#So basically I came for the voice acting and stayed for the eldritch monsters

[thenothing17]

The last few moths were really busy and all my free brain power has been taken up by the Magnus Archives, so I don't have anything tgs related to post right now...

Micheal Shelly and Micheal the distortion are probably some of my favorite characters, even though I don't really like any of their episodes that much... idk why.

[blueluneacy]

Familiar Shore

Hey, so this is a commission for the lovey @lliminall! Thank you so much for commissioning me, it means a lot! This is a continuation of Black Ocean, so go check that out if you haven’t! It’s Bruno bucciarati x reader timeeee

Word Count: 2.8k Warnings: kidnapping, suicide, transformations, just general angst and comfort vibes

The ocean no longer had any color. It was like the moment you woke up on this terrible island, most everything lost color, the strange world you now found yourself in feeling small compared to the extent of the Labyrinth you once knew. You tended to sit by the ocean nowadays, watching the fish that swam up to the shores to see the strange being that liked to sit and watch them. When Bruno first dropped you in his little lair, some minor beasts that inhabited the ocean and the island, but it seemed that in the days that Bruno was gone, he quickly straightened them out. This place was strange in the sense that everyone seemed a lot more docile. You supposed that most people would have considered that ocean uncrossable and that the local wildlife wasn’t used to humans like yourself, leaving to strange circumstances, like finding that the many tailed foxes seemed to like your company, or that after giving some of the gray birds some of your dinner, they perched near you and cawed at the beasts that came towards you.

Of course, that’s not to say things were sunshine and roses. For example, Bruno was actually terrible. A few times you had tried to pull together a raft and get back to shore, only from Bruno to simply tear it apart and carry you back to your little island. A paradise, he called it. Yeah, what a paradise. And you had gone to Jurassic measures. You remembered waking up in that cave after doing something terrible, stepping out to find Bruno sobbing over your lifeless body. You actually felt bad enough to sigh, only for Bruno’s new keen ears to pick up on it and lunge back to you, thanking whatever Gods there were looking out for the two of you that they set your spawn to here, that you would be with him, that he wouldn’t lose you. You cursed those same gods.

But for now, Bruno seemed to leave you alone. Whether it was because he understood that you needed space and time to process this, or just because he was busy with who knows what, you weren’t sure. Maybe he needed a steady supply of torture to sustain him. It would make sense, the way beasts seem to just thrive on destroying any human being that they came into contact with. But, there was also another problem, one that plagued you. It had to be a lie, right? Bruno couldn’t have possibly actually… Turned into a beast, right? No, he had to be one beforehand. There’s no way that a human being could turn into a beast, and even so… Why would he? Bruno was kind and caring… Unless he wasn’t. Until he was completely deranged, dragging you under the depths until you passed out. You didn’t like to think about it, didn’t like to think about those eyes. You just closed your eyes, telling yourself in just another minute, you’d walk the fifty feet back to the cave you had now found as your home, finding the stone becoming increasingly more smooth, the terrible thing that was keeping here making it more homey day by day. What started off as a simple cave with furs on the ground now had furniture, actual walls, even a bed. You still preferred to sleep on the floor if it meant it kept Bruno from holding you. It didn’t.

After a few moments and a lot of convincing yourself to get up, solely just to eat and get some rest as you plotted your way out of this mess, you made your way over to the cave only to stop when you heard voices. One of them you recognized, Bruno, but there was someone actually responding to him. You swallowed, unable to help yourself from hiding at the edge of the cave to listen in to what they were saying.

“I just don’t know if I can make it work, is all. I mean, you’ve seen them. They’re horrified of… This.” Bruno spoke out, leaving the other beast just to scoff.

“They’re horrified that you’re no longer human. Something that you can’t change. Do you honestly believe that you can make them separate this idea of who you once were versus who you are now?” The other beast, for what other creature would be able to speak out with such calm in front of Bruno in the state that he was in now, replied, sounding simply skeptical.

“But you don’t understand, it’s not like I’ve changed. I’m still the same person, I just-”

“Happened to have turned into an eldritch horror beyond basic human comprehension now trapped in a liminal space shaped like a labyrinth. Good pitch.” He sounded so curt, leaving Bruno just to huff.

“I don’t know why I even bothered to ask you.”

“Because you knew I would be honest with you. It would be easiest if you just gave up on the human, Buccellati. Humans are odd, fragile, and emotional. You could easily find a nice beast girl to settle down if you really wanted.” He replied, leaving you just to… ponder. You never really thought of beasts actually speaking to each other, much less loving each other.

“You act as though we’re not humans.” Bruno replied sharply, leaving the other beast to sigh.

“You’re not. We’re not. Sure, maybe at one time, but there’s no way back. Who knows, maybe you and Dio can laugh over this one day.”

“He’s on the other side of the Labyrinth. Speaking of which, how are there other Beasts in this territory? I thought it was supposed to be mine.”

“Oh, only stronger beasts deal with things like territory. Pathetic ones like me, we don’t have that luxury. It’s easier to say you’re with the biggest guy in the room than to try and stake out your own claim in the world. Plenty of territories are filled with beasts that simply stick around for protection or just because they feel like it. I’m surprised you don’t have a line out the door with Beasts asking for your blessing to move in, this is prime real estate.”

“They’re too dangerous for my beloved to be around. I’m particular about the things that might feel too comfortable to try and hurt them.”

“If you’re choosey, then you really made a bad choice in letting me stay.”

“You don’t like humans. I figured you didn’t have the spine to break theirs.” You gasped at that, Bruno’s fine tuned ears finally picking up on your listening in to their conversation and standing up.

“Cara, you can come in. It’s rude to listen in.” He called out to you, leaving you to swallow as you stepped out into the low candlelight of the cave, making your way inside. You just stared at the ground, not wanting to respond for fear of… You weren’t really sure. Bruno didn’t tend to get mad at you, but you didn’t know anything about this other beast. When you caught a glimpse of him, you were a bit skeptical. While Bruno tended to hide his more… Er, Inhuman qualities, this other beast had no qualms about being comfortable. You saw how his silvery hair fell over his shoulders, his painted lips barely concealing rows of sharp teeth and neatly done nails actually claws.

“Tesoro, this is Leone Abbacchio. He’ll be staying near the Shore, so you may see him often.” Bruno told you, leaving you just to roll your eyes.

“Oh boy, another terrifying monster I get to live near! I’ll make sure to bake cookies for the house party.” You replied, leaving Bruno’s face just to set into a grimace while Abbacchio just smiled and rolled his eyes.

“I have no interest in humans, and much less one this scrappy.” He replied, standing up. It took a moment for his insult to click, but once it did, you were ready to fucking fight. Would you lose? Probably. But your honor. But, before you could get a word out, Abbacchio just brushed himself off of bits of sand that seemed to stick at his body, and turned to Bruno.

“I’ll let you two have your lovers quarrel in peace.” And with that, Abbacchio quickly was out of there, leaving you alone with Bruno, who just shook his head as he sat down, motioning for you to sit with him. You did not obey.

“Don’t just stand there, tesoro. Perhaps we should talk. I hate the idea that there’s something wrong with our relationship.” Bruno told you, leaving you just to scoff as you crossed your arms.

“It’s fundamentally wrong, because it’s based on a lie. Me being here isn’t because of love! It’s because of… Because you… I’m your prisoner, Bruno!” You didn’t know why tears were welling up in your eyes, why the pain hit your heart as you spoke the truth, but it did. Your dreams of escaping with Bruno to the outside world, outside of this hell, were crushed entirely. Everything was just a wreck, Bruno had lost it, and beyond it all, he still gave you a pang in your heart. Bruno just shook his head, standing up and you released how much taller than you he was. Was he always this much taller than you? Still, it didn’t matter, you didn’t have the chance to step away before Bruno wrapped his arms around you, holding you tight. It was possessive, but his hand came behind your head, pressing your face into his chest. You gasped as you released he still smelled the same as before, of coastal air and cypress.

“I… I don’t care about that, (Y/n). I can’t lose you, not like everyone else. Please, just stay with me. If I lose you, I know… I know I’ll become like the rest of them. Please, I really do love you. Don’t you love me back?” Bruno’s voice was shaking, as if he were about to cry. You had the instinct to try and comfort him, holding yourself back the best you could.

“I… I don’t know anymore. It feels like… I’m haunted by you at this point. This person you once were and the… Thing you are now.” You replied, leaving Bruno just to sigh and let you go.

“I… But I haven’t changed. I haven’t hurt a single human. If anything, I’m safest out here. No one could possibly come out here, it’ll just be you and me. We can make the life you spoke about here, we can get married and have a family-”

“Bruno, no! We can never have that! You know that! Deep down in your heart, you know that just as well as I do, that this will never work! Even before... “ You looked away, hoping to find some sense of reality in a pace that seems to lack it. God, this was terrible. “We were just chasing after affection, weren’t we? Did we really love each other, or were we just so lonely that we didn’t know what to do and threw ourselves at the idea of human contact?” You replied, leaving Bruno to sigh.

“(Y/n), do you remember how you entered into the Labyrinth?”

“I…. What?” That was out of nowhere. You wondered if maybe he was trying to change the subject, but nonetheless, you shrugged and decided to answer.

“I don’t remember. I was walking through the woods one day, and it was like I got lost… Well, lost forever. I don’t really… Know what I did to deserve all of this.” You replied, leaving Bruno to sigh.

“Is there something back in your old life so pressing that you have to return to it? Is the world outside better than something we could build?” Bruno asked. You wanted to argue so bad, but he was right in a way. There really was nothing that you had going for you back at home. You would go back to work, live your boring, mundane life, but…

“You’re holding me hostage here, Bruno.”

“I’m protecting you. (Y/n), there’s no way out of the Labyrinth unless you have someone from the outside to pull you out. There’s no exit. That is the main secret of the Labyrinth.” He told you, his voice serious, and you knew he was telling the truth.

“I-I… T-Then, what were we searching for all that time?! Why were we… What kind of torture is all this?!” You replied, shaking a bit. You didn’t notice the way your hands were starting to fade and distort, but you didn’t care. “What kind of being would create such a terrible place?!”

“I… I don’t know, tesoro. I really don’t know. But… If there’s no one outside looking for you, you have to understand. Travelling back to the main portion of the Labyrinth is…” He didn’t have to say it. It was a death sentence, a world of torture waiting to happen. You just collapsed, feeling yourself collapse into a pile as you sobbed, trying to find some way, some reason for your entire existence here. You wanted to believe this was a lie, you really did, but something about Bruno’s tone.... How did he even learn this? Did that other beast tell him? Maybe it was just a lie that that beasts told, and Abbacchio knew that Bruno would try to be a sap with you. Torture by proxy. But still… Bruno’s hand hit your back, rubbing it gently as he sat down next to you.

“I… I know. Apparently… Every Beast that is in the Labyrinth was once a human being. One that was never saved.” He told you, leaving you just to go silent. You looked at your hands, the twisting of your own flesh and the accenting of claws that you had been telling yourself was just your nails growing jagged from lack of care. You turned to Bruno, lip quivering.

“I’m just haunted by the ghost of the person I thought I loved, and I don’t know if that person truly is you, or if he was killed in the fire.” You whispered, almost hoping that Bruno wouldn’t hear it. He just pulled you closer, wiping away your tears.

“I… I honestly don’t know. I feel like I am the same person, but who knows. I don’t know what has changed about me, and what hasn’t. All I know is… (Y/n), you keep me whole. You keep me… Good. I can’t explain it. I know you loved that person before, but… Could you ever be able to love me too?” He asked, leaving you just to look at the ground.

“I… I think so. I…” Your eyes just welled up with tears again as you grabbed onto Bruno, sobbing. You mourned for him, for yourself, for the hell that dozens were put through.

“What’s going to happen to me, Bru? Am I going to become a monster?” You asked, leaving the man to just pet your hair, hushing you.

“No matter what you become, you’re still going to be mia cara. And I’ll always love you, no matter what. I promise.” He told you. You looked up, letting your hand run along his cheek as you pressed your lips against his for the first time in forever. And he wasn’t warm the way he once was, but the kiss was still real, and his lips were still soft. When he pulled away, Bruno just held you in his arms, the two of you sharing a soft moment as you both tried to process the new reality that had come upon you. This was now the world you lived in, a world of Beasts and humans who would someday become beasts. If there were gods, they were only malevolent.

“I… I really do love you, (Y/n). I want a life with you. Even if it has to be in this hell, I really do mean what I meant. I think we could create a paradise here. A place just for us, forever.” He told you, and in your week state, you just nodded, letting Bruno hold you as you closed your eyes.

“I… I love you too. I’ve always loved you.” You told him, feeling your eyes get heavy as you cuddled up with Bruno. You looked into his eyes again, seeing that blue you had fallen in love with in the beginning, the Fisherman’s son who was determined to get home, with that serious look on his face, but full of hope. His eyes still had hope, though. For some reason, that seemed to comfort you, seemed to make you feel like things… Might be okay. Maybe not now, but someday.

For the last time that night, you dreamed of that idyllic life you once wanted with Bruno, in the old world on the ocean, a family and kids and peace. When you awakened in the arms of the beast, you were finally ready to throw it away.

[thelogicalghost]

Hellboy (2019), a review

First, some background.

Hellboy is the title of a comic series centered around the character of the same name. Its core concept is a subversion of the Lovecraft genre: a demon (summoned by Rasputin working with Nazis, for extra evil) destined to bring about the apocalypse who, having been raised by humans, instead travels the world killing other eldritch creatures and preventing dime-a-dozen Lovecraftian apocalypses. Though it's been handled by multiple artists and writers, there's a definitively unique art style and tone that stays constant. Hellboy is a combination of antihero tropes, preferring to shoot things first and ask questions later, although how much his impatience and irreverence may be masking considerable intelligence varies from writer to writer.

In 2004, Guillermo del Toro directed and co-wrote a big-screen adaptation starring Ron Perlman as well as other highly capable actors such as John Hurt and Doug Jones (the latter of who played a fishman who likes to read, and then 13 years later would play another fishman for del Toro). While not perhaps the most faithful adaptation, the 2004 movie got a lot right, and del Toro helmed a sequel in 2008. The movies came just before and after another del Toro classic, Pan's Labyrinth (2006), and the aesthetic and atmospheric similarities do suggest that del Toro was maybe going through a bit of a "fairies but horror" phase. Neither movie was received well at opening, but they've slowly risen in popularity as the comic adaptation genre picks up new converts who now return to these movies and enjoy them as the dark demonic superhero genre-flip that they are.

So now it's 2019, 15 years after del Toro's Hellboy, and with superhero and comic book movies raking in big bucks even on R ratings and nostalgia for del Toro's vision still present, the movie industry has tried to revive the franchise. Kind of.

What this means is that this new movie not only has to adapt one of the trickiest kinds of source material, with a highly stylized feel of its own, but also has to follow two movies made by one of the most incomparable creatives in Hollywood today. Like him or not, del Toro's work is neigh impossible to copy. It also has to recast the equally unique Perlman.

The short version is, it doesn't succeed. Probably no one could have. It has a number of deep flaws, some of which are common to comic adaptations but some not.

I'll start with the plot, because the overall plot is, I think, a strong example of why I had to go through all this background.

The new movie begins with Hellboy as an established character, both to the universe he's in and to the audience, and I liked that. Hellboy's in Tijuana looking for a fellow agent but the rescue is derailed because the agent's been turned into a monster and Hellboy has to kill him. This is classic Hellboy, where all other characters are inevitably killed by the darkness and only the indestructible demon is left to finish the job and move on to the next. Except that Hellboy gets SUPER depressed by the death of this agent, going on a drinking binge for possibly weeks? Unclear dialogue? Anyway, okay, so it's a younger Hellboy. Oh, also, the movie quickly establishes that Professor Broom - Hellboy's dad - is still alive in this movie, and still parental.

This was, to me, the first warning sign. The 2004 movie did the establishing-universe-coming-of-age story, killing off Broom as part of that. So we're resetting the universe, but also not bothering to frame this movie as re-establishing Hellboy's character, assuming that the audience will already be familiar with the basic premise. It wants the easy access of an origin story but also getting to take the shortcut of building off previous incarnations. What that means is that the movie opens with a flashback to Arthurian times to set up the antagonist, but ALSO has to incorporate the re-tread flashback re-establishing Hellboy's origin as a Rasputin/Nazi experiment. We get the awesome sense of worldbuilding with characters who refer to a shared history, but then that history is blatantly exposited or flashbacked. The coming of age narrative has to share screen time and space with a plot that only really works when it's not the first in a series, so plot elements pop up and then are discarded or timing isn't explained or consequences are unclear.

Nowhere is this more keenly felt than in the character of Alice: her introduction is fantastic, implying that years ago when Hellboy saved her as a child they established some sort of relationship that sets up a great sibling dynamic between the two. BUT then in order to explain how a secondary villain is relevant, there's an extended flashback to how he saved her, as a baby, with no indication of further association as she grew up, which completely invalidates the previous worldbuilding and implied relationships.

I don't know exactly where the blame for this falls specifically, but I think it's indicative that the director, Neil Marshall, has to now mostly helmed the kind of blood-filled horror flicks where the quality of the dismembered body props is more important than the quality of the plot. Whether it's his direction, or the direction of producers (there are so many listed in the credits I don't know who to research first) or other creative controllers, it's clear that this new movie is intended as horror first and foremost, a sentiment supported by the excessive screen time devoted to redshirt humans being dismembered with unnecessarily vivid brutality.  This in turn brings with it the hallmarks of cheap horror: ignoring plot for the sake of blood and scares, spelling things out so the audience doesn't have to think and can just mindlessly consume, and generally mishandling pacing and tension because the ending is a foregone conclusion.

I understand WHY someone might get this idea from the del Toro movies, especially since I'm pretty sure the creative team also watched Pan's Labyrinth while putting together specific scenes. Unfortunately it's the most surface-level reading of the movies one could get, and it completely misses the point about what makes Hellboy an interesting character and property. They literally did not have his right hand DOING anything, which showcases how much they missed the point.

However.

Strip away the CGI gore and ham-fisted retreading (and cut the retelling of Broom's death, it would be effortless to replace that subplot), and there's actually a pretty awesome movie hiding underneath.

Someone on the writing staff knew what they were doing. The actors are almost all great. (Seeing Ian McShane as Broom here was weird, but I think that's partially because my feeds have been flooded with American Gods S2 trailers, so I had some strong "the fuck is Wednesday doing here" dissonance.) I love the lack of love triangle and instead the strong teambuilding with sibling-style chemistry with situational allies developing trust through necessity.

The main through-line of the plot is exactly what Hellboy should be: monsters, undead things coming back, an ancient evil threatening to engulf the world in darkness, and a determined attempt by the villain to appeal to Hellboy's demonic nature to draw him to her side. If the movie had been confident enough to position itself as a sequel to the del Toro films, rather than a reboot, the revelation of Hellboy's ancestry would have been a great development of his ironic destiny. 

Just take the secret society set up in the first act. An old boy's club of British gentlemen who ritualistically hunt down undead giants on horseback with electrified lance/spears and mount their heads in a Victorian trophy room? This is the world of Hellboy, absolutely. Love it. Baba Yaga! Bleeding trees! Whatever the hell those throat-ghosts are! A fairy ripping out someone's tongue and putting it in their own mouth in order to speak with the person's voice! Hellboy! (Granted that last point was utterly terrible in the context of the plot, but I already ranted about that.)

The movie is pretty optimistic about setting up further sequels, and while I don't know if the box office and reviews will make a sequel happen, I would love for the seeds planted by the good movie underneath the bad one to be nurtured into an actually good Hellboy movie. It just desperately needs to be taken away from people who prioritize cheap horror and its tropes, and given back to people who understand that Hellboy is a fantasy superhero narrative within a Lovecraft setting, the way that del Toro did. 

[priincesspacificaarchive]

for @iamdiffercnt, who came to me to start this ship, and who has made me love this ship almost as much as crime!dipifica.

“He’s too good for you. You do not deserve him.” The words ring out in her head every time she sees him. His black hair covering his too-green eyes, buying her drinks or snacks or paying for everything when they go out, (she doesn’t know why he has so much money, and she doesn’t feel it right to ask) letting her paint his nails black and gel his hair and kissing his face until his silly eyeliner smudges.

And they ring out again as he charges the behemoth who currently has her hostage in his right hand like this was fucking King Kong.

“GIVE ME BACK MY PRINCESS!” His voice roars out as his arms grow spikes, his hands, his back. His nails grow long, far longer than Pacifica’s had ever been. Part of her wants to scream, to cry out to him that it’s okay. She isn’t worth it. Another part of her lifts. He wants to save her. And calling her his princess had always made her heart soar high until it fell right back into his hands. And part of her screams in encouragement, it screams for him to succeed until it’s raw.

The behemoth has sense enough to set her somewhere high up until he can fight off her eldritch boyfriend. Pacifica knows that he’s just made his first mistake of many. While Pacifica doesn’t really have a problem with Junior coming to her rescue, she much prefers to save herself. The monster had set her high in a nearby tree, and she has never really been afraid of heights. She starts the climb down slowly, taking gentle and careful steps and double-checking her footing before moving again. It was rigorous, and kind of annoying. But Junior was acting as the perfect distraction, almost like this had all been planned. Pacifica finally gets close enough to the ground to feel comfortable with jumping down, and so she does. She doesn’t land very loudly, but something tells her that Junior knows.

She isn’t visible to either of them, and it’s going to stay that way until she can find a big enough stick to hit the giant with. From what she can glimpse through the trees, Junior is winning, but her heart launches into her throat when she sees him get slammed into the ground. She knows he heals fast and all, but that had to hurt. She’s tempted to leave her hiding spot, trade Junior’s life for her own, until Junior gets up and smiles. His teeth are bloody, and something about it makes her hot and cold all at once. She shivers, but a part of her, a part she keeps locked down even from him, is smiling with him, just as sure and sinister.

Pacifica continues her search for a giant stick, maybe part of a tree branch, anything to help stop the monster, to help Junior. She pauses to check on the fight whenever she hears noises that sound extremely painful, but both seem to be holding their own, and Junior seems to have lost his slight edge, whatever it had been.

The behemoth picks up and hurtles Junior into a nearby tree. Junior thuds against it, and snaps it in two before he slams into the next one, this one splinters, but the momentum had lessened greatly due to the reaction of the tree before it. Junior stays there, dazed, against the tree, and Pacifica feels her every breath in her lungs, heavy and hurting and huge. Not much more than three seconds later is Junior back on his feet and tearing at the behemoth again, using everything he has to try and save her. The voice rings out again, “Too good for you,” but another part sings “Look at what he’s going through for you, fighting through for you”. She wants to give up her search, but then climbing from the tree would feel pointless, and so she resumes her task, keeping her ears trained on the match she had basically been the cause of. At one point she hears swearing, and she knows it’s Junior. She dares to race to the edge of the trees, blue eyes searching desperately for his jet-black hair and too-pale skin. She finds him, sprawled on his back, more splintered and cracked trees in his wake, and she thinks she can hear him gurgling on his own blood.

She runs to him, without pause to think, to strategize, to plan as she so often would. Her feet smack into the ground with all the force she has in hopes of propelling herself forward quicker. She skids to her knees as she reaches him, and yes he heals quickly but all of this would still take time. She cups his face in her hands and smiles through her tears. “Hi.”

“How’d-”

She shakes her head, “Does it matter? I’m okay. You don’t have to fight anymore.” She presses a kiss to his forehead. “Let me finish this. I started it in the first place.” His voice had been scratchy, and she kisses his nose, presses a sweet peck to his mouth.

Then she stands against the towering beast and glowers at it.

She’s practically weaponless, and one might even guess she’s insane. But this guy had ruined her date, had punched her boyfriend through trees, and had stuck her in a tree in her favorite pair of flats. He was going to pay.

Pacifica issues no war cry, no scream of anguish, absolutely nothing as she grabs a snapped branch from the wreckage of all the broken trees and charges at her previous captor.

The behemoth doesn’t have enough sense to dodge, and even if he had, Pacifica was quicker than him. She stabs the tree branch into his gut, throwing all of her power and momentum into it, hoping to at least pierce flesh. She succeeds, but barely and she darts away to find more tree bits to harm him with. Maybe if she had more time, more power…

Her gaze finds Junior as she sorts for a branch large enough to attack with. He lies where she left him and she isn’t sure why. Surely he would be healing by now, perhaps even on his feet, trying to protect her, to keep her out of the fight.

But instead he stays there and her heart aches so deeply that she feels a sob trying to tear it’s way through her throat. She barely manages to swallow it down before getting a rather large branch. It’s thick, heavy, would’ve been good for a tire swing if the tree was still intact. She levels it like a javelin, and searches the forest for her opponent, watching and waiting for him to give away his place.

She hears a rustle and charges the giant, only seeing red as she thinks about Junior, laying there, possibly dying. She has more distance, more momentum, more power and all of this adds up to the branch stabbing into his gut again, deep and painful. A guttural howl is loosened from the beast, and it runs off, tearing through the trees as if they were especially tall grass.

Pacifica takes a second, just one, to breathe, before tearing through the wreckage to find Junior.

He lays where she left him, and she stops, collapsing to her knees as she holds his face in her hands. She brushes her nose to his, kisses the cut above his eyebrow, one of her hands leaves his face and takes hold of one of his tentacles, as if it were his hand. “Junior if you die I’m going to find you in whatever afterlife and murder you.” She murmurs the words to him, praying the tears stay out of her voice.

He comes to groggily, eyes blinking slowly open. He latches his eyes on her’s as soon as he can properly see. Well, as best as he can see without his glasses. She goes back to cupping his face, trying to keep her tears at bay, slow her heart beat, hide all signs of fear.

“I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that, princess.”

[acoolguyscoollife]

Chapter 14: Ready? Fight!

For our first actual team fight against something, I had to say, it felt like it was going pretty well right up until the glass shards. With a screech out of its eldritch-looking mouth, the windows shattered into many dangerous looking pieces, which of course he controlled telepathically to send flying towards us. Tabitha covered herself, Aki and her father, and Seth with a bubble of energy propelled from her hands at the last second, while Amy and I just had to run, each effort at bringing up the floor for a makeshift barrier barely making it a few inches off the ground. She was getting tired, despite how effortlessly she had acted before, most of her energy having been lost blocking the King inside in the first place. A shadowy tendril shot out in our path, and Amy dropped to a slide, which looked incredibly painful on the knees. With barely any time to react, I couldn’t do anything but bring up my sword and slash through it, using my momentum to carry me through the attack, severing the limb from the rest of the body and coating me in a generous helping of icky stuff. The creature screamed again, and the glass shards dissolved, my ears ringing with the attack. Multiple eyes had sprouted along its body now, which served as little more than targets for Seth to shoot out. I watched him as he fired at them, grouping shots three at a time to each eye, then reloading when he had to. A tendril swung from above, and he dodged out of the way, reminding me of where exactly I was right now, and I narrowly missed being hit by a tendril aimed at me.

“If anyone has one of those attacks that the heroes do in movies at the end of a fight, where you wonder why they don’t do it sooner, now would be a good time to do it!” I called out, while glancing at everyone else. Each expression was blank, as if expecting one of the others to be the one to have that attack. I saw Seth attempt to speak, before being cut off by another screech from the monster, as small flying creatures came out of its mouth. One flew at me, quickly stopped by a slash from the Cobatana, but once again showering me in ick.

“What do we know about this guy?” Seth repeated, and I had to think back to the game version. While there were most definitely differences, I didn’t know for certain what they were, and it was better to operate as if we were in the same circumstances.

“It’s mostly endurance, he eventually gives us an opening to attack with!” I said, after some deliberation. “We need to get above him somehow, usually the attack is done from the top of the castle because he’s fought outside!” Once again, the difference between the game and real life got in the way. I jumped over one of the tendrils, hoping that Amy would be able to handle herself, before ducking under another. I was noticing more about the creature’s changes now, with the long appendages now having faces at the end of them, sharp-teethed and very bitey. One snapped at me, and I drove my sword through its face, narrowly missing being bitten by it. It began to recoil, pulling me and the sword with it, but Tabitha’s fire cut through it, engulfing the entire creature in a shield of fire. Amy took this moment to run across to the rest of us, the brief reprieve in fighting giving us a second to regroup.

“How long do we have to do this for?” Aki asked, and I couldn’t do anything but shrug. It felt like we’d been fighting for hours at this point, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. The fight in the game went on for a while, but I’d never timed it then, since who would count the seconds while playing a game normally?

“The core of the creature is in there, and over time, it gets exposed. When it does, we launch everything we have at it. We’ll need someone to run a distraction to stop it from closing early, holding it apart in two pieces by dividing its attention.” I said, and Seth stepped forward.

“We’ll split into two teams. Me, Aki’s father, and Tabitha will stick to one side, while the rest stay on the other. Aki and her father will run the distractions when the core opens, and we’ll use a full-frontal assault. Any questions?” He finished, and Aki raised her hand.

“Do you always take over the tactical stuff?” She asked, and Seth grinned.

“Oh yes!” Seth fired off a shot at the creature, which Tabitha took as the signal for her to drop the shield holding it in. The teams split up, taking each side of the room and attacking any point of the creature we could. Amy’s new method of attack was to create whatever kind of throwable weapon she could, which didn’t seem to do too much, but I was okay with her saving her power. It wasn’t like I could do much better with a limited-range weapon like a sword. Though, I had to admit, this thing sliced through the King like butter, though I wouldn’t want to spread him on my toast in the morning. Or afternoon, or evening. Basically, any time of the day that I would have toast. After all, why should warm bread be confined to only one time of the day?

“Aki, what’s your distraction plan?” I called out, trying to distract myself from what I was fighting, and also from my trailing thoughts. Glancing over at her, I saw exactly what her plan was, as she ran along one of the creature’s limbs deftly and gracefully, not even showing a hint of losing her balance. The limb turned, but she didn’t, propelling herself off of it and extending an arm to catch it with her claws. Aki swung around the limb with her claws dragging through it, flipping back up to where she started like a gymnast, though I imagine in a gymnastic environment, they wouldn’t normally end up severing a limb with the force of their landing. Though then again, I’d not seen much of gymnastics. Maybe it was way higher stakes than I thought. Despite every removed tendril, nothing felt like it was changing, the King acting like a hydra and just sprouting more limbs every time it lost one, which totally felt like cheating, but I was pretty sure he wouldn’t take kindly to being called out on it. What I could only assume was now the head of the creature opened up for another scream, and, very briefly, I saw the flash of light that was tell-tale to a video game weak point. A shrill whistle, and the others caught on to what I was talking about. Aki’s father took off running one way, and Aki herself went another, with the creature’s following eyes causing it to begin to pull apart. The light became more visible, and I knew this was the time to attack.

“Now!” Tabitha said, punctuating her words with a fireball bigger than herself, manifested from a snap of her fingers and a wave of her arm towards the King. Seth’s bullets struck it over and over, and Amy sent a piece of the ground through it, sharp as a spike. Despite everything, I knew it wasn’t going to be enough. The creature was still attacking. I had to move quickly, before…

“Dad!” Aki’s voice screamed out, and I already knew I was too late. I didn’t even want to look, but I couldn’t do anything but, my body in autopilot. A tendril of shadow, sharp and deadly, had impaled him. One end was coated in blood, and his face was frozen, still in the stage of exertion that comes from running. The limb retracted, and he fell to the ground. I could feel my hand clenching involuntarily, knuckles white as I clutched the sword. The whole idea of being a Cool Guy was an attempt at being calm, funny, and unemotional. But I was pissed.

“Amy, I need platforms, now!” I said, and she caught on quick to what I was trying to do. “Seth, Tabitha, stop the attacking!” The gunfire and fire-fire ceased, and I started running towards the core. The floor became steps as I ran, crude and wobbly, but enough for me to gain enough height to leap off the last one, towards the pulsating mass of blackness. I brought the sword down, slashing wildly as I fell towards the core. The sword stabbed directly into it, stopping my momentum for a moment as the creature’s body began to shift to try and hide it. All it did was give me a foothold to drive the sword further into it, before twisting and pulling it out through the side of it. The creature let out a scream that, at this distance, felt like it was splitting my head. I could see the core was destroyed, which was my last sight as my vision was covered by dark liquid, oozing over my face as the body swallowed me.

 “Bluh.” It was all I could think to say. “Holy shit, that was gross.” Okay, maybe I had a bit more to say. The monster was dead, mostly dissolved away at this point, but the remnants of black goo were still on me, despite my best attempts at shaking it off. I tried standing up, but I was almost thrown off balance by Amy grabbing me tightly, both swearing and crying slightly.

“Don’t do that again, assface.” She muttered, and I kinda felt bad. I knew I wasn’t going to die, because of the way the boss worked, but it definitely looked like I had from the outside. Unfortunately, the mention of my death fake-out only served to remind me of Aki’s father. She was with him, holding his head up on her lap, kneeling next to him. After Amy let go of me, I joined her, and the two of us sat in silence for a while. Her father looked at peace, and I hoped for his sake that he got it. He had helped his people, and had ran forwards instead of away. If it hadn’t been for him, we might not have succeeded.

“Do you know, he asked me to take over as queen?” Aki said, finally. I looked over at her, and she was half-smiling, despite her tears. “What an idiot.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Could you imagine, me ruling over all of them? I’m barely 20 years old!” She added with a chuckle, but the smile was starting to fade. I put my arm around her, letting her fall into a hug as her laughter turned into sobbing.

 “I want to come with you.” Aki said, which caught me off guard. We had been gearing up to leave, having spent a few days here making sure that everyone was recovering, so I had spent a while talking to her. Not once had she brought this up.

“Aki, I don’t know…” I began, but she cut me off.

“Hear me out, okay?” Aki basically pleaded, and I looked over at Tabitha, who just stared me down. Guess this was my call. “I know mutants aren’t common in your world, but I don’t plan on going outside. Hell, I just want to see other worlds altogether, not just change the world I live in.”

“What about your people?” Seth asked, gesturing to the crowds of people behind us.

“I don’t think they need me. What they need right now is time to heal.” Aki said. While she wasn’t wrong, I wasn’t sure how leaving would help with the situation. “If I’m being honest with myself, I don’t know about my purpose here. At least with you guys, I can try and find a reason to keep going.”

“And what if you decide that you want to go home?” Amy asked. Aki raised an eyebrow, or at least, I think she did. Fur all over her made it hard to tell.

“There’s nothing stopping you from bringing me back, is there?” Aki said, though not in a tone that suggested she would care if she couldn’t come back. At this point, we could only turn to Tabitha for answers.

“Not particularly. It’d be a pain in the ass, and a little annoying after having helped you, but I get the feeling this wouldn’t have stopped you either way.” Tabitha was barely paying attention to the conversation, instead typing on her wrist again.

“That settles it, then!” Aki said, moving to the rest of us.

“It does?” I said to myself, but it didn’t matter now. Aki was right in the middle of the group, arms around us, as Tabitha hit the button to send us back to our own world.