#So nothing was done before he finally went nuclear.

[privateolives]

GRHJGUMERGJMERGAM YOU HAVE SMT OCs??? I wanna know more

I sure do. Long long ago when SMT//Imagine was still novelty me and my roleplaying crew at the time decided to make a roleplay guild called Clan Volatile. Because these fuckers were all ticking time bombs in their own right.

My ticking timebomb of choice was a young man called Dastolle Kobayashi, the resident clan tank and horribly abused workhorse.

So for those of you not in the know, SMT Imagine was an MMO set in the interrim between SMT1 and SMT2. My roleplay group at the time decided to set up an rp guild in the game, exploring the first generations of humans who wouldn't remember the days before the nuclear fallout of SMT1. None of them would survive to make it to SMT2, which was also part of the concept. Having a good ol' look at those people who perished when things started to get ugly again.

He's a sweet guy, if not the smartest... though he's still smarter than people give him credit for. Unfourtunately he's also incredibly traumatised and suffer from intense amounts of anger (secret) that's being kept in check only by his intense fear of abandonment (Apparent to anyone with eyes).

He's unquestionably loyal to his clan. Why? Because he doesn't trust his own judgement on who he can trust or not - and his departed mentor promised him that these people would be his friends.

It... didn't go so well. He's the "best friend" of an incredibly abusive clan leader who's sanity is probably compromised by his demon fusion wings (remember the freaky lore with the demon accessories?) and something of a (rather objectifying) interest to said leader's twin sister.

They're all C-rank demon busters, so only in the about level 20s or so. Real nobodies doing grunt work that noone has time to keep much of an eye on. They can survive, and that's good enough.

He doesn't like books (they're religious items that steal people away) and may or may not be trying to burn a clanmate's bible without him finding out. He's staunchely neutral due to both his parents leaving him for each their faction when he was younger, and mostly uses beast demons. They're nice and simple. His primary demon is a fire-breathing unicorn who likes to mess with people and has a narcisism problem.

He took up smithing as a secondary clan-job. He mostly makes swords for their leader, he likes his hammer.

I also had a cool thing going where I had reaction images drawn both with and without the visor that let ME know when he was being mildly deranged under the cover of the visor, but other people wouldn't tell because they couldn't see his eyes. There was a lot of interesting psychology going on with him.

Dastolle is a docile guy who works hard to try and ensure his "friends" won't abandon him out of an extreme fear of being alone again. It's the only thing keeping an increasingly boiling anger down.... for now. But he's got a dark and bloody future ahead of him.

I can talk more about his story if there's any interest.

[drakulana]

all it was // law x reader

this is the part two to the first spark. i definitely recommend reading that one first. read part one here!

part 3

content: fem! reader, more sloooooow burn

wc: 4.2k

༺☆༻

The crew had been preparing for departure all day. A day full of running checks and tests on all the engines and reactors within the ship. A day spent in a small boiler room with crewmates, having no choice but to shove past one another in the narrow halls, mumbling quick apologies to one another. It took five long hours to run all the tests, and they still weren’t done. They still had to start up all the generators along with actually turning on the reactors. They hadn’t even started warming up the engine room yet. Normally, they wouldn’t take this long to depart, but when given the opportunity their captain made it mandatory to run all of the checks and tests to the furthest extent. Trafalgar Law was not one to cut corners, and for once, they were not pressed for time.

The boiler room was humid and stuffy. (Y/n) was standing shoulder to shoulder, sandwiched in between Penguin and Shachi as they worked on the turbine's connection to the nuclear reactor, an assembly line formed between them. One soldering wires, one tightening bolts, and one looking over everyone’s work to make sure no mistakes were made. There was no room for error when working on machinery that was heavily relied upon. Once they were done with one part of the turbine, they’d move onto another while a fourth person would come in to look over to make sure nothing was missed. This went on for about an hour and a half, until they were finally done. However, (Y/n) still had lots of work to do. 

She had spent a week and a half on the pestilent Bronze Island gathering up all the information she could. From citizens, to landmarks. Countless hours of talking to locals, gathering double the amount of information for both her and her captain. The past week and half was filled with sleepless nights where she spent organizing all of her information, trying her best to keep quiet while she snuck off to an empty corner of the submarine. She had worked hard, and she still wasn’t done with all of her work. She made her way up to her quarters to gather up all of her things while pondering on where she wanted to do her work. She needed some place quiet. While pondering over where she was going to work tonight, a memory played back in her mind. If you ever need a place to hide, don’t hesitate to come in here to read or to finish your research. Her captain’s offer rang through her head, however, he had been scarce within the past week. Only ever mumbling a soft acknowledgment whenever accidentally brushing elbows in the narrow halls. He was busy, she knew that, and she wasn’t going to be the one to disturb him. She would hate to be a nuisance, and no matter how oddly comforting his presence was, she was not going to be selfish when it came to his time. It was not her place to do so. 

(Y/n) was exhausted, but she could not get herself to abandon her pen for just one night. She was already in the zone. Why spoil the tenacity? Walking through the mostly empty halls, she found herself in the kitchen. It was quiet, it had better lighting than the library, and was more comforting than the metal walls in her bunk. She settled into the chair and spread out her papers, eventually getting lost within her work. Pages upon pages, scrawled across in shorthand cursive. Ink smeared slightly on the edges of some of the paper, some in better shape than the others. (Y/n) paid no mind to the misspelled words, or the messy handwriting, these were rough drafts after all, and she had no plan to show them to anyone. 

It was maybe an hour before her exhaustion started to catch up to her, all the information of Bronze Island becoming one big daydream about the island. The work they did there, the people she met, all the new little details about a place she had only ever researched before were still fresh on her mind, ready to be recorded in those notes of hers. It wasn’t long into her small reverie that her captain had wormed himself into her mind. This was not the first time, and she knew it certainly was not the last. He had a way of appearing in her thoughts, her mind always coming up with a way to bring him to the forefront. Although she had to admit the thought of him was nice, it was distracting. It was inappropriate. It was unprofessional. It was many things, but why had none of the moral obstructions present stop her from indulging in her thoughts. 

She would be lying if she said that she didn’t entertain these thoughts late at night. She’d be lying if she said that she hadn’t thought about him in ways that she shouldn’t have been thinking about her captain. How his golden eyes caught in the light, gleaming like fine jewelry. How he carried himself with such conviction, and how his predominant intelligence seemed to exude from him. There was also a dark air around him, a dangerous one. One that she found too enticing for her own good. One that shouldn't draw her closer, shouldn’t leave her wanting to understand what was under the surface. She would tell herself that it was her curious nature, alway wanting to record facts about certain people. Yeah, that’s all it was. She would reason with herself every time. It wasn’t at all the way he still seemed to look good no matter how much sleep he missed. It wasn’t the dominant energy around him, that gave everyone a reminder on why he was in charge. It wasn’t the way his commands, and comments towards her made her stomach turn, and mind wander. She was only interested for research purposes. Yeah, that’s all it was.

༺☆༻

On the other side of the ship sat Trafalgar Law. He was working on recording all the samples that he had made on the island. The steady grumble of the engines vibrated through the walls. It was comforting for them to be back to sea once again. It made him feel better to know all the checks and tests had been run on their ship before they had left as well. His crew had worked hard, and he was proud of them. It was days like this he was grateful for each and everyone of them. After all, what is a captain without his crew? He let himself feel proud for once. It was a rare feeling, he never liked to indulge himself in such petty things, like pride. Pride made a man reckless. Pride was a damning distraction. Distractions were not the kind of thing Trafalgar Law liked to mess with, not when he had goals that he had not yet accomplished. Tonight though, he let himself feel the tiniest miniscule of pride for his crew. He let himself revel in the thoughts of every single one of his crew members, but one just kept sticking out to him. (Y/n). He told himself it was because she was still newer to the crew. She was new, and had this amazing drive for new information. Her knowledge was astonishing. He would tell himself that these thoughts were strictly professional, and not at all personally rooted in the feeling that he would get when she called him Captain. It wasn’t at all the way her eyes lit up whenever he asked her about something she was writing about. It wasn’t at all the way that her cheeks would tinge pink whenever he would give her an order. He was simply just proud of his crew member. Tonight, he was letting himself feel a little proud. That’s all it was. 

The praise never stayed long when he allowed himself to feel such things. Whenever thoughts like this would arise too much for his own liking, he would bury himself in more of his work. He didn’t have time to concern himself with superficial feelings. Law stared at the pages in front of him. The recorded data was written in that same pretty cursive handwriting that had seemed to scrawl across his mind from time to time. Against his will, the owner of the handwriting was now back at the front of his mind. Two weeks ago, Law had offered his space to her. Fourteen days and she had yet to take him up on his offer. Not that he was counting. Part of him was thankful for that. Thankful that he wouldn’t have to confront the warm bubbling feeling he would get in her presence. Grateful he could ignore the electricity that would course through his limbs whenever the two brushed against each other by accident in the narrow hallways. He could ignore the way her laugh harmoniously bounced off the walls in the common area while conversing with her crewmates. He could ignore how their gazes were usually held for a second too long. On the other hand, something nagged him deep down. Thoughts of regret towards the offer threatened to arise, but whenever they did, he found himself burying himself into more of his work. The papers on his desk had remained twice as high in the past fortnight. Books were more scattered than usual. Crumpled up papers with ink smears fell around his desk. Every now and then, his mind would drift to (Y/n) and he would find himself stalling his work, staring at a page for far too long. Tracing the arches and curves of her letters and words within her work. It unnerved Law how undisciplined his mind had been lately, and over a crew member of all things. He huffed to himself and looked over at the clock that was hanging on the steel wall. 11 p.m. He needed a break, opting to go get a cup of coffee to wake him up. 

In Law’s book, 11 p.m. was hardly late. His crew turned in earlier than usual, leaving the cold corridors of the submarine empty. He made his way into the kitchen of the submarine, only to find the woman who had been taking up his mind for the past two weeks. She was sitting there at the table, papers laid out in front of her as she wrote short handedly on her notes. A small pang of odd discomfort settled when he realized she had opted to do work here rather than in the quietness of his office with him, like he had offered. The feeling quickly went away whenever she raised her head and peered up at him with her pretty eyes that always seemed to captivate him, as of lately. A small smile graced her lips as she noticed it was her captain. There it was again, the odd warm feeling that he seemed to get around her. “Good evening, captain,” she said warmly. “I see you have emerged,” she teased him. Law had been cooped up in his office for nearly a week, not counting the times he had to leave, like to eat or go to the bathroom. It wasn’t unusual for Law to work in his office for days on end, everyone knew that. Law stalked over to the woman who was sitting at the table, “What’re you working on?” he asked her, picking up a paper that had been pushed to the side. He examined the paper, holding it in between his fingers. Little doodles adorned the corners of the page, and messy shorthand was scribbled onto the lines. Information about the island that they had just departed from about a week ago. (Y/n) studied his movements closely, he had never seen the rough drafts of her work, just the edited and refined versions. “Just adding some information about Bronze Island,” she replied as she watched his face closely as he analyzed the paper. The rough draft of research was not something she shared. From corner to corner, the pages were filled with messy shorthand, and various notes in the margins while tiny doodles adorned the spaces in the corners. She was very nervous for her captain to see these. She watched as his face remained still as ever, the only movement were his golden eyes. After a few anxious moments, he laid the paper down, “This is very good work, I can’t wait to see it when it’s done.” His praise was rare. A small smile broke out onto her face. 

“Thank you, captain,” she beamed up at him, grateful for his praise. Law nodded at her, walking away from her to fix himself a cup of coffee. He stood in front of the coffee pot, glancing over his shoulder at the girl sitting at the table, papers spread out in front of her. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” He broke the silence in the kitchen. She thought for a second. A coffee would probably wake her up enough to get to the stopping point she had planned to. She peered up at her captain, “I would like that, thank you.” 

Law continued brewing the coffee, pouring two cups as (Y/n) made her way towards him. He handed her the cup of coffee, their fingertips brushing. A familiar warm feeling bloomed within the both of them, the same one they had been trying to push away. They locked eyes as everything seemed to stand still. A silence fell around both of them. The mere few seconds felt like hours. As quickly as the feeling came, it went, and they pulled their gazes away. (Y/n) took her coffee and made it the way that she liked, Law opting for black. Predictable, she thought to herself. They stood there in the comfortable silence, before Law spoke up. “I am working on the trials we ran on the island, I could use some of your notes, would you come to my office with me?” He asked her. Her eyes locked his once again, that twinkle he had found all too beguiling present in her irises. “Yes! Let me just grab my things,” She beamed, “Here, hold this,” She placed the coffee cup in his hand before turning to grab her things. She gathered up all her papers in her arms, and all her pens, denying any help that Law had to offer as they made their way to his office. 

Law’s office was dimly lit, the only light coming from a lamp in the corner of the room. It was bright enough to illuminate the workspace, but not bright enough to spread to the corners of the room. It was cold in his room, probably to aid him in staying awake if she had to guess. His desk was stacked high with papers and books. Crumpled up pieces of paper scattered around his desk, not enough to make his office too messy, but enough to be noticed. In the right corner of the room was Law’s bookshelf, lined with books, mostly medical, but a few novels scattered throughout. (Y/n) wondered what kind of novels the Surgeon of Death liked to indulge in reading. She couldn’t fathom him reading anything of fiction. In the corner of the room was her captain's bed. The blankets were thrown to the foot of the bed, while two pillows propped up on each other at the top. (Y/n) pulled her gaze away from all the furniture and how it was set up in his quarters, and set her things down. She took the papers that contained all the information she had and spread them out in front of her. She looked up at her captain, “So, where are we starting?” She asked him. 

“Let’s start with the sample records you recorded the other day,” He said. They had collected a bunch of samples from the island they were visiting. These samples ranged from swabs of sidewalks and door handles, to buccal and nasal swabs from willing citizens. Law had been culturing the virus over the past few days, checking up on it every hour to see how it was developing. No wonder the man hadn’t gotten any sleep. Law constantly worked, it brought him a sort of peace. It was something he had complete control over. He rarely let anyone assist him if unneeded. Everyone on the crew knew that. 

Y/n took out the data that she had collected from the culturing virus in the lab, flipping through the pages to make sure she included everything. As she flipped, her finger glided across one of the edges of the paper. A sharp pain traveled through her finger causing her to yank her hand back from the stack of papers. Muttering a curse under her breath, she laid the pack of papers in front of Law before looking down at the finger that had started to ooze red. “I’m sorry, excuse me for a second,” she said as she stood up from her seat. Before she could make her way to the door, Law stopped her with a gentle, “Let me see.” Hesitantly, Y/n reached towards Law as he took her hand to examine the measly paper cut that hardly needed a bandaid. As Law reached to hold her hand, butterflies erupted within her stomach. A heat rose to her cheeks, and she looked away. Law didn’t miss her reaction, but he didn’t say a word cause he was dealing with his own stomach flipping. He kicked himself, telling him that there was no reason to give such notice to something as small and ordinary as a papercut. He blamed the doctor within him for his following actions. Opening a drawer in his desk, Law pulled out a small first-aid kit. It contained antiseptic, bandages, and antibiotic ointments. Y/n started to protest, “Captain, that’s really not nec-” she started, but being cut off by her own hiss as he poured antiseptic on the papercut, paying no mind to her protests. “You don’t want to lose your finger to an infection, do you?” He asked her, as he cleaned her wound. She hissed at the cold sting from the antiseptic. “I hardly think anyone has ever lost their finger to a papercut,” She mused, as he added some antibacterial ointment and wrapped her finger in a bandaid. Law gazed up at her, catching her eyes that reflected the light of the small desk lamp. In that moment he could’ve sworn he was putting a band-aid on the finger of an angel, not that he would ever admit to that. He quickly pushed the thought away before replying, “You’d be surprised at the results of an untreated cut. Even the smallest ones can fester into a nasty infection,” He told her, as she gazed back at him. She held his golden gaze, pink still resting in her cheeks. 

A small smile broke out onto her face, “Well, thank you doctor. Whatever would I do without you?” She teased him. It had been a while since she had shown her playful side to him. He secretly wished that she would do it more. Law’s usual smirk crept up, “You would have no fingers,” He played along, “It’d be bad to have my researcher have no fingers, how would you record all the data I need?” He paused, “Besides, don’t you need these to write your book?” He held up her fingers between his inked one before gently letting them go.

“So I’m a useful asset to you?” She asked him, her tone still playful, however the question held some truth in it. She had worried she wasn’t enough for this crew. She remembered the words Law had said to her when he asked her to join. Your knowledge outweighs your weakness. However, not a day went by where she didn’t think that she was a burden. Her strength did not match the crew’s, and no matter how hard she trained, her work always seemed to get in the way of her actually improving. She knew she was the weak link, and she knew her captain knew that too. Law looked up at her, furrowing his eyebrows. The joking was now over, “You’re not an asset, you’re a member of my crew,” he said seriously, “I wouldn’t let anyone I didn’t think was worthy onto this submarine. Each and every one of my crew members has their strengths and weaknesses. Just cause you’re not out on the battlefield doesn’t mean you’re not valuable. You’re a very hard worker. Having you around takes a lot of my workload off. You’re more than needed around here,” He assured her. A small smile came back onto her face. Seeing her smile at his words did something inside of him. Something he wasn’t sure if he should indulge in. Something that made him want to whisper sweet praise to her if that’s what it took to make her smile like that all the time. It took a few moments of them standing in front of each other for them to realize how long they had been looking at each other. Law cleared his throat before pulling away, pushing down all the rising feelings again. It was unprofessional. It wasn’t right to feel these things. Law had to pull himself together. 

༺☆༻

After about two hours of going through data, the caffeine had started to wear off and drowsiness started to creep in. Law was unyielding when it came to his work, never stopping for more than a few minutes before delving right back into the research. An unwelcome yawn ripped through Y/n’s system. Law noticed this, and he knew she had been working more lately trying to get all the data recorded on top of adding all the information she had gathered for her book. “Y/n, you can go to bed, it’s almost 3:30.” He had told her with a sincere tone. Y/n shook her head at him, “No, it’s okay, I can keep working,” she assured him before looking back down at her page. Truth was, she was exhausted and felt as if she could hardly keep her eyes open, but she didn’t want to seem like she couldn’t keep up. Just a few more minutes, she thought to herself. The sound of the clock on the wall was almost hypnotizing as it aided in lulling her into closing her eyes. I’ll just rest my eyes for a second, she told herself as she let her eyes close, propping her head up with her hand, still holding her pen in her dominant one. The chair she was sitting in was hardly comfortable, but right now it felt as if it had become one of the coziest places on earth. A few seconds turned into a few minutes. A few minutes turned into her letting the darkness of sleep welcome her.  Law looked up at her when he heard her breaths start to become slower, and deeper. He let himself study her for a minute. He watched as her chest rose and fell with her soft breaths, her hair falling across her face as one of her hands propped up her head. He stood up and made his way in front of her to wake her. He gently reached out to shake her, almost feeling bad for having to wake her. He didn’t want to disturb her peace, he knew she had been putting in a lot of extra work lately. He could tell she hadn’t been getting any good sleep since their arrival to the island. His tattooed hand gently gripped her shoulder, giving her a light shake. He whispered her name a few times, but to no avail, she was out cold. Law gently shook his head as he contemplated his next moves. He didn’t want to leave her asleep in the chair, she would surely be sore in the morning, however the thought of carrying her to her bedroom was quickly written off. The crew would never relent if one of them saw, even if it was late at night, you never knew who could be awake wandering the halls. Law glanced over at his bed, and then back at the sleeping woman. He gently reached down and removed the pen and notebook from her hands, setting it on the desk in front of her. He was careful, but was sure of the fact that she wasn’t waking up when she didn’t so much as stir at the sudden absence of the items she was holding. Law hesitantly scooped her out of the chair before laying her down in his bed, covering her up with his blanket, letting her head rest on his pillow. He stood there and stared for a minute, selfishly reveling in how she looked in his bed. He knew it was strange behavior for him. He’d never let anyone fall asleep in his office, let alone move their sleeping body to his own personal bed. He mulled over his decision for a split second, and then did what he did best. Ignored the gnawing feeling, and buried himself in his work for the hundredth time that week. He ignored the small breaths and snores that left her body. He ignored the warm feeling that rose whenever he looked over at her. He had to remind himself, she was a part of his crew. He was her superior. He brushed off the unprofessional thoughts. She was his subordinate and that’s all it was.

@drakulana 2024 // i do not give permission to copy, translate, or repost without my consent

taglist: @pinksaiyans , @buttmishaaaa

lmk if you would like to be added to the taglist!

[xxavengingangelxx]

Behind Blue Eyes 1/1

Summary: What exactly happened to Val between days 6 and 10 after she was captured? Why did she suddenly become so compliant? From Graves’s POV. Because, well because Val doesn’t remember. For the simple reason that Graves doesn’t want her to. Maybe out of kindness (because those days were rough), but maybe because generally, a brainwasher doesn’t want their target to remember being brainwashed. 

Inspired by one of my fave YouTubers, Dark5.

I thought about titling this Your beauty never really scared me, a line from one of my favorite songs, Mary on a Cross by Ghost. Just because reader is gorgeous (yes, all y'all are gorgeous!) and Graves wants her but while her beauty might have intimidated other men, of course it didn't intimidate Graves cuz he's a narcissistic used to getting what he wants ;)

Warnings: Torture (nothing graphic), brainwashing, threats of harm, general mindfuckery, etc. This is sadistic Las Almas Graves, a heartless mercenary, kk? ;)

Tags! @unicorngirly1, @c0d-lvr, @bellgraves. I had a taglist when I was posting more often but I lost it so please let me know if you'd like to be added :)

-

This is connected to my fic Long Way from Home, link to the first part below. It's a fic where Graves captures 141's translator in Mexico thinking she has valuable information. She undergoes torture enhanced interrogation techniques thanks to Graves and Shadow Company. She holds her own much better than Graves thought she would.

-

It took 6 days to finally break Val. She finally let go of information that wouldn’t have harmed anyone anyway. Those homing beacons we got from her were old, and she knew that. She refused to give them up for the simple fact that she was defiant. Shepherd’s happy she broke. But he said he’s still flying down. He said he wants her actively working for us.

He told me I have 4 days. 4 days to bring her to our side. I told him that’s impossible, that it took a lot longer than that to essentially brainwash someone. Yes, she’d broken but not willingly.

He told me I knew what to use to do just that. Brainwash her. I know what he was referring to. But no. I didn’t want to. It might kill her.

“Ten Minutes to Midnight,” Shepherd told me.

He told me to do it or he’d kill her. In front of me.

So I relented and went to a computer with some heavily encrypted files. The kind of computer that had a case designed to live through nuclear war and electromagnetic pulse attacks. I pulled up something I learned from the CIA in my dealings with them.

The file titled 10 Minutes to Midnight: The Brainwasher’s Handbook.

The below might sound brutal but just remember I did it to save her life.

-

Val had no idea where she was. The last 24 hours had been a blur and her life had been turned upside down. Everything had changed…everything. Well, her life had changed since Las Almas, I’m certain. Pretty sure she’s never been held captive before.

She’d broken. And that’s what mattered. She was still sedated, somewhat. I couldn’t tell if she was passed out due to exhaustion or if she was still drugged. Maybe both.

But I only had 4 days so we had to fast track this.

She was dead weight when I picked her up. She was definitely lighter than the last time. She was clearly choosing not to interact with me (full on scowled at me before I picked her up and it was hard not to smack her) so when I got back to my barracks I sat her up on my bed, against the wall.

I told her, “We’re not done yet.” And the terrified look in her darker eyes told me that this just might work. Poor thing was still so tired and weak.

We had to be careful here because we didn’t exactly want to erase her entire identity. We needed Val to keep her identity. But she just had to want to work for us. She had to be more violent. Just not towards us like had been for the last 6 days. Seriously, it was getting annoying and exhausting having to be on edge in case she took a swing at me anytime I was within arm’s reach of her. She knew it would result in her getting her ass beat but she seemed to think it was worth it, saying she liked seeing me bleed (she scratched a lot, too).

I tried, really tried to do things the easy way.

I asked told her to come work with me.

And, well, she said fuck you. So disrespectful.

I walked away. Because I wanted to fucking hit her, push her into the wall. But there was a better way to start things. She wanted water and who was I to tell a lady no? I just added a benzo to it. She was out like a light. It was comforting, just watching her sleep, listening to her breathe.

I moved her to what we call one of our soft interrogation rooms. It wasn’t a cell, it wasn’t a concrete cube like she’d been locked in before, but it certainly wasn’t comforting. Just your basics, nothing else: somewhere somewhat comfortable to sleep and less harsh lighting than the rooms (yes, rooms as in multiple because we’ve been moving her to base after base every day) she’d been in before. With one main difference: have you heard of white torture? Everything in that room was white, everything she was allowed to wear was white. It was a form of sensory deprivation that made people easier to brainwash. I made it clear to my men: Val doesn’t leave this room. This is the only room we’d convince her to work for us in. And after she came around, she was never to see this room again.

Because it might trigger memories of how she used to be.

Anyway.

Brainwashing is easy. And it’s not like I have to spend 24/7 with the target. A few of my men were trained in CIA techniques so they knew where to pick up when I needed a break. Val would be worked on 24/7.

Step 1: Assault on identity          

Telling the target they’re not the person they think they are. I told Val she wasn’t who she thought she was. She thought she was an inseparable part of 141. She saw Price as a father figure and the other boys as older brothers. Well, except for Johnny for the simple fact that she used to fuck him. I’d make sure he stayed extra far away from her. He might be a potential trigger for her.

No, you’re not a part of 141. No, you hadn’t known them for years. No, you could not trust them with your life. They’ll kill you if the catch you. Or help lock you up in a military prison the rest of your life. No, they’re not going to forgive you for betraying them, even if you told them it was under torture.

She put up one hell of a fight against this and it was certainly admirable. She even attempted to escape two hours into the ordeal when one of my boys opened the door to that room. But if the first step doesn’t get accomplished, the nine other steps won’t either. So every time she would deny my statements, I would hurt her. Nothing too bad, of course. I couldn’t leave too many new injuries on her. Just stress positions, pressure points, and keeping her awake. I feel like she’d had enough physical abuse coercion.

After 12 hours of repeated verbalizations and some pain she became noticeably less cocky and sure of herself. Hour 14, she sounded confused for lack of a better term. Granted, she had been kept awake for more than 14 hours but she appeared really confused. I asked her to confirm her identity and she seemed even more confused. She whispered her name, but it sounded as if she was asking a question. But I could tell she was doing it only because she was scared. She wasn’t turned yet but this is only the first step so of course she wasn’t.

Her beliefs and her identity were weakened. Not broken yet but weakened. And so I moved onto the next step.

Step 2: Guilt

This step is generally more violent. It has to be. This is where you convince your target they’re the scum of the earth…a horrible person. I told her that 141 were war criminals and that she had helped them. I had to do this step in full uniform to add to the effect. She always showed more fear when I showed up in uniform. I was the only thing with color in that room so she was dead focused on me. She was desperate to look at anything that wasn’t snow white, even if it was her tormentor me.

Yes, Val, you’d helped war criminals. And you resisted my men and I, who were not anything close to war criminals. That we only killed when we had to. And that we certainly didn’t take advantage of females in our group like Soap had done her.

Predictably, she got violent.

So, unfortunately we had no choice but to respond in kind. Of course, no serious injuries. But she felt pain nonetheless. The more hours that ticked by, however, the more exhausted she became and the less she fought. She wasn’t even trying to cover her ears and scream over us to go the fuck away or to shut the fuck up anymore after about another 12 hours. She stopped just screaming into the dark void of her room. She just listened.

But one thing that she would not stop reacting violently to (as in swinging, scratching, kicking, biting, you name it) was the suggestion that the Scot of 141 had taken advantage of her. That was fine, we could drop one or two items off our list. So we left that one alone.

She still hadn’t slept by the way.

Step 3: Self-Betrayal

I told her to admit that she was bad. I told her over and over amid physical okay and sexual threats. Although she, as always, resisted, under the threat of breaking her arm, she agreed in a desperate tone of voice. Because I promised her she didn’t want to have a serious injury on-base, that it would lead to misery. She agreed that she was a bad person because of her job and the people she worked for.

I forced her to admit that her parents were bad people, clearly, and maybe that had been passed onto her. Genetics and all that shit, right? She admitted, on demand, that she was a bad person.

And after she did that, I let her sleep. Only for a few hours. Just long enough to where she slept deeply enough to where a simple ultrasonic wave caused a concussion without leaving marks or making her any the wiser. But weaking her to the next part.

Step 4: Breaking Point

Psychic driving: Strap a someone (preferably concussed) down, give them paralytic drugs and make them listen to a repeated statement hundreds if not thousands of times. Then, you just break them down with something called depatterning which uses drugs, electric shocks and sensory deprivation. The result? It destroys your target’s personality. Then you get to replace the personality with whatever you want.

The only issue we ran into is that we couldn’t quite erase her entire personality or identity. We still needed Val to be Val. Just anti-141 Val. Maybe a version of Val that was a little more trigger happy. A version of Val where maybe, just maybe, she’d kill for us. The CIA would do that shit to people for days, sometimes weeks, we just did it for 36 hours.

And after about 36 hours of that shit, she was almost totally different. After she had been unstrapped, she seemed numb. She gave me this look, this broken, shocked look and then she just broke down. She started screaming and crying about how she didn’t know where the hell she was, who she was, what she stood for. She actually begged me to tell her who she was. Later that night she was convinced she was back in Las Almas. She got psychotic. She wasn’t there. She had fallen off the brink and it was time to pull her back.

Step 5: Leniency

This is kind of like the Stockholm syndrome building stage. She heard me come into her room and she instantly backed up, retreating against the wall, eyes focused on the floor. So I soothed her, promised I wouldn’t hurt her. I mentioned that because she was making progress in trying to make up for all the bad she had done and that I wouldn’t hurt her. I asked her if she wanted something, anything to eat. She told me she wanted a burger and fries. Simple enough. So I got them for her. It was the first time she’d something other than white rice in days.

But I made sure she knew that the only reason I was doing this was because she was making an active effort to make up for all the bad she had done beforehand. I started showing up in civilian clothes. She agreed to make an effort to right the wrongs she had done in the past. Later that night, She got to sleep in a warm room, a normal room for the first time (i.e. not a white torture room). She got to sleep in a warm bed all because, I kept telling her, she was changing herself for the better.

While it may not seem like much, after days of torture and interrogation followed by now days of brainwashing techniques, these small acts of kindness make her think I saved her life and that she owes me. She even said she felt obliged to me and so clearly there was increased trauma bonding.

Step 6: Compulsion to Confession

Next I told her that she could do something for me after everything I had done for her. I told her she could help herself feel better, too. How? By confessing that her past life had been a mistake full of bad deeds. I told her she could confess to me. And while she resisted at first, a little prodding eventually convinced her.

She confessed that her whole life she had lived a lie, that she had been brainwashed by the military to believe she was doing good, but that in reality, she had done horrible things. Her job had turned her into a horrible person. She confessed all of this.

And the best part? She thanked me.

Step 7: Channeling of guilt

Val started this stage on her own.

“I feel bad,” when I asked her why, she gave me this perfect answer about how she had done bad things with her life. She didn’t know how to fix things, she told me. How could she fix things, she wondered, if she had been doing them for such a long time?

She couldn’t have said it in a better, more perfect way. When I asked for the specifics of what she had done wrong, she had no idea. It’s not uncommon for subjects to be confused as to the specifics of what they’ve done wrong. So I told her that her previous identity and belief system were the source of her agony. What she had believed in were the cause of her pain. And I told her that if she wanted to alleviate her guilt, that she would reverse her identity and her beliefs. She could still be saved, I promised her. I told her she wasn’t a bad person but that her beliefs were bad. Easily fixable, I promised her.

While I didn’t take into account how many hours each stage took, the stages lasted shorter and shorter.

Step 8: Releasing of Guilt

This step involved convincing Val that it wasn’t she that was bad but that her previous beliefs were. She smiled for the first time in days and asked if this meant that she could fix what her past beliefs had made her do. I promised her that’s exactly what it meant. All she needed to do was denounce the people she had worked for and denounce that belief system.

To test her, I handed her her dog tags (we’d taken them from her to prevent a third suicide attempt). She wanted to melt them down because she said it reminded her of her 141 days.

I told her not quite because we might have to work with them again in the future.

This was when she realized that she wasn’t a bad person but that her previous beliefs had made her bad. And that she could make up for it by working with us and for us.

Step 9: Progress and Harmony

The path to ‘good’ was helping my cause, I told her. If she really wanted to make up for the things her past beliefs and dedications had caused her to do, she would follow the instructions I gave her. She agreed and this is where generally, the abuse use of force stops. I don’t need to hurt her anymore because she’s agreeing. She’s so far gone that abuse is unnecessary and might work against me. I gave her the illusion of choice (when in reality I’m not giving her a choice) in that she can choose between going back to her bad, evil ways or that she could choose a better path. I reminded her that her old ways had burdened her with so much guilt that they had led to a mental breakdown.

Remember that breakdown you had a few days ago? I had asked her. She nodded. I told her that her guilt had been so overwhelming that she had broken down and I had saved her. In order to prevent another breakdown, she would choose my way. Needless to say, she made the right choice.

Step 10: Final confession and rebirth

Who are you? Still Val, just a better person (she’d actually forgotten her first name as a result of this and maybe the almost week of torture we dealt her before). She said she was more than willing to work with me.

To make sure, I told her I needed to try something.

Downers and Uppers is what the CIA called it back when they did it.

My medic 10-4 and I got ahold of amphetamines and benzodiazepines. He set up an IV of each on each arm.

I watched as he drugged her with the ‘downer’ until she was almost asleep. Then he injected her with the ‘upper’ which jolted her awake and sent her heart rate skyrocketing.

Round and around it went, up and down. And holy shit did she reveal more information about 141. Some theories of downers and uppers that suggestions made during this interrogation technique seem to…for lack of a better word…stick.

She couldn’t lie during this hellish cycle. Literally could not. When I asked her if she’d work with me, without hesitation, she said yes.

And that’s when I knew we were done.

Well, almost done. The only thing left was to use ultrasound to re-concuss her and erase or bury the memories of the past 4 days deep.

Then I carried her back to my room. 10-4 said she should be able to sleep it off.

-

I told Shepherd it’s done. With a few hours to spare. I got her changed into more comfortable clothes I’d kept with me from one of prior nightly liaisons.

So then I picked her up again, led her back to that cold, sterile, cell. She’d wake up here and remember being tortured but she wouldn’t remember us coaxing her to our side.

She continued sleeping it off until I decided to really test the waters. I knew that because we did a shortened version of Ten Minutes to Midnight (its supposed to take weeks, ideally), there were going to be some kinks.

And that was confirmed when she watched me step into that cell.

“What do you want?” she whispered. At least she wasn’t charging at me or yelling at me.

“How long have you been here?” I asked her.

“I don’t know. You’re using all kinds of sensory deprivation.”

“10 days,”

And she snapped up at that. “No way,” she claimed.

So I pointed out how far along her injuries were healed. “Surprised you don’t remember screaming when we stitched ya up seeing as we didn’t use anesthesia.”

“Val, you were gone,” I paused before adding, “You don’t remember ripping that IV outta your arm and saying you wanted to die?”

She shook her head.

“You’re lying,” she said. She then pulled up her sleeves and saw the numerous IV track marks and the slices into her skin from her suicide attempts (One from a piece of glass, like seriously? And the other from ripping that IV out of her arm).

“You’re lying!” She yelled. And then she shoved me. For a second there I thought I was gonna have to drag her back to the drawing board. So I issued one warning: “Next time you put your hands on me I’m gonna break your arm,” and where before she would have dared me to, swung at me, scratched me, she complied.

I stepped closer towards her and she muttered I not get any closer. “When did you get here?” I asked again. I tossed her my watch. The look on her horrified face almost made me feel sorry for her.

“Havin’ a rough night?” I easily took my watch out of her trembling hands. “Tell you what. Come hang out with me tonight.”

She gave me this scared look. So I promised that as long as she wasn’t violent, I wouldn’t be either. She was also apparently terrified of my boys so I promised they wouldn’t lay a hand on her either.

She full on flinched when she heard me lock the door to my room. So I told her to relax, that we weren’t doing anything she wasn’t comfortable with. She was so confused. She had no idea she’d broken and she had no idea she’d been brainwashed.

So I wasn’t totally taken off guard when she walked up to me and kissed me. And I sure as hell found out that night that she was definitely on our side.

The clock just ticked one minute closer to midnight for you, 141.

-

Learn more! This fic was also inspired by a video from one of my favorite YouTubers, Dark5.

[fallingblueroses]

Another little piece of Geoff and Kathy's transformation.

***

Layne drove Geoff back to his house as he lay in the backseat and desperately held on to his human form. Breathing was a struggle and he had to constantly swallow back vomit. His hands were tightly wrapped around the door handle for a focal point.

Layne glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "Almost there, Geoff."

Geoff nodded. "Okay." His voice was raw and gutteral, and he barely recognized it as his own.

Time seemed to stretch out to unbearable lengths as Layne drove on, but he finally stopped and shut the car off. "We're here. Come on." He helped Geoff out of the car and steadied him as they went in the house.

Geoff went in first, and Layne shut the door behind them. The sound acted as a trigger and Geoff fell to his knees, unable to keep the changes back anymore. His breath came in harsh gasps as his body convulsed, and for a few seconds he struggled to stay awake. Layne's hand fell on his shoulder, and Geoff gratefully reached up and held it.

To his shock he smelled Eli coming before he heard the tenor's voice. "Layne?"

"It's us," Layne called. He helped Geoff back to his feet, and Geoff frowned as he looked around. Everything felt a little wrong, even accounting for the obvious. He looked at Layne and jolted as he realized that he was looking down at the beatboxer. Layne had always been just slightly taller than Geoff, but now Geoff had a good three inches in height on him. Layne's eyes widened as he saw it too.

Eli swallowed as he noticed it. "Kathy and Cesar are in the living room."

Geoff nodded. "Thanks." He walked into the living room, and Kathy ran into his arms when she saw him. He held her close for a bit and then pulled back to look at her. She'd also grown in height a bit; they were still the same size relative to each other. Kathy's wings were smaller in proportion to her body, not extending so far above her head as Geoff's did.

Kathy's frightened eyes looked at him. "What's happening?"

He shook his head. "...I wish I knew." He pulled her close again and without thinking brought his wings up and around to cover her. Kathy sighed, put her arms around his neck, and relaxed against him.

After a bit Cesar cleared his throat. "This house isn't built on top of any old graveyards, is it?"

Geoff sighed. "No."

"You haven't been playing with Ouija boards? Bought any cursed artifacts at yard sales?"

"No and no."

"Haven't been cursed by any old witches? Drank any suspicious potions?"

"Not that I know of." Geoff gently pet Kathy's hair.

Cesar tried again. "Been around any nuclear power plants lately?"

"Nothing's happened." He kept petting Kathy's hair. It comforted him as much as it did her.

"Well something had to have done this," Cesar said.

"It was just a normal day, until I started getting hot," Geoff said. He rested his head against Kathy's.

Kathy murmured against his chest. "We need to pick up William from school."

"I'll call Cyndi and have her pick him up along with Doris," Layne said. "...Do you want him to stay with me for a while?"

A jealous pang went through Geoff, and Kathy shook her head. "No. I want my baby."

Layne nodded. "All right. I'll go call her." He stepped out of the living room.

Geoff sighed and looked at Eli and Cesar. "...You might as well go home. Nothing you can do right now."

Eli slowly nodded. "I'll check in with you guys later."

"All right."

"Call us if you need anything," Cesar said. Goodbyes were exchanged and the two of them left. Layne left soon afterward to return to PattyCake, and Geoff and Kathy sat on the couch and waited for William to come home.

[gravityfallsweirdgirl]

DARKWING IN:THE MEG

Somewhere deep down in the ocean, in the Philippines trench, a crew part of research facility lab was in danger, trapped in a damaged nuclear submarine as the hull is being rammed by an unidentified creature. Two lab rat scientists: Marks and D'Angelo were struggling with a damaged hull.

"Anything to report" a mysterious voice sounding like James Monroe Iglehart

"Nothing yet sir" says Dr Marks

"Let me know what you find"

"So far nothing yet sir" says Dr. D'Angelo

"Can you tell me what happened"

"Well, It just keeps getting worse" Dr marks says.

"D'Angelo, Marks, talk to me. What's going on"

"We've moved to the sonar room. We couldn't finish the research sir" Dr D'Angelo says.

"It's a mess, sir" Dr Marks added.

"This is the worst I've ever seen. We need you to send for help sir, we got 10 men down and in end of medical attention"

"We're heading-Heading back to the escape pod now"

"Not until you tell me what is-"

But then something outside hit the sub lab causing everyone to tremble.

"Marks. D'Angelo. What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea sir but we were ambushed by some creature"

"Listen, sir I think we got something outside the ship. Something dangerous, it's what attacked us"

"Something's crushing the hull. We're coming back sir"

"Get back to the escape pod now. Now"

"We're right behind you"

"You guys, move!"

Every researcher and scientist and faculty got to the escape pot but it was locked and they see something biting into the lab.

"Marks. D'Angelo. Report"

"I see the creature sir, it's-I don't believe it sir"

"What? What? What is it?"

"The create It's 60 feet, you're theory was right sir, we have to warn people"

"Finally after all these years we have finally found it, fowl will be impressed"

"Sir Let us out! The escape pod is locked"

"Oh I know"

"Sir please, hurry, please! The men are injured and the lab is unstable at any minute now this whole place will collapse with everyone in it"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that"

"What? But it, there are people here"

"Yes but that creature is part of our project"

"You knew about this didn't, how could you sent us"

"It was the only way, we needed test subjects"

"You were using as as your guinea pigs"

"Oh no no no, lab rats is more like it"

"Sir Don't leave us!"

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid I can't let you go" the boss presses a button the last thing he heard was his lab workers screaming before the lab exploded.

"Hehehe, phase one is complete now on to step 2" the mysterious boss pulls out his phone.

"It's me, it's here...I need you to bring them in...I don't care if it's risk it has to be done, good, bring in the bait time to set the trap" he hands up, "soon you will be mine"

Two months later, in saint canard, in the mallard's residence.

Lived Drake, launchpad and his daughters: Gosalyn waddlemeyer mallard, morgana Macawber, Abigail waddlequack and Iclynn.

Note: iclynn is a clone of Drake created by fowl.

Gosayln was reading an article about the incident which had her concerned.

But then Abigail had a letter in her hand when gosayln heard her cheering.

"Yeah" Abigail cheered.

"What is it Abigail! What's wrong?" Drake rushed downstairs along with gosayln who seemed concerned.

"My application went through" Abigail says.

"Oh that's great Abigail" morgana says when Abigail ran in the living room, she was reading a gothic magazine.

"What did you apple for?" Launchpad asked who was holding iclynn.

"A oceanographer for the underwater research facility for Mana One, they supervise a mission to explore a deeper section of the Mariana Trench, previously concealed by a thermocline of hydrogen sulfide"

"Wow sounds big but aren't you pushing yourself a little too fast into a career Abigail, I mean you are only 14 seems just you're kinda rushing into this" Drake was a bit concerned.

"Come on Drake, this is my future, I love the ocean, I want to study the ocean please, please say I can go"

Drake sighs, "ok ok only if you promise that you'll be safe"

"Here's a better idea, you guys get to come with me" Abigail says.

"Huh?" Everyone was shocked.

Thr application was approved byan incredible scientist named Dr. Quackson.

"And he says that I can bring my family to show the underwater lab" Abigail explains the letter but the moment gosayln Heard that name she was surprised.

"Did you say Dr quackson" she asked which had everyone intrigued.

"You know him gosayln?" Drake asked.

"Yeah he was an old friend of my grandfather"

"Oh I didn't know your grandpa knew him" Abigail says.

"Well I haven't seen him in awhile not since was a little, it's been so long I don't know if he even remembers me"

"Well since you know him, this will be a perfect time to show you guys this new project I'm helping them with is gonna be great"

They were taking a helicopter ride to the ocean, but Drake looks down at the ocean, he starts to get a

Flashback.

A young boy his leg wrapped by a seaweed trapped, he was struggling trying to free while reaching out for the surface, ending the flashback.

But gosayln was concerned about Drake, "hey you ok" she grabs his arm.

He was startled at first but was at ease, "you seem nervous about something" gosayln says.

"Oh I'm fine, I just...have a bad moment with the sea" he looks down at the ocean and was having another PSTD attack.

When they land on top, they were greeted by a duck in a lab coat with orange hair.

"Abigail, so glad to have you on board" Dr quackson and Abigail approach each other, exchanging handshakes.

"It's so good to have you here Ms. waddlequack"

"It's so nice if you to invite my family here, I been looking forward to it sir, oh Dr quackson, this is my family"

"Welcome to Mana One" Dr quackson greeted.

[katie-the-bug]

Take a wild guess what I'm still reading.

For those just tuning in to my running commentary on Left Behind, we're following: Rayford Steele, a True Christian (TM) who's trying to convert his daughter and not-girlfriend; Chloe Steele, who exists just so Rayford has someone to worry about; Hattie Durham, Rayford's not-girlfriend and a newly-minted Antichrist fangirl; Bruce Barnes, failed pastor and expositor extraordinaire; Buck Williams, a reporter who's done a really bad job hiding from a global conspiracy; Nicolae Carpathia, the ridiculously charming barely-disguised Antichrist.

"As long as you don't expect me to cook or something sexist and domestic like that." Chapter 14 is off to a great start everybody.

We finally get Nicolae's take on every child in the world dying instantly, and his response has to do with quantum fields, lightning, and nuclear weapons. I understand he's supposed to be obviously lying here, but really, there's about as much proof for his theory as there is for the Rapture - which is to say, none.

Nicole also refers to the disappearance of children and "fetal material." I simply adore that a) LaHaye and Jenkins just had to make their villain pro-choice and b) this is how they think pro-choice people talk. Regardless, I'm rooting for Nicolae effective immediately.

The Steele's home gets broken into offpage, which I suppose is meant to show how lawless and cruel the world has become, but it falls flat. All the characters are back to work and traveling with only minor hitches from piled-up cars, governments are proceeding as though nothing has happened, and the characters can go shopping without incident. If the authors were trying to get across an image of societal collapse, they're failing miserably.

On call with Rayford in Chapter 15, Hattie mentions that her sister works in an abortion clinic and is getting no business because nobody is pregnant anymore, and Rayford (whose viewpoint is considered "correct" now that he's a True Christian) concludes that said sister is hoping for people to need abortions again so she can keep getting paid. Just in case you thought that the authors viewed abortion providers as anything other than baby-killing mercenaries.

The rest of the conversation has Rayford thinking Hattie is stupid for hoping her sister won't be out of business for too long. Actually, he's had a similar attitude throughout the whole story - part of the reason he beats himself up for wanting to have an affair with her is because she's young and vapid. Was I supposed to like this man? Because I don't like him at all.

M*A*S*H is still on at its usual time. But sure, the world is in chaos.

Nicolae has been declared "Sexiest Man Alive." Out of all the ways the authors are trying to show that everybody loves Nicolae, this is the funniest.

It has been mentioned several times that the Romanian Nicolae is of Italian descent. I would like to know how this matters at all. Is the Antichrist supposed to be Roman? Then why not make him Italian? And if he has to have some other nationality, why Romanian of all things? Why not American, which is what he acts like most of the time? I'm just going to assume there's some obscure interpretation of Revelation that indicates a Romanian Antichrist and leave it at that.

So, just to give you an idea of what's going on in Buck's plotline: his friend in London was on the trail of a global conspiracy. He died in a very suspicious "suicide." His other friend came to warn him that this conspiracy was coming for him before dying gruesomely in a car bombing, which Buck used to fake his own death. Buck returned to America, met with people who knew he was Buck, and went right back to reporting despite being worried that the conspiracy will arrest him for his friend's murders. He meets with Nicolae, who he knows is probably part of the conspiracy and more importantly knows exactly who he is and what he did. Nicolae is now explaining his entire evil scheme after no prompting. I think Buck is stupid, but fortunately for him, so is this conspiracy.

This whole plotline, incidentally, ends with Nicolae persuading Buck not to reveal the global conspiracy and, in exchange, phoning his fellow conspirators to get Buck off the hook. So our story about our intrepid journalist on the run from a global conspiracy ends in him not exposing a damn thing. Anticlimactic.

At the beginning of Chapter 17, Rayford watches the news. Once again, the sudden and mysterious death of every child in the world is a secondary concern to Nicolae Carpathia and *checks notes* two religious fanatics in Jerusalem yelling about Jesus Christ.

The book takes a few pages to let Bruce explain everything that's going to happen in the next seven years - and by extension, exactly how the authors think the end of the world will go down. This isn't even foreshadowing, this is straight-up spoiling the rest of the book series.

In Chapter 18, the aforementioned religious fanatics are attacked, and for some reason THIS is "turn on the TV right now" level news.

Okay so it's been shown and explicitly mentioned at least once that Nicolae doesn't use contractions in his speech. This means that, when he's pretending to act surprised about the suspicious death of one of Buck's competitors, he exclaims "You do not say!" like he's a posh French lady in a cartoon. I really want to know why the authors thought it made him sound sophisticated.

Nicolae meets Hattie and immediately gives her his personal number. We get no details, but I feel like there's a much more interesting story to be told here about the most charming man in the world being himself charmed in an instant. I know their relationship won't work out because Nicolae's gonna start acting cartoonishly evil in a little bit, but I'm gonna ship it while I can.

That concludes my thoughts on Chapters 14-19. I think I'm gonna have to start doing this in a more organized manner, maybe one post every five chapters or so just so they don't get too long and I don't have to think up silly titles for every single post. We'll see.

[writer-of-various]

Snippet...[Warnings: N*zis, Strong Language, and the Crew are just a warning to anything]

"I'm done, man, honestly, I'm done." Dempsey shut his eyes, his breathing growing shallow as he struggled to gain control of the anger that is brewing inside him. Richtofen frowned, looking at his teammate and shaking his head.

"No–"

Dempsey made a noise, like a strangled animal, and jumped up from the old chair he was sitting on, his arms outstretched as he lets out another noise. "I'm done, Eddie! This time travel BS is fucking with us! I mean, come on, the Nazis won? The Soviets won? The US turned into its worst possible nightmare?! Fuck this man, I'm done!"

Nikolai shrugs, "I mean...at least we haven't gone back in time and gotten the Black Plague or went into another universe that was dictated by women." He avoids Lilja's hard stare, her eyes narrowed. Takeo sighs.

"You're making it worse." He mumbles, and Nikolai gives him a look.

"Worse? No, I'm trying to say that what we've seen so far is nothing compared to what could possibly await us. We've chased after some stupid piece of uranium, we're looking for some artifact, we encountered a crazy group of people from the future of another world that plans to use zombies to gain control of their world– I mean, how can anything possibly get worse, actually?"

"Alright, you better shut up before I knock all your teeth out. I'm sorry this isn't going according to plan, but if we decide to avoid this, then everything we've known is completely fucked. Our old lives were the same, fighting the undead constantly while we followed him," Lilja points at Richtofen, who gives a small, sheepish smile. "We died so many times, we sacrificed so much. But Samantha needs us. The universes are merging, and if we don't stop it, we can face a death more horrific and real than we have ever gone through."

Dempsey sighs, nodding his head while walking closer to the group. "I know...I'm sorry. It's just...these different versions of us...Vietnam? Post World War Two? Fuck, being royalty? How do we know that this...is actually who we are?"

"Because we remembered each other. The dreams, the memories...I've told you all this before and you better start believing it. Fate brought us together. In a horrible way, but we found each other again. And I think now, that's all that matters." Lilja offers him a smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes. Dempsey doesn't notice this and smiles back, nodding his head once more and rubbing his hands together, the light returning to his eyes.

"Alright, where to next then?"

As Lilja explains their next objective, she can't help but think back to her sadistic self. She knew everything her previous selves have went through, the troubles they endured in both World Wars by the Russians and then Germans. To see her Ultimis self joining the Germans, to becoming a sick person who loved to get her next thrill by torturing POWs and traitors of Germany?

To see Richtofen growing more insane by the second, his desire to rule the world so unreal, so different, even from his Ultimis self. And the brainwashings, how they changed Dempsey and Takeo. Dempsey, someone who loves to help others and has a big heart, to be changed to a supersoldier with no empathy or that childlike light in his eyes. Takeo, someone who knows the pressure of being honorable and someone who takes his actions into full responsibility, to be so reckless and bloodthirsty.

And Nikolai, to betray his home, his people, to indulge in severe drinking and drug use and to be...she can't describe it. It makes her stomach churn, to have seen them in their worst versions, to force the boys to see themselves like that?

The outcome of World War Two was always a big topic among everyone, the 'what ifs' like a scary story. What if Germany won? What if the Soviets caused a nuclear fallout? What if the USA finally pursued Manifest Destiny? What if all the countries that have abused by bigger powers teamed up and caused another war? Her country being the cause of another war.

"Lilja, you okay?" Richtofen looks at her with a questioning gaze, and it makes her feel so...vulnerable. She wants to cry. She wants to just say "Fuck it", and give up. She doesn't want to see what else awaits them. She doesn't want these memories, she never wanted them, she never asked for them. They weren't a gift, they were a curse. Like being chosen by the supposedly dead Kronorium.

Instead, she forces another smile and nods. "Yes, I am. Let's get to work, the fate of all humanity depends on us."

There's no hope for wherever they go next. Because it's another death Lilja is going to be pained with.

So I planned, like a year or something ago, to try continuing the Zombies storyline since these recent CODs have been disappointing in continuing Cold War's story. I haven't published much story content, rather Headcanons and short snippets here and there. I'm not even sure if I have actually discussed this topic with y'all. But, basically, in these storyline, I chose my OC, Lilja, to be the new leader of the crew. She is chosen to attain all memories from her Ultimis and Primis selves, and she has to reunite the crew after Samantha Maxis manages to contact her with many warnings, the main one being that all universes could merge and humanity could end once that happens. If this wasn't OC led, Dempsey would have been the "Chosen One" and have been the new leader.

Anyways, basically they are guided by Samantha (and sometimes the evil forces from the Dark Aether who disguise themselves as Samantha) to time travel and jump universes to find objects that can help them in the final battle against the Dark Aether to save Samantha and basically the whole fucking universe.

The Crew has to jump universes to not only find significant artifacts, but they have to kill the different versions of themselves, and killing another version of themselves is painful in pretty much all the senses (for example, Nikolai shooting another version of himself in the head gives him a horrible headache.)

This snippet takes place after the crew finds themselves in an alternate universe where Germany won WW2 and took control of pretty much the whole world (with some territories given to its Axis Powers allies.) The versions of the crew are, as you can imagine, terrible and troubled and it affected the crew a lot to see themselves represent themselves as followers of the Nazi party. It's hard enough for me to write shit like that, but the What Ifs of World War Two are always a big topic among pretty much everyone and I couldn't ignore the opportunity of putting this theory to the test with our crew, who are World War Two oriented.

So this is basically what I've planned to write, and I might not even the get the chance to actually write a full on story about this potential work of continuing the zombies storyline (this is all my own opinions) since I won't get the chance to actually see how Gulf War's zombie storyline works out. Anyways, I hope you somewhat enjoyed this and I understand if you just left midway through my rant.

Have a wonderful day!

[zimonlemon]

end of a time — a dystopian wasteland. part 1

    Earth, once thought to be the greatest utopia in the known universe…now nothing but a sad dusted wasteland. Humans are greedy, the biggest sinners imaginable. It happened so fast, it started with the famine from the war and it only went downhill from there. Turns out, nothing really matters anymore when your world is in a full blown war against itself. As if humans weren't assholes already, crime rates only seemed to triple in numbers. Disease, famine, homicide; the cherry on top of the world's first all out nuclear warfare.

— it's a miracle any of us survived at all.

         I used to be alone, but I've somehow managed to gather a group of survivors. The group only seems to get bigger the more we return to the surface. Though, not every expedition are we met with a fruit basket and welcoming smiles. We've lost too many allies for it to be considered humane up there on the surface where what we call surface dwellers or the mutated patrol. Those who choose the surface are always much more aggressive and deranged than your average human; they're like a fork in the road you can only hope you never come across. 

         My group and I are sewer dwellers, "gophers" as others refer to it as. We used to have a bunker, but we've long since outgrown it. Currently, we have six— on the verge of five. During our last surface visit we found a small child, and as you can imagine coming from the fallout zones they're horribly devastated. Skinny and almost yellow, barely able to open their pus crusted milky eyes. We don't think they have much longer, and even if they did survive by either miracle or curse, they sure as fuck wouldn't be human anymore. At least with us if they do actually take their final breath, they'll pass on feeling like they had a family again rather than dying out in the fallout abandoned in the trash like well.. trash. 

         Our oldest member is 37, and he's absolutely useless. Before the world collapsed the only thing he knew was a cubicle and how to use a fax machine. He likes to think of himself as our leader by deduction of his age but we all know it's Ace, he's our unhinged 23 year old. He claims to have been part of a gang before the end of the world— absolutely no one refutes this. He definitely has more survival instincts than all of us, potential combined. 

           Regardless, even with six (—five) of us we have a fair supply of rations to work with. This however is a story in of itself, back when we were still just a small group of four we lived in this survivor refuge called 'Salvation's Hope'. It used to be an old military site, it wasn't the best held up but for what it's been repurposed for it works; it was basically the Red Cross gone post apocalyptic. Food, medicine, clothes — you name it, they probably had it. They were very proud of this fact. Pride, one of the many deadly sins of humanity. Pride, the sin that led to their damnation. A surface group of raiders, Starfall (or some other cliche bullshit of a name) decided that those supplies were better suited into the palms of their own greedy little hands. As the camp was going to literal shit, our group managed to grab enough to fill up each one of our rucks and run; we've never looked back since. Hey, we never claimed to be saints. Down here, we're all sinners —doing what must be done to survive. If not for yourself, then for your group.

[pumpkin-headed]

EXTREME SPOILERS FOR HUNTER X HUNTER AHEAD, BE WARNED.

Netero is a character that heavily inspired my own creations, I am going to explain just what I see within that terrifying old man.

His ideologies are quite simple. He does not care for weak people, in either body or mind, and when faced with death, he went down smiling.. in the worst way possible.

He may have loved to fight, but he knew there was a chance he wouldn't win. So he made sure he had a way to get his job done in the event of that.

"Dont underestimate the human race, Meruem."

In his final moments, Isaac Netero not only gave the king of ants, Mereum, this grim reminder but us as well.

"King of ants, Meruem. You know nothing of the bottomless malice within the human heart!"

A haunting reminder of the horrifying wrath humanity is capable of.

The ants ruled through brutality and power, but we have been in that game way longer.

"If there's a hell, I'll see you there."

The last words from the man who dedicated himself to praying.

Before he stabbed through his heart with his own fingers.

Unleashing the greatest evil humans in both the manga and our own genuine real world have ever created.

One that hunterxhunters world pushed far past our own.

One that was small enough to hide within his chest.

Our greatest shame and our strongest weapon.

The nuclear bomb. And almost poetically, this one takes takes the shape of a rose.

This is not a dissection. It is a small analysis of that moment and what made it so powerful to me.

[ardinwriter]

So I’ve been rewatching Salvation, for like the 20th time, and I love it, but I definitely feel like they try to fit too much into each season, making them over complicated.

Like, S1 is great, right up until they threw Monroe and Resyst in. 

Asteroid and Atlas and Russia should have been plenty. Most of the season stays the same, Resyst still exists and helps them get the gravity tracker launched past Russia, but not to steal Tess, just for money and so Darius Tanz owes them one. Then maybe in the last episode introduce Q17 as the ones blowing up aircraft carriers to get us to the Russian nuclear launch. Everyone except Darius and Liam still end up in the bunker, etc.

And then S2:

Have the nukes destroyed during launch by the Russians when they see the US isn’t retaliating. Diplomacy still on thin ice, so the President orders Darius to keep the the bunker sealed until things smooth out some, maybe 45 days. No VP Darius, no world being held hostage by Resyst. Instead use the season for the Monroe plot and Q17, while Darius and Liam try to figure out what’s up with the asteroid and Grace acts as a senior advisor to the President. Having Monroe and Q17 at the same time is perfect because then you get a great half season of “are they the same, are they working together, etc.”.  

Meanwhile, keep the tension between Grace and Darius by having Darius see and misinterpret something when he reopens the bunker that makes him think Harris and Grace are back together. 

2/3 of the way through the season, sort out the Monroe thing - including Darius’ kidnap plan because I love seeing him and Grace’s dad interact. Ditch the Grace killing Claire, instead have the bodyguard that Darius insisted Grace keep do it instead and then go immediately to the police instead of a cover up. 

End the season by wrapping the Q17 plot with both Darius and Harris gravely injured. When Grace stays with Darius, he makes some snarky comment about how she should be with her boyfriend which is when she realizes why he’s been being how he is, but before she can correct him, he’s rushed into surgery. When he wakes, she’s at his bedside, confesses that she loves him, but before he can respond, Liam rushing in, telling them that the asteroid is about to hit, that nothing they’ve done has stopped it, tv on to watch. Darius remembering the thought he had as he went under for surgery and tells them he doesn’t think it will hit. Watch as it doesn’t hit, but comes to a stop above the Earth.

Into S3:

Start several hectic weeks after the last season ended. The ‘asteroid’ has taken up an orbit around Earth, effectively becoming a second very small moon, obviously not naturally occurring. Darius and Liam have been working constantly with scientists around the world to contact it as Grace and the President - with Harris now as VP - try to shore up international diplomacy and stop other countries from shooting at the thing.

A few episodes in, it’s clear that Darius and Grace have not found two seconds to talk about her confession at the hospital, despite several attempts that we see. Darius, finally frustrated by that after a meeting in the Oval office, turns to the President and says something like “I’ve been trying for 6 weeks to get 10 minutes alone to talk to Grace, Madam President can we borrow your office for a few moments”. The President is hopeful that they’re finally going to talk - they have not been subtle - and has everyone clear the room. Not talking so much as a take on the end of 2x9 with him just kissing her and the makeout session. The next episode starts the same way as 2x10, but without the secret service men outside her house.

Efforts to talk to the thing continue and Grace, who has become good friends with the younger woman, discovers that Jillian has been theorizing some of her own ways to talk to the thing, ways that are less math and science and more humanity. Can’t really get anyone to listen though.

1-3 episodes of some other country attempting, despite everyone else telling them not to, to blow the thing up.

Then conclude with Grace convincing Darius to try one of Jillian’s approaches since nothing else has worked. Shortly after they send Jillian’s message or whatever, a small chunk of the ‘asteroid’ breaks off and begins a slow decent towards the White House - like slow enough to have debates/discussions and gather important people.

As the landing gets closer, Darius and Grace ask the President for a favor, which she grants, but we don’t see what it is.

Cue the landing. The President, Harris, diplomats of all kinds, Darius, Liam, Grace and Jillian all out on the lawn waiting. When it does, everyone kind of looks at each other trying to decide who goes first, then the President turning to Jillian and ushering her forward. Saying that science and math and diplomacy failed before, so she thinks it’s good to start this round with Jillian’s heart.

Jillian stepping forward as the ship comes in to land and a door appears and starts to open. Pan to Darius as he puts his left arm around Grace’s shoulders. She raises her left hand to cover his. Zoom in on their shiny new wedding rings. Then pan back to the ship. Go dark before we see who comes out.

This show was always at it’s best when it was about the people instead of the situations and I feel that moving away from that hurt the show quite a bit, especially in S2.

[bookoformon]

Ether 13, Part 5. "The Survivors."

Most of the second half of the Book of Ether focuses on Coriantumr, "the return to innocence" but our main character is having trouble doing that because there is a war raging. Worse, everyone in Ether is hiding from what is going on and nothing good is getting done. It reminds me of a nation that is being run by a corrupt two party system that likes to puts it head up other people's assholes like ours instead of doing its job.

The people of Ukraine say, "Oh I don't know these missiles just seem to fall on us." Someone should explain this to them before too long.

In America, the debate over contraception continues in spite of the fact federal law forbids state interference in pregnancies, it states this in a prominent law school's library....it's a shame the kangaroos didn't check this out before all those pre-teen pregnancies starting popping up or all those women died due to restrictions on abortion, isn't it???

The world is blaming Israel for what happened on October 7 and Israel is blaming Palestine but really it's the CIA we need to blame since the real responsible parties in Gaza and Iran are the same ones responsible for the tragedies that have taken place since RVW was overturned and Ukraine can't properly defend itself: The Republican Party.

That man they call the Butcher in Iran openly stated on camera he was an American. The nuclear powered Poseidon nuclear torpedo on board the Dali that took a short trip into the Key Bridge in Baltimore was a cleverly disguised cruise ship stacked not with cargo containers but mobile homes, and these were filled with filthy Mormons on their way to fight alongside Hamas and conquer Israel at last.

Then yesterday, a bunch of European dipshits said they wanted to recognize Palestine as a state except Palestine cannot be recognized as a state as it has illegal terminology in its constitution that legalizes Sharia law. Palestine should not have been recognized in the first place with this terminology in its constitution.

Finally the nation is pretending Donald Trump should be allowed to live and serve another term in the White House. Yesterday, Nikki Haley, a stupid, stupid bitch said she would vote for him either way.

Enter our next character Shared, "the survivors of service." Survival, according to the Rab is supposed to teach us what is important. So it appears more wars, tyrannies, and devastations are important to us. We can't just get enough. The next few verses in Ether explains, although we can't get our innocence back, we can certainly try to be enlightened:

22 And it came to pass that Coriantumr repented not, neither his household, neither the people; and the wars ceased not; and they sought to kill Ether, but he fled from before them and hid again in the cavity of the rock.

23 And it came to pass that there arose up Shared, and he also gave battle unto Coriantumr; and he did beat him, insomuch that in the third year he did bring him into captivity.

24 And the sons of Coriantumr, in the fourth year, did beat Shared, and did obtain the kingdom again unto their father.

The text mentions the people went into a hiding place a second time. This actually refers to the opposite: a hiding place is out in the open among things that are in plain sight. Hiding places involve experiences we have come to take for granted whether they are good or not. The Republican Party is a good example.

How is it these fuckups managed to pull the underpants over the heads of the CIA, the White House, the Mossad and every intelligence agency on the planet, stock Gaza with weapons through its top bud in Iran and sneak an impregnable battle cruiser into Baltimore Harbor, 35 miles away from Washington DC? Why is President Biden allowing them to intimidate and hassle everyone about Jesus and this abortion shit without a deadly response? People are dead. A large number of people have been maimed, and no one seems to know what do except move forward. We are expected to survive all of this bullshit and do so without twitching a single muscle in response. Everyone is hiding from reality.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 22:  And it came to pass that Coriantumr repented not, neither his household, neither the people; and the wars ceased not. The Value in Gematria is 7267, ז‎ב‎וז‎ ‎, zaboz, "a waste."

v. 23:  And it came to pass that there arose up Shared. The Value in Gematria is 7322, ז‎ג‎בב‎, zgbab, "an incident between the young shoot and the father."

v. 24:  And the sons of Coriantumr, in the fourth year, did beat Shared, and did obtain the kingdom again unto their father. The Value in Gematria is 3859, גח‎הט, "overbearing pride that slowed down."

The Rab says the only way to survive and return to our innocence, meaning our freedom form illegal things is to observe Shabbos. How and why this is done can be found in the scriptures of any religion. Shabbos entails the effort needed to produce, distribute, and enjoy food. It is the very opposite of making war, shooting missiles, causing strife and trouble. The world needs to slow down as God says and reestablish the traditions that have helped us survive without being survivors. Today would be a good day for someone in a position of authority to tell the world this is what America plans to do.

[thots-and-thoughts1031]

So I promised myself I wasn’t going to post anymore about Bees because we had sworn a truce after one hell of a falling out Tuesday, but he broke the truce bc one of the posts (it was cross posted so still just the one post, but duplicated) apparently glitched and didn’t get deleted, so he went on a rant airing out all his grievances with us again. Even though he said he wouldn’t.

He called my husband (who is Bi) homophobic bc he is still dealing with the internalized homophobia that comes with being raised in the South. He has been learning and growing for years at this point, and gotten better much much better, it’s usually internal struggle thoughts and nothing outward. Also the comment he keeps referencing, that was made was back when we had all just became friends, before my husband realized he was bi, and before he started working on himself.

He also says we harp on this one thing, where one of his villains gave me nightmares, and he never cared about it. He cares so little that he can’t remember that it was me (the wife) that had the nightmares because I can’t do body horror despite loving horror movies.

One of our main problems was because he keeps judging a commission he found on my husbands computer because he woke it up when we were trying to tell him to let us do it (to discord call one of our friends). He keeps saying it’s morally questionable and all this, when it was just weight gain drawing commission. I’m fucking plus sized and my husband often got commissions of me to make me feel more comfortable with my struggles with weight. And he keeps acting like him posting that about us on his tumblr isn’t a massive breach of privacy and friendship.

We should have ended it then and there. But no, we gave him 2.5 more years and he goes nuclear when we finally had enough.

Background- we made an RPG horror story post about him and everything he’s done to us, everyone agreed that he was being ridiculous. But apparently one of our other friends saw it, and sent it to him. So everyone went kablooy.

[stoptellinglieslois]

Principal of pleasure part 34

Dick get's a phone call from Lois.

Superman x Nightwing Pairing

Dick

I jogged to the driveway and got in my car and tried to drive away from the manor.

As people trying to scramble out of the place.

I finally got out of the small traffic jam at the manor and got on the road.

As I recollect my conversation with Damian my phone rings I looked on the caller id and it was Lois.

I panicked at the sight of her name I wanted nothing to do with her right now. Hoping she would drop the call and it kept ringing.

I didn't want to pick it up it would look suspicious but if I do pick it up it was the unknown that I was worried about I don't really know what I am going to expect from her so far I did nothing wrong.

It couldn't be anything serious or pressing so I picked it up. "Its was you wasn't it Dick he's fucking you." Her voice boomed through the cell like a nuclear boom.

I gripped the wheel hard and the car swerve as she yelled at me through the phone.

"Lois what are you talking about." I thought lying would be the best bet, But she caught me with my pants down I don't know how far the lie would take me this isn't like me to lie not to Lois I need to think fast.

"Don't fuck with me Grayson you know exactly what I am talking about I can't believe you." Lois didn't want to play the game of stupid tonight it was over I was caught.

"Look I didn't mean to hurt you or Jonathan but Lois I am not gonna lie to you please for the love of everything mighty don't say anything to anyone." I pleaded with her even though I had no right to do that.

"Fuck off Dick he is like your uncle your father your mentor how could you." She ignored my plea and continued ranting.

"How did you find out Lois." I asked her. my eyes started flowing with tears.

"You smell just like him when we first got married, on our first date it's the only cologne that Clark owns it's his father cologne that cologne has been discontinued since the late seventies no one smells like this." Lois knew from the moment she smelled the air about me and Kal. she knew right then and there I didn't want to fight with her lying wouldn't work at this point.

"Please Lois don't tell anyone please I know you hate me but right now this won't get Clark back to you."

"No he made it clear that our marriage is over we are done. Dick how could you come to us when Bruce wanted nothing to do with you and replaced you with Jason." Oh that stung like a stab to the heart and Lois twisted the knife more deeper into me.

"I had no intention of ruining your life Lois." I started crying tears rolling down my face as she was yelling at me.

"You're married to Barbara she's pregnant with your child and you went and fucked another man."

I went silent I knew this would be a disaster but I know this was going up shit creek as soon she mentioned Barbara.

"I am leaving Barbara before you even confronted me tonight I was going to stay with her, I need you to not tell anyone because Lois your marriage has ended but we have family who wont give us a chance to explain ourselves. Bruce will destroy Clark do you get me." I was still crying softly not trying to provoke the fire breathing dragon.

"Yes I know Bruce very well would not stand for this shit." She exclaimed out angrily.

"Did you know Bruce also loves your husband he professes this to me every time he sees me." I knew what I was doing and it was wrong, I wanted the heat off of me and Kal for a bit because Bruce is scary and a force not to anger he would not forgive us if he found out.

"He loves Clark ?"

"Ask Clark he will tell you everything." I was grasping at straws right now.

I knew me and Kal being together would be the calamity of a train wreck the conductor jumped out the window and there was no one controlling the train.

"I can't believe this what the fuck is going on here."

"Well Lois..." She cut me off quick.

"Ok I won't get anything from this conversation but I want all of us to meet up ,You and Clark I want the full truth from both of you." She said anger seething out of the cell her voice was pure venom.

"I would meet but please don't tell Bruce."

"He will find out eventually about the two of you if he hasn't already. Clark always told me he's the world's best detective." I knew I was screwed but I needed to put out most of the flame of this wild fire.

"We will all meet tommorrow at the farm." And she hung up abruptly.

I needed to call Kal this was one of the worst moments of our life, The rang only once.

"Dick Lois called me and she knows about us." I cried in frustration and I realised we're trapped since the moment I left the cabin and went to this ball.

"She wanted us to meet up at the farm house we will go together as a couple." Kal said tired but not cracked down by this.

"What if she already told Bruce about us." I said knowing she already found out about us from just his cologne alone Bruce as well made comments about the way I smelled tonight and that I smell familiar to him.

"If he knows Dick then that will be his own personal feelings, He could have feelings for me but that's it I hold no ties to him." Kal said he sounded pretty much resolute with what was going on tonight.

"I just want us to be ok."

"Fine we will meet Lois tommorrow and we will talk to her and hopefully I could bring closure for her." I breathed deep it like the first time today.

"No matter what Dick I won't let this shake us."

End of part 34 next is part 35

Thank you for reading

[thranduilland]

Expanding on the idea of 'Hob as Curiosity of the Endless' that I had the other week.

Hob as Curiosity of the Endless, but he had his own run in YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS ago with an amateur magician who was also a fanatic puritan trying to trap Desire (in an attempt to destroy them) but got Curiosity, instead. The spell went super wrong and that facet of Curiosity ended up 'dying' and being reborn in Hob, who was supposed to become the new Curiosity on the night 7 July 1389 when he was supposed to have a near-death-experience that severed the last of the spellwork on him to wake him up to his new existence.

Instead, he had a near-Death-experience of a different sort and became 'immortal' instead. Destiny is still sulking about it but no one has visited him long enough to ask why since it happened so... Without that eye-opening, life-changing push to break the spellwork, the potential for Curiosity remained slumbering inside of Hob, though it started to wake with every year that went by. He still needed something BIG to shatter the last of the spellwork, but nothing that happened was really big ENOUGH, so he continued on with an unexplained, insatiable desire for the next new thing, good or bad or middling. If there was something to be created, he wanted to know about it and he wanted to see it!

1916 rolls around and Hob is starting to struggle. World War 1 has changed the face of warfare so greatly that even he's not sure he'll know himself when it ends. He's pushing on, working through it, just getting things done... then June 10 1916 rolls around and Hob wakes up from an odd dream about a cult, his stranger, and magic to find that he feels... different. The last of the spellwork has fallen away, but Curiosity is sluggish to assert himself, to bring his memories to bear, so Hob moves on with his life as he always has. The odd dream forgotten to the sound of early morning gunfire and men dying horrible deaths...

Unknown to Hob, with Dream locked away, humankind has forgotten how to dream and Curiosity is picking up the slack. But where Dreams and Nightmares might once have helped influence how a person might go about their curiosity in the Waking world, now only the burning question of 'what if-?' remains. The more the Dreaming decays, the stronger Curiosity grows, and humans suddenly make leaps and bounds they never dared to make before. The curiosity had always been there the question of 'what if-?' but before dreams and nightmares tempered the enthusiasm for the projects and they often ended up invented or coming about in ways different than initially intended.

Tangled in with all of this, of course, is the fact that Destruction is also absent. No one to rein everyone in when the scale of atrocity rose too high. Curiosity was there pushing and pulling and trying to wake themselves up, trying to find themselves in this world that they know but that is unfamiliar to them all the same. What if-? What if-? What if-? Desire nudging and cajoling people along to the answers, pushing and prodding until we ended up with Nuclear Weapons, holocaust, inhumane experimentation on a scale that beggars belief. Untampered greed and unsatiable curiosity. Humans pushing, humans pressing, humans asking 'what if-? What if-? What if-?' and never stopping long enough to consider the consequences, never stopping to consider the 'shoulds', the 'could's, the 'whys', only the 'what if-?' but never what comes next.

Curiosity finally stirring enough within Hob to take note of things. Of Destruction and Dream's absence and the impact they themselves are having on everything. To finally start to merge their thoughts in with Hob's, slowly, so Hob won't suddenly lose his damn mind, but quickly enough that Hob might start to rein things in... just a little, just enough for everything to not be so horribly unbalanced. Just enough that maybe people will ask 'what if-?' and wait a moment to think through the consequences before leaping to an answer. Just enough that people might consider ethics and morality before leaping whole-heartedly into anything... enough that Curiosity's struggling and overworked siblings, Convalescence and Contemplation, might finally be able to bring some measure of order back to things...

The process is still going when 2021 rolls around and Dream finds Hob sitting at the New Inn grading papers. Dream doesn't notice the Endless being lurking in the back of Hob's mind, peering at him through Hob's eyes. And Hob doesn't notice there's anything amiss, either... until a few months have gone by and the last of Curiosity finally settles within Hob, they finally become one and the same... Hob suddenly understands why he's immortal and why he's never been able to stop asking 'why?!' and 'what if-?' and why life never got boring or too hard, even when he was at his worst...

The next time Dream meets with Hob, he almost doesn't notice anything is wrong, almost. But there's just... something not right about Hob but he can't quite put his finger on what it might be... but when he asks, Hob just smiles at him like the cat that got the cream and doesn't answer, instead launches into a story about the latest inventions... but Dream just can't shake that something has changed, he doesn't know what, but he's determined to find out...

[wilbur-rabbit]

We Are Soulmates: Chapter 5

Criminal Minds/Supernatural Crossover

Summary: The final installment of my "We Are Soulmates" series!

Paring: Aaron Hotchner x reader

Word Count: 6k+

Warnings: death, angst, fluff

Masterlist

Life Changes Masterlist

A/N: This will be the last chapter of this series. Thank you to everyone who read it. I appreciate it so much!

I might come back to this later and add to it but I'm not set on it yet.

I hope you enjoy! Please like and reblog!

Dean, Sam, and Cas all stared down at your lifeless body, tears streaming down their faces. The BAU gathered behind them; Morgan and Rossi joined after chaining the man up to a pole in the barn, tears in their eyes as they all looked down at their boss and friend losing someone he loved again in the most brutal manner.

Dean turned to look up at Cas, “Bring her back,” he demanded. At his command, everyone’s eyes shot to him and the angel.

“Dean,” Cas whispered. “I–,”

Aaron cut him off, “Can you do that? Bring her back?” a tinge of hope in his voice.

Cas looked down at him, before turning to Dean. Dean raised to his feet getting in Cas’s face.

“Bring her back,” he growled. He had lost too much family in his lifetime. He couldn’t lose you; you were his sister. He was supposed to protect you, just as he was supposed to protect Sam and Cas.

“You know I can’t do that,” Cas whispered, squeezing Dean’s arm. The mournful look on Cas’s face highlighted the pain of his statement.

Dean brushed him off. “You’ve done it before.”

“Dean,” Sam said softly through his tears. “He’s right. His powers aren’t what they used to be, and we just depleted them with the spell to find her. He won’t be able to do it.”

Dean stared at Sam for a moment, knowing he was right but not wanting to believe it. He then turned and looked down at Aaron.

“I’m sorry,” he croaked. “He’s right.”

Aaron’s tears started flowing again as he looked away from Dean and down at your face. A sob racked his chest before he buried his face in your hair. Everyone stared at Aaron as he broke down. Morgan wasn’t having any of it though.

“You’re telling me that an angel can’t bring her back?” he said. “There must be something you can do. You guys made a cure for a monster,” he gestured back to the man chained to the pole, “and opened a portal to get us here but you can’t bring someone back from the dead? Seems like a load of shit to me.”

Dean opened his mouth to snap back at Morgan, but Sam interrupted him.

“Wait,” he said, putting a hand out to Dean to stop him, then turned to Cas.

“Do you remember when we went back to the 1800s to get phoenix ash and the Colt?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Prentiss muttered, as the BAU, including Aaron, looked at him in disbelief.

“Yes,” Cas answered, his brows furrowed not knowing where he was going with that statement.

Realization dawned on Dean first, “Oh shit,” he said looking at Sam with wide eyes. “That might work.”

Cas caught up right afterward, “It definitely could.”

“Do you guys mind sharing with the class?” Rossi asked.

“I can siphon power from human souls,” Cas responded.

“Excuse me?” Reid said.

“You can do what?” JJ asked at the same time.

“I must touch the soul; it is extremely dangerous to do so but the human soul is pure energy. It could give me enough power to bring her back.”

“I’ll do it,” Aaron answered automatically.

“Now wait a minute,” Rossi said. “Shouldn’t you think about this?”

“There’s nothing to think about.”

“You should think about it,” Cas said. “Touching your soul will be like putting my hand in a nuclear reactor. I must do it very gingerly,” a pause, “Or you will explode.”

“No,” JJ said, “There is no way you can go through with that.”

Aaron looked around at his team, then looked down at your lifeless face. “I have to try.”

 When you opened your eyes, your heart sank to your stomach. Tears were already forming as you rose from the couch you were laying on. The familiarization was still there, as if you picked everything out yourself, from the paint color on the walls to the furniture, but this time it doesn’t give you a jarring feeling because you had been here before. You slowly spin around the room taking in more of the details than you hadn’t been able to the first time. Now tears were sliding down your cheeks making the task difficult, and sobs started racking through your chest. You gave up on taking in the room to bury your face in your hands as you fell to your knees on the carpet.

You were in heaven. The same heaven from all those years ago. The heaven that you would one day share with Aaron, but because of your fear you wouldn’t be able to get a life with him on Earth. You wouldn’t see Sam and Dean again. Maybe not even Cas. Your shoulders shook harder as you continue to sob. The guilt and regret weighed on you, making it hard to breathe.

You don’t know how long you knelt there, trying to get in enough air but eventually, your breathing started to calm down and you were able to lift your head from your hands. You roughly wiped the tears off your face. Even though it felt like your whole world was pulled out from under you, it truly wasn’t all bad. You would share this heaven with Aaron whenever he died. You didn’t know when, but it would happen.

As you were taking in deep breaths to keep yourself calm, you noticed a picture hanging on the wall. Upon seeing it, you scrambled to stand up and get to the picture. The frame had been repaired since last time, no longer broken on the floor. Someone had placed it back on the wall.

Your hands shook as you took it from the nail holding it up. It is the same picture from before, you and Aaron together, his arms wrapped around you from behind and bright smiles on both of your faces. A tear landed on the frame and a mixture of a sob, and a laugh slipped past your smiling lips. You traced along Aaron’s face with a finger. As much as it hurt, you found comfort in the fact that one day you would see him again and you would get to share this place for eternity.

The thought comforted you and you brought the frame up to cradle it to your chest as you looked around the room. You saw the same pictures from last time but now you recognize the people in them. A disbelieving laugh escaped you when you saw a picture of you dressed in business casual, your arms around Aaron and Agent Prentiss. The rest of the Behavioral Analysis Unit was there too, arms around each other and smiles on their faces. There were more pictures of you and the agents of the BAU. There was one of you and a blonde woman with glasses, both of you laughing. Your smile continued to brighten as you made your way down the wall. There were pictures of you, Sam, Dean, and Cas. Some were in the bunker but others were in a house that looks strikingly similar to the one you were in now. Aaron was in most of the pictures with them too.

As you got to the end of the wall, the original picture of you and Aaron was still clutched to your chest, when the last photo on the wall brought you up short. It’s of you and Aaron sitting on a couch. Aaron had one arm wrapped around your shoulders the other around a boy that looked to be thirteen. You didn’t recognize the boy, but he looked similar enough to Aaron that you wonder if he was his son. The boy was smiling brightly at the camera. Aaron, on the other hand, was looking down at you with a soft smile, and love was shining from his face, taking your breath away. You were looking down at the bundle in your arms. You saw a hand coming from the swaddled white blanket, reaching for you and the look of love on your face mirrored the one that Aaron was giving you and the child in your arms.

A baby. You would have had a baby. Tears started to flow down your face again. You had never thought of having children before, never thinking it was in the cards for you but now, you have never wanted anything more than to experience that picture firsthand. The loss you felt at that moment was almost too much, and you slid down the wall. You don’t sob this time, but the tears didn’t stop as you looked around the home you were supposed to have through blurred eyes. The sight became too much, and you leaned your head back against the wall, clenching your eyes shut.

As you sat there in your grief, your body started to tingle from your heart and made its way down your limbs. You blinked your eyes open in confusion and they widened at the light that was coming from your chest. You didn’t have time to panic as the light enveloped you and everything went black.

When you started to come to, your body felt light. The pain from before was gone and you felt at ease. You were surrounded by a warmth that soothed you, arms holding you against a warm chest. You still felt sticky and wet, the feeling taking away from the comfort of the embrace you were in. Labored breathing came from next to you, the only sound in the room. You pulled in a deep breath and something warm and woodsy filled your senses. You turned towards the scent, a tang of metallic mixed in but elected to ignore it.

Upon your movement, you heard several gasps, one coming from right above you. You started to blink your eyes open, wanting to stay in this warm cocoon but needing to see what was going on around you. The first thing you see was red, deep red staining a button-down shirt. Your eyes shot up and Aaron is above you, holding you to him. His eyes were wet and soft, the loving look he gave you something you feel like you’ve seen before but can’t place. His lips were pulled up in a small smile you couldn’t help but replicate.

The realization that what you just saw all over Aaron’s chest was blood caught up with you and you shot up in his arms your face almost level with his as your hands gingerly moved over his chest looking for a wound.

“Hey, what is wrong?” Aaron asked you gently, as he grabbed your hands to stop your frantic movement, his thumbs sliding across your wrists of their own accord. Any other time the action would have comforted you.

“You are covered in blood,” you said, your voice high in panic.

“Y/N,” a voice said behind you.

You turned to see Dean kneeling next to you with Cas, who looks exhausted. Sam was standing behind them with the rest of the BAU.

“The blood is yours,” Dean gulped, “You died.”

You looked at him in confusion for a moment before the memories of the valravn’s torture flashed through your head. The last thing you remember before coming to was Aaron calling your name. You shook off the bad memories before turning back to Aaron. He released your hands and wrapped his arms back around you slowly as if making sure that was something you wanted. You welcomed it, leaning into him, and brought a hand up to his cheek. You now saw past his loving looks and noticed how exhausted he was.  

Still leaning into Aaron, you turned slightly so you can look at Sam, Dean, and, Cas.

“What did you do to bring me back?” you murmured, the three of them seeing the fear in your eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t make a deal.”

Dean was already shaking his head, “No deals here,” he reassured you.

“Aaron and Cas brought you back,” Sam told you.

You looked at Cas, studying him before turning back to Aaron. You search his face for answers, and it only took you a moment to put the pieces together. Cas couldn’t bring people back to life anymore, not without some help.

Your eyes widen almost cartoonishly, “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?” you demanded. “You could have died.”

Aaron doesn’t say anything at first. He studied your face, eyes gliding over your features. He brought one of his hands up to cradle your cheek, then leaned forward pressing his forehead to yours. You closed your eyes; your fight went for the moment with him so close. You felt his warm breath against your lips, a hint of mint hitting your senses.

“If I didn’t,” he whispered, only for your ears. “You wouldn’t be here right now,” his words are forced out as if the very thought pained him.

You heard him gulp. One of your hands moved up to his chest the other still cradling his cheek. You gripped the material of his shirt right over his heart.

“I couldn’t live with that,” he continued. Tears were starting to burn the back of your eyes when you felt something wet fall on your cheek, and you knew he was crying too. You pulled back to look at him and the tears you see cause your own to fall and your heart to squeeze. Your eyes traveled down to his lips on their own accord before shooting back to his. His eyes were molten, and they warmed you from the inside out, a fuzzy feeling blooming in your chest. The hand that was cradling your cheek pulled you towards him slowly, giving you time to say no.

Yes, you nodded slightly to him. Your answer would always be yes.

He leaned forward, lightly running his nose against yours causing your body to tingle before he closed the space between you and finally sealed your lips with his. The first touch of his lips sent a jolt through your heart, and you know you will never be the same.

No other man will ever be good enough.

You brought both of your arms up around his neck pulling him impossibly closer. His arm that was holding you against him with a hand on your back, wrapped completely around you and he pulled you to him until your chests were flush to one another.

Even with your need to be closer to one another, there was nothing frantic about his kiss. He moved his lips slowly against yours, memorizing the feel of them against his, never wanting to let you go. He put all of the love he felt in his heart into the kiss and you match him, hoping he understood the apology in the way your lips kiss his bottom one. He took a shaky breath at the action and slowly pulled away. He didn’t want to get carried away.

You, however, chased his lips, giving him a soft peck before allowing him to pull away. You stared at each other with adoring smiles on your faces like the lovesick couple that you were.

“Are you guys done making dopey eyes at each other?” Morgan interrupted you. You both look over at him. He had a bright smile plastered on his face as he looked at the two of you, the look was such a huge contrast to your last interaction with Agent Morgan. You looked to the rest of the group of people, your family, and Aaron’s. They all have smiles on their faces as they looked at you and a memory pulled at the back of your head of the people in the room you only know from an interrogation room. You chased the memory, a flash of you smiling at a camera with the member of the BAU, your arms wrapped around each other, but it is gone before you can fully grasp it.

“You guys are still covered in blood,” Rossi pointed out.

“Yeah, you probably want to get cleaned up,” Prentis chimed in.

“And my sweetness is waiting outside with an SUV so we can take him in,” Morgan gestured to the guy still chained to the pole, causing the guy to glare at him.

You turned back to Aaron, and he saw the question clear in your eyes. “His sweetness?” you asked.

Aaron chuckled. “You’ll see.” He kissed your forehead before helping you to your feet. Once the two of you were standing, he wrapped his arm around your waist tucking you against his side and the two of you headed out of the barn with your families.

Several years later, you were sitting on a sofa, in a house, you and Aaron had fallen in love with as soon as you had seen it, a small baby cradled in your arms. A baby girl. She gripped onto your index finger and giggled up at you as you talked to her. You couldn’t believe how lucky you were to have made it here, as she stared up at you with amber eyes so much like her father’s.

You heard the front door open, and feet scrambled in running towards the living room you were sitting in. Jack rounded the corner, his backpack from school still on his shoulders. He quickly took it off before carefully coming to sit next to you on the couch.

“How is she?” He asked, looking down at her. You watched his face light up when he saw she was awake, her eyes now on him.

“Hi, Amelia,” he said softly, reaching out to stroke her hand. “How was your day?” she garbled back at him.

As Jack talked to his little sister, you looked up to see Aaron leaning against the door frame, a soft smile on his face. You smiled back at him when your eyes met his and he walked over to take the seat next to you. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders, and you leaned into him.

“Can I hold her, Mama?” Jack asked, looking up at you with wide, excited eyes. The first time Jack had called you that, it had melted your heart, and honestly still did. You had told him that you never would replace his mom, but you would always be there for him and would be honored if he wanted you to be his mama. He had told you that he could have more than one mom, but that he would always love his first mom.

“Of course, sweetie,” you told him, and Jack automatically put his arms in the formation you and Aaron had shown him the first time he held his little sister.

Once Jack was holding Amelia, you leaned back into Aaron, and he kissed the top of your head.

“How was your day?” He asked as you leaned your head against his shoulder.

“It was good,” you replied, both of you watching Jack talk to his baby sister about his day. “She took an hour nap today, so I was able to get some things done around the house.” You turned to look up at him, “how was yours?”

He didn’t respond right away, instead of staring into your eyes for a moment before his gaze shifted to your lips. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss against them, lingering for a moment before pulling away, effectively making you dazed.

“I was able to catch up on some paperwork, which was nice,” he started rubbing your shoulder with his thumb and you placed your hand on his thigh. “I was ready to get home though.” Aaron had only been back to work for a week since his paternity leave ended. Luckily, he hadn’t been called on a case yet.

You and Aaron sat in comfortable silence as Jack talked to his sister. After everything that had happened that brought you and Aaron together, you had used the money you had been saving up for years from the pool and poker games to move into an apartment down the street from Aaron. With how quickly everything had gone, the two of you didn’t want to rush your relationship any more than it already had been.

You had gotten a job as a waitress to cover your rent and Penelope, who had looked vaguely familiar when you first met her, had cleared your name, and Sam and Dean’s, in the national database. Once she did that, you had enrolled in the FBI academy shortly after. You had your GED but had to take some strenuous tests for them to accept you. You now worked in the same building as Aaron and the rest of the BAU, but your job was in Linguistics. Because of your background with the Winchesters, you had extensive knowledge of other languages and cultures, even though some of them weren’t useful for your job. You mostly consulted on different cases throughout the Bureau, sometimes from the office and sometimes you went out in the field.

You had worked with the BAU several times and you still weren’t used to how stoic Aaron, or Hotch, which you called him while in the field, as compared to when he was away from work.

It was around this time, a couple of years after you and Aaron had initially met that you decided to look for a home together. You were practically living at his apartment anyway, only going home when he was on cases, and sometimes not even then, especially with how quickly Jack had taken to you.

You had told Aaron in more detail about the heaven the two of you would eventually share but hadn’t gone over exactly what your home there looked like. As soon as you had walked into your current home for a showing you had squeezed Aaron’s hand and told him that was the one. He had fallen in love with it too after seeing the entire thing and the two of you had put an offer in that day.

It was later that day during a celebratory dinner, Aaron, Jack, and you had made together, that Aaron dropped down on one knee and proposed. The two of you hadn’t talked that much about marriage so you had been surprised when he asked. However, that didn’t change the on slot of tears and resounding yes to his question.  You had thrown your arms around Aaron as Jack had cheered.

The sounds of Amelia crying brought you out of your thoughts. You sat up and opened your eyes from your resting spot against Aaron’s shoulder. Jack was looking up at you.

“Mama, I think she is hungry,” he told you and you smiled lovingly at him.

“It is about time for her to eat,” you said. “Why don’t I take her, and you can go get started on your homework.” Jack supported her head until she was nestled in your arms. “Your uncles Sam, Dean, and Cas are going to be here this weekend, so you want to make sure you have all of it done.”

“Yes!” Jack cheered and ran off to complete his homework.

Once Jack was out of the room, you settled back in Aaron’s arms and started nursing your baby. As you nursed, Aaron places his finger under your chin and tilted your face so he could kiss you. You sighed against his lips and chased them when he pulled away. He chuckled and pecked your lips again.

“What was that for?” You asked, staring lovingly up at your husband.

“Because I love you,” he replied, which brought a grin to your face like it did every time he said it. “And how good of a mother you are to Amelia and Jack.” The loving look he gave you made you feel warm and fuzzy, and you couldn’t help but lean up and kiss him again.

“I love you too,” you murmured against his lips.

After the two of you pulled away you both looked down at your daughter nursing, adoring smiles on both of your faces. Aaron stroked the dark hair covering her head while keeping you close to his side with his other arm. Jack had always looked more like Haley, but you saw some of Aaron in him too. Amelia, however, was the spitting image of Aaron, with her brown almost black hair, dark amber eyes, and adorable dimples.

“Your family’s going to be here this weekend?” He asked, still looking at your daughter.

“Yeah, I hope that’s okay,” you said, looking up at him. “Dean said they were pretty close by, and they should have the case they are working on wrapped up by Friday. I was going to talk to you about it first, but I knew Jack would be really excited.”

Aaron squeezed your shoulder, “I think it’s a great idea,” he said. “They are welcome whenever.” He leaned over and kissed the side of your head. “Dave was talking about having a get-together at his place this weekend, having your family there too will make it complete.”

“That sounds awesome,” you agreed. “I’ll let them know next time I talk to them.”

Aaron nodded and the three of you sat in comfortable silence as your daughter finished eating.

On Saturday night, you and Aaron walked hand and hand, his other arm holding your daughter cradled to his chest. Jack ran in front of you as you walked into Rossi’s backyard where the rest of the team was gathered. When they saw you, Aaron, and most importantly your daughter, they gathered around you, cooing at her.

“She is the most adorable thing to grace this planet,” Penelope was saying as Amelia gripped onto her finger and smiled, which appeared to melt her heart if the look on her face was any indication. You couldn’t help but giggle.

“We are glad you guys could make it,” Dave said, giving you a side hug. “With the craziness of a newborn, we weren’t sure if you would.”

“We would never miss a party at your place,” you reassured Dave, who had become somewhat of a father figure to you in the past several years. “Thank you for inviting Sam, Dean, and Cas. They should be here soon.”

Dave clapped Aaron on the shoulder, “They are always welcome; they are family too.”

The sentiment made your eyes glisten, and you gave Dave a nod in thanks as Emily came in for a hug. The next few minutes were spent catching up with the members of the BAU. Emily, JJ, and Penelope were already planning the next girls’ night. It had been a while since you had been able to go out with them, and you had missed it.

Morgan was holding your daughter at this point, Penelope talking to her over his shoulder. Aaron had wrapped his arm around your shoulders and pulled you into his side, while your arm was wrapped around his waist. The two of you were talking with Spence about a movie festival he had gone to the previous weekend and how intriguing he found it.

“Next time there is one let me know,” you told him. “I love movies, but I’ve never been to a movie festival before. I’ll go with you if you want company.” You and Dean had always loved watching movies together and you missed it. Spence’s eyes lit up at your statement and he started talking about one that was coming up in a few weeks. You had to listen carefully, he was talking quickly in his excitement, one of the things you liked about Spence.

Aaron stroked your shoulder with his thumb as you and Spencer discussed movies you both liked and had enjoyed in the past. As you were talking with Spence, you heard a commotion behind you and turned to see your family arriving outside. Dave was closest and went over to greet them, hugging the three men. You excused yourself from Spence and you and Aaron walked over to them. You had to stop yourself from laughing at the look on Cas’s face when Dave pulled him into a hug too.

When you reached them, Dean automatically pulled you into a hug.

“Long time, no see,” he said.

“No kidding,” you laughed. “We haven’t got to see you guys since Amelia’s birth.”

You noticed the glance that Sam and Dean shared before Sam went in to hug you and Dean greeted Aaron.

“It has been too long,” Sam said, as he squeezed you.

You pulled away from the hug, “I get it. You guys have responsibilities. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to miss you when you’re away.”

“I know,” Sam said. “We miss you too.”

You gave him another smile before, turning to Cas and pulling him into a hug.

“You’re keeping them in line, right?” you whispered in his ear.

He huffed a laugh in return and pulled away. “As much as I can.”

You chuckled, “Yeah, I get that.”

The rest of the BAU had come up to greet your family. You had been surprised, yet ecstatic with how well the two groups had come together. With your family’s background, you were worried that Aaron’s work-family wouldn’t accept them, but that hadn’t been the case. You were all a big family now and you couldn’t be happier.

When Jack noticed his uncles had arrived, he ran over to greet them.

“Uncle Dean!” he exclaimed as he threw his arms around Dean.

Dean scooped him up into his arms. “Hey, kiddo! How’s it going?”

Dean was Jack’s favorite of your family, a fact that Dean was more than happy to brag about whenever he got the chance. As Jack talked his ear off about everything that had happened since the last time they had seen each other, you watched in delight at the two. Dean had always been great with kids, even if he didn’t like to admit it and they made him happy. You hoped one day he would get to have a child of his own.

After Jack was done telling Dean all the things he had gotten to do since seeing him last, he was quick to hug Sam and Cas. He started talking their ears off right away. You couldn’t help but laugh.

When the rest of the BAU was incorporated into the group, Dean clocked his niece right away.

“There she is,” he said, heading over to Morgan and taking a hold of one of your daughter’s hands. She automatically wrapped her little fist around his finger, causing him to grin.

When Morgan offered her over, Dean was quick to take on holding duties.

“You look good with a kid, Dean,” you said.

He gave you an exasperated look, knowing where the conversation was going because the two of you had discussed it before.

“Maybe one day,” he said, gazing down at your daughter. “I’m fine with spoiling your kids for now.” He grinned up at you and Aaron.

“And spoil them you do,” Aaron said, with a small smile. Whenever they were in town, the three men always had some type of gift for Jack and now Amelia. You were surprised they didn’t walk in with one this time.

“We are slacking this time,” Dean chuckled.

“You don’t have to bring them gifts every time you come,” you responded, not for the first time.

“Oh, I know,” he said. “We have something else this time.”

“What do you mean?” you asked, while Dean turned and gestured to Sam and Cas to come closer. Sam was still holding Jack and brought him too.

“We have decided on something,” Dean started. “And I think you will be happy.”

You gave him a confused look, while Aaron gave you a squeeze. You shifted your eyes up to him and he just gave you a smile that always made his face soft and gestured back to Dean.

When you looked back at the three men they all had grins on their faces.

“We are moving here,” Dean said.

Your mouth dropped. “What?”

“We are going to take a back seat on hunting for now. Take on some of Bobby's role. And we decided we wanted to be closer to everyone.” Sam finished.

“You guys are moving here?” Jack exclaimed, with wide eyes.

When Cas gave him a nod, Jack yelled out a loud, “Yes!”

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

The next several minutes were spent with everyone hugging and talking about how exciting Sam, Dean, and Cas being closer was. The smile on your face didn’t go away.

The rest of the party was spent eating, drinking, not for you, and visiting. Seeing everyone was great and you were excited that your family would finally be close again. Your daughter was also passed around the entire night, everyone taking turns holding her, except for when you had to take her to breastfeed her. When you brought her back out, Aaron held her for a while, rocking her as she fell asleep. The sight of him with either of your children always warmed your chest.

You hadn’t felt this happy in a long time.

When Jack was practically asleep standing up, even though he tried to deny it. You and Aaron decided it was time to head home. After your goodbyes and promises of seeing everyone soon, you and Aaron headed out to your vehicle, him holding Jack and you carrying Amelia.

When the four of you got home from Dave’s party, everyone was ready for bed. Amelia was already asleep in her carrier that Aaron brought in and Jack had woken up enough to walk in by himself and headed upstairs to his room right away. You and Aaron took Amelia upstairs and laid her down in her crib together, both of you kissing her on her forehead as Aaron held her.

“Goodnight, love,” you whispered, as you stroked her cheek. Aaron told her goodnight, placing a kiss on her forehead before laying her down in her crib. The two of you went to Jack’s room to check on him and he was already under his covers knocked out.

You smiled up at Aaron at the sight and his lips turned up too. Aaron softly closed Jack’s door and the two of you walked hand and hand to your bedroom. The two of you got ready for bed in comfortable silence, changing into your pajamas, and brushing your teeth side by side, before getting under the covers together.

Aaron pulled you into his arms right away, bringing you to rest against his chest. You sighed in contentment at the contact and rested your hand over his heart. He stroked his fingers against your arm.

You laid there reflecting on the day, before turning and pressing a kiss against Aaron’s chest. He gave you a squeeze and you looked up at him. His amber eyes were warm and soft; the love you saw radiating from them would have made your knees buckle if you had been standing.

“How did I get so lucky?” you whispered.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Aaron murmured, rubbing your arm.

Your eyes trailed down to his lips and you couldn’t help but lean up to capture his lips with yours. You moved together in sync, Aaron’s hand moving up to cradle your face as he held you close to his chest, while you weaved your fingers into his hair. You loved the feeling of his soft locks, and you knew he loved it when you played with his hair. With an expert swipe of his tongue against your bottom lip, you gasped, breathless. He took the opportunity to explore your mouth as if he didn’t already know every inch of your body. You clung to him giving as much as you were getting but you had to pull away to catch your breath.

As you both panted, staring into each other’s eyes, he leaned forward and skimmed his nose against yours, barely touching, before leaning in and placing a kiss against the tip of your nose.

You giggled at his action and a smile spread across his face, his eyes shining.

“I love you,” he murmured.

“I love you,” you returned before leaning in and capturing his lips again.

Your life hadn’t turned out how you expected but you wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you would like to be tagged in any of my work, let me know!

Tags: @everything-you-dont-wanna-be, @dark-night-sky-99, @panhoeofmanyfandoms, @alinasophie, @thespottedcreature, @theravingloony, @wanniiieeee, @cosmo724, @xoprincessmel, @rachelccollier, @jori21, @spenciepoo338, @malindacath, @sunshinexhotchner, @hotchnerxo, @breadforhowl, @thenewnormalforensicator

[oneyeartowrite]

Eight Steps. Five Years.

Thought I’d try something a little more light-hearted with John. 

Behold, John on drugs...

************************************************************************

“Are you ready, Scott Tracy?” The Hood’s eyes gleamed. “Are you ready to watch the world burn?”

Scott struggled to free himself from the men holding his arms. One cock of a gun aimed at Alan’s head, and he gave up the fight, sagging forward in the men’s grip. Virgil and Gordon were being held in a similar manner, and the fight left them too. They shared a look of doom, passing it around each other one by one, but when they turned to John, he burst out laughing and covered his mouth.

The Hood had his finger hovering over a button. A button to launch a nuclear bomb, the catalyst to the world’s annihilation. He had them trapped in his bunker, poised to watch the end of the world play out in front of them. The horror weighing down in Scott’s gut attempted to pull him to the floor. Virgil looked to Scott for answers, Gordon eyed the gunman in front of Alan, Alan was pale-faced, muttering pleas under his breath.

They were done. Defeated. Yet…

John laughed again and slapped his hands over his mouth. He slipped them down, making his bottom lip pop. “I’m so sorry. I know I’m being rude, I’m trying not to be though. It’s hard, really fucking hard. Fuck, that’s a lot of swearing isn’t it?”

Scott double-took, and gawped at his brother. He couldn’t find any words, and neither could the rest of his family. John was unsteady on his feet, drifting forward, only to lurch back again.

The Hood lifted his finger and stabbed it in John’s direction. “What the hell is wrong with that one.”

Scott flexed his eyebrows at Virgil. Virgil mouthed ‘shock’ back but finished his silent diagnosis with a frown. John wasn’t one to break under pressure, and if this was his breaking point, it was a little alarming it came with a dose of hysteria.

One of the men holding Gordon sighed, “I kind of…. mixed up his dose.”

The Hood glared. “Care to elaborate?”

“I was supposed to give him a sedative to get him here like the others, but…I may have given him something else. Something,” the man coughed. “I use for recreational purposes.”

“It’s LSD,” John said. “I remember. It’s like my brain is crawling. It kinda tickles.”

“You’ve taken LSD before?” Gordon squawked.

“I was curious. Lady Penelope was curious…”

“Lady Penelope took LSD!”

John gasped, and tried to catch a speck of dust in the air. “Dust. Human-made stars. How fascinating.” He cupped it in his hand. “This is definitely one of Scott’s, it screams of stress. It’s okay little speck of dust, Johnny’s got you now.”

The Hood waved his hand. “Gag him or something. I don’t want him ruining his moment. This is when the world becomes mine.” He held his finger aloft, smiling to himself, but before he could press the button, John made a wrong answer noise. The buzzer sound echoed, and all eyes fell on him.

“I thought I said to gag that one!”

“World domination is never as easy as flipping a switch, trust me, I know. I tried the whole nuclear explosion, world war three route when I was ten. “ John dodged the gag coming towards him, knocking into Virgil who attempted to grab him. “I mean, it’s dramatic, kind of exciting, but you fuck the planet, you don’t kill everybody, and you’ll be long dead before it’s safe to leave the bunker. Like…your kids, kids, kids might get out of here, but they’ll have issues when they get to the surface. What’s the point in ruling the world, when there’s nothing of it left?”

Silence descended on the room. Broken only when John decided to act out a missile launch and subsequent explosion with his hand.

“KABOOM!”

The Hood stepped away from the button, gawping. He went to speak, but John got there first.

“What’s your second step?”

“Second step?”

“Yeah,” John stumbled forward, pointing at the button. “That’s step one.”

“No.” The Hood said slowly. “That’s the final step—

“No, no, no.” John scrubbed his face. He groaned and threw a look at Scott. “Can you believe the absolute idiocy of this man?”

Scott startled, “Um—

“You’ve gone about this completely the wrong way if that’s your final step. Call yourself a villain. What a disorganised mess. Genuinely, makes my blood boil. Look.” He wiped his brow. “Look at that, exasperation. What the hell were you thinking? Sometimes I think the only way a villain can win is if I become one.”

The Hood folded his arms. “I suppose you’ve got the full plan?”

John studied his nails with a pout. “I don’t mean to brag but….”

“John,” Scott said, carefully. His brother turned to him sharply, and he recoiled at his pupils, covering all of the turquoise in his eyes. John’s orange hair darkened with sweat, and trails ran down his flushed skin. “I…I think you should be quiet now.”

John’s face scrunched up.

“Most of the time I’m told I’m too quiet. I need to be more social, I need to talk, and be articulate,” he waved his arms, knocking the gunman trained on Alan. “But when I’m like that, it’s wrong. I’m not doing it right. Tell me, Scott, is there a right and wrong way of being social? I’m anti-social, that suggests I’ve made the choice to become anti, but that’s not true, I don’t like the anxiety, and the panic, and the self-consciousness, and the fear—"

“I would like to hear your plan.” The Hood said, carefully. “If you don’t mind.”

“Give me an incentive to share it.”

The Hood clicked his fingers. A gun was pressed against John’s forehead. Scott began struggling against the men holding him again, but stilled at the sound of the gun cocking.

John clacked his tongue. He cracked his fingers, then reached for the gun, not smacking it away, he grabbed it and pressed it to his head. “That plan is in here, in my racing, chaotic, brain, and sometimes I think blowing it out is the best option. “ The gunman darted panicked glances in the Hood direction.  His eyes widened. His bottom lip trembled. John sighed, swiftly moved his fingers, and the clip from the gun dropped onto the floor.  The loud thud was enough of a distraction for John to swing back his arm and punch him in the face.

He stepped over him and headed closer to the Hood.

The Hood retreated, giving John plenty of room. “It’s really hot in here. I’m sweating.” John wiped the back of his arm over his forehead and shook the sweat onto the floor. “That’s disgusting. Is there no aircon down here?”

“World. Domination.”

The Hood said, clicking his fingers in front of John’s blown eyes. John tried to bat them like a playful cat.

“Right, yeah. First, you’ve got to ask yourself what kind of world domination you’re after. You’ve got to think of time frame, and sustainability, and repercussions, but you just think, look at that shiny button, and the big rocket, and the explosives, and really, they are minor points in the grand scheme of things,” John threw his arms out wide, slapping a man in the face. He spun around, and the Hood ducked to avoid a palm to the cheek. “There are questions you need to ask yourself before you think about shiny buttons.”

“What questions?”

“Do you want a fully functioning society, or do you want a wreck.”

“Fully functioning—”

“Then no pretty, shinny, little buttons.” John crouched down in front of it. He touched it, tapped his finger against it, and everyone inhaled sharply. He rested his chin against the desk, stroking the button. “Pressing buttons is always so tempting though, right?”

No one dared breathe.

“How something so small can trigger something so huge? It’s amazing, isn’t it.”

Scott coughed awkwardly. “Maybe…move away from it.”

“Do you think so?” John asked.

“I absolutely think it’s a good idea,” Virgil said in a rush of words.

John cupped his ear. “What’s that Gordon? I should totally push it?”

Gordon launched into the air. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Sorry, that’s my inner Gordon speaking.”

John dropped to the floor, laughing. The Hood nudged him with his foot. “Let's hear it.”

“Hear what?”

“Your plan.”

John rolled onto his front and held up his fingers. “I’ve got it down to eight steps, five years, and I’m happy with that. Eos, three steps, one year, but she kills at will, and I won’t do that so mine takes a little longer, but you know, I don’t wipe out mankind with my eight-step plan I just,” John swiped at another speck of dust. “Move them elsewhere.”

The Hood crouched over John. “Move them?”

“Yeah, it really is hot in here, like, even the concrete feels like it's bubbling. Why is it so hot?”

Everyone except John startled at a piercing alarm. The source. Virgil’s wrist strap flashing up dangerous readings coming from John’s suit.

“How did you get them to…move on?” The Hood asked.

“No, no, no. That’s my plan, you’ve got to think of your own.”

The Hood pointed at the hologram of the globe turning in front of him. “I have—

“Nothing but a button. No plan.” John reached out and grabbed the hologram. It disappeared. One of the Hood's advisors yelled out in protest, but the Hood’s glare sealed his lips.

John twisted towards one of the many computers. “Let’s have a little thinking session between us, and see what we can come up with, hmmm?”

No one spoke. Virgil shuffled, showing Scott John’s readings. Scott widened his eyes and cursed under his breath.

John groaned. “Seriously, nothing? Alan, throw me a bone, you’ve got a brain cell and a sadistic streak, start us off.”

Alan glanced at Scott for permission. “Urm. A virus.”

“Brilliant Alan.”

He beamed at John’s praise.

“There are lots of different viruses, but you’ve got to make allowances for immunity. Some people will naturally be immune. There are also pesky scientists working against you, so I suggest you deal with them before releasing the virus. Some mass assassination, but that’s time and money, but then when we get past that, we’ve got to think about the type of virus.”

One of the Hood’s men cleared his throat. “When you say a virus, do you mean….like a zombie virus?”

Gordon pipped up, “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no zombie virus.”

John clutched the back of his neck. “Keep telling yourself that and you’ll sleep at night.”

Gordon recoiled. “What?”

“Let's release the zombie virus,” John said with mock cheer. “Now, we’ve got problems from the start—

“Yeah, Zombies!” Gordon shouted.

“No, the zombies are the solution, people are the problem. They’re resilient, not to mention some people have prepared for that eventuality. There are courses and everything, let's say we wipe out eighty percent.” John brought up a pie chart displaying eighty percent. “We come out of hiding, and the world, well, it stinks. Literally, all that rotting flesh and corpses are everywhere, and there are not enough people for the place to function. Then starts the infighting and the gangs, and the cannibalism because it’s far easier to hunt humans than anything else, and I for one don’t want to chow down on Scotty, he looks tough and bitter.”

“Hey!” Scott snapped. “I’d eat your scrawny ass first.”

“Virgil on the other hand, if I had to eat one of my brothers, it would be him.”

Virgil rubbed his temple. “Thanks, I guess.”

The Hood sighed. “Forget the zombies, and the viruses, I don’t want the world to be that much of a state. I need everyone to do as I say, that’s all.”

“Says Mr shiny button.” John folded his arms. “Anyone going to offer up any other ideas?”

Virgil cleared his throat. “Why dominate? Won’t being likeable and respected earn you the same rewards in the long run?”

John smiled at Virgil. “And that is why you’ve got the softest soul of anyone I know.”

Virgil flashed a shy yet confused smile.

“That will never work.” The Hood snapped.

“It will,” John answered, “But you’re talking about….” He tapped away on a different computer until a number appeared as a hologram. It climbed higher in front of them. “About thirty-six years for that to take effect.” He glanced at the Hood. “I’d say you have thirty-two, and I’m scarily accurate. I freak myself out with it. Genuinely. But thirty-two years for you.”

The Hood looked away, mouthing thirty-two.

“So we need a balance between the outright terror of a virus and the destruction that comes with it, and the nice guy smoothing out the ragged issues of the world, and that’s where my eight steps come in, but I’m not going to hand them to you. Work them out for yourself.”

“I’m starting to understand why Jeff kept you hidden away…”

John launched himself at a chair on wheels and whizzed round in circles. He stopped suddenly. “He hid me away because out of all my brothers, he liked me the least.”

Scott made a protesting noise, but John cut across him.

“It’s okay, Scotty.”

“Your father was an idiot for not valuing you.” The Hood wandered closer. “If you were my son, I’d be proud of you.”

John tilted his head, considering.

“That’s flattering and disturbing all in one.” He looked into the Hood's eyes, then hummed. “But it would never have worked out.”

“What?”

“If I was your son.”

“Why not?”

“Well,” John sighed. “I’d be the brains behind your schemes, and the world would be ours,  easily I might add, but then you’d grow paranoid knowing I could take it from you. Which I could because I’m a genius. You’d plot to have me killed, and because I would’ve already foreseen that, I’d kill you first.” He shrugged. “See. It wouldn’t work out, but thanks though, it’s nice to feel appreciated and I imagine for a few years you would be proud of me, and maybe there is a part of me that craves that, but everything has a time limit. Tick-tock.”

John leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. “Now, I’m tired. Hush everyone. Wake me up when you’ve figured it out.”

The door burst open. A SWAT team entered, shouting out commands. The Hood’s men dropped to their knees with their hands on their heads, but The Hood lunged, flicking the button.

The hologram of the world appeared again.

Everyone stared at it, waiting, but nothing changed.

John cracked an eye open. “That’s another thing about buttons, a snip of a wire and they’re useless…” He grinned at the Hood’s shocked face. “You have no plan, and now you have no button. Night night.”

He promptly fell asleep.

And upon waking in a bed on Tracy island, hooked up to a load of machinery,  with four worried brothers hovering over him, remembered nothing.

Scott ruffled his hair.

John looked up at him. Dazed, and still not one hundred percent on the planet. “Why am I here?”

“You had a little trip to the land of crazy,” Gordon announced. “That’s putting it mildly.”

Alan nodded. “It was totally awesome.”

“Scary,” Virgil mumbled, closing his hand around John's wrist to feel his pulse. “For multiple reasons.”

“But we’re really proud of you.” Scott kept stroking John’s hair. “You distracted the Hood with your manic talk of world domination, severed a wire under the desk to the kill switch and got an SOS out to Eos via the Hood’s network…”

“Eight steps. Five years.” John said dreamily. He closed his eyes. “And no use of zombies like Eos’s plan…” he sighed, “Then the world will be mine.”

The brothers passed around another worried look between them.

Scott continued stroking John’s hair. “I’m so relieved you’re not a villain.”