#Sam might have been behind the league of assassins accidentally

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 242

   He looks the same as he had that fateful day, a storm raging around him and risking sending the ship down into the abyss. Hair whipping in the wind as the sky roars its deadly challenge echoed by the beasts they all sought to bring down those centuries ago. 

   It looks just as human as they- that is to say not at all, not anymore. A body twisted, sand and lightning melding into a molten sea ever-expanding. Its eyes as gold as the treasure it guards, brilliant blues and greens dancing across bodies in sigils unknown. 

   It looks exactly as it did that time ago, smile dancing on its lips as the sky opened up in torrents, like blood gushing from a wound. “You’re free to go,” it says, in words they understand and words they don’t. “You don’t have to stay here any longer.” 

   “Where will we go?” They ask, so very tired of this eternal battle, of being trapped in crashing waves and storms of water and sand. Being tossed one way and the other, never able to go home, for home was gone long ago. 

   It looks up, their own gaze following, the ship crashing through the dredges of a storm they had thought eternal. And for the first time in eternities, they see them. The stars. Dancing and dripping from a serpentine form that cradles the Sun and Moon, smiling down to the beast and them alike. 

   And so, they take from the seas, and take to the stars instead. 

[stark-tony]

most recent bookmarks (6/18/21)

mcu

you game? cake time? by iron_spider (3k, T, pepperony) Peter stares at him.“I’d like your help,” Tony says, gesturing towards the ton of cakes. “Your refined palette.”Peter snorts. He can’t lie, excitement is rising in his throat and in his stomach, and he barely ate at lunch today because he was trying to finish up the book report before sixth period. “Does Miss Potts know you picked me?”“You can call her Pepper.”Peter cocks his head. “Does Pepper know you picked me to help you?”

The Dangers of Sleeping on the Upside of the Bed by Honorable_mention (1.1k, G, gen, quarantine) Midtown High School’s Academic Decathlon team had moved online. Once a week, even during the summer, everyone would log on and chat for a few minutes before trying to beat each other on Protobowl while hurling barely school appropriate threats at each other. It was really quite a lot of fun.Through these online meetings Cindy Moon had gotten the opportunity to intimately learn about her teammates in a way she hadn’t been able to when they were in-person. A person’s room and the way they talked to their family told you a lot about them.In which the members of the Academic Decathlon team get the chance to meet Peter's roommates

something bright coming his way by iron_spider (6.5k, T, gen, hurt peter) “Pete,” Tony’s voice says. “I’m heading to your location.”Peter narrows his eyes. Karen’s colors turn from dark red to a softer blue, which he takes as her celebrating Tony’s imminent arrival. How imminent? What?“What?” Peter says again. Like an idiot.“Your numbers aren’t what I like to see and you stopped moving and I was in the area, anyway. You know. Doing Iron Man things. You okay?”Peter blinks. He sees some more lights out ahead of him that he thinks are headlights, and he feels like Karen is trying to even out his vision by changing how things come across on the HUD. She’s failing, but he won’t say that. Can she read his brainwaves? No. Definitely not. Maybe. Either way he doesn’t wanna be mean to her, so he stops thinking.Ugh, his side hurts.

Of All the Nurses’ Offices in All the High Schools... by sahiya (7k, T, gen, outsiders pov, identity reveal, hurt peter) Peter Parker has his own gravitational orbit, and it tends to suck in the people around him. Including burned out school nurses who were just minding their own business.Or: Patrick Carmichael meets Spider-Man (and Tony Stark), adopts a cat, and gets just a little bit better.

a first time for everything by crowkag (7.7k, pepperony, sick peter)  “Why are you whispering?” Pepper was asking, and the other noises were receding away behind the creak of a door and click of a lock.“Because I’m hosting a vigilante super-teen with enhanced hearing this weekend.” He slumped back into the couch cushions. “Or did you forget?”There was a sharp intake of breath.“Peter? Oh god, what did you—”“Nothing,” Tony rushed out, scrambling. “He’s fine. The kid’s fine, honey.”A beat of silence.“Okay, well, he’s not fine, but—”“Tony Stark—”

Is he or Is he not? by Omenthia_Arc (43.2k, G, pepperony, 5 + 1, people think peter is tony’s kid) Five times someone thought that Peter was Tony's biological son and one time everyone thought it.

hp

The Moon Looks Lovely Tonight by Omi_Ohmy (35.7k, M, drarry, post-hogwarts, domestic) When Harry moves into the damp and empty Black house, it doesn’t quite feel like home. And then the first owl moves in. After that, it’s a steep slope leading to bed-sharing, more owls, assorted housemates, strange potions experiments, and terrible cooking. And a bit of waltzing, too.

The Wrong Sort by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle (289.5k, T, drarry, romione, gryffindor draco, canon divergence, torture)  In which Draco Malfoy is sorted into Gryffindor and everything kind of goes to Hell from there… but hey. At least there’s a chance he won’t grow up to be an awful person. Alternatively titled ‘Draco Malfoy and the Worst Goddamn Seven Years of His Life’

The Mirror of Ecidyrue by starbrigid (998.6k, E, drarry, wolfstar, romione, neville/ luna, grindeldore, lockhart/snape, time travel, fix it, abuse) All it takes is one look in a mirror and an ill-advised attempt to shatter it, before an embittered Draco Malfoy fresh out of Azkaban is sent back into his body on the day he gets his Hogwarts letter.Suddenly, Draco has an unwanted second chance, with a Sorting Hat that doesn't know what to do with him, a certain Muggleborn who won't leave his study table alone, and green eyes he just can't get out of his head. And then there's his new wand, whose choice of him could just mark him as every bit as dark a wizard as his name means he should be.

more than getting by by sarewolf (34.4k, M, wolfstar, wolfstar raises harry) “What do you want me to do?” Remus says, tiredly. All he wants is to curl up on his bed. Smoke a pack of cigarettes. Get drunk. He can’t stop looking at Harry.“Remus...” Dumbledore is gentle. Remus hates when he has that tone. Hates that he knows it will hurt. “There is no one else left.”A bitter laugh escapes him. “So you’ll curse the poor thing with a werewolf for a guardian?”

How Like Home by waitingondaisies (63.5k, T, jily, dimension travel) When Sirius falls through the veil, Harry chases after him, determined to find him on the other side. Instead, he finds nothing at all. When he wakes up, he is informed by Unspeakables that he is from an alternate universe.Thanks to his uncanny resemblance to his counterpart, Harry is readily recognized as a duplicate of Harry Potter, a normal fifteen year old boy, and is entrusted to the care of Lily and James Potter. From them, Harry discovers that Voldemort is not, and never was, a threat in this universe.Now, Harry must adapt to life with loving parents in a peaceful world.

Professor Black by Haunted_Frost (29k, T, wolfstar, professor regulus black) Kreacher's unending loyalty has allowed Regulus to survive the Inferi. In order to destroy the horcrux and ensure Voldemort's death, he goes back to Hogwarts, this time as a Potions professor. Years at this position give him new insights, even as the papers rave about how both the Blacks were traitors to their sides.When Sirius gets loose from Azkaban, Regulus knows one thing: he is not going to let his lunatic brother hurt his students.Inspired entirely by this tumblr post.

atla

(let me be) there for you by lesmiserablol (8.5k, T, zukka, post-war, bodyguard sokka, friends to lovers, idiots to lovers) Sokka pulls out a clean piece of parchment and starts to write:Reasons Why Sokka Would Be A Great Bodyguard for Lord ZukoHe smiles in satisfaction at the title. Seeing it in writing only makes him feel more confident in this brilliant, two-minute-old idea of his. Zuko is one of his closest friends, and Sokka is a great fighter, he would be the perfect bodyguard! He has the entirety of his trip in the Fire Nation to prove it to Zuko. This is going to be a piece of cake.(or, Sokka mistakes his crush for just a strong desire to be a guard for Zuko, and Suki is amused)

boy problems by burnt_oranges (22.2k, zukka, mailee, friends to lover, post-war, arranged marriage) “I accidentally signed off on an arranged marriage to Sokka,” Zuko says faintly. He sits up so fast he almost falls out of his chair. “I signed off on an arranged marriage to Sokka, and he agreed."In which Zuko suffers in a variety of ways, including but not limited to: close and constant proximity to the object of his affections, assassination attempts, and irreparable injuries to his dignity.

we really should google these things first by Bundibird (3k, G, gen, modern) Sokka's aloe vera plant is in need of a good pruning, and what's Sokka gonna do, just throw out all the pruned leaves? When instead he can make aloe vera juice? Come on. (Only - maybe he should have googled this beforehand. Because it turns out there's an edible kind of aloe, and a toxic kind. Guess what kind Sokka has. Go on, guess.)(Or: the modern AU based on the time I nearly poisoned myself with a non-edible succulent.)

spn

Checked Out by whelvenwings (27.1k, G, destiel, dreamhunter, library au, librarian castiel, writer dean, openly bi dean, misunderstandings)  Castiel Novak can think of many writers who would not be welcome under the roof of Heaven’s Gate library, where he is the librarian: Ayn Rand ranks highly (no explanation needed), as does Charles Dickens (he hasn’t forgiven Charles for the month he lost to The Pickwick Papers). And, of course, Dean Winchester. Dean Winchester, local author and obvious a-hole, who is entirely too handsome to be true and who is clearly totally lacking in profundity, intelligence, sincerity, and self-awareness. Unfortunately, though, Dean’s been invited to do a book signing at Heaven’s Gate - and Castiel’s about to be confronted by some unexpected feelings when he finally meets Dean for the first time.

Aim and Ignite by wincechesters (10.3k, M, destiel, cas in the bunker)  After the angels fall and Cas loses his grace, and with Sam still recovering from the toll taken on his body by the trials, Dean starts a prank war as a way to lighten the mood in the bunker and alleviate his boredom. It might just have some unexpected consequences. --- A post-S8 canon AU.

bnha

Izuku plays video games with the League of Villains (among other things) by ADyingFlower (54.2k, T, gen, quirkless midoriya, villain deku) Izuku plays video games with the League of Villains, denies being a villain, has his beloved animal crossing file threatened, kicks ass with a shotgun, is proposed to, learns to deal with his depression, and accidentally kidnaps the son of the number two hero. In that order.Or: Five times Izuku played online with his friends, and one time he played with them in personThen Himiko screams.“CAPTAIN!” “Y-yeah?” Tomura asks almost hesitantly. “LOOK!!” All four of them spin around, right as a cannonball comes soaring inches from Izuku’s head from the Galleon less than a three feet away from them. They scream. “OH FUCK NO NO NO NO! NO!” Dabi yells, running to load the cannons. “DUDE WE HAVE SO MUCH SHIT! NO! HOLY FUCKING SHIT!”“Hey guys, guys! Hey, chill!” Izuku shrieks frantically, right as one of the players boards their ship and starts shooting. “CHILL THE FUCK OUT!”

our trust shot full of holes by nolov (louscr) (25.9k, T, gen) When he's twelve, Izuku meets his best friend. Neither of them are especially good at having friends, but they make do.The other shoe drops less than a week into his first year at U.A.

Are You Valued? by cyber_phobia (9.2k, T, dad for one)  "What are you drawing, Izuku?" Hisashi asks with adoration dripping in his voice. "It's Uncle!" Izuku shouts, smacking his dad's arm for daring to ask once more. All the air leaves Hisashi's lungs in one fell swoop.

To Spark A Smile by awefull (1.1k, G, gen, dadzawa) A six-year-old. Aizawa was the guardian of a six-year-old. Aizawa, a pro-hero, who had poor eating habits, and no sleep schedule, was in charge of raising a little girl.He, reasonably, had some concerns.

Long Night in the Valley by Marsalias (53.7k, T, gen, suspected traitor, dad might, dad for one) On paper, the Hero Commission's plan to investigate Midoriya Izuku under the guise of a training course for combating mental quirks is solid, almost foolproof, even. If Midoriya turns out to be innocent, they can pass everything off as part of the training exercise, assuming he even remembered any of it. Otherwise, they could beg forgiveness after the traitor was securely imprisoned in Tartarus.The paper plan failed to take into account the feral ghosts living in Midoriya Izuku's head, or his equally feral living friends.Time to bring on the chaos.

i gave the voices in my head a megaphone by hannahbal (17.3k, todoroki/midoriya/shinsou) ...and they started singing Megan Thee Stallion.(Hitoshi, like any good friend, brainwashes Izuku’s anxiety away for a day so he can know some peace. The problem? Izuku has no fear of god or consequences.Izuku also has no goddamn filter.)

Nothing Could Be More Worthwhile by Krisington (3.5k, G, gen, dad might) Toshinori Yagi wouldn’t say he had let his guard down in retirement, not exactly. It was more accurate to say that he had let his guard down in his true form. He didn’t notice others, and others didn’t notice him. It had become a small pleasure, he realized, one he was reluctant to let go.He should have known better.The man managed to reach All Might’s forehead a split second before All Might grabbed the man’s arm. But a second was just enough.A villain showed All Might a vision of Izuku. Bloodied. Broken. Fading. Was that some future that would come to pass? Toshinori needed to do everything in his power to make sure it wasn't.

everything i wanted by raindrops_0 (9k, T, gen, 5 + 1) Izuku turns to face Hitoshi and flashes a bright smile, eyes folding into crescent moons.Bright like the afternoon sun swallowing Hitoshi whole, bright like All Might’s fucking perfect grin, bright like he’s already a hero.Bright like everything Hitoshi has ever wanted and then more.(Hitoshi can’t help it, but he hates. Of course Izuku can smile as if the whole world is in his hands. He’s never had to fight for every little thing and be hated for it.)Or 5 times Hitoshi misjudged the golden boy of UA, and 1 time he finally understood.

hp/bnha 

Bend Before You Break by orkestrations (16.2k, T, gen) When Izuku set out for his morning run, the last thing he was expecting was to be plucked from his own world by magic and thrown into another universe entirely.Removed from his own conflict and with no way back, he sets himself to figuring out this world and its own incipient war while searching for a way to possibly reverse the spell that brought him here.It's just his luck that the year he arrives is the same year the government decides it's a great idea to bring back the potentially-deadly tournament.

[istanlena]

Where Did You Go? - Part 3

"Not too shabby Danvers," Sara said with a smirk on her face. "You say that every time! I wasn't even able to get a single hit on you." Kara replied with a groan. She was getting slowly agitated. It had been a year since she accidentally opened up a portal to Earth -1 and was stuck there without her powers.

The first day there she got there she was almost attacked by some gang members hiding around the block. Thankfully, Sara and the rest of the legends were there to help her. The fact that she ended up in another universe freaked her out, especially without her powers.

No one could figure out how she lost them, but Kara hasn't been able to use them for a year. It was like losing a huge part of herself; she was no different than a human now, bleeds, breaks bones, gets hurt and tired. Of course, she was still in better shape than an average human due to all the training with Sara, league of assassins style.

"Badass" as Sara likes to call it.

"You've been here for a year and a half and your better than I was four years into the league training. But of course you can't be me, sweetheart I've been reincarnated before and spent six years killing people, I'm just teaching you in a more accepted way. I think."

"Yeah, I know."

"Go get some rest now. We need you ready if anything happens."

Kara nods at her and goes to the lounge where she finds Mick sitting on the bean bags completely drunk, and a drunk Rory means you can rant or do whatever you want and he won't even notice. (Mostly because he's blackout drunk) She takes a seat next to him and grabs the bottle of whiskey from his hands. Nothing was meant to end up this way. She was supposed to stop being Supergirl and move to Asia without anyone being able to find her.

She was supposed to get over the heartbreak, embrace being selfish, live for once. Not only that, but she lost her powers, the only thing that makes her different. She remembers being in her apartment and wishing that they would be stripped away of her so she can be healthy. It turns out normal is overrated.

The memory of flying through the plane fields at incredible speed was still fresh in her mind what she didn't realise is that she was flying so fast to the point where she opened up a portal to earth one, her guess is, when she opened up the portal it exhumed all of her powers while transporting her to another universe.

She was flying so fast, but to her, it's was like the world was going in slow motion, the wind was hitting her face making her hair fly back behind her, she felt free at that moment and then that blue light appears and beams at her she tries to stop moving towards it except she couldn't. It was too fast and all of a sudden she finds herself travelling through galaxies until another portal opens up. Suddenly she finds herself on another earth. Powerless, a human.

No one has been able to help her, they've spoken to team arrow, team flash, even firestorm couldn't help her, but in the end, she got what she wished for, her powers gone, and she was in an entirely different universe where her family and friends couldn't be able to find her.

She snaps her head to the direction she heard the footsteps coming from"Hey Kara, give it to me. What's bothering you, I need something to take my mind off that stupid, stupid Nate." Kara was surprised to hear that come out of Zari's mouth. She was shocked, and she found it a bit amusing.

"Wait for me!" She heard the distant voice that belonged to Sara call out. Once Sara arrived and took a seat next to Zari and Kara, the three girls started gossiping next to a drunk blacked out Rory. "So what's the crinkle for?" That got Kara to groan.

'I swear I'm going to get botox for this!' She thought. So she told them, told them how she missed her family and friends.

"I don't know what I was thinking about moving away. They probably have stopped trying to find me right now. I don't deserve any of them. I was such a brat and an even worse friend. I mean I told this girl that I was Supergirl after weeks of knowing her, but I didn't tell my best friend for three years!" She exclaimed.

Kara didn't know why she still cares. Lena hates her; she made that clear last time they spoke.

"I hate you, Supergirl. Don't come after me; were done here. I can't believe that once upon a time, I would have died for you. At least the person I thought you were. Goodbye, Supergirl." She winces at the memory. Lena's voice was filled with hate. She treated Kara as her enemy. She talked to her like she was Lex.

"I've seen her talk to people before like that but never to me. Even when Supergirl and Lena were arguing she still never sounded so..." Kara paused, trying to find the right word. "so cold." She finished with a deep inhale.

She thinks back to the reasons why she left in the first place. Every moment spent crying, every moment in the phantom zone, all the sadness and fear comes rushing back to her. The silence and the years spent in that small pod with nothing and no one but herself and her thoughts. The memories of watching her planet disintegrate and blast right in front of her slowly broke her every time. The fear she felt when she got knocked off her course — not knowing what was going to follow. It all rushed back to her that day. So she told them everything.

Of course, they already knew, but they also knew it haunted Kara every day of her life. She regretted many things. Such as sending James to check on Lena's lab and using her last name against her. She wasn't the victim here. Lena was, and although her she knew that and she knew she shouldn't be feeling upset or even caring a damn about Lena anymore, her heart broke every time she thought about her.

"You loved her, didn't you?" Sara asks with sympathy. " Yes, I did, and I ruined it. Like I ruin everything good that happens to me. Not only that I put her in danger and caused her brother to go after her."

"But you did for her safety!" Zari differentiates.

"Yes but she doesn't know that! I hurt her deeply, and although I did it for her safety, she was always at risk either way. I made it worse. She didn't need protection from the world; she needed protection from me. The moment she started trusting people and opening up, I ruined it." It hurt to think that. It hurt to know that the beautiful kind Lena was forever gone and replaced by the stiff untrusting Luthor she was so scared of becoming, and yet Kara hoped that wasn't what her ex-best friend and the love of her life turned into. She was much better than her family.

She just hoped Lena still remembers all the good things about herself.

"No one is better at wrecking things than me, trust me if I got a second chance, so will you, and your much better than me. You're a great person. You always put the safety and feelings of those you care about in front of yours. That makes you a hero. Even if you don't have powers."

Kara wanted to believe that she did, but she couldn't. So she just offered a smile towards the two girls and finished her whiskey.

"That my whiskey?" The captain questioned. "Well... It was." Kara replied with a grin. "Blame it on Rory he had it first."She stated as she walked away from them. The last thing she heard when she was walking out of the room was Zari laughing her head off and Sara telling her she'll regret that.

                                                                                  ⇔ EARTH 38 ⇔

      Lena, Alex and Winn have been using all of their free time trying to Locate the superhero. Saying it was difficult would be the understatement of the year. Winn showed Lena all of her last transactions the last time people saw Supergirl in public before she disappeared. They went through her diaries looking for any clues, as presumed none were found. At least they thought nothing was there. The only thing those diaries did was break Lena's heart a little more and make her a little more resentful and angry towards those who knew about Kara's identity before she did.

        She told Nia after weeks of knowing her but never considered revealing her secret to her best friend for three years. Ouch.

One thing Lena did find was a bunch of letters that were never sent out in an envelope in the back of the diary. She snuck them into her pocket discreetly making sure neither Alex or Winn noticed them. After hours of going through pictures, articles, and hacking into her bank accounts (that were closed by the way) they didn't find anything. Not even little traps set to take them somewhere else. Alex and Winn said their goodbyes to Lena, and they decided they would meet up again the coming Saturday until then they would all be working to find anything that might benefit them in tracking down the lost girl.

     The following hour after the two DEO agents left Lena found herself cuddled up in the corner of her lavish sofa pulling out the letters Kara had written but never sent out over the months. She knew this was a bad idea. Lena has not forgiven the Superfriends or Kara yet, but she never wanted any of the dead. Thinking of Kara being found dead didn't make Lena feel good or fill the hole in her heart left by her traitorous best friend. Ex-best friend. Sam took that spot long ago, but Lena would be kidding herself if she said that she didn't miss Kara.

    She realised kara/supergirl was always there for her. In different respectives of course, Supergirl there doing all the heavy lifting and saving kara physically while Kara was still there emotionally. She would play to Lena's every whim. It felt good knowing that there was somebody who would do anything for her anytime. If Lena wished for pizza and movie night, kara would be there. If she wanted to walk in the park, Kara would be there. When Lena was in danger, Supergirl would always show up at the right time, she would always save Lena no matter what it took, and Lena never understood that and she still doesn't. (She didn't understand why Supergirl would risk her life saving a Luthor  when her family wast the one almost killing her using Kryptonite.)

She took out the oldest letter in that envelope since it was dated back to the time when Lena had just found out who Kara was and started reading the letter carefully so she wouldn't miss anything. Your only doing this to find her it's not personal; it's just the right thing to do.

Lena,

I wish I were the one who told you; I wanted you to find out from me, but you didn't. I know you hate me, and right now I hate myself too. I can't understand the pain I have caused you, but I am so so sorry. Truly. I thought I was shielding you from the danger by not telling you. Clearly I wrong, people will always target you because of your last name, and you were already associated with me so I should have informed you, but I didn't, and yes I regret that, but I don't think any good would have come out of it, either way, you would have still been in more danger. So yes, I would rather lose my best friend than risk your life.

It's been a week now since you've confronted me and ended our friendship. That day was the worst day of my life. I cried for hours, and then I realised something. I hurt the both of us, you more than me, so I swore by Rao and your name that I would never let myself get close to someone else because they all get hurt in the end. I swore I would learn how to live without you because you told I should.

I remind myself of your words every time I think about visiting you. You told me to leave you alone, so I am. Although I am writing, I know you won't receive it because I won't send it. I won't invade your privacy, and I won't come after you. From now on, I will only see you if you are in danger. I will only go after you to save you. I've stopped listening to your heartbeat. I've tried my best to finish my superhearing but sometimes when I'm flying around patrolling the city I can't help but hear it. I can't help but listen to you sobbing on your couch while drinking wine.  Every time I see you, I was about to go to you, but I remind myself I'm the one who put you in that situation.

Game night isn't the same without you. It sucks, so I have decided to stop going. Plus I didn't win anything since you weren't there and everybody already had their partners. James offered to partner up with me but honestly comparing him to you, he doesn't know me, and I don't know him that well, and two he sucks at chess and practically every game because he doesn't focus. I miss seeing you get all competitive.

You also sold Catco, I would be lying to say that it didn't hurt when I saw some new random lady sitting in your chair, she's sweet, but she's not you. She doesn't know how this place works; she randomly assigned us some articles and kicked us out of the office.

I need to take my mind off of this; I'm going to fly around a bit. There are these beautiful plane fields in Germany, a vast space of grass and hills no one around for miles and the farthest place I can think off. I won't go for long just a couple laps, and I'll be done, things are pretty mellow for Supergirl right now, but Kara has a tough long day in front of her.

Always and forever your guardian,

Kara.

Lena folds the letter and places it back in the envelope fiddling with it before putting away thinking that this was enough for the day. She takes a few deep breaths to stop herself from crying but that all goes out the window when she lays down in her bed and starts sobbing at the reminder of everything that has happened in the past year.

[junker-town]

The Assassination of Arsenal Football Club by the Coward Helios

Photo by Harriet Lander - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Sure, it might LOOK like Chelsea women beat Arsenal, 4-1, but that’s only because they unfairly invoked the powers of the sun.

When Graham MacAree, SB Nation’s editor in chief, and I arrived at Meadow Park to watch Arsenal take on Chelsea in the women’s division, we stood by the barrier surrounding the field after entering from the right side of the main stand. He is a Chelsea fan, and I am an Arsenal fan. He bought the tickets for my birthday, and I was sure going in that Arsenal, the best team in the league, would win easily.

While I was comfortable with the prospect of watching the game from there — this is before we were told you could not stand by the barriers but had to be in the stands proper — Graham squinted while trying to look at the goal by the North Terrace and complained that from our vantage point the glare of the sun would make enjoying the game difficult. It was at this moment I should have known who the true enemy would be.

In Plato’s Republic, Socrates criticized the poets for their depiction of the gods. For him, the gods were perfect beings in body and behavior. The gods of Homer and Hesiod resembled humans in that they lied, were vain, selfish and frivolous, and therefore not true gods. They were a corruption of the godly ideal. Socrates’ gods were the source of good but not evil, while the gods of the poets could be just as flawed and malicious as ordinary human beings.

In the same book, Socrates makes a distinction between the visible and invisible gods. The likes of Zeus, Hera, and Athena were invisible. They were the gods of the civilized world who cared about human life and might manifest themselves to people when they wished. Visible gods were gods whose presence was etched in the heavens forever — they are everlasting. These gods were celestial objects like the moon, the planets, and the sun, which Socrates calls the “child of goodness.”

If Socrates’ sun is akin to goodness, then it was replaced by an imposter when Chelsea’s women beat Arsenal, 4-1. A perfect being would not have interfered. It was rather the sun god of the poets, Helios in particular, the coward, who decided to tip the scales in a simple football game. For reasons unknown to us mortals, he made sure Arsenal suffered a heavy defeat on the day I visited.

The evidence is in Sam Kerr’s goal, Chelsea’s second. Kerr is known as one of the best players in the world but hadn’t scored since moving to Chelsea, and there was nothing about her play before the goal that was particularly threatening. At one point, she even miscontrolled the ball with her knees. Then a long cross from the left wing came into the six-yard box, a cross the goalkeeper should have easily collected. She didn’t, and it floated perfectly into the far post for Kerr to head in.

#BarclaysFAWSL account: OPENED ✅@samkerr1 is up and running for @ChelseaFCW #ARSCHE pic.twitter.com/1eT1Wg9h9c

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) January 19, 2020

At first, it looked like the Arsenal keeper, Manuela Zinsberger, misjudged the flight of the ball. But Graham and I were standing right behind her goal throughout the first half. It was not a mistake of judgement. She was blinded by the sun.

When the ball was high in the air, Zinsberger couldn’t see it. She was looking in the sun as she tried to track it, which comes with the obvious painful consequences. It is why she stuttered about as the cross came in, knowing the ball must be somewhere close but being unable to see exactly where. And when it did appear, it’s too late. Kerr got her first goal not because of anything she did, but because of the spiteful god of the sun.

In myth, Helios is rarely portrayed as behaving badly. Maybe because the sun was naturally associated with goodness as the bringer of life, or maybe because Helios was eventually replaced by Apollo. In most of the stories in which he is involved, however, he resembles the exalted god of Socrates more than a god of the poets.

The most famous story of Helios involves his son Phaeton. Phaeton, in a bid to prove he is the son of a god, asks his father for a favor. Helios promises to do anything his son wants. The boy asks to drive the god’s chariot. Since a god cannot take back a promise, Helios reluctantly abides by the deal and tries to instruct the boy on how to properly drive the sun around the Earth. The horses, quickly realizing the son was not the father, run out of control and Zeus is forced to kill the Phaeton in order to prevent the destruction of the world. Accidentally setting up your son’s death is bad, but all Helios could really be blamed for was loving Phaeton too much.

The cruelest thing he did came after he disclosed the affair of Aphrodite and Ares to Aphrodite’s husband Hephaestus. In an act of revenge, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, makes Helios fall in love with Leucothoe while he was courting another woman, Clytie. Clytie, becoming jealous, spreads the rumor of someone defiling Leucothoe, word of which reaches her father, who then buries his daughter alive.

Clytie believes the elimination of her competitor would win her Helios’ love again, but he hates her instead. He shuns her, refusing to allow the light of the sun to fall on her. She wastes away in sorrow, always turning her head toward the sun in hope of a glance. After her death, she is transformed into a heliotrope, which follows the sun throughout the day.

Though he is generally shown being better than the rest of the gods around him, Helios is still capable of cruelty. If he was a perfect being, the height of goodness, hatred would be an emotion beneath him. Even if we didn’t have the story of Clytie to look at, a fair assessment of Arsenal’s match against Chelsea would be ample evidence for his capacity for cruelty.

Two of the four goals Chelsea scored came from the left side, where the keeper couldn’t see because of the sun. They were the second and third goals, which put the game beyond the Gunners.

Just as with Kerr’s goal, Sophie Ingle’s incredible volley lost its shine (editor’s note: LOL) because of the simple fact Zinsberger had a hard time gauging where the ball was. In high-level sports, every millisecond counts in order for a player to be effective. That Zinsberger constantly had to hesitate before trying to make a save was fatal to Arsenal’s chances. Rather than turning away from Arsenal, leaving the team to shrivel up in the shadows, Helios turned his blinding glare to the team and its goalkeeper, allowing their weaker opponents (editor’s note: LOL), Chelsea, to put the game beyond doubt.

Helios’s final bout of hatred came when Chelsea scored their fourth goal. Arsenal had been dominating the ball and creating chances, and the goal came against the run of play to deny all hopes of a comeback. As Chelsea were celebrating, the sun went behind the south stand. I looked at Graham and laughed. If I had a bow and arrow at the time, I would have shot it toward the coward in charge of our solar system. Coincidentally, if there could be any coincidences in that game, Arsenal scored their only goal in the encroaching darkness of late afternoon.

As we walked out of the gates and away from the stadium, I wondered whether I had done something to incur Helios’ displeasure. Arsenal were top of the league going into the game, and no one would have imagined they would get beaten by Chelsea in that manner. The only change from all of their games and the one I watched was I was present. I had come to enjoy the exploits of Vivianne Miedema and Kim Little. Had I brought the wrath of the sun upon them?

But to blame oneself for the cruelties of a god is egotistical. It’s to assume I am the sun around which the worlds revolves around. It’s to also forget Helios is one of the gods of the poets. He is not a perfect being, and no matter how well he is written of, he still retains the capacity for maliciousness. He doesn’t need a reason, nor would those reasons be available to mortal men like myself. Maybe Chelsea had called on him for help. Maybe he was angry at being made insignificant by Apollo. All I can do is speculate.

As Graham and I went home and he boasted about his team’s victory, I thought of a scene from the video game God of War 3 in which Kratos, the protagonist, finds the wounded Helios in the city of Olympia after knocking the god from his chariot. Helios pleads for his life but eventually Kratos rips off the god’s head and begins to use it as an enhanced flashlight.

When I was young and first played the game, I thought the scene was too brutal and unfair to Helios. Now, after watching Arsenal improbable defeat to Chelsea, aided by coward Helios, which is the only sensible explanation for the defeat, I dream of being able to defeat the god in the same way. Then I could use his head to light the way forward for Arsenal’s eventual league title.