#Prompt [Canon Divergence]

[raviraaa]

two sides of the same coin or smth…

imagine arthur waking up after centuries & stumbling into a new world only to find a merlin who doesn’t remember him, but still wears his wedding ring around his neck as if it means something.

[cinnabon-sweetroll-tiramisu]

Need a story where Arthur is a ghost who follows Merlin around all day and only in dreams can he communicate and touch Merlin. But to Merlin, he thinks it's not real that he's imagining the Arthur in his mind because no way would Arthur, his golden King would ever call him precious or beautiful, it's just wishful thinking on his part.

So Merlin lives a long life without knowing Arthur is there with him, this time it's Arthur's turn to watch and protect Merlin from the shadows as the warlock once did when Arthur was alive.

Arthur could've stayed in Avalon til he was needed yet the urge to return to Merlin is powerful, although he entrusted the care of Camelot into the hands of Guinevere and Leon he could not do the same of Merlin, and only upon his death did he finally realise why.

He was in love with his best friend. Always had been.

And so it is with great stubbornness and a helpful hand from Freya, whom he just found out was Merlin's first love, he frees himself from Avalon and returns as a spirit that guards Merlin's dreams from nightmares and fights off evil creatures that want Merlin's magic or wish to claim Merlin for themselves...and if some of those creatures happen to be humans who wanted to court Merlin well, he's not going to make it easy on them, on his knight's honour he will protect Merlin's virtue!

[hitlikehammers]

steddie ✨soulmarks✨ except that they spell out your soulmate’s last words 💔

(‘make him pay’ = epically lame iteration of this heartbreaking phenomenon)

From the minute he learned about soulmates as a kid, Steve knew not only that he wanted one—of course he did—but that he was absolutely going to get one. Didn’t matter that they were rare as hell, didn’t matter that every year fewer matches were reported: nope. Steve Harrington had a soulmate, and he was going to find them. When he eventually found out the tragedy of it all, the reason people were celebrating fewer instances of soulmates finding one another, Steve’s feelings on the matter didn’t change. At all. The words that appear to signal your match being the last words they’re meant to speak, before they die? Fuck that.

rating: m ♥️ tags: mid-s4 final battle, canon divergence, eddie says the soulmate words on steve’s skin that double as his last words, steve is having absolutely none of that, canon fix-it, romance, steve stays with eddie to prevent his untimely demise, dustin henderson: surprisingly good with molotov cocktails, happy ending ♥️

for @steddielovemonth day twenty five: “He is half of my soul, as the poets say.” ― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

Steve hears it, nods even and makes to step away—he hears it, but like, it takes a second to sink in.

But once it’s all sunk in, saturated in his cells, his bones?

“Change of plans,” he calls out, and gives a total of no shits if anyone has an objections.

“Henderson.”

Dustin perks up; he might have been playing tough about rolling his eyes over not being a hero but he’s predictable—he likes being important enough to get singled out.

“You think you can hit a target with a flaming bottle while a vine, or a tail, might be trying to strangle you?”

Steve wouldn’t have even had to look to know Dustin’s up for it—suspicion, confusion, those too of course but at least not outright resistance because, again.

Predictable.

He does look at Dustin anyway, though.

Mainly because he knows he won’t find such easy acceptance in any of the other faces gathered around, but like…

Here’s the thing.

From the minute he learned about soulmates as a kid, Steve knew not only that he wanted one—of course he did—but that he was absolutely going to get one. Didn’t matter that they were rare as hell, didn’t matter that every year fewer matches were reported: nope. Steve Harrington had a soulmate, and he was going to find them.

When he eventually found out the tragedy of it all, the reason people were celebrating fewer instances of soulmates finding one another, Steve’s feelings on the matter didn’t change. At all.

The words that appear to signal your match being the last words they’re meant to speak, before they die?

Fuck that.

They said you got the words the year it’d happen, first day. No sense of when, just before the year was over. So, like, it was super simple. Steve would just find them, protect them, make sure they say something else as soon as possible to negate the…the curse of it, save them, and then ride into the sunset. Easy.

And actually, he thought it was pretty fucking stupid that people really bought into the whole thing being, like, a guaranteed recipe for heartbreak. If even Steve could figure out how to navigate the rules that easily.

By high school, he learns that people have tried—which is reassuring, that everyone through all the ages wasn’t that stupid or unimaginative, or so easily resigned to the worst—and they’d failed.

All of them, apparently.

Allegedly.

That part is more of a bummer. But Steve Harrington has known he’d find his soulmate his entire life. And he will. So while now he knows he’s up against almost impossible odds, if the stories are to be believed?

He spends high school practicing. Knowing none of these girls are his forever but learning the long way what works and what doesn’t, how to treat someone with care, how to please someone without question. He gets his reputation: Casanova, but not for keeps. He’s good with that.

By the time the Upside Down had entered his world, it was both the worst thing, and the bestthing. Because alternate dimensions were impossible.

Yet here they were.

And what else had he always been told was impossible?

So it could—would—be possible, too.

Steve wasn’t sure he realized how thin of a thread his hope had been hanging on until it rebuilds in chainlinks the more he sees of the impossible, the more he knows again with all of him that when the time comes, he’ll save them.

Make Him Pay was a weird mark to find on his skin in the early hours of 1986, but it meant that he was right. He had a soulmate.

And he had a whole year to find them. And save them. And ask if they’d like a forever, too.

And how fucking lucky, that it barely takes two months.

Impending apocalypse aside, of course. But those were just details. Practically routine, at this point.

So, again: it takes a couple seconds to sink in. For it to make sense alongside the fluttery feeling he’s been having off and on from the base of his throat to the pit of his stomach, since probably somewhere around the boathouse. He almost gets a full step away, even.

But he doesn’t.

Because this, this right here?

This is what Steve Harrington has been preparing for his whole goddamn life.

Robin—the only other person in the world who knows what’s scrawled on his skin—was too far to hear for herself but he taps the inside of his elbow where the words are branded when she looks at him, flooded with questions but her eyes go wide, she picks it up fast as the answer to basically all of them, then turns to Eddie and they stare at each other, exchanging unspoken confirmations for more wonderings until Robin squares her shoulders, nods at Steve more than once so he knows she’s not just committed to figuring this out with him, but that she supports him, maybe even approves of these cards he’s been dealt to save the beautiful curly haired weirdo standing between them.

Fuck, but he loves her. So much.

“He’s soft on you, Henderson,” she cuts in, takes the reins; “convince me. You any better than you were last summer with squeezing out of tight spots? Particularly, you know,” she flicks her eyes meaningfully over to the angry red lines on Steve’s neck; “those involving psychic sorta-vines, or bat-tails trying to hang you?”

“I…” Dustin still looks a little thrown by the team shakeup but he’s a smart fucking kid, and a quick study when he wants to be: “hypothetically?” He chews on his lip, strokes his chin like he’s putting in real thought, here. “Like, with my cleidocranial dysplasia—”

“Your shoulder blade thing?” Nancy pipes up, a little incredulous, and Steve almost feels for her; she hasn’t spent enough time with Dustin to not only know that she’s wrong, but to know how he reacts when people whose intelligence he respected at least a little bit are the ones who are wrong.

“Collarbone,” he eyes her ruthlessly, wholly unimpressed, then turns back to Robin alone; “but, might be able to wiggle out better?”

Robin nods, considering-like, but Steve can see she’s trying not to laugh a little at how Nancy’s now incredulously gaping at them.

“And how’s your aim?” she asks, a little doubtfully—Dustin doesn’t exactly strike…anyone on-sight as being particularly good at throwing shit and making sure it hits a target.

As in, an intended target.

“I smoke everyone at Front Line,” Dustin announces with absolute confidence before twin snorts come from Steve and Eddie in near-tandem, and he glares hard but admits: “except Max.”

“Oh my god, are we seriously,” Nancy can only be heard if you’re listening close and know what her under-the-breath-disbelief sounds like, not just that they’re having this conversation but that they’re having it, as she says, seriously. And Steve would have missed the sound of it too, save that try as had might have in the most awkward days following the implosion of…everything, with them—he hadn’t forgotten.

But honestly, kinda just…screw her. He won’t pretend it’s not a little fucked that they’re playing a life-or-death battle like it’s picking teams in gym class, but it’s only flippant on the surface. Steve would never, would never trust Dustin where he really didn’t think he could handle himself—maybe it’s not ideal, but he does trust the kid, much as he wishes he could keep him from the frontlines, protect him and let him be exposed to the worst of the horrors as little as possible; but Steve also wouldn’t ever risk Robin, or hell, even Nancy, to himself being as distracted as he’d be not knowing that Eddie was safe.

None of it’s ideal. But what about anything with this monster-mash-realm shit ever has been?

And it’s not like Nancy knows that Steve even has a soulmate. She definitely doesn’t know that he’s just found said soulmate, on his way to the gallows on a coin-toss—and sure, yeah, they all are. But there…it’s just…

There was nothing in this dimension or any other that was tearing Steve away from him, and making damn fucking sure he got to ask that question.

Would he also be interested, as in—would he, too, like a…like a forever.

With Steve.

“Also very much top-three at skee-ball,” Dustin’s adding to his battle-resume; “including Max, there.”

Robin pretends to consider; she looks to Steve—reassures him. She understands, and believes they can do this. That they’ll all be okay. He even thinks—beyond wishful thinking—that her bad feelings about all of this aren’t in play right now in this shakeup. He…breathes a little easier.

“You’re with us,” Robin snaps her fingers and waves Dustin over to her and Nancy; “get ready to light the fucker up.”

“Dustin,” Steve calls the kid back before he can scramble away too quick—way too enthusiastically. He turns, still confused about the change at large but in the moment confused why Steve needs him back but he’s gotta say it, one more time:

“Don’t be a hero,” he says, gripping Dustin’s shoulders and shaking him just a little, squeezing tight before he leans in, stares eye to eye before he pulls the most important card he’s got:

“You die, I die.”

He holds Dustin’s gaze until the kid seems to get that Steve’s as serious as Dustin’s ever been and likely more; until he nods, slow and deliberate and says solemn, like a oath form his dweeb books:

“Okay.”

Then, just as he makes to let go, Dustin’s clamping a hand over one of Steve’s on his shoulder and narrowing his eyes:

“Same goes for you, remember that,” he scolds in advance, because of course he does; “plus, on top of that,” he squeezes Steve’s hand as he uses his free one to shake a pointed finger at him:

“If you told us nothing cute, you can’t change the rules now that you’re staying behind.”

Steve wants to laugh. Wants to bend the rules of the universe so none of them have to separate from each other. But…he trusts the others. And he trusts Robin to understand that he’s not just staying with his soulmate, he’s staying because the die was cast to fight for him, against the end for him, and Eddie’s green to this bullshit where they’re all seasoned vets—he trusts her to take care of herself as he’d take care of her, as half his brain cells and the better half at that, and to make sure the rest of them are as safe as they can be, too.

“Noted,” is all he ends up saying with as reassuring a grin as he manage before giving Dustin a shove toward Rob and Nance that definitely isn’t halfway just so he can keep hold of him a millisecond longer. “Get going,” and he tells himself it’ll be okay; doesn’t know if the toothy grin and the snarky double thumbs-up he gets helps or makes it harder to swallow.

He forces himself to toss a salute toward Robin and turn the fuck away before he ruins his own fucking plan of action by demanding that they all find a way to stick together, restructure from the ground up but really fucking quick—

He forces himself to turn back.

To Eddie. Who is staring at him, a little gape-mouthed. A little fast-blinking.

“The fuck was that?”

Which, okay. Okay, that…that is very fair.

But Steve needs a second. He needs a second to soak in the words, from Eddie’s mouth; to pretend to itch near his elbow to see if the words had changed: no.

No, they’re still the same, and he…right. The words were said. His soulmate’s last words had been said, and now his soulmate has said more words.

Right. He’d managed this much—the hardest part, and he had thought it’d unclench the vise in his chest a little more than this but: fine. Fine, he’s over the biggest hurdle. Keeping Eddie safe is in hishands, now, like he always planned—how could you not save your soulmate—and now he just, he…

He just has to make sure Eddie doesn’t fucking say them again before this is over, and then maybe they’d have a chance.

Maybe…maybe they could even have a forever.

He can fucking do this. He was goddamn born to do this.

Steve takes a deep breath and meets Eddie’s questioning gaze.

The fuck was that, he’d asked. Ha.

“You want the heavy version now, or after?”

Eddie narrows those dangerous fucking doe eyes at him, looks him up and down: sees him.

Steve kinda wants to give in to the urge to shiver for the way that gaze sweeps down him across maybe twenty whole heartbeats and Steve feels more deeply known than he thinks he’s felt…ever. Like this.

Eddie heaves a very deep breath and concedes:

“Guess ‘after’ is fine, given we appear to be on a time crunch.”

That’s the right answer—and it’s enough to spur Steve into immediate motion.

He’s already grabbed Eddie by the frayed edge of his vest and is dragging him into the trailer where he lets go, pauses, zips Eddie’s jacket up all the way to the chin, then starts making his checks.

“The hell are you doing?”

Eddie sounds genuinely baffled, more than anything. It would sound adorable in any other moment.

(Goddamnit, but it still sounds adorable, now.)

“You’ve lived in a trailer,” Steve says as he jumps from one side of the very trailer they happen to be in—one that maybe Eddie used to live in, or maybe just a shell, an echo, a carbon copy—fuck if Steve understands what the Upside Down really is on that level;

“But I used to dream of buying an RV,” he tries to underscore the was of it, the used to: the very intentional past tense.

What he wants now is…a future. Almost any future. With this man. With his soulmate.

Eddie.

What he wants is for Eddie, to want to be his Eddie.

And to want Steve, to be Eddie’s Steve.

“They’re not entirely different, but,” Steve pulls furniture out to aid his manic quest, hears Eddie’s voice stop and start around words, mostly only settle around befuddled noises and squeaks; “one thing all the magazines said to watch for is—”

And then he sees it. Grins like he found the…holy-cup, thingy. World Cup?

The really important thingy.

“The ventilation.”

He points and turns to Eddie with what has to look like the grin of an absolutely crazy person but he doesn’t care one fucking bit.

He is somehow more relieved than he thinks is probably necessary to have found them, but like:

“The vents are often overlooked.”

All the RV magazine made comments about ventilation somewhere. He even read about improperly cleaned vents causing a fire, once.

But now he can cover all the bases. Now, he can protect Eddie. Now he has a fucking shot.

But first:

“We fortify this thing like Fort fucking Knox.”

Eddie takes him to where his uncle keeps most of their home improvement type supplies, which turns out to be under the couch and in various random places in the kitchen. He carries an arm full of tape and scissors, hammers and nails over toward the vents before going back for trip number two.

Eddie’s pulling another roll of duct tape out of another mystery drawer in the kitchen—Steve would ask what they needed so much of it for in ‘83 but it’s working for them, so he keeps his mouth shut—for them to block all possible creases and crevices, top to fucking bottom.

Which is exactly what Steve makes damn fucking sure they do.

“Do you really have to play, like, live? Outside, I mean,” Steve asks from focusing on his tape-job, before he starts boarding up the last possible point of entry, as Eddie starts hooking up the audio for the, y’know, the original diversion part of the plan; “or can you rig it to play like a tape, or something,” he’s grasping at straws, pulling too violently at the tape as he sticks another layer on, maybe the fourth by now and it still feels inadequate; “or can you play from in here—”

“Steve.”

He doesn’t expect Eddie so close, close enough for him to grab Steve’s elbows and still them.

To move his hold down Steve’s forearms. Like…deliberately.

“Let me lure them from out there, at least to make sure they’re taking the bait,” Eddie says, those eyes like the ocean in the dark, near-black and fathomless, but also safe and true and right; “and then we can swap a tape in, we can set that up now real fast, so it’s a quick-change?”

Steve blinks, stares down at Eddie’s hands on his, unexpected but right in a way Steve hadn’t even thought to anticipate, for if he ultimately found that soulmate he was after.

“I need you to stay safe. Please.”

The words catch in Steve’s throat, entirely unplanned, and rip rough over gravel on the way out as he looks up, then, and holds Eddie’s gaze with a level of intent he wasn’t sure he had in him before this very moment:

“Promise me.”

And there’s a second where Steve thinks that’s too much, that it goes too far—

“I swear, Steve,” Eddie barely breathes, but those depthless eyes almost seem now to glow: “I don’t understand, but I promise.”

And they let go of one another, and get back to work but…it all feels more vital now. More charged and absolute.

So when Eddie picks up his guitar, fiddles a little and checks the amps, ensures that this’ll shatter eardrums like it’s meant to—Steve pulls him by the collar, and re-zips every layer on him straight to the top.

“No being cute,” Steve reiterates, but even firmer this time; “no trying to be a hero.”

“Told you that wasn’t my area of expertise,” Eddie smirks enough to hollow a dimple.

“Fuck off,” Steve shoves at him, but not toward the door; not yet; “but you’re already plenty cute, so,” he reaches and straightens Eddie’s battle gear one last time as he takes a breath, clears his throat:

“Stick to the plan.”

It must feel as real in this moment to Eddie as it does to Steve, as final and as much of a risk as anything could ever be—or maybe Steve hadn’t cleared the heart in his throat, seizing up a riot, well enough to hide because Eddie stills, goes very suddenly very deathly pale, and blinks too fast to a long stretch of seconds before he’s the one clearing his throat, stumbling over words at a pitch at least an octave too high:

“Which was?” he asks, shaky, like he’sgrasping at straws now, or else: maybe just grasping.

“Umm,” “Eddie fumbles, and Steve can see the pulse heavy in this neck when he swallows; “just to remind me?”

Steve…Steve always knew whoever his soulmate was, he would love them. It’s just how he’s built. But like, soulmate or not, in this moment?

Steve thinks he’ll walk out of this with his heart on a fucking platter for this man, words on his arm or not.

He moves on instinct, and pulls Eddie into a tight hug, the bracing type to steady him as he whispers close to his ear, maybe too intimate by anyone else’s standards, but honestly?

Everyone else can go fuck thensleves.

“Play until they’re maybe…two minutes out,” Steve bullet-points the plan as clear as he can, wills himself not to be distracted by how Eddie seems to shake with the force of his own pulse. “Then get your ass back in here. We lock down and start the tape.”

He dares to squeeze Eddie close, so tight, just once, before moving his hands to Eddie’s shoulders and searching his eyes for questions—and yeah, also maybe just looking at those eyes.

“Roger that,” Eddie exhales so soft, and swallows hard, grabs for one of Steve’s hands on his shoulder still and squeezes it tight kinda out of nowhere, then they moving.

Steve takes another deep breath to steady himself and, after checking every nook and crack and cranny, and starts getting the tape and nails and boards set up to quick-fire seal the door once Eddie’s safe inside.

He’s freaking out, he’s not gonna sugarcoat or downplay it: but the way his heart’s pounding is kinda split for cause because…even though he knows every note his soulmate plays from the goddamn roof is meant to coax the apocalypse to turn their way—fuck, but Eddie’s good with that fucking guitar.

Steve doesn’t have to be into the genre to appreciate that it’s hot and yeah, okay—there’s no more he can do until Eddie’s inside so maybe he…takes a peek.

Oh yeah. Fucking hot.

He makes himself turn, check the sky: the bats are taking the bait.

They’re close e-fucking-nough.

“Eddie!” he yells it but it’s not enough over the amps so he guesses where a break will come and whistles between his fingers, startling Eddie enough to nearly drop his guitar.

“Inside! Now!” he snaps his fingers as Eddie scrambles down and into the trailer, setting his instrument aside as Steve flips the tape to play, more muted but still ear-splitting enough to take over before he starts taping the door once, twice, cross-cross, a third time—then he grabs for the nails and the panels they’d ripped from anywhere they served a purpose that wasn’t fucking structural, and starts hammering them in, decides another layer of duct tape can’t hurt, then, well, there’s more wood so, again, can’t be too careful—

He’s not expecting the hand reaching out to stop him.

“This the heavier version, then?”

Steve turns toward the rough, shaky words, means to tell Eddie to just wait, let him finish this, they don’t have time, but—

The arm Eddie’s grabbed…his sleeve has runched up. To show the words near his elbow. In…

The words come in your soulmate’s handwriting, right, so Eddie would…would recognize that, even if he forgot saying…

“I,” Steve thinks his mouth moves more than it makes actual noise, and this time his heart pounding isn’t split for its reason in any possible way, no, it’s all tangled up: terror and want and nerves and resolve all mixed together. He tries to read anything from Eddie’s face, from the way he stares at Steve with those wide, wide eyes.

“Yeah?” Steve kinda chokes around it a little—maybe he’s hoping something telling, something readable will shift in Eddie’s expression: no dice. Just staring, and breathing a little heavy, and the chittering of the bats getting ever-closer outside.

Steve breathes out, nails the last panel in and straightens up, looks Eddie straight in those big gorgeous eyes that he desperately wants the chance to drown in later, when this is over.

He really hopes being honest right now doesn’t cost him a chance at later.

“Yeah.”

And in what feels like the last fucking second left before Steve’s heart fucking rips through his skin, Eddie’s face flickers and gives…everything away.

He fucking glows.

“Good,” and Eddie’s breathless with something other than the fear of dying, despite the circumstances, despite the incoming flood of creatures out for their blood; he’s not wholly absent of nerves as he rolls up his own sleeve, but he’s vibrating almost, more than he’s shaking, and it comes through in the words that spill forth in a rush:

“Because this one’s mine.”

And there it is, thrust into Steve’s eyeline, in Steve’s very familiar scrawl:

stick to the plan

He…he remembers saying that. And he remembers Eddie paling so fast Steve would have been scared if they weren’t awaiting a fight for their lives but…

Maybe that hadn’t been it at all.

“Seriously?”

It comes out of Steve breathier than he wants, or expects because…he guesses he never really processed, in all the years and in all the yearning, the planning, the wanting, the…the all of it.

He didn’t really process the soulmate he’d find, finding him back.

“Couldn’t let you stop talking there,” Eddie says, a little small, almost shy; “whether you’d want me or not, I couldn’t—”

And Steve, who had wondered just how bad the nerves were for Eddie to have forgotten the pretty straight forward plan they’d both been working on pretty single-mindedly since they’d split from Dustin and the girls, but now, now he—

The bats will be here in a fucking second.

But fuck it, Steve leans in.

And fuck but Eddie meets him halfway without a second’s hesitation.

Steve maybe hears the bats start to hit the trailer; might be his heartbeat in his ears. He knows he hears Eddie moan and tease Steve’s lips, hears that moan go deeper when Steve’s mouth opens and their tongues find each other and, well.

There’s nothing left for them to do, really. They’ve played their role—and Steve hadn’t battened down the hatches on this place for nothing, after all.

This is a hell of a lot better way to wait out their end of things, by a fucking long shot, regardless—and Jesus.

Steve couldn’t ever have expected Eddie to taste this sweet.

♥️🦇🦇♥️

✨also on ao3

For @stuftzombie (to whom I apologise 1) for completely misreading your prompt and writing this first, and then going back and reading it RIGHT—so like, please tell me if you want a second CORRECT fill now that I’m back online to post one, I can absolutely write the original prompt no problem—I feel both very stupid and also TERRIBLE for somehow making THIS THE PROMPT, and then 2) I also apologise PROFUSELY for the EGREGIOUS delay—I had a folder of prompts that I saved twice, but didn’t realise was a separate file 🫠) who requested SOULMATE AU at my HOBBIT-STYLE BIRTHDAY MONTH PROMPT FEST

✨permanent tag list: OPEN (lmk if you want to be added/removed): @ajeff855 @allmyfavoritethingsinoneblog @anthrobrat @askitwithflours @awkwardgravity1 @bookworm0690 @bumblebeecuttlefishes @captain--low @depressed-freak13 @disrespectedgoatman @dragoon-ze-great @dreamercec @dreamwatch @dreamy-jeans137 @estrellami-1 @eternal-sunflowers @friendlyneighborhoodgaycousin @goodolefashionedloverboi @grtwdsmwhr @gunsknivesandplaid @hiei-harringtonmunson @hbyrde36 @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @kimsnooks @live-laugh-love-dietrich @madigoround @mensch-anthropos-human @nerdyglassescheeseychick @notaqueenakhaleesi @ollyxar @pearynice @perseus-notjackson @pretend-theres-a-name-here

divider credit here and here

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt

Jason’s return to Gotham as the crime lord Red Hood is significantly hampered when he saves two kids from being trafficked and suddenly finds himself nagging the two to eat their vegetables and do homework on time and, dear lord, your names are Freeman and… Batson? Yeah that’s it, Jason is not waiting this one out until they’re both suddenly dressed in traffic light colors and swinging around the city with an overgrown furry.

Freddy and Billy are a bit confused by the flash adoption via menacing Gotham guy, but it certainly helps that he’s not threatening to send them into the system and that he cooks them meals every day . And also “Billy, I think he might be the new vigilante! That is so cool!” “… do you mean the new crime lord?” “Same thing! Isn’t the helmet awesome!?”

Batman and Robin are… not sure what to make of the new crime lord that, on one hand, keeps antagonizing them to no end, and on the other hand was recently spotted at a meeting with his lieutenants where two masked kids burst into the room to scream about the kitchen being on fire and pointing at each other yelling “It’s all his fault!”

[demaparbat-hp]

Almost

[hwang-inhos-fish]

You know how In-ho took the phone from his underling to address Gi-hun directly at the very end of S1? "You should get on that plane"?

What if In-ho kept calling?

He has that phone's number now. And honestly he could find out how to call even if Gi-hun switched phones / numbers.

Imagine that In-ho, unable to help the obsession / addiction, gives in and reaches out, too fascinated by this player / winner to turn down a chance at conversation. After all, he can keep his voice anonymous with the mask.

And Gi-hun, baffled by the Games, haunted by the need to find who runs them, to UNDERSTAND, finds that he can't turn away from that opportunity either.

Their games of verbal moral chess begin early.

They have two long years of sporadic, intermittent phone calls, often long ones, to build a rapport.

He and Young-il would get on like a wildfire, the chemistry IMMEDIATE, even stronger than canon - like they've known each other for years...

[texasteaparty]

Hangster Sentinel/guide au

Jake is a Grade A Sentinel who is notoriously self sufficient and continuously denies needing a guide to help stabilize him. He doesn't zone out, doesn't struggle to focus or pull back.

But then he starts to struggle and his best friend Coyote, whose a low level guide, can't help regulate him anymore. But it's getting worse, and he ends up zoning bad one day that took almost an hour to get pulled out of.

So the brass set him up with a slightly high profile guide who was trained by the Navy's best Sentinel Guide bondmates.

Bradley Bradshaw is both infuriating and intriguing and Jake can't help but want to learn as much as he can about the guide. And sure, maybe he doesn't quite get off on the right foot, but he's sure this is his fated mate.

They get into a rhythm, and Jake finally begins to trust Bradley when he helps Jake out of a zone that came outta nowhere.

They bond a year after they meet, and Jake gets to meet Bradley's dad's, the infamous Sentinel Tom "Iceman" Kazansky and his Guide Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.

Basically just , they're so good for one another.

[quetzalrofl]

another Urban Jungle alternate ending

Instead of developing ice powers, Danny saves Sam by mentioning that all the plants being part of Undergrowth sounds a lot like that monocrops thing she mentioned a couple weeks ago. This fills her with fury enough to excise the malignant spirit entirely, and consequently seize power for herself.

Alas, for even with Undergrowth defeated, her own plans for the Urban Jungle are something Danny still needs to convince Sam to give up(or at least, to trim back a bit).

[ilkao3]

Prompt:

Canon divergence, prophecy reversal

Tristan’s ghost sticks with Arthur and tells him everything he knows/learned (and yes, he’s a parallel to the overgrown lizard). From his tenth winter, Arthur grows to distrust his father. By his fifteenth, he knows to not take everything Tristan says as gospel, but presses Gaius to tell him the truth when he can.

When he’s old enough to travel alone, he takes the risk of attempting to meet the druids, and it’s there that he learns of the prophecy.

Later, when he meets Merlin, he knows exactly who his other half is.

[loudlittleecho]

Danny Phantom Prompt: Too Late to Save Them

Ok! There are similar concepts floating either around here or AO3 (or both), but I haven’t been able to find this particular angst path. (Though I’m sure it’s around)

So!

Canon Divergence After TUE (The Ultimate Enemy)

Danny fought his evil self, but was too late to save his family. Clockwork didn’t reverse time to save them— they were always meant to die. It was their “time.”

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

“NO!” 

Danny was flown backward from the explosion, his body hurtling along with the rubble. 

The rubble. 

When the dust settled he heard sirens in the distance. Saw. . . a torn red beret beside his foot.

Tucker. 

Sam. 

His. . . 

Family. 

Distraught, confused, exhausted, Danny notices a woman crouched down beside him. She’s speaking to him, but he can’t hear her; there’s a dull buzz all around him, and the world seems more. . . narrow. It’s hard for him to focus on what he’s seeing. 

And then she. . . freezes. 

The world freezes in time. 

The ghost, Clockwork, is floating behind her. He has his hand out, waiting for something. His expression unreadable, but Danny understands. 

His fingers lightly grasp the thermos holding his future self. As though in a trance, he lifts it up to Clockwork. Gives him the thermos. 

Clockwork accepts it, continues looking at him impassively. 

Resumes time. 

. . . 

The days go by. He is released from the hospital in the care of a caseworker. She is talking to him gently, but he doesn’t hear what she’s saying. 

He's had many people talk to him, so many people gazing at him with pity. He can't be bothered to care.

He is led to a car, someone buckles him in. The car begins driving, and soon is parked in front of Fenton Works.

His home. 

The caseworker is saying something. . . Something about his aunt Alicia. He ignores her, walking into the house. 

Into the lab. 

He hears her scurrying after him.

Ignoring her cries of alarm, he goes into the portal. 

… 

He floats in the ghost zone. A few ghosts attempt to banter with him, push him around; but noticing his non reaction, leave him be. 

He can’t go home. Can’t go to Vlad. He has to keep his humanity to prevent becoming a monster. 

But how can he keep what he can’t feel?

He’s lost them all.

But he can keep his promise. 

“Don't worry. I won't turn into that. Ever. I promise.”

He floats further and further into the ghost zone. 

[empressgeekt]

Trolls - Accidental Knight and Lost Princess of Rock (A combo au of FoF and Reverse Rock Sibblings)

Okay. Reverse Rock Sibblings is an au by @rocksibblingsau it's basically a reverse of their main au where Branch was kidnapped by Barb as a kid and raised in the rock tribe, highly recommend this au and that everyone should go read their fic (link). The reverse au is one where Barb got trapped in Pop territory and she and Branch just end up living in the bunker together, because their both misfits in the eyes of Pop village. This post is my attempt at combinding this au with my au Field of Forgetmenots (with a little influence of my BB au), which is a Keith and Branch Brother's au, so we're about to start an adventure of a heavily Khaotic trio of adopted siBBlings.

The au begins with Barb on a supply trip with her father, it's peaceful at first, however their Angler bus accidentally disturbs a Briar Wolf den. In the chaos of the predator attack, Barb got hit from one of the wolf's paws, would be thrown to the brush, and knocked out. A very young Branch was out collecting herbs when this happened and he watches in mute horror as the Wolves rip the bus apart, the occupants screaming for their lives. He sees Barb get thrown and uses his hair to pull her away from the danger. He's a little surprised at her appearance, colors dulled and with a crazy hair cut, but he wasn't going to leave her to bleed out from the claw wound on her side. So, her drags her back to the village and asks for help. For once the adults listen to him about a wolf attack, cause well there's a bleeding teenager on the ground. Dr. Moonbloom patches Barb up and Peppy leads an expedition to see if anyone else survives. No one else was found other then Bloodstains on the ground.

Barb wakes up in the healing pod and she is thrown off by all of the color around her. She is horrified to discover that Pop trolls had kidnapped her. Though, she doesn't say anything about her panic, she would not be weak infront of Pop trolls. When the king comes to talk to her, she listens to his words and realizes...they don't recognize that she's a rock troll...Well King Peppy does but he askes her to keep it hidden, because the last thing the tribe needs is for other trolls to track them down and lead Giants to them. Barb bulldozes passed that whole thing and askes for her Dad, and is devestated when Peppy tells her that no one else survived the wolf attack. Barb half listens, as Peppy asks her age, explains they'll get her a foster family until she's grown and that she's welcome in the village as long as she doesn't tell anyone about the tribes. Barb half heartedly agrees, feeling heavy grief for her father. She doesn't tell Peppy about being the Rock princess.

Until a foster family is found Barb stays with Peppy after being released from Dr. MoonBloom's care. It's miserable experience. Baby Poppy is like adult Poppy, just hyped up on sugar and lacking any sort of social awareness. So, Barb has to deal with this little child who is just so excited to have a "Foster sister", all while Barb is mourning her father. She just wants to be left alone to be sad, but Poppy doesn't get it so is constantly trying to Cheer Barb up. Cooper (I headcanon Peppy took him in), is a little better, the younger funk troll (really didn't tell your kid this Peppy?) is excitable but not to Poppy's point, not to mention really clumsy. Barb finds little amusement in watching all of the tumbling Cooper does. However, She still can't wait for a foster family, just so she can get away from this hypocritical king and his daughter.

Things don't get much better with a foster family. They keep trying to make her "normal", act happy, wear bright colors, eat a lot of sugar. and make her sing, but they get upset at her when she sings, because her voice is too rough and raspy for most pop songs. She does manage to get her hands on a guitar, but its acoustic and way too expensive so she can't break it on a whim and expect a new one. She fights with her foster siblings, and apparently she gets in trouble for it since pop trollings don't brawl with their peers. Pretty much she can't wait until she's grown up enough to get out of the hell hole of the foster system. Until one day Peppy brings over another foster kid, with a strained smile, the one and only little Branch. Barb is a little surprised to see a dulled pop troll, but she immediately picks up on how he doesn't want to interact with the family. The parents don't notice but the other kids pick on him, and Barb can't stand it. For the first time someone stood up for the grey troll. and Barb doesn't stop there. After a few days, she notices that Branch would run off on his own for hours at a time, only coming back to the foster house for dinner and bed. Since no one else would do anything about a literal kid running off into the woods, a forest that Barb knew was full of predators, she decided to follow him one day. Found out all about the bunker, Branch's plans and decides to help.

Branch is very confused about Barb at first. In the beginning he just thought she was repaying him for finding her, and when he brought it up he's shock to learn that she had no idea that he found her. "Why do you want to help me then?" "'Cause you're the only sane person here." And she really does believe that, Branch is the only person who seems to give a crap about protecting himself, the entire village is up in the trees so predator's on the ground don't bother them as much, but it felt like no one was taking safety into account. Branch was the only one, and he was just a kid. Barb wasn't going to leave the younger trolling alone, besides, he was more like the trolls back home, a comfort to her in this strange colorful world.

Once Barb out grows the Foster system, she signs up to take Branch on as a young brother and they two of them work on the bunker and live in the woods. Barb prefers this to the village as Rock trolls burrowed rather then built pods. They grow up together as misfit brother and sister. Barb opens up to Branch about her tribe and their traditions. Branch tells Barb about his brothers and grandmother (after nightmares). There lives have ups and downs. Forest life is hard. Barb can take harder hits and heat, but she can't climb well and practically goes into a hibernate state when winter rolls around. Branch is more resourceful, and practically built for the woods, but has a hard time asking for help. They teach each other things, Branch teaches Barb about the Bergens, and Barb in turn teaches him self defenses (she was royalty no way she wasn't taught a little hand to hand).

They're adults by the time that a new player enters the picture one winter. A little mossy green trolling, who's also a little bit of an outsider, starts to follow Branch after an interaction between the two at the market. Barb finds it hilarious. It's like Branch is a mama critter with a Lil baby trailing behind him all the time. Despite his sister's support of a literal child following them into the middle of a dangerous forest, branch tries to keep keith at a distance at first...until an almost gruesome run in with a squirrel. After that he and Barb vow to teach their new little Stalker all about the forest and survival. From winter to summer they see keith almost every day and form a trio of khaos sibblings. A relationship that goes from honorary to legally after Keith dad died in a mining accident. Barb and Branch fight hard to get the trollings custody as they know keith would not have a good time in the foster system. Peppy begrudgingly allows them to keep keith.

A year passes, they all heal and bond. Barb know what it's like to loose a dad so she helps keith through his grief. The whole process is very healing for all three. Barb and Branch let go of their self blame for the deaths/abandonment of their familes (Barb her dad, and Branch his Grandmother specifically) because they don't want Keith to copy them and feel like he's responsible for his dad's death. Overall the Bunker is a full house with two adults and a trolling. Keith knows all about his new brother and sister. Barb has no need to hide what makes her different from Keith, the kid can keep a secret. The trolling stumble on to pictures of Branch's brothers, so the grey troll has to explain that whole bucket of worms.

Keith's birthday rolls around, and Barb and Branch go as far out as they can. A small slumber party with Keith's close friends. The trolling had been working on a story about a knight, so Branch plans to dress up as the character as a birthday surprise. Much to his sister amusement. "You look like a DnD character" "I don't even know what that is...."

Long story short, Branch fends off a wolf in costume and suddenly is named the new hero of the village without anyone noticing he's the grey outsider. After this Branch is panicking over this sudden attention on him as a Hero, because Princess Poppy is out feverously searching the village for his real identity. Barb and Keith think Branch is over reacting and that their brother deserves a little recognition for protecting the village all these years. So they team up and set up a meeting between Poppy and the "Forest Guardian", convincing Branch to go through with it, as this way the village might finally listen to them about the whole predator issue. This plan works infuriatingly well, and the village makes some changes for the safer and Knighting Branch, Barb and Keith gave Poppy that idea, and get the two on the dance floor during the formal after party (They both know Branch is a sucker for the Princess and will play matchmaker until successful).

When the 20th Freedom Anniversy rolls around. Keith is out playing with CJ in her pod, Branch is hunkered down in the bunker after foraging. Barb stayed out a little later wanting some cinnamon bark to cook dinner with, and while traveling home she gets too close to the party just as the Chef shows up. Being brave and stupid, she helps the others escape but is snatched up with the rest of the snack pack. Poppy and Keith meet up while running to the bunker and she tells him about Barb being grabbed.

Branch is horrofiyed when Poppy tells him everything. Clinging to Keith holding back a mountain of emotions and truama. He almost says yes when Poppy askes him to come but he stops himself, claiming that "Barb was grabbed, no troll comes back after being Grabbed." Poppy groans and grips about how Forest Guardian didn't come to save them. This does not help.

B: Poppy he was probably looking out for predators, you know the parties attract them.

P: It did! A bergen came and he didn't defend us!

B: What do you honestly expect him to do against a bergen! A bergen and a wolf are two completely different things.

Deep down, Branch wasn't going to give up on his sister. After Poppy stuffs the village in the bunker. Branch suits up and leaves through the tunnels that connect the Bunker to the rest of the territory. He bids Keith goodbye, leaving the leaf vest with the trolling. He and Poppy meet up in the forest same old same old.

Barb meanwhile is scared out of her mind, but she doesn't want to show it so she just seems angry to everyone. Cursing up a storm, it shocks everyone Bergens included. Even Chef isn't sure what's wrong with Barb, she knows the rock troll isn't Grey with how bright her hair is, but trolls were never this violent. When she tries to reach into the cage to grab Creek, Barb bites her hand. Chef slapps her into the floor before stuffing her back in, and still takes Creek.

Barb has to resist wrapping her baby brother in a hug when Branch and Poppy finally get to the cage. Branch is dressed as the guardian and she can't reveal his identy. Both Sibblings are not at all impressed with the whole "Date to get Creek back" plan. First off, their not fond of him. Branch for obvious reasons, and Barb because he treated her brothers like shit. Second, how the F*ck is this even going to work? Talk the king into his bedroom? Into his stomach? That's some freaky stuff neither of them need to see. Still, they know the only way to get home back to the Keith is to speed this up as long as they can. Branch and Barb snap Bridget out of her stupor, and they get to work. Barb is just trying not to throw up through the whole mission, cause this is worse then any cheesy rom-com.

Barb threatens to kill Creek like the scoundrel he is when he betrays them, and once in the pot she's right by Branch's side as they try to escape. Keith runs into her arms once the rest of the village is captured, and the sight of his brother and sister grey forces Branch to start singing. Hence ture color's seen, and the song, despite being pop, is the most beautiful one Barb has ever heard.

When confronting the Bergen king head on, and the Chef begins to lose it. She doesn't reach for Branch or Poppy to force feed to Gristle, she reaches for Barb. Dulled colors or not, the rock troll had been the one to piss off the Chef the most. Branch does not let her get snatched, and stabs the Chef's hand just as she was going to Grab his sister. In retalliation, the Chef swipes at Branch with her knife, severely wounding him...and putting him into a coma.

Barb is left scrambling. She's torn between the baby brother in the hospital, the baby brother at home, and all of the village finally coming to their senses and caring about Branch now. They send way too many flowers and thank you gifts. Poppy is a blessing, she's able to run point with the village so Barb can handle her family. Especially, when Branch is actually awake and needs to get used to missing an eye.

When it comes to the formation of the forest guard Barb is a drill sergeant, whipping people into shape for proper protectors, and serves as Branch's second. She'd love to teach them power chords however King Peppy bans it quietly, not wanting Rock practices in the village.

Well, that changes with in a year. With King Thrash's health in fast decline and no apparent Heir in sight, the Rock tribe start looking as possible candidates to take over, and give them trial periods before selecting someone to coronate. Val Thundershock was a strong contender and she has plan to get revenge on the Pop trolls. Its a known fact that Princess was lost in an attack on the there transport, the tribe had known for years, what the had only learned recently however was that it was in the Pop trolls territory that she was lost. There's no doubt in Val's mind they sent the wolves and killed her friend. And the WorldTour begins.

When the letter gets sent to the village Peppy has to finally come clean about the other tribes, Barb smiles through out the whole explanation, until Peppy says it was in fight that split up the tribes.

Barb: Okay, King dude I'm gonna stop you right there, it was not infighting that caused the Split. The tribes seperated because Pop turned on the others and wiped them out.

Peppy: Well Barb I'm afraid you're mistaken, that's not what our scrapbooks said.

Barb: You're scrap books are wrong. I have known this story for as long as I can remember, and it was not the meagre disagreement. It was a full on war, one that didn't end until King Axl Rose of the Rock Tribe and his army stood up to the pop tribe in a final fight, killing the king of disco, and allowing the other tribes a chance to flee.

Poppy: Barb how do you know about this?

Barb: Because I am a Rock troll.

Things escalate after that, Poppy takes it as good news, this giant party is a chance for Barb to re-connect with her people. And while she did, expect her dad and Branch to be a little cautious, she did not expect Barb to tell her that this was not a party invite. Barb tries to explain that Rock had been bitter to Pop, and some to the other tribes, due to how many losses they had in the war, and this was in no way and actual party. Poppy doesn't listen...and Barb and Branch join her on the mission, with Keith as a stoaway.

Branch picks up on something going on with his sister and askes if she's okay. Barb's conflicted through out the trip, for years she dreamed of going home to her dad (if he was still alive), but now she isn't so sure, for all of the problems they had with the village it's become home after so long. Not to mention the whole request for the string feels off to her, like why would Val want that? It's giving her ancient pop tribe vibes and she doesn't like to think her people could fall so far. Symphonyville just puts everything in perspective, the amount of damage that Rock music can cause. Poppy doesn't want to go home just yet.

On the trip to country territory, Branch asks Barb all she knows about Rock tactics and weaponry, and she does her best, she was trained in war when she was younger, but technology and practices can change over the years she's been gone. Keith wants to hear some Rock music so he'll know if he's in danger or not. That kind of breaks Barb's heart, she knows Keith didn't mean to be offensive he's just a scared kid after all, but that's still her music.

Barb and Branch plug up Poppy's attempts for a medley. "Pop-squeak, what you are doing is literally the reason the Split happened in the first place."

They talk to Delta, but they don't get anywhere in terms of help. As they leave Hickory trotts up offing them a ride to funk territory. Poppy agrees, however before Branch can objest Barb walks up and pulls on hickory's "tail" (dickory's hair) and rips the brother in the back out of the costume. "Val sent Bounty hunters after us." After some convincing, Hickory and Dickory join up, they just want to save their music, and as soon as Barb proves she is the lost princess of the Rock Tribe, their more inclined to follow her, since she doesn't want a war and is technically next in line. And from them Barb learns that her dad is still alive, but has been loosing his mind recently. Keith cuddles her that night to make her feel better, he knows what it's like to lose a dad.

Chaz does try to attack them in the middle of the night, but the smooth jazz troll doesn't get Far. Barb it quick to the draw with her guitar, acoustic or not, she gives in to her instincts for the first time in years, and a power chord blasts Chaz away. She's not losing her brothers.

Meeting Cooper at Vibe city...explains a lot...when Rock attacks Barb and Keith end up in a bubble with Hickory and Dickory, when they land the only find Poppy, having been captured by Chaz and Val. Branch is nowhere in sight, but as much as it pains Barb she can't go looking for him. Val has gotten all the strings, they need to act now. Barb is in no way the planner Branch is, but she picked up a few things, with the help of Hickory and Dickory, they sneak into Volcano Rock City and kidnap one Billy Reverb. Barb remembered his name from one of the roasters of "Upcoming Stars" Her dad used to read, as though trolls could be assists in time of war. Billy is a little tick at first (they stuffed him in a bag), but agrees, when Barb points out how if they let Val do whatever she was planning they wouldn't be any better then the ancient pop trolls, Billy agrees to help and He gets the rest of bad hair day involved, along with a troll he used to tutor named Demo. He gives Barb one of his guitars, and they crash the concert...and when did the snack pack get there?

As soon as Barb sees the glowing guitar strings, she knows that Val is planning. It was supposed to be a myth, but here she was about to witness and Ultimate power chord, that was being pointed straight at her future-sister-in-law, she's about to jump in when a book comes flying out of nowhere smacking Val in the face. Her first baby brother coming to save the day...until... he jumps...it's the chef all over again, only this time he isn't bloodied, he's completely transformed. Had Barb ever envisioned Branch as a Rock Troll? Yes, but never like this. He was still Branch, not a hollow husk. She does jump on stage after this, Val will never do that to anyone else on her watch.

Val and the crowd doesn't believe that Barb is the lost princess at first, but once she and Val get into a duel on stage, there's no questioning her skills. Billy and Bad Hair Day protect the crowd from the blasts, while Demo and Keith sneak to Poppy and set her free. Poppy runs to stop the fighting, and un the chaos the strings are broken. It all goes silent and Val tries to blame it on Pop, but Barb is having none of it, and tells the purple rock troll to shut it, before checking up on Branch who is just coming too. Just sing starts with the funk twins, and Barb joins them with a pluck of her strings and Branch starts singing....Peace is restored, however Barb does not claim the throne, she doesn't want to be queen, but Val is not given the crown, Rather Billy is the one selected, due to his bravery and leadership he presented at the concert.

Barb is reunited with her Dad, and Thrash is in a moment of clarity when this happens. It's a very tearful affair, and Barb takes the chance to introduce Branch and Keith to her dad, who is very sweet to them for as long as he can. When trollstopia is completed, Thrash is moved to a permanent care facility there, so he can be close to his children.

When Bridget and Gristle's wedding happens, Barb is in attendance, she's working major security, so Branch can focus on his Best Man duties, all of the bounty hunters (except Chaz), came to work in the guard since it's similar in nature to hunting, btu far more stable. Barb has faith in her soldiers, but somehow one John Dory manages to slip through the cracks, and no no no no, this child abandoner does not get to do this now. Barb shoots him with a trank dart, and arrests him, before he gets to far. She grabs Branch after the ceremony and takes him to deal with the intruder.

John wakes up before the Ceremony is over, and the poor bounty hunters had to deal with him throwing his status around as a Brozone member. Branch refused to take off his mask or reveal his idenity until John remember's his actual name. Only to get outed by Poppy and Keith walking into the room. Que Identy reveal and John suddenly has to deal with two very protective siblings. Though out the trip, Barb doesn't stop correcting John about Branch's name and Keith is right with her.

Vacay Island is a cool place and Barb was already planning to take a more relaxed trip there with her brothers and father when this was all over. She laughs at Bruce for mistaking Keith for Branch's son, and then gives the purple-haired troll a rather firm hand shake. And while she doesn't want to associate herself with the brothers, she is open to being an aunt to all of Bruce's hellions. She tries to not be effected by Branch slipping back into old habits during the practice performance, but some part of her can't help but worry that Branch is forgiving them to easily. She's waiting for the other shoe to drop after that.

The puttputt trolls put her on edge, cause goodness these guys need therapy. They were like baby branch on steroids and no emotional support. Clay gets on her nerves even more than John since while oblivious most of the time, the eldest wilted a little whenever she took a jab at him for leaving, and Bruce straight up looked guilty, Clay just gets defensive and argue's with her. Claiming that Barb doesn't know anything about what happened. Seemingly missing that Barb doesn't care what went down between the brothers, she wants them own up what they did to her brother.

When Viva tries to get them to stay at the golf course against their will. Branch pulls out a bow and Barb takes down the trolls trying to hold them in place, while Keith slipped away and opened the door. Everyone but poppy is shocked by their sudden violence, but they don't get to question it until they get back to Rhonda. "We work in military you babies!" Barb actually comforts Poppy, saying that she was right to leave, Being a big sister doesn't mean controlling your young sibling's life and while she feels for Viva, that was too far. Maybe later they can rebuild something, but that wasn't the way to do it. John over hears this.

Practice goes the same, though Barb steps in with the whole outfit thing, after all, they need their voices in harmony not their outfits. John doesn't back off until Barb asks if this is a kink for him and he shuts up and doesn't even try to get keith to fill in that roll. It's very hard for her to not lash out, when the tension rises after all, she and Branch agreed their would be no Scream fighting infront of Keith, so she's cradling the trolling, when she screams at them to shut up, exclaiming no wonder you broke up, "Ya'll don't give a Sh*t about each other!" To which Clay responsed, "Oh what Like you know how we should treat each other? You're not even real family!"

And Branch snaps. Yell at him, it hurts, and he should stand up for himself more, but no one screams at his big sister and baby brother. Branch starts ranting about everything he had to go through because of them, and he's done paying for their dreams with his deep love for them! Ripping off his mask to show them the eye he gave up for family...but not for them...for someone who appreciated it everyday, because Barb begged for him to live, not sing for her, live as he is. "Barb and Keith are more family then any of you!"

They all leave (Barb Keith, Branch and Poppy), and at first they don't even want to go save Floyd. The other three hadn't changed what was the point of getting the liar out of trouble. However, Keith doesn't think Hero's leave behind people in trouble, and the forest guardian is his hero. The little trolling's faith is the thing that gets them moving. However they would not trust the perfect family harmony to save them. Poppy calls in Cooper for back up as the Funk Trolls 100% have a way to cut gemstones.

Barb holds off on her jabs with Floyd only because this man looks bad. Like half dead vibes, it makes her father look like a spring daisy. Doesn't mean she's sunshine and rainbows to him though. Branch isn't either, with his nerves shot from the experience with the other three. When they see that Velvet and Veneer have captured the other brothers, Barb, Keith and Branch just shared exhausted sighs. Because of course this had to happen. They free Rhonda and confront the Twins, que car chase.

Barb is at the wheel since she has the most experience with driving, and she is far more aggressive with Tiny catching up to the Twins' ride much faster then expected. Keith holds them steady, as Barb climbs onto RHonda's roof, and starts to pelt the twins with power chord, trying to keep them distracted, while Branch tries to sneakily free his bothersome family. It doesn't work, and Keith loses control, sending Rhonda flying off of the road. The armadillo Bus is thankfully caught by Bridget and gristle, while Barb is saved by a locks of golden hair. Viva catches her and pulls her back to safety. Both groups of sibling reunite with hugs on board of Rhonda. Barb gives Viva a proud smile to see how much the pink blonde had grown in terms of older sibling hood.

Through out all of this John Dory is a mess. Ever since the fight, where Branch rightfully so, ripped them to shreds. He has been replaying all the words his baby brother screamed, and what he had over heard Barb say to poppy earlier. New perspective in mind, he knows he has to apologize for being just like that to his younger brothers, but first he has to make it out of this. Watching as Branch and the others battled the twins (which was crazy! taking on two giants hand to hand), until eventually he, bruce, and clay were free was just another nail in the coffin of how much Branch had grown up. Floyd is on his death bed, and he just breaks down in the group as Velvet announces an encore. His apology is bluppered and not put together well but the feeling is there, "It's a long story, everything that happened, and I'm sorry that hurt all of you. But please, just for a minute can we all put everything aside for the sake of our brother who needs us. I don't need us to be perfect, i just need us to try, cause if we don't..."

Barb surprisingly is the first to step forward with the harmony, playing a melody on her guitar, an old lullaby that her dad used to sing, and that she in turn sung to Branch and Keith. The piece predates the split, and never really belonged to any tribe, so the brothers recognize it. By some miracle, the PFH is pulled off and the Twins are arrested, by then the funk trolls show up and they are pulled into the ship and Floyd is brought to the hospital wing.

The rest of the au is basically, the brothers having to deal with Floyd's recovery and trying to bond with Branch, plus Keith and Barb, since the three are a complete package. Eventually ending at Keith's ninth birthday party where differences are settled and the family is united, with a fresh start.

----

Once more this au, was inspired by the Reverse Rock Sibblings is an au by @rocksibblingsau, please support them! as all rights to that au belong to them. FOF is my own work.

[cinnabon-sweetroll-tiramisu]

Bro, imagine if Merlin went back in time to the first moment he met the Great Dragon and turned Kilgharrah into a tiny asf dragon then freed him lol

Kilgharrah: GASP

Merlin: Yeesss, payback for the horrible advice you gave me in the future.

Kilgharrah: YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME WARLOCK

Merlin: LOL

[raayllum]

Why you can't just regulate dark magic: a practical thought experiment.

A few times in my many years in TDP fandom I've seen the idea presented of "Dark magic can be sustainable, it just needs regulations". This idea, to be clear, isn't inherently a bad one — but it is one that's never quite jived with my understanding of the series, even in the earlier days. So this meta is an attempt to explain 1) why I think said idea simplifies/ignores some of the pitfalls that would arise if they try and 2) doesn't adequately dress some of the core issues that result from dark magic use.

For fairness' sake, I'm going to only loop in the first 3 seasons of TDP's treatment/lore about dark magic, so no "Aaravos possession" or "it rips a hole in your spirit/soul" among other tidbits from arc 2. I'm also not going to argue on the basis of "well we SAW that humans could've regulated it but Chose not to in S7" on account of 1) it being from later seasons and 2) I'd wager some of the sustainability argument is upset with "the show Chose to portray it this way" which exists somewhat outside in-universe rationale. Cool? Cool.

Now, let's dive in:

First off: dark magic's pull on the external environment, which is what the sustainability argument typically focuses on.

Part of the regulations argument that always felt wonky to me was the subset assumption that regulations would, or could be, uniform across the board, and whether it'd exist in just the Pentarchy or in all of Xadia overall.

For starters, if it is just in the Pentarchy, while we know some spells can be done with purely human / non-magical body parts (hearts of cinder, the paralysis cure spell, seemingly tracking spell, Claudia's initial healing spell that involves grasshopper goop), the majority of what we see cannot be (i.e. Clauida's eye of griffon spell, ash defensive spells, fire spell). A reliable cure for famine, for example, requires travelling into Xadia—which, even if regulated amongst the Pentarchy, would still be unpermissible—so more 'greater good' spells would typically rely on legally forbidden Xadian components anyway. There would be a huge restriction on what could be done under dark magic as well as a huge spike in acquiring human body parts (possibly through human trafficking) or taking from the Pentarchy ecosystems to maintain consistent dark magic use (more on this change later).

Secondly, what we see within the first three seasons is that not all magical beings fit neatly into person or not a person category. Animals like Phoe-Phoe and Bait are highly intelligent and communicative; some dragons can talk but not all can't. The Magma Titan's personhood is directly called into question and neither confirmed nor denied, but just because they don't speak the setting's lingua franca (or at all, given that we do have mute characters, like Amaya) doesn't mean that they're not a person.

Distinguishing who is acceptable spell parts on the basis of perceived personhood would be a slippery slope: does a non-talking dragon count or not? What happens if one kingdom decides dragons are off limits, but another doesn't? All of those mages are still going to be crossing over to go hunt them for spell parts because if there's widespread regulation and/or supply and demand (whichever comes first, honestly) they'll have extra incentive to do so... unless the border kingdoms, like Katolis and Duren, don't let them through... which lands us more or less back to where we are in canon in terms of "you can't cross over into Xadia to organ harvest whatever you want" except with humans enforcing it explicitly rather than just Xadia. And if mages do cross the border for plants or animal-animals, there would need to possibly be elven guides assigned to them to ensure they keep to the legal boundaries (similarly to how Lujanne is assigned to the Nexus) or a centre of commerce for bartering... but even that centre would have to upheld by either 1) humans under supervision or 2) elves, who then get to directly control what goes in human hands regardless Again.

The other bigger part is that within TDP canon — throughout, but in the first three seasons... There just aren't that many dark mages. Katolis and Duren should, by all manner, have the most because they're close to the Border and therefore magical ingredients. We know that all the Pentarchy monarchies have mages working at court in later seasons / supplementary material (Neolandia has Tressal, Evenere has an unnamed High Mage, Aanya in S7 reveals she has mages, and Katolis has had a High Mage for presumably 300ish years) besides Del Bar. But Claudia never mentions going anywhere to buy supplies and we don't see the threat of dark mages in any of the towns the kids stumble through in S1 (Ellis') or S2 (the port town, the dragon town which is just hours away from the border); Lujanne never mentions scaring mages away in particular, and despite Viren's magic being very useful in a lot of circumstances in Katolis' immediate history, his daughter is the only other mage adjacent person at court. There's no mention of mage schools or groups of mages work together; Aanya's mages might be a newer thing since her mothers didn't rely on theirs, or they were relying on the crystals > the kind of mage that would know how to rejuvenate the land.

What this can tell us is that there just aren't a lot of dark mages in the Pentarchy. On the one hand this makes sense — the training takes time and expertise to learn, access to numerous tomes and ingredients (as discussed above. On the other hand, it indicates that if dark magic was regulated and became more widespread, there would need to be an increase in mages to fulfil the needs of the people relying on them.

This is more speculation based territory, admittedly, but does make sense. The more useful and reliable a thing is, the more it will be used and relied upon for whatever ends it's effective for. If we took Claudia's basic healing spell that involves only grasshopper goop + flowers (presumably just Pentarchy land ingredients) and treat it as a fail safe for... body aches or a consequence of hard labour (something that'd be useful for a farmer, say), then yeah, people would have reason to want it and pay mages for their services. The more common it became, the more mages you would need, not necessarily just from a geographical standpoint, but from an individualized one

As this is where we get into the bigger issue that the sustainability argument doesn't address (or at least, doesn't address as much: dark magic doesn't just have the potential to hurt the environment/ecosystems and survival of magical species. It also takes an immense toll on the caster's body.

S5 confirms that first time dark magic uses causes the nightmare coma, but this is already indicated in S2, so I'm counting it here. What this means is that dark magic has a very high entry cost. Regardless of whether the spell is big or small (i.e. Callum's first foray was very simple and should've been non-taxing) can send you into a dream coma you may not ever wake up from. It would also mean needing someone to look after your body in a safe and secure care unit of sorts (again, maybe a centre) so you don't accidentally die while passed out (pulling a bit more from scenarios presented in 5x02, admittedly, but still).

But okay, you survive the nightmare coma, and then you can do dark magic whenever you want provided you have the right ingredients for your spells. Great. Each spell that you do throughout your life gradually alters your appearance and breaks your body down steadily from the inside... even if you're using dark magic for good reasons, and while impacted by the scope of the spell, there are no spells that do not affect your body at all.

So there's two options for widespread usage: dark mages are willing, due to pay maybe, to routinely chip away at their bodies for other people's woes and worries (although that may preclude the farmer example from before, as the agricultural class maybe won't be able to afford it?) OR dark mages with expertise rent other dark-magic-coma survivors out with pay (likely those too desperate to choose otherwise) and give them the spells/ingredients to use, but do not do the spell themselves in order to preserve their own body. (This not a new thought, either; more on the cult implications of that here & here.)

Another alternative could be — if we draw from S6 — that mushroom salves made by Earthblood elves can help stave off dark magic corruption, but we don't know if that can apply to regular user dark magic corruption in addition to what we see in canon (dark magic corruption not from usage, but from primal corruption and exposure outside of usage). A dark mage could also pick other routes (purification under the Sun Forge if they ever have a great orb again, or the star ritual) but the former is very painful and the latter is a 1-use-only.

If we're generous and go with the Earth salve one, though, that requires regular usage and upkeep while also not exacerbating the corruption. It also requires rest. This means that you could push a mage to their breaking point and then work them back down, but that'd require a large and experienced workforce to 1) replace them during the recovery period, 2) take care of them during the recovery period, and 3) transporting the goods from Xadia to the Pentarchy and/or tending to an easily accessible batch being farmed within the human lands.

All of this to say — given the toll it takes on a dark mage's body, that alone is an understandable reason as to why there aren't a ton of dark mages and most people aren't willing to take that task on vs primal magic, which while the path there can be gruelling, does not negatively affect you once you're there or for repeated spell use.

TLDR; while there could be ways — if we went the logistical > the thematic route that TDP evidently prefers — to create sustainable sources for dark magic ingredients within the human lands only (and with a ton of other caveats and political maneuvering), these sources would not adequately address the practical barriers to entry that dark magic creates in terms of repeated harm to the caster's body, and the people who would likely be pushed into the roles of the caster. Even a world built to function with dark magic as a core integrated/accepted part of it would not be free of problems, and would create some deeply interesting and/or horrific circumstances to explore. Yet again, no matter which way you slice it: dark magic encourages human and Xadian trafficking all around like crazy.

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Damian accidentally time travels to the day of Jason’s death.

Joker never stood a chance.

[lihhelsing]

Waiting on You

written for @steddiemicrofic, Promtp: ‘Pin’ | wc: 388 | rated: M | no warnings

Eddie was on his stomach, head resting on the pillow and his hair pinned up on top of his head while Steve's fingers slowly traced his spine up and down.

Steve liked to do that. His fingers moved on Eddie's skin feeling the different textures of it. The softness of most parts and then the roughness of his scars. 

Eddie didn't like them, but Steve loved them. They told Eddie's story. They proved Eddie survived.

They made it possible for Steve to know what Eddie meant to say to him at that last second before the biggest battle of their lives. Even if Eddie still hadn't said it, Steve could wait.

So he did. Waited as he and Eddie danced around each other. As each touch seemed to hold so much meaning even if neither of them said it out loud. 

Steve wasn’t pining over Eddie. He wasn't. He was just... waiting. For him to be ready for Steve to love him. And Eddie was getting there, Steve knew it.

So he waited, and he traced the lines of Eddie's body when it was just the two of them and he ignored Robin's constant teasing about how badly he was pining over his best friend. 

"At what time is Robin getting here?" Eddie asked, pulling Steve out of his thoughts. 

It was their weekly scheduled movie night and Robin would probably complain a lot about third-wheeling but Steve knew she secretly loved seeing them like that, all cozy and domestic.

"Not for another three hours," Steve said, hand sliding to the side of Eddie's torso. 

"Good. We've got plenty of time, then," Eddie said, and before Steve could ask what he meant, Eddie was wiggling his hips in the way he did whenever he wanted Steve to do something about it.

It made his body hot and his fingers slip down until he could press it between Eddie's asscheeks. He was still loose from the night before and Steve was taken by all this need to feel Eddie's body under him. 

Steve draped himself over him, pressing his dick on the swell of his ass and kissing his neck. Eddie shuddered under him. They hadn't kissed yet, but Steve didn't mind. 

He didn't mind waiting because he knew Eddie was it for him, and they were almost there.

[rattkachuk]

for mattdrai, could you do one of those scenarios where they accidentally run into each other at a bar and one of them has to pretend to be dating the other for a sec to get rid of someone else? love what you’re doing btw!

set during some super distant future all star game cause?? why not.

Matthew really should have went to the second bar with his All Star teammates instead of sticking around the hotel one by himself. The last few swigs of beer in his glass taunt him while sitting at a booth alone in a bar that was slowly dying down for the night.

The thing was, he wasn’t in his twenties anymore, so a hangover was more of a week long recovery rather than a couple days, and he had to be back in Florida tomorrow and be a presentable, responsible captain, after all.

Still, it would’ve been fun.

He’s about to call the waitress over so he can pay the bill and go back and mope in his room all alone, when out of nowhere there’s a familiar voice behind him.

“Ah! Here he is! Hey, babe.”

The voice is one Matthew knows too well, and he stiffens on instinct because it had been years since he had heard it directed towards himself with such a lightness to it.

“Matthew,” Leon Draisaitl drags out the last consonant of his name as slides into the booth next to him, slinging an easy arm around Matthew’s shoulders while he smiles up at a nicely dressed woman who had followed him to the table, “She…wasn’t sure that you existed. You. My boyfriend. So, just came to show her.”

Her arms are crossed as she watches them sceptically,

Matthew looks at her with his mouth open, then looks at Leon’s pleading eyes. Internally he curses at himself for going a long with it but hooks his arm around Leon’s middle. He squeezes a little too tight, letting his nails dig through the linen shirt that he’s wearing. “Yah. That’s me,” Matthew says with a forced smile, “Sorry.”

“Well, okay. Have a good night, both of you,” she says awkwardly, the disappointment about not snagging Leon for the night clear on her face. Matthew felt oddly satisfied with that, but he had to remind himself Leon wasn’t coming home with him, either. Not these days. Not for years.

They both watch wordlessly until she’s out of view.

Leon breathes out with relief and Matthew assumes he's a little more drunk than he was by the liquor on his breath.

“That was risky,” Matthew looks at Leon with narrowed eyes as he shifts away, creating much needed distance between them and pretending that his touch didn’t leave a warmth in its wake.

“No one seemed to care,” Leon shrugs and looks around them at the other patrons all minding their own business, his shoulders droop as he leans against the table. He murmurs something Matthew almost would have missed if he wasn’t paying so much attention to Leon’s every move, “No one ever did, you know.”

There was a lot of weight behind that little comment.

Matthew was a little buzzed, but definitely not enough for this unexpected scenario. He scrubs a hand over his face, “Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

Leon looks at him sadly, chin propped up on his hand. Matthew can see some grey hairs in his beard now, and his hair is longer but he’s still covering it up with a stupid hat that Matthew had the strongest urge to knock off his head. Some things never change.

“Guess not,” Leon says finally and Matthew looks back at his eyes.

He feels brave, for a second.

“If you wanted me to be your boyfriend for the rest of the night, though…I was gonna go back to my room alone, but maybe we could keep pretending,” Matthew offers with a half shrug, “If you’re not, you know, actually seeing anybody.”

There’s a knowing smile on Leon’s lips as he smiles at Matthew, “I’m not.”

They had hooked up casually before. Now they were older and wiser, Matthew thought. What could possibly go wrong?