slow but confident step forward.

Then Joseph, graceful as ever, trips over absolutely nothing and falls like a sack of bricks. You thoughtlessly brace yourself with your Stand to make sure he doesn’t drag you down, too, forgetting that his hand is very much still stuck in your hair. He falls and takes a hand-sized chunk of your hair with him, leaving you partially bald and sobbing from the pain.

You collapse to the ground, screaming, and the others rush over, finally noticing that something’s happening over here.

“Oops,” says Joseph, holding up a fistful of your hair.

“Nice haircut, idiot,” says Jotaro, looking at you with a tiny smile on his face, like today is Christmas and your partial baldness is his gift from Santa. God, fuck the entire Joestar bloodline. You hope DIO kills them all. They'd absolutely have it coming, though you'd miss Holly.

The only reason you don't abandon them is a promise from Joseph that he'll cover all your expenses until you're back home.

ABDUL:

You ask for a hug and he squints, for second, as if unsure you meant it. When you smile encouragingly, he smiles back and steps forward to wrap you up in his arms.

The hug is warm, like sheets that have just been pulled from the dryer, complete with the clean smell of fresh linen. You’re not sure how he smells so good, seeing as you’ve been traveling in the desert for days, now, and everyone else stinks to high heaven, but you won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

His jewelry rattles as bit as he starts to sway, still holding you tight. You’ve never felt so safe before, especially not since the group made it to Egypt, closing in on DIO in Cairo. As long as you stay in Abdul’s arms, nothing bad can happen.

He pulls back a bit to look you in the eyes. His expression is so hopelessly kind that you have to look away, overwhelmed with it. “Look at me,” he says, voice soft as anything, and you oblige. He says half of your name before his face contorts, as if he’s in pain.

“Abdul? Are you—” you get cut off when Abdul sneezes, right on your face, right into your open mouth. “FUCK!” God, it was so wet, you're going to fucking lose it. You can’t help but punch him in the shoulder.

Because he’s a nice person, Abdul is horrified by what he’s just done to you and also graciously ignores you hitting him. “I’m so sorry!”

It was an accident, so you really can’t get too mad, but you’re still upset. That was so fucking gross.

Something smells weird, now, too. Like smoke.

“Hey, noroma,” says Jotaro, calling you the little nickname he has for you—you don't know what it means, but you're the only one he calls that, which you kind of love. It means you're special to him. Him and the others are finally back from the gas station convenience store, arms full of snacks and water. Jotaro looks bored as ever when he tells you, “Your jacket’s on fire.”

Ah. That explains the smoke smell.

Ultimately, your jacket is ruined and you have minor burns on your wrists. You ask the Crusaders to drop you off at the Cairo airport, because you can’t keep fucking doing this, not after what Joseph did to your hair yesterday.

But then Polnareff makes some revolting-ass puppy dog eyes at you, imploring you to stay, and for some reason, you cave. Anything to get him to stop making that awful face.

POLNAREFF:

You ask for a hug and he grins at you, big and stupid and pleased as punch. That's the expression he makes any time anyone is ever nice to him.

His hug is a little awkward, like he's not used to having someone so close to him. It'd make you feel bad for him if he didn't stink to high heaven. You kind of expected that—he's French, after all—so you're able to ignore it, for the most part. It's not like the others smell like a bag of roses, either, except Abdul, because he rules. (Destroyed jacket and burns that still smart something awful notwithstanding.) It's been a long journey.

After not very long at all, Polnareff starts to get antsy, almost vibrating in your arms. What is he, five years old? Can't he relax long enough for a single hug?

Then he starts giggling, which puts you on edge instantly. Nothing good can come out of him when he's snickering like that.

Before you can pull away, though, you find out why he's giggling.

He's still cackling when he presses his wet, sweat-soaked palms against the bare skin of your arms. You violently recoil and, with more anger than you felt even when Joseph partially balded you, you punch Polnareff right in his stupid fucking nose.

Blood erupts from his face like a geyser. Before you can even laugh at him, something hits you with the force of a moving train. It feels… naked?

Oh. It's Star Platinum. Great. Great! That's just what you needed today, to get your ass beat by Jotaro and his mostly-naked guy of a stand.

Maybe DIO's taking applications.

You almost walk off yet again, but Joseph reminds you of his promise and promises that you're allowed to sit in the front of every car from now on. He also stops Jotaro from kicking the shit out of you, so you stick around, though you suspect you'll regret it.

KAKYOIN:

You ask for a hug and he looks at you like you have two heads. “Me?” he asks incredulously, looking around as if searching for the person you were really talking to. The others are all in the restaurant's restroom right now.

“Yes, you. Who else?” There’s literally no one else around.

“I don’t know,” he says. “I don’t really do hugs. Could you go ask Jotaro or something?”

JOTARO:

Instead of asking for a hug—you know he'll just say no—you ambush him with one, waiting for him to turn the corner and walk right into your open arms. This wouldn't normally work, but you made sure to spring your trap when he was in a heated (though still playful) argument with Polnareff about whale sharks.

Just as you planned, he notices you far too late to stop you, and you grin wide as you wrap your arms around him. He feels solid and warm. You never want to let go.

Jotaro doesn't give you much of a choice.

"Ew," he says before summoning Star Platinum, who grabs you by the scruff of the neck like a naughty kitten. "This is why I call you noroma. Fucking dipshit." And with that, Star Platinum flings you bodily into the dirty ass canal running along the side of the road.

DIO is, in fact, taking applications. You get rejected.

[procrastinatorproject]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Picard Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Agnes Jurati/Cristóbal Rios Characters: Agnes Jurati, Cristóbal Rios Additional Tags: Meta, Developing Relationship, my take on Agnes and Cris's relationship, and why i think it works, Minor Character Death (Mentioned), Psychological Trauma

Title Inspired by @regionalpancake‘s glorious Downtime Drabble “You’re Light On Me”

A while ago, a friend confessed to me that they didn’t really understand what Agnes Jurati and Cris Rios see in each other. They felt the relationship seemed unmotivated and forced, and they didn’t really see why other people thought it worked.

I’ve seen this sentiment a few times since the show came out, and I’m not here to tell anyone they have to agree with the show-writers’ choices or like a relationship if it doesn’t work for them. But I recently reread the little essay I sent that friend in reply (after making sure they’d want to read it ;9 ), and I really liked it, so I thought I’d share it here.

When people say that the kiss between Agnes Jurati and Cristobal Rios at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 1 blindsided them, I understand where they're coming from. I think the showrunners could have done more to make the developing relationship between these characters truly obvious, but for me, it didn't feel like the mutual attraction between Cris and Agnes came completely out of nowhere. Let me explain.

One of the big things about Rios’s character I find striking is that he wants to be stoic and cynical and misanthropic, but he just... can't do it. He tries! He's short, he hides behind his books, and he pretends he doesn't care about politeness. But the only people he ever swears at are Raffi, a very good friend, and the holos (which are a whole other matter, because there is all this self-loathing tied up in Cris's relationship with them). Over the course of season 1, it's pretty clear that Rios is rather good at reading people, and he wants to do right by them. He defers to Picard pretty much immediately and Soji looks at him pleadingly once and he decides to put his ship at risk for her.

Rios doesn't want to like people, he just can't help himself. He wants to be annoyed by Agnes interrupting his reading, but I think he finds her quirkiness disarming and charming. It's already visible in the way he looks at her on the bridge, when they talk about paper books. And then they go to the holodeck to discuss Picard's detour to Vashti. Since Agnes is the audience stand-in, she asks a bunch of questions, and instead of being annoyed or short, Cris patiently explains everything to her (after offering her a seat). Later, when Cris asks Agnes what she thinks about his outfit for the Stardust City caper and she says he's killing it, there's a beat there. He seems almost a little taken aback, either by her sincerity, or maybe by realizing he values her opinion. It's yet another thing they connect over it. (Also robot boxing. That scene is adorable)

With regards to Agnes… I think partially, she's leaning into her natural humour and quirkiness to appear non-threatening and not give herself away, but I also have another read on her behaviour. (This may partially be me projecting WAY TOO HARD, or, to put it more generously, applying some lived experience to what we see of Agnes's character, so your take on this might be very different. But this is what I see.)

When Agnes and Cris talk before they go off to have sex, Agnes is making jokes and smiling. To me, that doesn’t read as fake or a ploy to manipulate Rios, it seems real. And then when he asks, really asks, how she's feeling, suddenly there is this chasm of pain right under the surface. For me, the idea that Agnes has this intense psychological trauma and is dealing with it by finding joy in little things, like watering the plants, and reading papers, and flirting with the hot captain by completely wrong-footing him with a comment about her dad... it feels very authentic. And I can see how this guy, who pretends to be all uncaring and edgy but is actually a big softie not very far under the surface, and who smiles at her jokes and takes the time to explain stuff to her and listens to her babble, that's a nice distraction from the horrible things happening in her mind. Not in the sense that she's manipulatively using him, but in the sense that this kind of human connection gives her moments of light and gives her reasons to keep going, even through so much pain.

After Agnes kills Maddox, she is deeply, deeply conflicted over what she's done. To the point where when they’re leaving the Artefact, she basically says "I don't care if the world ends if I don't kill Soji. Let it all burn. I just can't do this anymore". And then here is this man, who's kind and caring and, yes, hot, and at first it's "I just want to feel something, anything, and he's here, he's half-naked, he's gorgeous". And Rios isn't necessarily opposed to a no-strings-attached fling. Because he keeps telling himself he doesn't get attached and he hates people and he's only ferrying them around because they're paying him. So it's a distraction with a woman who is quirky and witty and pretty, but it won't mean anything, and that's okay.

And then Agnes changes her mind, because she realizes having sex with Rios will make things more complicated. Or maybe because she thinks Rios deserves better. Or that she shouldn't have sex to distract herself from horrible emotional pain because that's kinda unhealthy.

So she pulls back.

And Rios, instead of being annoyed at missing out or feeling like she led him on, or any number of things, asks her how she's feeling. In a way that makes it clear (at least to me) that he really cares about the answer. And for a moment, Agnes lets him see the true darkness inside her. Because she can pretend it's about Maddox dying, she can pretend it's just about being a lonely nerd. She doesn't have to tell him how bad it really is, but she lets herself feel all of the bad emotions for just a moment.

And then she kisses him again, maybe to shut herself up or to distract herself, or because she needs the connection. And he doesn't have any illusion about what it is they're doing. He knows she's trying to feel better, he essentially tells her he knows it's a way for her to deal with her devastation, and he's okay with it. Maybe because he knows what it's like to feel hollow and terrified and need something, anything to cling to.

And at this point, I think they're both still telling themselves that they don't actually care about each other. Cris because he doesn't want to care about anyone ever again so he won't get hurt. (Which, again, he fails miserably at, but I think that's how he wants to see himself and why he treats his holos with so much disdain that Emil tells Picard "He doesn't get any nicer", even though we see Rios being kind to all the people on board.) And Agnes doesn't really have the brain space to allow herself to fall for anyone. She's just taking little moments of light and human connection where she can get them. And they both decide to have sex as a one-night-stand, just to make Agnes feel better for the night, just because they're both lonely and in pain. No deeper meaning behind it.

And then the whole tracker debacle happens. It takes three days to get to Nepenthe and by the time Agnes goes into a coma, they're still a couple days away at least. She doesn't wake up until Picard is back on board, which means she's out for a long time. Even though we don’t see much of the medical drama, we can assume she was very much at death's door. So, now Rios is faced with once again losing someone he feels somewhat responsible for. Someone he has actually gotten close to. And I think that moment and the fear it causes him might make him start to realize how much he actually cares about her.

And then when Picard and Soji are on board, they all sit down together and figure out the big mystery at the heart of season 1. And here is another thing Cris and Agnes find out they have in common: Both of their lives and minds got destroyed by Oh's machinations. Cris went against everything he believed in when he covered up what Vandermeer had done. He didn't actively kill anyone, but he feels like Vandermeer's death is his fault. His belief in the fundamental goodness of Starfleet was shattered when they threatened to blow up his ship. For Agnes, this kind of shattering of a truth she had clung to comes when she realizes she wasn't acting on the directive of the Head of Starfleet Security in a black-ops mission sanctioned by one of the most important institutions of the Federation. Instead, she was nothing but a pawn, used by Oh for nefarious purposes that had nothing to do with the greater good. The exact circumstances of their traumas are different, but they were both caught up in the same catastrophe and cover-up and it has marked them in similar ways.

I think this is one of the reasons Rios doesn't blame Agnes for killing Maddox. If anything, he gets more protective of her, e.g. by trying to stop Sutra from forcing another mind-meld on Agnes. You can see this in a more subtle scene, too: when Cris says goodbye to Agnes at Coppelius station, he reaches out to touch her face, but then he hesitates and proceeds with extreme gentleness and care. To me, that reads like someone very, very aware of the other person's trauma and possible triggers (forced mind-meld) and caring deeply about making sure she feels safe and has something good to counterbalance the horrible memories.

And finally, we clearly jump quite a bit in time at the very end of season 1. When our motley crew sets out from Coppelius, the Synth Ban has been lifted. Just imagine the bureaucracy that must have taken! That’s not something that can be overturned in a day. Also, Raffi and Seven have had time to connect, so I imagine in that time, Cris and Agnes, too, will have slowly figured out whether they're compatible and whether this relationship is something they might, very carefully and gently, endeavour together.

Because they have a compatible kind of humour, because they understand what it's like to feel deeply broken but to keep going regardless, because she's witty and quirky and he's caring and kind and they went through a very specific hell together, and they might be able to hold each other's hands as they slowly make their ways towards healing.

I’m going to do a metatextual thing here and quote an absolutely gorgeous drabble by @regionalpancake that, to me, encapsulates one very important aspect of the relationship between Cris and Agnes.

     Your Light On Me  

You’d forgotten just how it felt. To feel like you. A stranger, Last seen aboard the Ibn Majid. Proud, red trimmed shoulders, Bright pips, a polished combadge. You signed aboard, And found A different man signed off. You’re old enough to know, She cannot fix you. You wouldn’t want her to. That’s between Pops and you. That’s your work to do, Not hers. But Agnes? Preciosa. Something in her, Shines a light. Reminds you who you are. You have to find, Your own way home. But god, It’s nice, At last, To find, A gentle soul, To hold the lamp.

 Chapter 74 of Downtime

That. Right there. A gentle soul to hold the lamp. I think for me, that's what the relationship between Cris and Agnes boils down to.

They are broken people in a broken world, but by the end of season 1, they have found that they can hold each other while they try to put themselves back together. And what starts out as a fun, distracting flirtation, then turns into "meaningless" sex to stop feeling lonely and sad, finally becomes the beginning of a relationship built on shared trauma, but more importantly on kindness and charm.

I have no idea whether these two can make it work long-term, but I am very much on board for what we've seen so far, and I hope this can help a bit in explaining why.

NB: After I finished writing this a few weeks back, I remembered that there was a fic that came to very similar conclusions. Upon reread, I realized it essentially hits the exact same points I do here and does so absolutely beautifully. So if you want a truly touching in-universe perspective on this relationship, go and read Love Comes Softly by Be_Right_Back (@smhalltheurlsaretaken, or listen to the Podfic recorded by Thimblerig. I cannot recommend this fic highly enough!      

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing 23-29 May 2021

I’m so on the ball with this lately... >_> Sorry. Here’s this week’s roundup! May 23rd - 29th!

Remember to give your content creators some love! Be sure to join in on the events at the bottom! And remember to send in any new works you see or make next week!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

The Preventer Calendar https://archiveofourown.org/works/31561295

Gen, Reader, Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei, Zechs Merquise, OC - Character

Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, Humor, Partial Nudity, Reader-Insert, Nudity, A teeny hint of TrowaxReader, Rating because of some gratuitous nudity on Trowa's side

Twelve models, twelve shoots, twelve different locations in the Ardennes, and all of it in two fucking days. Because Preventer couldn’t spare you their agents any longer than that.

Why had you agreed to do this project again?

It's all for the arts.

boxofhatebrains

Helping Hand https://archiveofourown.org/works/31620146

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Explicit, No Archive Warnings Apply, Light Angst, Comfort/Angst, Minor Injuries, Implied/Referenced Blow Jobs, Not Gundam Wing: Frozen Teardrop Compliant, after series, Flirting, Not Beta Read, slight reference to Episode Zero, Swearing

Duo realizes that Heero comes around whenever he damn well feels like it. They’ve been in contact for the last seven years after the Mariemaia incident, but generally at Heero’s own whim. Duo stays in the same place, it’s Heero who gravitates.

This time is no different.

@duointherain

Silent Menace https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/652120818915115009/fic-silent-menace-11

1x2x1

Warnings: Mute Duo. Drugged and injured Heero.

Une always had the dark side of the job. She’d let others give out goodness, but bad news she owned herself. Duo had come to the conclusion that she was trying to take responsibility, trying to be a decent person. He could vibe with that.

@lifeaftermeteor

Touched by the Stars (Ch. 7) https://archiveofourown.org/works/26314657/chapters/77885468

M/M, Chang Wufei/Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei/Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton/Chang Wufei, Chang Wufei/Quatre Raberba Winner

Explicit, Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, thar be porn, Dubious Consent, Aliens, Alien Abduction, Alternate Universe, mention of MPREG, everyone takes a turn with Wufei, alien anatomy and interesting dicks, Tentacles, Monster Boys, Slime, Double Cocks, Cum Inflation, Knotting, Oral, multiple dicks, Xeno, Spitroasting, Oviposition, Body Modification, Polyamory, Unbirthing, Triple Penetration, Cervical Penetration

University instructor Chang Wufei didn't even believe in aliens, much less intentionally attract their attention. But that doesn't mean much when they decided he'd be the ideal final mate for their group and scoop him off of the planet to take home to their queen. Enjoying him on the trip there, of course. 

@noirangetrois

Of the Sea (Ch. 10) https://archiveofourown.org/works/12749670/chapters/78205124

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, fairytale my way, Meroctopus!Dorothy, Slow Burn, Multi POV, POV Third Person Limited, merman au, MerMay, Fantasy Politics, mentions of abuse, Unnatural November

Heero Yuy will soon be reaching the age of majority, at which time he will ascend the throne of Wingaria. Before such time, he must needs choose a bride. But what if there are no good choices? What if someone else has captured his heart?

The Story of Wrong (Ch. 8) https://archiveofourown.org/works/13849020/chapters/77856332

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Duo POV, Angst, Drama, Tragedy, Spoilers, very dark, Heero and Duo don’t die, I promise, Yaoi, slowburn, Mental Instability, Mental Health Issues, Mental Breakdown, If those are in any way an issue for you then go ahead and skip this, Eventual Smut, VERY eventual, this is mostly canon-compliant but I’ve changed a couple things here and there

Duo recounts his experiences during the war in order to explain… well, why he was wrong.

simulacraryn

love me like (tomorrow we’re) stardust https://archiveofourown.org/works/31458119/chapters/77811359

M/F, Treize Khushrenada/Lady Une

Treize Khushrenada, Lady Une, Original Characters, Hot Dog (gundam wing)

Explicit, Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Angst, Near Death Experiences, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, unredeemable villain, Sex, Smut, consent is fucking sexy, Spoiler: He wore the Astro Suit at last!, Newtypes (Gundam Wing), no predators or prey here, intact brains

The World Nation would face off against the White Fang to bring about an end to all conflict between the Colonies and Earth. The plan had called for the bitter end of the last bastion of the old regime, Treize Khushrenada. However, as with every play on the stage of war, the actors have chosen to adlib. Effectively throwing the course of history off the rails, the director finds himself faced with a new road to choose.

@zaganthi

Jiu Jie https://archiveofourown.org/works/31413956

M/M, M/F, Duo Maxwell/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Duo Maxwell; Duo Maxwell/Hilde Schbeiker

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Relationship Negotiation; Polyamorous Character; Quatre Raberba’s Uchuu no Kokoro | Space Heart; Aged-Up Character(s); Newtypes (Gundam Wing); Past Relationship(s); Jealousy; Awkward Flirting; Bathing/Washing; Cuddling & Snuggling; Museums; talking about feelings; Psychic Bond; Dealing with exes; Ex Sex; Colonists exploring earth

Hilde waved goodbye as she left and Duo went to look for Treize and Quatre. What the hell was wrong with him. His body seemed to be saying yes but his mind was definitely not in that space at all. What the everlasting hell was going on. He wanted to see her again but why?

Treize passed him a picture of tree frogs, apparently feeling the confusion as Duo half jogged through the aquarium to catch back up. What the hell. Just what the hell.

It took him a while to get there, but the moment he got close, Quatre saw him, beamed a happy smile and the link opened up with a rush and he was surrounded again in emotional warmth. It was addictive and a relief, and there wasn’t, there wasn’t any recrimination from either of them. Just run off and see an old flame, it’s cool, we’ll be here when you get back vibes.

Lebensmüde https://archiveofourown.org/works/31413278

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Duo Maxwell

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Aged-Up Character(s); Quatre Raberba’s Uchuu no Kokoro | Space Heart; Newtypes (Gundam Wing); Preventers (Gundam Wing); Cameos; Therapy; Aftermath of Torture; Aftermath of Violence; Rape Aftermath; Physical Disability; Gratuitous Smut; Psychic Bond; Psychic Abilities; Domestic; Injury Recovery

Treize remembered the discussion of gunpowder residue on his head; it was one of the things John had been livid about after everything, and unable to explain any more than Treize had at the time. Seeing it written down… was something else. Treize closed the book over his finger, gently tapping it on his thigh as he looked up at Quatre.

“The first hot chocolate of the season,” Quatre said sitting down next to him, comfort flowing over the link. “I really wanted something sweet.” He paused. “I can feel something is…oh.” He noticed the book in Treize’s hand.

“Adding to the list of things we need to probably talk about,” he said quietly, contemplating it as he reached with his other hand to take the cocoa. “Have you written everything up?”

Fanart/Crafts/Photo Manips:

@2pcbart

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31618103

Recollect - Trowa/WuFei, comic style

@alphaikaros

https://alphaikaros.tumblr.com/post/651358650733150208/little-angry-boi

WuFei Chang, fanart

@bettertasting

https://bettertasting.tumblr.com/post/652303436314017792/something-spicy-for-the-dash-im-really-digging

Heero/Duo, fanart, nsfw

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/652089738925359104/%F0%9D%98%9B%F0%9D%98%A9%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%B4-%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%B4-%F0%9D%98%97%F0%9D%98%B3%F0%9D%98%A6%F0%9D%98%B7%F0%9D%98%A6%F0%9D%98%AF%F0%9D%98%B5%F0%9D%98%A6%F0%9D%98%B3-%F0%9D%98%9E%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%AF%F0%9D%98%A5-%F0%9D%98%A4%F0%9D%98%A2%F0%9D%98%AD%F0%9D%98%AD%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%AF%F0%9D%98%A8-zechs-merquise

Tallgeese, gunpla

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/652448694036316160/sd-wing-gundam-ew

Wing, gunpla

@judaru

https://judaru.tumblr.com/post/651257960922857472/im-20-years-late-but-ive-been-reading-a-lot-of

Duo Maxwell, fanart

@keiko1183

https://keiko1183.tumblr.com/post/652327422940807168/completed-with-pencils-might-be-doing-the-acrylics

Trowa/Quatre, fanart

@not-so-dead-fandoms

https://not-so-dead-fandoms.tumblr.com/post/651085636504272896/mermay-01

Heero Yuy, fanart

https://not-so-dead-fandoms.tumblr.com/post/651494132071661568/mermay-02-duo-as-a-betta-fish-merlad

Duo Maxwell, fanart

https://not-so-dead-fandoms.tumblr.com/post/652283083819810816/mermay-03-of-course-i-made-trowa-a-clownfish

Trowa Barton, fanart

@pineappleglazedham

https://pineappleglazedham.tumblr.com/post/651759824584966144

Trieze/Une, fanart, fanfiction, playlist

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@clair-audients

https://clair-audients.tumblr.com/post/652114120696594432

Wing & Altron, gif

@disturbed02girl

https://disturbed02girl.tumblr.com/post/617456995130294273/thoughtful-quatre-thursday

Quatre, manga page

@meggie-stardust

https://meggie-stardust.tumblr.com/post/652350439669547008/same-energy

Epyon is an icon.

Fandom Discourse:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/651423437954433024/a-homage-to-the-reader-insert

Reader Insert Homage

@cuteciboulette

https://cuteciboulette.tumblr.com/post/652076342033170432/shinigamis-coming-to-town-d-duo-just

Duo Maxwell, doujinshi

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/652102805897805825/in-the-groupchat-trowa-why-tf-do-we-have-20

Trowa & WuFei

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/652356366558806016/heero-yeah-but-as-far-as-plans-go-this-is-not-a

Heero & Quatre

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/651830976331251712/duo-gesturing-to-heero-dont-worry-weve-got-an

Duo, Heero, & WuFei

Calendar Events:

@gundamzine

Rhythm Generation 2021

Meet the Mods: https://gundamzine.tumblr.com/post/636708854145613824/come-on-over-a-meet-your-2021-zine-mod-team-head

Check out the blog for the Zine schedule!

@gundam-wing-pride

Gundam Wing Pride 2k21 https://gundam-wing-pride.tumblr.com/post/648237909672083456/incoming-transmission-faq

A Beautiful Rainbow of Prompts https://gundam-wing-pride.tumblr.com/post/649898271517573120/a-beautiful-rainbow-of-prompts

@gwartserver

Month of WuFei https://gwartserver.tumblr.com/post/649995521569767424/month-of-wufei

Shooting Stars (online convention) https://gwartserver.tumblr.com/post/650013463432888320/once-upon-a-time-lifeaftermeteor-and-myself

@gwcocktailfriday

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompt for Friday, !

In need of Summer/Fall(Autumn) prompts!

(I’ll um... fix these when I have time to find more prompts.)

@gwlemonyshenanigans

May 23rd’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/651999227800600576/may-23rd-submission

May 24th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652131130827571200/may-24th-submissions

May 25th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652252350922342400/may-25th-submissions

May 26th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652312096032342016/may-26th-submissions

May 27th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652433653693136896/may-27th-submissions

May 28th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652434486286548992/may-28th-submission

May 29th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652648408588353536/may-29th-submissions

Friday Spotlight! https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652439213602684928/the-lastspotlight-friday

@oztober-rust

Welcome to Oztober Rust

We’re an up and coming Gundam Wing event with a slight twist! This page is still a work in progress, but you’re welcome to join us over on discord and get a feel for the event.

Have discord, will fan. https://oztober-rust.tumblr.com/post/647568110262566912/i-see-a-nice-and-steady-following-we-do-have-a

@seasons-of-gundamwing

Summer Event Voting https://seasons-of-gundamwing.tumblr.com/post/646220556727877633/seasons-of-gundamwing-okay-wingers-its-time-to

@thisweekingundamevents

Events Calendar https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/644080386309275648/events-calendar-update

If you are hosting an event currently, or are planning on one, hit us up with links and dates! We’ll add them to the Calendar and reblog your notices to get the word out!

[hearts-hunger]

together wing to wing || chapter one

Read on AO3 | Masterlist

Series Summary: He's offered his protection before, on the Green. In the hospital, Cee wonders if he'll offer it again, and Ezra wonders if she'll even want him to.

Chapter Summary: The hospital is noisy.

Pairings: Ezra & Cee (platonic!!! if you ship them no offense but i will kill you with my bare hands <3)

Genre: Fluff, hurt/comfort, angst | Word Count: 1.4k

Warnings: hospitals, injury, mentions of canon-typical violence

A/N: This is my first attempt at writing Ezra, and I find he’s a challenging and engaging character to write. I don’t know how long this series will be, or when the next part will be up, or any of the details one could reasonably hope to know, but I hope you like it! ♡

He’d imagined healing would be painful. Exhausting, maybe, and likely bothersome. Restrictive. But never this damn noisy.

The Green was a lot of things, but one thing it wasn’t was noisy. Quiet came as naturally to the tangled forest as the dust, hung heavy in every branch and twisted into every blade of grass. Nothing could live on the Green that wasn’t as mean as the air it breathed, and in Ezra’s experience, nothing mean was ever partial to singing. No birds, no crickets, no creeks that hadn’t been choked up with dust so burdensome it seemed like the water could barely move. Just the quiet, and your own mind to fill up the space in between.

The hospital, on the other hand - he’d never been more beleaguered with needless noise that he had been these past few cycles. The monitors, the doctors, the alarms - even his own breathing was noisy. It rattled in his chest like a broken thing, wheezy and prone to bouts of coughing that left him bone-tired. He slept, but only when his exhaustion surpassed his irritation at the cacophony. He’d thought he would welcome the sound of people, of civilization. Not once had it occurred to him that it would wear on him so deeply, not after so many cycles with naught to listen to but the hum of the filter and his own inane rambling.

He’d been more reserved than usual on that front. It seemed his body had had enough of his loquaciousness, at least for the time being, and insisted on dredging up uncomfortable ills whenever he tried to speak for more than a sentence or two. He was too damn tired, and his lungs hurt too badly with the treatments the doctors kept giving him to clean out the dust. He settled for silence; and, for the first time in a long time, he listened.

She was as bright as the ruby’s blaze, that one. Smarter than anyone he’d kept company with in a long time, and more vibrant than he could recall being in many, many years. He’d seen some of that fire in her on the Green, when she talked of her favorite novel and confided how she wrote her own stories. He was captivated by it now, charmed by her youthful innocence and struck, as he had been even in their first unhappy encounter, by her pluck and intelligence. 

She was telling him about The Streamer Girl, and the sound of her voice soothed all the other noises to a dull racket as he tried to follow the twist and turns of her excited chatter.

“Clo doesn’t even like Reive in the beginning - she thinks Reive is a know-it-all, and she is, kind of, but what Clo doesn’t know is that Reive has been the one covering for her when all the professors think she’s skipping class.”

Ezra rubbed a hand over his chest to ease the urge to cough that never seemed to fade completely these days. “Isn’t she skipping class?”

“I mean, yeah,” she conceded. “But not to slack off, or anything. She’s fighting the - ”

She cut herself off, and Ezra quirked a brow when she didn’t continue. She gave him a little smile, just this side of teasing.

“I shouldn’t say. I don’t want to spoil it for you.”

He hummed in agreement. “Kind of you, birdie.”

He watched as she ran her fingers over the front cover of her well-loved notebook, tapping the beat to a song only she could hear. She looked tired, and he made a note to attempt to steer her towards a good, long rest if the opportunity arose.

“Ezra?”

“Hm?”

She worried her bottom lip; she’d done it so often these past cycles he was surprised it didn’t bleed.

“You will read it, won’t you?”

He watched her expression carefully. He was no authority on teenage diction, but he felt there was likely more she was asking with that question than it seemed at first blush.

“Of course,” he said easily, like he had when they made their unlucky arrangement. If reading her favorite book meant sticking around for longer than the duration of this hospital stay, of course. Of course he would.

Her expression eased, and he felt a measure of relief. She hid a yawn behind her sleeve and brushed her hair behind her ear.

“Maybe after you read it, you can help me write some of my book.”

He smiled. “I assure you, little bird - you would not be so keen for my writing talents if you knew how sorely lacking they are.”

She looked amused. “How can someone who talks as much as you do not know how to write?”

“Oh, speaking is a matter of decisiveness, birdie,” he explained. “No time to mull over what you say - only time to speak it, and see what it reaps.” 

That had been one too many words strung together for his body’s liking, and he obliged its need for a volley of coughs against his fist. He took a stilted breath when recovered and rested his arm over his wound, protective of the stitches that still burned when he moved.

“If I attempted to write... I would fret over every single word,” he said slowly. “I would be one sentence in by the time you’d moved on to another book entirely.”

That much he’d learned from his short-lived endeavor to journal in the early days of his prospecting career: better to speak when the words came easily and never revisit them. Better to let his thoughts come and go rather than record them when they were so frequently things of no true worth that habitually bore unfortunate consequences.

He nodded to her notebook. “I would like to read your book, though, after I read the original.”

She was pale enough with tiredness that her blush was bright pink on her cheeks.

“No, you wouldn’t,” she said. The self-deprecation in her voice had likely been mastered at her father’s behest with his disinterested and contemptuous manner, and Ezra felt a streak of resentment towards the man that warred with his near constant guilt. He wondered how moral it was to be glad Cee would never endure Damon’s scorn again.  

“Best practice is to allow a man to decide for himself what he’d like and wouldn’t like,” he said. He bottled a cough in his chest. “Of course, if you’re of a mind to keep it for yourself, you’ll find no pressure from me to do otherwise.”

Her shoulders visibly relaxed and she opened up again, looking at him like she couldn't quite puzzle him out. She yawned again and she seemed so young to him, then; a tired little girl too world-weary for her own good.

“Try and get some shuteye, birdie,” he said. He tried to settle into a more comfortable position, but his stump had started to ache again; it was a dull pain, like a sick tooth, and evaded every attempt at soothing.

Her brow creased. “You’re hurting.”

He shook his head. “Just a little sore, is all. No use getting into a fluster.”

“I should get the doctor,” she said, and made to rise from her cot. He waved her down with an unsteady hand.

“Settle yourself, birdie,” he chided. “They’ll be in soon enough with appropriate remedy for my ills, and you’ll have lost no time...” He drew a wheezing breath. “Scampering up and down the hallways.”

She narrowed her eyes, unimpressed. “I don’t scamper.”

His chuckle was half-cough. “No? Stride with intention, then. Either way, you’re better off having a lie-down.”

She considered him for a moment, then curled up in her cot and tucked the blanket under her chin. He reached up to the panel behind him to turn the lights off, wincing a little as he did; the sun came through the heavy blind only enough to cast the room in a warm, dim glow. 

“Wake me when the doctor comes,” she said. Her voice was already heavy with sleep.

“Shh, birdie,” he soothed. “No more of your fretting. You try and sleep for... as long as you can.”

She’d proven adept at sleeping despite the noise, though he felt that was likely more the result of her exhaustion catching up to her than any real comfort in such a busy place. He watched as she succumbed to her fatigue, one hand tucked under her cheek, and was glad that at least one of them could sleep.

He rested his hand on his collarbone, tentatively pressing on the hollows of his too-thin frame. His ministrations did not improve his discomfort, but they offered something to do; he closed his eyes and listened to the noise, missing Cee’s voice in spite of himself.

Read chapter two!

pedro pascal character taglist: @punkgeekchic​​​​​​, @tv-saved-the-teenage-girl​​​​​​, @stardust-galaxies​​​​​​, @theorganasolo​​​​​​, @qhbr2013​​​​​​ ♡

let me know if you’d like to be added to this taglist or the series taglist! ♡

[eleutheramina]

Is Scoopshipping Good Writing? An Extremely Long Text Post

This is partially a response post to criticism of the ship and Jack’s development in the Dark Signers arc, and partially my own analysis of Jack and Carly’s relationship--specifically whether it is congruous with Jack’s Fortune Cup characterization and whether it says anything meaningful besides just invoking the Power of Love. 

Introduction

It’s been over 10 years since 5D’s first aired, which is surreal. I still remember thinking the whole concept was ludicrous at first, but it eventually became my favorite Yugioh series (though I usually ignore the series post-episode 64 and consider the first 64 episodes by themselves). It was really primarily because of these two fools that I started watching in earnest:

I shipped them big time. Even now, I still really adore their relationship. Most of my ships I end up becoming less obsessed with over time, but Jack/Carly continues even to this day to captivate my heart and imagination. 

Recently, though, I’ve been thinking about the question, is their relationship good writing? Especially in how consistent it is with Jack’s characterization in the Fortune Cup arc, and whether or not it works to develop him as a character afterward.

(Of course, my personal stakes in the question is, should I be shipping them? While ships obviously don’t have to be well-written in canon or anything like that for someone to ship them, it’s significant to me because so much of the reason I liked Jack/Carly in the past is because it did feel decent character development, especially in contrast to what came after the Dark Signers arc.)

Why I’m Writing This

This sense of doubt about the writing of their relationship is especially spurred on by this character analysis of Jack:

“A lot of people seem to think that the introduction of Carly and the whole romancey subplot developed Jack as a character and for the better. I could not disagree more. If there's one word I'd associate with Jack prior to his entire development and dignity as a character going down the crapper, I'd have to say it's 'ego'. How did Rex/Jaeger get him to sell out his friends, steal Yusei's stuff and join him? He appealed to Jack's ego. How did he persuade him to stay after his first loss to Yusei? By telling him about the signer and reassuring him, again, that he was special. Overall, Jack just struck me as a very focused and driven character, intent on achieving his own goals on his own. He actively pushed away everyone who tried to get close to him, most obviously Mikage, who is consistently worrying over him but whom he never spares as much as a thought or a kind word for in return. Ever. This egocentric attitude is also, at the risk of over-analyzing, consistent with Red Dragon Archfiend, both in its moving away every defensive obstacle in its way and in its actively destroying any monsters that didn't join it in attacking. I generally don't like going onto this level of symbolism because it so easily devolves into semantic nonsense, but given the parallels here and the similarly fitting effects of Yusei's Stardust, I thought it worth mentioning. This would also lend a bit of further significance to him handing the card over to Yusei before the tournament, not only affirming his egocentric wish to beat Yusei at his strongest (and thus redeem himself for their last duel) but also his rejection of the self-sacrificing/others first mentality that the card represents. His obsession with Red Dragon Archfiend after that duel is also consistent with this interpretation, with Jack pushing himself even harder to prove to himself that his way is correct.

“Overall, I don't object to the notion of Jack learning to be less ego-centric as development, but the way the dark signer arc handled it was beyond contrived and ham-fisted, pushing him into an impromptu romance that was completely inconsistent with egocentric personality thus far and completely glossing over the far more interesting questions of how he'd rebuild his ego after essentially losing his entire self-image as the king in front of everyone. Instead, apparently all he needed was for a crazy lady to abduct him from hospital, blackmail him for the sake of her own career, then give a few lines of generic encouragement and invoke the power of love. From where I'm standing, it was obvious that he was intended to be Yusei's main foil, representing a pragmatic, egocentric worldview to contrast with his idealistic views on bonds and friendship, but equally clear that that idea was quickly scrapped in favor of shipping bait and deifying Yusei.

“Jack Atlus, he deserved a far better closure to his development than Stockholm syndrome.” --Aea (http://neoarkcradle.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=26&pid=735)

Before I get to what I think is actually pretty solid about this analysis, I want to address some points. The idea of Carly being “crazy” is pretty hyperbolic. Calling what she did “abduct[ion]” is just inaccurate--after all, Jack asks her to take him out of the hospital, and he also refuses to return when Mikage and Ushio go to get him. Of course, he tries to leave her place in episode 31, but he also seems to willingly return there at the end of the episode. Because she wasn’t really kidnapping him or holding him at her home against his will, their relationship isn’t Stockholm syndrome.

I do think there’s some validity to the idea of her blackmailing him for her career. She does try to draw attention to him when they’re out in public in episode 31 in order to get him to stick around so that she can get a scoop from him. As comically as it is presented in the episode, that’s nonetheless what she does (and she also tries to leverage his lack of gratitude, too!). But she does ultimately feels remorse for that and resolves to not write any article that would hurt a duelist (even despite the fact that Jack lets her write what she wants about him), which is glossed over in this analysis of Jack.

I also don’t think that the encouragement she gave Jack was super original. Here’s the exact quote (which she says in response to Jack divulging his past to her):

“If you get the picture that much, why don’t you just start your life over again? The old Jack died in that battle with Yusei. Now it’s time for the real Jack Atlas to live. Plus, it’d help you in becoming a real King, right?”

Essentially, she tells him that he can get back up again after his loss and be even better than he was before. Yeah, at face value, it is pretty generic. But I do think that it does speak into a lot of what he was struggling with, at least as it is depicted after his defeat.  Now, whether these are things that make sense for him to struggle with is a different issue that I’ll discuss in a later section.

And finally, I do think that Jack/Carly invokes the power of love trope. At least, Jack invokes it himself when he is talking back to Godwin in episode 63: “No matter how much I deny it, I cannot escape from what’s known as ‘bonds.’ And what helped me understand that was one woman’s love!” I don’t think the power of love is necessarily a bad thing, and I think it makes sense for someone who gave up their bonds from the past to pursue his own goal to be able to be moved and changed by someone genuinely caring for them.

Now, whether or not it was a good decision to have love be the driving force in Jack’s character development during the Dark Signers arc is a different question, which brings me to the points of Aea’s analysis that I find really compelling and want to grapple with.

What I read Aea as primarily saying is that Jack in the Fortune Cup arc is depicted as a highly egocentric person, and that his plotline with Carly in the Dark Signers arc is a) inconsistent with that previous characterization and b) not as interesting as a plotline in which his egocentrism could continue to serve as foil to Yusei’s worldview.

I think a lot of that makes sense. I do think Jack was driven by his ego, and I do think that it might’ve been more interesting if his self-driven worldview were able to be given as much validity as Yusei’s idealistic, others-driven worldview, which is ultimately what is privileged. I can also see how Jack being primarily motivated by saving Carly during the latter half of the DS arc may be incongruous with his egocentrism just 20 or so episodes before.

At the same time, though, I think there are a lot of directions 5D’s could have gone which have the potential to be more interesting than the one it actually went, so rather than wondering about what could have been, it would be more worthwhile to examine Jack/Carly’s plotline and see whether or not it is inconsistent with Jack’s previous characterization, and also to see if it has any merit of its own as far as it develops Jack’s character. 

Particularly, I am going to argue that a) although perhaps not as well executed as it could be, it made sense for Jack’s character to need to change after the Fortune Cup arc, and the way it changes is not incongruous with his previous characterization. Indeed, Jack’s character development in the Dark Signers arc centers around him reconceptualizing what being a King is.

Also, b) Jack and Carly’s relationship ultimately deals with and says interesting things about the idea of being driven by oneself that, rather than totally undermining the mentality that initially drove Jack to abandon his friends to become King, gives it some nuance.

Point A: It made sense for Jack’s character to need to change after the Fortune Cup arc, and the way it changes is not incongruous with his previous characterization. Indeed, Jack’s character development in the Dark Signers arc centers around him reconceptualizing what being a King is.

So throughout the course of one arc, Jack goes from being a man who is motivated primarily by himself and his desires (to the point of being willing to put down others for them), to a man whose main reason for action is someone else’s well being. It does seem like a stark change. Rewatching the Jack/Carly duel, the sheer amount of concern for Carly that Jack shows is pretty astounding.

But I think that it’s understandable for there to need to be a change. For one, the particular reason why Jack lost to Yusei in episode 26 in the first place is because he tried to win using the same strategy as before--he wanted to redeem himself for his first near loss. Clearly there is a need for a change: Jack loses not once but twice to Yusei in the same season, and Yusei also cites Jack’s pride as a King as his reason for his loss.

The drama between Yusei and Jack during the Fortune Cup arc is driven by Jack losing to Yusei and needing to duel and beat him again to redeem himself and prove he’s the better duelist--that he truly deserves the title of King. In episode 6, when Jack realizes he would have lost to Yusei, it’s clear that he’s not driven by how his fans perceive him. While his fans have no idea that he lost, he’s nonetheless still bothered because he, the King, knows. In episode 8, Jack feels like he’s not the King anymore, even though Mikage says he still seems like one. The cheers of his fans sound hollow because he knows he doesn’t deserve them.

Something I find interesting is Jack’s awareness of his counterfeit Kingship revealed through his calling himself a clown. After his initial defeat, Jack asks Mikage if he’s a clown in episode 8, in episode 25 he asks Godwin to release Rally and co as “reward for a clown,” and in episode 31, he also uses the language of a clown when he talks to Carly: “Back then, I gave up everything, and what I gained from it was the path to being a King who continually acts like a clown as he lies about his true identity.”

Because of this, the way I see Jack’s character is that his identity as the King was made counterfeit at almost the very beginning of the series (episode 5). He then spends the entire rest of the Fortune Cup arc trying to regain his original conception of his King identity, only to ultimately fail. From Jack’s own language, I think we’re meant to see this as Jack’s foolishness. While it may have seemed fine for two years, the King identity that he had held onto no longer worked for him. When confronted by someone from his past, his King identity starts to crumble--first he’s defeated not once but twice, then it’s revealed he’s actually from Satellite, etc. In episode 25, he even shows awareness that Godwin baited him with the idea of being a duel king; when Godwin asks if that isn’t what he wanted, Jack says that he wanted to rule as “the King [he] truly desired to be.” Indeed, it’s revealed that he wasn’t even valued by Godwin for himself, but rather as a means of getting to Yusei. It makes sense, then, that his development after his defeat should center around letting go of his original conception of his King identity and discovering something more true.

All of these realizations are those that Jack comes to more or less on his own; Carly even says that Jack already “get[s] the picture.” So I do think it is congruous with Jack’s Fortune Cup characterization for him to need to find a new way of being King in the Dark Signers arc. Hence the need to start over, as Carly suggests. (And which is revisited in episode 37 when Jack talks to Mikage again, episode 59 when Carly does her fortune telling stuff, etc.)

I think it’s because Carly gives him hope after he loses his King identity that she makes such a mark on him and effectively becomes his main motivation in the DS arc. And I mean, Jack in the DS arc is still pretty aloof and pushes others away—he makes it clear to Yusei that he “hasn’t become anyone’s friend” in episode 45, and he really doesn’t rely on anyone else even as he angsts over Carly. No one even knows the identity of the Dark Signer he’s fighting. While Yusei still draws on his friends for strength, we see Jack continue his independent streak. Heck, he even pushes Carly away! (And she honestly probably would have been better off and not have gotten killed if she had just stuck with him, but that’s for another AU...)

An aside - I sometimes read people saying that they think Mikage could have filled the same role Carly did. Maybe, if written differently, she could have. But I think it’s notable that when Jack is angsting about having lost his sense of being a King in episode 8, Mikage is not really able to understand or speak to him in a way that actually meets him where he is. She clearly cares about him, but I think she’s not able to get past the image of the King that she and his fans project on him. I think Carly is able to empathize with his pain more. When Jack calls himself foolish and a clown, Carly doesn’t try to convince him he’s wrong--instead, she says something more like, “Sure, that’s true--but that doesn’t have to still be who you are.”

Point B: Jack and Carly’s relationship ultimately deals with and says interesting things about the idea of being driven by oneself that, rather than totally undermining the mentality that initially drove Jack to abandon his friends to become King, gives it some nuance.

I would argue that this is because Carly’s own character, as well as their relationship in general, deals a lot with themes of selfishness. While not presented as starkly as Jack’s self-drive is, it is obvious that Carly is someone who is self-driven and desires to achieve her goals, not completely unlike Jack. Her first appearance has her going past a swath of reporters to talk to Godwin, and her subsequent interaction with her boss shows that her job is precarious and that the scoops she seeks after are at least in part to keep her job. Like Jack, she came from a lower class background (although “the streets” rather than Satellite), and she doesn’t seem to have any close ties (Angela the reporter might count, but that’s a stretch). And when she goes to talk with Yusei and Dick Pitt after their duel, her concern is not with their wellbeing but about getting information from them for a scoop. “Straight ahead is the only way for me,” is something she repeats, showing that she knows where she wants to go and is determined to get there.

Indeed, Carly would not have met Jack at all if she had not snuck into the hospital trying to learn if he was truly from Satellite. She is someone who is driven primarily by herself, albeit more innocuously than Jack is. This also underlies why she was willing to “blackmail” Jack into going to the amusement park with her. She needs a scoop and is ready to do what it takes to get it.

But, we see how in the same episode, she starts thinking less of herself and more about another--Jack. She thinks, “He’s really hurting inside. And here am I trying to write an article about it. Am I a bad person for that?” She considers what he is going through, rather than just her own needs. When she defends Jack to Angela, she is driven not by her desire to keep Angela from getting her scoop, but a genuine care for Jack. And when she figures out he’s going to the tower to look at Satellite, it’s only by inhabiting his point of view and thinking about what he may want. Yet the question she asks herself--whether or not it’s bad to be writing a scoop about him (after all, it is her job, as Angela points out)--is an important one for her.

As self-driven as Carly is, she realizes she has limits--that is, she would not go as far as to hurt another person to achieve her own goals. Jack, on the other hand, has already done that, putting Rally in peril and taking Yusei’s card in order to get to Neo Domino City and become King.

We see again how Carly can be self-driven when she tries to get closer to Jack after he leaves, and when it is ultimately an illusion of happiness with Jack that causes her to fall back into her Dark Signer persona. Yet even then, it is clear that she does not want to hurt anyone, and Jack repeatedly reiterates this.

This culminates in the conversation she has with Jack before she dies: Carly: I loved cheering people on who tried their hardest like you, Jack. Despite that, because I tried to wish for such selfish happiness, I must’ve been wrong for doing so, huh? Jack: That’s nonsense! Everyone has the right to wish for happiness. If you’re saying that’s a crime, then I’m just as guilty!

Carly says herself that she was motivated by her own desires. Jack, in affirming her desire to obtain happiness, also affirms the ambition that drove him to abandon his friends. However, we see in how Carly is reluctant to hurt others that while it is not bad to want to pursue one’s goals and happiness, it is important to consider the impact on other people. It wasn’t bad for Carly to want to be with Jack, but it would obviously be bad for that to necessitate the deaths of many; it’s not bad for her to want to write a successful story, but it’s bad for her to take advantage of duelists’ like Jack’s pain to tell that story. This allows us to view the Jack in the FC arc in a new light: his desire to escape Satellite and become a King wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t right of him to harm others in order to get there.

Ultimately, Jack and Carly’s relationship is about two people learning how to pursue their happiness and also learning to put each other’s happiness first.

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

The BNHA Group Chat Fic Nobody Asked For

Pairings: Todoroki Touya (Dabi)/Mr/ Compress (Sako Atsuhiro), Shimura Tenko (Shigaraki Tomura)/Chisaki Kai (Overhaul)/Kurono Hari (Chrono), Yamada Hizashi (Present Mic)/Aizawa Shouta (Eraserhead)/Shirakumo Oboro (Loud Cloud)

Word Count: 3,895 Words

Summary: Kaminari unknowingly creates the ultimate hell of both Class 1-A and Class 1-B a week after they move into the dorms.

Warnings: Cursing, Sleep Deprivation, Insomnia, Half Blind Character, Deaf Characters, Anxiety Mention, Mostly Mute Character (due to a different medical issue), Selectively Mute Character, Homophobia, Sexism, Caps, Food Mention, Period/Menstruation Mention, Mineta Minoru Exists (sadly), let me know if I should add anything else.

Note: AU where the League Of Villains are just hero course students. btw Yukimura is Dabi (he goes by his mother's surname (mostly because it's his last hurrah at making Endeavor absolutely livid at him and partially so he and Shoto don't get confused whe someone calls for 'Todoroki')

Usernames:  We Are Number One™ Aizawa: Dadzawa, Aoyama: immafiringmahlaser, Ashido: princessbubblegumknockoff, Asui: Galvan, Iida: Emergency Exit, Uraraka: 9.8, Ojiro: tailfloof, Kaminari: Pichu, Kirishima: baby shark, Koda: youredoingamazingsweetie, Sato: GuyFieriIsGod, Shoji: Cthulhu, Jirou: Jack Skellington, Sero: Spider-Man, Tokoyami: EdgarAllanCrows, Todoroki: WHERE?, Hagakure: cena, Bakugo: WHAT?, Midoriya: SmolMight, Mineta: Mineta, Shinsou: exhausted, Yaoyorozu: TheGreatCreator, Kurono: stopwatch, Chisaki: donthugmeimscared, Yukimura: choticgaydisaster, Bubaigawara: shadowclonejutsu, Shimura: idontfeelsogood, Awase: illrememberyouallintherapy, Kaibara: IDOWHATIWANT, Kamakiri: scyther, Kuroiro: itsmeyaboy, Kendo: Akimichi, Kodai: deadinside, Komori: shroomgurl, Shiozaki: wElCoMeToBiBlEsTuDiEs, Shishida: furry, Shoda: cryptid, Tsunotori: mylittlepony, Tsubaraba: airbender, Tetsutetsu: Iron Man, Tokage: t-rex costume, Fukidashi: glorifiedtextbubble, Honenuki: Eren Jaeger/spookyscaryskeletons, Bondo: Slimer, Monoma: HopeSummers, Yanagi: iLiEdImDyInGiNsIdE, Rin: snek, Toga: mystique, Sako: lostmymarbles, Hikiishi: queenofmagnetism, Iguchi: eye gucci, Shinokanri: stardust

Usernames: Emos Anonymous Kaminari: blackcloakedbrides, Shoji: fryingpan, Jirou: greentwentyfourhours, Tokoyami: myscientificinfatuation, Todoroki: twentyoneplotpoints, Bakugo: immobileinwhite, Midoriya: falldownboy, Shinsou: stabtheveil, Kurono: inhalecarolina, Chisaki: plummetingininverse, Yukimura: anxietyintheclub, Shimura: nappingwithsirens, Kuroiro: thousandfootcane, Kodai: marianaspit, Monoma: entiretimelow, Yanagi: recentyearsday, Sako: halfminutetomars

Usernames: UA Teachers Are Tired™ Eraserhead/Aizawa: grumpy scarf cat, Present Mic/Yamada: screeching cockatiel, Midnight/Nemuri: chaotic goth gay Ingenium/Iida: gotta go fast, AllMight/Toshinori: actual sunshine, Vlad King/Kan: bloody hell, Power Loader/Majima: speechtotext, Ectoplasm: needalegup?, Snipe: kazoo cowboy, Cementoss: concrete block, Blackmist/Kurogiri: goth portals

BNHA Group Chat-Chapter 1

12:34 AM

Kaminari has added Bakugo, Kirishima, Sero, Ashido, and 45 others to 1-A and 1-B

Ashido: ooooh

Ashido has changed the chat name to We Are Number One™

Kaminari: oh my god why didn't I think of that!?

Ashido: because honey you're too precious to meme like that but its okay because you're cute

Kaminari: YAY I'M CUTE

Bakugo: I'll let you off with waking me up once.

Bakugo: ONCE!

Bakugo: As long as you come up here and go to sleep, Kaminari.

Kaminari: In your room?

Bakugo: Door's open, get up here.

Bakugo is offline

Kaminari is offline

3:45 AM

Todoroki has changed their name to WHERE?

WHERE? has changed Midoriya's name to SmolMight

WHERE? has changed Iida's name to Emergency Exit

WHERE? has changed Uraraka's name to 9.8

WHERE? has changed Asui's name to Galvan

WHERE? has changed Yukimura's name to chaoticgaydisaster

WHERE? has changed Tokoyami's name to EdgarAllanCrows

WHERE? has changed Shimura's name to idontfeelsogood

WHERE? has changed Kurono's name to stopwatch

WHERE? has changed Bakugo's name to WHAT?

WHERE? has changed Kaminari's name to Pichu

WHERE? has changed Kirishima's name to baby shark

WHERE? has changed Ashido's name to princessbubblegumknockoff

WHERE? has changed Sero's name to Spider-Man

WHERE? has changed Shouji's name to Cthulhu

WHERE? has changed Yaoyorozu's name to TheGreatCreator

WHERE?: that's that I know and I'm sticking to it class 1-b do your own

WHERE?: ah yes my last sleep deprived act for the night

WHERE? is offline

3:48 AM

chaoticgaydisaster: I very much approve.

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Sako's name to lostmymarbles

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Iguchi's name to eye gucci

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Toga's name to mystique

chaoticgaysisaster has changed Shinōkanri's name to stardust

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Bubaigawara's name to shadowclonejutsu

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Hikiishi's name to queenofmagnetism

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Chisaki's name to donthugmeimscared

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Kuroiro's name to itsmeyaboy

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Monoma's name to HopeSummers

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Shiozaki's name to wElCoMeToBiBlEsTuDiEs

chaoticgaydisaster: goodnight

chaoticgaydisaster is offline

6:30 AM

SmolMight has changed Hagakure's name to cena

SmolMight has changed Aoyama's name to immafiringmahlaser

SmolMight has changed Jirou's name to Jack Skellington

SmolMight has changed Sato's name to GuyFieriIsGod

SmolMight has changed Ojiro's name to tailfloof

SmolMight has changed Koda's name to youredoingamazingsweetie

SmolMight has changed Tetsutetsu's name to Iron Man

SmolMight: thank me later

8:30 AM

HopeSummers: why is nobody changing more 1bs names?

HopeSummers has changed Kendo's name to Akimichi

HopeSummers has changed Kamakiri's name to scyther

HopeSummers has changed Tsunotori's name to mylittlepony

HopeSummers has changed Rin's name to snek

HopeSummers has changed Honenuki's name to Eren Jaeger

HopeSummers has changed Shoda's name to cryptid

HopeSummers has changed Shishida's name to furry

HopeSummers has changed Komori's name to shroomgurl

HopeSummers has changed Awase's name to illrememberyouallintherapy

HopeSummers has changed Kaibara's name to IDOWHATIWANT

HopeSummers has changed Yanagi's name to iLiEdImDyInGiNsIdE

HopeSummers has changed Tsubaraba's name to airbender

HopeSummers has changed Kodai's name to deadinside

HopeSummers has changed Fukidashi's name to glorifiedtextbubble

HopeSummers has changed Bondo's name to Slimer

HopeSummmer: All done. Everyone has a name.

Eren Jaeger: um...what is an Eren Jaeger?

HopeSummers: fuck

HopeSummers has changed Eren Jaeger's name to spookyscaryskeletons

spookyscaryskeletons: Oh I know that one!

HopeSummers: Also I'm making you you watch Attack On Titan. You've gotta Hon.

spookyscaryskeletons: This chat is actually very useful come to think of it.

spookyscaryskeletons: Does anyone have any ideas of what to have for breakfast?

HopeSummers: Honey, you know you can't chew. What are you planning?

spookyscaryskeletons: That's okay! I want to make sure everyone is healthy!

HopeSummers: I know. Uhhhh, pretty sure I've never heard of anyone in our class having any allergies to it so just go with congee.

spookyscaryskeletons: Thank you.

IDOWHATIWANT: Honenuki? More pure than Midoriya?? more likely than you think.

Cthuhlu: I saw a cat on the fourth floor.

Cthulhu: I opened my door and she just walked in like she lives here.

WHAT?: Fuck. Hotaru got out last night when Kaminari came in.

Cthulhu: So I just send her back?

WHAT?: Yeah, she'll be fine. She does that.

SmolMight: Oh my god you brought Hotaru.

WHAT?: So? And Todoroki brought Asahi. And Koda brought Usagi.

itsmeyaboy: I'm so lost.

chaoticgaydisaster: Their pets.

itsmeyaboy: We're allowed to do that!?

chaoticgaydisaster: No, Asahi, Usagi, and Hotaru are service animals.

mylittlepony: why do they have service animals

chaoticgaydisaster: kinda a rhetorical question ya know

chaoticgaydisaster: also not my place outing it

WHERE?: I'm blind in my left eye. Asahi is my service dog

WHAT?: Fucking deaf and clinically depressed

youredoingamazingsweetie: Usagi is my emotional support animal for my anxiety.

itsmeyaboy: Are you kidding? Other people here have disorders?

itsmeyaboy: I thought I was the only one.

chaoticgaydisaster: I'm mostly mute, can't talk too much or my jaw hurts and I have anxiety

itmeyaboy: Hey, I have selective mustism.

chaoticgaydisaster: We need to hang out.

lostmymarbles: Happy you're making friends, dear.

mystique: Purest Couple Ever™

Mineta: gross gay people

Mineta: gay people should die

49 members are idle

9:00 AM

Bakusquad

WHAT?: I really fucking hate him

baby shark: everyone does

9:00 AM

Izukrew

WHERE?: I'm uncomfortable.

SmolMight: I wanna yeet him into the sun

9:00 AM

Emos Anonymous

myscientificinfatuation:  I really hate that purple fucker.

stabtheveil: WHAT DID I DO!?

immmobileinwhite: Nah man, the grape fucker in 1-A.

blackcloackedbrides: shit, I didn't add you, Hito

stabtheveil: add me to what?

twentyoneplotpoints: to a big group chat between 1a and 1b

nappingwithsirens: he made it last night while someone us were actually trying to sleep

greentwentyfourhours: i was busy not caring about that chat

stabtheveil: oh. its okay if you don't add me, i'm not exactly part of the hero course

falldownboy: that's not it Hito

anxietyintheclub: I'm adding him to the big chat you monsters

stabtheveil: wait, wtf is even happening in that chat?

plummetingininverse: hell actual literal hell hito

immobileinwhite: No, it's just Mineta being a fucking asshole again and the others are all relatively okay.

anxietyintheclub: I'm still gonna add our good purple boy to the chat. He deserves love too.

9:10 AM

We Are Number One™

chaoticgaydisaster has added Shinsou

chaoticgaydisaster has changed Shinsou's name to exhausted

exhausted: coolio

chaoticgaydisaster: feel free to read the backlog

exhausted: in front of my salad? hell na

idontfeelsogood: Shinsou why? why must you meme this early in the day?

exhausted: <- read my name bc its accurate

donthugmeimscared: Shinsou, are you really eating salad this early dude?

exhausted: its not salad

exhausted: leftover miso

Emergency Exit: Shinsou, you really should eat more than just miso

exhausted: fuck you i do what i want let me be sleep deprived

Emergency Exit: Shinsou...

Mineta: new kid has balls

Mineta: get it? balls?

Mineta: that's a guy right?

50 members are now idle

9:20 AM

Emos Anonymous

falldownboy: why don't we all just visit the 1b dorms? i'll get floor 2

immobileinwhite: Good idea, I'll round up floor four.

nappingwithsirens: me and @plummetingininverse already have Jin in my room

twentyoneplotpoints: me and @anxietyintheclub can get floor 5

blackcloackedbrides: dibs on getting floor three

myscientificinfatuation: Sato says he's bringing a shitton of muffins if we do

anxietyintheclub: I private messaged Atsu, he says 1bs okay with us coming over.

plummetingininverse: everyone, to your floors! onward to 1b's dorms!

10:45 AM

Emos Anonymous

anxietyintheclub has added Kuroiro, Yanagi, Monoma, Kodai to Emos Anonymous

anxietyintheclub has changed Kuroiro's name to thousandfootcane

anxietyintheclub has changed Yanagi's name to recentyearsday

anxietyintheclub has changed Monoma's name to entiretimelow

anxietyintheclub has changed Kodai's name to marianaspit

thousandfootcane: dafaq is this

plummetingininverse: Emos Anonymous where you can be an emo without judgement or allusion to the outside world of our emoness.

plummetingininverse: i'm still so tired guys i think i'm getting sleep deprived

twentyoneplotpoints: we could make a blanket fortress in the 1b commons

anxietyintheclub: on it, asking Atsu

12:34 PM

We Are Number One™

shadowclonejutsu: guys look how cute this is [several pics of Yukimura, Shimura, Shinsou, Jirou, Kodai, Bakugo, Monoma, Midoriya, Todoroki, Yanagi, Tokoyami, Chisaki, Shihai, and Kaminari asleep in a blanket fortress in the 1b commons while Sako sits guard outside also asleep]

mystique: oh my gods so cute

eye gucci: how are they allowed to do this?

Emergency Exit: Well, it's very likely that Sako asked Vlad King if they could and got permission.

snek: is there a reason it's just them?

baby shark: because they have an emo chat and they almost all have insomnia (i think)

snek: ah, cool thanks Kirishima

12:45 PM

private chat between Aizawa and Iida

Aizawa: oi, class president. What does everyone need from the store? Gather a list and anyone who wants to go by 1:30

Iida: Yessir

Iida: You know, we have a group chat. I could just add you to it to ask everyone.

Aizawa: Ugh fine.

12:48 PM

We Are Number One™

Emergendy Exit has added Aizawa to  We Are Number One™

Emergency Exit: Mr. Aizawa would like to know what class 1a wants from the store.

Aizawa: and who wants to go

Aizawa: we'll be leaving at 1:30

baby shark: Bakubro probably needs more wet cat food and umaibo

9.8: Todo needs more dog food, this morning he said he's almost out.

cena: I'm sorry, I can't help myself

cena has changed Aizawa's name to Dadzawa

Dadzawa: thanks i hate it

princessbubblegumknockoff: OH MY GOD HE MEMED

Dadzawa: anyway what does everyone want form the store?

Cthulhu: Kami's awake now he says he wants chips

Dadzawa: why is he just getting up so late?

baby shark: he's not. scroll up a bit.

Dadzawa: ah, also wake them up, they shouldn't be sleeping this late in the day.

Galvan: Are you really one to talk?

tailfloof: ...would you like some of Todoroki's ice for that burn?

Dadzawa: if it wakes him up, yes

Cthulhu: I'd wake them up if I knew which ones slept last night.

immafiringmahlaser: Midoriya slept for four hours. Tokoyami slept for six.

9.8: Jirou did NOT sleep if the music from her room at three am is anything to go by

baby shark: Bakugou didn't either he was on tiktok he can't lie I heard him laughing at 4am when I had to go to the bathroom

GuyFieriIsGod: Yukimura and Todoroki did sleep but not very soundly.

youredoinggreatsweetie: ...Kaminari only got a couple hours rest after he went to join Bakugo.

shadowclonejutsu: Shimura and Chisaki DID NOT SLEEP under any circumstances

Cthulhu: So I wake up none of them?

Dadzawa: no, wake up my son and send him back to the Gen Studies dorms

Dadzawa: also wake the twins

Cthulhu: ...Your son?

Dadzawa: Shinsou. wake up Shinsou.

Cthulhu: Oh.

exhausted: whats up dad?

Dadzawa: I'm doing our food shopping too. what do you want kid?

exhausted: coffee, energy drinks, my medications are finally ready at the pharmacy, more miso paste, fish sauce, kimchi, noodles, vegetables (you know the ones i usually get), and gochujang

exhausted: hah see iida i do eat things besides miso

Emergency Exit: Not by much, those are things you ADD to your miso or have WITH it.

exhausted: fuck you let me have my samefoods

Emergency Exit: I suppose it's reasonable then.

Emergency Exit: Also you forgot your red chili flakes and ungodly amounts of every type of tofu.

exhausted: THANK YOU IIDA I WOULDN'T SURVIVE WITHOUT YOU ^^^^^ Dad add those to our list too

Emergency Exit: You're very welcome and very right.

Dadzawa: excuse me I take very good care of my son

exhausted: well it really doesn't help that all four of us have different samefoods right now, dad.

Dadzawa: okay you got me there

princessbubblegumknockoff: HE MEMED AGAIN

Akimichi: what are y'all talking about with samefoods? What are those?

t-rex costume: WHAT ARE THOSE

mystique: no, hush sweetie

Dadzawa: wait is that Tokage from 1b?

t-rex costume: yup

Dadzawa: why is you name t-rex costume?

HopeSummers: Because, the first day living in the dorms she walked around in a t-rex costume and scared the shit out of everyone in the 1b dorms, Vlad King, and some of the upperclassmen too.

Dadzawa: oh

Akimichi: guys what are samefoods?

Dadzawa: oh yeah. if you're autistic (or adhd) sometimes you'll eat the same food over and over and never get sick of it and it can last for YEARS

exhausted: you've had that juice pouch samefood since high school

Dadzawa: yeah, having you fucked up my eating schedule, kid

cena: context pls

Dadzawa: I'm ftm and got pregnant with Hitoshi very young and this little shit made me crave juice pouches for all nine months and it's been fifteen years and it's still a samefood.

idontfeelsogood: oof, that sucks. I've had takoyaki and yakitori as mine for three years and i'm finally getting sick of them.

Pichu: Mr. Aizawa can you pick up tea, pocky, instant noodles, and daikon?

Ddzawa: you're coming with me like Hitoshi, Kaminari, you need to pick up your medication too.

Pichu: I'll get ready.

tailfloof: dude, it's still only 1, you've got 30 minutes

Pichu: I need to look cUTE OJIRO

Dadzawa: you will look cute anyway, you're a puffball. but go ahead and primp if you want to Kaminari.

SmolMight: does this mean I have to go for my medications too?

Dadzawa: no, your mom said she's bringing yours tomorrow

donthugmemscared: do i go for my anxiety meds?

Dadzawa: yes and get a list from floor 6

Dadzawa: also Yukimura and Todoroki are going too so you two compile a list from the 5th floor

Dadzawa: pick a person from each floor to send with a list other than those who have been already been Chosen™.

lostmymarbles: sweetie, pick me up juice and Honenuki some more yogurt. I'm out and he's getting low.

chaoticgaydisaster: got it babe

princessbubblegumknockoff: they're so cute

EdgarAllanCrows: Apparently I've been elected for floor two's groceries, I have lists from each this floor's inhabitants.

EdgarAllanCrows: Aoyama, what if they don't have edible glitter?

immafiringmahlaser: sprinkles shall suffice. they are for ice cream after all

WHAT?: even his ice cream needs to be sparkly

SmolMight: coming from the man who went to pride with glitter in his hands so he could make glitter bombs with his explosions and make the little kids in attendance happy

WHAT?: fuck you

SmolMight: no thanks

Cthulhu: Wow.

WHERE?: would you like some of my ice for the burn, Bakugo?

Iron Man: i can hear his explosions in the 1a dorms from the 1b dorms

HopeSummers: We all can. I'm on the top floor and I can hear them.

Dadawa: don't destroy school property. inside the dorms at least. now, who else is going?

baby shark: I'm going for floor 4

donthugmeimscared: Me, Hito, Toko, Todo, Yuki, Kami, and Kiri are going sir.

Dadzawa: good. also, Shimura you're going too. Chisaki's been off his medication for two days and your outgoingness will keep him from getting frightened and forgetting something.

Dadzawa: Iida's in charge when we leave btw.

TheGreatCreator: Wait, I need pads but I can't get out of bed again because it hurts to move.

Dadzawa: omw with midol, hot rice packs, and chocolate.

TheGreatCreator: Thank you, Aizawa Sensei.

Dadzawa: the things I do for my students.

TheGreatCreator: thank you again, Sensei

Dadzawa: no problem at all.

1:20 PM

We Are Number One™

Dadzawa: so does anyone have any last minute requests?

exhausted: ...spam?

Dadzawa: already on our list, Hito

exhausted: oh yeah, Eri eats it too.

Pichu: btw me and Kiri are picking up everyone ice cream, compile a list real quick.

Dadzawa: limit of one per person with exception of people with samefoods or cravings

TheGreatCreator: Chocolate sounds nice

WHAT?: yo @baby shark get me french vanilla and pop rocks i want it

Cthulhu: squid ink so it's black like Tokoyami's soul

EdgarAllanCrows: This is why I love you, you know?

Cthulhu: I know, babe.

SmolMight: anything banana preferably chunky monkey if the store has it

immafiringmylaser: nutella, sil vous plait.

shadowclonejutsu: cookies and cream

Spider-Man: Sato say he wants cookie dough. I want blueberry. Tsu says raspberry.

princessbubblegumknockoff: bubblegum for me and Uraraka says she wants mint choco chip

Emergency Exit: Kouda, bless his pure soul, has asked for peanut butter. Ojiro asked for vanilla and Jirou and Hagakure want caramel and coffee. I'd like rocky road.

WHERE?: do you want ours as well, Kami, since we all have our own lists to obtain and you and Kiri are the ones who want to get everyone ice cream?

Pichu: yes.

WHERE?: butter pecan

chaoticgaydisaster: blue moon

exhausted: cotton candy

EdgarAllanCrows: Charcoal so it's black like my soul

shadowclonejutsu: wow you're emo and need to chill

EdgarAllanCrows: I'm as chill as I'm ever going to be.

shadowclonejutsu: that's frightening

Pichu: I'm getting almond honey ice cream

baby shark: i'm getting green tea

donthugmeimscared: anything dairy free is fine as long as it's no trouble please

idontfeelsogood: get him dairy free cinnamon bun from ben&jerry he loves it. also get him several he finishes them quickly. I want cherry and dark chocolate so I can mix them.

donthugmeimscared: thank you, Tenko. I didn't think you knew that...

idontfeelsogood: meek bastard, you're my friend of course I'd know your favorite ice creams

stopwatch: Chocolate malt please. Also dear we love you, please do speak up on your preferences.

donthugmeimscared: thank you, Tenko and Hari 0///0

WHERE?: he's actually blushing and it's adorable

chaoticgaydisaster: [short video of Chisaki struggling to hide his blushing face behind his phone while he whines at Tenko and Hari to stop embarassing him]

chaoticgaydisaster: you're welcome, Tenko and Hari. enjoy that vid of your boy toy you gay disasters.

idontfeelsogood: coming from our resident chotic gay disaster

chaoticgaydisaster: hey, I own up to it. pisses off my dad more too so might as well

Spider-Man: dude, are you okay?

chaoticgaydisaster: yes, i'm fine

Spider-Man: you were just typing a three word sentence for two minutes are you sure?

WHERE?: oops would you look at the time we've gotta go to the store.

chaoticgaydisaster and WHERE? are now offline

Cthulhu: So Midoriya, any explanations? You are the one who's closest to the twins.

SmolMight: would you look at the time. I need to go for a run around the school. be back later!

SmolMight is now offline

1:40 PM

We Are Number One™

Pichu: hey, 1b what ice creams do you like?

lostmymarbles: Rose.

itsmeyaboy: lavender and Juzo likes strawberry

Akimichi: mississippi mud for me, Yui likes peach, Ibara likes butter brickle, Tetsu likes grape, and Reiko likes maple nut.

stardust: sakura for me, coconut for Ichi, praline pecan for Tami, and cherry for Himi.

illrememberyouallintherapy: fudge. cinnamon for Sen and salted caramel for Kosei.

HopeSummers: ube. Tokage likes anything apple, Shishida has said he likes pumpkin, and Shoda likes orange.

glorifiedtextbubble: Espresso.

Slimer: pistachio

scyther: Lemon

shroomgurl: watermelon

mylittlepony: black walnut

snek: peppermint

Pichu: thanks!

2:30 PM

We Are Number One™

Pichu: ICE CREAM

Dadzawa: groceries, 1a children.

WHAT?: Gimme a few minutes, Hotaru fell asleep on me and I'll be damned if I break the rule of cat

exhausted: cat? owo

Dadzawa: child, no. leave his cat alone.

WHAT?: Actually now it's cats.

Dadzawa: why

WHAT?: Well, me, soy sauce, and racoon eyes were out for a walk around the campus and we found a kitten so we took her back with us.

princessbubblegumknockoff: [pic of Bakugo aying on the couch longways with a lavender persian cat asleep on top of him. Hotaru, Bakugo's calico maine coon cat, lays curled under his bent knees, eyes staring the camera like it offended her ancestors]

exhausted: what is the name of the fluff child?

Spider-Man: doesn't have one

WHAT?: honestly, I'm not sure I can keep a second cat.

exhausted: dad, cat. Cat. CAT!

Dadzawa: I did say you could get a cat once you got into high school. deal.

exhausted: is my baby a boy or girl?

princessbubblegumknockoff: a girl.

exhausted: Ayane. her name shall be Ayane. it means colorful sound. perfect for a granddaughter of the voice hero: available screech.

Dadzawa: pfft Available fucking Screech. i'm writing that on the board before his class on Monday. That's your best one yet.

exhausted: I've never been happier to be your purple double.

Dadzawa: those snarky comments remind me that you literally copy-pasted my personality save for a couple of those habits Zashi and Oboro taught you.

exhausted: meh one got me to walk and the other one taugght me how to scream “fuck you” at creepy strangers at two years old so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Dadzawa: true true.

exhausted: um...nobody's been responding but us, dad.

Emergency Exit: You two's family moments are adorable nobody wanted to interrupt.

Akimichi: agreed.

exhausted: understandable.

Dadzawa: carrying on, all y'all come down here and get y'all's groceries before y'all're eating mush cream.

exhuasted: coming dad, currently petting your new grandchild.

Dadzawa: ...

Dadzawa: bring the child as well, I wish to see my grandchild.

chaoticgaydisaster: @lostmymarbles babe, come get yall’s juice

lostmymarbles: Which type did you get?

chaoticgaydisaster: a lot of flavors. ( ° ^ ° )

lostmymarbles: Aw, Love, did you panic?

WHERE?: He did. He had full panic attack in the juice section.

Dadzawa: why was I not alerted to this?

WHERE?: I got this, that's why.

lostmymarbles: Sweetheart, are you alright?

idontfeelsogood: he's fine. btw he got you apple, orange, grape, raspberry, lemonade, cranberry, and peach. We stopped him before he could load the whole cart with juice.

lostmymarbles: Aw, babe you remembered that I liked the peach juice.

chaoticgaydisaster: it's only fair. you made that big date night dinner last night.

idontfeelsogood: thank me, Sako, you whipped gay hoe [pic of Yukimura blushing darkly from under a weighted blanket on the couch while Chisaki cuddles up against him.]

itsmeyaboy: i'm lost. what did Sako make for Yukimura? dude can't chew food.

stopwatch: Atsuhiro made Touya his famous ultimate mac n cheese with chocolate pudding and half baked brownies for desert. They watched their favorite three arcs of Fairy Tail, which are the Battle Of Fairy Tail, Tenroue Island and the Grand magic Games Arcs, btw. And then proceeded to read the Percy Jackson books until midnight.

stopwatch: I'm also 90% sure Yukimura proposed because of all of this.

lostmymarbles: I'm the one who proposed actually.

cena: *ambient excited screaming*

WHAT?: Okay, Sako. *cracks knuckles* We’re just gonna talk.

WHERE?: no, leave it. I told him he could.

WHAT?: what?

WHERE?: he asked me if he could so I said yeah and so yeah, he did it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

iLiEdImDyInGiNsIdE: I hear screaming above me.

mystique: that's just Eri. she's excited. Touya and Atsu been dating for two years eleven months and twenty four days and they've acted like the most Pure Couple Ever for the whole duration.

queenofmagnetism: You kept track.

mystique: of course. Their anniversary is the fourth of August.

eye gucci: this is beautiful.

stardust: IMSOPROUDOFYOUTWO

mystique: fuck she's gonna destroy her room

mystique is now idle

Dadzawa: as your teacher I'm obligated to say you're both far too young to be engaged, but given I literally had a kid two years younger than y'all, I'm just gonna say damn you remind me of me, Oboro, and Yamada when we first started dating please keep up the good work.

lostmymarbles: Is it the personality reflections or the complimentary autism-adhd box set you and your husbands have too.

Dadzawa: both.

Taglist: @logan-sanders-enthusiast @luckyicekitsune @whippedbel @lgbtforeverything @pinecone-chomper @mikmacmoo @wasinotwantedatthisexactsecond @purplespiderstormcloud @stankyratman @king-of-the-oranges @headcannons-and-random-things @fear-ze-queer @turtleluv799 @ymmm-someone

[industria-adastra]

Inside the mirror do you see? (someone else in that body)

Summary: She’s running. From what, she doesn’t know. The winking flash of a mirror passes by and Madoka catches a glimpse of the screaming cosmos.

Note: I want to write a coherent fic with plot but mind said no so here we are now. Anyways dm me or smth if you wanna talk about madoka ig, random people reading this.

-----

Tap, tap, tap. Madoka’s heeled feet echoed with every step she took within this strange black and white hallway. With every step she took, the environment around her would shift-not in colour, but in the patterns and shapes it appeared in. From swirling spirals to zooming zig-zags, the confusing landscape was ever-changing and almost nauseating to watch.

Madoka continued until she found that she had reached both a large mirror and a dead end in front of her. Slowly, her pace decreased until she was simply walking towards the mirror. Nothing was reflected there.

How strange.

Almost as if in a trance, slowly, lightly, her fingers touched the glass. It shattered upon contact, an eldritch scream echoing through her head as she flinched. When she forced her eyes to open, a horrifying visage of a snarling sun, masked partially by a half-moon was what greeted her. It slammed its arms-made out of the void and stardust-onto the mirror, shattering it even further. Darkness seeped through the cracks, reaching for her.

Ancient fear filled her bones, dread pumped through her veins.

Madoka turned and ran, scrambling to get out, ignoring the changes in her surroundings, ignoring the gentle hums and repetitive sighs of happiness. Only knowing that she had to get out get out get out quickly quickly before-!

An invisible barrier shattered, and before Madoka knew it, she was looking around to see desolate ruins of what she knew was Mitakihara city. Pink eyes darted around frantically, taking in the scenery. Shallow waters flooded the ground, and the broken remains of concrete buildings littered the floor. All that was left standing was a lone, barren tree.

The wind howled and shrieked, clawing at her as wailing laughter grew louder and louder. Large pieces of rubble started to rise, balls of colourful fire burst into existence, signalling the arrival of the giant floating doll ( Witch ). She was dressed in a blue gown edged with frills, framing the giant metal gears that protruded from it’s torso. On her white cylindrical head were two pointed hats, each with a translucent veil attached to the pointed end. And on that bone white face was only a red painted smile. A smile that never changed as she continued to rain destruction upon Mitakihara’s ruins. Even without a mouth she managed to laugh, a loud distorted thing that could’ve been mistaken for the mad laughter of despair.

(What is this?)

Madoka watched with undisguised horror as everything was rendered to dust. As a brave, brave girl darted around, trying in vain to bring down that giant doll. And not even a moment’s notice later, that same girl was batted away by a makeshift bat of concrete, steel and glass.

Someone was screaming out a name.

Madoka ran, faster, faster. She had to, no. Needed to end this. She could do it. She could do it. She just had to–!

Unconsciously, her left hand opened to clutch a rapidly forming bow. And as she skidded to halt, without her even realizing, Madoka had already aimed and fired. From her bow came a thin pink arrow that pierced through the doll and the heavens, scattering the clouds with its might. Her mind was blank, as if she was running on auto-pilot, waiting for something.

That something came in the form of a resounding boom that shook the earth. Almost immediately, a dark mist burst into existence. And suddenly, the ground beneath her cracked and shattered to reveal nothing but ink black muck that crashed into Madoka, knocking her off balance and submerging her under darkness. Balance lost, Madoka frantically flailed around, trying to get free, to claw her way out of this prison. To reach that pink light that she just knew was out there.

She was suffocating, drowning in potent despair and fear that almost completely overwhelmed her. Her heart beat erratically, telling her that she needed to leave leave leave please why? . Indescribable agony jolted through her like never-ending shocks of electricity. Thoughts that weren’t her’s were her’s swam through her mind, rendering it a jumbled mess. Madoka had to get out she still had to find her. She needed to find her and save her save her she had to save everyone. And to do that she needed to let go. This way everyone would be happy, together and forevermore. But she couldn’t give them salvation in such a useless useless shell. She choked, clawing frantically at her chest, at her throat, back arching as Madoka let out a silent scream.

And then, she knew no more.

-

She reached her arms out towards the sky, becoming bigger and bigger. Her salvation enveloped the world, bringing them all to her paradise, her heaven. She had to become bigger. She had to. This way she would bring salvation. For everyone. To everyone. She would give salvation to everyone. No matter who they were, no matter if they were good or bad, they would all receive her salvation. Young or old, they would all be saved. Animal or human. It didn’t matter as long as they could all be saved (by her). Wasn’t that nice? Wasn’t that nice? She would save them all from this never-ending misery. No more pain, no more suffering, no more despair. They would all be happy together. Happy together because she helped them all be happy together. She was happy too, because it was all for them. All for them.  She created this paradise for them. She gave salvation to them. She alone was their saviour.

Everyone would be happy, together and forevermore with her. Together and forever and forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever ever ever ever–

-

Pink eyes snapped open, and Madoka woke up to the warm early morning sunshine. Her heart was pounding, wild with overwhelming fear of something. Hair on edge, eyes wide open, Madoka carefully sat up. Her body ached with strange phantom pains, and as she slowly stretched several cracks could be heard.

“What was that dream all about?” She mumbled to herself, not expecting an answer. Her fingers dug a little deeper into the bedsheets. A calming haze started to settle on her mind, taking with it most of the memories about that strange, strange dream she had. It trickled away like fine sand until there were barely any (purple) grains left.

Madoka closed her eyes and flopped back down onto the bed. Nothing but a large cage and arms stretching out towards a darkened sky came to mind. She sighed, eyes opening again. Her dreams were starting to become stranger and more incoherent. It was probably nothing too important, so she stopped trying to think any further about it.

Yeah, it probably wasn’t that important.

...Right?

[dallanebbia]

sidereus

fandom: bnha pairing: kacchako; bakugou katsuki x uraraka ochako word count: 2.5k warnings: none synopsis: nine months after he starts hooking up with uraraka, bakugou takes a leap of faith. fluff, established friends with benefits, future fic notes: written for day 4 of kacchako week 2020, with the prompt ‘stargazing.’ i love the angst that comes with the fwb trope, but i wanted to give these poor kids a break. they deserve some soft feels. ao3: [link]

sidereus (adj.) – Latin, full of stars; heavenly

─── ･｡ﾟ❁ﾟ｡･ ───

[Cheeks, 23:53] – hey u awake?

Bakugou squinted at his phone in the darkness, annoyance flaring in him as he saw the clock. He shook his head, exhaling slowly, before slowly typing out a response.

[GZ, 23:58] – no

[GZ, 23:58] – fuck off

He tossed his phone back onto his bedside table, head falling heavily into his pillows. He closed his eyes, the lull of sleep pulling him in, before another musical chime shocked him out of his drowsiness.

“For the love of god, woman,” he growled, grabbing the device and peering at the screen.

[Cheeks, 00:02] – can i come over? 

[Cheeks, 00:03] – please

He frowned, staring at the glowing screen, trying to figure out what that meant. Did she want to talk? Did she get locked out of her apartment again? Did she miss him? They had literally fucked in a closet at work two days ago - did she just need him to get off again and work off her stress? 

Something heavy turned in his stomach at the thought, and he mulled over his response for another minute before typing out a quick reply. Bakugou sighed, sitting up with a grunt, and mentally made a note to text Kirishima that he wouldn’t be able to make it to morning training. He didn’t know what Uraraka wanted, and considering their track record, she was probably going to be staying the night.

[GZ, 00:10] – fine

[Cheeks, 00:10] – b there in 10

He scrubbed at his eyes, yawning as he threw himself out of bed. Grimacing a little at the odd taste in his mouth, he took a detour to the bathroom to brush his teeth again and gargle some mouthwash.

Bakugou took a moment to stare at his reflection. There were bags under his eyes, a weariness that reflected the aches and pains of a twelve-hour patrol day, and he ran a hand through his messy hair. He thought momentarily about styling the spikes like he usually did, but couldn’t bring himself to muster up the energy. Instead, he tossed on a thin headband, pushing his bangs out of his eyes, and padded to his kitchen to make a pot of tea.

He was on his second cup when he heard the doorbell ring. Bakugou felt a little more human with the boost of caffeine in his system, and when he opened the door, the sight of Uraraka in a fuzzy pink bathrobe and shower sandals stopped him in his tracks.

“What the hell are you wearing?”

“It was this or Mina’s leopard print trench coat,” she said, rolling her eyes before pushing her way inside. He raised an eyebrow, watching curiously as Uraraka shed both the robe and her shoes, leaving her in tiny shorts and a loose top that did nothing to hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra. “She’s having one of her marathon sex sessions again.”

“Again?” He wrinkled his nose. “Isn’t that… like, the second time this month?”

“Third,” Uraraka murmured. She looked exhausted, her usually bright eyes dull, but she gave him a small, weary grin anyways. “Thanks for letting me come over.”

Bakugou shrugged, ignoring the squeeze of his chest at the sight of her smile. “It’s whatever,” he muttered brusquely, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her into the kitchen. “Sit down, you’re literally about to keel over.”

Uraraka slumped into one of the stools at the kitchen counter, not even hesitating as she took his half-full cup and drained it like a shot. “I’m gonna be honest – I don’t think I’m really up for sex right now,” she murmured with a sigh.

Bakugou mentally crossed the option off his list, ignoring a small pang of disappointment. If she wasn’t here to get dicked, then there were only two other possibilities. One of them made his lungs tighten, a thread of fear winding itself around his heart. 

Casually, he rolled his eyes, grabbing the cup from her and refilling it. “Then what the fuck did you text me for?”

She paused, an expression he couldn’t quite place flickering across her face. “Guess I just didn’t want to be alone,” she said with a tentative half-smile, catching the cup as he slid it back across the counter to her.

As she sipped at the tea, he took the chance to look her over. The hunched shoulders, the dark circles, and the way she winced as she rolled her neck – there was something eating at her. He recognized the familiar signs; he saw the same ones staring back at him through a mirror, only a little while ago.

“Shitty day?”

“… yeah.” She sighed, sipping at the tea more slowly this time. “You know how it is.”

She didn’t have to elaborate any further. Between the two of them, Bakugou was the more fucked up one, and he knew better than anyone how bad things could get. It was partially why they started this entire arrangement in the first place.

Things had been weird between them lately. The usually rough, aggressive sex from the beginning was rarer now, replaced with something slower and more intimate. More and more often, they ended up tucked up against each other, sometimes even without anything sexual happening, and each time it happened, it left him feeling unsure of where they stood. 

For Bakugou, this entire thing was no longer about fucking out their frustrations – it started to mean something more, and he was terrified of fucking things up. 

He tried not to think about how his apartment felt empty when she wasn’t there. He tried not to think about how much he missed waking up, curled around her. This fuckbuddy arrangement between them had strayed so far from the casual hookups they’d first agreed upon all those months ago, and when finally he was ready to admit it to himself, he was already too far gone.

“We can just cuddle,” he offered gruffly, something like relief settling into him. She wasn’t breaking things off. 

Uraraka considered it for a second, then nodded. “Outside?”

He pulled her up out of her seat and led her towards the tall glass windows, as if she didn’t know his home as well as her own. “Tch, you act like we don’t always end up there anyways,” he grumbled, savoring the feel of her hand in his as they crossed his apartment, if only for a few precious seconds.

“Doesn’t hurt to ask.” He could hear the cheekiness in her tone, the happier lilt of her voice, and he found himself smiling as he opened the door to a sprawling patio, lined with plants and a lounge bed wide enough for two people to sleep on.

Uraraka slipped past him, throwing herself into the cushions with a long, slow sigh, and wiggled around as she settled herself into the pillows. She was already pulling a blanket over her legs, yawning tiredly, when he shuffled over and climbed in next to her.

“Have I ever mentioned how much I love that you have an outdoor bed?” A quiet giggle escaped as she cuddled up to his side, pulling his arm around her shoulders and settling her head on his chest.

“Only every fuckin’ time, Cheeks,” Bakugou muttered, exhaling deeply as he scratched his fingers across the crown of her head. The way she leaned her head into his touch, humming warmly, had his stomach doing somersaults. “M’pretty sure you like it more than me at this point.”

“Falling asleep under the stars – what more can a girl ask for?” He huffed at her relaxed, teasing tone, reaching down to pinch her thigh warningly. “I guess the company isn’t so bad either.”

“What a glowing commendation,” he deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

“Mm, you know you love me,” she laughed, and he made a vague noise in response. He hoped she couldn’t feel how his heartbeat quickened at her words. 

As she slowly relaxed into him, Bakugou let his eyes wander up, his mind drifting as he stared up towards the sky. As a kid, he didn’t have many feelings about space, or the stars in general; he had always been so fixated on heroes that everything else fell short in comparison. He’d known, objectively, that it was pretty, but it was just one of those things that was always just… there. 

As he grew older, he started to appreciate the appeal. There was something compelling about the idea of a limitless expanse, mysterious and far-reaching and unexplored. It made him feel small and insignificant when everyone in his life expected him to be the complete opposite, and somehow, it felt like an escape. Under the blanket of a starry sky, he was just another person, just another body that would one day fade back into stardust, and he could drop all of his masks and just breathe.

He had wondered, months ago, if that was why he was so drawn to Uraraka. There was something about her that brought those same feelings out of him - not where he felt insignificant, but where he felt like he could be fallible and imperfect and human. He felt safe, letting her see the ugly parts he kept hidden from the world, and as she opened up to him, it felt like he had stumbled into something just as fascinating as the stars. 

With every laugh and sigh that fell from her lips, he felt like he was unravelling the mysteries of a universe that he’d once overlooked. With every touch and taste, he wanted to dive deeper – he wanted to look and learn and listen until he could trace memories across her skin and read secrets in her smile. With every kiss, his heart raced and skipped and burst out of his body, and the thought of letting her go became harder and harder with every passing day. 

He tried to imagine a life without Uraraka in it – without her bright laugh, without her teasing comments, without her bull-headed stubbornness. He tried to imagine her sitting under the night sky, stargazing with someone else, while Bakugou stared up at the stars alone, thinking about how he had let her slip away. 

The thought sent a stab of loneliness shooting through him, and his hand stopped as something deep in his chest ached.  

­­Uraraka felt the way he tensed under her, and she tilted her head to peer at him through soft lashes. He could see the question in her gaze from the corner of his eye, but he pretended not to notice as she asked, softly, “… What are you thinking about?”

You.

“S’nothing,” he said quietly. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, trying and failing to hold in a heavy sigh.

“Bakugou.” She frowned, sitting up so she could look at him more directly. “You know you can tell me anything, right?” He hated it when she did this – she knew that if she stared him down long enough, he’d cave in. He always did, eventually. 

It took him a moment to gather his courage, but he reluctantly dragged his eyes away from the dark sky. When he met her gaze, his breath hitched – there was an unfamiliar tenderness in her eyes, something that went beyond the empathy and care she gave away so freely to everyone she met. She watched him, open and sincere, and Bakugou suddenly felt like she could see right through him.

Like she knew.

Maybe… maybe…

Slowly – carefully – he reached towards her, telegraphing his movements to give her a chance to back away. He felt like he couldn’t breathe as his fingers brushed up the side of her face, catching on the long locks of her hair and sweeping them back so he could cradle her cheek in his palm. All the while, Uraraka observed him with that same patient, gentle gaze, waiting.

“Do you –” His voice sounded hoarse, quiet and raw and exposed, and he felt as if he had been cut open and bared for the world to see. “Do you ever want more?”

“More?”

“Out of this.” Bakugou swallowed, forcing himself to keep his eyes on her as he gently stroked the apple of her cheek with his thumb. Fear seeped between the cracks in his lungs, making it hard to breathe. “Us.”

His heart was a word away from flying out of his throat, and distantly, he wondered why he was doing this to himself. He felt weak and adrift, skin crawling in anticipation and doubt and panic as the seconds ticked by, and he hated having feelings because going through this bullshit was literally the worst thing in the world.

“Oh,” she breathed, eyes widening a little. She looked a little stunned, and he could feel the muscles and bones working beneath the skin of his palm as she opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to find the right words. His heart stopped when Uraraka’s expression shifted slightly, her features softening. “Do you?”

Her face shone down at him, and the expression on her face was something Bakugou couldn’t name. The mix of hesitation and fear and hope, combined with the vulnerability in her eyes, made his breath catch. 

“Only all the fuckin’ time,” he admitted quietly, and she inhaled sharply. 

“Please tell me you really mean that,” she whispered, a plea and a prayer rolled into one. 

At that, the world suddenly realigned itself, and Bakugou felt like he could fucking fly.

“Do you seriously think I’d buy a lounge bed for you if I didn’t?” A smile crept up when she reached up to take his hand, drawing it down to her mouth so she could press her lips to his scarred, calloused palm. 

“No, you wouldn’t.” Uraraka giggled, the grin on her face stretching wide and real and true, and she laced their hands together before leaning down to kiss him sweetly. Their tangled hands landed next to his head as he leaned up into her, savoring the languid brush of her tongue against his and the taste of green tea lingering beneath it all.

When she pulled back, her hair fell in a curtain around their faces, blocking out the rest of the world so that all he could see was her. Bakugou reached up to curl his other hand around her head and cradle her neck, fingers playing with the baby hairs at her nape, and Uraraka sighed, soft and slow.

“I do want more,” she whispered. The confession sat heavy in the space between them, and he brought his forehead to meet hers. “I’ve wanted more for a while.”

Bakugou let out a slow, shuddering sigh, and murmured, “Good.”

His heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it would explode from his chest at any moment, but despite all the adrenaline pumping through his body, he had never felt more content to stay like this. 

Lying here, hidden from the rest of the world, he looked up and saw the universe in her eyes. 

He didn’t need, or want, anything else.

[wo-wann-was-wer]

EPISODE 5:

I'm so sad Regina got buried in the woods

these fucking comparison shots are amazing

someone just tried to text me and I low-key flipped out because I was like you need to leave me the fuck alone

What if he just took her jacket and was like this is mine bitch

Katharina looks so dope with glasses

I'm so into her being the rock of this family by the way which I was never surprised by because women have the strength of 6 million men but

we've literally never seen Charlotte and her dad interact (like for reals)

That's one of the problems of this show is that some relationships fell by the wayside and I'm not a fan of that

did Charlotte drop herself off on the stoop

That's Tannhaus baby is somewhere because they never found the body of that infant so that infant is somebody.

yeah I literally can't imagine finding something like this out I'd lose my fucking mind

"who am I?" "I don't know" wow that's a fuck of a thing

Wow Claudia from the other universe That's fucking me up

Also what if Claudia from the other universe is the fucking bitch who has been fucking with us this whole time AKA the white devil

Also when are we going to see Noah again because I need to see Elisabeth and Noah together falling in love because I stan

worried about her Please tell us what happened to her I'm concerned

This actress has to be at least partially deaf and or hard of hearing because number one her ASL is fluent and she even emotes some words right? Idk

I do not trust this other Claudia as far as I could fucking throw her

This show is like the debate between Democrats and Republicans every fucking party is trying to convince everybody else that they are the ones that's trying to save the world and both of them behind closed doors are like all right how do we fuck the people in the asshole

I can't help wondering if this wouldn't have happened if we understood the half-lives of radioactive materials

so is all of this coming back to 1986 Is that the the origin time

And then do what What are you going to do with fucking 250 radioactive barrels The fuck you talking about

The scratches on the other side of her face and I don't know why it's on the other side of her face but it's on the other side of her face and it's concerning me

does that mean something's going to go different like

Jonas is out here like why did the adults lie to me

Oh my God after three seasons he's finally realizing not to listen to other people good boy

Oh Peter and Charlotte bonded over having fucked up families

Peter's mom is dead and he didn't know who his father was

Also babies

Also the way that he embodies Peter is fucking insane

I'm so into Charlotte with this curly hair

Oh my God who is this

Elisabeth run baby girl. too late. we've gone this long without sexual assault if they touch this child I'm going to lose my damn mind

Peter is going to kill this man

Elizabeth kill him Peter kill him if Peter dies is the hands of this dude I'm going to lose my fucking mind get back from my baby get back from my fucking cinnamon roll I'm going to kill you Elizabeth stab him the back stab him the back Elizabeth your daddy has a knife at his neck NOOOO PETER NOOOOOOOOOO NOOOOO FUCK

I literally will never forgive them for killing Peter why are the dopplers the most important and most tragic family

he never did anything to anybody

Katharina please kill your abusive mother She deserves it

everybody on this show is super into bludgeoning nobody likes shoots anybody else everybody fucking bludgeons everybody

No can I watch this abusive fucking bitch is going to hit you No Don't let her kill you Don't let her kill you

Is Katharina dead why are they taking my favorite people

she doesn't even get justice for how her mom treats her it's not fair. and now Ulrich is still stuck inside the asylum

oh thank God Noah is here because I was so worried about my baby

Wait what is going on. Oh Jonas has never died before This is exciting

oh wait there's only one Jonas damnit

EPISODE 6:

Even though it's not working for everyone I do really love the 1888 look on Jonas

I did not expect that Aleksander was going to tell Bartosz about his real identity

This shit is so uncomfortable.

Ulrich needs a real stop telling the women that he's fucking to stop coming to his household

It's like the penny traveled through time GASPPPPPPP

Jonas What the fuck did you come from

all my fucking pussy friends are bothering me from finishing this show YALL GOT STUPID PROBLEMS STAND UP FOR YOURSELF AND THEN THIS WONT HAPPEN

I'm going to say this every single time he's on screen but this beard is too good

I think that bartosz may be the most scorned member of this entire group he never gets any pussy and it's so sad

I'm super over this really creepy really ugly fucking dude I want him to leave I also kind of don't believe that he's the child of Martha and Jonas

Oh I absolutely love love love them holding hands and then going back to a shot of them holding hands as kids

why are they such a good couple I really like them but I also always have

I'm not super sure I understand why they had to leave bartosz behind

I don't trust a single of these fucking adults I'm just any of them including themselves when they become adults

This is like a suicide squad. This is the weirdest collection of people What is this team. What are they doing. since when are these people are working together. omg

Oh shit a child born of both worlds takes both worlds energies to destroy it. But that's what causes the apocalypse

Well this is super fucked up

everything that's happening in this final montage sequence is bad news

all of it

why do I Stan Noah and Elisabeth so much

omg Hannah is giving birth is NOW the time

wow this is a lot

EPISODE 7:

our perspective is what makes definitive reality

I'm confused about the gravestone that says Charlotte on it

Also yes give me more Elizabeth and Noah please please please

This is absolutely crazier than any shit doc Brown ever did But he was also trying to build a time machine in the 1890s so that's fun

Oh is this how he gets all the fucking scars

My goodness what is happening What is going to happen I'm getting stressed.

There's only two episodes left I feel like they're not answering my questions I'm worried

What happened to wöller

What is silja doing here

This is bullshit she's like drawing him in

Oh that's a surprise so silja is a tiedemann

why is it always like I feel like I know what's happening and then around episode 6 or 7 I just completely lose the plot

oh wow Jonas almost straight up died but Noah saved him

‘you can't die’ points a gun at him

Oh my God you can't kill yourself because you've already grown

oop well after that birth happened I had to take about 5 minutes to pause my brain and factor that in

yo I knew Tannhaus was going to figure in fucking more than he did

Is he the one who builds the cage

does this seem like a good idea or does this seem like a bad idea

shooting yourself What do you think that feels like

everybody's on a different team there are too many teams It went from like a presidential race to a March madness bracket There's so many fucking people involved everybody's got their own goddamn plan

folks I just want to emphasize here that we have an episode and a half to tie all this up

Oh shit universe A Claudia infiltrated universe B Claudia

I love what they did with the place after the fire It looks really nice It's a different vibe but it's good

so Eve made the plans for the machine

Wait what She died. 

I can't believe that Elizabeth and Charlotte have to be the ones to drop off Charlotte as an orphan

Oh noooooooooooo Jonas didn't do it!!!!

Oh my God don't make me feel sympathy for Hannah

he looks so fucked up 

bye hannah we won't miss you

but also hate leaving a child without their parents

Tell us what's on the last page and tell us what happened to woller's eye

All right now we're seeing how everybody got to where they were like the first fucking time

I love this walk down memory lane it's literally just the stylized recap of the show right before the final episode which is 10/10

watch your face girl

too late

Omg what does this mean 

THE FINALE:

This show is just Claudia Tiedemann Lurking: the TV show

Also the bullshit that he had to live through all of this in order to get to the end makes me really sad

yeah wait who's the fucking father of Regina

been way too sucked in

also. WE LOVE TO SEE A TIME TRAVEL TACKLE

WAS THIS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DAY IN STUTTGART

How many times are going to burn this place down

how many versions of this fucking machine do they have they're always like oh God we don't have a way here or there FUCKING LIARS

I can't believe that the thesis of this show is teenage hormones cause the apocalypse

Adam and Eve are such fucking children it's so stupid. 

reunion nnnnnnnnnnn

Oh shit he fucked up your plan huh

No I don't want it to end

I wish everybody didn't cry so much everybody so sad all the time

yup what in the actual fuck is happening

yo this is fucking wild

these baby Martha and Jonas are so cute

Not sure where we're going with this folks what's happening here wrap it up shit

I'm really obsessed with this golden snitch

It's just making me so sad

oh they're becoming stardust together

this is a weird cover but I'll take it

everything is going back to normal

but without Jonas and Martha and Claudia

if they don't tell us what happened to his eye I'm gonna flip out

I CAME HERE TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO WOLLER’S EYE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

Also what does this ending line mean its stressing me out

Well thats it. Three years of my life. Damn

[ticklikeabomb]

Headcanon : Convincing Loki to help you out

Pairing : Avengers x PS Reader ( Gender Neutral)

Warning : Language

Word Count : 1.6k

You didn't know how you managed to keep yourself off the Avengers radar but you did. Well if you had to name one way it would probably be the fact that your powers allowed you to travel through time and space. Not even Fury was aware of your presence among the common mortals. But that was before. Before it escalated and Thanos fulfilled his final plan : wipe out half of the universe. Now you were facing a choice : stay in your corner and living like nothing ever happened or step up and help out. You being your generous and kindhearted self, chose the latter. Who were you kidding, you chose to help out because living in reclusion and alone was getting boring. So here you were, in front of the so righteous (remaining) Avengers.

You sneaked up in the compound and found odd the facility being so easy to access and landed behind Steve Rogers. They were in a deep conversation, calculating the universes lost, that they didn't even noticed you. "Ehm hello", you said. They turned around, some of them armed and confusion written all over their features. "Who are you and how did you enter without being seen?", asked Rogers. You smiled at him and replied, "Oh I'm sorry but it seems that no one was guarding the place. What happened? Do you guys are in lack of staff?" Seeing their teeth clench and not happy faces you added "Too soon?". Natasha stepped forward her gun pointed at you and renewed Rogers' question, "Who are you?" "I'm Y/N. You haven't heard of me. It's normal, I don't usually stay so long in one period but yeah, since I'm here I popped out and figured you needed a hand but if you don't I'm happy to go back. I don't know, I kinda miss the 90's."

"The 90's?", asked Bruce perplexed. You turned around to leave but knew damn well they would be too intrigued and fools to let you go. You mentally counted to 3 and at the last number, Thor stood up and blocked your exit. You looked at him not even phased by his huge figure and heard a faint wheezing. He summoned what was his new weapon but you didn't let it finish its course, by picking it mid-air. The Strombreaker in your hand, you took a good look before looking back at a dumbfounded God of Thunder. "Nice artefact", you commented and handed it to him. "You said you wanna help, how?", asked James Rhodes. "I have certain skills if you wish, like travel back in time for example." They all looked at each other before your ears wheezed. "Oh I think you have a visit", you exclaimed. Bruce checked the cameras and saw a yellowish glow in front of the compound. They all stepped outside and you decided to stay back.

20 minutes later, they entered the room again with none other than Tony Stark in a terrible shape alongside Carol Danvers. The Avengers found you laying on the couch going through a lost magazine, ready to be drawn like one of their french girls. "You cosy there? Maybe you want a sandwich while you're at it?", exclaimed Rhodes sarcastically. "Hmm that actually sounds tempting, I haven't eating in 72 hours", you replied with a shit-eating grin. He frowned and was about to argument when Stark pointed at you, "Who are they?" "They claim their name is Y/N", replied Bruce and you nodded. You walked at Carol and presented you hand, "Nice to meet you. The way you punched that grandma in the train was iconic." They all turned to her and she smiled at you. "Thanks I guess", she replied. "So what's your plan?", you finally asked them. They spent half an hour explaining their terrible plan while you tried to keep your eyelids open. "Are you even listening?", asked Steve annoyed. "No sorry, I actually died 25 minutes ago." They sighed in annoyance and you stood up. "Alright how about this : I go back in time, infiltrate the helicopter and try to get Loki to cooperate?" "You wanna go back to 2012?", said Natasha. "Yeah nothing more easy. I try to make him comply because well he wouldn't resist my charms now would he and then on the way out I get the scepter and destroy the first stone. From there on I keep on going until the stones that remain on Earth are out." They thought about the plan in question and found that it wasn't bad. "When do we leave?", asked Rogers. You look at him before starting to laugh your ass off. "Yo - you must be kidding right? You're not coming with me" "Yes we are", he spat. "No can do, see the thing with time travelling is that I never actually traveled with someone so it could go wrong really fast."

"I guess you have an hour to come up with a backup because we're coming with you." Your jaw clenched for the first time since you arrived and sat down on the couch. You began thinking how and if you were able to transport so many people with you and after a long reflexion came to the conclusion that you only could take 6 people with you and not one more. "Ok losers, I can only bring 6 of you with me and that's already a lot. Shit could go down and we could fall into some kind of abysm." Once again they looked at each other, being all dramatic and you rolled your eyes. "Me, Rocket and Nebula will stay behind. You should go", Rhodes pointed at the first Avengers. "You shouldn't come, you're too weak", you said at Tony to which he shook his head in disagreement.

"If shit goes down, you will have to deal with the consequences !", you said seriously. They nodded, willing to do whatever it took. "Hands", you motioned and they complied. You closed your eyes and focused on the period and location you were aiming for. You felt your body tense and your bones contract painfully. You began to groan through greeted teeth and felt a surge taking you all off. The next second you were at the helicopter. As predicted, Tony emptied his stomach. You felt a pain on the left part of your body and bit on your lip. The Avengers were slowly recovering from the merge when you felt fluid run down your lip. You turned around and wiped out the blood best you could. "Everyone ok?", you asked. They groaned and weekly said they were.

"Let's go", you mumbled. "We'll take care of the scepter while you go talk with Loki", exclaimed Steve. "We?", you breathed out. Natasha smirked at you and you rolled your eyes. "Fine." She opened the door where Loki was kept and smiled mischievously seeing her approach. "To what do I own your presence Agent Romanoff?", he asked. She wasn't phased at all and replied, "We already got this conversation Loki." He seemed taken aback but quickly collected himself. He was about to start his little monologue when you fake coughed. "I won't be the one interrogating you but they will", pointed Natasha your way. You stepped out of the shadows and she eclipsed to the far end of the room. "So what's up?", you started. "I beg your pardon?", he replied. "Oh you shouldn't beg me for pardon but if you insist, why not."

"Do you want the long version or the short?", you continued. You didn't really gave him time to reply and started right away. "So the fast version. Here we go. Well your little project in invading New York semi worked. The Avengers got the upper hand on that so restrain yourself. What happened then?", you asked out loud. "Oh yeah, your mother got killed partially because of you, Thor and Jane broke up but that's not really important here just figured you would like to know. You faked your own death. AGAIN and took Odin's place on the throne. After that Odin died and guess who came back? Yep your sister. Well if you didn't know you had one, now you know. She pretty much tried to kill all of you, you ended up in Sakaar and came back to Asgard for it to burn. You and Thor decided to join Earth but got intercepted by Thanos and his ugly ass children." At the mention of Thanos you saw him tense profoundly and knew you had him. "He killed almost all of your people and Heimdall. You being you decided to provide your services but Thanos kindly chocked you to death. The ship exploded and he managed to collect the stones on Earth. Snapped his finger leaving half of the universe to dust away. I humbly imposed my presence to the Avengers and convinced them of my awesomeness and here we are again. Back in time, me facing you. Do you have any questions?", you finished with a fake smile.

He looked at you wide-eyes before collecting himself and cleared his throat. "I have a question. Why do you talk so much?" You weren't expecting that but still answered, "I'm not used to company so I guess I got carried away." You saw the wires turn on his pretty little head and smirked. "So Mischief what's your plan now : you gonna go all Goth on me or do you actually wanna help us this time?", you asked him straightforward. He chuckled before a large smirk playing on his features. "When do we start?" You looked back at Natasha who nodded and opened the cage. He stepped outside and marched at you, scanning you up and down. "Follow me, the others are waiting", you told him. He stepped closer and whispered in your ear, "Your ribs are broken." "Yeah about that it would be kind of you to not mention it." He chuckled again and followed you to the meeting point.

You arrived in front of the others, Natasha at one side and Loki at the other and declared, "Showtime baby".  

* gifs and photos not mine, credit to owners*

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[naruwitch]

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 3: Rise of Voltron Part 3

Everyone within the lion held onto the walls and chair for dear life as they traveled at breakneck speeds through the wormhole. They were going so fast it felt like their skin was peeling off. Out of all of them, Rivalz strangely seemed to be the calmest. Fortunately, it didn't last long as the lion exited the wormhole seconds later, which closed behind them. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Woah…" Rivalz muttered, "That was-"

Before Rivalz could complete his sentence, Shirley couldn't hold her lunch any longer. She vomited to the side of the control panel, making everyone cringe in disgust. Milly and Kallen even wrinkled their noses to block the smell as they were the closest to the poor girl.

"Sorry," she muttered in embarrassment before hurling again.

"I'm surprised you took this long, Shirley," Milly commented with sympathy, still wrinkling her nose.

"I don't recognize any of these constellations…" Suzaku observed, "...we must be a long, long way from Earth."

"The lion seems to want to go to this planet," Rivalz informed them as they approached a planet that looked very similar to Earth, "I think... I think it's going home."

With a burst of speed from the lion, it soared towards the lush planet full of forests, mountains, and oceans almost identical to Earth. Unfortunately, the group didn't have time to enjoy the scenery as they held on for dear life again as the lion descended. Lelouch and Milly were holding onto the back wall while the others were hanging onto Rivalz's pilot seat.

"Guys, personal space! Rai, your breath is killing me!" he complained.

"Uh, is it just me, or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole?" Shirley asked, "Why are we even listening to a robotic lion anyway?!"

"It got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?" Rivalz pointed out.

"I don't know if you noticed," Kallen hissed, "but we're in an alien warship!"

"What's up with you, Kallen? You don't normally act like this." Milly noticed with a raised eyebrow of suspicion.

Kallen growled, "Look, I'm frustrated with this situation and terrified because Rivalz is the one flying this thing!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Everyone, knock it off!" Lelouch exclaimed, "No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now!"

"Lelouch's right," Suzaku agreed, "if we're going to get through this, we need to do it together!"

"So, what do we do?" asked Rai.

"First, we need to know where we're going," Lelouch deduced, "Rivalz?"

"I… don't know," Rivalz admitted. He looked around at the others who were staring at him, "I'm sorry the lion's not talking to me anymore. Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Shhh! Listen. I think I hear something."

"I hear it too," Milly said.

"Yeah," Shirley said, "it sounds like a… high-pitched squeal…" Before anyone could ponder what it was, Rivalz's fart finally made itself present. Disgusted reactions emanated from the group as they all covered their mouths and noses to block out Rivalz's fart as the boy himself smirked in amusement.

"But seriously, there's a castle up ahead," Rivalz said. Everyone looked up as the mechanical lion approached a mountaintop overlooking a vast ocean. The mountain itself seemed to form around a large white metallic building consisting of seven spires, with cyan blue outlines and windows. The formation made it look like a mystical castle from the Middle Ages of Europe with a few touches of the Empire's futuristic Knightmare Frame tech. The group stared in awe as they descended further towards the structure. The sun shone off the castle, making it look like pure silver. It felt like they had stepped into a fairytale of old, and judging from everything that had happened to them so far, it wasn't too far fetched.

The lion slowly descended towards the castle as its eyes glowed a bright yellow, followed by the cyan blue lights of the castle lighting up as well. The lion landed at what appeared to be the entrance to the castle, and bent down with an open mouth, waiting for its passengers to exit.

"Everyone, keep your guard up," Lelouch warned them.

"Something wrong?" asked Milly.

"No, Lelouch is right," Suzaku agreed, "we were already attacked by aliens once already, we don't want that to happen again."

The group of seven cautiously exited the lion and looked around, taking in the landscape. Then suddenly, the lion jolted and stood back up.

"No, no! I knew it was going to eat us! No!" Shirley shrieked as she leaped behind Lelouch. Instead of eating them, though, the lion roared mightily at the door, loud enough to shake the ground. The door glowed cyan blue in its outlines and opened, kicking up dust as it did so. It wasn't long before the castle was free to be entered.

The group looked at the entrance in a mixture of shock and awe as Shirley peaked out from behind Lelouch.

"Oh, the door is open," she spoke robotically in realization before turning to face the lion, "I guess I was wrong about you."

Deciding not to waste time investigating, they cautiously entered the castle. It was pitch black save for a few faint outlines of cyan blue along the walls, floor, and ceiling. Despite this, it was still hard to see where they were going, so they kept bumping into each other.

"Hello?" Shirley tentatively called out after wandering around for a while. The group stopped and stared at her as if she was crazy. What if whoever was in here was dangerous? She could've just given their location away.

"You know," observed Rai as the group came to a stop at a stairwell, "from the size of the lion, I expected these steps to be bigger…"

Suddenly the room illuminated with a blue beam that shined down on the group, allowing for more of the castle's layout to be visible. The place they were in appeared to be a ballroom of sorts with the stairwell in front and glowing lanterns off to the side.

"Hold for identity scan," a computerized voice spoke as rays of blue light and mist rose up from the floor, rolling over their bodies in a scanning motion. It felt like they were being covered in a warm blanket as it ran over them.

"Why are we here?" Lelouch demanded as the scan finished its job, "What do you want with us?!"

The computer didn't answer. Instead, the same mist that surrounded the group during the identity scan rose up and filtered into the unlit lanterns that lined the walls, illuminating a path that led out of the ballroom.

"I guess we're going that way," Suzaku said before following Lelouch.

The farther the group walked down the halls of the castle, the more 'mist lights' seemed to turn on as if guiding them somewhere.

"Hello?" this time, Milly's voice echoed throughout the castle after a while of walking. As they went further into the castle, Milly, Shirley, and even Rai seemed to take turns calling out into the darkness, hoping for signs of life.

The group walked through hallway after hallway. Descended or ascended staircase after staircase until they finally reached what appeared to the center of the castle. The metallic doors leading inside slid open for them. It led to a large circular room with the center a few inches taller than the rest of the floor, and similar circles surrounding it. A central control panel stood at the head of it. Surrounding it were several pod-like objects, all with the same cyan blue outlines that matched the rest of the castle's decor.

"Where are we?" asked Rivalz, speaking for the first time since entering the castle.

"This is some kind of... control room!" Rai exclaimed in realization as the central control panel's buttons suddenly lit up. Gears shifted, and steam emerged from one side of the room, along with the sound of sliding doors opening. Two pod-like structures rose from the floor. The windows were partially transparent, allowing the group to at least see the outlines of two people inside of them. From what could be made out, it appeared to be a man and a woman.

"These-these two aren't dead, are they?!" Shirley asked, mildly freaked out.

Shirley soon got her answer as the pod suddenly glowed, and steam billowed from beneath it. The blue shell that surrounded the figure seemed to dissolve into sparkles of stardust, fully revealing the woman inside.

The woman wore a long blue and white dress, had dark-colored skin, sea-foam colored hair that descended in long waves down her back, pink crescent shapes around her eyes. Her most distinguishing feature was her pointy elf-like ears, with purple triangle-shaped earrings hanging from them. And to top it off, she had a golden circlet-style diadem around her forehead with a single blue gem in the center. She looked very similar to some elfish people found in some videogames on Earth.

The woman's eyes snapped open as she gasped, extending her hand as if to grab something that was in front of her, even though nothing was there.

"Father!" She cried as she stumbled out of the pod, and would've fallen if Rivalz hadn't rushed over to catch her.

The woman groaned, gripping Rivalz's arms to balance herself and looked up drowsily at the teenager that caught her.

Now that Rivalz had a good look at her face, he saw that the woman was quite beautiful. He blushed before flashing her one of his trademark smiles. "Well, hello there," trying to act charming.

"Who are you? Where am I?" the woman asked, speaking in a thick Britannian-like accent that would have made several of Lelouch's half-siblings jealous.

"I'm Rivalz, and you're right here in my arms," he answered smoothly.

The woman looked up at him curiously.

"Your… ears."

He raised an eyebrow and looking in the direction of the body part, "Yeah…?"

"They're hideous," she said bluntly, as she stood on her own two feet he took a small step away from him, still staring at his eyes in disgust, "What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing's wrong with them!" Rivalz exclaimed defensively, "They heard exactly what you said about them-whoa!"

Rivalz was caught by surprise as the woman suddenly gripped his ear, twisted him around, and forced him onto his knees, holding his right arm behind his back. For a slim looking woman, she was incredibly strong, and Rivalz had to fight back the tears because of how hard she was holding his ear.

"Who are you?!" the woman demanded, "Where is King Alfor?! What are you doing in my castle?!"

"A giant blue lion brought us here! That's all we know!" Rivalz cried out, struggling not to break down in tears. His suffering finally came to an end, though, as the woman let go and addressed the other student council members.

"How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin?" she asked, "What are you all doing here? Unless… How long has it been?"

"Look, lady, we don't know what's going on or what the hell you're talking about!" Kallen exclaimed defensively.

"Can you tell us who you are?" asked Lelouch a little more cordially, "Maybe we can help you."

"...I am Princess Allura of planet Altea." she answered as she approached the central control panel, "I've got to find out where we are, and how long we've been asleep." Allura put her hands on both sides of the control panel, which lit up in bright cyan blue, and a translucent screen appeared in the center of it.

"Okay," Suzaku said, looking at the screen along with Rai, "that's how that works."

Suddenly, the second pod opened as well to reveal a tall, white-skinned man with orange hair and a bushy mustache. He also had pointed elf-like ears and blue markings at the corners of his eyes. He gasped as he saw Rivalz.

"Ah! Enemy combatants!" the man exclaimed as he jumped from his pod and attempted to jump kick Rivalz, who quickly shifted out of the way. The act resulted in him nearly falling to the floor. Still, the man managed to regain his balance by holding onto Allura's sleeping pod.

"Whoa, quiznack! You're lucky I have a case of the old sleep chamber knees." the man also spoke in a think Britannian accent just like Allura. "Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this, wrap you up like so - and one, two, three - sleeping time!" he said, demonstrating everything with hand gestures and snapped his fingers at the end.

"Oh yeah?" Rivalz smiled smugly, "Well before you did that, I'd," he jumped and kicked into the air in a mediocre karate move, "like that."

"Oh, really? Well, how could you do that when I've already come at you with this? Ha, ha, ha, hey!" the man retaliated with fake karate moves of his own. It didn't seem to intimidate Rivalz in the slightest.

"Rivalz," Lelouch groaned in annoyance and embarrassment at the display.

"It can not be," Allura suddenly gasped.

"What is it?" the man asked, suddenly alarmed.

"We've been asleep for ten thousand years!"

o~o

(Flashback)

Everything was in flames around them. It was their final battle against Zarkon, the leader of the Galra, and the Alteans had lost horribly. A purple battleship approached the castle as the face of their enemy appeared on the computer screen before them.

"Zarkon!" King Alfor growled.

"Your fleet has been destroyed Alfor, I will be there shortly to claim Voltron."

As the screen switched off, a massive purple laser shot at the castle, damaging it significantly. The Castle quickly lost power.

"Father," Allura spoke to the man before her, "we must form Voltron and fight before it's too late!"

"It's already too late," the king replied, "We must send the Lions away, we can't risk them falling into Zarkon's hands!"

"We can't give up hope!" Allura exclaimed desperately, hoping to change her father's mind.

"I am sorry, daughter," the king approached Allura, placing a hand on her cheek lovingly, "if all goes well, I shall see you again soon."

The last thing Allura remembered before blacking out was seeing her father's face and his voice telling her he loved her.

o~o

Allura grit her teeth, "Planet Altea and all the planets in our Solar System have been destroyed! Coran, Father, is gone, our entire civilization… Zarkon!"

"Zarkon?" everyone questioned semi-unison.

"He was the king of the Galra," Allura explained, "a vile creature, and an enemy to all free people!"

Before anyone else could comment on this, Rai suddenly gasped and then yelled, holding his head like he was in immense pain. His left eye also burned in agony for a moment. He could hear the muffled voices of his classmates exclaim in worry as he collapsed onto his knees. Images he'd long forgotten flashed through his mind, along with the terrifying face of a monster. And suddenly, Rai remembered.

"Rai!" Shirley asked urgently, kneeling down by the blonde, "Rai, are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Rai muttered, "I-I remembered something!"

This caught everyone's attention, especially Lelouch and Milly's, as they were the ones who initially found him in his amnesiac state.

"What did you remember?" asked Lelouch in curious urgency.

"That Zarkon guy… I was his prisoner!" he revealed as he gritted his teeth in hatred.

Everyone gasped at this. How was this possible? And if it was true, how did Rai escape and end up at Ashford of all places?

"Are you absolutely sure, Rai?" asked Milly.

"Positive." was the response.

"He's still alive?!" Allura exclaimed in shock before scowling in anger, "Impossible!"

"I can't explain it, but it's true! He's searching for a superweapon called Voltron!"

"He's searching for it because he knows it is the only thing that can defeat him," Allura explained, "and that's exactly why we must find it before he does."

o~o

Levitating purple crystals glowed in a way they hadn't in millennia. A hunched figure gasped as if she had been holding her breath for an extended time, and had just come up for air. The woman emerged from the chamber, her eyes a bright yellow and dark indigo skin. On her face were markings that looked like tears of blood descending from her eyes, and long white hair flowing down behind her hood.

"The Blue Lion has returned," she reported approaching the Galra who stood by a window of the ship, proudly gazing at his fleet, "and now I sense a resurgence of Altean energy."

"Alfor's daughter lives… How?" Zarkon asked, turning to the woman for answers.

"I know not… but it is time to reclaim what is rightfully ours."

"Yes, I shall wipe that foul race from the universe forever, and take back Voltron. Contact my commanders."

o~o

At another area of the universe, a few hours away from the planet Arus, where Allura's castle rested, another Galra ship was patrolling the area. The commander inside was just reattaching his mechanical arm when he was called for an audience with Zarkon.

"Commander Sendak, the Princess of Altea is alive and is hiding in your sector; we believe she alone knows the whereabouts of the remaining Lions. Your battle fleet is the closest to her location. Retrieve her and the Lions. With them all, the Galra Empire will be unstoppable." Zarkon ordered.

"I fight for the empire," Commander Sendak replied, on bended knee, "I conquer in the name of Galra. No foe has ever stood in my way, and none ever will. Vrepit sa! Set a course for Arus."

o~o

"Princess, you must eat," Coran said, "it's been ten thousand years!"

"I'm not hungry," she replied, shaking her head.

"Wait, ten thousand years?" questioned Rivalz, "That's like one thousand plus ten."

"That's times ten, Rivalz." Kallen corrected.

"Whatever!" he shrugged.

"I haven't eaten since breakfast and I starving," Shirley said, eying the weird green alien food hovering in front of them. It didn't look like the most appetizing thing in the world, looking more like mashed up veggies covered in boogers than anything else.

"Yeah, but you've thrown up at least five times," Milly pointed out in slight disgust.

"That's true," she nodded. Unable to hold back her appetite anymore, she tentatively picking off some of the goo and tried it. The taste wasn't terrible (it didn't taste amazing either though), but the texture was definitely something to get used to. Shirley nearly gagged as the substance seemed to slide down her throat like a slimy avocado.

As Shirley and Milly were sampling the Altean food, Lelouch, Rai, and Suzaku took a moment to truly admire the details of the palace. It was simply extraordinary and far more beautiful than anything the Britannians could put together. The technology was so advanced they might as well have stepped into a sci-fi movie. At the same time, though, they could definitely sense something supernatural about the castle, almost like it was alive.

"I can't believe your civilization made such advanced technology ten thousand years ago," Suzaku said in awe. "It must have been an incredible place."

"Yes, it was," Coran said sadly, "but now it is gone, and we're the last Alteans alive."

Allura's eyes flooded with tears as she hugged Coran, sobs racking her body. Lelouch clenched his fists, not out of anger towards Allura, but more to himself for choosing to leave Nunnally. The circumstances may have given him little to no choice, but he could have figured out something had he thought hard enough. He wouldn't be able to hold Nunnally the way Coran was holding Allura for a very long time now, if ever.

The two separated, though, when a squeaking sound came from the sleeping pod. She gasped in delight at seeing a small group of Altean mice, waving and smiling at her. "Looks like we're not the last after all."

This was short-lived, though, as the control panel suddenly started beeping in alarm. One of the screens glowed a bright red as a screen opened to reveal a purple Galra ship slowly approaching the planet.

"A Galra Battleship has set its tracker to us!" Coran gasped.

"How did they find us?" Allura asked, holding the mice in her hands.

"Did they follow us!?" asked Rai in alarm.

"No, they didn't," said another female voice coming from the control room entrance. Turning to the sound, and the group saw a green-haired woman with golden-yellow eyes wearing what appeared to be a loose straight jacket with its buckles undone.

Suzaku recognized her immediately, "Hey! You're that-"

"C.C.," Lelouch interrupted Suzaku, "what are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"I snuck onto that Lion when you weren't looking. And I must agree with Kallen on this one Rivalz, you're flying could use some work."

"Lelouch, who's this?" Milly asked suspiciously.

"This is C.C. We're... uh…"

"Accomplices," C.C. replied nonchalantly, "and as for why I'm here, I thought I made it clear to you, Lelouch. I don't let my contractors die, hence why I'm accompanying you."

"Contractor? Lelouch, what's she talking about," Shirley asked accusingly.

"We can discuss that later," C.C. answered before Lelouch could, "if I'm not mistaken, we have an alien ship about to attack this castle correct? How long before they arrive exactly?"

Suzaku gave both C.C. and Lelouch a look that clearly said, 'we WILL discuss this later,' along with similar looks from most of the others, Allura and Coran included.

Coran did answer C.C.'s question, though, "At their speed, let's see... carry the two... I-I'd say maybe a couple of days?"

"Good, let them come," Allura said with a determined look. She then turned and at the seven Britannians, Honorary, Half-Blooded, and Full-blooded. "By the time they get here, you seven will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire."

"Princess," Lelouch said, getting right down to business, "if there are seven of these Lions, how are we going to find the rest?"

Allura didn't say anything as she put the mice back down. She led the group to the main bridge of the castle and walked towards the center of the room. A large crystal directly above her head shone down with a brilliant blue light around her. She closed her eyes in concentration.

"King Alfor connected the Lions to Allura's life force," Coran explained, "she alone is the key to the Lions' whereabouts."

Allura's eyes suddenly opened again, and the blue beam expanded around her. As a result, the light separated into multiple particles surrounding the room and engulfing everyone in it. The lights dimmed, allowing only the blue lights to be visible. That is when everyone realized that the particles were stars. They were standing in a 3-D model of the entire universe.

"These are… coordinates!" Rai suddenly realized, seeing all the stars and planets floating around them.

"Hey look," Suzaku said, seeing an image of the Blue and Black Lions side by side on one of the planets, "the Black Lion looks like in the same location as the Blue Lion."

"Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage," Coran commented, seemingly quite impressed how smart this simple human indeed was. Suzaku seemed to catch on to what Coran was saying, however, and to put it simply, he wasn't that amused.

"Very observant," Allura said with a warm smile, "that's because the Black Lion is in the castle."

"To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle," Coran explained, "it can only be freed if the other six Lions are present."

"As you've found, the Lions choose their pilots," Allura further explained, "it is a mystical bond, and can not be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in their Lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain."

The princess moved her hand swiftly, and the coordinates move in one direction as if on a computer screen. The image of the Black Lion floated in front of them, but slowly approached Lelouch, "The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times. Someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why Lelouch, you will pilot the Black Lion."

Allura waved her hand again, and this time the image of a green lion appeared, next to a planet that seemed to be covered in a lush green jungle. "The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Rai, you will pilot the Green Lion."

"The Blue Lion," Rivalz smirked cockily at the mention of his Lion, "is the most confident and friendliest of the Lions. Relying on optimism of the situation to keep the team together. As you already do, Rivalz, you will pilot the Blue Lion."

"Called it!" Rivalz smirked.

"The Orange Lion is caring and kind," Allura continued as the image of another Lion appeared by what looked more like a meteor than a planet. It hovered in front of Shirley, "Its pilot is the one who puts the needs of others above their own. Their heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together."

"Me?!" Shirley squeaked in alarm, pointing to herself.

"The Yellow Lion is the most diligent of the Lions," a yellow lion appeared by a planet that seemed to shine like stars by Milly. "Knowing when goals must be accomplished and when keeping the others focused on their goal. Milly, the pilot of the Yellow Lion, will be you." Milly hummed in thought, as the Lion did seem to match her personality in the 'getting things done' department.

"The Purple Lion is the most honorable of the Lions," Allura said as she materialized the image of the Purple Lion, though it wasn't connected to any coordinates. "That is also why it is one of the more difficult ones to control. The one who pilots it must be someone who is not ashamed of their beliefs and is willing to stay true to them as well. Because of this, Suzaku, the Purple Lion will be piloted by you."

At the mention of beliefs and values, no one, except C.C., noticed how Lelouch seemed to glare subtly at Suzaku. It appeared he was still bitter about how Suzaku refused to join the Black Knights after they went through the trouble of rescuing him.

'This could become a problem,' C.C. thought to herself.

"The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master," just like with the Purple Lion, Allura allowed the Red Lion to materialize, but there weren't any coordinates with it. "It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone," the Red Lion hovered in front of Kallen, "Kallen, you will pilot the Red Lion."

"What?!" exclaimed Shirley in disbelief, along with most of the other student council members, "Kallen? Seriously?!" Though their doubt was understandable. Kallen had yet to reveal that 'Kallen Stadtfeld' was just a front and that she was really Kallen Kozuki, a terrorist, and elite knightmare pilot.

"Unfortunately, I can not locate the coordinates to the Red or Purple Lions yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After ten thousand years, it might need some work."

"Don't worry, we'll find them soon," Coran said, "They don't call me 'the Coranic' for nothing… It's because it sounds like 'mechanic,' so uh… Coranic… Mechanic. It's not- it doesn't sound exactly like it, it's similar."

All seven of the Lions suddenly came to life, roared, and ran around their respective pilots and shooting off into the sky like shooting stars. Everyone shielded their eyes as the lights of the castle allowed Arus's natural light to enter the room. They watched in awe as the legendary hero, Voltron, stood before them with all the colors of their respective Lions, the head of the black Lion revealing his face, wielding a magnificent sword.

"Once all the Lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known. The Defender of the Universe!"

The image of the warrior vanished into sparkles, leaving everyone watching in shock, wonder, and even a little fear. The robotic warrior was far more impressive than any knightmare frame model they've seen. However, it was still intimidating to know that the seven of them would be the ones piloting it. Even Suzaku was nervous. Sure, he was the pilot of one of the most advanced knightmare frames in the world right now. The Lancelot he could handle, but a giant robotic lion? Would it feel the same way or not?

"Awesome!" Rivalz exclaimed as a brief moment of silence.

"Wait. Okay, so we're going to be in there and flying lions," Shirley spoke, "got that part. How do I insert in the legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? And if it is, should I use the toilet first? You guys have those, right?"

"We don't have much time," Lelouch said, taking command as he was to be the leader of Voltron, "Milly and I will go after the Yellow Lion. Rivalz, you take Shirley and get the Orange one," he glanced at C.C., "C.C., will you go with Rai and get the Green Lion?"

"If I must," the immortal shrugged nonchalantly.

"Suzaku, Kallen, you two stay here. When you find the Purple or Red Lions go get them." The two of them nodded in understanding.

"In the meantime, I'll get the Castle's defenses ready," Allura said, "they'll be sorely needed."

"I'll ready some pods, and load in the coordinates so you can reach the Green and Yellow Lions," Coran spoke as he proceeded to do just that.

Milly, Lelouch, Rai, and C.C. followed Coran to the pods that he prepared for their journeys. They had sleek silver vehicle outlines with neon blue around the edges that seemed to be a trademark of the castle. While they loaded in, Shirley and Rivalz returned to the Blue Lion.

After the two groups got settled in the pods, he handed Milly and Rai a device, "These are the coordinates for the Lions you'll be looking for. Once you land, they should lead you right to them."

Rai, being the most techno-savvy of the group, pressed a blue button on the device. It caused a screen to pop up that had the image of the planet where the Green Lion was located. Milly followed the action, seeing where the Yellow Lion was.

Shortly after, the three teams were launched into the atmosphere of Arus, two in pods, and the other in the Blue Lion. Lelouch and C.C. piloted the pods as Milly and Rai sat in the passenger seats. A computer screen soon appeared in front of them with Coran's face on it. The same happened for Shirley and Rivalz in the Blue Lion.

"We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other Lions open for about two of your Earth hours," Coran explained to them, as the wormholes opened in front of them. They shimmered like the ocean in the evening. "So you'll have to be quick about your work. The good news is, according to my readings, all three planets are relatively peaceful. So if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives."

"Wait, what?!/Say what?!/Come again?!" were the responses that followed. None of them realized that Coran was joking as they could quickly locate the Blue Lion, and the two pods also had tracking devices in them.

"Well, enjoy the trip!"

"Wait a minute!/Hold on!/I did not receive the memo for this!" the protests went silent as the pods and lion disappeared in the wormholes.

[nowitsdarkfic]

chapter seven (whole lotta love)

dark, cold, dreary, delicate, morbid, haunting, ethereal, heavy, gritty, spooked, gloomy, sinister, unsettling and filled to the brim with dirty thoughts, our lovely indian and gentleman from denmark have an accompanying infinite playlist (x)

⚠️ Risqué content warning ⚠️

“We'd be so lost, in our mouths, the best, I feel it everyday (every way), You feel so wrong, be alone, if you just follow somebody someday.” -”Soft and Wet”, Prince

The girls had gotten Lars and me several small square shaped cakes, half of them glazed in chocolate and sprinkled with jimmies, and the other half in Swiss meringue. Mrs. Hamilton arrived in time from behind one of those snow plows, the ones covered in a fine layer of plasma to protect the shiny steel from rusting: she handed out a bottle of ginger beer to Lars before she ducked into the kitchen in order to make screaming orgasms for the girls, and a virgin screaming orgasm for me.

Lars himself meanwhile had taken off his coat and lay it on the bench in the nook. As I wait for my drink, I watch him step into the room with bit of a satisfied expression upon his face. He adjusts the hem of his shirt and then the hem of his vest over his full, round waist. His clothes look a little too snug for his body.

I lean back in the chair, again with my hands resting in my thighs and my right leg crossed over my left.

Lizzy sidles over to me with a small black porcelain plate with four of those cakes in question, two chocolate and two meringue. The tattoos on her body flash right before my eyes as she pulls away from my face.

“I hope you’re hungry,” she tells me.

“But of course,” I retort with a smirk. She sets a hand on the right side of my face, and I gaze up into her eyes. She had put on rich mahogany lipstick to better emphasize the full shape of her lips. I’m resisting looking at her chest: the bare skin and her cleavage are hanging right there right before me. No, I can’t, even as she shows me a little smile.

“You’re so sweet,” she says to me in a husky voice. But little does she know, I’m resisting the urge to ask her to stick one of those cakes right into my mouth. “Such a sweetheart. Your drink is coming, big boy.”

She lets go of my face, and strokes around the table, and heads into the kitchen. I pick up one of the chocolate ones but I don’t take a bite. Instead, I turn my head to look at Lars, who’s standing right before Louie with his hands upon his hips. I lick my lips: I’m so thirsty.

But there’s one question I need to ask Lars before he goes any further with her.

I clear my throat but Gwendolyn steps out of the kitchen with a bulbous hurricane glass of what resembles a vanilla milkshake with a cherry on top.

“Virgin screaming orgasm for the birthday boy,” she announces in such big bold fashion; she again has golden stardust embedded in the hair on the top of her head: it glitters under the milky light bathing the whole front room. She’s also wearing red again. I swallow down the tightening sensation inside of my throat because I know how she feels about me.

Lars lets out a little giggle right behind me.

“You’re so—full,” I hear Louie tell him, “so lush and plump—”

I pay no attention to them but instead fix on the drink before me. Gwendolyn looms before me with one hand pressed to her hip.

“I don’t understand you, Joe,” she confesses, leaning closer to my face.

“H-How so?” I sputter out: it’s amazing I can even breathe with such a dry feeling inside my throat.

“Baby, you’re in a strip club. Everyone that walks in through that door is a dirty dog waiting to come out and--”

“And?” I finish in a near gasp.

She leans over the table with her hands on either side of the plate in front of me. Her tongue slithers out of her mouth, and I catch a whiff of her perfume. I feel my bottom lip trembling.

“Drink up, brown eyes,” she commands in a near whisper. I swallow again as I pick up the hurricane glass for a swig of the drink. I’m met with chocolate and coffee and something else, something creamy. It’s like I’m drinking another thing entirely, an entity not from a cold glass but from beneath Gwendolyn’s belt. I set down the glass on the table as she hands me the first of the chocolate cakes. Never taking my gaze off of her, I lean my head forward for a bite. It’s almost delicate.

I take it down in three large bites before she touches my other hand resting on my thigh. I don’t move as she slips forward and onto my lap. She’s straddling me right there in the chair.

“Kiss me,” she pleads to me in a hushed voice. Her fingers glide over my chest to the edge of my collar; for a second, I think she is going to completely rip off my sweater, but she only drops her hand down to my waist. She puckers her lips right before me. I nibble on my bottom lip. “Kiss me, Joe. Kiss me.”

“Get down, honey pie,” I whisper to her; her hands drop even lower, down to the waistband of my jeans. I could feel her undoing the button.

“Get—down—” Her fingers caress down the front of my jeans and follows suit with a light squeeze.

“My goodness... so big and full,” the words leave her lips like a soft breeze, “Mr. Stallion. Just what I expected.”

“I’m so what again?” I recall her remark from last night as the tips of her fingers fondle me: two thin layers of denim and cotton are the only things separating me from a full fledged erection for her.

“Sexy. You’re more than sexy in fact. God, you’re so hot. Mmm—I want you.”

I relax my hips and thighs so as to let her tongue and her hands do the talking. I feel her undo my jeans and stick her fingers down the front of my shorts. She’s handling me, and with nothing more than the flick of her wrist and stroking of her fingers. Meanwhile, her other hand slides up my back to the ends of my hair. I hold her close to me for a second before I reach under her shirt to unhook her bra.

“Fuck shits, you’re such a stud,” she gasps in between kisses. “Mmm—such a naughty, naughty boy—”

I don’t say anything, but rather I caress the smooth surface of the skin on her back, as smooth and gentle as melted butter. Her lips taste like meringue with a hint of ginger from the screaming orgasm she had had before. She breathes harder and faster with every touch of the lips against mine.

“—mmm, hot, sexy Italian boy,” she breathes into my face.

“Italian and Indian, baby girl,” I retort once her bra unhooks and she runs her hand through the hair at the back of my head.

“Mmm—oh, Joey—” Her chest pushes even closer to me. She’s so soft; I’m partially inclined to take off her shirt for her to parade around topless.

“Gwendolyn—” I gasp. She releases her lips so to look at me right in the face. The stardust glitters from the roots of her kinky black hair.

“I--I--” I can hardly think of anything.

“Yes, baby?”

“--I need to ask Lars a question,” is all I can stammer out.

“It can wait, big boy,” she whispers into my face, the lust dancing upon her tongue. Well, she’s not wrong about that: I take a glimpse to my left only to find Lars and Louie had gone into another room down the corridor behind the stairwell. I catch the sound of metal on metal, metal bars creaking over nuts and bolts: it’s a sound that makes me think of all the times I heard a bed frame in my parents’ room, and I make out the sound of a woman breathing heavy. It’s then followed by a broken voice:

“Louie—Louie!”

Oh. Oh God. Don’t tell me—

Gwendolyn sets her hands on either side of my face and shoves her tongue deep into my mouth. Oh. Oh God. Okay, this is nice.

I close my eyes and hold her close to me, although I want her to reach down my jeans again. But I never say anything to her about it. I can’t. She has her hands on my slim body and every light touch is enough to make me want more of it.

There’s a splash and a break of glass in the next room.

“Gwen!” Lizzy shouts from the kitchen.

“Gwendolyn!” Mrs. Hamilton follows suit. She lifts her mouth from mine and I gasp for air.

“Yes?” she calls out.

“Come in here and help us!” Lizzy replies. She returns to me for a light pat on the lips and a tap on the nose with her finger.

“Later, big boy,” she whispers into my face, and she climbs off of me and heads into the next room.

My chest is heaving. My heart is pounding. My mouth feels dry and parched, and riddled with the taste of coffee liqueur and hooch. Her perfume is still right up my nose. But I can only wonder what Maya is doing at the moment.

Not Lars: he has his hands full right now from what I can tell by the gasps coming from Louie. I need to see her, the girl upstairs.

I pick up the hurricane glass and the plate of cakes, and bolt out of the room. Careful not to spill, I run up the stairwell to the second floor where I see her, sitting there at the table before the stage. I pant from the feeling, or from running up the stairs. I don’t know.

I take a seat next to her, my chest still heaving as I set down the dish and the glass on the table. Her eyes sweep in my direction: her expression never changes as I struggle to catch my breath.

“Is everything alright?” she asks me in a gentle voice.

“I--I dunno,” I confess.

“What do you mean?”

I take a good look at her and those hazel irises staring back at me. I lift my gaze to better eye that peculiar scar on her forehead: Lars was right, that does look like a surgical scar, right smack in between the matted waves of black hair flowing off of her head and part of the way into her face. Her skin is pale, too pale in fact. One can only imagine how hungry she must be feeling at the moment. I lift myself upright for her to better see me, and then I pick up one of the cakes with meringue and offer it to her.

“No, thank you,” she says, the tone of her voice never changing.

“Are you sure?” I ask her, raising my eyebrows at her.

“Positive. Food nauseates me.” She swallows and I see the muscles in her throat contracting. Gosh, I thought I was thin.

“I have a headache,” she confesses to me.

“You might feel better if you eat something.” But she shakes her head. I stick half of the cake into my mouth for a particularly large bite. As I’m eating it up, my heart calms down and I relax right there in the chair next to her. Mrs. Hamilton, Lizzy, and Gwendolyn’s voices all float up the stairwell: at least the bed stopped creaking. Once I swallow down the bite of cake, I return to her with an idea in mind.

“Would you like to come home with me?” I offer her. “I have a very comfy couch back at my place. I’ll let you use my shower, if you’d like.”

“That’s very kind of you,” she admits, fingering the crease on her forehead. “I must find my sister, though.”

“What’s her name?”

“Candace.”

“Candace?”

“Candace Bradley. But I don’t know how to come in touch with her.”

“I’ll help you find her,” I promise to her. “Besides, I’d rather you come home with me than stay here at a strip joint. As beautiful as this place is--here, let me finish up my cakes and my drink and I’ll fetch Lars...”

I cram the other half of the cake into my mouth, but I take my time with the other two and the rest of the virgin screaming orgasm. I offer the rest of the second chocolate cake but she again refuses. I stick the last half of it right into my mouth when I realize the bed stopped creaking downstairs.

“Joey?” Lars calls out.

“Hm?” I turn my head and reply back with my mouth full.

“Where are you?”

“Uhere.”

“Come again?”

I swallow down the bite.

“Up here!”

There’s a pause, and then I catch the view of the disheveled hair upon the crown of his head. He’s fixing the buttons on his vest as he enters our view.

“There you are,” he greets me, “I was just about to ask you if I could take you back to your place given there’s so much snow outside--” He stops.

“What?” I turn my head to look at Maya, who’s shrinking down in her seat at the sight of him like a timid cat.

“What’s wrong?” I gape at her and then return to Lars, who knits his eyebrows together at her.

“What’s wrong?” I ask again.

“Is--everything alright?” he follows up, reluctant.

“It’s just Lars. He’s not going to hurt you. I promise.”

“Yeah. I’m just going to use my arrowhead here and--” She gasps and follows it up with a whimper. I nibble on my bottom lip as I climb to my feet. I lift her up out of the chair and hold her against my chest. She whimpers in her throat like a wounded animal. Lars holds onto the arrowhead pendant with a hurt look upon his face.

“Look,” he points at the pendant with his eyebrows raised and his face soft. “Look--watch me.”

He holds the pendant at the base out from his neck and into the space over the stairwell. He moves it in a horizontal direction, followed by vertically and then in a circle. It’s as if a thin veil of lace emerged out of thin air right before him, one covering a black hole that grows wide enough for him to step through, but not big enough for me.

“Follow me,” I coax her. I let go of her and take a step for the lacy veil over the gaping darkness above the stairs.

“So I just get in?” I ask him.

“Yeah, just put your hands in first, and then bow your head,” he advises, “the holes are always just big enough for me, but since you’re taller, you might want to duck. You’re thin enough, too, so you don’t have to suck in your gut like me.”

“Okay.”

I breathe in deep before pushing in through the veil and bowing into the hole. It’s like someone’s pressing on my head and my hips with a heavy sledgehammer. I wriggle my way inside: this time he’s wrong, I do have to suck in my stomach. Total darkness surrounds me: it’s like burrowing through an underground tunnel. I feel something wet on my back, and then on my hips and thighs. The hole is filling with water to carry me. Or so I think.

I hold my breath given the water in the wormhole smells of something rancid, but I crawl my way through the hole and land onto hard ground, on my back. I open my eyes to the thin sliver of gray sky over me. I blink several times and I recognize the awning over my front step. I’m home!

There’s a thud on the floor next to me and I roll my head over the porch to see Maya laying on her side. She groans inside of her throat.

I hoist myself onto my elbows to look at her meager body, at the tattered dark clothes upon her. At least Lars or Cindy, somebody in Black Orchid managed to take the rope off of her, but I still have another question. She lifts herself up onto her left elbow and stares at the wall next to my front door.

“What in God’s name happened to you,” I wonder aloud.

“God left me for dead in the gutter,” she replies. “But then I was saved by death.”

“Let’s get you inside...”

[colbyleclaire-archived-blog]

New Rules || A Self-Para

Content Warning: Anxiety, Unhealthy Coping Habits (Finger-Picking), Unhealthy Relationships.

Many thanks to those who helped out with this, whether through encouragement or beta reading or letting me fiddle around with your characters (cough cough @brieleclaire &  @thehornedprince ). Y’all are the best.

Let’s break our girl down, shall we?

Colby LeClaire thrives on order, or rather, she shrinks at the first sign of chaos.

She thinks perhaps she’s figured out where it came from, how the planets spliced and the stardust fell to create the person she’s become.

Her parents.

Sabine, who was stubborn, steadfast, Amazonian, until she wasn’t.

Remy, who paled in comparison, but was a star in his own right -- kind, bright, warm, until he wasn’t, either, or, maybe he was, just, not as much as before.

Sure, both Colby and her sister were LeClaires, compassionate, loving, loyal, but the differences were vast.

Brie inherited that steadfast nature, the glow, the starlight.

Colby was left with the interstellar junk -- the fear, the doubt, the dread, the anxiety.

Admittedly, there’s always been a part of her that’s envied Brie’s naturally celestial nature. Her younger sister seems to find her place in a group of people easily, and so clearly thrives on human connection.

Colby doesn’t.

At all.

She’s an introvert in every sense of the word, but it’s more than that.  It’s this feeling, this turbulence in the pit of her stomach, this need to be in control, to know what has happened and what might happen next, to list out the possible outcomes and effect of every situation.

Most of the time, it’s okay. Most of the time, she can figure it out. Most of the time, she writes, and she can keep control, she can get the voices to stop.

But of course, like everything in life, writing only helps, until it doesn’t.

1. July 6th, 2017, 11:06 AM.

“Hey, big cheese, I got you something.”

Colby can’t bring herself to look up at her sister, to avert her gaze from her hands and her fingers and the broken skin around her nails.

It’s only been twenty-four hours since she lost her journal, and already her fingers are a mess, not that they hadn’t been bad before -- frankly, given what had happened close to the end of June, and what would happen close to the end of July, she had been surprised at how well she was doing.

“Was” being the key word here, of course.

“Hey.”

The bed moves beneath her as Brie sits and places a soft hand over hers. It’s this action that triggers Colby actually looking up into her sister’s eyes.

They look bluer than normal. Colby isn’t really sure if that’s important.

“It’s just me. It’s just us. Focus, okay? I got you a present.”

The blonde holds out a paper bag with the World of Color logo etched into the front. Colby looks at her, blinking, but doesn’t move. It takes another encouraging look from Brie for her to shift her position and move her hands toward her present.

She removes the tissue paper from the top and places it gently on the bed, before reaching in and pulling out the bag’s contents. The tears settle into the corners of her eyes.

“I know it’s not the same. I know you lost a lot, but...maybe these will help.”

Colby isn’t really sure how she lucked into having Brie as her sister.

That’s one of life’s mysteries she has never questioned.

2. July 15th, 2017, 5:34 AM.

“...but if I DO get coffee during our layover is that going to screw me over? Am I going to regret that? The day stuck in airplane mode is annoying as it is, but the time difference is going to be KILLER...”

Colby sighs, watching as Brie holds her phone to the glass. The blonde smiles brightly at the airline employee, who then looks at her, expectantly. Colby takes a few steps forward, scanning her own phone and hitching her bag on her shoulders, following her sister.

Brie -- who’d stopped talking long enough for both of them to pass into the tunnel leading toward their plane -- intertwines their fingers and picks up the conversation right where she left off. Colby isn’t really paying much attention to her words. Instead, her gaze flickers over the people around them, mostly half-asleep, some sending disapproving glares in their direction.

There’s this strange sense of pride that fills the older girl’s body. Brie is practically the only person who could somehow be this talkative at five in the morning. Colby knows most of this excitement is simply Brie being Brie, though she guesses that falling asleep so early the night before only amplified her chipper manner.

Colby hadn’t slept, but the sound of Brie’s breathing was certainly calming, a high quality soundtrack to which Colby could write, but that was last night, and Brie deserves to be listened to now. Colby blinks, partially to clear the thoughts in her head, and refocuses her attention on her sister.

“What movies do you think they’ll show on the flight? I hope they’re not too ba-- OH! But, what if there are two of them we want to watch? Perhaps we can watch one on one of our screens and one on the other, oui? Split screen, like a computer!”

Colby smiles and gives Brie’s hand a soft squeeze. She knows the blonde means every word, and she wishes she had the capacity to be as excited.

But she has things to do, tasks to accomplish.

Truthfully, she didn’t really want to go to Paris in the first place, not after what had happened, not after who she’d seen -- what if something happened while she was gone? -- but she couldn’t say no when Brie suggested it. She’s never been able to say no to her.

So if she’s going, she’s going to work, and, as they wait to board their first plane of the day, Colby’s already formulating her plan. It’s a plan of synthesis, of data collection. She’ll gather what she can from the journals that line the top bookshelf in her closet. It won’t be everything, but it will be a start, and -- Colby hopes -- enough to toggle everything she’d written down since arriving in Buena Vista...or at least, enough of it so the pictures all come into view again.

“Whatever you want, mon cherie.”

This is going to be okay.

From the last time she saw him in Paris to the first time she saw him in Buena Vista, Colby LeClaire heard from Cedric Arawin once.

It had been exactly two weeks since she’d woken up in her bed, two weeks since she’d reached for him, two weeks since she’d grasped at bed sheets and broken promises.

In the days that followed, Colby was a mess. She didn’t sleep, or eat, or drink, or work, or write, or really do much at all, except sit in middle of the floor in her bedroom and let the tears fall down her face.

Her parents were clueless, speechless, and atypically unhelpful during those two weeks time. Truth be told, it was Brie -- small but wise fifteen-year-old Brie -- who snapped Colby out of it on Day Four.

All it took was moving Colby out of her room and into Brie’s -- a simple act that even her parents hadn’t thought of, but as soon as she’d be settled into Brie’s bed, the girl was out like a light, dead to the world, three days of exhaustion and emotion and dehydration finally catching up to her.

She spent the next two weeks in Brie’s room.

On Day Fourteen, at 6:07 AM, Colby’s phone rang, waking both sisters up. Groggily, Colby sat up and glanced down at her phone screen. She wasn’t sure where she’d put her glasses the night before and tried her hardest to see who was calling without them. This had quickly proved futile, and the brunette reached out to answer it.

Brie stopped her, eyes wide, head shaking, aura serious.

“Don’t pick up the phone.”

It had been too late, anyway -- by the time this commotion had ended, the phone had stopped ringing.

He didn’t leave a voicemail.

Colby probably could’ve expected as much.

3. July 27th, 2017, 10:28 PM.

”I saw him this morning, at breakfast...”

The words are soft, nonchalant. Colby knows Brie is attempting to keep conversation light and ventures to determine the reason why. It’s likely because she didn’t come home last night -- a change in behavior if there ever has been one -- but it might also be emotional leftovers, or simply relief that today is today and yesterday has passed.

But they made it through. One year down, who knows how many left to--

“...except, he left, soon after I arrived, and I didn’t think anything of it, until...”

Colby looks up from her journal at this point. 

She’d made control from chaos. She’d done what she always did, what she does best, but now she’s frightened it’s all going to come crashing down again.

“Until what?”

“Well, when I got back to our room, he was... HERE. Just, like, standing outside our door, as if he was debating if he should to knock or something.”

Colby feels her heart sink. She closes the notebook, sticks it -- and her matching pen -- into the drawer beside her bed. Her mouth is dry, but nothing can prepare her for the words that fall from Brie’s mouth next.

“M-maybe...maybe, you should just give him a chance to explain? Talking just once wouldn’t hurt...right?”

Colby hopes that Brie somehow always stays this naive, this innocent, this hopeful.

“C-Colby?”

“If he comes again, don’t let him in.”

The journal set was perhaps the kindest gift Colby had ever received from her sister.

When she’d opened it properly that night and noticed there were four journals, she couldn’t help the anxiety that washed over her at the thought of having to pick one to start with.

It didn’t take long for her to realize she didn’t have to pick at all.

Colby quickly decided that the best thing to do was split them by content. A journal for her mother, a journal for Cedric, a journal for school-related rambles, a journal for the rest of it.

She kept them all in her backpack, of course -- she was never sure which one she’d want to write in until she found herself reaching for it -- but this was the better way to do it. The smarter way.

She wouldn’t lose everything if she lost just one, though she couldn’t help but count them every half an hour or so, to make sure she had them all.

One, two, three, four.

Everything was okay as long as she reached four.

4. July 30th, 2017, 3:52 PM.

“I heard the Dream House is reopening in the next few days. Someone said we might be getting room assignments today. I hope we are on the first floor! I am getting sick of climbing stairs.”

Colby’s looking down at her hands again. They’re getting a little better -- she’s getting a little better -- but she’s not sure if this will make it worse.

Sharing a room with Brie in the inn had been a dream. It made it easier for the two of them to find each other, to see each other, not to mention they were probably less annoying this way.

No roommates were bothered by impromptu LeClaire sleepovers if their roommates were each other.

“I have to hand it to WDA, they certainly have found a way to force people to mingle with one another. Talk about making new fri-”

The ping of an email notification from Brie’s phone cuts her off, and Colby watches as she practically leaps onto her bed, scrambling for it.

Colby’s phone quickly follows suit, the email notification popping up on her phone. Her actions are slower than Brie’s, but she moves to unlock her phone, too. No sense in delaying the inevitable.

Brie’s hand is holding hers before she even registers the fact that her younger sister has moved to her bed. Her face scrunches and she pulls her hand away, opening the e-mail and beginning to scroll through it.

“Don’t be his friend.”

It takes Colby a second to register what Brie’s talking about, but when she finds her name on the list, it clicks.

“Colby, I am so sorry...”

In the six months they were together, Cedric Arawin did many things for Colby LeClaire.

He taught her what freedom tasted like. Sweet and salty, all at once.

He reminded her how much lungs crave oxygen. He’d deprive her of breath for minutes at a time, tongues intertwined, lips pressed together, bodies close.

He guided her through the lesson of walking against a crowd in every sense of the phrase. She’d never been to a concert before him,  and somehow the view from right beneath the stage was worth the panic of fighting through people to get there.

He showed her what it felt like to mean something to someone else. She’d never doubted the unconditional love of her parents, of her sister, but this was something different. This was the kind of love you worked for, the kind of love you kindled, the kind of love that started with the tiniest of sparks.

He found her starlight. He taught her to glow, to shine.

And by the time she recognized the black hole, it was too late.

5. August 3rd, 2017, 8:41 AM.

She’s put it off long enough. Brie had moved out two days ago, but Colby hadn’t found the courage to.

Now, she has no choice. They need the room she’s in.

Eden Inn has been kind, has been good, to her friends, to her school, to their families.

Colby needed to suck it up.

She clenches and unclenches her fists, before meeting one hand with the other and falling back into the same bad habits she just can’t seem to break. She makes a mental note that she might have to head to the pharmacy and grab more band-aids. She’s not sure if she has enough to last as long as she needs them to.

She’s trying to keep her breath even, trying to remind herself of the plan she’s made, but it’s shaky. Everything’s shaky.

Did she grab all of her journals this morning?

She takes her backpack off of her back and opens it to check.

Don’t pick up the phone. One, two, three, four. Don’t let him in. One, two, three, four. Don’t be his friend. One, two, three, four.

Eventually she feels convinced, and she returns her backpack to her back, grabs the handle of her suitcase, and keeps walking, switching to count her paces, to catching her breath.

One. Breath in. Don’t pick up the phone. Two. Breath out. Don’t let him in. Three. Breath in. Don’t be his friend. Four. Breathe out. Don’t --

She stops in front of room 4A.

Her room. His room.

Their room.

Breathe in, breathe out.

It takes her a second to actually manage to get her key card into the lock. Her hand is shaking too much, she’s shaking too much, but slowly, carefully, she pushes the door open, teeth pressed deeply into her bottom lip, heart pounding in her ears, scared of whatever might be awaiting her...

She waits. She stops. She listens.

She’s met with nothing but silence.

She walks further into the room, fearful of what might be lurking in the shadows, terrified of what she might find.

Three minutes pass before she’s certain she’s alone, though its clear he’s been here. His stuff is thrown about, and it smells like him.

Colby places her suitcase on the untouched bed by the window, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders, and, with another glance around the room, heads right back out the door.

She can’t do this. Not now.

Colby LeClaire thrives on order, or rather, she shrinks at the first sign of chaos.

She’s not sure what happens when all signs point to pandemonium.

She’s not sure if she wants to find out.

[this-book-has-been-loved]

Singularity: Chapter 8

AU where instead of landing in the trash nebula, Pidge finds herself on the same planet as a certain Galra prison camp.

(Holt family reunion fic; no romantic relationships)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

Read it on Ao3

Read it on FFN

Part III: Stardust Chapter 8: Beings

Something inside her had broken.

After their rescue mission to Serva had failed, the atmosphere in the castle had gone somber. They felt like they were waiting—for what, they didn’t know. But the tension hung in the air, leaving a distinctly unfinished tinge.

After nearly a quintant-and-a-half of everyone avoiding the topic, Pidge firmly pushed it out of her thoughts.

Stay distracted, she recited. Keep yourself focused on other things. Put it out of your mind. Don’t think about it.

And so she did what she best: buried her feelings and got to work on whatever tech-related problem needed her attention.

Taking a moment to steel herself, she knocked on Shiro’s door.

“Come in.”

The door slid open, and Shiro stood up a bit straighter at seeing her. “Pidge?”

“Keith told me there were some coordinates or something encoded in your arm,” she said, jumping straight to the point. “Should we take a look at that?”

He paused, glancing down at his prosthetic and then back to her. “That…can wait. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” she snapped. She took a deep shaky breath, steadying herself. “The best thing we can do for my family is to take down the Galra empire,” she continued softly, looking down at the floor. “And if the next step to that is finding some mysterious coordinates programmed into your arm, then that’s what we should do.” She met his gaze, and they stared at one another for a moment.

Shiro exhaled and nodded once. “Okay. Let’s get everyone else.”

The days passed in a blur. The traveled from Thaldecon to Olkarion to Taujeer to the Unilu swap moon/space mall—constantly hopping throughout the galaxies. When she wasn’t fighting, she was working. Upgrading the cloaking for her lion, trying to see if she could equip her podship with the cloaking (unfortunately she couldn’t seem to figure out how to integrate it into her armor), studying the inner workings of the castle, decryption of all the data downloads (and partial downloads) they’d been collecting, reading through and analyzing and taking notes on any data she could get her hands on….

She wasn’t sleeping as much. Her brain tended to run wild at night, bringing back painful memories she’d rather not relive. No—it was easier to stay awake, to keep busy, to pour herself into her work.

And now, finally, they’d made it to the Blade of Marmora’s headquarters.

Where she was stuck with nothing to do for two days while Shiro and Keith spoke with the Galra rebels.

She sat in her chair in the bridge, her fingers holding tight to the seat. “I wish I was in there,” she muttered. “Whatever’s going on in there has gotta be way more exciting than just sitting here and waiting.” Her leg was bouncing impatiently; distantly, she wondered how long that had been going on. “This is agonizing.”

“I don’t know if I’d say agonizing,” Lance called from where he was sprawled out in his own chair. “Kinda nice getting to relax for once.”

“Mm, I’m gonna have to agree with Pidge on this one,” Hunk said. “I’d kind of like to know what’s going on rather than just…speculating.”

“I wanted to meet them,” Pidge said, more to herself than to the others in the room. “If they have double agents or whatever infiltrating Zarkon’s ranks, I want to talk to them.” She pulled her legs up into her chair and hugged them to her chest. “They might be able to give me some answers.”

“Well, it’s going to be a while before we hear anything back from them,” Coran said, chipper as always. “So we’ll just have to wait until then.”

Pidge let out a scream of frustration, curling further into herself. “I. Hate. WAITING.”

“Easy there, Pigeon,” Lance told her, sitting up. “Come on, I’m sure we can find something to do to pass the time.”

Hunk lit up. “Oh hey, that reminds me! I think I may have found a way to hook up that video game you guys bought back at that space mall!”

Lance brightened considerably at that. “Hunk, have I told you recently how much I love you?”

Hunk grinned, shrugging nonchalantly. “You could afford to say it more.”

Allura sighed, tapping at her display screen. “Well, while you go do that, Coran and I will stay here and monitor the base. Be on alert in case something goes wrong.”

Lance saluted as he sauntered across the bridge. “You got it, Princess.” He stopped by Pidge’s chair, where she was still resting her forehead on her knees and grumbling to herself. He crouched down beside her, gently prodding her side. “Hey Pidge. Pigeon. Pidgey. Pidgeroo. Pidge-asaurus. Pidgeotto.”

“What, Lance?” she snapped

“Ya wanna go play some Mercury Gameflux Two?”

She sighed, relenting, letting him drag her out of her chair. “Yeah. I could use some mindless video games right about now.”

Lance had crashed.

After several hours of gameplay and complaining (“Come on, Pidge, winning’s not winning when your opponent doesn’t have their heart in it.”), he had passed out on the lounge’s sofa, the mice curled up on his chest, leaving Pidge and Hunk alone.

Halfway through their third round together, Hunk pressed the pause button.

Pidge almost didn’t notice at first, just kept pressing buttons. Confused, she turned to Hunk, to find him watching her in concern. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes, turning back to the paused game. “Peachy.”

Hunk sighed. “Pidge, I’m going to be honest with you. You haven’t been the same since Serva. It’s been over a week. Don’t think we haven’t all noticed. You’re barely eating. You haven’t been sleeping. You’re overworking yourself, Katie.” At the use of her birth name, she stilled, and her hands clenched. “We’re worried about you,” Hunk continued, reaching out to rest a hand on her back. “We all are.”

She flinched away from his touch, and her grip tightened on the controller. Her hands were shaking. “I don’t need your pity,” she muttered. “Can we—can we just go back to the game now?”

“Pidge, please—”

She let out a frustrated yell, throwing her controller to the ground. “No! I am sick and tired of everyone treating me like I’m so…so…fragile!! I’m not going to break!” She took a deep breath, collecting herself. “I’m…I’m fine.” Her voice broke. “I’m going to be fine.”

He was silent for a moment, then carefully reached out to her again. He placed his hand on her back, and this time she let him. “You know…it’s okay to not be fine.”

“You don’t understand,” she muttered.

“I’d like to.”

“I can take care of myself!”

“I know,” he said simply. “The thing is, Pidge…you don’t need to. You don’t have to do everything on your own. We’re all right here.”

“Ugh!” She buried her head in her hands. “You don’t understand,” she repeated, more desperately. “I have to be okay. I have to keep going. I can’t let this control me and get in the way of things. If we don’t stop Zarkon, then who will?” She was frantic, her voice rising in pitch with every word. “How else am I supposed to help them? I—how can I call myself a defender of the universe if I can barely hold myself together?! How can I be a Voltron paladin if I can’t even do that?!”

“Well of course you’re a paladin,” Hunk replied, as though it were the simplest thing. “Green chose you, Pidge. There’s no changing that. You’re the Green Paladin. But you know what else you are?”

“What?” she muttered.

“Human.”

At that, she looked up.

“You’re human, Pidge. You’re allowed to have feelings. You’re allowed to deal with those. You don’t have to keep pushing them away—pushing all of us away.”

The mice had stirred, abandoning Lance’s chest to instead curl up against her legs. She sighed, absently petting Platt’s head. “I know,” she murmured. “I just…I’m used to dealing with stuff myself, and….” She shrugged. “I’m tired.”

Hunk rubbed her back. “I think you need to get some rest.”

She shook her head weakly. “It’s worse then,” she whispered. “When my mind starts wandering. I need to stay focused. I…I can’t….”

He sighed, pulling her fully into his arms. “Alright,” he said. “Then stay here. Lance and I will keep you company.”

“Lance is asleep.”

“As you should be.”

She curled in on herself. “I can’t,” she said again. “Not…not yet. Can we just…go back to the game?”

He gave her an askance look. “Promise me you’ll tell us when something’s wrong?”

She nodded. “Promise.”

He smiled, reaching forward to pick up her controller and handing it back to her. “Alright. Thank you, Pidge.” He un-paused, and the game flickered back to life.

Pidge leaned up against him, resting her head against his chest. “Thank you, Hunk,” she told him firmly. “You’re the best.”

“Love you too, Katie.”

They met the Red Lion in its hangar.

Keith stumbled out of the cockpit, followed by Shiro and two other figures. And if Pidge thought Keith looked a bit worse for wear, she didn’t say anything. After briefly introducing them to their Galra companions, Keith and Shiro exchanged a meaningful glance.

“And…,” Keith seemed hesitant to add, “there’s something I need to tell you.”

Allura frowned. “What’s wrong? Keith, you look exhausted. What happened?”

Shiro put a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “That’s what we need to talk about,” he said. “Can we go somewhere else?”

The Princess sent a cold glance towards the Galra—Kolivan and Antok—then turned back to Shiro and Keith. “Of course. We should move to the bridge. Kolivan and Antok can wait for us in the conference room.”

“Keith, you look like you’re about to collapse,” Hunk said as they walked. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“‘M fine,” Keith mumbled. “Just…haven’t slept.”

“Dude, you realize that’s the exact same excuse Pidge uses, right?”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Shut up,” she said, shoving Hunk lightly. “You mere mortals may need sleep. But Keith and I are of a higher calling.”

“A higher calling,” Lance repeated dryly.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Pidge, you live off coffee and spite.”

“Damn straight.”

Keith didn’t say anything. Instead, he waited until they’d made it to the bridge, with Kolivan and Antok waiting in the next room. With everyone’s attention on him, he took a deep breath. “A lot happened while we were at the Blade’s headquarters,” he started. With that, he delved into explanation, going over the knife he’d carried and the trials he’d faced, all culminating with the way his blade had awoken. “And Kolivan mentioned,” he finished, nearly stumbling over the words, “that…well, that would only be possible if…if Galra blood ran in my veins.”

He was met by silence.

After a long moment, Allura spoke, her voice chilling. “What?”

Keith winced, but it was Shiro who answered. “Keith is part Galra,” he repeated, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “We don’t know how much, but that’s not important. We just thought that as part of this team, you all deserved to know.”

There was another pause. “If you’ll excuse me,” Allura said icily, “I should tend to our guests.”

She left the room without another word. With a stammered apology (“I—I’m sorry. I should talk to her….”), Coran had left only steps behind her. As for the rest of the team, none of them really knew how to respond.

Keith fidgeted anxiously. “Yeah,” he muttered. “That’s pretty much exactly the reaction I was expecting.” He pulled away from Shiro, stalking towards one of the other sets of doors leading out of the bridge.

“Wait,” Lance stammered. “Keith!”

But the Red Paladin had already stormed out of the bridge.

Shiro sighed. “Give him some space. In the meantime, we should talk with Kolivan and Antok about our next steps against Zarkon.”

She found him in the lounge.

Allura, Coran, Shiro, and Lance were on the bridge with Kolivan and Antok, discussing their plan for taking down the Galra Empire. Hunk had decided to take this opportunity to catch up on lost sleep. Pidge was tempted to join him, but instead found herself wandering the halls of the castle.

She didn’t realize she was looking for Keith until she walked in on him.

He was slouching on one of the sunken couches, arms crossed over his chest, as he glared out the window at the stars surrounding them.

She knew that he’d heard her enter; she noticed the way his eyes flickered towards the door, the way his posture tightened almost imperceptibly, as though he wanted nothing more than to run away and hide.

And he looked exhausted. As she came up to stand beside him, Pidge noticed the bags under his eyes, the way his shoulders sagged against the back of the couch, the bruises blossoming across his collarbone and disappearing into his shirt.

She stopped about a foot away from him, but he didn’t turn towards her. “Keith. Buddy. You should get some rest.”

He didn’t move. “I’m fine.”

She raised an eyebrow. Well, doesn’t that sound familiar. “No, you’re kinda not,” she told him. “If what you and Shiro told us is accurate, you’ve been on your feet fighting for nearly two days straight. You need to get some sleep.”

“Sleep is for the weak.”

“Keith, you haven’t slept in two days.”

He gave her a withering glance. “Like you’re really one to talk.”

She sighed, collapsing onto the sofa beside him. “Yeah, alright, fair enough.”

They fell into silence, tense and charged. The words hovered unspoken between them––neither of them wanting to make the first move.

After a moment that seemed to stretch on for eternity, Pidge took a deep breath. “Can we…can we talk? About the whole…Galra thing?”

He closed his eyes in resignation, somehow managing to curl up even further into himself, still stubbornly refusing to meet her gaze. “Pidge, I’m sorry—”

“No. Shut up.” He froze, surprised at her vehemence, and finally turned to meet her gaze. She bit her lip, trying to find the right words. “Just shut up and let me say things.” He motioned for her to continue and she nodded, steeling herself. “The Galra have taken everything from me,” she murmured, looking towards the starry expanse through the window. “My father…my brother…and just when I get him back they take him away again, and so they’re still just out of reach. I hate the Galra for all they’ve done to me.”

He turned his attention towards the floor. “Pidge, if you’re trying to cheer me up—”

“Let me finish,” she said, elbowing him playfully. “What I’m trying to get at here…is that’s not you.”

He stilled, glancing up at her curiously.

“That’s not who you are,” she continued. “None of that defines you. You’re still the same Keith you were yesterday.” She smiled at him. “You’re still you. I know that. You know that. The rest of the team knows that, too. You’re still the Red Paladin, and you’re still our friend. You’re still part of this team…part of this family. And that’s not gonna change—Galra or not.” She took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “I trust you.”

Keith flushed, smiling wanly as his grip on her hand tightened. “I—Pidge….”

She rested her head on his shoulder, curling up on the sofa beside him. “Now I don’t know about you,” she began casually, “but I know I haven’t really gotten much sleep these past few days. Or weeks. And I am tired.”

He laughed, wrapping an arm around her. “Believe it or not, I think I can relate to that.”

Kolivan and Antok had returned to the Marmora base, to wait until preparations were complete and to keep in contact with their infiltrator.

Everyone else waited in the bridge, going over the details and specifics of their plan once again.

“For this to succeed, we’re gonna need to split up,” Coran intoned as they all stood in the bridge. “We all have a task to do. If any one of us fails, the entire plan fails.”

“Right,” Hunk mumbled. “No pressure or anything.”

Keith clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll be fine.”

Shiro nodded towards them. “Keith, Hunk: you’ll be in charge of getting the scaultrite. Pidge and Lance and I will head to Beta Traz to free Slav. Coran will go to Olkarion to coordinate the construction of the teludav, and Allura will get a crystal from the Balmera. Once that’s done, we’ll pick up Kolivan and Antok and head for Zarkon’s base.”

“And then Zarkon’s going down,” Lance said with a grin.

“Alright, the faster we get this done, the better,” Shiro continued. “Is everyone ready?” Nodding from around the room. “Good. Let’s move ou—”

Then the display screen starting flashing red.

“Zarkon again?” Pidge asked, already heading towards her station. “I thought we’d finally gotten him off our tail.”

“It’s not an attack,” Coran told them, typing away at his control panel. “We’re picking up a distress beacon.”

That didn’t do much to lessen the tension in the room. Allura and Shiro exchanged worrisome glances. We’re stretched too thin.

It was Keith who spoke. “We don’t have time for that. Kolivan told us how to stop Zarkon; we need to focus on the issue at hand.”

Allura pursed her lips. “The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “When was it?” he continued sarcastically. “Oh, right. We were on our way to the Balmera when we were hailed by Rolo and Nyma.” He crossed his arms. “Hey, does anyone else remember that? The last time we got sidetracked from an urgent mission by a distress beacon like this?” he asked pointedly. “It ended with me handcuffed to a tree while Rolo and Nyma stole my lion. Ringing a bell?”

“Not every distress beacon is gonna be a trap set by bounty hunters,” Hunk tried to reason.

“I’m just saying.” Lance held up his hands in surrender. “Maybe we should stick to the plan at hand. You know, stopping Zarkon?”

Pidge crossed her arms. “I’m not turning my back on anyone who needs help.”

Shiro turned to Coran. “Where is it coming from?”

Coran pressed a few more buttons, and the image of a planet appeared on the main display screen. “A planet called Vallen,” he told them. “Our records show it was taken over by the Galra hundreds of years ago. They’ve…well, it seems they’ve been using it as…as a prison.”

The tension in the air only tightened. No one said it, but it still hung unspoken in the air: like Serva.

Shiro didn’t react outwardly––only continued to watch Coran. “And the distress beacon?”

“It appears to be coming from the prison. The prisoners there are rebelling, and are requesting backup.”

Pidge ignored the looks the others sent her, keeping her eyes pinned to the display. “We have to help them.”

Allura sighed. “As much as I think we should stay on track with our preparations, Pidge is right. We cannot ignore their calls for help simply because we’ve set our sights on a bigger target.”

Lance sighed. “Alright. Guess Slav will have to wait.”

“Coran, send them a response,” Shiro commanded. “Let them know that Voltron is on it’s way. Allura, we’re gonna need a wormhole. The rest of you: suit up.”

They exited the wormhole and Vallen came into focus. The planet, a mass of grays and blues, hung before them, suspended in the stars.

Shiro took it in calmly, nodding. “Alright, bring us in.”

“Ah, slight issue with that.”

Allura frowned. “What is it, Coran?”

Coran was fiddling with the data readouts of the scanners. “There’s a Galra ship coming in ahead of us.”

Keith’s head snapped up in surprise. “What? That’s impossible!”

Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder, then turned to Coran. “Are you sure it’s Galra?”

Before Coran could answer, the ship appeared before them. And along with it, multiple smaller ships, pods, and fighters, all blasting into view one by one. An entire fleet, in all it’s imposing purple glory.

“Pretty sure,” Coran squeaked.

“This can’t be good,” Lance muttered.

“How did they find us?” Allura demanded. “They must have known we were coming.” Pidge didn’t miss the sidelong glance she cast towards Keith.

“I thought Zarkon couldn’t track us through the Black Lion anymore,” Hunk fretted.

Pidge frowned. “They must’ve intercepted the distress call.”

Shiro set his jaw. “It doesn’t matter how they found us right now. We should get to our lions.”

“Wait.”

They all paused at Coran’s outburst, turning towards him curiously.

“Coran?” Allura pressed.

He took a deep breath, looking up from the console. “Incoming transmission, Princess.”

She seemed dumbstruck. “From…the Galra command ship?”

Shiro shot her a concerned glance, then turned back to Coran. “Accept it,” he commanded warily. “Everyone, be ready. Whatever they have to say, it can’t be good.”

The display screen flickered, and the view of Vallen was replaced by a vidlink with the Galra ship. A single Galra officer took up most of the screen, his chin pointed up in disdain.

“Voltron,” the Galra sneered. “I am Commander Reggar.”

Allura pursed her lips, glaring at the screen. “To what do we owe this call?”

“I come offering a bargain,” he told them. “I believe you have something I want. Namely, the Voltron lions. In return, it seems that I have something you want. Or, rather, someone. Two someones, who I’m sure some of your Paladins would be very pleased to see.”

Before Pidge could say anything, the image on the display screen changed. The camera panned over to show two people. Their hands were cuffed behind them, and sentries held them by the arms.

Pidge froze.

Matt.

But no, it wasn’t only Matt.

“Dad?” she whispered.

Ahead of her, Shiro tensed.

“Surrender Voltron,” spoke Reggar’s voice from offscreen, “and guarantee their freedom.”

Matt jerked away from the sentry. “Katie, no, it’s a trap!”

One of the sentries beside him smacked him with the butt of its gun, and he grunted in pain.

Pidge let out a small squeak, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

Lance put a hand on her shoulder protectively, coming to stand a half-step in front of her.

“Let them go, Reggar,” Shiro ordered, his voice steely. “They’re not involved in this.”

“Not involved?” The camera turned to focus back on Reggar, this time with a wider angle so as to keep the prisoners in the background. “Then in that case, perhaps I should simply dispose of them now—”

“No!”

She didn’t realize she had been the one to scream until the words had already left her mouth.

Reggar was smirking in triumph. “As I thought,” he quipped. “You have one varga,” he added. “Don’t disappoint me.” The comm link switched off, and the bridge was filled with silence.

Pidge couldn’t breathe.

Within two ticks of the transmission ending, Lance’s hand had moved from her shoulder to pull her into a hug. “Oh, Pigeon.”

And the rest of the team was there too, circling her, reaching out, their voices swirling around her as everything faded and conflicted and bled together. “Pidge—” “Is she okay?” “We have to do something.” “Katie?” “I’ve got her.”

She gasped in between her sobs, trying to remind herself to breathe. “We—we have—”

“I know,” Lance murmured, rubbing her back. “I know. We will.”

She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, couldn’t focus, couldn’t do much of anything other than cry.

Come on, Katie, pull it together, you don’t have time for this, just breathe, Pidge, breathe.

Distantly, she was aware of Shiro saying the same thing: “Deep breaths, Katie. Come on. Breathe with me.”

Her grip on reality tightened, and the tension in her shoulders started to ease.

When her tears slowed and her breathing evened out, she pulled back from the hug, blinking as everything came back into focus.

She was sitting in a heap on the floor (when had that happened?) with Lance kneeling by her on one side and Hunk on the other (hadn’t they done this already?).

Shiro was watching her face intently. “You here?” She nodded, and he reached out to help her back to her feet. “Alright, we need a plan of attack. And fast.”

She felt like her head was spinning. “But—But Zarkon.”

“This takes first priority.”

Pidge wiped at her eyes. “But the Blade—”

“The Blade of Marmora can wait.” Shiro insisted. “This is your family on the line here.”

Keith nodded. “Kolivan will—no, scratch that, Kolivan won’t understand. But you know what? Fuck Kolivan. We’re Voltron. He can’t tell us what to do.”

She didn’t quite laugh, but she felt herself smile. “Thanks, guys.”

Hunk rubbed her back, smiling softly. “‘Course.”

“We’re always gonna stand by you, Pidge,” Lance agreed.

Pidge took another deep breath, still trying to put her nerves at rest. “So?” She looked to Shiro. “What’s the plan?”