#Only missed 2 or 3 years since 2009

[formulapierre]

His Royal Highness | George Russell

Pairing: George Russell x Royalty!Y/N

Prompt: George settles into life as the Prince of Wales which involves starting a family and having to overcome an obstacle that nobody saw coming.

Warnings: Death, Child illness: Cancer

Word count : 4135

HRH Series: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3

HRHPrinceofWales

Liked by BRDC and 1,492,750 other,

HRHPrinceofWales Amazing to finally be back at Silverstone after what felt like years away. Huge thanks to @MercedesAMGF1 and @WilliamsF1 for welcoming me back. Nice to see the inside of @MclarenF1's garage for the first time 😅

Deeply honoured to have been offered the role as President-in-chief of the BRDC after the passing of The Duke of Kent last year and I'm looking forward to working in motorsport once again.

BRDC The honour is all ours 😊

LandoNorris Great to see you again brother, dinner at yours right?

--- CharlesLeclerc Thats what I was told 🤷

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“I didn’t think we’d be back here anytime soon,” George said as our driver pulled into our allocated parking space.

“Neither did I, though it definitely feels different,” You said, unfortunately you both had missed it the past few years so the last time you were here was in George’s final season.

“You won it the last time I was here,” You reminded him.

“I know, it was my favourite race of the season,” He said as the car doors were opened for you.

“Why’s that?” You ask, thanking the footman.

“Because It was my final race in front of my home crowd and apart from Abu Dhabi it was the only race you were able to attend,” He says, making you smile. 

“Why am I not surprised,” You say, rolling your eyes as He takes your hand and you start to walk towards the paddock. You swiped yourselves in before you were ushered towards the Williams garage. The Williams family had a fairly long history with your family so they were always the first stop. You loved seeing George reunite with some of the people that He raced with, seeing that racing spark reignite inside of him.

It wasn’t too long before you were saying your goodbyes to the Williams team and heading towards Mercedes. Lewis had announced that after winning his eighth championship last year he was retiring so there was a bit of a bittersweet atmosphere, knowing that this would be his last race in front of his home crowd. You and Lewis had known each other for years; first meeting at a lunch in 2009 where he had been seated between you and your father, and then when you knighted him in 2021 after He won his 7th championship.

“Lewis,” You said excitedly as he came your way.

“Y/N, George; How are you both?” He asks pulling his ear plugs out after just coming in from FP1.

“Good, excited to be back,” George says, knowing you both shared that sentiment. Lando joined you a few moments later, talking about the dinner George had decided to arrange for all the drivers and their partners at Kensington palace in a few days. Your time in Mercedes was cut short by Adam reminding you that you needed to be in the BRDC clubhouse in a few minutes.

You reached the clubhouse with plenty of time to spare. You recognised quite a few of the faces as you walked in, George seeming to know most of them properly; stopping to greet quite a few of them. Everyone took their allocated seats as the BRDC President David Coulthard stood up on the stage to give his speech.

“Thank you to everyone who managed to make it to Silverstone today. As I’m sure you are all very aware of. Mr George Russell. Or as I've been told to call him, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, has been announced as our new President in Chief,” He says and a round of applause moves across the room. “-and although He’s been a member since 2014 we felt we should welcome him back properly,” He adds before George gets up from his seat to give a speech he had prepared.

“Thank you David; I promise I won’t take up too much of your time. I just wanted to say thank you to you all for welcoming me back with open arms. It’s been a few years since I last raced around this track and a lot has changed since then,” George says, smiling at you before continuing. “-but racing was, and always will be a huge part of my life and I felt I had to recognise that in some way. So after the passing of The Duke of Kent it felt only right that I take up the mantle,”

Lando.jpg

Liked by PierreGasly and 490,183 others

Lando.jpg Dinner at George's new place...don't quite know if 'new' is the right word...

carlossainz55 Great night, lovely to meet the Mrs Russell properly

-- Charles_Leclerc Mate, you barely spoke to her after you got lost...

--- Lando.jpg Do you think if I stayed they would notice????

Alex_Albon Has anyone seen Lando? we were meant to be getting a cab together...

-- danielricciardo I didn't see him leave to be honest...

pierregasly Thanks for the invite brother, meet up soon 👊

Lando.jpg They found me 🥲

“They should be here,” George says, looking out the window at the drive way, anxiously tapping his foot against the hardwood floor.

“Darling, it's two minutes past seven. Take a moment and breathe,” You say, putting a hand on your husband’s shoulder.

“That’s them,” He says, completely ignoring what you said and rushing to the front door. The doors were open as the footmen had gone out to open their car doors. All of the drivers and their partners had come together so there were only six cars rather than 20, making things much quicker. You and George greeted everyone as they came in, letting Adam show them through to the dining room.

You knew a fair amount of the drivers as they had been there when George was racing; however , some of the younger ones were fresh faces to you, though George seemed to know them. Lando and his girlfriend were the last couple in, talking with you as you entered the dining room. Everyone mingled for a while, chatting to each other as flutes of champagne were handed around; George was thoroughly enjoying getting to see all of his friends again, especially in such a stress-free environment. You were enjoying yourself, getting to know a few of the younger drivers and their partners.

You were mid way conversation with Mclaren's new driver Oliver Bearman when you heard the tinking of a knife against a crystal glass. Everyone turned to look at George who was standing in the middle of the room.

“Thank you all for coming tonight, I’m well aware of how difficult it is to coordinate twenty-something schedules but it means a lot to the both of us that you could be bothered to make an effort,” He says, causing everyone to laugh. “You all look great by the way, Y/N is still trying to convince me that I look better in a morning suit than a racing suit but I feel the jury is still out on that one,” He says, teasing you. “I don’t quite think that five years ago when Lewis first introduced me to Y/N I would have believed him if He had said this is where we would be standing today. So thank you,” He says, raising his glass to Lewis. “Y/N, Darling, I know you said there was something you wanted to say,” He says and now everyone turned to look at you.

“There was; I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. Lando, Charles, and Alex especially. I know that George's decision to retire was not one he made lightly, and probably not one he would have had to make had He not known me. But you three have really made the effort to keep in touch; I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ll walk into a room and find George in fits of laughter over something you had said and it really means the world to me to see him so happy, so thank you,” You say raising your glass to the three of them. “Oh, one last thing…George has told me to tell Lando specifically that there will be no fish served tonight…nor has any of the food been near a fish,” You add and the room erupts into laughter.

“Just the way I like it,” He replies before lifting his own glass. “To George and Y/N,” He says and everyone else lifts their glasses as well. George looks at you as he raises his glass. “Question though…anyone know where I can get myself one of these?” He asks

“You mean a palace mate?” Carlos asks

“Yeah, they’re quite nice. George, do you reckon you could give us a tour? Just so I know what I’m getting myself into of course,” Lando asks and George puts his hand on his shoulder.

“After dinner I will give you the full tour I promise,” He says with a smile as everyone moves towards the table and takes their seats.

You had cut the ribbon, officially opening the new children’s hospital with a comically large pair of metal scissors. You stood with George and the directors of the hospital for some press photos before being shown inside. You greeted some of the doctors who would be making use of all the new equipment that had been installed, slowly making your way to one of the wards. You easily tuned out the snapping of cameras as the ward nurse turned to you.

“Your highness’,” She said curtsying politely. “The children are all really excited to see you, they haven’t stopped talking about your visit for weeks,” She said with a soft smile on her face.

“So these children have been here for a while then?” You ask, your heart breaking a little.

“Yes, this ward is for children currently undergoing treatment for various types of cancer so their stay tends to be much longer than usual,” She says as the door is slid open. As you step inside you are greeted by a room full of smiling faces from patients in hospital beds to siblings, parents and grandparents standing around their bedsides. The room was quite spacious with a small area in the corner with some books and toys in.

The little girl in the first bed was holding up a welcome sign that had been decorated with little tiaras and racing cars.

“We all helped,” She said looking at the other kid.

“It's beautiful, I love the glitter on the racing cars,” You say laughing a little.

“Jackson wanted racing cars so we compromised on the glitter,” She says and you look over to Jackson who just rolled his eyes. You spent your time talking to each child, answering any questions they had for you. After about half an hour George had seemed to have accumulated all of the children around one bed, talking to them about racing. Unsurprisingly, Jackson was the most vocal in the group, proclaiming He was going to be a formula one driver one day.

As He spoke to the children you took the opportunity to talk to some of the parents.

“I am in awe of you all, I don’t even know what I’d do in your positions,” You say honestly.

“We do what we have to do,” One of the fathers says. “When Tilly was diagnosed we were fortunately in a position where we could take the time off of work to be here with her, that's what matters at the end of the day,” He adds and the rest of the group seem to nod in agreement.

“He would make a great father you know,” A slightly older lady said from next to you.

“I know He would,” You reply with a smile, watching as he laughed and joked with the children, doing his best to answer some pretty complex questions about racing.

“He acts the same way my late husband did with our children, had the patience of a saint,” She adds, noticing that he kept asking the kids that were a bit quieter if they had any questions

“You were really great with those kids today,” You say to your husband as you’re getting ready for bed. “All the parents around me said that you were a natural,” You added with a smile as you pulled your pyjamas on.

“I mean there’s always been little kids in the family so I guess I grew up around them,” He says as he rests against the headboard, thumb holding open the pages of a book.

“Have you ever thought about our kids before?” You ask as you switch the main light off before climbing into bed; only Georges bedside lamp illuminating the room.

“I have,” He says with a smile. “I imagine us having three” 

“I was thinking three…” You say at the same time causing you both to laugh. “Well at least that's decided,” You add. George had slotted his bookmark in before putting the book down and turning to you.

“Did you have an idea of when you want these hypothetical children?” He asks, causing you to grin.

“I was thinking we could start trying now…” You ask, running your finger up and down his bare chest.

You threw the covers off of you as quickly as you could, rushing into the bathroom and kneeling over the toilet; you had been feeling rough for days but this was the first time something was actually threatening to come up. 

“Please let me call the doctor,” George asks as he eventually follows behind you, kneeling next to you and holding your hair.

“I’m late,” You admit to him.

“It's two in the morning, you’re not late Darling,” He says with a chuckle.

“No…I’m late, my period is late,” You clarify; it had been a few months since you had started trying so you weren’t entirely surprised when you woke up one morning feeling like this.

“Let’s get you back into bed and I’ll call for the doctor,” He says, kissing the side of your head. You stayed there for a few minutes before that bout of nausea had passed, you wiped your mouth and George helped you back into bed. He left you for a few moments to use the phone in the living room. He comes back a few moments later and sits on the side of your bed. “The doctor will be here in a few minutes and I also sent Adam out to get a few pregnancy tests,” He says, gently rubbing your leg.

“You shouldn’t have woken Adam, we could have gotten one in the morning,” You say as you wrapped the blankets around you tightly.

“Darling, it’s fine,” He says, there’s a knock on the bedroom door and George gets up to open it.

“I’m sorry to need you at this early hour Doctor,” You say as she walks in.

“It’s fine Ma’am, that’s what I’m here for,” She said with a comforting smile. You tell her how you’ve been feeling and she takes your temperature, just as there’s another knock on the door. 

“The pregnancy tests you asked for Sir,” Adam says, handing the boxes to George.

“When was your last period?” The doctor asks, making note of everything you were saying.

“Um .. about six weeks ago,” You say honestly.

“Then my professional opinion is that you need to take one of these,” She says with a slight laugh as she takes the pregnancy test out of the box and hands it to you. You take it from her and head into the bathroom. You peed on the stick, replacing the cap so nobody had to touch it. You hand it back to her and sit next to George on the bed.

“If you need anything else you know where I am,” Adam says before taking his leave. Around fifteen minutes later the doctor got up from her chair with a wide smile on her face.

‘Congratulations Ma’am,” She says handing you the pregnancy test. “I’ll leave you two alone, don’t hesitate to call for me if you have any questions,” She says before leaving as well.

“We’re having a baby,” You say quietly, staring down at the white plastic stick in your hands and the word ‘positive’ written across it.

“I love you so much,” George says ,wrapping an arm around you and pulling you in for a kiss.

KensingtonPalace

Liked by BuckinghamPalace and 3,910,582 others

KensingtonPalace It is with great joy for the palace to announce the news that their Royal Highness' The Prince and Princess of Wales are expecting their first child together.

His Majesty The King was the first to be informed of the news and is overjoyed at the news of his first grandchild.

HRHPrincessofWales 🤍🤍🤍

F1 Congratulations from your F1 family 🤍

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You made it your first mission today to tell your father; protocol stated that He should be the first to know.

“Father,” You said, knocking on the door to his private office.

“Darling, I wasn’t expecting to see you or George today,” He says standing up from his desk as you walk in, closing the door behind you.

“We didn’t expect to be here today either,” George says with a smile. 

“Right, ok, what’s going on?” He asks, inviting you both to sit.

“Do you want to?” You ask George, a confused expression still written across your fathers face.

“I can do,” He asks and you nod. “Y/n was seen by the doctor this morning, and it turns out that she is…we are, having a baby,” He explains and your fathers face quickly changes into one of joy.

“That is wonderful news, congratulations,” He says, getting up to pull you into a hug. “I’m so proud of you Y/N,” He says, placing a kiss on your forehead. He shakes George's hand before saying congratulations again. For the next few hours you spent visiting your Mother and sister before calling George’s family.

It wouldn’t be a few months until there was an official statement made by the palace, but you were both content in knowing that it was your little secret.

8 months later...

KensingtonPalace

Liked by BBCNews and 6,301,404 others

KensingtonPalace Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales was safely delivered of a son at 11.27pm yesterday.

The Prince of Wales was present at the birth and both Mother and baby are doing very well.

His Majesty The King, as well as other members of both families have been delivered the news and are delighted at the birth of HRH.

'After long consideration we have decided to name him Theodore and we cannot even begin to describe the amount of love we have for him' - HRH Prince of Wales

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Theodore, Theo for short, was born late last night after around 10 hours of labour. You were so grateful to George who was by your side the entire time, doing anything you needed to. He held Theo as you got dressed, zipping up your dress and slipping on the pair of heels that had been picked out for you. You had been discharged a few hours ago and due to the weather were unable to take the first photos of your new family on the steps of the hospital so it had been moved inside Buckingham Palace

George laced his fingers into yours as you walked into the hall, the flash of cameras starting as soon as they spotted you. There were probably 30 or 40 reporters waiting for you, snapping a photo every time you moved.

“Is there a name yet your highness’?” One reporter asked, His first name had been announced but not his full name. 

“There is,” You said with a smile. “Theodore Henry Philip George, but we will be calling him Theo,” You say, answering the question. You waited a few more moments before turning and heading back into the family room where both yours and George’s families were waiting to meet little Theo. Your Mum and Dad had already had their time with Theo so stayed seated, letting George’s parents coo and fuss over him. George was holding him as you took a seat on the sofa, absolutely exhausted from the past 24 hours.

You were sitting in your private gardens at home; enjoying the warm summer day. Theo, who recently celebrated his first birthday, sitting on your lap babbling at George who was sitting opposite you, waving his cuddly bear around. Theo reached out to grab it only for George to playfully rub it against his chest, erupting fits of giggles from him.

You loved the peacefulness that the last few days had afforded you, you had miraculously had no official engagements to attend to. Which was a very rare occurrence so the both of you were making the most of it. Spending as much time together and with Theo as you possibly could.

A pointed cough interrupted your peace, you looked up to see Adam. In a state you don’t think you had ever seen him in before.

“Adam, is everything ok?” You ask as George gives Theo the bear before turning around.

“Sir, may I speak to you in private for a moment?” He asks George who puts a reassuring hand on your knee.

“I’ll be back in a moment Darling,” He says before walking away with Adam. They went inside and you could barely see them through the window; all you could see was Adam putting his hand on, what you assumed, was George's shoulder. You start to bounce Theo on your knees, trying to distract yourself from whatever was happening inside Kensington. A few moments later George stepped back outside. Diana, Theo’s nanny behind him.

 “Darling, Diana is going to take Theo and then you and I are going to go for a walk,” He says, confusing you even more.

“What, why?” You ask, handing your son over.

“Please, walk with me?” He asks, offering his arm to you. You walk quietly to a more secluded area of the garden, hedge walls high enough that nobody would be able to see you. He sat you down on a stone bench before turning towards you.

“George, you're scaring me, what's going on?” You ask, voice wavering. You noticed that he didn’t try to immediately reassure you that everything was ok, instead he took your hands into his.

“Around an hour ago, your father was rushed into hospital,” He said softly, rubbing his thumb along the back of your hand. Tears welling up in the corners of your eyes, not wanting to hear what he was going to say next.

“Don’t tell me,” You beg.

“I’m so sorry Darling,” He says, swiftly pulling you into his arms, wrapping them around you tightly.

“He’s gone?” You ask looking up at him, and George just nods.

“They think it was a heart attack, He died about twenty minutes ago,” He says, holding you against him, his hand moving to stroke your hair. “I am so sorry My love,” He says again, giving you time and space to feel what you needed to feel; as He knew that as soon as you left the safety of this Garden you wouldn’t be Y/N anymore.

You spent about an hour, sitting quietly and crying into George’s chest, not wanting to face the new reality. When you finally pulled away from him he moved his hand to wipe the tears from your face. 

“Take as much time as you need, there is no rush,” He says quietly; you quickly compose yourself. Letting the fresh air remove the blotches from your tear-stained face before you slowly walked back towards the palace. Diana was sitting on the grass with Theo and quickly stood up when she saw you round the corner. 

“Your Majesty,” She said, curtsying as she held Theo in her arms. Being called that for the first time almost knocked your breath from your throat but you just smiled as She held out your Son.

“Thank you Diana, you may go now,” You say, taking Theo from her. He tried to wrap his little arms around you, almost as if He knew that something was wrong. Now it was the three of you who stood there, all in eachothers arms.

“Ma…Ma…Mama,” Theo said and both your eyes lit up.

“Yes baby, I’m your Mama,” You said, holding him close to you as a mix of happy and sad tears fell from your eyes. George was still trying to process the information from earlier so couldn’t do anything except watch as his wife interacted with their son.

“Ma’am, your car is waiting to take you to Buckingham Palace,” Adam says, interrupting the moment. 

“We’ll be there in a moment, we need to get changed first,” You say, taking a deep breath before you all head inside. As you entered your bedroom you noticed that your mourning outfits had been laid out ready for you. You both silently changed; your long floral summer dress turning into a stiff black dress and blazer. You sat on the edge of the bed as you slipped your heels on, George changing Theo into a more appropriate outfit. Next to your outfit sat a hat box, inside was a black headband with some netting to cover your face; your hands shook as you stood in front of the mirror attempting to place it on your head.

“Pass it here,” George said from behind you, you passed him the headband as He gave you Theo. He gently slid it into your hair, kissing the back of your head when He was done. You quietly headed downstairs, Theo securely on your hip as you held him. Diana had gotten changed and was ready to take Theo as He was coming with you.

The car door was opened and you climbed inside with George quickly following. You knew the drive from Kensington to Buckingham like the back of your hand, you had done it nearly every day for years; but it felt like centuries until you got there. It had obviously been released to the media as there were swathes of people outside the palace, laying flowers in front of the wrought iron gates. The official notice on an easel just inside. As you drove through the crowds of people you could see the tear stained faces, the impact that your fathers life had on his people.

You only hope you’d amount to half of that.

I hope you enjoyed pt.2! There is a part 3 currently in my drafts and that will more than likely be the final part unless I do any mini fics. Thank you all for all your love and support, - E x

[wlwcatalogue]

Yuri Subtext (?) Anime List

A supplement to my earlier yuri anime masterlist, this list covers anime which aren’t marketed as yuri but which prominently feature F/F pairs, whether canonical or subtext! Since subtext is so subjective, this post only includes series which I’ve actually watched, and so is by no means intended to be comprehensive.

Also, since the above description would not cover certain series with well-known yuri pairings, I've also included a few "bonus rounds" for the curious (although these are still limited to series I have watched).

At-a-glance list:

Revolutionary Girl Utena (39 episodes + 1 movie, 1997)

NOIR (26 episodes, 2001)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica (12 episodes, 2011)

Haibane Renmei (13 episodes, 2002)

.hack//SIGN (26 episodes, 2002)

Read or Die / R.O.D. the TV (26 episodes, 2003)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (24 episodes, 2022)

Black Rock Shooter (8 episodes, 2010)

Izetta: The Last Witch (12 episodes, 2016)

Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll (movie, 2019)

Canaan (13 episodes, 2009)

Ga-Rei: Zero (12 episodes, 2008)

Bonus rounds:

Sailor Moon S3 (38 episodes, 1994) (subtext)

Mai-Hime (26 episodes, 2004) (canon)

Psycho-Pass (41 episodes + 3 movies, 2012) (canon)

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (24 episodes + movie, 2020) (canon)

Summaries under the cut!

1. Revolutionary Girl Utena (39 episodes + 1 movie, 1997) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

(Copied from the Yuri Anime Masterlist post, since technically it wasn’t marketed as yuri)

When she was a child, Tenjou Utena (Kawakami Tomoko) was saved by a passerby prince, so she decided that she too wanted to become a prince as an adult. Fast forward to high school, and she hasn’t forgotten that conviction: Utena gets sucked into a series of duels while trying to protect her best friend’s honour. After winning the first duel, she becomes ‘engaged’ to the eccentric “Rose Bride” Himemiya Anthy (Fuchizaki Yuriko), and the two start living together in the same dormitory.

First things first: there are a million content warnings for this series, including implied rape, sexual assault, incest, and homophobia. Although the issues are handled well (in my opinion), it does go to very dark places, so those wanting a light, fun anime to unwind to should look elsewhere. Second, this series is very much a psychological drama utilising the episodic duels as a way of hone in on Utena’s opponents and their stories, so Utena and Anthy’s relationship – though important – is definitely not the focus of the anime. Third, the TV series is limited to hinting at the romantic relationship between Utena and Anthy, not to mention that they spend most of the series being little more than acquaintances rather than actual friends. The movie Adolescence (which can be taken as a retelling or sequel, depending on your perspective) is much more explicit on this front, but also suffers from a significantly shorter runtime and a much more opaque approach to storytelling.

That being said! If you’re okay with all of the above, this series is pretty much essential. The simplistic premise belies a much more complex and nuanced story about gender roles, sexuality, and human relationships and remains one of the smartest anime ever made, over twenty years on.

2. NOIR (26 episodes, 2001) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

The first in anime studio Bee Train’s “girls with guns” trilogy, NOIR follows globetrotting assassin duo Mireille Bouquet (Mitsuishi Kotono) and Yuumura Kirika (Kuwashima Houko) as they partner up to search for Kirika’s missing memories and the truth behind Mireille’s parents’ deaths. The series is pleasingly restrained despite the sensational premise, alternating between “business trips” to far-flung locations and snapshots of the pair’s domestic life in Mireille’s Paris apartment, and devoting more time to the unfolding of the relationship between the prickly Mireille and puppy-like Kirika than to action sequences. I won't say too much due to spoilers, but their relationship numbers among my favorites due to how naturally it is developed throughout and how it is very much at the heart of the series both narratively and thematically.

This is also the first anime soundtrack entirely composed by the legendary Kajiura Yuki, heralding a long collaboration with director Mashimo Kouichi, and her mix of classical and modern sounds provides the perfect accompaniment to NOIR’s atmospheric cityscapes. Also, for fans of Mitsuishi’s work (Sailor Moon! Utena! Evangelion!), I’d say NOIR is a must-watch for her performance alone; her Mireille is brittle and proud, and she brings so much humanity and nuance to the role. In fact, I don’t care if you’re a fan of Mitsuishi or Kajiura or assassins or whatever, please just try the first episode— this anime deserves way more love!

3. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (12 episodes, 2011) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Puella Magi Madoka Magica opens with ordinary middle school girl Kaname Madoka (Yuuki Aoi) standing in the ruins of her hometown, watching as a lone girl struggles to defend what remains of the city against a much more powerful enemy. A little rabbit-like creature informs Madoka that the girl is sure to lose without her help, and so Madoka decides to become a magical girl right then and there— at which point she wakes up and dismisses it as a strange nightmare. But then that very day, her school receives a new transfer student who looks just like that mysterious girl, and she also finds a hurt animal that closely resembles the rabbit-like creature from her dream. Madoka is then faced with certain questions: do magical girls actually exist, and will she become one herself?

Since Madoka Magica was all the rage back in the early 2010s, I don’t think it too much of a spoiler to say that the cheery first three episodes hide a dark, gritty story which uses the concept of magical girls to explore the tumultuousness of adolescence. The queer subtext only comes in at the end but tight plotting and inventive presentation make this show a quick watch— and if you’re the type who likes queerness in fiction to be intense, world-shakingly significant, and a wee bit problematic, the payoff should be more than enough. A word of warning: there is a movie sequel called Rebellion, but if you’re happy with the ending of the anime, it’s best not to watch it (although I love the movie, myself).

Side note: I won’t go into it too much due to spoilers but if you liked Madoka Magica you might want to check out Serial Experiments Lain – even if most of it is utterly incomprehensible (as it was to me), it’s worth watching until the very end (wink). Also, for the rare fan of Rebellion, Adolescence of Utena is a must-watch if you haven’t checked it out already; so much can be said about its conceptual and aesthetic influences on Rebellion!

4. Haibane Renmei (13 episodes, 2002) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

(Note: slight spoilers about the tone and overall themes of the show – but I think it’s necessary for the purpose of writing a more representative summary.)

Written by ABe Yoshitoshi – character designer of cult classic anime Serial Experiments Lain and author of the very unfinished manga which this show adapts and significantly develops – Haibane Renmei starts off as a light-fantasy slice-of-life anime following freshly-arrived Rakka (Hirohashi Ryou) as she searches for a suitable job in the town of Glie, before transforming into a nuanced exploration of grief and depression about halfway through. To say more would be really too spoilery, but I just want to say that this has probably the most grounded and sensitive depiction of depression I have seen in an anime; it shows that sometimes people struggle even if everyone around them is kind and supportive, but remains hopeful about the healing power of time and understanding. The subtext is between the protagonist and Reki (Noda Junko), the first person she meets, who also helps her get acclimatised to her new life in Glie. Again, I won’t say more, but their relationship really is wonderful. That being said, this show does touch upon suicide and suicidal ideation in the course of discussing these themes, so please steer clear if that is something you are wary of.

5. .hack//SIGN (26 episodes, 2002) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

A standalone spinoff of the .hack PS2 games, this show was the most well-known anime about players getting trapped inside a multiplayer game before Sword Art Online’s arrival in 2012 (ironically, Kajiura Yuki composed the music for both). Rather than being an action-adventure story about a heroic protagonist trying to find a way back to the real world, SIGN stands out as an introspective piece, far more interested in the psychology of those who play online games and the issues of human connection and identity. In fact, the female protagonist is all too happy to remain within the MMORPG as male player-avatar Tsukasa (Saiga Mitsuki) after becoming unable to log out; the story is more about how the player grows to accept the real world with the help of the other players she meets, rather than about figuring out the exit route.

On the F/F side, some way into the series, Tsukasa makes an instant connection with fellow player-character Subaru (Nazuka Kaori) and they soon start spending a lot of time together. I really love their scenes together; the series' masterful use of body language, framing, and music all comes together to create these beautifully tender moments of intimacy. Although there’s no kiss scene nor explicit discussion of dating etc., a lot of the other characters talk about their relationship and perceive it as being romantic, to the point where one gets homophobically “worried” about Subaru when they find out that the player controlling male avatar Tsukasa is female. Tsukasa and Subaru's relationship becomes a lynchpin for both characters' development, and in general is used to illustrate the series' underlying themes in a thoughtful and heartwarming way.

6. Read or Die / R.O.D. the TV (26 episodes, 2003) Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

A spinoff of the Read or Die series which takes more from espionage thrillers and Hong Kong action flicks than shounen anime, R.O.D. the TV takes the unusual approach of starting with its main character - elite paper-maniuplating superspy Yomiko Readman (Miura Rieko) - being nowhere to be seen after burning down the British Library in a dramatic resignation announcement. Instead of focusing on her, or the spy agencies clashing in her absence, the story instead follows her friend Sumiregawa Nenene (Yukino Satsuki), who joins up with a trio of sisters with paper-manipulating powers and criminal connections in her quest to find out what happened to Yomiko. The queerness is mainly implied through Nenene's focus on Yomiko, which is unrequited and sadly fizzles out narratively speaking in the back half. Unfortunately, this is coupled with an increased focus on more heteronormative topics, such as Yomiko's grief over her dead male lover, and the child one of the characters had with the villain of the OVA. That being said, I also want to shout out this series' surprisingly earnest depiction of budding queerness in a young (like, elementary-school young) side character - something that is rare in fiction even now.

7. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (24 episodes, 2022) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

The most recent entry on this list by far (the final episode aired just a day ago at time of writing), The Witch from Mercury initially seems to forgo the Gundam franchise’s usual grand scale, being set in an academy run by the corporate giant Benerit Group. Main character and new student Suletta Mercury (Ichinose Kana) - the franchise’s first female protagonist since its beginnings in 1979 - accidentally bumbles her way into fighting a mecha duel, and, when she wins, is shocked to find that she is now engaged to the sole heiress of that self-same corporate giant, her classmate Miorine Rembran (Lynn). So far so Utena, but after the first episode, things start to diverge significantly: though the duels continue, the focus shifts to how big-picture tensions such as the manoeuvring within the Benerit Group and the conflict between the space colonisers and people on Earth play out within the student body, and how the arrival of Suletta and her mysteriously cutting-edge mecha start to shake up the status quo… until things come to an explosive head.

For those who curious about G-Witch due to Suletta and Miorine, but who wouldn’t normally be interested in Gundam or space operas, I’ll just say that if the hype has led you to expect a big queer romance where Suletta and Miorine shout their love from the rooftops, well, that’s not how it goes. It’s a mecha anime first and foremost, after all! But lower your expectations and you may be pleasantly surprised. Season 1 offers plenty to enjoy in terms of Suletta’s earnest attempts to be a good “bridegroom” and the tsundere Miorine’s bouts of jealousy over Suletta. And while their relationship takes a bit of a back seat in Season 2 due to there being So Much going on, it remains one of the key elements of the series and their scenes together are the emotional peaks of the season.

Side note: Some might criticise Gundam for taking so long to have a female main character, but let’s not forget about how the even older Ultraman (1966), Kamen Rider (1971), and Super Sentai (1975) franchises still have not had a single mainline series featuring a female protagonist… Come on guys, I’m dying for a female-led Kamen Rider over here!

8. Black Rock Shooter (8 episodes, 2010) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

One of the two anime inspired by the Hatsune Miku song of the same name, this Okada Mari-penned series hones in on the passionate friendships and jealousies of a group of middle-school girls. In a twist that feels informed by the psychological allegory of the popular Persona games, this interpersonal drama plays out in the surreal battle world of the music video, with the titular Black Rock Shooter being the main character’s alter-ego. Of particular interest is the first half’s focus on the blossoming friendship between protagonist Kuroi Mato (Hanazawa Kana) and her shy classmate Takanashi Yomi (Sawashiro Miyuki), which has strong overtones of two girls developing crushes on each other – it doesn’t go smoothly, but hey, that’s life.

9. Izetta: The Last Witch (12 episodes, 2016) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Set during what is basically World War 2, Izetta: The Last Witch asks the daring question of “What if a small European country about to be invaded by alternate-history Nazi Germany could fight back with magic… and what if it was (subtextually) yuri?” The show follows politically-minded princess Finé as she and her best friend (read: girlfriend) Izetta think up ways to leverage the latter’s witchy gifts to save the country from invasion – a rare case of a military anime where female characters are significantly involved at the strategic stage. Those who enjoy the classic princess-and-knight trope may find something to like as long as they are fine with Finé and Izetta not having much relationship development (as their dynamic is established from the start) and them not having many one-on-one scenes together (as the series’ main focus is on the political manoeuvring). Note that this show is also pretty heavy on the fanservice – IIRC there was at least one moment of egregious sexualisation per episode.

Side note: those who like Izetta may also want to check out Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing, a female-focused dieselpunk anime with a lot of military strategizing and a very cool world setting, though Izetta is better-paced and the main relationship is much more plot-significant. (That being said I do like the relationship between Fam side characters Tatiana and Alistair… Tatiana is probably the adult character with the most screentime in Fam, being the main characters’ commanding officer, and although it’s very background, she has this cutely settled dynamic with former piloting partner turned wife right-hand woman Alistair.)

10. Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll (movie, 2019) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

(Note: this entry’s a slightly weird one, it only covers the first 40 minutes of this movie due to it being basically two episodic stories smushed together into a single package, and only the earlier story is relevant to this list.)

In this standalone spinoff of the Violet Evergarden anime series – itself an adaptation of the light novel series by Akatsuki Kana – the titular protagonist Violet (Ishikawa Yui) takes a break from ghostwriting letters to serve as companion to aloof young noblewoman Isabella York (Kotobuki Minako) in her last months of finishing school. The story is a quiet coming-of-age tale focusing on how the kind (and rather dashing!) Violet helps Isabella to open up, or, in simpler terms, it’s fodder for butler-and-lady fans. Don’t get your hopes up too much, though: Violet learning about her romantic feelings for her deceased male superior is one of the main throughlines of the anime, and this (half of the) movie also ends with a heterosexual arranged marriage for Isabella. That being said, this movie is really a feast for the eyes, its historical-fantasy setting being brought out with beautiful backgrounds and detailed linework, so it’s worth checking out if you don’t mind the very Class S narrative.

Side note: if you want F/F butler-and-lady or princess-and-knight vibes I would really recommend watching Fate/Zero for Saber and Irisviel – yes Irisviel is already married to one of the (male) main characters and yes Saber is absolutely the main love interest for the famously-straight Fate/stay night, but their dynamic is really good and Saber gets to wear a stylish suit and be all chivalrous to a woman… Please watch the third episode of season 1 at least…

11. Canaan (13 episodes, 2009) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

There’s quite a lot going on in Canaan – perhaps unsurprisingly so for a spinoff of the FMV visual novel 428: Shibuya Scramble, which is famous for its intertwined storylines – but in true action-movie blockbuster style, all you really need to know is that the titular mercenary Canaan (Sawashiro Miyuki) is on a hunt for her mentor’s protégé-turned-murderer, and a lot of flashy fighting is involved. Also, there's no need to worry if you haven't played the original game, as Canaan is pretty much a standalone work and all of the significant characters are original to the anime. Yuri-minded viewers may enjoy her clashes with the villain Alphard (Sakamoto Maaya), but the main source of F/F subtext is her relationship with the young photographer Maria (Nanjo Yoshino), for whom she cares deeply and must rescue on multiple occasions. However, do be warned that the one canonically queer character in the show – Alphard’s subordinate Liang Qi (Tanaka Rie), who is fixated on her boss – is handled very badly, being portrayed as a raving predatory lesbian who is mocked, rejected, and finally killed by the object of her affections. Canaan and Maria’s relationship is also framed very definitively as friendship by the end of the series, although they don’t get paired off with male characters. IIRC there’s also some fanservice but I can’t remember the details as it was a long time ago, sorry.

12. Ga-Rei: Zero (12 episodes, 2008) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Back in the old days, I had heard this show talked about in the same breath as yuri classics such as Kannazuki no Miko and Mai-Hime, and, well, like those series it comes with significant caveats (though thankfully there is no sexual assault). Although it’s a prequel to the Ga-Rei manga by Segawa Hajime, the anime is basically standalone and focuses on original characters Kagura (Chihara Minori) and Yomi (Mizuhara Kaoru), the latter of whom welcomes protagonist Kagura into her family and demon-hunting squad, only to leave the team in a devastating betrayal. After the explosive opening, the series jumps back to explore the events leading up to that point; fans of director Aoki Ei’s work on Fate/Zero should note that the dark tone disappears in the third episode and never quite comes back even when things get serious. Viewers should also keep their F/F expectations in check, since despite the premise I would say the series is more plot- than character-focused, and on top of that a significant amount of time is devoted to Yomi’s relationship with her male fiancé (Yomi and Kagura have more screentime together, but there’s not much development whereas Yomi and her fiancé are given a whole romantic arc). There is one very fanservicey scene between Kagura and Yomi in a car early on (in episode 3?) which viewers may want to skip, but IIRC it’s an outlier and the rest of the series is nowhere near as bad.

Bonus Rounds

1. Sailor Moon S / Season 3 (38 episodes, 1994) (subtext) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Possibly the most widely-known F/F couple in anime, Haruka and Michiru (Ogata Megumi and Katsuki Masako, respectively), make their first appearance in episode 3 of the third season as mysterious newcomers who refuse to work alongside the Sailor Senshi. Apart from being consistently framed as an ideal couple throughout (they practically cruise to victory in a couple’s contest in episode 5 of S3), they also get some juicy narrative moments, being the main subject of the excellent episodes 17 and 21 – the latter being the mid-season climax. They return in S5 but I haven’t watched that season yet.

Side note: Utena fans may be particularly interested to hear that the aforementioned Haruka-and-Michiru-centric episodes 17 and 21 are helmed by key Utena creatives. Both were written by Enokido Yoji, Utena's lead scriptwriter, while episode 17 was directed by Igarashi Takuya (who storyboarded 5 Utena episodes) and episode 21 was directed by Utena director Ikuhara Kunihiko himself.

2. Mai-Hime (26 episodes, 2004) (canon) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Way back when, Mai-Hime was very popular among yuri fans for including a canonically queer female character who was in love with another female character… even though, like in Kannazuki no Miko which was broadcast the same year, she commits sexual assault against her. For those still curious, Mai-Hime starts out as a quirky fighting-monsters-and-going to school anime but turns into a battle royale where characters fight each other using robots – the twist being that the robots symbolise their love for the person most precious to them, and if destroyed, that person will die. The queer storyline comes in only in the last quarter or so, but is compellingly told and at least the queer character isn’t quite as maniacal or otherwise demonised compared to some others (looking at you, Liang Qi in Canaan). It's a fun reveal, so I won't spoil it here even if you're likely to have heard of it already.

3. Psycho-Pass (41 episodes + 3 movies, 2012) (canon) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Psycho-Pass is set in a dystopian world where people are rated on their criminal tendencies; the main characters’ job as police officers is to arrest those whose tendencies exceed a certain level. The F/F is canon but very, very background; one of the surprise twists of the finale is that forensics expert Karanomori Shion (Sawashiro Miyuki), whose appearance screams “sexy doctor character” but is played with surprising warmth by Sawashiro, is actually in a relationship with seemingly aloof field officer Kunizuka Yayoi (Itou Shizuka). I only watched the first season and so can’t comment on the rest, but apparently they are still in a relationship in the third season.

4. My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (24 episodes + movie, 2020) (canon) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

An adaptation of Yamaguchi Satoru’s popular light novel series, this show headed the wave of reincarnated-villainess isekai, focusing on the bumbling Catarina Claes (Uchida Maaya) – in actuality an otaku who has been reincarnated into an otome game – as she tries desperately to remove her character’s image as a villainess and thereby inadvertently attracts the attentions of many a suitor. Among this reverse harem are three female characters Maria Campbell (Hayami Saori), Mary Hunt (Okasaki Miho), and Sophia Ascart (Minase Inori).

While the female suitors’ romantic interest in Catarina is generally not undermined or played as a joke, they are not necessarily treated as equally valid options compared to the male suitors - it doesn't feel like Catarina has a real chance of ending up with any of the female characters. I've heard this starts becoming more obvious in S2 (which I haven't watched), which apparently focuses on Catarina's relationship development with one particular male suitor compared to the others. Also, the VN spinoff had 6 routes in total (all 4 male suitors + 2 original male characters) but did not include a single female route, despite being non-canon in nature.

[ricstarweek2024]

Can you believe Rictor and Shatterstar’s relationship was made canon 15 years ago? Well, it’s true! So, what better way to commemorate this iconic moment than with all of us sharing our love for them with a whole week dedicated to them?

The RicStar Anniversary Week 2024 will be held June 21-27, 2024.

The purpose of this event is to celebrate 15 years since the first kiss between Rictor and Shatterstar which happened on the pages of X-Factor #45 on June 24, 2009, which not only was the first gay kiss between two superheroes in Marvel, but it also confirmed years of romantic subtext between the characters. It’s been 15 years of canon RicStar, a couple that paved the way for more couples and pre-established characters to come out in later years.

Prompts:

Subjects

DAY 1: Early years/ X-Force era       

DAY 2: Missing moments

DAY 3: Mexico road-trip/ Mojoworld

DAY 4: Free day (It’s the Anniversary day!)

DAY 5: Alternate Universe

DAY 6: Krakoa Era

DAY 7: Family/ Friends

Themes:

DAY 1: Neurodivergence

DAY 2: Sacrifice / Parallels

DAY 3: Powers

DAY 4: Soulmates

DAY 5: Music/ Movies

DAY 6: Hurt/ Comfort

DAY 7: Childhood

Rules:

There are two prompts per day – a subject and a theme, feel free to use only one or a combination of the prompts.

All kinds of fanwork are welcome, from fanfics, fanarts, fanedits, playlists, photography cosplay, and even baking! (I’ve made Ricstar cookies in the past), handcrafts or even if you just want to share your thoughts, headcanons, etc. that’s perfect too. Let’s all just share our love for this couple in whichever way we want and can.

Remember to use the #ricstarweek2024 hashtag so we can find your work. For Tumblr, you can also tag us @ricstarweek2024.

Please don't feel pressured to post something for every prompt or every day. The dates and prompts work just as a guide so if you can’t post the assigned day that’s fine, post it when you can.

Remember to tag any triggers. Additionally, for NSFW material on Tumblr, make sure to put it under the “read more” break and use the function of sensitive content warning for Twitter.

Let’s have an amazing week together!!

[lumi-nescentt]

Rumour Has It

Part 2 - I Know What You Did Last Summer

Pairing: Jenson Button x Reader / Mark Webber x Reader

Warnings: jealousy, arguing, swearing, mention of cheating and toxic relationship overall

Words: 4.4k

Summary: After choosing Mark, you thought life would get calmer but the Australian's not who you thought he was and with Jenson still in the picture, your relationship might not survive it.

Part 1 - Part 3 - Part 4

Years had gone by since Jenson had won it all and lost what he had wanted most in the same day. The Brit had tried to forget you, tried in vain to find someone else that could make his heart beat like you did. 

Sadly for Jenson, your relationship with Mark had only evolved from that night in 2009 and you had now been dating for more than 4 years. Your relationship had its ups and downs but you were now living together and it solved most of your problems. Mark was no longer grumpy because he missed you too much and you were more than happy to feel so loved and wanted in your relationship. 

The only clouds hovering over your relationship were how Mark was treated at work and his obsession with your friendship with Jenson. According to him, you cared too much about the Brit, gave him too much of your attention and not enough to your boyfriend, as he liked to remind you.

You had watched with the years passing as a countless number of girls hung on Jenson’s arm for a moment before he was back on his own. It had become some sort of running joke in the paddock and everyone was betting on how long Jenson’s new girl would last. 

Despite always smiling and joking around, you could sense that something was going on with Jenson. When you had tried to bring it up with him, he had only told you not to worry about it before kissing your forehead and fleeing. Your constant worrying about his happiness didn’t really help the jealousy Mark was feeling but, as you liked to remind him, Jenson was his friend too so he should have been trying to help instead of being a moody git. 

When Mark announced his retirement from F1, a lot of people were shocked, you included. For all of the time you spent talking to him, the Australian had never mentioned it to you. It’s not that you felt like you had something to say about it but you had thought changing career was something you’d mention to your girlfriend of 4 years before sharing it to the world.

The Australian, however, didn’t understand why you were upset, which led to one of your first big arguments.

-“ I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me.” you exhaled, trying to explain to him for the fifth time since you had gotten back to your hotel room. 

-“ I told you today, just like I did with the rest of the world sweetheart.” 

-“ That’s exactly my point, Mark. I learned about it at the same time as everyone else.”

-“ So ?”

-“ I’m your girlfriend, I hoped that it was a good enough reason for you to talk to me about those kinds of things.” 

-“ Yeah well as my girlfriend like you said, I thought you’d be happier for me.” Mark grumbled, feeling himself starts to get more annoyed

-“ That’s not the point, you know I’m happy you’re moving on. You know damn well what I think about how you got treated so don’t pull that card on me right now.” you snapped back, pointing your finger at him “The problem here is that you don’t see why I would’ve liked to know when you were thinking about it and not once it’s a done deal.” 

-“ You’re right. I don’t see why you’re upset. As far as I know, this decision concerns my career, not yours, so I don’t see what you would have brought to the conversation.”

-“ Oh for Christ’s sake Mark ! Get your head out of your arse. I’ve never forced you to do anything when it came to your career. I never criticised your work or claimed to know better than you what was good for you so you can stop taking jabs at me and just try to understand why I’m hurt.”

-“ There’s nothing to be hurt about, can you please stop making a fuss ? We have a plane to catch tomorrow and I’m tired.” 

-“ Making a fuss ? Are you kidding me ?”

-“ Yes, making a fuss. You’re here cornering me in my hotel room, forcing me to have this argument with you when there’s nothing to talk about.” the Australian sighed loudly, rubbing his hand over his face

-“ Oh, I’m sorry if I’m bothering you with my feelings, Mark. I just thought I could talk about how I felt with my boyfriend but apparently not only doesn’t he want to share things with me but he also doesn’t care about how his actions have an impact on others either because all he thinks about is himself.” you snarled, feeling tears prickling at the corner of your eyes

-“ Come on sweetheart, please let’s go to bed and talk about it in the morning if you want.” 

-“ Don’t call me that ! You don’t get to call me sweetheart right now when you’re making me feel like a shitty girlfriend for caring about you and your goddamn job. I only wanted you to trust me enough to confide in me and understand where I’m coming from. Apparently that’s too much to ask so no, I’m not going to bed with you.” you spat, grabbing your jacket and your purse hurriedly

-“ What are you doing y/n ?” 

-“ I’m leaving, enjoy the empty bed Mark.” 

-“ Don’t leave alright, I’m sorry. Come lie down for a while, you’ll feel better.” Mark tried, holding out his hand for you from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed

-“ I don’t want to be around you right now, I need you to respect that. I don’t want to say things I’ll regret and I’m tired of arguing so I need some air.”

-“ Where are you going to go ? It’s quite late.”

-“ I’ll find something. If I’m not back by the time we have to leave for the airport, I’ll meet you there.” 

-“ You’re not coming back here for the night ?” 

-“ I don’t know. Just don’t wait for me, alright ?”

-“ Okay” Mark paused as you made your way to the door “I love you y/n” 

You didn’t bother answering, only closing the door behind you before taking a shaky breath, realising what had just happened. You had nowhere to go, your friends here were also Mark’s friends and you knew there was a big chance that he would text around to know where you were. You usually found it sweet, how much he cared about you and how much time he wanted to be around you but tonight you needed a little breathing room. 

That’s how you found yourself walking around the city at night, entering in the closest bar you found. You sat yourself at the bar ordering a drink when you heard a familiar sound. You turned around, hoping you had been mistaken but no, there he was. Daniel Ricciardo, the joyful Australian that was set to replace your boyfriend. 

It’s not that you didn’t want to see him, Daniel was a lovely guy after all. You had just hoped to escape the whole F1 world and seeing him only reminded you of Mark. You prayed that he wouldn’t see you or that if he did, he wouldn’t come and talk to you because you knew you looked rough. The walk you took had allowed you to let some of the frustration out and you were well aware of the smudged mascara under your eyes. 

Sadly for you, Daniel’s eyes found yours and he waved before making his way over to you, quickly followed by someone else.

-“ Well if it isn’t my favourite reporter…” Daniel teased with a grin

-“ Hello Daniel, Jules.” you smiled softly at the French driver who was behind his friend

-“ Where’s the mountain of muscle you call a boyfriend, is he here ?” Daniel asked

-“ Nope.” You smirked before taking a sip of your drink

-“ I know this is probably none of my business but are you alright ? You look like hell.” Daniel tried before getting elbowed by Jules

-“ What Dan is saying is that you can talk to us if something is wrong and also if you don’t want to be alone, you can definitely stay with us until you’re sick of our shit.” Jules kindly offered

-“ That’s really kind of you. Mark and I just argued, nothing bad. I just needed some air.” 

-“ Well let’s cheer you up then !” Daniel smiled before taking your hands and dragging you to where they had been sitting

That’s how you ended your night, talking and drinking with two drivers that were 7 years younger than you. In the end, they managed to make you smile and Jules had to push you into the taxi for the airport for you to actually leave them. 

When Mark saw you at the airport, still wearing the same outfit as when you left and your puffy eyes, he knew he had royally fucked up. Instead of picking up the argument back from where you guys had left it or scolding you for not telling him where you were or if you were alright, he engulfed you in a hug. 

You let yourself melt into his embrace as he whispered how sorry he was about how he had reacted and for not talking to you about his retirement. You were still a bit hurt but hearing him apologising felt good. On top of that, when you stepped back from the hug and saw his teary eyes, you knew holding onto the argument would hurt you both so as pained as you had been, you let the grudge go and linked your fingers with his, ready to go back home. 

This fight had been the first big one and you had hoped it would have been the last one but when Mark started his endurance career, everything slowly went sour. You no longer worked together which already took a toll on your relationship but your schedules were also drastically different. 

Mark was almost always away when you were home even if he didn’t have to race. You knew how important fitting in with the team was but surely spending all his free time at the Porsche factory in Stuttgart wasn’t necessary. Especially when you had a free weekend which was rare. 

The physical distance started to hurt your communication as well and you barely knew what the other was doing at this point. The few times you managed to be home at the same time, you mostly argued and one of you walked out of the conversation. The smallest arguments turned big instantly. Whether it was about how you missed him, which he took as you telling him to work less or about how he thought you saw his friends more than him and got better along with them than he did nowadays.

Jenson got brought up a few times in those arguments. Mark criticising how close you two seemed whenever he tuned in on the F1 broadcast and how he thought you were being too flirty with the Brit for his liking. His jealousy got the better of him during arguments a few times and he brought up the kiss you had shared back in 2009 to make you admit that you were attracted to Jenson.

No matter how often you reminded Mark that despite kissing Jenson, you had chosen to date him, Mark wouldn’t listen. He was convinced you would eventually get with Jenson while he was away. In the end, you got tired of his accusations and whenever he brought the subject up, you didn’t answer, just nodding along until he grew tired of your silence and walked out. 

When Jenson texted you in October, asking if he could stay at your place in England  the next month so he could visit his family while they hosted a big get-together that had the rooms of his childhood house packed with Buttons, you knew saying yes would be playing with fire but you agreed. After all, Jenson was a friend and all he needed was a place to stay, it’s not like you were doing anything wrong, he would only come back to your place to sleep. 

Deep down, you knew Mark would be angry if he heard but he would be away racing in Bahrain so what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. You knew Jenson and him barely talked anymore so the chances of him knowing about his friend’s visit were very slim. Plus, there were no chances of them seeing each other because Jenson had to be in Abu Dhabi on the 16th and Mark had to go to Stuttgart until the 18th to wrap up the season. Nothing could go wrong.

On November 11th, Jenson arrived at your door in Oxford just after dinner so you only had time to show him his room before the two of you went to bed. When you woke up the next day, the smell of breakfast tickling your nose, you froze. Was Mark back earlier than you thought ?

You made your way downstairs as quietly as possible to try and sneak a glance at the person cooking in your kitchen. The weight on your shoulder lifted when you recognised Jenson standing in front of the stove, happily whistling while he cooked.

-“ I didn’t know you could cook…” you teased, making the Brit turn around with a smile as you leaned against the kitchen counter behind him

-“ What can I say, there’s more to me than my handsome face and muscular body…”

-“ I’m glad you didn’t mention your incredible brain, I would have hated to be the one to ruin your illusion.” 

-“ If I had known you’d be this mean I wouldn’t have made French toast but I guess I could keep it all to myself…” Jenson feigned offence 

-“ Nooo, please Jenson. That’s my favourite breakfast, I’m sorry.” you whined which only made Jenson’s smile bigger

-“ I know, that’s why I made it.” 

-“ How ?” 

-“ You told me once, I just remembered that’s all…”

-“ I really don’t remember, when was that ?” 

-“ If I’m not mistaken it was 2010 at Silverstone.” he shrugged

-“ That’s 4 years ago, there’s no way you still remember something I told you once.” 

-“ What can I say, love ? I do listen when you talk. Now let’s eat while it’s warm so go sit.” 

-“ Oh so you’re letting me have the breakfast you cooked with my food ?” 

-“ Sit down and eat before I change my mind and shove the whole plate in my mouth.” 

-“ You’re so dramatic.” you muttered before following him to the dining room

The rest of your day went on normally, Jenson was off to see his grandparents for the day while you just started working on some stuff you had put off and answered some emails. 

Deciding to enjoy the fact that it had stopped raining, you got dressed in your sports clothes and headed out for a run, only to return an hour later. You had managed to avoid the rain for most of your workout but it had started pouring while you were still 10 minutes away from your house. Clearly in need of a warm shower and dry clothes, you turned in your driveway, seeing Jenson’s car.

You made your way upstairs, trying to walk as little as possible to avoid soaking the whole floor. The door to Jenson’s room was half-opened but you still knocked, waiting for an answer before you entered. Jenson looked up from where he was sitting on the bed, a book on his lap and glasses on his nose. You couldn’t help but stare at him for a second before coming back to your senses.

-“ Do you need me for anything or did you just come to enjoy the view ?” he teased, not missing the blush creeping on your face when you got caught

-“ I just needed to grab some clothes, get over yourself.” 

-“ Do you really have so many clothes that it doesn’t fit your shared dressing room with Mark ?” he joked, getting up to stand next to you

-“ No, that’s not it. Can you please move so I can get what I came in here for ?” 

-“ I don’t believe you, I’m sure the closet is overflowing. I’ll go see for myself and prove that you’re a terrible liar !” he said, making his way towards the bedroom you had been sleeping in before getting stopped by your hand on his arm

-“ Jenson please.” you almost whispered, making the Brit turn around, seeing the pained look on your face

-“ What’s going on, y/n ? You know you can talk to me.”

-“ I know. It’s really nothing, don’t worry about it.” you tried to brush it off

-“ If it’s nothing, tell me about it then.” he tried again, sitting back on the bed as you rested your hip against the dresser

-“ I just leave most of my clothes here so I don’t have to go into the bedroom.” 

-“ Why wouldn’t you want to go into your own room, I don’t understand. Isn’t it less convenient to sleep in one room and have to go in another to grab some clothes ?”

-“ I don’t sleep in there often.” you confessed, looking at your feet

-“ I thought the big room was the room you two shared ?” 

-“ It’s Mark’s room.” 

-“ Then it must be yours too, no ?” Jenson tried to wrap his head around what you were telling him as you shook your head

-“ This is my room, this is why my clothes are in there…” 

-“ And here I thought Mark couldn’t breathe without having some part of him touching you.” Jenson started to laugh but the sound died in his throat when he heard you sniffle “ Oh God. I’m an idiot, I’m so sorry love. I had no idea things weren’t going well between you two. Here I am joking about it, what a tosser.” 

-“ It’s okay, you didn’t know.” you breathed sharply as he stood up and wrapped his arms around you “ You’re going to get soaked…” 

-“ It’s okay, that’ll make two of us.” he paused, suddenly unsure of what to say “Do you want to talk about it ?”

-“ I don’t know, maybe.” you confessed, a shiver making your entire body shake

-“ Why don’t you take a warm shower while I make us dinner and we can talk about it over a glass of wine and a warm meal ?” 

-“ That sounds really nice but I don’t want to bother you. You’re supposed to be my guest.” 

-“ Let me do this for you, y/n, please.” 

-“ If you insist. Just don’t burn my kitchen please.” you finally teased before grabbing a change of clothes and heading in the bathroom

Jenson stood in the room for a few minutes, still in shock, before he finally snapped out of it and made his way to the kitchen. He looked through the pantries and the fridge, trying to find something to cook on his own before giving up and pressing the call button on his phone. 

When you emerged from the shower an hour later, you could hear Jenson talking on the phone. Not wanting to bother him, you quietly made your way to the kitchen and sat on one of the stools in front of the kitchen island. The noise made Jenson turn around and he couldn’t help the smile that erupted when he saw how relaxed you look.

-“ Thank you, Ma. I have to go but I’ll see you tomorrow.” Jenson waved before hanging up the video call

-“ Your mom seems nice.”

-“ She really is. Nice enough to pick up and help me cook something decent.” 

-“ I’m not a picky eater, I would’ve been fine with some leftovers I have in the freezer, you know ?”

-“ I know, I just wanted to make something nice and reheating something didn’t mean the same thing as actually cooking.” 

-“ What did you make then Gordon Ramsay ?” 

-“ Don’t get your hopes up, I just made cottage pie.” Jenson laughed before you almost launched yourself in his arms, wrapping your arms around his waist. “ If I had known cooking for you was the way to get you to hug me like that, I would’ve done it earlier.” 

-“ Don’t ruin the moment, Jense.”

-“ Sorry.”

-“ Thank you.” 

-“ It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

-“ Still, thank you for being here.” 

Before he could add something else, you had slipped from his embrace and started setting the table for the two of you. Jenson didn’t push you to talk and instead just helped you silently, reaching for the wine glasses that were out of your reach anc checking on the pie that was just done cooking. 

Once everything was ready, the two of you sat down at the table and he let you bring up whatever topic you wanted to talk about. He could tell you were nervous to talk about the elephant in the room. You weren’t really looking at him directly and you kept drinking wine to try to relax. 

Once you had reached dessert, Jenson finally brought it up again. He couldn’t help but notice the way you tensed and dropped your spoon a little hard before motioning for him to follow you in the living room instead. 

You sat at one end of the couch as he sat on the opposite end, trying in vain to make you look at him but you couldn’t. You knew that the instant you started talking and saw his face, you’d be crying again and you had way too much to talk about. 

You took a deep breath before you finally opened your mouth to speak. You and Mark had gone to Australia for the summer break before he had to start training again like you always had since you had been dating. You had planned on staying a week at his parents’ house so he could see them and his sister at the same time.

You usually loved seeing the Webbers, they were extremely kind to you and his sister Leanne absolutely loved having you around because you made Mark a little more bearable, her words not yours. However this year, the argument about Mark’s retirement still hung over your heads and you could tell that it was starting to keep you apart.

Once you were settled in, Mark went out on his own for a few hours to clear his head. You had found it weird but since it was the first time you hadn’t asked anything. When he left at the same time the next day and the day after, always leaving for a few hours without telling anyone, you started asking him questions only to be answered with dry comments about how it wasn’t your business. 

On the fourth day, you had finally snapped and the two of you had started arguing which had ended with him walking out while you cried in your shared bedroom. Alerted by the noise, Leanne had came to check on you and you didn’t have to explain what had happened because the screaming match had been heard from the living room where she had been standing with her dad. 

You didn’t expect her to pick a side in the fight or to defend you and confront Mark but just like she had heard your argument, you had heard your boyfriend being scolded by his older sister. 

Mark obviously didn’t like that and as soon as his sister went back home and his parents went for a walk, he was back in your room to argue again. He didn’t even flinch when you started crying in front of him or when you called his sister to ask if you could stay at her place for the night. 

Two days later when Mark went out again, Leanne convinced you to go with her to try and see where he escaped to everyday. You had parked on the opposite side of the road from where Mark was sitting in a coffee shop apparently waiting for someone. You had zoned out, checking your phone out of boredom when Leanne had inhaled sharply before cursing her brother.

The insult made you look up and you watched as Mark kissed someone else. You blinked, hoping you had imagined it but when you opened your eyes again Mark was still kissing her. It took you a few more seconds to realise that the woman he was kissing wasn’t a stranger but actually his manager. 

You had to stop Leanne from getting out of the car and catching him red handed. You made her promise not to tell anyone and for once, the very talkative Australian just nodded and brought you back to her parents’ place without a word. 

Mark still had no idea you knew about his affair and you didn’t plan on telling him which bothered Jenson. How could Mark not know when you weren’t even sleeping in the same room anymore. You just shrugged and explained that with how often you two were fighting, it didn’t seem odd.

The thought that his friend could do this to you made his blood boil and he really didn’t understand why you didn’t leave him. When he asked you, you admitted that Mark was all you knew and you barely saw him anymore anyway so you clung onto the small parts of normality you could: your house, the habits you had here and even though it pained you, the memories of the good times with Mark. 

Once you were done talking, you finally looked up and as soon as Jenson saw your tear-stained cheeks, he brought you closer to him. Your head nestled against his shoulder as he rubbed his hand up and down your arm, trying to comfort you. You must have fallen asleep against him because when you opened your eyes again, you were tucked in your bed and the sun was starting to shine brightly despite the November cold. 

Jenson was already gone so you didn’t even get to thank him right away. When he came back, he just shrugged it off and placed a kiss on the top of your head before going to take a shower. To you it seemed like everything was back to normal between you but Jenson had promised himself he’d try to convince you to leave Mark before he left. Or at least to bring back a genuine smile on your face for good, no matter what it took.

[youreobsessedwithtoomanyfandoms]

Don't Let Me Go

Words: 10,245

Warnings: language, talk of alcohol/alcohol consumption, regret, Leon being a dick but for a kinda good reason, people may be mad at reader cause of what she does but whatever idc this is my fucking story, maybe ooc characters and probably bad writing

Resident Evil Masterlist Main Masterlist Join My Taglist

This also was originally written for my OC Tiffany (Whose info on her/original story will eventually be available on this account @imnotobsessedwfictionalchracters )

Leon and Hunnigan are PROBABLY OOC (as I suck at not being able to keep them from being OOC)

Actually find it fucking insane how long this thing is all together

This is it in multi-part form: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Reader and Leon are partners with their job (have been since 2004/2005) and is insinuated to be around the same height as Leon

Y/N/N/N means the nickname of your nickname (or just another nickname)

Not Proof-read and I think it can be seen every once and a while (I know you can see where my brain couldn't function how to write the scene so I just guessed and hoped for the best)

Can be read as its own story or as a sequel to You’re About To Lose The Best Damn Thing You’ve Ever Had

Losely has themes from the songs Never Say Never by The Fray, No Surprises by Radiohead, Afterglow by Taylor Swift, and Look After You by The Fray

Anywho, enjoy

Love Z <3

January 21st of 2009

Y/N sat in front of the computer with Hunnigan as they went over the assignment before she was supposed to leave in 2 hours. Usually, she would be sitting with Leon on Hunnigan’s other side, but this wasn’t a usual case. They were working with a mix of BSAA Agents and STRATCOM agents. 3 of each, minus Y/N who was the leader of it. So in all, it was a team of 7. Overkill in her eyes. But that wasn’t her job. Her job was to get the assignment done and come back alive. 

The only reason the two organizations were forced to work together was because they both had interest in this case and decided that they needed to use both intels for it to work. Over in the Rockies in Northern Canada, parts where there were little inhabitants, people had gone missing before showing up with remnants of a strand of the T-Virus in them. BSAA had found the base back 2 weeks ago while STRATCOM had been keeping a close eye on Dr. Taylor Lewis. Someone who used to have ties with Umbrella in their Europe branch.

So when it was proposed that the two organizations team up, everyone was skeptical. Truly, the only people in the BSAA that got along with them at STRATCOM was Chris. Of course, she was sure that Jill did, but she died back 2 and a halfish years ago. But eventually they all agreed and started working on the team. 3 of the BSAA best people (minus Chris because he was already on an assignment) and 3 of STRATCOMs best (minus Leon because...well she didn’t know why he wasn’t), plus Y/N as the leader. BSAA wasn’t happy that they weren’t leading it and she knew they only tolerated it since it was the President's order for her to be the lead. She wasn’t sure how to feel about the new guy. He wasn’t Graham, the one she had grown accustomed to the past 4ish years. Hell, she never could remember his name, she just knew that Benford was the Vice and he was one of Leon’s friends.

Leon.

She hadn’t seen him much since the start of the year. Since the...break up. And she hadn’t even been avoiding him this time. It just was as if he was never in the office the past 20 days. Not that she had been keeping count! Because she definitely hadn’t been! She just did the math in her head at the moment.

“So, we have some time to spare, want to tell me why Leon sent in a new partner request? You finally ran him away?”

Y/N sighed and flicked a random small balled up piece of paper off the desk. “I don’t even know what happened. Everything was good one second then the next it just...” She trailed off, unsure as to what to say.

“Wasn’t?”

She nodded at Hunnigan’s word. “Yeah. I don’t know what happened.”

“Did someone find out?”

“Find what out?” She looked at the FOS Agent, who gave her a ‘don’t-lie-to-me’ look and Y/N sighed again. “I genuinely don’t know. We were training one day, and I had knocked him down, so he had pulled me with him, which led to us making out. But we were the only ones in the training room and even if someone did walk in, we were hidden by some equipment. The only thing that would have been heard would be our kissing. But that could be any two agents! So I don’t know why it would have knocked him so out of sorts!”

“Cameras?”

“That one corner that isn’t covered by them is where we were. We always trained in the corner.”

“That could be it then. Someone put two and two together and threatened to expose it.”

The slightly younger girl groaned and laid her head on the desk in front of her. “Why couldn’t he have told me? It’s not like I would have freaked! Him doing what he did caused more damage anyways.” She sat back up and ran a hand through her hair, “Where the hell has he been anyways? Haven't seen him since he broke it off and requested a new partner.”

“His own mission. One that I actually can’t tell you about, unfortunately since it’s a gray area on you two being partners.”

“Is he at least okay? Concerning that he’s been gone so long.”

“He called me yesterday saying everything was fine, but he still wasn’t sure when he would return. But it could be a concern as he mentioned he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to call again. He’d try to ping a location, but if we get nothing, wait a week before extraction.”

“Back to the partner comment you made, I just don’t get why he broke up with me and requested a new partner. All he had to do was one and I would have been just fine.” Y/N laid her head in her hand, “I honestly just wish there was a way that we could’ve stayed together and be partners. That would be my ideal situation.”

“Hm, I think, the keyword really is think, there might be a loophole.”

Y/N perked up at that, “Whaddya mean?”

“I think there’s some rule that says you can if you meet certain requirements. I can always look for you, it’ll give me something else to do than make sure my two favorite humans don’t die on different missions.”

Y/N smiled, “If you wanna, I’m fine either way. Leon will do what Leon wants to do and I won’t stop him.”

“Whatever you say.” Hunnigan glanced at the clock on her computer before continuing, “Better let you get ready. Don’t want to keep the BSAA guys waiting.”

Y/N laughed as she stood, “What can they do? Mission won’t start without me there.”

Hunnigan gave her a smile, “I’ll look that up for you and update you on what I find. Don’t die before I get you an answer.”

Y/N smiled, “No promises darling.”

--------

February 18th of 2009

Y/N wrapped the jacket closer around her and made sure the mask was tucked in so she wouldn’t freeze her face. Her shotgun was drawn as she looked out the scope, still no heat signatures could be found. They had been there for 4 weeks now and still nothing.

But, what had happened in those four weeks since the mission had started, 3 of the men had died. One of her own and two from BSAA. She felt bad about the last BSAA kid because even though he was one of the best they had available, he was a rookie. She believed he had only been there for a year, a year and a half tops. So he was the only one out there for the BSAA and had little experience. He was just an excellent fucking shot and took directions well (literally what his file said). And she had found it to be true. Even in the snow, he could find the target and shoot them down. 

He was the only reason they hadn’t all died that night.

Since they had gotten there, more and more sunlight was available, but it still didn’t last half a day. And while temperatures were warming up, they still were freezing their asses off. Plus, it didn’t help that Hunnigan had just warned them a snow storm was possibly on its way in. 

2 weeks in, she was happy that they were almost done with their trek through the mountain. She was really starting to hate those snow-mobiles. And then around 3 days later, when they came into contact with their agent that had been giving the intel, the remaining 5 members of the team began the stake out to find where the Doctor was and how the people were being infected. But now here they were, around 10 days later and still nothing. No sight of Lewis or of any habitants of the small village that if she was to be honest, she had no clue existed before this. 

That was, until she moved her scope to face more towards the West. She adjusted the sight and zoomed in where she thought that she saw movement. And when she was able to focus her sight, she saw that there was a group of bodies standing in one of the buildings. She switched over to night vision and saw that they were just barely too far off for her to make out who it was. She carefully snuck closer, jumping to the top of the abandoned building by her. 

She looked again and was able to see that it was Lewis with 2 other people. She didn’t recognize either of them, but one of them looked eerily familiar. But she was sure whoever the two were, they had been gathering the people to be injected with the virus. 

She grabbed her walkie from her side pocket and pressed the button to call for her team. “Dream Team, come in this is Condor 2. Over.” Dream Team was something that one of the BSAA Agents had suggested for them to call themselves rather than the boring Snow Squad that they had originally been assigned. And while she was technically Flake 1, she was used to always being referred to as Condor 2, so she asked for when it was just to them or to Hunnigan, say Condor 2. Otherwise she was sure that she and Hunnigan would get thrown off.

“This is Flake 2. I have the rest of the team with me. What do you need? Over.”

“Lewis and two men are in a building three down from my location. A house down from the original spot. I see them talking, but no one else is there. Over.”

“What do you want us to do? Over.”

“Start the plan into motion. I’ll follow and see where Lewis and her men head. Do nothing until I say so, unless you get under attack. Understand? Over.”

“Is that a direct order, Flake 1? Over.”

She sighed, Stacey hated this. She knew he did. Hated that someone who had been there for less time than him was the leader. He was the only one who refused to call her Condor 2 and kept Flake 1 and made sure everyone went by their actual callsign and not the one that they wanted.  “Yes, Flake 2. It is. Now do you all understand? Over.” She heard a range of everyone, including Stacey, say they understood. “Good. I’m contacting HQ. This is Condor 2 over and out.”

She reclipped the talkie and grabbed the other one that was specific for Hunnigan. She looked back in the scope and saw that Lewis and the 2 men were exiting the building. She quickly pulled the gun away to follow behind them. When Hunnigan answered, she heard the lady’s voice in her ear piece.

“This is Hunnigan, Condor 1 is here with me.”

Y/N internally groaned. Why was Leon there? Was he even allowed to be? So many questions ran through her head, but she didn’t ask them. She just nodded and ran towards the direction she saw them heading. “Fine. Lewis has been found. I’m following behind on foot. The rest of what remains of the team are getting ready for my word to follow. And--fuck.”

She ended the call before Hunnigan could say anything and made sure Hunnigan couldn’t immediately call back after she had turned a corner to see a fairly large group of military looking people. She turned back and jumped into the house that had an opened window. She snuck over to another before she looked out the window to try and count how many were there. But she was stopped before she finished when someone looked in. She quickly slipped down, trying desperately not to be seen. 

And she was sure she got away with it. That was, until her walkie went off and the BSAA kid could be heard practically yelling through it. And when she heard the words he was saying, the blood that was barely not cold already, went frozen in her body.

The kid was freaking and she could hear the guns in the background. Apparently Lewis and the men knew they were there. They knew she was watching. It had been a trap to get her away. She wondered how it was possible, until it registered to her that it was the electronics. And then she realized who the other guy was. She had dealt with him a few months ago with Leon. The two had been separated and had to pray that they would make it back to the other without any guidance from anyone as to where to go because the man could track any electronic waves.

But unfortunately for her, the man outside the window heard it too and had slammed it in. She gave them no chance and immediately grabbed her gun and shot them. Thankfully she was able to get a headshot, even with him moving and her shaking, gloved hand. But it only gave her enough time to disconnect her electronics and toss everything but the small remote that gave her the ability to ping a quick location. She ran up the stairs, trying to find an alternate way out, but realized she was blocked in. her chest tightened as she realized how badly this could end for her.

She grabbed her submachine gun and aimed it at the stairs, getting ready for anyone who was going to come up. She let out a shaky breath as she heard the door being broken down and the sound of someone running up the stairs. She never had been so thankful that she never fucking used these fuckers so she was loaded on bullets for it as it felt for each guy she killed, double the amount came back. 

And unfortunately, she was so focused on the stairs, she hadn’t noticed the sound of someone taking apart the roof and jumping down. Her mind had barely registered the sharp pain in her neck before she was surprised when they grabbed her from the back and her mind just blanked. Forgot how to fight back, forgetting almost every piece of training she had. She didn’t know what to do and wasn’t used to this. Whenever her fight or fright kicked in, it was always fight. She never got scared. But for some reason, she did this time.

As they pulled her to the ground, her body felt incapable of fighting back. As if someone had left her out in the freezing cold with not enough clothes. She wasn’t able to move or even scream when she felt the knife stab into the top of her sternum and start to drag down. The man on top of her only stopped when the sound of a whistle was heard through the air. It was as if the second that went off, every man and woman there were called to go somewhere else. The knife was pulled from her as she walked away and she slowly regained the feeling in her body.

But as she regained that feeling, she felt how deep the knife had gone. She felt the blood falling. She slowly moved to grab the bandages from her side pocket. They weren’t much but she knew it was all that she had. She grabbed it and tried to remove her clothing, not caring that her entire body was freezing from the temperature outside. She didn’t care that her bandaging was horribly done and that it wouldn’t do much.

All that she did was grab her clothes and quickly layer them back on. All she did was wobbly get up and leave the scene. Trying to get further and find out where all those people had gone. And she prayed that it wasn’t fucking bingo.

----

Leon’s POV

Leon, who had only been there because he was going over a report with Hunnigan, head snapped over towards Hunnigan the moment that Y/N ended the call. Worry spread through his body as they were unable to contact her back. He felt his knee unconsciously bouncing up and down as the computer kept beeping. He knew that he technically had no reason to be worried. Now, thanks to his own doing, all she was to him was another Agent. Not his partner. Not his girlfriend. Not even his friend. (Of course he didn’t know that the last part was all on his own)

“Why is it doing that? Why can’t you get back to her?”

“She blocked me from calling. Which means one of two things; she needed no distractions or she had to go semi-dark. I’m trying the other 4 members of her team and if they don’t respond, it means that they had to go dark too.”

Leon bit the inside of his cheek. He knew that the team originally consisted of 7 plus Y/N/N. The original 3 BSAA and 3 STRATCOM had been reduced to 1 BSAA and 2 of their own. 

If he was going to be honest, Leon didn’t care about the team, he just cared about Y/N and if she was okay. He hadn’t meant to do what he did then just disappear. He meant to break up and let her be for a few days, a week tops, then talk to her. But then he got called in and had to leave immediately. He knew from Claire and Hunnigan both that she didn’t understand why it happened or what caused it. Which he knew was his own doing. He should have told her. He shouldn’t have just said that they weren’t gonna work out. Especially since on their previous mission together they had a run in with Ada. 

But that wasn’t why he did it. No. It was because Stacey had been that person who they thought walked in. And as they had exited the training room, had messaged Leon to remind him that fraternizing with your partner was against the rules. He knew he should have just told Y/N why he was doing it, why he pulled away and why he treated her like shit for so long. But he couldn’t. He was scared that if he had, she would have argued with him and said it was fine. That they would figure it out together. It’s how she was and he knew it was. 

Of course, he still felt horrible for what happened on New Years, he shouldn’t have done that. Shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up just to crush them the following days. He shouldn’t have treated her the way that Ada would treat him. Shouldn’t have done something that would make her feel like he was using her in the moment because he needed something just to hurt her later.

----

December 31st of 2008/January 1st of 2009

Leon had gotten to her apartment earlier that day to help Y/N put up the decorations. But the entire time all that he had said to her was when he asked her to hand him something or made a comment about getting a drink or going to the bathroom. And then once Chris had arrived, surprisingly being the first, he had gone to talk to him. He had seen her leave from the corner of his eye, knowing she was changing out of the pajamas she had been in all day. 

He had no idea what she was going to come out in, but as she came back from her bedroom, a glass of champagne having already been downed, he knew it would be hard to keep himself under control. He noticed that she was wearing that top she had not-so-secretly bought a few weeks ago. Or at least he assumed it was. He had never seen the one she was wearing and he knew she hadn’t worn that one top yet. It was paired with her stupid jeans that fit her perfectly and those stupid heels that he loved on her because for some reason it always turned him on when she was practically a head taller than him. He saw her necklace was the one he bought her for their first anniversary in 2007. The rings were the ones she always wore and he noted that she wore the bracelet that she had owned since highschool on her right wrist, opposite of the watch he got her back in 2006 after her previous one got destroyed on a mission. Thankfully it was her birthday too so he didn’t have to deal with her arguing too much so he could argue that it was a gift for her birthday and she couldn’t turn it away.

He remembered how she kept saying he didn’t have to and that it must’ve cost a fortune. He had just shrugged it off and said he knew she needed one and he thought she liked that one. And even now, over 2 years later, he still hasn't disclosed the price of it. Something he’d never do because he knew she’d give it back and feel horrible about it. Knowing the only reason she had accepted the necklace was because it was their anniversary and she had gotten him something he knew was expensive as hell.

But even then, he didn’t talk to her. He didn’t go near her. Even as the rest of the group got there. He occupied himself with drinking and talking with people. Even as he saw the look of desperation on her face as she talked to Jess and Claire. Even as he watched her walk back to her room with a face full of complete defeat written all over her face.

No. he stayed talking with Chris and her brother Joe while he knew she was likely standing in the bathroom that connected to her bedroom. While he knew that she was probably doing anything to distract herself from how he had been ignoring her. He knew she could hear him talking and laughing with them. He knew that it seemed like he was happier with everyone except for her. But he wasn’t. He hated this. Hated this hell he had created by not doing it already. This hell he had created for both of them where he knew she was feeling like a deflated balloon that he didn’t want anymore. When that was the complete opposite of what was true. God did he want her. God did he not want to have to hurt her this way. All he wanted to do was hold her and tell her it would be okay.

Let her convince him that Stacey wouldn’t out their relationship and they would figure it out.

He got pulled out from the conversation when he heard a faint sound of something crashing in the back. He wasn’t sure if others had heard and chose to ignore it, or if it was just him who did since he was the closest to the hall. He stood and excused himself saying that he was gonna go check on her since they hadn’t seen her in a bit. 

When he got to the back of the apartment, he looked in and saw that it had just been the cup that held their toothbrushes and pastes. He watched as she leaned down and grabbed the fallen contents. He realized that she didn’t even notice him there until she jumped as he laid a soft knock on the door.

He laughed softly, like he always did when she did this. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya.” As she placed the cup back where it went, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. The jolt from her didn’t go unnoticed and his face went from one of playfulness to concern. “Hey, you okay?”

She nodded silently, and he saw that she was trying to keep her breathing steady. “Yeah. Sorry. I think I’m just getting tired. My body isn’t used to not having to be on edge 24/7.”

He knew she was lying. He could tell it in her voice. But he still cracked a small smile in an attempt to calm her down. “Can’t disagree with you there. But you seem genuinely freaked, like after a mission.” The smile switched to one of concern, “Are you sure that you’re okay?”

She nodded and turned to him, giving him a smile of her own. “Yeah. I am Lee. Promise.” Lee, the nickname she gave him after their first mission together when she got a concussion. He remembered that his name kept blanking on her (as did most people) so she just referred to him as Lee as it was all she could remember and it had stuck. He noticed as she looked down at her watch before looking back at him, “Hey, it’s 11:59, we should get back in there.”

He was about to go to move some hair from her face, but stopped before he even reached his hand. He knew it would leave her even more confused when he broke it off. He knew it would make it harder for him if he continued to act like a boyfriend. So he kept on telling himself that he was being a friend. Friends treat friends this way. He could still be this way with her even when he calls quits to save her reputation. “Are you sure? It seemed like you had left for a reason.”

He knew from the look on her face that he was the reason and it hurt. At first it was because he hated that he was treating her like this, leading her on. But then it was because he couldn’t feel that way. He had to pull away from her so it would hurt less when he broke it. But he felt his resolve falling and knew it was close to breaking.

“Yeah. I’m perfectly fine. I just needed to get away for a moment. You know how I am.” 

He knew it was a lie. He knew she lied about something he wouldn’t call her out about. He studied her face and saw that she was doing everything to show she wasn’t lying. He knew she knew he was doing this. But he said nothing. He didn’t put her on the spot. Call her out. He just let her do it. Especially as everyone in her living room began to count down.

However, neither of them moved as their friends began down from 10. This was the closest he had been to her since Christmas. It was taking everything in him not to kiss her. Everything in him to not grab her face and pull it to his. But that entire work he was putting in was thrown out of the window the moment she brought her hand up and brushed some hair out of his face. And as she leaned in to him when their friends reached one, his thoughts to push her away were thrown out the window. As she placed a kiss on his lips. He heard nothing as he felt her softer lips on his own chapped ones. 

As she pulled her lips away from his, any control that had been left there disappeared as his hands on her cheeks and he slammed his back onto hers. The moment she let out a tiny gasp, he slipped his tongue into her mouth. He felt her arms wrap around his neck as he began moving them to the sink. Only stopping when the back of her legs met her sink. 

He pulled away for a moment, just to bring his lips down to her neck. And between kisses he asked a question that plagued him since he saw her come out in it. “Is this...a new...top?” He heard her humming in response, eliciting a small chuckle from him. “Is that a yes baby?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was soft and breathy, just above a whisper and he held back a groan when she did.

“I like it. You should wear it more.” He carefully moved her arms up so he could pull it off. His lips lingered on her collarbone, close to the center by her sternum, as he breathed in her perfume. It was a warmer one, a mix of vanilla and spice. He recognized it as the one he bought her back when she dragged him into Victoria Secrets when they were having a sale. He remembered her arguing with her that she wanted to buy it so they agreed that he’d buy her that and she could buy him whatever cologne he wanted. Which just happened to be the one he was wearing tonight.

His lips continued down her body as he got other noises from her. He only stopped when he heard a gasp, immediately pulling his lips away from her. His eyes looked over to see Y/N's sister-in-law standing there with a hand over her mouth.

“Shit, I’m so fucking sorry. I should’ve known what you two were doing when you didn’t respond. Fuck, I’m sorry. Um, Joe and I are heading out. I don’t wanna overwork my sister too much by watching the kids after she had a long week. But we had fun. I’ll see you later.”

He stood as he watched Jessica leave the room and felt Y/N/N's head fall on his shoulder. He listened as she ranted about how embarrassed she was by what just happened. How she had been hidden for nearly 30 minutes and then someone came to find her, just to see her making out with her boyfriend. So fucking embarrassing. 

He laughed lightly and joked, “At least we were just making out and not actually having sex.”

She groaned and buried her head in his chest, “I did not just say that out loud, did I?”

He missed the top of her head, “It’s okay.” He pulled away before leaning down to grab her shirt from where he had thrown it on the floor and handed it to her. After she slipped it on, he kissed her lips again. “You know I love you, right?”

She smiled and looked into his blue eyes, “Yeah, ‘course I do.”

“Good.”

This was going to hurt when he finally did it.

--

Leon knew that she wasn’t asleep as she laid by him. But he stayed quiet. He knew tonight would haunt him. He was supposed to be pushing her away. Not drawing her back in and making her feel better while he was just going to hurt her in the end.

----

January 3rd of 2009

He knew she was hurt. He knew she was trying not to cry. Leon knew how mad and confused she was. He knew. He knew her too well. He knew that she understood none of it. Even after he explained. He knew that she saw him as the one for her because he knew she was the one for him. But he could stop. He had to end them so neither...no so she didn’t get her reputation ruined. He refused to let anyone think that the only reason she gets chosen for assignments is because they’re together. He refused to let anyone think of her as anything but the fucking amazing and talented agent she was.

He had promised her back years ago that he would never hurt her. That he would never be the one to break her heart. That he would be there by her side no matter what. But then here he was, breaking her heart and about to leave her.

In the end, all that he could say was, “I’m sorry.” And “You don’t deserve this.” He reached to grab her hand in an attempt to comfort her, but she jerked it away. Which he understood. He deserved it. She didn’t deserve this. She deserved better than him. “You deserve better than this. Than me. Than our fucked up situation.”

“But Leon, I like it. I love you. I don’t care about the secrets and the lies. I just want you. Leon, please.”

“I can’t.” He stressed, he still hadn’t said what Hunnigan had told him when he asked what would happen. That was why he was doing this. He had to protect her.

“Can’t what?” Her voice was stretched, he knew she was trying not to cry.

For a brief second, he thought that he shouldn’t do it, but as he saw her face, saw as she was breaking, he decided to do it. “Can’t ask you to possibly give up your job because someone found out! Watch as you have to get reassigned because Hunnigan already confirmed that it would be you. Watch as your life completely changes just so you can be with me!” He ran a hand through his hair, “That’s why we’re done, Y/N/N. Why we have to be. Both in this relationship and in our partnership for work. I already sent in the request for a new partner.” He hadn’t said that last part to her yet. But it was true. He did it yesterday. After she had left the office for the day.

“Leon.”

He ignored her as he walked to her door, he was planning on just leaving, saying nothing else. But as his hand reached for the knob, he stopped, “I’m really sorry Y/N/N. Truly, deeply, sorry.” 

He walked out after that. But he didn’t go far. He stayed there in the long hall. He brought a hand up to his mouth to stiffen the sobs that were threatening to fall. He felt his chest tighten as he heard her scream and a crash. He knew she was angry and upset. He knew she was blaming herself. And it took everything in him to not open the door and agree with her that they’d figure this out. That they’d find a loophole. That they’d be alright.

----

February 18th of 2009

He shook his head, trying to forget that last time he saw her. Instead, he became hyper focused on Hunnigan trying to contact anyone on her team. The difference between her and them was with them, it called, but no one answered. He felt himself picking at the calluses on his hands, a bad habit that she always noticed. A habit that whenever she saw, she would take his hands into hers and hold them. He ran a hand through his hair as the nerves built up again when it went off that she disconnected herself from being able to be contacted. 

He hadn’t even noticed Hunnigan talking to someone through her mic set until she said: “Do you want me to assume her and her team are dead, sir?” He snapped his head to her. What did she mean by that? Why would they assume that Y/N was dead? She just went dark. Since when has it been the procedure to assume death when gone dark. “Of course sir, I’ll keep watch and will let Agent Kennedy know.” Leon narrowed his eyes at Hunnigan as she turned to him. “They want me to keep an eye out for if she pings a location in the next 48 hours. If not, then you’re being deployed to finish the mission and if you come in contact with her, call for an evac for her. But shoot to kill if she’s been bitten.”

Leon looked away from Hunnigan. He wasn’t sure if he could do that. Shoot to kill Y/N. Personal feelings aside, they had been partners since she joined back in 2004. Since right after he got back from Spain. Hell, she would’ve been with him if she hadn't had to get her appendix taken out and miss training causing her start date to be pushed back to where it was around 48 hours before he got back from Spain with Ashley. He had known her for 4, going on 5 years now. How could he shoot her, even if it was for the greater good? He felt his chest tighten and--

“Leon? Do you understand?”

He looked back at Hunnigan and nodded silently before getting up to leave the room. He couldn’t be there anymore. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He practically ran through the halls, not caring who looked at him. Only able to catch his breath when the cold February air hit his skin. He heaved, his hands on his knees and he leaned forward. He couldn’t do it. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it. He knew that he would get in trouble. But he would rather get in trouble for not doing his job than have to shoot her.

He just prayed that she pinged to prove she was alive. And that if he ever got sent in, he would find her. Alive or dead but not bitten. Not turned. He’d rather find her already dead than have to do it himself. He would never be able to live if he broke her heart and then killed her.

Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he would be able to live with himself if he broke her heart and then found her dead.

--------

February 28th of 2009

36 hours after she went dark they received the first ping. 11 days had passed since and they had gotten 8 more pings. Leon was at his desk, waiting for Hunnigan to tell him they got the next ping. But as the sun went further and further down, they still had got nothing. He kept telling himself that she was okay. That maybe she just forgot or wasn’t somewhere where she could.

He kept telling himself that it was okay and she was alive. That he had no reason to worry. That she would make it back to them alive.

--------

March 2nd of 2009

Leon looked out the window of the helicopter he was on. 4 days had passed since her last ping. Since they last heard of her being alive. They had sent him in the early hours of the morning to go finish the job and find her. They told him to not have hope she’d be found alive. The cold was horrid and she was supposed to be back by now. It was doubtful she’d have enough heat stored to survive.

But he ignored them. He ignored their warnings and pushed them away as he climbed down and off the heli and walked the remaining mile to the village her team were meant to be staying at.

It took him almost no time to find the abandoned snow-mobiles they had ridden to get there. Took him almost no time to walk into the small place they were staying to find the rest of her team all dead. But still, there was no sign of her. No sign that she had even been there recently. He told Hunnigan and she responded that she’d send someone once they found Y/N. As he exited the house, he grabbed the keys to be able to use one of the vehicles.

He drove through the town until he reached the point where she had gone dark at. It was by a larger building that stood out compared to the rest. But that wasn’t where she had left at. She had left off in a small home by it. He walked in and looked around, finding her tracker and communication devices in a box that had been covered in snow. A few of the windows had been shot through, he assumed it was from her. He walked up the stairs and saw that there was no way out from there. If she had been in there, she had left the same way she went in.

He walked out of the house and was about to get back on the snowmobile, to head to her last pinged location, but he realized that it was inside the large building and he would have to walk it. The sun was going down as the time passed 6 PM as he jumped the fence and ran around trying to find her, shooting those infected that got in his way. Which he was surprised wasn’t that many. He had expected more to be there, but it was like someone had already gone through and killed most of them. 

He ignored the fatigue that grew as he ran closer and the sky got darker. Or at least he assumed it did, there were practically no windows in this place so all he had was his watch to tell the time. He ignored the gnawing feeling he had that he was going to find her dead. That he came all the way to bring her home alive that he’d have to do it dead. That he kept telling himself that she’d be alright and he could apologize. He could tell her what Hunnigan told him when he got back. So he could apologize and let her scream and yell and choose what to do. 

So he could know if there ever would be a possibility that they could have made it. That they could have done more if he hadn’t let the possibility of what could've happened take control of his life.

As he grew closer and closer to where she had last pinged, he felt his heart drop further and further into his stomach as he saw more and more blood covering the floor. He kept telling himself that it wasn’t hers. It was someone else's. And he wasn’t entirely wrong as he grew closer. A body laid on the ground, he could tell the blood wasn’t even an entire week old so it had to be from around her last ping. He placed his boot at the dead and grimaced as he recognized him as the guy from last summer.

That told him why she went dark. 

He kneeled by the body, looking for what caused the bleeding, finding a few bullet holes. They weren’t accurate and he could tell that whoever shot them had a shaky hand. Making him doubt it was Y/N. One thing he knew he could always count on was her steady aim. Rarely would she hit a target in the wrong spot on accident. It was always on purpose. But, he knew the bullet holes. It was with a Lightning Hawk. It was like how he always had his Matilda, she always had a Lightning Hawk on her.

He stood up and continued on, looking down at the small device to see how much further and realized that it was to his left. He turned and saw a door drawn shut. He put the device away and grabbed his gun out from its holster and carefully opened the door. He swiftly turned to walk further in, something that at first seemed futile as he didn’t see her. But as he walked further in and looked around, he saw remnants of her having previously been there.

He kneeled by her clicker that had been pinging her location when she told it to was on the floor with some of the layers she had been wearing when the mission started. But what scared him was that there was a bandage covered in blood that looked like it had been sitting there for a few days. If it was her blood like he thought, that would explain why it looked like someone had shot the guy shakily and unsure. And so that nausea grew as the gnawing feeling that she was dead came back to him. 

He shook his head of those thoughts and got up, looking around the room more. As his eyes scanned, he saw that there was a trail of blood that led to one of the walls. When he got closer, he saw the faint marks of what he assumed had been someone moving the cement. He put the flashlight between his teeth and holstered his gun as he began to touch around, trying to find a weak point in the wall. When he did, he pushed in until it started moving. Once it was opened enough for him to slip through, he grabbed the flashlight from his mouth and upholstered the gun. 

He pointed the gun forward and slipped through the crack, he walked with cautious footing. He still found it rather suspicious that he hadn’t had to deal with much since he had gotten there. His senses were on high alert, feeling like there was a possibility of him getting attacked at any point. He walked down the dimly lit room, turning the flash on and off so for the case of someone watching him, there was a possibility of him throwing them off. 

But any want to not get caught and have the element of surprise immediately left his body when he heard gunshots down the end of the hall. He ran as fast as he could and slammed the door open, gun ready to shoot. But when he got there, he saw that Dr. Lewis was already bleeding out on the floor, but still reaching for her own gun. As he approached the woman, he looked around and saw Y/N laying on her stomach, gun on her non-dominant side, in a corner. And as much as he wanted to check on her first, he ran over to the doctor and kicked her gun as far away from her as possible. 

He kept his gun up and stood over Lewis, the barrel of the gun pointed at her head, daring her to do something. But all she did was laugh before coughing up blood. “You...you really think this...this will be...be the e-end? You...you killing me? Think it...it will bring that little b-bitch ba-ack.”

He knew he was supposed to bring her in alive. So they could question her. But Leon just couldn’t. He knew she had been experimenting on children more than she ever had with adults. The information Y/N had found and sent in before she went dark proved it. And something, some part of him, felt like no one who did that to kids could live. Maybe it was his belief that he still was doing this for Sherry. He knew she was an adult now and that she doesn’t need his protection anymore, but it didn’t stop him from making it his main reason. 

With his gun still smoking, and Lewis’s eyes going blank with death, he pulled it down. “Still stops you.” He looked up when he heard the sound of an alarm going off and his vision was encased in red. He should have known that killing the head would do this, but he didn’t give a shit. All he cared about was saving her. He ignored the blaring alarm and robotic voice saying that the building will self-destruct in 10 minutes.

He turned to run back to where Y/N was lying. As he got closer to her, he could see she was slipping in and out of consciousness. When he reached her, he placed a gentle finger where her pulse would be, he knew he should have kept his eyes trained on Lewis, in case she turned herself into something, but he didn’t. His eyes were trained on Y/N. She was covered in sweat and blood, hair clinging onto her. Her breathing was labored and she barely was able to keep her eyes open. He turned her to her back and immediately saw what the reason for the bleeding was. 

A large gash that went down her sternum. There was dried blood all around it and he saw that shittily done bandage that had moved. It was surely infected and was probably the reason for her sweat. He grabbed his device to call Hunnigan and requested a medical evac. He found Y/N and she was alive. They were in the building, but he was going to try and get her outside. Hunnigan informed him that she already sent one the moment he said the rest of the team was dead and they were 5 minutes out.

The moment the call ended, he gently moved one of Y/N 's arms around his neck before putting his arms under her body. Placing one securely under her knees and the other behind her back and under her other arm. He heard her groan in pain as he started to carry her out. Trying to figure out how to get to the roof.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Y/N/N.”

“Leon?” Her voice was hoarse, barely there.

“Yeah, yeah it’s me. I got you. Medic is 5 minutes out, okay? I’m gonna get you out. You’re gonna be okay.”

“Leon, please, just let me go.”

He shook his head, “No. I’m not doing that. I’m not letting you go. Not anytime soon.”

“But it hurts.”

He looked down at her and saw her eyes were closing again, “I know. I know it does. But I need you to keep your eyes open for me, alright? I know it’s gonna be hard, but I need you to do that.”

“But it feels better that way.”

He kicked a door open that led to stairs, “I know it does Y/N/N/N, I know. But I really need you to keep them open. Just until the evac gets here. Once they get us, you’ll be alright. You can close your eyes. Just keep them open till then.” Y/N/N/N. A nickname he came up with once when they were both drunk and abnormally clingy to one another. A nickname that he only used around her when he was close to breaking.

But she nodded, “Okay, I’ll try.”

He smiled down at her, “Good, try.”

He knew if she wasn’t injured and delirious, she would be yelling and screaming at him. So a part of him was happy she was, but most of him was scared that they medic wouldn’t get here in time and they would be fucked. That the team wouldn’t get there and he would lose her. But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t lose her. Not yet. Not now. Not when he had so much apologizing to do. 

So when he made it out of the maze of a building, he let out a breath of relief when he saw the helicopter landing. Never in his life did he think he’d be so grateful that living Agents were top priority. That they’d rather lose the dead bodies and explain to the families that there was no body than possibly lose someone that could still be of use to them. Of course, he knew there was also the likelihood that they had sent two helicopters.

As he got to the Helicopter, he passed her body to one of the Agents in it before jumping in himself. And as they flew off, he helped close the door that he had jumped in from. For a moment, he stared at the window to see the sun coming up in the distance as the building exploded. But only after a second, he turned back to see the two medics already hooking Y/N up and getting her the help she needed.

He slumped down into one of the small chairs, leaning his head against the cool metal and silently watched as they flew to a hospital in Vancouver that was used to STRATCOM and the BSAA. 

--------

March 9th of 2009

Y/N's POV

Beeping. That was all she could hear. Her entire body was sore, feeling like she had been dropped from the top of a building. After a few moments of trying, she finally was able to open her eyes. But she instantly regretted it as the bright fluorescents welcomed her. She groaned as they tried to adjust to the brightness. She looked around and suddenly realized that she was in a hospital. That was the reason for the beeping as she realized how hooked up she was. 

Her throat felt dry and like something had been pulled from there. She moved her head to the side and let out a shocked gasp when she saw who was by her. She thought she had been dreaming. That the fever she knew she had from the infection that she knew had happened from the terrible keep of her cut had made her imagine he was there. That he had been the one to save her. 

She felt her hand move to reach out to him, but she dropped it when she heard the sound of the door opening. A lady, probably around her grams’s age, walked in. She had a soft smile on her face when she looked at Y/N and walked closer to her. Y/N watched as the lady began fiddling with one of the bags that she assumed was liquids to keep her from getting dehydrated. 

“You’re very lucky that boy got to you when he did.” The lady turned to her, “He’s a keeper, that one. He hasn’t left this hospital except for the one time me and another nurse forced him to get a hotel and sleep properly.”

“He’s just my partner--no, wait, he...I don’t know.” It hurt to speak, it felt like she hadn’t used her voice in years.

The lady raised a brow, “I doubt whatever he did will last long. You’ve been here a week and he’s had chances to go back to DC, but he’s stayed here.”

“Where is here? And what day is it?”

“You’re in Vancouver, it’s March 9th. Do you know the year?”

“2009?”

“Good, who’s your President?”

She genuinely had no idea. Graham had ended his Presidency a few months ago and she still had to learn the new guy's name. Only did she know the Vice-President. “I haven’t learned his name yet, but the Vice-President is Adam Benford, he used to be the CIA Director.”

“Hm, I guess that works.” The nurse chuckled, “You sure know a lot about him.”

She looked at Leon, “Yeah...the two of them are friends.”

“I should have expected that. Well sweetheart, we have you on a morphine drip to--”

“I-I can’t have morphine in large doses. It affects me worse than dilaudid.”

The lady took a look at her file and sighed, “Well I be damned, the nurse who did this completely ignored that it says no morphine.” She looked at Y/N, “I’m going let the head nurse know and we’ll get you switched onto, dilaudid you said? It works with no issue

“Yeah, every time it’s worked in the past it's been with no issues.”

“Alright.” She wrote something down, “I’ll be back in a few.”

Y/N nodded as that lady walked out of the room. Her eyes went back to Leon, who was still asleep in the chair, but she noticed how one of his hands was sitting on top of the bed, like he had been holding hers while she was out.  She gently took it in hers and brushed her thumb over the top. She wondered if Hunnigan ever found a loophole for them to work. If she ever found a way that she could use to show Leon they could have worked.

She watched as he stirred, his eyes slowly opening and blinking to adjust to the bright lights. He groaned before looking at her and she watched as he straightened up and took her hand in his own. She watched as his usual emotionless face turned to one full of emotions.

She gave him a soft smile, “Hey Lee.”

He moved the chair to be closer before he ran a hand over her, moving hair from her face. “Hey beauti--Y/N/N.”

She moved her hand to go back to rubbing the top of his, “You can call me beautiful. You got me out of there after all.”

“You scared me, y’know? I thought I had lost you there and I wouldn’t be able to tell you how sorry I--”

“Don’t, please. Just...just don’t. I don’t want to think about that. You’re here, that's what matters. That shows that you really care, even if you can be annoying about showing it.”

He gave a small smile, “Yeah, but I really am sorry for not...talking to you. It was fucking Stacey who walked in and he threatened to expose us. I just didn’t want your life to get fucked over.”

“Why would mine?”

He sighed, “Hunnigan said that unfortunately, STRATCOM would rather lose you than me. So if they had found out, they would have displaced you. Put you in another department or place you with one of the other offices. But we wouldn’t be able to see each other anymore.”

“And you were scared I would argue and say it was nothing.”

“Yep.”

She looked over to the other side, “I hate when you’re right.”

She heard him chuckle, “It’s a rare feat, but one that can happen.” She looked back at him and smiled, but the smile fell as she began to think. “What’s wrong?”

“Why did you call for a new partner?”

He let out a big sigh, “Because I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle seeing your broken face everyday. Be right by you, pretending to be a supportive friend while you move on.”

She scoffed, “Yeah, me moving on would’ve taken a lot. Trust me. I even asked Hunnigan to find loopholes in the rules for us to be together.” She sighed, “I guess she never found one cause she never told me.”

He laughed awkwardly and she raised an eyebrow, “Well...that’s not necessarily true.”

“What?”

“She found the loophole after you went dark.”

“And she told you?”

“So I might have come in drunk one day, felt bad because I did that because I drove drunk, and asked her to drive me back to my apartment. It was like I could hear you in my head getting mad, not because I showed up drunk, but because I drove drunk. So while she was taking me to my place, I might have spilt that I fucking hated what I did to you and wished that there was some fucking way for us to work and she might have told me the way it could. The small loophole that you asked her to go looking for.”

“What is it?”

“A lifetime commitment that we both said we weren’t ready for.”

“Kids?”

He snorted, “No. Not that.” He moved and dug in his pocket before handing her a small dark blue velvet box. She felt her heart in her throat. “Yeah...that’s the commitment.”

She opened the box to see the ring. It was simple, not over the top. Two diamonds with a sapphire in the middle on a silver band. She let out a shaky breath before looking at him, “When did you get this?”

“Um...a while ago actually. Last summer, I believe.”

She laughed slightly, “That was why you asked me what my ring size was.”

He laughed as well, “Yeah, I expected you to catch on.”

“But...that was before we talked about marriage.” She looked at him, “That was why you asked me, wasn’t it?”

He shrugged, “I realized that I would rather have a possible answer than make you uncomfortable.”

She smiled and for some reason, she leaned over to him and kissed his lips softly. “Why don’t you ask me now.”

“What?”

Her voice was soft, “Just ask that four word question.” She brushed some hair out of his face, “My answer won’t be dependent on it being the only way for us to be together and work together.”

He smiled, “Y/F/N, will you marry me?”

She smiled, “Yes.” She kissed him again, “Y’know, I would have said yes if you had asked me at Christmas.”

“Really?”

She nodded, “Mhm, that was around the time that I realized that even though marriage is a big commitment and we both have our issues with commitment, I was sure I would be able to fully stay with you. Was it partly because you’re the only guy I’ve ever been with that can handle me when my brain can’t function so I just shut down? Possibly. But it also had to do with the fact I can’t see myself with anyone else but you and every time I imagine a future, you’re always there.”

Now it was his turn to brush hair from her face, “So we could have avoided these past few months if I had just looked at the handbook for a loophole?”

She nodded, “Yep. But that doesn’t make me love you any less.”

He laughed, “Good.”

She closed the box and handed it back to him, “Hold onto it for me until we head back to DC.”

He took it and placed it back in his pocket, “I love you, you know that right?”

“I questioned it for a while, but yes, now I do.”

He laughed, “Good.”

They were silent for a few minutes until she looked him dead in the eye, “Can you promise me one thing, Leon?”

“What is it?”

“Never let me go, please? Promise me if you ever start to get insecure with anything in our relationship that you will tell me and we work on it.”

He smiled and kissed the top of her hand, “I promise.”

She smiled, “Good.”

[yellowhollyhock]

Posting a timeline for myself so I don't get confused writing in this space but now that it's getting organized it is become a Thing. So, 2003 turtles headcanons and eventual future

November 1992: Splinter attends first Battle Nexus, turtles 4

November 1995: Battle Nexus, turtles 7; Usagi saves Splinter from Drako, he looks about 9

November 1998: Battle Nexus, turtles 10

November 2001: Battle Nexus

May 14, 2003: boys 15th birthday (shared, on different years they either celebrate together or each get a day close to it)

June 2003-February 2004: Season 1 (April 25, Casey 27)

February 2004-November 2004: Season 2. turtles turn 16 between Reflections and The Ultimate Ninja. Battle Nexus is November 2004

December 2004-September 2005: Season 3. Turtles turn 17 between Worlds Collide Part III and Touch and Go. Exodus in late September

September 2005-August 2006: Usagi visits in January; Leo is with the Ancient one February-March. Turtles turn 18 in the Cretaceous which becomes confusing to keep track of (do they ever tell Splinter they had two 18th birthdays? probably less confusing to only count one since it's only three extra months)

September 2006: s5 starts, Angel leaving for college while turtles are being taken by Tribunal.

March 2007: final battle with Shredder

May 2007: turtles turn 19

October 2007-October 2008: turtles get yoinked to the future. B Team bonding and worrying: Leatherhead, Professor, Professor Honeycutt, Angel, Justice Force. April trying to make 2nd Time Around happen, also hitting that inter-dimensional portal project again with Augie's help (not unreasonable for her to assume that's where they are). Turtles turn 20 in the future. Turtle Fam misses Battle Nexus 2007 (Usagi champion mayhaps? He'd be 22)

April 22, 2009: Casey and April wed

May 2009: turtles turn 21; Angel moves back home, works as a hair stylist

August 2009: April announces pregnancy, and at the same time she and Don have begun work on O'Neil Technologies

Spring 2010: Leo starts a dojo, his brothers all help when they can. Cassandra is born (April 17). turtles turn 22

Summer 2010: Raph and Casey start a shelter. April begins hiring help for O'Neil Technologies (Irma, Leatherhead, Professor Honeycutt).

November 2010: Battle Nexus year! Leo reconnects with Usagi. Mikey wins again.

December 2010: Leo announces his intention to go to Japan to train with the Ninja Tribunal

February 2011: Neutrinos come to earth to talk business with O'Neil Tech. Leo leaves shortly thereafter; Mikey is now the main turtle in charge of the dojo.

Spring 2011: Donny and Angel start dating; anti-mutant sentiment on the rise, Bishop apparently busy again. Raph very stressed about Bishop and wanting to be able to handle it without Leo; oh btw Mikey would like to pursue a college degree. Oyuki gets a job at dojo

October-December 2011: Mikey disappears; Leo returns, furious that things were allowed to get as bad as they did and the Ninja Tribunal didn't tell him his family was in danger (he thought they would because TAO did). When Mikey is rescued (from Bishop) his arm is infected and must be amputated.

Spring 2012: Turtles meet Mona Lisa, who explains how mutagen is being leaked purposely in areas suspected of harboring aliens, to give hate groups credibility as well as punish those (like her) who stick up for aliens. Splinter begins writing a book. Turtles are banding together with other non-humans as world becomes more hostile. Oyuki joins O'Neil Tech team

Summer 2012: Leo and Splinter visit Usagi; Mikey is determined to get back to work on his degree; O'Neil Tech recruits Harold. Mikey and Oyuki start dating

Fall 2012: Usagi visits turtles world; Leo takes the Dojo back up so Mikey can focus on school

January 2013: Donny proposes to Angel

April 2013: rival tech company developing robots with alarming level of sentience and then abusing them (Nano followup basically), April and Donny find themselves fighting for robot rights which makes O'Neil Technologies both a laughingstock and a target. btw Neutrino crew returns to work there. Mikey is now dating Ia

Summer 2013: Turtles gather allies and make a plan to come out of hiding; being in the shadows hasn't been working, people are suspicious and afraid, there's lots more lives at risk now, they need to rethink their strategy. Angel gets badly injured. Turtles meet Punk Frogs

November 2013: Raph Battle Nexus champion (their family is going to be banned for winning too often 🤣)

January 2014: enter Timothy. Raph enjoying socializing with other mutants, especially close with Mona and Genghis. Mikey depressed that they aren't the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (now we're just, like... regular mutant ninja turtles), breakup with Ia

Spring 2014: Donny's secret therapy, unfortunately coinciding with TAO moving to NYC. Much conflict in general as bros all want to stay living together but have different life goals, plus there's Angel now and Raph has basically been living with Mona Lisa and Genghis Frog and Mikey's very busy at school and etc. etc. In other news, Raph finds a baby mutant turtle named Lita. Mikey dates and breaks up with Woody

Summer 2015: Karai invites the family to Japan. Chaplin wants Donny and April's input on a robotics project gone wrong, Karai is finding herself freshly mourning her father and seeking advice/understanding of family history from TAO and Splinter. Time travel shenanigans.

December 2015-October 2016: Ch'rell jailbreak, space adventure to stop him (he has of course moved on from the idea of conquering earth, his goal now is to get away from the utroms and find a planet where he can steadily build up an empire until he is able to plan revenge). And they all get home just in time to take 6 y/o Cassandra and 3 y/o Lita trick or treating

November 2016: Lotus Blossom wins the Battle Nexus, befriends turtles. Her and Leo quietly become pen pals

January-August 2017: speaking of Cassandra she wants to be a ninja. Also Splinter falls ill. Donny builds them a Place (in NYC) to all stay so they can be close to him, and also start her training (strictly recreational (I'm sure that will work out for them))

May 2018: Agent John Bishop is abducted by aliens. Mikey finishes his masters!

August 2018: Leo and Usagi break up for good; April and Casey announce second pregnancy

October 2018: Cody arrives to ask for help with O'Neil Tech in his time

March 2019: Splinter passes

May 2019: send Cody home

July 3, 2019: Nova Lynn is born (Cassandra is 9, Lita is 6)

November 2019: Battle Nexus year, turtles miss

December 2019-January 2020: Mikey and Kala start dating; Casey and Timothy accidentally go on adventures across dimensions and get banned from the lab

May 2018-September 2020: Bishop has a stolen spaceship now, crashes on his way back to earth, gets rescued by aliens, spends time there healing and has his change of heart, returns to find Earth in the middle of a pandemic.

January 22, 2021: Leo and Lotus wed

Fall 2021: Angel's dad attempts to get back in touch with his adult children

November 2022: Battle Nexus Year; Leo wins, Donny does not participate (Mikey is much more sad about this than Don is)

June 13, 2023: Mikey and Kala wed

also in 2024: Bishop runs for President on the premise of intergalactic peace (he loses). April recruits Bishop for O'Neil Tech; he turns her down and disappears. Mikey and Kala rescue and adopt triplet robots Alli, Jax, and Zinnia (renamed from 003a, 003x, and 003z)

November 2025: Battle Nexus year, Mikey takes back his title

2032: Bishop, now going by a different name, becomes governor of New York

[danthepest]

So with the Metal Gear Collection out now (of debatable quality), I figured I'd make a short, handy list of the chronological order of these games, and a short summary of what they're about. I'll try to be as vague and spoiler free as possible.

1 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Takes place in 1964 during the Cold War. CIA operative and FOX unit member Naked Snake is sent to Russia and has to survive the jungle (don't ask, just roll with it) to stop the development and deployment of a new kind of ultimate weapon, the Shagohod. Things are not what they seem and the political machinations of both the United States of America and Russia will have severe repercussions for the rest of the series. Most of all, it will affect Naked Snake and his legacy.

2 - Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - Takes place in 1970. FOX has seemingly gone rogue and started a revolt in San Hieronymo. Naked Snake begins to build his own resistance with the help of Roy Campbell. (The game is only available for PSP and while it was touted as a "missing link" between Snake Eater and Metal Gear 1, it hasn't been mentioned or referenced since. Easily skippable.)

3 - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - Takes place in 1974 in Costa Rica. Naked Snake and Kazuhira Miller begin building their private military company Militaires Sans Frontières. As they uncover the truth behind the strife in Costa Rica, Snake's past during the Snake Eater incident comes back to haunt him. (Originally a PSP game, it was included in the PS3 HD collection. This was also billed as a "missing link". Up to you if agree. Definitely need to play this to understand the next game.)

4 - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - Takes place in 1975. After the Peace Walker Incident, one of MSF's own people goes to Cuba on a failed rescue mission and Naked Snake goes in alone to retrieve his man and the person he came to rescue. Serves as an epilogue to Peace Walker and a prologue to the next game.

5 - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Takes place in 1984, primarily in Afghanistan. Ten years after what happens in Ground Zeroes, Naked Snake is rechristened Venom Snake and is rebuilding his forces with Miller, naming themselves Diamond Dogs. They prepare to strike back at the organization that has been targeting them for the last 10 years. A startling truth is revealed and strong alliances shatter.

6 - Metal Gear - Takes place in 1995. FOXHOUND unit rookie, Solid Snake is sent into the fortified state, Outer Heaven, to rescue FOXHOUND veteran Gray Fox and discover the secret behind Outer Heaven's nuclear weapon, the Metal Gear, and the identity of its leader.

7 - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - Takes place in 1999. Dr. Kio Marv has bio-engineered a new fuel and energy source that would reduce the consumption of oil. Military forces belonging to Zanzibar Land kidnap the doctor, intending to control the world's oil supply and hold the world hostage as well as stockpiling nuclear weapons. New FOXHOUND commander Roy Campbell forces Solid Snake out of retirement to infiltrate Zanzibar Land and rescue Dr. Kio Marv. Solid Snake is forced to face those he once considered friends and mentors.

8 - Metal Gear Solid - Takes place in 2005. FOXHOUND rebels against the US government and takes over the Alaskan island Shadow Moses, which contains a nuclear weapons disposal facility. Among their demands is the body of Big Boss who is considered the greatest soldier that ever lived. They wish to use his genes to create an army of super soldiers. At the behest of the Secretary of Defense, Roy Campbell once again has to ask Solid Snake out of retirement for one last solo mission. Solid Snake is forced to confront who he is, where he came from and what it is he's fighting for.

9 - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - Takes place in 2007 and 2009. In 2007, the anti-terrorist organization Philanthropy learns that a new Metal Gear is being transported through the Hudson river and attempt to stop it. They are thwarted by Russian mercenaries and the tanker is blown up as they get away with said Metal Gear.

In 2009, FOXHOUND operative Raiden is sent to infiltrate the Big Shell, a large decontamination facility that has been taken over by a terrorist faction calling themselves the Sons of Liberty. Raiden must neutralize the threat and save the hostages. However, Raiden will soon learn of a conspiracy that dates back to even before the Cold War and begin to question his own existence.

10 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - Takes place in 2014. War has changed. War has become a commodity and has created what is known as the War Economy. Old Snake is tasked with putting a stop to the madness as well as put an end to a personal war that started as far back as 1964. (So far, this is exclusively a PS3 title, but there is hope that it will be released for PC in a further Metal Gear Collection)

11 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Takes place in 2018. Raiden has made peace with his lot in life and is trying to support his family by working as a military trainer and VIP bodyguard among other things. While protecting a VIP, Raiden is ambushed and utterly defeated by a cyborg that is part of a larger organization. Raiden begins his quest of vengeance and will finally see if he can put his past behind him.

And there you have it! Dunno really what prompted me to do this, but hey, maybe someone out there will find this helpful or interesting or intriguing or whatever.

[woodaba]

We Wouldn't Have Alan Wake II Without Quantum Break

Remember Quantum Break? The first game announced for the Xbox One? The link between cult classic Alan Wake and surprising studio-saving hit Control? That prominently features Lance Reddick, the much-missed actor who was frequently one of the most electric screen presences of our time?

Don't worry, I barely do either, and I played the game yesterday.

So, a refresher. Quantum Break, announced in 2013 alongside the Xbox One and released three years later, is a third-person shooter starring Shawn Ashmore aka Iceman from the X-Men movies as Jack Joyce (and not Jake Joyce as I constantly remembered him as. In my defense, it's a better name, if only because then his superhero name could be Quantum Jake...), who, after being turned into A Remedy Entertainment Protagonist after a time-travel experiment gone wrong, battles against fellow Remedy Entertainment Protagonist Aidan Gillen aka Doctor Pavel I'm CIA as Paul Serene, over what to do about an imminent apocalypse after Time starts Breaking because of the aforementioned time-travel experiment.

As a rehabilitating former Doctor Who obsessive, I'm particularly open to this kind of time-travel nonsense, but Quantum Break is frustratingly unwilling to capitalize on its own premise. Interesting things happen, sure: people get stuck in causality loops, confront and become acausal time monsters, and live entire second lives in the past after time-traveling, but almost none of it occurs to Jack Joyce: he just spends his time just shooting guys in a series of warehouses and offices. Quantum Break is a potentially interesting story that we don't really get to see anything of, instead anything compelling in the narrative is relayed to us second-hand, by the myriad emails and documents scattered throughout the gunfights, or over the radio, and, of course, Remedy's now-signature multimedia ambitions.

In between acts of the video game Quantum Break, you'll be treated to episodes of the TV show Quantum Break, a live-action c-tier circa-2009 network TV production starring some of the big(ish) names that headline the game Quantum Break, but mostly follows a cast of extras who navigate around the events of the game while working for baddie Paul Serene's Evil Corporation, Monarch.

It's in the TV show that what Quantum Break actually is begins to take shape. Remedy, as a studio, has always been interested - and unusually adept at - pastiche, whether it's the noir comic stylings of their still-astonishing Max Payne duology or the rickety but deeply charming Stephen King love-in that is Alan Wake. And here, they do a genuinely stellar job at replicating the look, feel, and sensibilities of a 2008-2013 network TV Lost/Fringe rip-off that gets canceled after one season.

That may sound backhanded, but I assure you it isn't. I've long been a fan of Remedy, in spite of, or perhaps because I don't think they've made a truly great game since Max Payne 2. In a medium that often pillages relentlessly from Film and TV, Remedy set themselves apart from their competition with the depth of their understanding of the production of film, bringing into games a deftness of set construction and filmic pacing that blows their contemporaries out of the water. Even more-lauded names like Naughty Dog and Rockstar come up short against Alan Wake's hauntingly gorgeous misty woods, best illustrated with Rockstar's Max Payne 3, which matched Remedy's cinematographical flair in the cutscenes, but fell far short of their level design chops and breadth of influences.

Quantum Break is, in aesthetics and production, a genuinely extremely well-considered pastiche of this period of sci-fi television that is now comfortably in the rear-view mirror, the time since its release having given it a real nostalgic charm that would have been dulled at the time of release. It really reminded me of the years I spent watching shows like Heroes, or Flash/Forward, shows that may not have been very good, but are intoxicatingly emblematic of their time and place, hiding just beneath the floorboards of the shows that would actually get to be remembered.

It's a shame, then, that it just fails to really compel on any level beyond appreciation for the pastiche.

Much like the gameplay, the TV episodes of Quantum Break feel almost ancillary to another, better story that we never get to see. The stars of the game feel wasted here - particularly Lance Reddick, one of my favorite actors, who steals the show every time he appears, but is given vanishingly little to do in comparison with a group of wafer-thin characters that struggle to manifest a single dimension, with relational at best connection to the concerns of the narrative. It looks like a particularly budget-strapped episode of Warehouse 13, sure, but it doesn't really feel like one, as the episodes - until the last one, which is a noticeable improvement - are shockingly paceless and devoid of the arcs that would make a singular episode of television compelling. They are, ultimately, primarily dreary, overlong, and constantly highlighting the fact that they are largely interstitial filler.

It would be wrong to accuse Remedy of not having their heart in Quantum Break, as there is too much evident passion to discount, but I do feel like they struggle to find a core to this idea, something that they truly want to explore. Whether I'm playing the game or watching the show, QB leaves everything on the surface, with nothing to really find beneath the surface. It's notable that the game is absolutely filled with constant allusions to Alan Wake - including a full-blown trailer found on a TV moments after starting the game that bears startling resemblance to the eventual plot of this year's Alan Wake II - and that the game started life as a pitch to Microsoft for Alan Wake II: one suspects that they would much rather be making that game at this moment in time than Quantum Break, or that the game is a test-bed of ideas for the studio's future, the act of throwing a thousand darts at a quantum dartboard, and seeing which ones find their mark. It's just that for this effort, precious few of them do.

And yet, the surprise is that by the end, I truly felt like Remedy was genuinely onto something with the spirit of Quantum Break's ideas, if not the execution of them. The television show is the thing that makes Quantum Break live, that marks it out as something worth remembering in a sea of slick third-person shooters with cinematic ambitions. It is the icon of the foundational belief of the Xbox One, that the future of games lay in a synthesis with television, a dead-end future that had already worn out by the time the game was actually released. What remains is little more than a gimmick, sure, but it is one that, by the end, is oddly compelling, even if most of it is terrifically boring to actually experience.

There is a genuine thrill to seeing characters in both video game graphics and live-action forms, shifting between the two seamlessly thanks to some genuinely well-realized digitized actors that still look good today, a shift that blends well with the time-space bending of the plot. Do I care about Jack Joyce, as a person? Not even slightly. Did I still grin when I saw Actual Shawn Ashmore briefly appear in the TV episodes after controlling Virtual Shawn Ashmore? Absolutely. It's the same kind of shallow thrill you get from Cheers allumni showing up for a visit in Frasier, or when the Torchwood crew talk around the presence of Mr. Doctor Who, Esq, but as something that works with what the game is doing rather than distracting your attention elsewhere.

The gameplay portions represent time breaking down with (genuinely cool, if shallow) shards of space and glass and stuttering loops of physical time, but the collision of the Real and the Virtual feels so much more effective in communicating the idea of time and space shattering and colliding into one another. I just wish it played in this space more, focusing on Ashmore, Reddick, Monaghan, and Hope, rather than the cast of goons and extras who feel wholly separated from the game until the final mission.

I'd like to say that I'd love Remedy to take another crack at this idea, with the lessons they've learned from Control and Alan Wake II, but that already feels like a fool's hope. The ballooning costs of video game development make the idea of filming an entire TV mini-series alongside it feel laughable. Sure, Control's live-action segments were plentiful and superbly produced, but they were also far more restrained than Quantum Break, focusing on short segments with one non-big-name actor each in a couple of highly reusable sets. With both this and its open-world, side-questing structure with plenty of loot and upgrades to collect, Control is something largely in line with the realities and productions of modern game development

Quantum Break isn't rooted in reality for even a second. It's a time-locked instant, the most 2015 game ever made, which makes it all the better that it came out in 2016. There's no future in what Quantum Break envisions. It's a failed experiment, something to shrug at and move on. And yet, it compels me regardless, despite the fact that I don't really like it.

We need games like this, I feel. Historical curios like this show that the shifting landscape of the medium isn't a straight line, it splits off into splintered fraying timelines, some leading to nothing, but others spilling back in unexpected ways. After all, Courtney Hope, who played Beth Wilder here, returned for the starring role in Control, and that game feels so keenly like the product of lessons learned from QB, with everything from the live-action segments, the document-reading, and the combat feeling like a progression from Remedy's previous work. In particular, my complaints about QB's narrative taking place almost entirely off-screen evolves into a hugely compelling aspect of Control, with the genuine highlight of that game being reading the endless documents detailing the horrors and nightmares of America transcribed into corporate mundanity.

And while I've only played a taster of Alan Wake II, there's no doubt in my mind that that game, a bona-fide critical darling the likes of which Remedy hasn't had since Max Payne 2, owes a great debt to QB. Not least because its engine provides the framework for the game, but also because, well, it's been in there, this whole time.

Waiting for The Return.

[lloyd283]

One-shot 2/3

The leader tells Lloyd and the others that they will attempt a rescue of an old member from a police station as apparently he's got sensitive information, so they plan and change clothes to show themselves. The others ho all bright and easy to spot, but centi prefers 80s clothing and movement and Lloyd's first outfit: featuring a hamlet turtleneck, long coat and hiding his miraculous inside the turtleneck. The group arrive at the police station but note it's too easy and as they all move on the street, suddenly the police arrive and corner the group. The rocker and the other man are captured whilst the others run away with centi moving quietly into the forest. The leader stays believing Lloyd's appearance wasn't chance and gives him the sensitive Intel he swiped from a detective. To escape, Lloyd hops on a train as it moves away, and he slips through the doorway into the sidecar. Eventually, he hops off secretly as the police are searching for him and finds centi crying in the forest. They move towards nowhere until someone finds them and takes them into his home. The person talks about the past and the heavily covered up Hunky parker incident. He even brings up a particular cruise ship disaster from 2002 that he believed let the headmaster loose again...

Eventually, the man leaves to grab something whilst Lloyd looks in the mirror, wondering why him, why does he know all these things in his life. He removes the hamlet turtleneck, revealing a particular shirt a person in Paris wore, which has a colourful flower as centi walks in accidentally but only questions about what happened to him at the academy. Lloyd recounts the miraculous given to him by nemesis that's not turned on yet, the worm called gord, the midway, as well as new information: he aged 1 year on a trip to saxon's world, turned 8 when he was 5 due to another trip protecting three others from a dalek blast (claire, zoe, norma), well they all got blasted but survived. (Theories from Lloyd at the time of archangel's power being awoke was because he was still young at the time, but now he's 13 and able to fight). He notes a boy from 2009 who died fighting the 456 he was friends with and then never returned to that world since. Centi tells him that there's people out there who need them, as only they can act on the Intel. She leaves Lloyd as he stares at his old bag he had after meeting the real nemesis that he's never opened.

The man returns with an open box showing the indigo rings, a weapon recovered from the sty after a brawl underneath it. Three are missing. The Intel suggests a radio signal that harms people to open an elevator the headmaster built, powered by students. Urgency is needed. Suddenly, Lloyd appears, now wearing a certain dark blue turtleneck and claire's spare jacket. Also, the kitsune miraculous awoke when he realised he's there to stop the headmaster and save the day, but doesn't decide to conjure a superhero suit, but rather help him get to grips with things and gives centi one of the rings to wear to give her protection from the headmaster saying nemesis gave him a physical reminder of each person he's already saved as well as a weird crystal shard he puts in his pocket. He puts on the two other rings and asks the fastest way to the place.

The other outcasts wake up in pods, ready to power the device, but claire sneakily sabotages it, causing a delay whilst hiding. And before long, they arrive, and Lloyd is shocked to see claire there but says there's no time as he and centi enter the basement whilst the man catches MI5's attention of the headmaster's plan. Inside, centi decides to take the betrayer on in the power room whilst Lloyd faces the headmaster as suddenly the power begins to climb. Lloyd is able to keep up and resist his hypnosis after developing an immunity thanks to his condition. Centi manages to overpower the betrayer, but he lands on a pylon, giving extra juice before becoming unconscious and finally powering th3 device, causing a terrible noise that takes londoners to pain and claire's trying to save the students, noticing the power's making the place collapse. In the chaos, the rogue headmaster sees and slowly enters the golden elevator, unaware Lloyd's not out yet and enters the elevator too, causing a struggle and someone's hallucinating this.

"Wait, norma? You're not supposed to be here!"

[rosepais]

Who taketh thy Purse?

It was the year 2009, Niki was all set to be engaged to this person who is irrelevant in this story. The invitations were out, and the family were expecting relatives to stay back at their place. Considering the budget constraints, the relatives decided to stay one night and leave soon after the ceremony. This would mean less cost and not imposing a lot of trouble on the bride’s family.

Niki is a sweet girl; She worked hard and saved up 10 years just for her big day. it was her favourite month. October, her engagement celebration would be clubbed along with her birthday and Diwali all on the same day, she was thrilled and over the moon.

On the day of the ceremony, Niki woke up very early for a change since there was make up to be done. She found her green jute purse lying on her table and she decided to keep it aside safely because the house was full and there was a lot of money and cards in it. Almost everything she owned was green. Her favourite colour, so much that her toothbrush, the paint on her wardrobe, the paint of her room, purse, handbags, and her engagement dress. All green.  

The ceremony went well. All the relatives were so caring, and gaga over her appearance. Some never left her room, they were constantly hovering over her looks, what we wore, and questions about the future while she dressed. She wished for some privacy but being kind was her thing.

All were so tired post the function that her father forced the relatives to stay the night and leave the next morning. Everyone tiredly obliged. Next morning, it was the usual chaos at home. Everyone packing, the kitchen is hustling with steam and something hot cooking, the bathrooms are full. It was a 2-bedroom house, with 1 toilet and over 30 people housed all at once! It was chaotic but fun, there was laughter and talks about the ceremony. Niki felt very happy, to see the support of her aunts and uncles. Her cousins served her with fresh family gossip and her mother was in the kitchen cooking her favourite breakfast. Niki was delighted to see a house full of happy people, since she grew up with only 2 people in her house. Her father, mother, and her. Silently she wished for the party to never end.

Niki was in her room looking for her purse since she had to pay off the decorators. At first her movement were calm, she moved every bag around, opened every drawer. The momentum increased with a little stress in her tone of speech. Moments later, she could not think straight and finally panicked and screamed.

The happy relatives took offense when she asked if anyone saw her purse. They suddenly decided to end the giggle party and start packing and leave. Within an hour, the house that was roaring with laughter and noise, became silent with only Niki and her mother crying in one corner of her room.  They searched and searched but in vain. After about a week, Niki confirmed that one of the relatives had done it, but she could not figure out whom.

The relatives were so offended with Niki questioning them, they never spoke to her again. They decided to stay in a hotel the next time they visited which was for the wedding. Some ignored her totally and did not even wish her on her big day. This was the same set of people who were in her room who could not get enough of her just few months ago.

Niki had to buy a new purse, apply for new cards, she had some memories stacked up in the purse which would miss forever. She cried thinking she would never see her cute little blue pebble which picked up from a beach when she first went to Goa. That pebble was part of her life and purse for years for no apparent reason. It was just cute and blue. She missed it, although while it was in her purse, she hardly noticed it in there. She sat and wondered what else was in the purse and what else did she lose apart from the money, cards, blue pebble, and some passport size photographs.

3 years passed. With time, Niki forgot all about the purse, with time the relatives were back to normal and with time, Niki learned to be more careful with things. Her parents found a new place to live and wanted to move. Niki was there to help them pack. She was in her room, packing all her beloved stuff which she could not take to her in-law’s house. She opened her green wardrobe, which now holds some plastic covers and junk which fall under the “we may use this” category.

She opened her drawer to see if she left out any jewellery in there. It was empty. While she put her hand deep inside the drawer to check the corners, she felt a small opening. She quickly took back her hand, like she had touched something dangerous. She was afraid to explore it again with her bare hands. She brought a torch and her mom to look. It was a small safe inside a safe and she saw something from a distance, and it suddenly struck her where she hid her purse before the ceremony to keep it safe from theft.

Embarrassment gushed down her face, and her mother gave her a look of disgust, because one among the relative Niki blamed was her mother’s cousin too! Niki was very happy to have her green purse back and everything in it. She remained silent and did not inform anyone that the lost was found.

The next big function was around in the family and the relatives were around. Uncle asked “Niki, any idea who took your purse?”

Niki and her mom exchanged glances and she shrugged her shoulders and said “No”.

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla

[delcat177]

Histeria! is an American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation.[1] Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! was an explicitly educational program created to meet FCC requirements for educational/informational content for children.[2][3]Histeria! aired on Kids' WB from September 14, 1998 to March 31, 2000, and continued to air reruns until August 30, 2001.[4] The show was presented as a Saturday Night Live-style sketch comedy, with its cast often filling the roles of historical figures. It was to be WB's most ambitious project since Animaniacs. Like the aforementioned series, 65 episodes were originally going to be made,[citation needed] but due to being $10 million over budget,[citation needed] only 52 episodes were completed before production of the series was canceled in March 2000. Due to the high production costs, footage from previous episodes was often re-used and re-timed to match newly recorded audio, as well as several non-educational segments being used as filler. More recently, the show was aired on In2TV, first from March to July 2006, and then it returned in October of that year. In January 2009, all of the episodes were taken off the site.This is the wildest shit and I think the majority of us missed it

[sequinsmile-x]

Stained Glass Windows - Chapter Fourteen

Life was complicated, but they wouldn't have it any other way.

-x-

Sorry it's been over 2 weeks since I last updated this one, I hope you enjoy it <3

Just a reminder that the 'up to date' section of this fic is now in October 2009

-x-

Words: 3.7k

A full list of warnings for the fic can be found on the Series Master List and will be updated as we go along. Please note that more warnings have been added.

Read on Ao3, or below the cut

October 2008

“You really don’t have to come.” 

She rolls her eyes at him, and she knows if he was anyone else, if he didn’t have a persistent need to protect her from things she didn’t need protecting from, she’d be offended. 

“Aaron, it’s Jack’s birthday party,” she says, slipping the envelope that had his card, and gift, into her purse, “Of course, I’m coming.” 

“Haley’s family can be…difficult. Especially her dad,” he says, wrapping his arms around her and leaning down to stamp a kiss against her lips, “I don’t want to expose you to that.” 

“Oh well if only I’d been trained since I could talk to deal with tricky social situations,” she says sarcastically, pressing another kiss to his lips, “Oh wait…I have been,” she smiles as she pulls back from him and links her arms around his neck, “I’ll be fine honey. And it’s a birthday party for a 3-year-old. I think I can handle it,” her smile widens as he tugs her closer, his hand persistent on her lower back, “Besides, I’m pretty fond of you and that son of yours. I’m going to have to meet that side of the family at some point.” 

Aaron chuckles, shaking his head at her as he marvels at the fact she was always somehow able to make him feel better. 

“We’re pretty fond of you too,” he replies, kissing her once more before he pulls away completely, reaching for the wrapped box on the dining room table that contained his son’s birthday present from him. She’d insisted that they got Jack separate gifts, sure that it would be important to the young boy to have something specifically from his father. “Ready to go?” 

She nods, and the weight of what was about to happen, the potential awkwardness she was walking into, finally hits her. 

“They don’t happen to serve wine at a 3-year-old’s birthday party do they?”

___

“You weren’t kidding about Roy,” Emily says into the rim of her coffee cup, her voice low enough that only Aaron hears her. 

He smiles, looking over at his ex-father-in-law before he looks back at her. Roy had spent the majority of the party so far either glaring at Aaron and Emily or making not-so-subtle comments just loud enough for them to hear. Haley had already apologised, more than once, clearly embarrassed by her father’s behaviour. 

“He never really liked me,” he says, “Even when we were in high school,” he looks over to see Jack running around with his friends, “It got worse after the divorce.” 

Emily hums, “Still, he should try and keep it contained around Jack at least.” 

Jack runs over, and Emily is only just able to hand her coffee to Aaron before the little boy wraps his arms tightly around her, running into her in full force. 

“Emmy,” he says, wrapping his hand around two of her fingers, “Come sit with me.” 

She looks up to see Haley looking at them, an amused smile on her face, “It’s time to open his gifts, and apparently only you will do.” 

Emily usually enjoys how much Jack loves her, in how much he trusts her, but in moments like this when Haley was around it made her feel guilty. As if she’d walked in and interrupted what their family should look like even though the divorce papers were signed before she and Aaron came close to being more than friends. She doesn’t miss the look that crosses Roy’s face as they all sit down so Jack can open his presents, but she brushes past it. 

She helps him loosen the tape on the wrapping paper before leaving him to rip the paper, revealing toys he’d wanted for months. She makes eye contact with Aaron at some point, smiling at him as he watches her with his son with undeniable affection. 

“No present from you?” Jack asks, frowning slightly as he looks back up at her, and she suppresses a smile. 

“Jack, that’s rude,” Haley says, her eyebrow raised as she gently corrects her son. 

“Sorry, Emmy.” 

“I thought she was rich,” Roy mutters, clearly speaking a little louder than he had intended when Haley chastises him too, her voice harsher than when she’d been speaking to Jack.

“It’s ok, Jack,” she says, pretending that she hadn’t heard the older man at all, “It’s in here,” she says, pulling an envelope from the pile of cards. She smiles as he opens it, pulling out the certificate that was in there and the credit card-sized plastic card on top of it. She smiles as he looks confused as if he suddenly remembered he wouldn’t be able to read it all, “Want me to read it to you?” 

“Yes please,” he replies, leaning into her side a little further. 

“It says that you and three adults can go to the zoo whenever you want,” she says enthusiastically, smiling as his eyes go wide, “And you can go to special events, meet the animals, and your name is on that big wall at the front when you first walk in.”

“Really?” He asks, kneeling so he can have a closer look at the paper as if he would understand all the words. 

“Really. So you can go with Mommy, or me and Daddy.”

“Or all three of you?” He asks innocently, and Emily’s eyes flash to Aaron’s before she looks back at him. 

“Yeah, or maybe all three of us.” 

“Emily, that’s…incredibly generous,” Haley says, her shock at the gift clear, “Are you sure it’s ok?”

“Of course,” she says, only realising now she could see the looks on everyone’s faces that she may have overdone it slightly. She clears her throat, more than aware that everyone in the room would likely look up exactly how much she’d spent at the earliest opportunity. “Usually they put the actual donor’s name on the wall, but I know a few people high up there through my mother so I pulled some strings.” 

Roy scoffs, and Haley sends him another warning look, before she sighs, “Jack, say thank you to Emily!” 

“Thank you, Emmy!” He says, throwing his arms around her tightly. She hugs him back and kisses the top of his head. 

“You’re welcome, sweet boy,” she says, kissing his head again before she pulls back to look at him, “Happy Birthday.” 

Shortly after the presents the cake comes out, and Emily stands back as Aaron and Haley help Jack blow out the candles. A brief snapshot of the family life they once had that makes her ache in a way she hates herself for. 

All the excitement eventually gets too much for Jack, and he starts falling asleep in Aaron’s lap, so he takes him up to bed, commenting that he and Emily should head off soon anyway. Emily finds herself standing back from everyone else, feeling like an outsider now neither Jack nor Aaron were in the room. 

“Jack will be so pleased you came,” Haley says, approaching her, and Emily smiles, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I wouldn’t have missed it,” she replies, “I’ve been to a lot of parties in my time, but it’s been a long time since I went to one where the most important guest had to take a nap in the middle of it.”

Haley chuckles politely, “So it’s happened before?” 

Emily laughs and nods, “Yeah, at my grandfather’s 90th. He fell asleep at the table.” 

“Well, if you live to that age I guess that’s your right,” Haley replies, and her smile fades. “Again, I am so sorry about my dad,” Haley says, and Emily shakes her head, waving off the apology. 

“Oh, no need to apologise. You should honestly meet my mother, he’s nothing in comparison to her.” 

Haley laughs, “I’ll keep that in mind. And thanks for Jack’s gift, it’s very generous.” 

Emily feels her cheeks flush a little, her previous embarrassment returning, “It’s nothing,” she says, shrugging it off, “He loves it there, and this way he can go whenever he wants.” 

“Still, I think it solidified your place as his favourite person,” Haley replies, a kind smile on her face that somehow makes Emily feel more guilty. 

“The birthday boy is down for his nap,” Aaron says, joining them and cutting off any further conversation. He places his hand on Emily’s waist, “I promised him we’d go to the zoo when he’s next with us so he can see his name on the wall.” 

“He’ll love that,” Haley says, clearing her throat as she looks them up and down, still not entirely used to seeing how comfortable they were with each other, “I should go help out in the kitchen, thank you both for coming.” 

“Of course,” Aaron says, “We wouldn’t have missed it.” 

Emily and Aaron watch as she walks away and Emily waits until she’s no longer in earshot she turns to her boyfriend and glares at him. 

“Why didn’t you tell me my gift was over the top?” She asks, furrowing her brows, “I told you what I was getting him.” 

Aaron dares to smile at her, leaning in to kiss her cheek, not caring if anyone saw, “Firstly, he loves it so there is nothing to worry about,” he wraps his arm around her before turning her towards the front door, “Secondly, you never told me you were buying the executive level pass.” 

___

Emily sighs as she tries to get comfortable, the familiar ache in her lower abdomen and back making the plush seat of the jet feel like it was made of stone.

“Are you ok sweetheart?” 

Emily looks up at Aaron as he sits down next to her, and she nods, “I’m ok,” she says, smiling at him, “Rough case,” He places his hand on her leg, squeezing tightly, a silent attempt to comfort her that would have to be enough until they got home. “I just keep thinking about how scared those girls must have been. Being forced to have a baby in those conditions and then just…having the baby taken from them.”

“In these situations, it’s hard not to put yourself in their shoes,” he says, rubbing circles on her thigh with his thumb.

She chuckles humourlessly, “It’s not just…” she drifts off, shaking her head at herself as she places her hand over his on her thigh, “Yeah. It’s hard.” 

She doesn’t know how to tell him that she’d spent most of the last day thinking she could be pregnant, a thought that had firmly been put to bed by the cramps in her belly, and her trip to the jet bathroom the moment the seatbelt sign was off. She can’t say that as they rescued the girls and the children from the house she’d struggled to tear her eyes away from the newborn baby. 

Disappointment she doesn’t expect burns in the back of her eyes in the form of tears she doesn’t understand and won’t let fall. Before him, she wasn’t completely sure she wanted children. Her insistence when she was young that she’d do it better than her parents had slowly faded out into nonchalance, a silent promise to herself that she’d maybe do it one day. If she found the right person, if she would truly be able to provide the stable life for a child she’d always craved for herself when she was young. She refused to simply have a child because it was the done thing, something that was expected of her. She was that child. She had grown up feeling like she was somehow both in the way and a prop that made her parents, mostly her mother, look good. 

Ultimately, it’s the love she feels for Jack that makes her mind up for her. It’s how she loves him so much it hurts sometimes. How he looks so much like Aaron when he smiles, and how it makes her want to know if a kid that was half her and half her fiancee would share that same smile too. 

It’s how she knows she can love like that. Seeing how safe and secure Jack was, happy and content as he fell asleep against her on the couch even though he insisted he wasn’t tired. 

“What do you want to do when we get home?” He asks, still rubbing circles on her thigh. He hadn’t missed how she’d stopped herself from saying something, but he knows not to push - especially not here in front of the team. 

She leans her head against his shoulder, “Pizza, and a shitty movie?” She says, smiling as he drops a kiss on the top of her head. 

“Sounds perfect, sweetheart.” 

___

Aaron watches her carefully as she walks into the apartment ahead of him, a slight tension in her shoulders as she places her go-bag on the counter. He locks the door behind them, double-checking it as he always does, before he walks over to her, his hand ghosting her lower back as he places his bag next to hers. 

“I’ll sort the bags,” he says, “It’s my turn to do the laundry anyway.” 

She nods, ��Yeah, thanks,” she turns to walk away, her emotions still all over the place, the persistent ache in her stomach a constant reminder of her thought process over the last day or so. 

“Em, are you ok?” He asks, and she freezes, taking a moment to breathe slowly before she turns to look at him. 

“I…” she drifts off, unsure how to put it into words, worried it would all sound as ridiculous as it felt. 

“You know you can tell me anything, don’t you?” He says, stopping himself from stepping towards her, knowing that sometimes her need for space was quite literal. She’s silent as she looks at him, her eyes fixed on him before she swallows thickly. 

“For a moment, I thought I might be pregnant,” she admits, watching as he freezes before he takes a small step towards her, “I’m not, by the way,” she adds, clearing her throat as she crosses her arms over her chest, “My period started on the jet on the way home. But it was a day or so late, and because of the case it was all I could think about.” 

“Are you ok?” He asks again, taking a step towards her so he can place his hand on her shoulder, all too aware of the memories even thinking about it could bring up for her. 

“Well, it’s a lot less terrifying of a thought when you’re in your late 30s and in a committed relationship than it is when you’re 15 and alone,” she quips, her voice shaking slightly as she tries to joke, and she sighs when all he does is squeeze her shoulder a little tighter, “I’m fine, honey, I promise,” she says, smiling tightly at him, “Maybe a little more disappointed than I thought I would be.” 

“Disappointed that you aren’t pregnant?” He asks, and her response is a nod.

“Yes,” she says quietly, worried that if she says it too loud it would be like she was admitting too much. 

They’d spoken about children of their own before. The discussions always revolving around ‘when’ not ‘if’ but without setting any kind of time frame. Aaron understands what she means. He couldn’t ignore the flash of hope that had flooded through him at the mere thought that she had believed she could have been pregnant. 

“Come here, sweetheart,” he says, putting his arm around her and leading her to the couch, “Let’s sit down and talk about it.” 

She sits on the couch and turns inwards slightly, one of her legs tucked under herself, so she can face him. He sits close enough that their knees touch, and he waits her out. His patience for her was as endless as the love he felt for her.

“I’ve just turned 39,” she says eventually, smiling softly at the fond memory of her recent birthday, of the lopsided cake Jack and Aaron had made her. “And I know it hasn’t even been 6 months since you moved in but…” she shakes her head at herself, “I want a baby with you, Aaron. And I am just…incredibly aware of the fact the clock is ticking.” 

“Em-”

“And I know it is absolutely ridiculous that this case of all cases is the reason I’m even thinking about it this much-”

“Em, sweetheart,” he says, successfully cutting over her this time. He reaches out for her and grabs her hand, linking their fingers together, “It’s ok to want that. You know that, right?” He watches as she nods, her teeth sinking into her lower lip, “And it’s ok to talk to me about it,” he adds, reaching out to tuck some of her hair behind her ear, “Especially considering I’d be pretty involved in the process.” 

She huffs out a laugh and shakes her head at him, some of the tension leaving her shoulders, and he smiles at her, glad that he’s been able to somewhat cheer her up. 

“Aaron.” 

“I want a baby with you too, Em,” he says, “So maybe we start trying, or at least, we stop actively preventing it from happening.” 

She feels hope spark in her chest. Joy which had become such a part of her life since they’d got together that she can’t remember how it felt to live without it. She loves him, and she wants to be a parent with him. To watch Jack be a big brother. 

“You don’t think it’s too soon?” She asks, watching his face for any changes, any signs that he wasn’t sure about this. All of her own doubts, the thoughts that had been circling her head for longer than she would care to admit finally spill out,  “We aren’t married, we haven’t come close to planning the wedding. Fuck we haven’t even been together two years yet. We’d have to find somewhere bigger to live-”

“Em,” he says, smiling at her, love for her threatening to overwhelm him as it did whenever she got like this. She was usually so reserved, so held together, and it never felt like anything less than an honour to be the person she fell apart in front of, to be the person who could see what lay beneath her well-constructed armour, “For a start, we don’t have to be married to have a kid, and I know for a fact you’d get some kind of a kick out of telling your mother we were ‘doing things out of order,’” a smile flashes across her face, “And I know we’ve moved fast, but we’re both adults. I don’t need to be with you for a set amount of time to know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I knew that the first morning I woke up next to you.” 

She chokes out a noise somewhere between a sob and a laugh, and she wipes a stray tear from her cheek, “Ok, you can’t say shit like that to me when I’m on my period.” 

“It’s true, sweetheart,” he assures her, leaning in to stamp a kiss against her lips, “And as far as everything else like a place to live goes, we can figure it out along the way. And it might take a little while, it did when Haley and I were trying for Jack.” 

He still remembered those days so clearly. How Haley slowly but surely started to lose hope. It was when the first cracks started to appear in their relationship. All culminating in one night, not too long before they found out she was pregnant with Jack when she yelled at him. Told him if they’d started trying earlier, if they hadn’t waited for his career to settle down like they’d agreed to from the very start, things might be different. 

Haley had apologised for it the following morning, but he still thought about it sometimes. He still wondered if he’d taken something from her as he slowly turned into a crappy husband, and he knew he wanted to learn from his mistakes. To do better for his son, for Emily and for himself. For the family they were going to build together. 

Emily stares at him, her eyes fixed on his. Her usual concerns that he’d done this all with someone else before, her deep-seated fears that he had once promised Haley forever that she’d never say out loud because she didn’t want to upset him, are nowhere to be found. Only her love for him, and her unending trust in him, spread through her chest, and she laughs, nodding before she leans her forehead against his.

“Ok.” 

Aaron pulls back to look at her and he cups her cheek, “Ok?” 

She nods, “Yeah, I’ll throw my pills away and we’ll…we’ll see what happens.” He beams at her, pulling her in for a kiss that she briefly gets lost in, before she chuckles against his lips, pulling back and pressing her hand into his chest. “Not so fast, honey. I’m off limits for a few days,” she grimaces as her stomach cramps, “I feel like shit.” 

Aaron leans in and kisses her forehead before he stands up, “I’ll go get your heating pad and some painkillers.” 

“And some chocolate?” She asks, smiling coyly at him, and he shakes his head. 

“Yes, sweetheart. And some chocolate,” he replies as he walks towards the kitchen. 

“You’re the best, I love you,” she says as she curls up on the couch, waiting for him to come back. She looks at the photo on the coffee table, one taken at Jack’s fourth birthday party only a few weeks prior, and she smiles. Jack is in the middle, smiling at the sight of the cake in front of him, and he has Aaron and Emily on one side of him and Haley on the other, all smiling widely too. The memory makes her smile, and it reminds her of how far they’ve all already come. 

“I love you too,” he replies, and it makes her smile, love, and the promise of what was to come, warming her from the inside out. 

-x-

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[dystini]

Indycar Driver Lore

Indycar Driver Lore Masterlist

George Dario Marino Franchitti

Birthdate: May 19, 1973 Hometown: Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland Residence: Scotland Height/Weight: 5′ 9″/172lbs

Rookie Year: 1997 (CART)

Team: Ganassi (advisor)

Follow him on: Instagram Twitter

Career Stats

CART 1997 Hogan Racing - 22nd Overall 1998 Team Green - 3rd Overall 1999 Team Green - 2nd Overall (lost the title on a tiebreaker) 2000 Team Green - 13th Overall 2001 Team Green - 7th Overall 2002 Team Green - 4th Overall

Indycar 2002 Team Green (Indy 500 only) - 44th Overall 2003 3 races with Andretti Green Racing - 25th Overall 2004 Andretti Green Racing - 6th Overall 2005 Andretti Green Racing - 4th Overall 2006 Andretti Green Racing - 8th Overall 2007 Andretti Green Racing - 1st Overall 2008 Chip Ganassi Racing (Only competed in an exhibition race) 2009 Chip Ganassi Racing - 1st Overall 2010 Chip Ganassi Racing - 1st Overall 2011 Chip Ganassi Racing - 1st Overall 2012 Chip Ganassi Racing - 7th Overall 2013 Chip Ganassi Racing - 10th Overall

NASCAR

Sprint Cup 2008 Chip Ganassi Racing - 49th Overall (partial season)

Nationwide Series 2007 Chip Ganassi Racing - 95th Overall (partial season) 2008 Chip Ganassi Racing - 35th Overall (partial season)

appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2014

is lefthanded

currently serves as advisor/diver coach for Chip Ganassi Racing

started go-kart racing at age 10

won more than 100 races and 20 Scottish, British and World karting titles

raced in British F3 in 1994

made a cameo appearance as a racing driver in the 2001 film Driven

appeared on the US television shows Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson three times each in the late 2000s and early 2010s

voiced a Scottish news anchor and a male tourist in the 2013 animated film Turbo, for which he provided technical consultation

served as a television co-commentator and driver pundit on Formula E's world feed since its inaugural season in 2014

is a member of the "Brat Pack", an international group of CART drivers composed of Dario, Tony Kanaan, Greg Moore and Max Papis, who shared a desire for enjoyment, attending all-night parties, discussing life and staying in close contact with one another

Prior to the 2000 CART season, Franchitti was hospitalised after a crash during pre-season testing at Homestead–Miami Speedway; part of the car's suspension hit his head, and he sustained displaced fractures in his left hip and pelvis, and multiple minor brain contusions

sustained an anterior stable compression fracture of the lumbar vertebrae in an motorbike accident during a trip to West Lothian in April, 2003

requiring season-ending keyhole surgery to strengthen his back, missing the second half of the 2003 season

had a minor left-ankle fracture in 2008, after a crash in a NASCAR Nationwide race

Before the season-ending 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Franchitti led Will Power in the championship standings by 18 points. The race was abandoned following a 15-car accident on the 11th lap that involved Power and caused Wheldon's death, meaning Franchitti won his fourth championship win; his third in succession.

suffered a concussion and two spinal fractures, plus a fractured right ankle in the second to last race of the 2013 season

retired from competitive driving in 2013 after doctors advised him his most recent injuries and those from previous accidents put him at risk of permanent paralysis and brain damage in the event of another major crash

Iconic/memorable moments

Shopping at Target with Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon IndyCar: Scott Dixon, "We got hosed again" by Will Power IndyCar Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon Interview (part 2) RACER: Franchitti, Kanaan, Dixon Prank 20yr old Teammate Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, part 1 Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, part 2 3 motorsport legends compete at Goodwood Revival! | Goodwood Revival Special IndyCar drivers Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti robbed at Indy Taco Bell RACER: Dario Franchitti ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Thank You Dario Dario Franchitti: A hacksaw to Tony Kanaan’s bike Dario Franchitti: People think I have OCD Dario Franchitti: Royal Automobile Club Talk Show in association with Motor Sport Dario Franchitti: Regrets NASCAR move? Behind the Bricks: Dario Franchitti, Part 1 Behind the Bricks: Dario Franchitti Part 2 Dario Franchitti: Five weeks of my memory lost in crash Dario Franchitti: Devastated by Dan Wheldon's death Dan Wheldon Memorial Service, Part 3

Dario Franchitti Press Conference 11 in 11 with Dario Franchitti Dario Franchitti gets pied 2012 Indianapolis 500 Finish - Dario Franchitti Wins (Interviews Included) RACER: Robin Miller Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan IMS Tire Test 2013 Dario Franchitti Press Conference Drivers React to Wheldon's Death Road to the Championship: Close Competition 2011 Indycar Toronto - Will Power and Dario Franchitti controversial incident Dario Franchitti is 2010 Champion Dario Franchitti Indy Means Everything Concussions in Racing: A Case Study - Dario Franchitti & Dr. Stephen Olvey Dario Franchitti: Garage full of Ferraris, Porsches Dario Franchitti: Lack of recognition in Europe is disgraceful Dinner with Racers Episode 59: Dario Franchitti Greg Moore At 20, with Dario Franchitti, Paul Tracy, Max Papis, Mike Zizzo, and Marshall Pruett. Dario Franchitti - McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner 1992 Remembering Greg Moore: Champ Car’s Brat Pack having the time of their lives Dario and Greg Moore and Seibkins in Elkhart Lake

Dario Franchitti book Romance of Racing (out of print, can be found used, although not cheaply. Try your library)

The "Brat Pack" Max Papis, Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Greg Moore

Dario is now a senior member of the paddock, an advisor for Ganassi and coach, often more like a father/uncle figure, to their new young drivers. But in his youth in the 1990’s he was a wild child, a member of Cart’s “Brat Pack”, prone to staying up all night partying yet still winning races. He almost won the championship in 1999 but lost in the finale only to be told after the race that his best friend, and fellow member of the “Brat Pack”, Greg Moore had died.

He made the switch to IRL which became Indycar, in 2003, although injuries and recovering from those injuries kept him out of the car most of that year. He recovered and then began the epic prank era at Andretti Green races with his teammates on the way to his first Indy 500 win and his first Indycar championship in 2007. He decided to give NASCAR a try in 2008.

(We don’t talk about the NASCAR year)

He came back at Ganassi in 2009 and proceeded to win three championships in a row (and two more Indy 500s) while becoming the elder statesman of the series. But all of this success was not without sorrow and near disaster. The loss of Dan Wheldon hit him hard. He and his former teammate were still close friends. Another crash and the subsequent injures forced him into retirement in late 2013

He is a prime example of why we don't leave decisions on their fitness to race up to the drivers anymore, suffering more than his fair share of injuries in his career (see list above) and continuing to race when he definitely should not have.. One might call it a lack of survival instinct, which to be honest, most drivers lack, but Dario lacks it to an alarming degree. He is at risk of permanent paralysis and brain damage in the event of another major crash, yet still races vintage/historic cars on occasion, particularly at Goodwood.

I would be remiss not to mention his Scottish accent, thick dark hair that is silvering at the temples and still fit physique. He’s lost none of the charm of his youth and perhaps gained more now at the age of 50.

Fanfic Lore

Paired/grouped with the “Brat Pack” Originally comprised of Dario, Tony Kanaan, Greg Moore and Max Papis. Various later iterations included Scott Dixon, Bryan Herta, Dan Wheldon and sometimes Marco Andretti.

paired with Will Power during the height of their rivalry though they’ve became very good friends since Dario was forced to retire

sometimes used as supportive dad figure for younger drivers (sometimes as more of a “Daddy”)

Dario and TK

More Dario and TK

Even more Dario and TK

Brat Pack

Dario and Dixon

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Persona 3 Problems: Maiko Birthday Shenanigans!

Huhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Interesting things going on with Maiko in the fandom. Won't say what but let's just say......jail to that person (and *saves screenshot* At least FeMC fans have ammo to fire back TT0TT)

BUT besides that......welllllll. That post made me realize something. Atlus is inconsistent about her age!

Maybe that's why I thought Maiko was A LOT closer to Ken's age than I originally thought, but the game (iirc OG/FES/3P) actually says she's a 2nd grader. I DO remember P3P stating that, because that's the version I usually play (SHOCKER! in my defense half of it is because it's usually on the go, and the other half is I like seeing differences between the male/female sides....it's also faster). Anyway, it was also the first thing I checked when I did a playthrough, so I'm fairly certain.

Buuuuut according to the wiki (fandom one, I know I know, issues, I'll see what I can do about updating it, but I have to bring ammo/screenshots u_u), she's a Libra (ok so far so good, also Nanako is a Libra, ironically, also Nanako is in 1st grade iirc), and she's.....9. HuH? Wut?

Apparently P3P will list her as 9 years old. Specifically on the TV missing person announcement..... Which I do vaguely recall them mentioning her on the TV, I don't remember the age they mentioned. ;w; So I'll need to double check that.

Anyway this is a problem, because it doesn't make sense/add up, and contradicts the line about being a 2nd grader (fun fact: if you clicked the link above, Maiko is born the same year as Futaba, but Futaba should be a year ahead of her....tho iirc P5S states Futaba's been held back a year? So now they are ironically in the same grade? TT0TT). 1st graders in Japan are generally 6->7, and 2nd graders are 7->8, 3rd 8->9, 4th 9->10, 5th 10->11 and so on! So Maiko can't be a 2nd grader and 9 unless she was held back....which the OG text doesn't indicate. But if she WAS 9, she'd be either a 3rd or 4th grader (Ken is 5th grade). I'd have to check, but I coulda sworn she was much smaller than Ken (who would only be a grade or 2 above her).

Fun fact she goes missing (assuming the websites are correct) around 10/21. I'd have to look at the timing of the news broadcast, but that would mean she we missing 1) a little while after her birthday (between a few weeks to literally yesterday) , 2) it was on her birthday (;w;), 3) it was the day before her birthday (;w;)

Because of that ONE day, it's hard to tell if it's saying she JUST turned 9, or is actually about to turn 10.

Her birthday, if the 2nd grader thing is correct (along with the Libra thing), she'd be turning 8 in 2009. So 2009-8=2001! So her birthday should be c. September 23-October 22, 2001 (she'd be 14->15 in P5 but 15 in P5S. Futaba for ref turned 15 before P5 started and turned 16 near the end of P5, and is 16 in P5S)

If the 3rd grade theory is correct, the the birthday would be: c. September 23-October 22, 2000 (this would put her in the same year as Futaba, assuming Futaba didn't drop out originally)

If the 4th grade theory is correct (assuming she hadn't had her birthday): September 23-October 22, 1999 (this would put her in the same year as P5MC/Anne/Ryu/Yusuke, for reference on Ken, Ken is in the same grade as Goro/Mako/Haru).

The fandom Wiki seems to be going for the latter two (if you read the hovered note).

Personally? I think P3P just.......made a mistake (people like the bring up "Atlus can't math" a lot esp with that one thing with P4, so it's not that far fetched). That OR (which I think is funnier and more tragic TT0TT). Her parents reported her age wrong. ajskdflj;f

I mean, they are in the middle of (or just finished their) divorce. They are both a taaaaaad bit neglectful since they don't realize Maiko's been hanging out with a high schooler for so long (as well as planning to run away). So I wouldn't be surprised if they fucked up the reporting lkajfdsljfaka So it might not be a Persona 3 (Portable) Problem, but a .....Persona Parent problem! ;D

ANYWAY, this is something I wanna keep an eye out when I replay the P3 games (along side when I'm playing P3R). So expect a sequel post.

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

#Onthisday: Sept 19th, 2009

Title: I'M A GRAN TURISMO EXPERT!

I'M CELEBRATING 9 YEARS OF PLAYING GRAN TURSIMO SERIES! FROM GRAN TURISMO 1 TO GRAN TURISMO 2 AND NOW I'M PLAYING GRAN TURISMO 3 A-SPEC AND GRAN TURISMO 4 IN 2009! 🟦🟥🏁🚘😁

Also, I made a tiny brain fart of sorts, as my official said "I'm a Gran Turismo Expert" (and also (sometimes) "MASTER" in my OG description), but I'm nothing more than my own fantasy. Because I only do dirty tricks, as well as trying so hard to get gold per GT installments (specifically "Licenses"), only I get "Bronze". But hey, I learned something everyday, and with my recent "Gran Turismo 7" (for PS4) in my hands, I could finally back on the track while doing hardcore courses to get a sweet drip gold! Just look what happened to my GT Sport experience, right? 😊🟦🟥🏁🚘

BTW: I missed out Gran Turismo 5 & 6 on the PS3, since we don't owned that aforementioned Sony console. On the plus side, I also played GT PSP on the actual portable and on my PC emulator.

MuruKir (Kirby OC) - created by ME! Gran Turismo 4 - Gran Turismo series © SIE, PlayStation Studios, Polyphony Digital

[youreobsessedwithtoomanyfandoms]

Don't Let Me Go (Part 1)

Words: 2664

Warnings: language, talk of alcohol/alcohol consumption, regret, Leon being a dick but for a kinda good reason, maybe ooc characters and probably bad writing

Resident Evil Masterlist Main Masterlist Join My Taglist

This also was originally written for my OC Tiffany (Whose info on her/original story will eventually be available on this account @imnotobsessedwfictionalchracters )

Leon and Hunnigan are PROBABLY OOC (as I suck at not being able to keep them from being OOC)

Actually find it fucking insane how long this thing is all together

This is it in multi-part form: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

This is it in one part form

Reader and Leon are partners with their job (have been since 2004/2005) and is insinuated to be around the same height as Leon

Not Proof-read and I think it can be seen every once and a while (I know you can see where my brain couldn't function how to write the scene so I just guessed and hoped for the best)

Can be read as its own story or as a sequel to You’re About To Lose The Best Damn Thing You’ve Ever Had

Losely has themes from the songs Never Say Never by The Fray, No Surprises by Radiohead, Afterglow by Taylor Swift, and Look After You by The Fray

Anywho, enjoy

Love Z <3

January 21st of 2009

Y/N sat in front of the computer with Hunnigan as they went over the assignment before she was supposed to leave in 2 hours. Usually, she would be sitting with Leon on Hunnigan’s other side, but this wasn’t a usual case. They were working with a mix of BSAA Agents and STRATCOM agents. 3 of each, minus Y/N who was the leader of it. So in all, it was a team of 7. Overkill in her eyes. But that wasn’t her job. Her job was to get the assignment done and come back alive. 

The only reason the two organizations were forced to work together was because they both had interest in this case and decided that they needed to use both intels for it to work. Over in the Rockies in Northern Canada, parts where there were little inhabitants, people had gone missing before showing up with remnants of a strand of the T-Virus in them. BSAA had found the base back 2 weeks ago while STRATCOM had been keeping a close eye on Dr. Taylor Lewis. Someone who used to have ties with Umbrella in their Europe branch.

So when it was proposed that the two organizations team up, everyone was skeptical. Truly, the only people in the BSAA that got along with them at STRATCOM was Chris. Of course, she was sure that Jill did, but she died back 2 and a halfish years ago. But eventually they all agreed and started working on the team. 3 of the BSAA best people (minus Chris because he was already on an assignment) and 3 of STRATCOMs best (minus Leon because...well she didn’t know why he wasn’t), plus Y/N as the leader. BSAA wasn’t happy that they weren’t leading it and she knew they only tolerated it since it was the President's order for her to be the lead. She wasn’t sure how to feel about the new guy. He wasn’t Graham, the one she had grown accustomed to the past 4ish years. Hell, she never could remember his name, she just knew that Benford was the Vice and he was one of Leon’s friends.

Leon.

She hadn’t seen him much since the start of the year. Since the...break up. And she hadn’t even been avoiding him this time. It just was as if he was never in the office the past 20 days. Not that she had been keeping count! Because she definitely hadn’t been! She just did the math in her head at the moment.

“So, we have some time to spare, want to tell me why Leon sent in a new partner request? You finally ran him away?”

Y/N sighed and flicked a random small balled up piece of paper off the desk. “I don’t even know what happened. Everything was good one second then the next it just...” She trailed off, unsure as to what to say.

“Wasn’t?”

She nodded at Hunnigan’s word. “Yeah. I don’t know what happened.”

“Did someone find out?”

“Find what out?” She looked at the FOS Agent, who gave her a ‘don’t-lie-to-me’ look and Y/N sighed again. “I genuinely don’t know. We were training one day, and I had knocked him down, so he had pulled me with him, which led to us making out. But we were the only ones in the training room and even if someone did walk in, we were hidden by some equipment. The only thing that would have been heard would be our kissing. But that could be any two agents! So I don’t know why it would have knocked him so out of sorts!”

“Cameras?”

“That one corner that isn’t covered by them is where we were. We always trained in the corner.”

“That could be it then. Someone put two and two together and threatened to expose it.”

The slightly younger girl groaned and laid her head on the desk in front of her. “Why couldn’t he have told me? It’s not like I would have freaked! Him doing what he did caused more damage anyways.” She sat back up and ran a hand through her hair, “Where the hell has he been anyways? Haven't seen him since he broke it off and requested a new partner.”

“His own mission. One that I actually can’t tell you about, unfortunately since it’s a gray area on you two being partners.”

“Is he at least okay? Concerning that he’s been gone so long.”

“He called me yesterday saying everything was fine, but he still wasn’t sure when he would return. But it could be a concern as he mentioned he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to call again. He’d try to ping a location, but if we get nothing, wait a week before extraction.”

“Back to the partner comment you made, I just don’t get why he broke up with me and requested a new partner. All he had to do was one and I would have been just fine.” Y/N laid her head in her hand, “I honestly just wish there was a way that we could’ve stayed together and be partners. That would be my ideal situation.”

“Hm, I think, the keyword really is think, there might be a loophole.”

Y/N perked up at that, “Whaddya mean?”

“I think there’s some rule that says you can if you meet certain requirements. I can always look for you, it’ll give me something else to do than make sure my two favorite humans don’t die on different missions.”

Y/N smiled, “If you wanna, I’m fine either way. Leon will do what Leon wants to do and I won’t stop him.”

“Whatever you say.” Hunnigan glanced at the clock on her computer before continuing, “Better let you get ready. Don’t want to keep the BSAA guys waiting.”

Y/N laughed as she stood, “What can they do? Mission won’t start without me there.”

Hunnigan gave her a smile, “I’ll look that up for you and update you on what I find. Don’t die before I get you an answer.”

Y/N smiled, “No promises darling.”

--------

February 18th of 2009

Y/N wrapped the jacket closer around her and made sure the mask was tucked in so she wouldn’t freeze her face. Her shotgun was drawn as she looked out the scope, still no heat signatures could be found. They had been there for 4 weeks now and still nothing.

But, what had happened in those four weeks since the mission had started, 3 of the men had died. One of her own and two from BSAA. She felt bad about the last BSAA kid because even though he was one of the best they had available, he was a rookie. She believed he had only been there for a year, a year and a half tops. So he was the only one out there for the BSAA and had little experience. He was just an excellent fucking shot and took directions well (literally what his file said). And she had found it to be true. Even in the snow, he could find the target and shoot them down. 

He was the only reason they hadn’t all died that night.

Since they had gotten there, more and more sunlight was available, but it still didn’t last half a day. And while temperatures were warming up, they still were freezing their asses off. Plus, it didn’t help that Hunnigan had just warned them a snow storm was possibly on its way in. 

2 weeks in, she was happy that they were almost done with their trek through the mountain. She was really starting to hate those snow-mobiles. And then around 3 days later, when they came into contact with their agent that had been giving the intel, the remaining 5 members of the team began the stake out to find where the Doctor was and how the people were being infected. But now here they were, around 10 days later and still nothing. No sight of Lewis or of any habitants of the small village that if she was to be honest, she had no clue existed before this. 

That was, until she moved her scope to face more towards the West. She adjusted the sight and zoomed in where she thought that she saw movement. And when she was able to focus her sight, she saw that there was a group of bodies standing in one of the buildings. She switched over to night vision and saw that they were just barely too far off for her to make out who it was. She carefully snuck closer, jumping to the top of the abandoned building by her. 

She looked again and was able to see that it was Lewis with 2 other people. She didn’t recognize either of them, but one of them looked eerily familiar. But she was sure whoever the two were, they had been gathering the people to be injected with the virus. 

She grabbed her walkie from her side pocket and pressed the button to call for her team. “Dream Team, come in this is Condor 2. Over.” Dream Team was something that one of the BSAA Agents had suggested for them to call themselves rather than the boring Snow Squad that they had originally been assigned. And while she was technically Flake 1, she was used to always being referred to as Condor 2, so she asked for when it was just to them or to Hunnigan, say Condor 2. Otherwise she was sure that she and Hunnigan would get thrown off.

“This is Flake 2. I have the rest of the team with me. What do you need? Over.”

“Lewis and two men are in a building three down from my location. A house down from the original spot. I see them talking, but no one else is there. Over.”

“What do you want us to do? Over.”

“Start the plan into motion. I’ll follow and see where Lewis and her men head. Do nothing until I say so, unless you get under attack. Understand? Over.”

“Is that a direct order, Flake 1? Over.”

She sighed, Stacey hated this. She knew he did. Hated that someone who had been there for less time than him was the leader. He was the only one who refused to call her Condor 2 and kept Flake 1 and made sure everyone went by their actual callsign and not the one that they wanted.  “Yes, Flake 2. It is. Now do you all understand? Over.” She heard a range of everyone, including Stacey, say they understood. “Good. I’m contacting HQ. This is Condor 2 over and out.”

She reclipped the talkie and grabbed the other one that was specific for Hunnigan. She looked back in the scope and saw that Lewis and the 2 men were exiting the building. She quickly pulled the gun away to follow behind them. When Hunnigan answered, she heard the lady’s voice in her ear piece.

“This is Hunnigan, Condor 1 is here with me.”

Y/N internally groaned. Why was Leon there? Was he even allowed to be? So many questions ran through her head, but she didn’t ask them. She just nodded and ran towards the direction she saw them heading. “Fine. Lewis has been found. I’m following behind on foot. The rest of what remains of the team are getting ready for my word to follow. And--fuck.”

She ended the call before Hunnigan could say anything and made sure Hunnigan couldn’t immediately call back after she had turned a corner to see a fairly large group of military looking people. She turned back and jumped into the house that had an opened window. She snuck over to another before she looked out the window to try and count how many were there. But she was stopped before she finished when someone looked in. She quickly slipped down, trying desperately not to be seen. 

And she was sure she got away with it. That was, until her walkie went off and the BSAA kid could be heard practically yelling through it. And when she heard the words he was saying, the blood that was barely not cold already, went frozen in her body.

The kid was freaking and she could hear the guns in the background. Apparently Lewis and the men knew they were there. They knew she was watching. It had been a trap to get her away. She wondered how it was possible, until it registered to her that it was the electronics. And then she realized who the other guy was. She had dealt with him a few months ago with Leon. The two had been separated and had to pray that they would make it back to the other without any guidance from anyone as to where to go because the man could track any electronic waves.

But unfortunately for her, the man outside the window heard it too and had slammed it in. She gave them no chance and immediately grabbed her gun and shot them. Thankfully she was able to get a headshot, even with him moving and her shaking, gloved hand. But it only gave her enough time to disconnect her electronics and toss everything but the small remote that gave her the ability to ping a quick location. She ran up the stairs, trying to find an alternate way out, but realized she was blocked in. her chest tightened as she realized how badly this could end for her.

She grabbed her submachine gun and aimed it at the stairs, getting ready for anyone who was going to come up. She let out a shaky breath as she heard the door being broken down and the sound of someone running up the stairs. She never had been so thankful that she never fucking used these fuckers so she was loaded on bullets for it as it felt for each guy she killed, double the amount came back. 

And unfortunately, she was so focused on the stairs, she hadn’t noticed the sound of someone taking apart the roof and jumping down. Her mind had barely registered the sharp pain in her neck before she was surprised when they grabbed her from the back and her mind just blanked. Forgot how to fight back, forgetting almost every piece of training she had. She didn’t know what to do and wasn’t used to this. Whenever her fight or fright kicked in, it was always fight. She never got scared. But for some reason, she did this time.

As they pulled her to the ground, her body felt incapable of fighting back. As if someone had left her out in the freezing cold with not enough clothes. She wasn’t able to move or even scream when she felt the knife stab into the top of her sternum and start to drag down. The man on top of her only stopped when the sound of a whistle was heard through the air. It was as if the second that went off, every man and woman there were called to go somewhere else. The knife was pulled from her as she walked away and she slowly regained the feeling in her body.

But as she regained that feeling, she felt how deep the knife had gone. She felt the blood falling. She slowly moved to grab the bandages from her side pocket. They weren’t much but she knew it was all that she had. She grabbed it and tried to remove her clothing, not caring that her entire body was freezing from the temperature outside. She didn’t care that her bandaging was horribly done and that it wouldn’t do much.

All that she did was grab her clothes and quickly layer them back on. All she did was wobbly get up and leave the scene. Trying to get further and find out where all those people had gone. And she prayed that it wasn’t fucking bingo.