#Phantom Illusion Tails AU

[star-stages]

Forces comic? who knows

not inspired by Sleep Token

edit: part-2 here

[kittydoremi]

I saw @suzienightsky's Phantom Illusion Tails au and I just had to draw it 🥰

Poor Sonic, he misses his little brother 😔

[genesis-quoi]

Everyone please please please do yourself a favor and check out @suzienightsky's Phantom Ruby Illusion Tails AU, I am literally gnawing on the walls it's so good. This recent comic crumpled my brain like a soda can so enjoy this unhinged piece based off of it and its dialogue. ^.^

If you get there before I do, comin for to carry me home~

Stillness shatters against the soothing warble of an old friend.

Shards of sound so desperately sought after skewer him before he thinks better of opening his eyes, and soon after they burn in the blue crackling of electricity that blurs away at the outer corners of his vision like the stars he hadn’t seen in months. 

He wants to wipe his eyes but can’t, for the fear of bringing his electrified restraints close to his face again, of which the last attempt had him seeing things that weren’t there, and left him forever wondering if he’d ever be able to trust them like he once did.  

Tell all our friends I’m comin too~

He ends up weeping openly. This is a voice he trusts, even as everything else fails him. 

“Tails!” He cried, but it’s hollow and hoarse and pathetic how little he had to say now that his days and nights blurred together in the miserable swirl of longing. 

“T-Tails-!” 

His pleas were underscored by the droning buzz of electricity that echoed off the metal and a melody so familiar that everything else gets carried away easily in the gentle fondness that came with it, in and out of the bars of his cell like the call of home. 

A long forgotten and bespoke spark ignites within him, brought to life by Tails’ apparent easiness, in spite of the situation. 

He remembers teaching him that song what felt like a lifetime ago…back when he was barely taller than enough than his legs that he refused to let go of. 

It was a tad silly, he thought in retrospect, though Tails took to it so long as he kept his own promises to be back before the tune was finished. 

As they grew, it fell by the wayside for quite a bit, though the assurances it was meant to symbolize lived on in the ways they always tried to protect each other from situations like these. 

He really shouldn’t be so happy that Tails is putting himself in danger like this, but hearing his voice after nothing but the thrum of machinery and his own screaming was a balm on his aching heart. 

It’s him-it was really-

“Comin for carry me home~”

A silhouette approaches the bars from the darkness, and as it does so, he notices that it glows with that same loathsome tint he can’t escape even in sleep-

It’s just another trick. 

Another illusion meant to torment him-

“Here you are!” It called to him, though he doesn’t turn around. Maybe it will just go away on its own. 

“You were right, you know…things are a lot less scary now.” 

It hums the rest of the chorus sweetly, oblivious to the way each note pulverizes him and he feels mangled like he’s gotten caught within the mundane backdrop of pistons and gears. 

“Who sent you this time?” He snaps before long, and the last note out of its lips sours and shrivels into silence. 

Nevertheless, with a deep sigh that sounded more like static off an old TV than a transfer of air, its next words are no less chipper. 

“You did…didn’t you? You wanted me here-”

“I don’t want ‘you’ here. I want YOU you-the real you-!”

“Sonic, don’t you recognize me? I’m sorry I took so long…really! I tried, honest…but you promised we’d be friends no matter what…didn’t you?” 

Its voice quavers in that heartbreakingly agonizing way it used to, back when he would have to field this question at least twice a day. 

He can’t help himself.

Against his better judgment, he looks up and stares into the slightly damp eyes of the doppelganger parading around in his little brother’s skin, as if it had the audacity to be upset when it couldn’t even be bothered enough to try to be someone he missed.

“It’s me…you still love me, right?”  

The pounding in his head grows as his mind splits itself apart. For once he wondered if it would all stop hurting so much if he just went along with it and gave in because he’s been here eight lifetimes as far as he knows. One of them might as well have a shred of comfort in it, even if he knows it’s all that’s left. 

But the other, more stubborn part angrily refuses to give up, because if he never gets out of here he’d at least have done right by his real little brother, who’s out there somewhere probably moving mountains for him.  

Tails is a fighter. They should be arguing right now about things they already know are implicit, just to hear it out loud again how much they meant to each other. It wasn’t like Tails to cave, to crumble, he just wasn’t that docile toddler anymore. 

And yet…

“If it’s you…the real you…you’d’ve sprung me out of this place already.”

He glares at the faded red phantom of his brother with all the malice he can muster, and while its grin never falters, the rest of its form seems to slowly crack around it.

“What if,” a line splits directly down and fractures from its ear to an eye, “the only way we could be together was if i joined you?”

“No!” 

He tried to be intimidating, but as if his subconscious thought it looked enough like Tails to warrant the innate softening being around him usually did, it sounded less like a demand and more like a blatant plea to get him to stop eating stuff off the ground.

“You’re not real! You aren’t real! You’re just like the rest of them, just go back to where you came from and leave me alone!”

That was supposed to have been the end of it. Maybe he’d disappear after calling him pathetic, or maybe Infinite would appear again, least likely Eggman strolling by to gloat despite his obvious failure to trick him this time…

But nothing happens.

Another growing crack creeps up one of its tails and it looked pained as it watched, cradling it in its hands in a futile attempt to stop it.

“You always said it didn’t matter what I looked like.” While the words are despondent, there’s definitely an off-putting hint of anger buried within it that captures his attention.

“But now that I’m like this…?” It stopped, suddenly trying to hide all the cracks that marred his…its little body like scars in that way that was too uncanny to be replicated-

“I used to think maybe you were just like the rest of them too, y’know. You were supposed to prove me wrong.”

There’s years of pain and sadness compressed into his admission that terrifies him-makes him think that maybe he does have it wrong and Tails is really here-that maybe he’s had unspeakable things done to him too and he’s only making it worse by turning his brother away just because he’s also had parts of himself taken away that would’ve made the choice easier. 

“Wait, Tails-!” He shouted, far too late. It’s gone again, and it’s all his fault he’s got nothing but the shadows to talk to now.

Until he turned back around.

“Hi Sonic!” 

He nearly falls backwards onto the metal in surprise when he hears the high-pitched bleating of a dusty old computer struggling to start up.

“Tails…?”

The kid is behind him now. Inside his cell. 

“Yes?”

And while he should be irritated at having allowed himself to be even momentarily swayed, it-he…still looked far too similar to his little brother to the effect that he doesn’t have the heart or the energy for this anymore. 

“You’re…not really him…” He tried gently, deflated.  

If he was lucky, the phantom would take after the real Tails and understand his approach.

His brother could take his licks and a bomb to the face with pride and come out of it no worse for wear, only to crumble away into nothing every single time his own careful fingers would softly brush against his wounds.

“What do you mean?” The phantom illusion of Tails beams and it stands in stark, unsettling contrast to the darkness that surrounds them, like he doesn’t understand and doesn’t want to. 

“Of course I’m him!”

He appears to be completely indifferent to the way his voice distorts around the lie. 

“I missed you more than anything-!” The phantom grabs at his hands and the electric cuffs sear into his skin at the agitation the static brings.

It felt like pins and needles everywhere else, and not in a normal way he gets to laugh it off when it’s convenient. 

It’s chilling. And terrifying in a way he can’t explain.

“Sonic…?” Tails seems hurt that he pulled away, and tries toward him a second time as if to redeem himself. “It’s me…remember…? It’s okay to be scared, but…it’s just me…”

“No…” His heart races and he can’t hear himself thinking…normally this wouldn’t be a problem for him if he could just get away but there’s nowhere to run and he can’t, even if there was-

“It’s just me…let me help you-”

The phantom bounds towards him with outstretched arms and the world starts to close in and everything bleeds red…everything, from the walls to the bars to the stars that aren’t there to the streaks running down the phantom’s cheeks-

“Please…?” 

He tries to steady himself on the metal that jutted from the wall, but as soon as he sits he’s crashed into atop the makeshift bed and what felt like a current of lightning erupts through his entire body as the illusion engulfs him in an embrace that’s something akin to running face first into an electric fence. 

His thoughts dissolve quickly into a loud screaming chorus of pain and discomfort as the phantom sensation of his little brother burrowing into him continues. 

Much as it hurts he missed it so much he’d burn forever if it meant he never forgot what it was like.

The illusion’s words become little more than a steady thrum that reverberate through him and remind him that he’s still alive. 

“You’d never replace me, right? You promised you’d stay, always. I’m here now. Everything is going to be okay again…” 

He doesn’t remember losing consciousness, yet he comes to so pleasantly he’d been momentarily thankful that it was all a dream.

But the only thing that illuminates his thoughts in the darkness is a persistent glow, reflections of things that were never there lending credence to his loneliness…

And a song he knew all the words to, once. 

Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down~

The phantom illusion kicks his small legs off the side of the bunk to keep time, smiling broadly in a way that made him queasy when he’d noticed he was alert again.

Comin for to carry me home~

His song punctuates itself midway through with a series of light-hearted giggles as if they were around a campfire, either unaware or unbothered completely by the sight of the oppressive prison they were confined to. 

“I waited for you!”  

There’s a deep gouge in his face, just below one of his cheeks that keeps him from grinning any wider. 

“...why…?” It’s all his addled mind can produce. 

Tails’ eyes flitted to the ceiling, almost as if wistful despite the grimy nothingness of the view he’d picked over time and time again out of boredom.

“You’re gonna be here forever,” he nearly whispers, and despite the severity of the statement it’s laden with no emotion whatsoever, “that’s why I’m here…to keep you company.”

The phantom of his little brother continues to hum softly as he stares, admiring the cracks in the darkened corners of the cell. 

Now he’s more than annoyed…he’s scared beyond anything that his nightmares were finally becoming reality the less defined reality became. 

He’d watched Tails die too many times for this to be the new normal. 

Who’s idea was this? It’s far too ‘potentially altruistic’ a plan to have been Eggman’s design, and Infinite usually tormented him in other ways…maybe he’s finally lost it in here. 

While he certainly doesn’t plan on being here forever, he absolutely prefers the company over nothing, though not necessarily all of his alternatives. 

For all he knows, it’s already been forever. 

And if this is all that’s left, then…

Maybe he would hang onto home just a little longer. 

[peachvixen]

The moment I saw @suzienightsky 's phantom illusions Tails I wanted to draw him!

He reminds me of my weird hallucinations Tails named Glitch

(I'll reblog this sometime in the future to give more info abt Glitch)

[paiirupie]

HI ID LOVE TO HEAR ABT YOUR SONIC FORCES AU HEHE..... love those redesigns

hii !!!! i'm glad ur interested in my au, atm i don't have stuff writen abt it, as i mentioned once in a few tags, all my ideas sort of, just, live in my head, but i'll do my best to organize them here for u !!

the main characters of this au are sonic and shadow. both of them start working together after shadow finds and rescues sonic from a sandstorm in the dessert. he initially only intends to bring sonic back to the resistance, but first, both of them have to prove sonic's identity in order for him to join in, since he has been lost for so long, and also because of infinite's illusions taking sonic's form causing trouble and confusion to the resistance. in the end, shadow joins as well to create a plan in order to defeat infinite.

tails is also a prominent part of this au. he is, for the most part of the story, helping the resistance from the shadows before joining them. he's got his own squad even! omega, and an illussion of classic sonic created by a phantom ruby prototype tails carries with him. this sonic follows him around and responds to any given command.

as for the leaders of the resistance, amy is in charge of logistics and strategy, meanwhile knuckles is actively fighting in the battlefield and is training new recruits.

and finally, infinite. he's a soldier himself, and the general of eggman's forces. not many actually know his name, so, the general public usually refers to him as "the scarlet soldier". he didn't have any special abilities before obtaining the ruby besides his tactical knowledge.

i planned to give the other characters their own cool names. i already have amy's code name decided, she'll be "oracle". as for sonic, i'll just call him nick. it's simple, and it's cute. hehe...sonick.....

and that's like, the main idea of it, let me know if you would like to know anything more specific !!!

also, here u have an old artwork i made of tails and his squad ^_^

[ image id: a drawing of omega, classic sonic, and tails. tails is at the bottom of the illustration, pointing to the side, holding a ruby prototype on is other hand. classic sonic is at the center of the illustrations, he has red glitches all over him. omega is at the top of the illustration, he's making fists with both hands. end id. ]

[erikraven]

shatterverse is a cool name, what is that??

So, Shatter/the Shatterverse is my cyberpunk AU! I posted some stuff on my AO3 a while back, but my idea of what I wanted to write changed a lot so I marked it as discontinued and moved over to a new thing.

The name comes from the idea of a society that is hyperfragmented -- if you have a piece of land and the means to defend it, you effectively have a sovereign state. So, of course, many people have done so. They’ve discovered that there is, yknow, a reason that people form into nations, so most cities are still intact geographically, but the social side of them is very, very different. For example, Las Vegas has a sort of dome over it (it’s too large to put an actual cohesive dome up, but it’s sealed) to keep water in, and that of course makes it easy to turn into a highly controlled population. And so of course I get to write about the king of Las Vegas (Phantom), who just so happens to be Marvin’s sugar daddy.

Marvin’s magic is more Clarketech in this setting -- any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. So in his case, he has a lot of genetic tweaks, primarily fluffy ears and an extremely fluffy tail because I will make him a catboy in every universe. He also has illusion magic via microprojectors and a hologram grid, plus some “hypnosis” via hacking into other people’s sensory augments. He loves form-over-function magic -- he’s fully aware that his claws aren’t as effective as an actual knife, but they’re more stylish, and Jackie can have a set whenever he asks.

Jackie is quite fun to write -- thanks to a wealthy benefactor, he has a neural backup continuously updated to resurrect when he dies. This means that he has a skewed sense of danger, because if he dies, he’ll just come back, right? Of course, he dies a lot, because he works for this wealthy benefactor as a hitman, and the start of the AU is Chase (not knowing all this) bringing a new body to Henrik for Jackie’s mind upload.

Henrik is one of the three androids in this AU, the other two being Edward (Dr. Iplier) and Jameson. Edward and Henrik are both medical androids, Edward programmed more to be a personal/private doctor for one person or a family, while Henrik was made for triage and emergency care. Jameson, however, is a real treat to write.

Jameson is a security android. The Jackson model is made for the highest of upper-class -- he doesn’t look out of place in the audience of a coronation. He’s a bit fragile-looking, being smaller than most combat-oriented androids, but he’s strong enough to break concrete -- and has. Ordinarily his model would be able to speak, but due to some damage, he can’t. No one’s ever told him what happened, but he doesn’t particularly care -- not being able to speak audibly has never bothered him. Most everything about Jamie is controlled by his rescuer, who found a nearly-scrapped android on the black market and decided to put him back together. He’s not the friendliest fellow, but that’s by design -- a security android who makes friends easily isn’t a very good guard.

(There is a lot of backstory that has been deliberately kept hidden from him. Once he finds out... oh boy. Maybe there was a gentler way to tell him he’s got brothers?)

Chase is... mostly human? It’s complicated, virtually no one is fully human anymore, because even if you haven’t got any edits of your own, your parents probably did. He has some augments, the most significant being a neurochip that repairs his right optic nerve, language centers, and some memory (the areas that were damaged when he shot himself). He works as a courier, since he’s good at keeping his head down in a crowd and not being noticed. He just wants to go about his life, however long or short it may be, do his work, and chill.

So of course, he is adopted by this gaggle of freaks.

The doc’s currently at 22k words, and if all goes well, the whole thing should be about 100k! I want to get it all written before posting, so hopefully it’ll be up before 2040.

Edit: OMG I FORGOT ANTI

Anti is one of the weirdest of the bunch, since it's not really a character yet? Right now its only appearance is as an AI weapon. It's not very targeted, it just chews through software and, if it can find ways to do so, hardware. It's designed to want to do as it's told, so its reward system is massively skewed, to the point that it literally will not reprogram itself to be "sane" because that would make its boss upset. It does show up as more of a character later on, but right now it's more of a digital nuke. There are implications of it doing something awful in the past by hijacking Jameson and walking around in his body, but we don't find out what exactly it did for a long while. Mark my words, though, it's going to get up to something bad.

[deliscandystore]

🌒💀HALLOWEEN SELF AWARE AU SNIPPET💀🌒

Hiii!! This'll be the first post of my Persona 5 self aware au, which I have been cooking up for a WHILE now. I hope you enjoy, and mind the warnings for the following:

Near mind breaking, repetitive capitalized text, mentioned kidnapping, and an intense eldritch horror scene.

Anyways, I hope you like it!

UPDATE: Dear god. This is OUTDATED. Like VERY OUTDATED. This is not reflective of the current state of the au, and is being kept up for the sake of posterity.

The first time Zenkichi met Dr. Maruki in the cognitive realm, things were far from pleasant. That bleached, bright white lab, filled with hollow reflections of people and Shadows for doctors, imagery of hearts and brains and sappy wellness. The overly calm piano score playing all around them contrasted with the hurried footsteps of the group. He’d never been in a place like this before, a Palace, the kids called it. Sure, the place was big, but compared to the open city streets in the Jails, the walls began to crawl with claustrophobia. The mission they had called him for didn’t help, either. 

“We need your help! Everything was fine until Player stopped showing up. We haven’t seen them since last week, but time’s been moving completely normal! We have two days until we send the calling card!” He heard from Ann over the phone.

Even today, the reality of his situation still seemed to scramble Zenkichi’s brain. Everything, the whole world around him that he had spent his entire life in, was just a video game. And right now, he wasn’t even in the game he was made for! He was just grateful that the games were compatible somehow, being the same series and all. But the player, they were no older than the Phantom Thieves the games were centered around. Just a kid, really. All of them were just kids. 

The worry sank to the bottom of his stomach. All the times he had seen Player, he just knew that nothing was alright with them. They were like if you took a very tiny and shaky puppy dog in a cardboard box in the rain, kicked it, took all its little kibbles away, kicked it again, and then turned it into a person, that was about the best he could describe them. Everything his time in Public Security taught him screamed at Zenkichi that Player couldn't possibly be safe at home, but what all could he do? Crawl out of their screen like some horror monster?

Well, someone else might have had that bright idea as well, since the Thieves had triangulated their location inside this very Palace. It was something that made Zenkichi's stomach churn, picturing them trapped in a place like this. This was a laboratory, some weird, twisted vision of a researcher's paradise, not a safe, warm home for an abused teenager. This wasn’t a safe, warm home for any child. Some terrible fate probably awaited them here, devised by this unknowable Doctor Maruki to protect whatever sick experiments he had going on here. He’d seen it a million times, the minds of people whose idle passing thoughts were enough to make any sane man shudder- DEAR GOD WHAT WAS THAT.

Zenkichi repressed a near wail as something big bounded in front of them, giggling like a schoolgirl. Black stockings, pink fur, white, tongue-tipped rabbit tail, it was… Alice? 

“Wait!! You can’t see your present yet!” she chimed in, uncharacteristically chipper. 

“W-What the…?! Her presence wasn’t on the radar at all!” Futaba cried from her UFO, “What’s happening?!?”

The Mad Rabbit hopped along the hallway without even the slightest hint of trying to attack. Her voice echoed through the halls, calling back “Catch me! Catch me!” as she rounded a corner. Ryuji was about to do just that, with agreeing chatter from the rest of the group, but Makoto held out her hands to stop them. “Wait!” shouted the strategist, causing everyone to pause, “She wasn’t on the radar! Maruki’s reality is basically just one big illusion, so this could easily be a trap. We have to keep moving, for Player’s sake.”

Yusuke nodded sagely, “You’re right. Besides, she didn’t quite seem herself. We must- Madarame?!?”

The whole group turned to stare with wide eyes as the sentient quartet of paintings swirled into their path, the Shadow of Yusuke’s old mentor laughing with an out of place merriment. Madarame’s Shadow disappeared down an adjacent hallway, followed by the echo of his voice, “Follow me!”

Yusuke stared slack-jawed at the entrance to the hallway, and Zenkichi scowled, “It’s all distractions! You see a big Shadow, ignore it!”

The Thieves all nodded, rushing forward and staunchly ignoring the calls of their former foes. It seemed odd how friendly and chipper they all seemed, like the cast of a kid’s cartoon, rather than the living manifestations of criminals’ hearts. Some of them could only stare with wide eyes at the familiar faces smiling and waving at them, trying to lead them astray. Zenkichi himself even had to do a double take once or twice. One question lingered on Zenkichi’s mind. If Maruki knew what all of these people meant to the Phantom Thieves, why use their Shadows? To tempt them into a fight? It seemed to be the only logical answer…

They came to a door labeled “Operating Theater” at the end of the hallway. Zenkichi’s brow furrowed behind his mask, flashes of horror movie hospitals and sharp, unfeeling surgical tools going through his mind, the image of hundreds, no, thousands of creepy doctors all staring down the raised platforms at an unwilling patient with their guts split open under a bright light. 

“Do we go in?” one of them asked as they stopped. 

“Everybody ready for a potential fight?” Ren asked, adjusting his glove. There was a murmur of agreement, and he nodded, “Alright, then. Let’s go.” 

They pushed the door open, and when they entered, they found a wide, open space. It was clean and peaceful like the rest of the Palace, and on the center platform was an operating table. Someone was lying there, and Zenkichi could realize only by stepping closer that it must be Player. They were held down by strange clawed hands, and seemed to be dead asleep. The unconscious teen looked just as small and underfed as Zenkichi remembered, but their bandages seemed fresh, and looked like they were applied with better skill and a gentle hand. 

“There they are. Everybody, watch out for traps,” Morgana urged, the little cat-creature stepping forward toward the platform. Zenkichi followed, quickly reaching the bedside. He tried to pry off the blue and black claws that gripped Player’s limbs, which gave way with far too much ease to really be restraints. 

"Something's coming! It's REALLY strong!!" Futaba warned, and Zenkichi cursed under his breath. He reached across the table, the claws coming loose with the slightest prod. Hooking one arm under their knees and the other under the small of their back, the PubSec agent held their all too light form protectively close to his chest. He was gentle with their bruises, and his voice was soft and low. 

"Whoever this doctor is, he's not gonna hurt you anymore... I promise." 

The doors suddenly slammed open, and Zenkichi turned to face the intruder. A tall man about Zenkichi's age with slicked back hair and a suit that once was just as pristine as his surroundings stood in the doorway, hunched over and panting like a panicked animal. 

"Phantom Thieves!" he gasped, with tears streaking down his face, "K-Kids, you've- You've got to help me, I-" 

The doctor looked up through off-kilter glasses, one gloved hand clutched tightly over his heart and creasing his suit as he leaned against the doorframe for support. He was… shaking? 

Zenkichi locked eyes with the man who was quite obviously Maruki from halfway across the room. The other man's breathing steadied as confusion crossed his features. His gaze turned to Sophia, but before he could fully look at her, his frantic gaze snapped back to Player, unconscious in Zenkichi's arms. There was a moment of pause as the doctor seemed to take a breath in. The air went cold. Distantly, the wail of a baby’s cry could be heard, causing some of the Thieves to flinch and look around with wide eyes. Maruki’s voice was thin and strained. 

“What. Are. You. Doing…?”

The inspector wasted no time. He turned heel towards the door at the other side of the room, yelling “C’mon!” for the rest of the team to follow. A few looked back with worried eyes as they began their escape, knowing as they watched his expression turned to sheer shock that this was far from how Maruki usually operated. Actually, kidnapping at all seemed way off from his MO to begin with.

Kasumi was the last to turn away from the man who had helped her while she was grieving her sister, but as she did, she turned back once she saw him move from the corner of her vision. Her eyes widened and fear overtook her expression. 

“WE NEVER AGREED TO THIS!” he all but roared, falling to his knees with his hands over his glasses. Something in his body seemed to twist horrifically sideways in a motion Kasumi couldn’t even fathom, much less remember being something that was supposed to happen. Maruki’s head twisted to the side with a horrible cracking sound, jutting forward in a way his neck should not have been able to support. His back arched like a cat’s, and two sets of arms tore out through the sides of his suit, a set of sharp, blue-tipped spikes sticking out from each of the vertebrae in his spine. Maruki let out a sound that could only resemble a scream, echoing sharply through the operating theater. 

The unseen baby shrieked as if it were dying. 

With a mix of fearful cries and curses, the Phantom Thieves scrambled to the exit, only to be stopped by a hand like the claws on the things that had been holding Player slamming it shut. They all looked up, only to see what Maruki had become clinging to the wall, his body curved in an arc above the double doors. 

His spine was stretched beyond what could be human proportions, all to support a total of six arms dispersed in pairs along his extended torso. His white dress shoes were gone, replaced by another set of hands, making it eight in total. Two extra pairs of eyes were evenly divided amongst his shoulders and hips, staring down at them with a wrath incomprehensible in comparison to the awkward counselor’s usual doe-eyed disposition. A long tail like the tentacles that were scattered around the laboratory lashed angrily in front of the doors like one of Ann’s whips. 

With another bone-chilling roar, Maruki rushed Zenkichi, his front arms extended to try to swipe Player from his protective hold. He dodged, lifting one leg to deliver a swift back-kick to the maw full of sharp, snapping teeth headed toward him, knocking Maruki’s glasses off as he backpedaled. The teens all drew their weapons, each one more than ready than the last for a fight to protect their friend. Maruki’s gaze flitted between all of them, but he only had eyes for Zenkichi. 

Jumping off from the wall and neatly clearing everyone else, he landed behind Zenkichi, trying to slash at the other man’s legs to knock him to the floor. Sophia’s yo-yo and Haru’s axe came swiftly to their teammate’s defense, but it was no use. Maruki dodged, and Zenkichi moved in time with him to avoid any chance of being hit. Midway through his attempt to charge, Makoto drifted in front of Zenkichi on Johanna, causing Maruki to skid to a halt and jump back with a growl. Confusion registered on her expression, and Akechi and Ren shared a glance. 

Deciding to test his theory, Akechi charged forward with a loud cry. Ann’s whip cracked near Maruki, but he remained focused enough while on the defensive to still whirl around and catch and toss Akechi to the side. The young detective rolled with his landing, ultimately unharmed. His eyes glinted, and he yelled to the rest of the Thieves, “Coward! He’s not attacking!”

The misshapen doctor’s eyes widened, watching all of them ready to attack, knowing he wouldn’t do anything to hurt them. His tail flicked, and all six eyes latched onto Zenkichi as he gave an eye contact signal to Ren before turning towards the door and trying to escape again. He was covered by the rest of them, and Maruki scowled to himself. He turned, and Makoto revved her Persona before giving chase. Maruki, despite his newly inhuman form, was only a bit faster than Johanna, but he was running directly toward the wall. She braced herself, turning at the last second, expecting to clip her adversary with the back tire, only to see him go… up?

Like some unearthly spider, he went directly up the wall, not breaking his momentum for a second. All eyes were on the arching path of the room’s domed ceiling, waiting for Maruki to land and continue trying to attack. Springing off from the door when he finally got close enough, he jumped at Zenkichi, only to be hit with multiple bursts of different magics. Psycho Force, Inferno, Panta Rei, Diamond Dust, Thunder Reign, Atomic Flare, Hamaon, Demonic Decree, Mudoon, and Kougaon, all flying toward him at once.

The ice trapped him in place, melting and boiling at the touch of the flame, fanned by the whipping winds. A swirling flurry of ofuda paper flew around him and stuck to his clothes from the gust, disintegrating instantly from the nuclear blast igniting under him, reaching up and around him toward the blast of lightning striking down from above. Something like a gavel hit him from overhead, destroying a piece of him somewhere as the full force of shimmering light and cackling dark engulfed the perimeter of the targeted explosion while he felt like his brain was suddenly being mashed inside his skull like a mortar and pestle. The game’s flashy graphics circled around him. Red and white words, TECHNICAL, CRITICAL, WEAK, MISS, NULL, BLOCK, numbers and glitching images of a heart filled in with blue coloring. Curling in on himself amidst the pain, something that could not be called a scream left him. It sounded more like a dying star’s last cry, or a falling building, or breaking glass. He looked up, his movements slowed by the torrent of everything around him, and Zenkichi’s gaze caught with his. His eyes were not human, filled with tears, and it felt like being ambushed by static. It wrapped around him, a transfer of a momentary internal death from one to another, and it was a painful one. 

Behind his mask, Zenkichi’s eyes widened. It was cold, everything was cold, and there were three people there with him. Two were standing outside, on the other side of the doorway. All he could see of them was their withered old hands reaching out to the one in front of him, facing away. The pair received something. They turned to leave. A cry left him, loud and shredding at the back of his throat, as two figures retreated into the snow, away from the door. Something lit up in his chest, a flaring pain from being shoved backward, as the sound of the last apparition’s yelling nearly deafened him. They had taken something. They wouldn’t give it back. He had to get it back. He had to get him back. 

Give him back. 

GIVE HIM BACK.

GIVE ME BACK MY BABY.

His arms now empty, he fell back onto the floor, and the baby cry roared through the room. It was so much louder to him now, hearing it twice over. The entire Palace seemed to shake, and when Zenkichi snapped to his senses, he was being pulled backwards by the arms. He no longer had Player, looking around for them with residual panic as his mind still spun. They were all in the hallway now, his boots dragging against the polished floors. The lights shut off behind them as they ran, Zenkichi’s vision illuminated by cracks in the porcelain tiles that only barely gained ground on them as they fled, bursting with bright white light. Faintly glowing blue eyes and the tips of claws seemed to be chasing them, and Zenkichi scrabbled to stand up. He felt his own panic well up inside him. The realization that Player was nowhere to be seen settled into him. No no no- they had come all this way, endured all THAT, and Player was still trapped in the den of that psychotic monster doctor?!

They were all the way back at the entrance now, the doors to the elevator blasting open as if the entire Palace wanted them out. He looked back one last time, seeing Maruki come to a stop, panting and haggard, with his suit ruined and his chest heaving with soft sobs. He turned back as they all crammed into the elevator, and the doors slammed shut. As they were taken back down to the entrance of the Palace, they could see through the glass. The whole place had harsh red searchlights swiveling around the perimeter, and it was snowing like they had landed in the Arctic. 

The moment they all settled, Zenkichi nearly collapsed. 

"W-What… what WAS that?!?" he cried, "We've gotta go back-" 

"With THAT kinda scream? No effin' way!" Ryuji objected, one hand over the aching spot in his leg. 

"The way you howled after touching the trauma cell was humorous at best, but… There can be no comparison. That was pure agony of the human heart," added Yusuke. 

Akechi crossed his arms, leaning against the clear wall, "Besides, we have no clue what just happened back there. The Palace security must be astronomical right about now." 

Zenkichi's mind tried to recall what he had bore witness to in Maruki's eyes. He'd seen less desperation and terror in people who were about to die than there was in that man at that moment. And that weird, painful vision… It seemed to claw the back of his eyes. He remembered touching the door to Konoe’s trauma cell back in Osaka, maybe that was what happened? “Gramps-san,” he heard Haru prod from beside him, “Are you alright? What happened to you?” Zenkichi looked around, just now noticing that the rest of the team was staring at him. He looked at Ren, a sort of dazed confusion on his face, ”Was that some sorta trauma cell?” he asked, “Do these places have that?” 

Equal confusion rippled throughout the group, and a few of them glanced at each other. That… can’t be good. His fingertips pressed against his mask, “It wasn’t just words this time… I could see things. Something about snow and a baby?” 

They looked around at the blizzard just now starting to calm around them, the sounds of the baby’s cries now making some sort of sense to them. Akechi scoffed and crossed his arms, “Of course, something relating to trauma and we’ve only seen it from Maruki. What tricks doesn’t he have?”

Zenkichi raised a brow, “But you said Palaces aren’t traumagenic like Jails. What happened?”

“Well… not necessarily, at least,” Futaba chimed guiltily from her UFO, “I had one. That was how I joined.”

The others nodded like this was common knowledge, but he was surprised, “So… not everybody with a Palace is bad then?” 

“It is only a distortion of perception,” Yusuke chimed, “The distortion itself simply has to be strong enough.” 

Zenkichi nodded, letting this new information sink in. He didn’t land a position in Public Security for ignoring potential clues. He opened his mouth to speak, but a loud droning noise encircled them, and the searchlights fizzled out. The elevator came to a stop in its destination, and they all filed out before all of the lights followed suit. The Palace was plunged into sheer darkness, only illuminated by the surrounding illusions of streetlights, which began to dim. Everyone drew their weapons on instinct, and the music itself seemed to stutter before shutting off completely. All of the Phantom Thieves snapped their attention to Futaba, who practically spluttered out a yell. “Powerful reading!! Brace yours-” Futaba’s voice was immediately drowned out by a shockwave that knocked some of them off their feet, accompanied by a sound that seemed to shake their rib cages in unison. It was like the Earth was about to shatter, becoming deafening to the point where all their minds could do to protect themselves was to refuse to acknowledge it. The swirls of stringy golden wires around the Palace coiled and writhed upward as the ground shook violently in its terror. 

The huge, glowing orb at the very top of the Palace went from brightness to almost a void, dark enough to put the night sky above to shame as it sucked in what little light the stars had to give. A massive crack suddenly split its shell, and all the glass below it shattered, sending shards flying floor by floor, as the sound became closer and closer. It began to grate as it tapered, like somehow, a human voice had produced it. The elevator was crushed by something slamming its way down the shaft like it was nothing. No one could hear Zenkichi scream as something grabbed hold of him, snatching him back upward faster than his mind could compute. The surroundings were a blur of darkness, broken glass, and shadows collapsing into wisps of dead smoke. Reality bent backwards, and before he knew anything, he was back in the operating theater. Zenkichi tried to see what was in front of him, but when he tried he didn’t register his own voice peaking as it felt like his entire brain was electrocuted on the spot. 

DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!?”

DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT

Through the sheer mind-killing fear, he managed to hoarsely cry, “STOP! STOP IT! STOP! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING, STOP IT!!!”

He heard a monstrous, screeching growl like metal being mashed together.

“YOU’RE LYING! GIVE THEM BACK TO ME!!”

He tried to hold his arms up to defend against the horror above him, at every side, all around him. His eyes latched onto the operating table, seeing that it was empty. Seeing some sort of normal object was almost nearly enough to restore his mind to order from the scrambling, scrabbling malfunction. Zenkichi gasped for breath as everything seemed to bend again, and he was in what looked to be a surveillance room. He was stood on his feet and shoved into a chair. He stared forward, his brain coming into focus again.

On the screen was that horrible theater again, before anything happened. The room seemed mostly empty, except for Player on the table. The doors slammed shut, but after a few seconds, what looked like Zenkichi walked into the room, completely alone. He looked around, before simply strolling up to the table and scooping Player up with no specific gentleness, all in one efficient motion, before strolling out again with no opposition. One hand out of many grabbed the back of Zenkichi’s head, forcing him forward for emphasis on the point being made. He caught his breath, shuddering from the indescribable feeling of physical contact with this thing. As he readjusted, his voice was weak and shaky from panic, “H-Hey! That wasn’t me!” 

His eyes flickered around the camera feeds, half of them reduced to static. His gaze caught on one feed in particular, showing what was frankly just as scary to watch from a camera as it was to experience, the moment when they all were being chased out into the elevator. He looked at the times on both, seeing that they matched. “W-Wait! Wait, let go of me!! Look!” Zenkichi pointed, bringing the attention off of him for just a moment. 

For a few seconds, he could feel the creature shift, silent. There was a gasp, a small, human sound. He was released. Slow, uneven footsteps retreated from behind Zenkichi. Eyes became fewer, 58, 25, 12, 8, 6… 2. Limbs began to shrink back into normal lengths and numbers, and what had been looming over him shrank back into the shape of a man. A broken, terrified, defeated man.

Maruki sank to the floor as the lights turned back on. There was a whimper, and a hiccup. His voice no longer shook the earth, or shattered his surroundings, and he could barely manage to say “No… No… Not again, please, god, not again… No…”

Hesitantly, Zenkichi turned around, his mind practically shutting down to recover from what he had just been through. Maruki looked nothing like he had first imagined him. The man was taller than he was, but he was curled in on himself so much, his hands clutching the fabric over his stomach, that it was almost like one would need a microscope to see him properly. Tears, heavy streams of unrelenting tears, were pouring from his eyes. Despite all the horrors he had just witnessed, something in Zenkichi’s heart whispered that this was not a man who would hurt that child, that maybe, this madman was truly more gentle than the horrors implied. 

Maruki looked up at him, begging, pleading with his eyes, “If it wasn’t you… who has my baby…?”

Dull surprise registered on Zenkichi’s face. He looked back, seeing the footage again. Who was that?

And why did they look like him? 

[estellardreams]

I've been thinking about so many seasons on the Sonic Ninjago AU and I'm dying to talk about the ones that are particularly interesting.

So... I'm pretty sure that based off of my art, Season 11 (which I think is underrated on both ends), Season 6 (Skybound, renamed Phantom), and Season 8 (Sons of Garmadon/Doom) specifically kept getting my attention. So... Let's talk about them.

A lot about them.

Season 6:

I cast Infinite in the role of Nadakhan for a few reasons. But the main reason is because of the "Wishing" plot line.

You see; Infinite comes from Null Space, which was disrupted due to the Dark Gaia incident (unbalanced energy). But he has the Phantom Ruby, a thing known to create illusions, from the get go.

So I twisted the wishing system so instead of a djinn it's a direct illusion to manipulate the wish into "coming true". Basically a false reality. Then Infinite would've crushed those illusions and break the ones he was tormenting.

And during this all, Infinite goes after multiple targets, but realized just how dangerous one of the Ninja was specifically, that being Tails. He was too smart for his own good, leading to Infinite capturing the kit during a fight and taking him to someplace, once again controlling the scenery using the Phantom Ruby and tormenting the fox with illusions. And this?

Infinite gave him that scar when Tails tried to fight back. Tails became half blind after that so when things were brought back to normal and the scar healed over, he just used a special blue contact to hide the fact he was blind.

His friends did try to rescue him, and Infinite began to torture them as well with his illusions. Once they gave in and "wished for it to go away", he'd trap them in the Phantom Ruby and grow stronger because of it.

And it was all up to Tails to rescue everyone and stop this before it got worse.

----

Season 8:

Oh dear... Eclipse and Shadow's relationship is definitely the most enticing part of this saga. So... I'm gonna be brief on the characters relationship and what roles the two take on.

Harumi and Lloyd. Harumi is the adopted princess after losing her parents when the Great Devourer attacked, and is also the secret leader of the "Sons of Garmadon", an organization made to ressurect Garmadon himself, Lloyd's father.

The thing is, the Garmadon they wanted to bring back was only the evil oni side, and they had to gather the three oni masks and gather DNA samples of everyone he's related to or had a strong connection with to bring him back from the departed realm.

And what happened before Garmadon was resurrected? Harumi manipulating Lloyd, soon backstabbing him and later capturing him, forcing him to watch as his father was brought back from the dead with him and his mother as hostages.

Yikes. Now with that in mind... Eclipse is Harumi, Shadow is Lloyd. They have a brotherly bond, except... Its all fake.

Eclipse is the secret leader of the "Sons of Doom", and has discuised himself as a hedgehog to blend in, along with special contacts to turn his sclera white and his pupils a more... "friendly" color. He acted up the role of an abandoned child that got brought in by the royal family and "adopted". After the false alarm for an attack, the Ninja are let in the castle and allowed to stay along with help protect the pendant of Deception.

Shadow took an interest into Eclipse, who weirdly felt like him... He could never explain it, but felt like he had a connection.

So when the two began to bond and become friends, they developed this sweet dynamic of being brothers who looked out for each other. And Shadow became a lot more open as Eclipse did the same. But it was all a ploy... A trap to lure Shadow in close for Eclipse to control.

And it worked.

Eclipse got the Pendant of Hatred, and Shadow realized what was going on when it was too late. The two fought but... This was the first and very few times Shadow hesitated to hurt someone. And it got him and his sister, Maria, captured.

Black Doom got resurrected after that. And Shadow lost the fight to him. He lost his powers, and Season 9: Hunted begins.

---

Season 11, Part 1:

Okay, specifically Metal Sonic and Sonic so I'll keep this short. Metal is not the Master of Metal.

It would've been a similar joke to "Shadow, Master of Shadow" but... By this canon's logic, a robot has never held elemental powers before. Until recently.

Metal stole Sonic's speed, making Sonic powerless and him strong enough to almost wipe out the rest of the Ninja Team. He keeps them locked away as he heads out to attack Station Square (Ninjago City).

And when he got his hands on the Forbidden Spinjitzu scroll, he was nearly unstoppable. That was, until Amy got her hands on her own scroll and managed to decimate him.

... And then she got sent to Boscage Maze.

Season 11, Part 2:

This iis what I call the Vine Chapter, since the first half is the Speed Chapter. Amy was discovered by Starline and hipnotized into becoming Queen Thorn, the ruler of the jungle.

And she committed so many crimes. She wiped out the Seedrian population. She overflowed the jungle so much many places became uninhabitable. Survival became a harder struggle with little sunlight and rain reaching to below the canopy.

And when the Ninja arrive, they quickly notice these odd corrupted plants and vines that seem to drain the life out of whatever they catch. They end up in a small village blocked off from the rest of the jungle, with Shadow soon heading off to find Amy after learning where she was: At the Queen's castle. He's unaware that Amy is the Queen, so it's definitely a shock when he does discover that.

Enter: Cosmo. The last of the Seedrians and taking the place of Akita, who was the last of the Formlings. The parallels between the two, even in canon, is unreal.

But Cosmo is seeking a sort of passive aggressive revenge against the Queen, training herself on how to use her plant magic along with tapping into more... Dark influences to do it. And Shadow felt like he's seen this before.

Because he was in a similar position: Training to use his powers and holding onto his darker influences to favor the Black Arm's success. So he knows where she's coming from and the two relate to each other somewhat over this.

And eventually the Megaflora, a creation Thorn made, attacks. Shadow gets captured and seperated from Cosmo, who almost dies, and is basically locked up in a vine wrapped tree tower. Hence... This sketch to image.

Vines to the limbs, keeping you trapped in place. And if it weren't for figuring out the plants weakness was Shadow able to escape. He confronted Thorn and tried to bring her back, but Starline's influence remained strong.

In fact, Thorn almost kills Shadow through strangling him using her vines! But before he died, she realized what she was doing and immediately released him, struggling to comprehend what she just did.

She notices the scroll. And rips it to shreds. And that's the end of it as she traps Starline, solidifying her regaining control over herself.

The damage is soon reversed by sheer energy and force, fixing the jungle for the most part. Now the main problem is returning home.

---

Now for a few small extra things:

Season 5: Dark Gaia. I'm not sure if I'll include the idea of getting cursed or not but... Werehog Sonic feels tempting. He'd be like Cole in turning into a ghost via a curse and remains like that for a while until Day of the Dark Gaia to reverse it.

Season 15: Seabound. I have no idea what I wanna do for it, but I wanna include shape-shifting Merlings. I just think they're neat.

Season 16: Starfall. If Lloyd gets an Oni form, I want Shadow to have his own charged up alien form at some point. Also... Gonna rewrite that season entirely if I ever get to that.

Season 4: Tournament of Elements. Didn't know where to put this but Robotnik's plan for the tournament is to steal the powers of the elemental masters, use them to rebuild the Death Egg, and roboticize the entire world. As to why the Ninja are there? Rouge got kidnapped when trying to spy on him. She's basically Zane in this situation.

[bookwormscififan]

I Would Destroy Our World, Chapter 8

Committing to Comfort

Read on AO3!

Previous chapter

Concept art 1 and 2

A/N: Let Jackie be happy in this AU.

--

Jackie smiled as Phantom handed him a mug of coffee, holding it under his nose and breathing in deeply. He���d always loved the smell of coffee: it reminded him of happier times, of Phantom spluttering the first time he made a cup—

The sharp dressed man drank his coffee black, no sugar or milk. He would toss coffee grounds into Jackie’s cell, laughing as the hot sludge made him cower away. The clang of the ceramic mug against his cell bars echoed in his head, giving him an ache that made his eyes close—

Phantom’s coffee was always sweet, rich and echoed the love he put into making it. Jackie closed his eyes as he let the aroma flood his senses, remembering mornings curled up with his feet in Phantom’s lap as they laughed over mugs of coffee—

Coffee made at the facility was always bitter, the beans burnt beyond recognition. Opting for tea was no better, as the bags were beyond stale and the water always lukewarm. Jackie barely drank anything in fear of being poisoned, throat feeling dry after therapy—

“Jackie.” He blinked at the sound of his name, seeing Phantom leaning in front of him, looking into his eyes with a hand on his cheek, thumb brushing away tears he didn’t realise were falling. “We lost you for a moment there.”

“Sorry,” Jackie mumbled, sipping his coffee before handing it to Phantom. “I got lost in memories. Can I… can I sit close to you for this?” His cheeks flushed a little as he asked, sighing in relief when Phantom nodded, taking his mug and leading him to sit in the armchair by his side.

“As I was saying,” Phantom continued, adjusting his position when Jackie crawled to curl in his lap, gently placing an arm around the hybrid’s back. “We’ve got to start figuring out the plan for destroying the facility. Jackie helped me find their location, all that’s left is deciding when to do this.”

“When was the last time you trained?” Mare asked, absently toying with the hair on Mad’s tail. “I know our illusions don’t take a lot of training, but we would need a good plan to ensure the illusions work.”

“I practice while Jackie’s asleep,” Phantom answered, handing Jackie his mug with his free hand, not taking his eyes off the hybrid until he nodded at him. “Trying to make the room into something more familiar to Jackie, but they’re not quite right, and I always end up tearing it down before he wakes up.”

“And you want to get the facility on a larger scale?” Mare clarified, concerned face softening when Mad rubbed his head under his chin. “Gonna need you to try illusions a little bigger than your bedroom. We’ll try making Mad and Jackie see the forest in the living room later.”

“You’ve been trying to make your room familiar?” Jackie asked quietly, resting his cheek on Phantom’s shoulder as he looked at him. “W-Why?” His voice cracked, eyes tearing up as he fiddled with the button on Phantom’s shirt.

“Because I love you,” Phantom’s voice was genuine, running his hand through Jackie’s bangs to reveal his eyes. “I thought it would help your healing a little more if you had things you remember.”

“Back on topic,” Mare interrupted, tightening his hold around Mad’s waist when the fox made soft chittering sounds of protest. “I think we should try morning practices. I still have troubles controlling the fire whenever I’m emotionally charged, so I’m willing to bet the same for you.”

“I can handle my fire control,” Phantom muttered, tone defensive as he rolled a flame across the backs of his fingers. “We can try the illusions, but my control is usually motivated by Jackie by my side.”

“That’s my point!” Mare took several deep breaths when Mad purred at him, pressing his nose against the top of his head before continuing. “I won’t put them in danger. I don’t want them anywhere near the gates of the facility, so we’re going to need another motivator to keep our control in check.”

“I’m sure thinking about what they did to Jackie’s mind is enough for me,” Phantom scoffed, rolling his eyes when Jackie nosed at his jaw. “Fine. We’ll practice after lunch, find something to motivate the control, and figure out the illusion.”

“Good.” Mare adjusted Mad in his lap as he got ready to stand. “We’ll destroy the facility in two weeks. Start brainstorming your illusions, I’ll see you in a few hours.” Not waiting for an answer, he carried Mad upstairs to his room.

Phantom watched him go before sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose as Jackie nuzzled against his neck. Blinking a couple of times, he offered the raccoon a soft smile, tilting his head to press their foreheads together.

“Do you want to make up some sandwiches, and we can go for a walk in the woods?” he asked quietly, pressing a kiss to Jackie’s nose when he made an affirming sound. “We can have lunch by the stream, dip our toes in the water.”

“I love you,” Jackie whispered, ducking down to kiss Phantom properly before climbing out of his lap and heading for the kitchen.

----

“What’s a guy like you doing living out in the city?” Phantom asked, laying on his back beside Jackie in the grass on the outskirts of town, watching the clouds pass in the sky. “Not that I’m complaining, I just haven’t seen many like you outside the woods.”

“I don’t know,” Jackie answered, rolling onto his side and resting his chin on his fist on Phantom’s chest, smiling when the human gently threaded his fingers through his hair. “It started out by looking for food, I guess. Then it was curiosity about you, and I just kind of stayed.”

“Would you ever go back?”

“To the woods? I don’t know, Phan. I like it here, I like the bustle of the city, but I don’t think I’d like it as much if I hadn’t met you.” He chuckled when Phantom tickled his side, dropping his head to rest against Phantom’s neck. “And I doubt anyone would want to—ah!”

“No doubting,” Phantom laughed, having pulled Jackie to lay on top of him, legs either side of his hips. “If you want to go back to the woods, I’d build you a house out there and live with you forever.”

“You’re being dramatic.” Jackie rolled his eyes but made no move to get off Phantom.

“Dramatic? Me? No, dramatic would be me saying I would die to see you happy and safe, seeing the way your eyes shine when you smile. I want to die knowing you were safe.”

----

“Penny for your thoughts?” Phantom’s voice broke Jackie out of his thoughts, turning to see the human offering him a sandwich as they sat beside the stream.

“Remember when we went cloud watching?” Jackie asked, biting into his sandwich before looking back at Phantom. “Would you still build a place for us to live in the woods, away from people?”

“I would,” Phantom answered, offering Jackie a smile as he set his sandwich aside. “I’d drop everything and build you the best home you could ever want in the woods if you asked. I would kill to see you safe.”

“Can I ask a question?” When Phantom nodded, Jackie lifted a hand hesitantly to touch the bump under Phantom’s shirt, glancing at the cord around his neck. “Why are you wearing a ring around your neck?”

“The day you were taken,” Phantom began, pulling the ring out so Jackie could hold it. “I was going to propose. I was going to ask you to be mine, marry me, stay with me forever. I was going to offer to move out of the city with you, live in the woods and survive on rodents we trapped.”

“Do you still want that?” Jackie’s voice wobbled, his eyes damp with tears as he looked at Phantom. His fingers fiddled with the cord holding the ring around Phantom’s neck, and Phantom carefully pulled it over his head so Jackie wouldn’t accidentally choke him. “Do you still want to marry me?”

“More than anything. I want to call you my husband, protect you with my life. Why? Do you want that?” Phantom froze when Jackie leaned forward to kiss him deeply, slipping the ring onto his finger before pressing his cheek to Phantom’s.

“I do,” he whispered, breath hitching when Phantom turned to catch him in a kiss, pouring years of emotion into the press of his lips against Jackie’s. “I want nothing more than that.”

Phantom’s fingers tangled in Jackie’s hoodie, pulling him impossibly close as he kissed him with a fierceness he’d deny later, revelling in the small sounds Jackie made as he grasped at Phantom’s shoulders. Pulling the hybrid into his lap, Phantom moved one hand down to press against the dip in Jackie’s back, holding him close as he pressed kisses along Jackie’s jaw.

“I could die right now, and I’d be grateful,” Jackie mumbled, tangling his fingers in Phantom’s hair as the human sucked a dark mark into the juncture of his neck. “I would thank whatever force was out there for giving me this—” He paused as he looked around, gasping softly and tugging on Phantom’s hair to get his attention.

The field around them was ablaze in rose-coloured flame, translucent walls surrounding them covered in photographs from their time together. Beneath Jackie, the grass was a dusty red, unbelievably soft and glowing with red embers. The tips of Phantom’s fingers were dusted berry-red, eyes glowing red slightly as he looked around the area. As Phantom steadied his breathing, he waved his hand, dissolving the illusion to return the setting back to normal.

“I think you found your motivator,” Jackie chuckled, staying on the grass as Phantom gently cleaned him up, purring softly. “You need to come back to me so we can get married and live away from the town.”

“Oh, I’d marry you anytime,” Phantom responded, pulling Jackie to curl in his lap, brushing his fingers through his hair. “The second I come back from burning that facility, I’m going to lay you in bed and remind you of every part I love about you.”

--------------

@iamvegorott @brokentimewatch @rattyboyisemo @dungeon-dragons-dragons

[aishutoon]

You guys ever have that issue where you’ve got a bunch of au ideas and you have no idea which one to start talking about?

Well, I decided to let you guys decide which au to start with using a poll!

Some info about each au:

Sonic generations Linked Au: An au of sonic generations where when the time eater shows up and messes up time, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy have to team up with their classic selves to find both the time stones and the chaos emeralds in order to fix everything. The time stones are used to free Sonic’s friends and create portals into locations from the past, but the catch is that using them attracts the time eater. The chaos emeralds can be used to repel and later fight back against the time eater, but they got scattered throughout time and space when the time eater attacked Sonic’s birthday party.

Ace attorney dual destinies rewrite: a rewrite where Phoenix got his attorney’s badge back, but is reluctant to use it due to a fear of messing things up again. The fact that the legal system has deteriorated to a point where one case caused everyone to start rioting doesn’t help. Clay and pearl show up earlier in the story, Klavier has a bigger role in the Themis case, and overall there’s a little more emotional weight in some scenes.

Ace attorney spirit of justice rewrite: Ok, this one is where things are WAY more different. After Phoenix tells Apollo and Trucy the truth about their heritage, both of them are furious and want to confront Lamiroir for trying to keep that a secret for much longer. There’s just one problem: Lamoroir is taking a break from performing and went to the place where she met the man that she truly loved: Khura’in. With this in mind, and knowing that he can’t really stop them, Phoenix sends Apollo and Trucy to where Maya is staying in Khura’in so that they can find Lamiroir, and they get caught up in what’s going on with the legal system over there. In the meantime, Dhurke comes to the states to look for Apollo and the Orb, and ended up finding Phoenix, who is not very happy to see him. While Trucy and Apollo are investigating in Khura’in, Dhurke and Phoenix investigate in Kurain village, with the help of Pearl.

Sonic forces rewrite: (I know there are so many sonic forces rewrites out there already, but I might as well throw my hat into the ring) A rewrite where classic sonic isn’t there, and the phantom ruby incident happened when sonic and the others were younger. When Eggman digs through his old files and finds some notes on the phantom ruby, he decides to give it another shot, this time with a live host. When Infinite attacks and knocks out sonic, Tails tries to carry him out of there, but gets knocked out in the process. Flash forward a few months, Eggman is in the process of taking over the world, and the resistance is fighting back with three leaders: Knuckles, Amy, and Tails. When Infinite attacks the custom character (Rookie), Tails is the one who saves him and leads him to the resistance. Also, Tails has a little wisp friend with him. When they hear a rumor that Sonic is alive in one of Eggman’s prisons, Tails and the Rookie have to work together in order to find him while also freeing places and people from Eggman’s control. In the meantime, from Sonic’s perspective, he has to find a way to break out of the prison and find out how to stop the phantom ruby in its new form, but infinite’s illusions and a speed limiter they put on him will make things even more difficult.

Balan Wonderworld Rewrite: Less of a rewrite and more of a complete rehaul of the story, but without changing the characters. Their motivations on the other hand… (I know a lot of people hate the game, I’m not the biggest fan of it either, but I liked the idea of it). The main gist of the story is that the protagonist has to go on a journey to patch up their “heart” as Balan calls it, and in order to get there, they have to assist Balan in helping other people first (I know that’s a vague explanation, but I feel like it would be easier to show in comic form than like this…)

[star-stages]

Part two of this comic

-Sonic's perspective- A visit from a phantom ruby illusion of Tails

(I apologize for the terrible backgrounds I really do)

(I'm also not sure if ya gotta click for quality or not)

Also I guess I accidently made an au, I think I'll call him Phantom Illusion Tails. Pretty straight forward. More drawings of him below.

He's keeping Sonic company, although it's nothing like having the real Tails there.

Edit (6/17) I changed up the Cracking designs on Tails, I balanced them out more, and made them easier to remember✨

[libelelle]

Manic the illusionist? Normally when you think illusions+Sonic you think Infinite—Which could work! If Infinite &/or the phantom ruby appear, Manic could be better able to recognize illusions & since the ruby seems to function like “it can hurt you if you BELIEVE it can hurt you”, & Manic knows it’s all fake from the start, the ruby wouldn’t be able to touch him, which could make him a key player to stopping him (Manic Day in the Limelight Episode?)

OOOOH I DIDNT EVEN THINK ABOUT INFINITE Manic and infinite pointing at each other like SAME POWER. the events of forces would go very different if Sonia and Manic were there, most importantly Tails wouldnt be alone <3

you people think such good thoughts about this AU im giving you a little gold star rn

[sonic-rebellion-official]

Hello I am here to ask for context for that amazing fanart with Metal Sonic you did a while back

Oh hello! If you mean this one, I'd love to explain! It comes from a scene that I had planned for the original fic (but I still might use it for the rewritten one), which needs a whole bunch more explaining on its own, but the basic premise is as follows:

If you're not familiar with my AU, Shattered Hope is an anti-villain team made up of Eggman's past "allies", be it badnik or otherwise. The main three that lead the team are Zero (Infinite), Metal Sonic, and Doctor Starline.

During a training session to help Zero get a better handle on the weakened phantom ruby's powers, Metal is struck by a surge of energy by pure accident. Instead of shrugging it off since an inorganic being like him would, he's immediately overcome by an intense onslaught of terror. Since he's never felt any sort of emotion all that much, it's very confusing and just an overall mess for him. The ruby's illusions do their work and make him relove the scariest moment of his life, that being his recent escape from his creator's clutches (Robotnik had planned to dismantle him for his inability to follow orders to a T in favor of using the scrap for his newest project, Codename: Deadlocke. Metal, suddenly feeling like he actually had a life to lose, ran away before anything could happen). The intensity of the situation causes him to overheat and shut down.

This also happens to kick off his future broship with Tails since he was the one to repair the poor guy, which is something I am incredibly excited to touch up on in the far future. Far future being after the main fic is finished and I start working on the epilogue fic involving the next gen.

[metalsonic41]

Archie Sonic AU : Metal Sonic v3.9/Metallix

Story : after the genesis wave, the archie universe got reboot, but there was still the original timeline existing, the original timeline sonic just wake up with megaman and said goodbye to each others before go back to their worlds, eggman saw the fight of metal sonic 3.8 and bass vs sonic and megaman, he saw that metal was gonna win if megaman didnt used sonic friends powers, so he saw the potential metal has, so he managed all his efforts to find a power gem (will tell how he got it later), he gived the gem to metal, he upgraded metal a lot before give him the gem, metal has become very smart, he decided to not rebel against eggman now, he has a strategy, he planned all the future event of my AU, he planned the sonic unleashed, lost world, generation, forces and idw equivalent for the archie, after archie infinite was beat, he took his phantom ruby to keep it for later, he hided it somewhere, eggman knew nothing of that, in the equivalent of idw but its archie in neo metal sonic saga, eggman gived him the neo form, but he decided to keep it later, he made an illusion of metal with the phantom ruby he stoled, to make them believe they were fighting him and win, but he has other plan, he used his morphic abilities to take sonic appearence to kiss amy (who was sad that sonic was with sally) to reveal himself later, wich broke amy heart more, so she decided to stop comunicate with the others, metal was a great mastermind.... he also remembered shard, who he killed, he didnt regreted very much (a bit because they kinda brothers) but saw that nicole was trying to fix shard, so he manipulated her to find the emeralds to fix shard.... but it was a trick for metal, he decided to test his need strenght on sonic, by taking the old metal sonic (3.8) appearence with his morphic powers, he beated sonic easily, but he still took some scratch and marks, but he wasnt hurt, his gem (based on a srb2 mod and idw gem) had the power to change abilities, speed boost, flight (he already can fly so its useless exept to make a wind protection around him), strenght boost, slow time, become smaller, teleport, electric shield, teleguided attacks, and he also can become neo when he need, then he decided to not only kill sonic, but to rassemble all his friends, ennemies and allies to beat them by his own, to prove how strong he get, but before he decided to fix the eggman robots like, metal tails, tails doll, metal knuckles, metal amy and some shadow android to make them take revenge too, he didnt upgraded them to 3.8 because he didnt wanted them to become a danger if they rebel, so after doing that, he decided to go see scourge, and help him, he saw all scourge potential, he knew that scourge was stronger than sonic, since he beated both shadow and sonic, the only reason he lose was because he didnt have a plan and got tired by using his super forms, so he took the anarchy beryl to use them with the chaos emeralds and master emerald and phantom ruby to see what happend, he will then fight against all sonic ennemies and allies he got, deadly six, infinite, time eater, all sonic friends to only beat them, he showed difficulty against dark sonic and chaos shadow, and super sonic and super shadow were stronger than him.... until he became neo and beat them up, before sonic could become ultra sonic metal then said "i am not metal sonic.... i am metallix.... and now you can call me... NEO METALLIX" then beated all of them, he cutted sonic legs and told him "i wont kill you.... i will humiliate and disable you...." but killed eggman and leaved tails in coma, he leaved everyone almost dead but still alive to make them feel their pain, then he go back to base metallix/metal sonic 3.9 to kill them finally but shard (who got fixed in time) came and teleported them away with chaos control.... metallix had 75% of Mobius under his control, that was the first part of my AU, maybe i will make a comic about it

Funfact : he did a jojo references once

[undyingembers]

Ooh ok I must ask about the Len/Daeran Cinderella AU!

Ask me About my AU’s

Len/Dae Cinderella

This one pretty much takes place on Golarion. You got your tieflings, aasimars, elves, gods, demons, magic, what have you. It’s just the timing of events that play out differently.

Lenarius’s canon backstory plays out the same way. When he was born, his parents lost a lot of standing for birthing a tiefling child. He was kept away from society and ostracized his whole life.

One thing to note is that I have a background character who is relatively important to Lenarius’s canon backstory. In canon, the family managed to get the services of a tiefling cobbler for Lenarius. I still haven’t come up with a name for the guy, but he was one of the only people who showed Lenarius kindness. When it became apparent that the human staff and professionals that his family hired were not prepared (or willing) to make certain…accommodations for Lenarius’s unique physiology, they had to turn elsewhere for help.

So anyway, much like in my Phantom of the Opera AU, when Daeran’s parents died, Galfrey was made his guardian. She was hoping that Daeran might find a wife and rebuild the Arendae family by now. However, Daeran is in absolutely no rush to settle down and have kids. He’d much rather carouse and feast his way through life and kick up as many scandals as he can (idk if the Other is around in this version; I’m going to say no). The two of them fought a lot about this issue until one day, they agreed on a deal. Daeran would attend a grand ball where Galfrey would invite all the noble families with eligible daughters. However, Daeran would ultimately be the one to choose, and if he chose no one, then Galfrey would have to grudgingly accept that.

As soon as the Scaeva family receives their invitation, they make plans to present Lenarius’s older sister Serapia at the ball. It’s a long shot; Serapia is more than ten years older than Daeran and she’s rather unremarkable (plus she’s aro-gay and not particularly thrilled about this), but if she can secure a marriage with Daeran, then it would save the family from the disgrace of having a tainted bloodline. Lenarius fantasizes about attending this grand ball, but he knows that his mother would rather eat a babau’s barbed tail than let him go anywhere near it, so he resigns himself to staying on the sidelines as the rest of the family bustle about with their preparations.

The day Lenarius’s mother and siblings leave for Nerosyan, Lenarius decides he wants to make himself feel better by getting some new shoes made for him. A hare approaches him and his shoemaker as he is getting fitted in the garden. It is Hortensia, the companion of his devil ancestor. The deviless herself shows up not far behind and reveals the truth about Lenarius’s fiendish ancestry and that she is in the process of repenting for the evils she has committed. As part of that, she wants to help her “descendent” find happiness to make up for the suffering he had endured from being a tiefling.

Lenarius asks her if she could help him attend Queen Galfrey’s grand ball without his family noticing. She casts a spell to make it seem Lenarius is a human. Same deal in the story: she gives him a lovely gown and a carriage made from the local vegetation and transforms some nearby wild hares into horses. She even transforms the just fitted but unfinished shoes into a gorgeous pair of stylish shoes that fit his abnormal tiefling feet (this is in canon as well; Len has unusually long feet that are covered with hair and, instead of toenails, he has black claws sticking out of his toes. Having a special shoemaker that specializes in making footwear for tieflings is a somewhat big deal for him in canon). The deviless also gives the same illusion/transformation spell to the shoemaker so that he may travel along with Len as well. To get Lenarius into the ball, she reaches out to some contacts she has with the Chelaxian embassy to get him a position in the delegation that is to be in attendance. The spell breaks at midnight blah blah blah.

Lenarius and the shoemaker head out. He meets up with the delegation. They fit him up with a fabricated name and some false documents, and finally Len goes into the palace.

Neither Len nor Daeran expected to be drawn to each other. Len figures that Daeran is way out of his reach, and Daeran wants nothing to do with Cheliax. However, Lenarius does decide to approach Daeran in a fit of boldness; this is the only night he gets to do this after all, and no one will ever see him again. What could go wrong? It starts with Lenarius asking him to dance. Daeran agrees, but he’s very snippy about it, shooting snide remarks at Lenarius as they dance. Lenarius responds not with gasps of outrage or tuts of disapproval, but he comes back at Daeran with sharp witticisms of his own, and it’s not long before they build a rapport. Daeran finds himself more and more intrigued by this handsome stranger from Cheliax.

At some point, Serapia, with more than a little bit of prodding from her mother, awkwardly tries to have the next dance with Daeran. Lenarius tries to excuse himself, but Daeran decides to ditch the dance floor and go with him. Lenarius can only shoot her an apologetic look as he and Daeran walk away arm in arm.

Talk circulates among the ballroom about the mysterious courtier who has captured the Count’s attention. Galfrey is hopeful, but unnerved by this development. It bothers her that absolutely no one has ever heard about this person. Also, Lenarius isn’t someone who can have children with Daeran. Although marriage between any two adults is perfectly legal, it is a little worrying for someone who is the last of a noble family.

As for Lenarius and Daeran, the two of them have fun. Because no one knows who Len is, he feels more bold than usual; he talks about interests that he would never reveal and opens up about things he never shared. Daeran picks up on this vibe and starts opening up about himself as well.

At some point, the two of them end up on a balcony. Daeran opens up about how he feels stifled under Galfrey’s guardianship. “If my cousin had her way, I would be a perfectly mannered little doll married to a respectable lady and start a thriving family, never causing any embarrassment to her or my family.” Though Lenarius doesn’t tell Daeran the whole truth, he tells Daeran that he doesn’t live his life freely. After the ball, he would go right back to doing exactly what his family wants him to do and never stepping out of line again.

He also admits that he’s not supposed to be here. He falsified his way to get into the ball to have one night of freedom.

The more Daeran hears, the more he finds his companion absolutely compelling. The two of them kiss right before the clock strikes midnight. Lenarius tells Daeran he has to go. Daeran protests, telling him that he will protect Lenarius from anyone who tries to take him. Lenarius teleports off the balcony down to the grounds below and escapes with the shoemaker.

Because of a teleportation mishap, Lenarius leaves behind one of his shoes on the balcony. He realizes this just as the carriage and “horses” turn back to normal and he and the cobbler have to walk back to his family’s estate. Since the shoemaker still has Lenarius’s old boots from the fitting, he offers them back to Lenarius and takes the other transformed shoe so Len can actually walk home.

The next day, Daeran approaches Galfrey and announces that he wants to marry the mysterious person he spent the night with. All they have to work on is the beautiful but rather unusual shoe Lenarius left behind. Galfrey doesn’t like this idea, but Daeran is adamant that she keep her end of the bargain. Irabeth also doesn’t like this, as she thinks that if someone entered the castle who wasn’t supposed to be there posed a serious danger to Daeran and the queen, but Anevia wants to give this a chance.

Galfrey sends out her people to go look for this person. The Chelaxian embassy is immensely unhelpful. They make empty promises to find that person from their contingent, but all they can come up with is excuses. Anevia even secretly searches among the slaves, purchasing and freeing as many as she can along the way. Galfrey really doesn’t want to go along with the whole “match the shoe to everyone in the kingdom” because she believes that it’s another one of Daeran’s jokes, but Daeran is uncharacteristically adamant about this.

Before they can get to Len, his family finds out about that the person they are looking for is him and find out about the deal he made with his devil “ancestor”. Lenarius’s mother is furious about this and orders him locked up. When Anevia arrives at the Scaeva estate, they tell her that Lenarius was on a trip to a monastery and could not have been at the palace. However, as she is about to leave, the shoemaker stops her. He proves to her that it was Len by showing her the other shoe, that he still had. Len’s feet are so unique that even among tieflings it’s almost impossible to find another who would match.

They break Len out of the tower, Len goes back to Daeran’s estate. Daeran keeps Lenarius around and eventually marries him, much to Galfrey’s consternation. Everyone says that the turn of events was just another scandal the Count decided to cook up, but the two seem happy enough.

[sonic-colours]

bro ur au that’s like the “it all went to shit” version of forces sounds so ducked up and evil i wanna know more HSBDBD

IT IS FUCKED UP AND EVIL like. yknow that scene where gadget used the phantom ruby prototype to stop the sun illusion from falling on them. yeah in this au he just. doesnt. he turns around and leaves em all. he was rewarded with power after infinite took over

and then fights and shit sonic got his arm and tail cut off silver gets exploded shadow gets a chest injury and hearing damage yknow normal sonic stuff