#THEY’RE MANIPULATING MY SON���S MEMORIES!!!!!!!!!!

[novaursa]

Where Dragons Dare (3/3)

- Summary: Years later, Vaemond Velaryon petitions for his rightful claim to Driftmark. And a broken family must mend wounds that were inflicted long ago.

- Paring: male!targ reader/Alicent Hightower

- Note: reader is referred to as Y/N, is twin brother of Rhaenyra and is bonded with a dragon. If you want to read more of my works, visit my blog. The list is pinned to the top.

- Rating: Explicit 18+

- Word count: 7 000+

- Tag(s): @sachaa-ff @literaturedog

- A/N: this was requested by @witch-of-letters. I hope you enjoy this conclusion to the story. 🙂

- Previous chapter: 2

- Bonus part: Lost Chapters

You sit beside Alicent in your private chambers, the golden light of the late afternoon filtering through the high windows of the Red Keep. The day had been long, burdened by the weight of ruling in your father’s stead, and yet the discussion you’re having with your wife weighs heavier still. Rhaenyra’s impending visit to King’s Landing brings back memories—some bittersweet, some festering like old wounds—and it’s all been cast into sharper focus by Corlys Velaryon’s grievous injury. Now, with Vaemond Velaryon’s petition to claim Driftmark, the political storm brewing could tear apart the fragile peace you've fought to maintain.

Alicent’s eyes are fixed on you, concern mixed with resolve in those familiar dark depths. She’s changed over the years, just as you have; she’s no longer the uncertain girl manipulated by her father, but a woman of keen insight and strength—your equal and partner in every sense.

“It’s clear why Vaemond is pressing his claim,” she says quietly, her voice laced with tension. “He isn’t wrong to seek what he believes is his by rights. Driftmark belongs to the Velaryons, and the boys… well, it’s plain they’re not Laenor’s blood.”

Your eyes snap to hers, a flicker of warning there. “You shouldn’t speak of such things aloud, Alicent. Not with the walls of the Red Keep so eager to whisper.”

“It’s true, Y/N,” she replies firmly, her gaze unyielding. “Everyone knows it, even if they pretend not to. Viserys decreed them legitimate, but we all see the truth. The danger is in the pretense, in clinging to a lie for the sake of peace. But what peace is this, really? Vaemond’s words hold merit. Driftmark’s true heirs are being passed over for a fabricated legacy.”

A heavy silence hangs between you, the air thick with unspoken tensions that have lingered since the day of Laena’s funeral. Your thoughts drift, unbidden, to that dreadful night when everything unraveled—when Aemond claimed Vhagar and lost his eye for it. The memory of his pained screams still haunts you, a knife twisting in your heart each time you recall it. He bore it bravely, far braver than you expected from a boy his age, but the scars left behind were not just physical.

You let out a weary sigh, leaning back against the cushioned seat as your gaze falls to the intricate patterns on the stone floor. “I demanded justice for Aemond,” you murmur, bitterness seeping into your tone. “Luke should’ve been punished, but Father protected Rhaenyra as he always does. Her children are his blind spot, even now. She never truly acknowledged her son’s fault, not really, and from that moment on… everything between us was strained. We’re twins, yet she became a stranger after that day.”

Alicent’s fingers brush against yours, a silent comfort in her touch. “I’ve never forgotten what happened. I never will. It’s easy for Rhaenyra to speak of unity and family, but the truth is her actions always served her ambitions. She’s isolated herself on Dragonstone with Daemon, as if that distance absolves her from the mess she’s left behind.”

Your frown deepens. You love your sister, you do—but those love-blind affections have long been clouded by bitter reality. The bond you once shared feels frayed, worn thin by years of conflict and choices that placed her interests above everything else. Her sons—Jace, Luke, and little Joffrey—hold a place in your heart, but even that affection is tainted by the lies everyone is forced to maintain. You cannot forget how easily your own pleas for justice were disregarded, how Viserys himself demanded silence when you spoke of the truth.

“Viserys is clinging to a fantasy,” you say after a moment, your voice hard. “He wants to die believing that everything he’s built will remain intact, that the realm will carry on in harmony with Rhaenyra and her children. But there’s rot beneath the surface, and the realm won’t turn a blind eye forever.”

Alicent watches you carefully, her expression unreadable for a moment before softening. “It’s not only you who sees it. The lords whisper, the court shifts uneasily. And now Vaemond has brought that truth into the open, no longer content to pretend. The coming days will test the loyalty of those who have only remained silent out of fear.”

A silence falls once more, only broken by the distant cries of gulls and the muffled sounds of the capital below. The sun has dipped lower in the sky, casting sundown shadows across the room, but you can’t bring yourself to end this conversation, not when it feels as though so much is at stake.

“I don’t know what Viserys will do when Rhaenyra arrives,” you admit quietly. “He’s always favored her, always turned a blind eye when it comes to her and her children. If he sides with her again, if he dismisses Vaemond… it will spark something we may not be able to contain.”

Alicent shifts closer, her hand finding yours once more. “Then we must be ready for what comes. You are Prince Regent, Y/N. You have the authority to act, to protect the realm as you see fit. I know where my loyalties lie.”

You look at her, seeing the determination in her eyes, the quiet devotion that’s never wavered. She’s your wife, the mother of your children, and the one person who has stood beside you through all of it. The bitterness that lingers between you and Rhaenyra doesn’t extend here; with Alicent, there’s no pretense, no lies hidden behind strained smiles.

As night finally creeps over the capital, the light outside fading into a deep indigo, the two of you remain locked in conversation. You speak of the future, of what may come when Rhaenyra and Daemon set foot in the Red Keep, of the lines that may be drawn in the sand.

The fire crackles softly in the hearth as the night deepens, emitting warm flickers of light across your private chambers. The weight of the day’s troubles has lessened, replaced by the comfort of Alicent’s presence. The two of you remain close, sharing lingering touches and quiet words. As you move behind her, your hands begin to wander, gliding across the soft fabric of her gown. You hold her close, feeling the gentle rise and fall of her breath beneath your fingertips. Your lips brush against her ear as you murmur, “I think I must confess my sins before the gods, though I fear they are far too many.”

Alicent turns her head slightly, raising an eyebrow at your words. There’s a moment where she appears to take your confession seriously, but then her expression shifts, lips twitching as she fails to suppress a laugh. “That was horrible,” she chuckles, shaking her head, her laughter lightening the mood.

You grin, enjoying the way her laughter sounds, how it brightens the shadows of the evening. “Perhaps, but I’m not sure the gods would easily forgive me if they knew the true extent of my sins,” you jest, voice low and teasing as your hands tighten around her waist.

Her laughter softens into something more intimate as she turns fully toward you, her gaze lingering on your lips before she closes the distance. The kiss is slow at first, a familiar dance of lips and breath, but it quickly deepens as passion flares between you. Her fingers thread through your hair, pulling you closer, and the world outside the chambers fades away. It’s just the two of you—no titles, no crowns, only the warmth of her body pressed against yours.

In the growing heat of the moment, clothing becomes a hindrance, something to be discarded in favor of the closeness you both crave. Your hands make quick work of her gown, letting it slip from her shoulders, pooling at her feet. She helps you shed your attire just as quickly until bare skin meets bare skin. There’s a moment of silence, the air thick with anticipation, before Alicent pushes you back onto the bed with a determined glint in her eye.

You watch as she climbs atop you, her every movement measured and deliberate. The sight of her like this—confident and in control—ignites something in you, a hunger that’s always been there but now roars to life. “You look like a queen,” you whisper, voice husky, your hands finding her hips as she guides you into her. “My heart, my love.”

Alicent gasps softly, closing her eyes as she sinks onto you, the slow, steady rhythm she sets sending shivers through you both. The pleasure builds gradually, each movement deliberate and teasing. You can see the mischief in her eyes as she reaches for a nearby candle, tipping it just enough to let drops of warm wax fall onto your chest. The heat is a sharp contrast against your skin, but it only spurs your desire further.

“To raise the dragon with fire,” she whispers, her voice low and filled with a playful edge as the wax continues to drip.

You chuckle darkly, gripping her hips more firmly as you thrust upward. “The dragon is already raised, my love.” Your words send a thrill through her, and the pace quickens as she moves above you, her moans mingling with your own.

The candles forgotten, they clatter to the floor as her movements become more intense, both of you teetering on the edge of release. But just as you feel yourself ready to fall over that precipice, Alicent suddenly stops, lifting herself away from you. The absence leaves you throbbing with frustration, your desire only heightened by the way she watches you, a knowing smile curving her lips.

“What are you doing?” you groan, the teasing ache almost too much to bear.

She leans down, capturing your lips in a slow, sensual kiss that only stokes the fire in your blood. “Patience, my love,” she whispers against your lips, her voice dripping with teasing amusement. But patience has never been your strong suit, not when it comes to her.

With a growl of determination, you flip her beneath you, your body pressing hers into the soft sheets. You position her on her stomach, her back arched as you take hold of her hips and guide yourself back into her. She moans your name, the sound sending a rush of satisfaction through you as you begin to move with renewed urgency, your rhythm rough and intense, driven by the need to claim her fully.

Alicent’s fingers clutch at the sheets as each thrust draws another cry of pleasure from her lips. You lean down, your mouth brushing against her ear as you whisper praises between ragged breaths, telling her how beautiful she is, how perfect, how she belongs to you as much as you belong to her. The words seem to drive her wild, her voice trembling as she reaches for that peak again.

The pace grows frantic as you both reach the edge together, your bodies locked in perfect harmony. With one final thrust, you feel the tension snap, sending you both spiraling into a shared high that leaves you breathless, your minds lost in the euphoria of your union.

When the last waves of pleasure fade, you collapse beside her, gathering her into your arms as you both catch your breath. The night is quiet now, only the distant hum of the city outside breaking the stillness. You press a kiss to her temple, your heart still pounding in your chest.

For now, in this moment, everything else can wait.

The corridors of the Red Keep echo softly with your footfalls as you walk side by side with your eldest son, Aegon. The council meeting had been more taxing than usual, and you could see the strain in the boy’s eyes, though he hides it behind a practiced indifference. You glance at him, noting how he chews the inside of his cheek—a habit he’s never quite grown out of.

“Father, I—” Aegon starts, his voice tense, betraying the anxiety that simmers beneath his confident exterior. “I didn’t mean to sound insolent when I questioned Lord Lyman, I just—”

You stop, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. “You did well, Aegon,” you say, cutting through his worry. “There was no fault in what you said. You spoke with strength and clarity, and you asked the right questions. We must be clear in our decisions, especially when others are too hesitant to say what needs to be said.”

Aegon blinks, the tension easing from his brow. He nods slowly, his expression softening. “Thank you, Father.” His voice is quieter now, laced with gratitude, and as the two of you continue walking, his steps seem lighter. The bond between you is often tested by his impulsiveness and uncertainty, but moments like this remind you that beneath the bravado, Aegon seeks your approval, your guidance.

You approach the sunroom, where a midday meal awaits. The bright sunlight streams through the windows, bathing the space in warmth. Already seated are Aemond, Helaena, and Daeron, each engaged in their own conversations. Helaena’s face lights up the moment she sees you, her smile wide and genuine.

“Father! I finished my collection,” she announces excitedly, almost bouncing in her seat. Her gaze sparkles with the kind of innocent joy you’ve always cherished in her.

You smile back, a rare softness in your eyes. “That’s wonderful, Helaena. I promise I’ll come by later and see it. I’m sure it’s even more impressive than the last one.”

She beams at your words, her contentment visible, before returning her focus to the small assortment of insect jars she’s arranged on the table.

Aemond and Daeron, standing nearby, approach you as well. Aemond, ever the observant one, nods in greeting. “Father, it seems preparations for tonight’s feast are nearly complete. Mother mentioned that Rhaenyra’s arrival will likely set tongues wagging.” His tone is measured, hiding a touch of wariness behind his composed demeanor.

“Let them wag,” Daeron adds with a grin, his youthful energy apparent. “We’ll hold our own, as we always do.”

You can’t help but feel a sense of pride swell in your chest at how they’ve grown—each of them distinct in temperament, but unified by the bonds of family. “We will,” you agree, placing a reassuring hand on Daeron’s shoulder.

Before the conversation can continue, the door to the sunroom opens, and Alicent steps inside. Her eyes sweep across the room before settling on you. A subtle crease forms between her brows as she notices the slight grimace on your face—a telltale sign of discomfort you’ve never been able to fully mask from her. She moves toward you, concern evident in her expression.

“Y/N, is your leg bothering you again?” she asks, her voice laced with worry. 

Before you can answer, Helaena, ever attuned to things others overlook, speaks up from her seat. “It’s the weather. The clouds are moving in. His leg hurts when the air changes like that.”

Alicent’s alarm deepens. “Should I summon Grand Maester Orwyle to examine it? Perhaps there’s something he can do.”

You shake your head, offering her a comforting smile. “It’s nothing to worry over, Alicent. Just an old pain from that fall off Dallax years ago. It comes and goes with the weather, as Helaena said. I’ll be fine.”

Though she nods, you can see that she’s not fully reassured, her fingers brushing lightly against your arm, a silent expression of her lingering concern.

The moment is broken by a knock at the door, and one of the guards steps inside, bowing slightly. “Your Grace, the Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon have arrived with their children. Princess Rhaenys and Lord Vaemond are with them as well.”

A heavy sigh escapes you, the weight of the situation pressing down like an iron mantle. “Of course they have,” you mutter under your breath, straightening your posture. Turning back to Alicent, you catch her worried gaze, knowing she senses the unease that tightens in your chest. This reunion has all the makings of a volatile confrontation, and the old wounds that have never fully healed threaten to bleed anew.

“I must go and welcome them,” you say, your voice measured but weary. The obligations of duty pull you forward, even when your heart longs to stay here with your family in this fleeting moment of peace.

Alicent steps closer, her fingers brushing against your sleeve in a silent gesture of support. “We’ll be by your side.”

You nod, grateful for her presence, and glance back at your children, who watch you with varying degrees of concern and curiosity. Even now, they look to you for strength, for guidance, and you cannot fail them. Not today. Not ever.

With one last glance at the warm sunlit room—a sanctuary from the political storm outside—you prepare yourself for the inevitable tension that awaits in the great hall. The time for peace and warmth has passed; now, you must step back into the fray.

The throne room is heavy with the weight of history, the distant clang of armor and murmured whispers echoing through the vast chamber. You stand at the base of the Iron Throne, the twisted swords looming behind you like the sharp shadows of past decisions. This place has always felt suffocating—the power it represents, the burden it imposes—but today, it seems even more so. The air is filled with anticipation, with all the words left unspoken over the years, words that now hover like ghosts between you and your sister.

The grand doors creak open, and in walks Rhaenyra, flanked by Daemon and her children. The entourage is impressive in its own right. But your eyes meet Rhaenyra’s first, a mixture of affection and lingering resentment flickering in her gaze. Daemon’s expression is inscrutable as ever, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips, as if he’s already prepared for whatever battle this day might bring.

“Brother,” Rhaenyra greets, her voice formal but laced with a warmth she struggles to fully suppress. The distance between you isn’t just measured by the steps she takes toward you but by the years of strained silences and fractured trust. “It’s been too long.”

“Too long indeed,” you reply, giving her a nod. “Though I wish it were under different circumstances.”

She glances back at her children—Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey—who linger closer to their stepfather. It’s a small, subtle act, but one that doesn’t escape your notice. The lines have already been drawn, loyalties established, even within family. Your eyes shift momentarily to Lucerys, who shifts uncomfortably under your gaze. The memory of that night, when Aemond lost his eye, still lingers in the corners of your mind like a festering wound.

Daemon steps forward, offering you a mocking half-bow. “Prince Regent,” he drawls, the title rolling off his tongue with a hint of amusement. “I trust King’s Landing hasn’t dulled your edge in all this politicking?”

“King’s Landing has taught me that sharper edges are often hidden behind polished words,” you counter, meeting his smirk with one of your own. “But some things remain constant, no matter how much time has passed.”

There’s a flicker of something in Daemon’s eyes—approval, perhaps—but he gives nothing more than a faint nod. The moment stretches as if both of you are waiting for the other to strike first, but the tension is cut by the sound of more footsteps entering the throne room.

Alicent appears, resplendent in her green gown, with Aegon and Aemond trailing just behind her. They take their places beside you, Alicent’s presence a quiet assurance amidst the charged atmosphere. Her eyes briefly meet Rhaenyra’s—a mixture of cordiality and something more guarded passing between them.

Rhaenyra’s gaze shifts back to you, her expression tight. “All this—Vaemond’s petition, this charade in court—is unnecessary. Corlys has already named Luke as his heir. This is nothing more than a farce driven by Vaemond’s ambition and desperation.”

You hold her gaze steadily, the words she speaks true, but there’s a bitterness beneath the surface that neither of you can quite hide. “Rhaenyra, you know as well as I do that perception is as powerful as truth in the eyes of the court. Vaemond’s claims are not without support among those who see blood over words. He’s leveraged the uncertainty surrounding Corlys’s health to rally those who resent the decree Viserys made years ago.”

“Resentment or ambition, it hardly matters,” Rhaenyra counters, her voice hardening. “Luke is Corlys’s chosen heir. This is nothing more than a blatant attempt to undermine our family, to sow discord in favor of personal gain.”

Before you can respond, Aemond’s cool voice cuts through the tension. “And yet, the matter has been brought before the court. The Driftwood Throne is more than just a seat; it represents the stability of our alliances and the power of the Velaryon fleet. Vaemond knows this well.”

Aegon shifts beside his brother, clearly eager to speak, but there’s an undercurrent of caution in his posture. “Let them debate the bloodlines and the claims. It’s all they seem to care about. But it’s our family’s unity that hangs in the balance.”

Alicent’s hand subtly rests on Aegon’s arm, a silent encouragement to temper his words. You can feel her worry radiating beside you, though she remains composed. “We cannot afford to be careless,” she adds, her voice steady. “The lords and ladies of the court are watching closely, each with their own interests at heart. We must tread carefully, especially with those like Vaemond, who are prepared to exploit any perceived weakness.”

Rhaenyra’s expression softens only slightly, the strain of years apart visible in the lines around her eyes. “I don’t want this to tear us further apart, brother. The realm needs stability, not more division. But it feels as though every step I take, every decision I make, is met with suspicion.”

You take a breath, weighing your words carefully. “Rhaenyra, I never wished for distance between us, nor did I want our paths to diverge as they have. But the choices we make carry consequences—sometimes ones we never intend. I want to believe that we can still find a way forward, even with everything that stands between us.”

Daemon’s eyes narrow slightly, watching you with a calculating gaze. He’s never been one to shy away from conflict, but even he seems to recognize that this moment is a delicate one.

Before anything further can be said, Alicent’s attention shifts as she catches sight of movement near the entrance. “It seems our guests have arrived.”

The doors swing open again, and in walk Princess Rhaenys and Lord Vaemond Velaryon, their presence commanding attention. Vaemond’s expression is one of grim determination, while Rhaenys’s gaze remains neutral, though there’s an underlying tension in the way she holds herself.

You sigh inwardly, the weight of what’s to come pressing heavily on your shoulders. “I must welcome them,” you say quietly, though the words feel more like a duty than a choice. 

With a final glance at Alicent and your children, you steel yourself, ready to face whatever storm this day may bring.

The throne room is filled with an air of tension so thick it nearly suffocates, a place where every word and glance carries the weight of the realm’s future. You sit in front of the Iron Throne, flanked by your family—Alicent at your side, with Aegon, Aemond, Helaena, and Daeron standing proudly beside you. Otto stands as a silent sentinel to your left, his expression carefully neutral but his calculating mind undoubtedly working behind those cold eyes.

This is your trial to preside over, not his.

Vaemond Velaryon stands before the court, his expression carved from stone, his voice carrying the authority of a man with righteous conviction. “I speak plainly because this matter is not one of politics, but of truth! The Driftwood Throne is a legacy that cannot be tainted by a lie. Lucerys Velaryon is no true Velaryon. He carries no blood of our house—he is not the son of Laenor Velaryon!”

Murmurs ripple through the gathered lords and ladies, some leaning in, eager to witness the drama unfold. Vaemond’s words are like daggers thrown across the room, aimed directly at Rhaenyra and her children. You can see the steel in her eyes, her lips pressed into a thin line as she holds her composure. Daemon stands beside her, eyes narrowing at the offense, but he remains still, his calculating mind no doubt waiting for the right moment to strike.

You raise a hand to silence the room, your voice calm but firm. “Lord Vaemond, you’ve made your case. But it is not solely yours to decide. Princess Rhaenys, as the wife of Lord Corlys and the one who has stood by his side through every battle and storm, you have the most voice in this matter. Speak now, for the realm listens.”

Rhaenys steps forward, her presence commanding respect. Dressed in the deep blacks and reds of her house, she carries the pride of House Velaryon on her shoulders, yet her expression remains inscrutable. You watch her closely, knowing that her words will determine more than just the fate of Driftmark—they will shape alliances and define loyalties.

“Thank you, Your Grace,” she begins, her voice clear and unwavering. “It is true that my lord husband is gravely injured and unable to speak for himself. But before he took ill, he made his wishes clear. He named Lucerys as his heir. My husband’s word is law on Driftmark, and I intend to honor it.”

Vaemond shifts uncomfortably, but remains silent for now.

Rhaenys continues, her gaze moving to Rhaenyra before settling on you. “Furthermore, Princess Rhaenyra has proposed a union—one that would not only preserve the legacy of House Velaryon but strengthen it. She has offered her son, Lucerys, to wed my granddaughter, Rhaena. A match I wholeheartedly support.”

The court stirs at this revelation. You feel the weight of Rhaenys’s decision pressing against your chest. Her words do more than just confirm Lucerys’s claim—they solidify Rhaenyra’s position in this fight. The offer to wed Rhaena to Lucerys would ensure that Driftmark remains in Velaryon hands, through Laena’s trueborn daughter. It’s a maneuver as brilliant as it is decisive. Rhaenys has thrown her support behind Rhaenyra in a way that cannot be easily countered.

You pause, considering the ramifications. Your eyes briefly meet Rhaenyra’s, searching for some sign of what she’s truly feeling beneath her stoic mask. She knows the significance of Rhaenys’s declaration; it’s more than just the inheritance of Driftmark—it’s a public alignment of houses, a strengthening of her line.

Just as you’re about to speak, Vaemond’s voice rises again, sharper now, with barely concealed fury. “This is an insult! A mockery of our house! You may support these... false heirs, but I will not allow Driftmark to be handed over to bastards!”

The word hangs in the air, searing through the room like a brand. A cold silence falls, eyes darting between you and Vaemond. Even Otto’s composed mask slips slightly, his eyes narrowing at the brazenness of Vaemond’s outburst. You feel a ripple of anger stir within you, a flame that you must keep controlled, for it would be too easy to let it consume you here.

Daemon steps forward, his smile a dangerous thing as he drawls, “Say it again, Vaemond. Go on.” His hand rests casually on the hilt of his blade, the invitation clear.

You rise from your seat, your gaze locking onto Vaemond with the weight of a dragon’s stare. The silence that follows is heavy, the tension crackling like lightning in the air. The audacity of his words echoes through the chamber—bastards. A line has been crossed, and everyone knows it.

“Enough,” you command, your voice low but resonant, silencing the whispers that had begun to stir among the lords and ladies. “You forget yourself, Lord Vaemond.”

Vaemond’s face twists with fury, but he stands defiant, unwilling to yield. “Your Grace, I only speak the truth that everyone here knows but dares not voice! Driftmark is the seat of House Velaryon, a house built on blood and salt. That blood should flow true, and Lucerys Velaryon carries none of it! The realm cannot be governed by lies and pretenses.”

You take a step forward, your presence a shadow over the defiant lord. “You speak of truth, but your truth is tainted by ambition and grievance. Driftmark’s future is a matter for Lord Corlys’s bloodline, and it has been decided by the one who holds that legacy. Princess Rhaenys has spoken clearly on her husband’s wishes and on the betrothal that will secure Driftmark’s future.”

Rhaenys’s head lifts, her expression one of quiet strength. It is a rare thing for the ‘Queen Who Never Was’ to publicly choose a side so explicitly, and in doing so, she has thrown the full weight of House Velaryon behind Rhaenyra and her children.

But Vaemond is not done. His eyes blaze with a dangerous mix of pride and desperation. “And you would have us swallow this pretense, this farce? I will not see my house’s name sullied for the sake of politics!”

Rhaenyra’s expression is a careful mask, but you know her well enough to see the tension coiled beneath the surface. Her sons stand rigid, their youth apparent in how they strain to keep composed, particularly Lucerys, whose gaze keeps darting toward you as if searching for some semblance of reassurance. You can feel Alicent’s eyes on you as well, a silent plea for this matter to end without bloodshed.

You straighten, feeling the weight of the crown’s authority settle around your shoulders. “This is not about what you will or will not see, Lord Vaemond. The decision is not yours to make.” You look to the gathered lords and ladies, letting your words carry across the room. “House Velaryon’s seat belongs to Lucerys Velaryon, named by Lord Corlys and affirmed by his lady wife. This court upholds that decision.”

There’s a murmur of agreement among some of the gathered lords, though others shift uncomfortably, clearly aligning themselves more with Vaemond’s view, whether they dare voice it or not. Vaemond’s defiance hardens into something bitter, his eyes flicking briefly toward Daemon, who remains a silent sentinel, the edge of his smile dangerous.

“Lucerys Velaryon is not a true Velaryon,” Vaemond growls, his voice rising with barely-contained rage. “He is—”

“Say it,” Daemon’s voice slices through the air like a dagger, his smile cold, daring Vaemond to cross that final line for the last time.

For a moment, it looks as if Vaemond might take the bait, the word trembling on his lips, but the air is thick with unspoken threats. You can see the flicker of fear in his eyes, a recognition that his next words could cost him more than just this claim. He hesitates, but the anger does not fade.

“The truth is plain,” Vaemond finally says, quieter now but no less venomous. “You can wrap it in silks and gold, but it remains a lie.”

Your patience wears thin. “Your passion is noted, Lord Vaemond, but you would do well to remember where you stand and who you address.” You glance at Rhaenyra, who remains poised despite the insults cast her way, then back at Vaemond. “This court has rendered its judgment. The matter is settled.”

The finality in your tone leaves no room for further argument. Vaemond clenches his jaw, his fists trembling at his sides, but he knows he’s lost. His pride is wounded, and though he has supporters among the court, none will openly defy the crown’s decision. He gives you a look filled with loathing, and for a heartbeat, you think he might lash out.

Before anything can escalate, Alicent steps forward, her presence bringing a calming effect, if only briefly. “This matter is closed,” she says with cool authority, echoing your decree. “The realm must look forward, not cling to the past.”

You nod, turning your attention back to the court. “The feast tonight will be held in honor of family and unity. I expect all to attend.” You emphasize the word family, knowing it holds different meanings for those gathered. Your gaze lingers on Rhaenyra and her children, then back to Vaemond, whose seething gaze is impossible to ignore.

Vaemond’s face is twisted with barely-restrained fury, but he bows stiffly. “As you command, Your Grace.”

The lords and ladies begin to disperse, the unrest easing as conversations shift to safer topics. But the undercurrents of unease remain. Alliances have been made clearer, but new fissures have formed as well.

As the court disperses, you catch Rhaenyra’s gaze. There’s a gratitude there, mingled with sadness, a recognition of the unspoken rift that still lies between you. “Thank you, brother,” she says softly when she approaches, her voice tinged with a mixture of relief and weariness.

You nod, offering a small, strained smile. “For now, let us put aside the politics and remember that we are family.”

Rhaenyra inclines her head, and though the words are spoken with good intent, there’s a heaviness that neither of you can ignore. The politics of blood, inheritance, and loyalty remain like shadows between you.

As Rhaenyra and Daemon leave the throne room with their children, you feel Alicent’s hand lightly rest on your arm. “You did well,” she says softly, her gaze searching yours for any trace of what you’re truly feeling.

You give a faint nod, but the weariness of the day weighs heavily on your mind. “Perhaps. But this is only the beginning. There are storms yet to come.”

Alicent’s eyes flicker with concern, but she remains composed. “Then we will face them together, as we always have.”

With that, you steel yourself for the next gathering—the feast, where smiles will hide sharpened knives and toasts will be laced with hidden meanings.

The Great Hall is aglow with the warmth of countless candles, their light reflecting off the polished silver goblets and rich tapestries lining the walls. The air is thick with the aromas of roasted meats, spiced wine, and the subtle sweetness of honeyed fruits. At the head of the table, King Viserys sits, smiling broadly, the years of weariness lifted, if only for tonight. His eyes, though dulled by age and illness, sparkle with the joy of seeing his family gathered together—just as he has always dreamed.

You sit to his right, with Alicent beside you, her presence a quiet, steadying force. Your children—Aegon, Aemond, Helaena, and Daeron—are arranged around you, each reflecting the shared Targaryen and Hightower legacies. Across the table, Rhaenyra sits with Daemon, their children—Jacaerys, Lucerys, Joffrey, Baela, and Rhaena—filling the seats beside them. For once, the invisible line that has divided you all seems to blur, softened by the promise of reconciliation that hangs in the air.

Viserys raises his goblet, his voice trembling but rich with emotion. “To family,” he declares, looking first at you, then at Rhaenyra, his gaze lingering with unspoken hope. “We have all weathered many storms, but tonight, let us put aside our differences and remember the ties that bind us. Blood is what unites us, and that is stronger than any quarrel.”

You lift your goblet, meeting Rhaenyra’s gaze from across the table. There’s a flicker of warmth in her eyes, a reflection of the shared memories from when you were younger—before ambition and politics built walls between you. “To family,” you echo, letting your voice carry across the hall.

“To family,” Rhaenyra agrees, her voice softer, but sincere. The tension that usually clings to her words is absent, replaced by a genuine desire to find common ground. Daemon follows suit with a small nod, raising his goblet, though his eyes never lose their sharpness.

The others join in the toast, and for the first time in a long while, there’s a shared sense of unity at the table. The feast begins, and conversation flows more easily than you had expected. Laughter echoes, and even some of the past hurts seem to fade as old stories are shared, tales from when you and Rhaenyra were children, and the world was simpler.

Aegon, emboldened by the good cheer, leans toward Jacaerys with a grin. “So, cousin, when do we finally see if your swordplay has improved? Or are you still hiding behind the idea of ‘diplomacy’?” There’s a teasing lilt to his words, but it’s free of malice.

Jacaerys chuckles, accepting the challenge with grace. “Any time you wish, Aegon. Perhaps tomorrow, in the yard? I could use the exercise.”

Aegon laughs, and for once, it’s genuine. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Nearby, Helaena leans close to Rhaena, showing her a small, delicate beetle she’s been keeping. “This one’s new. I found it in the gardens this morning. It’s beautiful, don’t you think?”

Rhaena’s face lights up with interest. “It is! You’ll have to show me where you find them. Perhaps we can look together tomorrow?”

Aemond, ever observant, listens as Daemon regales Daeron with stories of old Valyria, his tone as dramatic as ever. “You mustn’t rely only on strength, young prince,” Daemon advises with a sly smile. “There’s more power in a sharp mind than a sharp blade, though it’s best to wield both.”

As the night progresses, the atmosphere becomes lighter, laughter filling the hall. You notice Rhaenyra watching you, and when your eyes meet, she offers a tentative smile. There’s a pause, a moment where neither of you speaks, but the silence is full of unspoken words—regret, apology, and perhaps most importantly, a desire to heal what’s been broken.

“Brother,” she finally says, her voice tinged with emotion. “I’ve missed this—us, being together. I know there have been… difficulties, but I hope we can start anew.”

You take a deep breath, feeling the sincerity in her words. The distance between you hasn’t been easy, and the weight of your past grievances still lingers, but you find yourself nodding. “I’ve missed it too, Rhaenyra. We’ve both made mistakes, but we’re stronger together. Let’s try to move forward—for our family, for our father.”

Viserys beams at this exchange, his hand trembling as he lifts it to wipe away a tear. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted. For all of us to be united, to leave behind the bitterness of the past.”

Alicent watches this with a soft smile, her hand slipping into yours beneath the table. “This is what he’s longed for,” she whispers. “You’ve given him peace, if only for tonight.”

As the meal continues, the tension that once plagued these gatherings begins to dissipate. Rhaenyra and Alicent exchange kind words, complimenting each other’s children. Daemon, though still carrying his usual edge, seems content to keep his barbs light, focusing more on keeping the mood lifted than on stirring the pot. Even Aemond, usually so guarded, appears more at ease, his exchanges with Jacaerys and Lucerys devoid of the usual undercurrents of rivalry.

At one point, Rhaenyra lifts her goblet again, a more private toast this time. “To new beginnings,” she says, looking at you with hope.

You smile, raising your own goblet in kind. “To new beginnings.”

The night stretches on, and for once, it feels as though the past might truly be put behind you. The bonds of family, strained though they’ve been, begin to mend. The ghosts of old wounds fade into the background as laughter, warmth, and shared memories take center stage.

Viserys, exhausted but happy, leans back in his chair, his hand resting on yours as he closes his eyes, a contented smile on his lips. “This… this is how it should always be,” he murmurs.

And for that night, at least, it is. Family, love, and unity win out, and the weight of the crown feels a little lighter.

From the Chronicles of King Y/N Targaryen I, The Reign of the Unified Flame

From “Fire and Blood: A History of House Targaryen” by Archmaester Melys:

Upon the passing of King Viserys I in the year 129 AC, the realm held its breath, fearing that the simmering tensions within House Targaryen would ignite into the civil war prophesied by many. But where the histories might have diverged into bloodshed and ruin, they instead tell a tale of unity and wise rule under King Y/N Targaryen, the Heir of Dragonstone, who ascended the Iron Throne as Y/N I, known to later generations as “Y/N the Peacemaker” and “The King of Balance.”

Though many lords whispered of conflict, it was King Y/N’s first decree that set the tone for his reign. Gathering his family—Queen Alicent, Princess Rhaenyra, and their respective children—he held council not in the Red Keep, but atop Dragonstone, the ancient seat of House Targaryen. There, in the shadow of their ancestors and the elder dragons, they swore an oath of unity before gods and men. It is said that Prince Daemon himself, ever the rogue, was the first to lay down his blade, pledging his loyalty to his nephew. With that, the seeds of war were quelled, and the Dance of Dragons was averted.

High Speton Eustace credits King Y/N’s wisdom and firm hand for this peace, stating, “His Majesty’s reign was marked by clarity of vision and an understanding that compromise is often the sharpest weapon.” Mushroom, in his typically bawdy accounts, attributes the peace to the deep affection between the King and Queen Alicent, jesting that, “It was her gentle whispers at night and not the threats of swords that kept the realm from tearing itself apart.”

Under King Y/N’s rule, Westeros saw another golden era of peace and prosperity. His approach to governance combined the fiery decisiveness of his Targaryen blood with a measured balance that many compared to his mother, Queen Aemma Arryn. The king’s court was diverse and inclusive; Princess Rhaenyra was granted full authority over the small council alongside her brother, with the Velaryons remaining staunch allies after the successful betrothal of Lucerys Velaryon to Rhaena Targaryen. Driftmark’s legacy was secured without further bloodshed, ensuring that the sea lanes of Westeros remained open and secure.

King Y/N’s family played a crucial role in his reign. His children with Queen Alicent grew into respected figures in their own right. Aegon, though restless in his youth, became a trusted commander, leading the royal navy in expeditions to Essos that solidified trade routes. Aemond, despite the loss of his eye, was known as “The Iron Shield,” a prince famed for his discipline and loyalty, who often served as Hand of the King when his father took to Dragonstone for respite. Helaena’s prophecies, often dismissed in earlier years, became valued by the court, guiding many decisions with a wisdom that bordered on the mystical. Daeron, the youngest, was known as the people’s prince, a bridge between nobility and common folk, fostering goodwill in the Reach and beyond.

The reign of King Y/N I was not without its trials. The Ironborn rose in rebellion more than once, but swift action by Aemond and Daemon in a rare alliance quickly subdued the threat. The Riverlands also saw unrest when Lord Grover Tully’s ambitions threatened to spill into open conflict, but the King’s deft diplomacy resolved the dispute before it could escalate.

Even so, the unity within House Targaryen remained the cornerstone of Y/N’s reign. It is said that Rhaenyra and Queen Alicent, once rivals after their marriages, grew back into a friendship they shared in their youth, sharing their roles as matriarchs to an ever-growing brood of dragonlords. Mushroom—never one to miss an opportunity for scandal—claims that their peace was ensured by shared interests in a secretive cabal of noblewomen, but wiser heads discount this as the jester’s usual mischief.

King Y/N’s dragons also played a vital role in securing his legacy. His bond with Dallax, the Night Fury, became legendary. Dallax, with his black scales and green eyes, was a fearsome sight in battle, but it was his presence at royal negotiations that often quelled rebellious lords before blood could be spilled. The dragon’s reputation as both guardian and enforcer of the realm added to the mystique of King Y/N’s rule. 

In 143 AC, King Y/N I presided over the Grand Council at Harrenhal, where matters of succession and law were codified, ensuring stability for generations to come. It was there that his wisdom was most evident; by balancing the interests of all regions and houses, he secured peace in the realm without resorting to brute force. When the Maester's Conclave reviewed the royal lineage in later years, it was agreed by many that King Y/N’s efforts had preserved not just the peace but the very legacy of House Targaryen.

Mushroom’s final words on the reign of King Y/N are perhaps the most fitting. “In an age where dragons danced upon the edge of war, it took not just a dragonrider, but a man who saw the value in holding back the flame, to keep the realm whole. Where others would have chosen fire and blood, he chose balance, and in doing so, left behind a reign that many would envy.”

King Y/N Targaryen I passed away in the year 150 AC, leaving behind a legacy of unity, prosperity, and a realm spared the horrors of civil war. His children carried forth his wisdom, and under their guidance, Westeros thrived in an era known as the “Second Golden Age.” And thus, the realm’s history turned, not on a dance of dragons, but on a single king’s steadfast resolve to keep his family—and his realm—united.

[spookyserenades]

not trying to rush or anything! i was just wondering when we’ll get a taste of sanctity 👀

hehe! I'm working on the first chapter already, it's up to 4k words. I've made a banner (not a swanky one LOL my strengths are not with graphic design) but I'll copy paste my notes about the boys that I've come up with so far. And give you the banner 💕

Seokjin 

Born 1145 - Turned 1176 (Goryeo) 879 years old, physically 31

Manipulative type yandere 

Taeja (crown prince) of a monarch, third-born son; focused on studies, arts, humanities, and would assist in conversations surrounding war and foreign relations

Speaks Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic (most ancient languages as well)

Power: Compulsion, he can influence minds, wipe memories, make suggestions to control someone

Yoongi

Born 1476 - Turned 1507 (Renaissance Period) 548 years old, physically 31

Obsessive type yandere

Apprentice of Leonardo Da Vinci, created some of his art then went on to have his own famous career, patron of arts 

Speaks Latin, Greek, and all other Romance languages

Power: Paralysis, he can paralyze someone using his mind, rendering them unable to move

Hoseok

Born 1607 - Turned 1637 (Early Modern Period, Piracy’s Golden Age) 417 years old, physically 30

Possessive type yandere

Buccaneer, captain of a ship that would sail around the Caribbean. Plundered and burned cities, owns many fine things, well-traveled

Speaks all Romance languages, Dutch, Haitian Creole

Power: Tracking, he can find anyone with his senses without fail, can predict target’s moves in advance

Namjoon

Born 1630 - Turned 1659 (Joseon) 394 years old, physically 29

Sadistic type yandere

Ruthless military general that led men during the Qing invasion of Joseon. Later became an assassin (sword for hire, essentially) 

Speaks Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, and most other Asian languages

Power: Pain Illusion, when focused on target he can create the illusion that the target is being burned alive

Jimin

Born 1796 - Turned 1824 (Regency Era, 20 years post America’s Independence) 228 years old, physically 28

Clingy type yandere

Famous playwright of romantic tragedies, owner of a theater in England that was extremely popular

Speaks all Romance languages

Power: Hypnosis, he can convince targets that they’re in love with him/can’t live without him

Taehyung

Born 1841 - Turned 1869 (Victorian Era, 20ish years before Industrial revolution) 183 years old, physically 28

Stalker type yandere

Basically Vanderbilt vibes. The coven lives in the Breakers mansion, Taehyung built it. Owned railroads, reclusive business tycoon

Speaks English and French

Power: Glamoring, he can disguise his appearance and his presence itself

Jeongguk

Born 1900 - Turned 1926 (Roaring 20’s, Prohibition Act, Al Capone mafia) 124 years old, physically 26

Overprotective type yandere

Ran with Al Capone crime family, mostly as a booze smuggler and bodyguard. Was turned when the North Siders targeted Capone at the Hawthorne inn

Speaks English

Power: Telepathy, can read minds

[marinettesaltprompts]

Cat in the Belfry (Part 3)

Adrien x Gotham City Sirens

Prompt by @somereaderinblue​ . Grammer edits by your’s truly.

Selina hates kicking kittens but sadly, she has to tell Chat Noir the bad news: that she’s figured out HM’s secret ID. To no one’s surprise, it’s Gabriel. 

S: …..he’s your dad, isn’t he?

CN: How-

S: Takes one to know one.

Chat doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He really is a criminal now, or at the very least, the son of one. Plagg tries to comfort him, then glares at Selina with the full force of destruction.

S: I won’t tell anyone. I have standards.

P: Good, because if you do, you won’t have a tangible presence in this mortal plane anymore.

... As far as father figures go, Selina supposes a chibi eldritch creature isn’t too bad.

Adrien can’t go back to the manor, so Selina lets him hide in the penthouse she rented. She, Ivy & Harley soothe him with cats, ice cream, movies, facial masks & offers of arson/murder. Eventually, they plan.

HM’s end goes out with….another whimper. Catwoman steals the brooch & drops evidence of Gabriel’s other crimes (i.e. violating child labour laws, child abuse, possessing literal military grade weapons) to the police. Adrien Agreste is written off as missing, likely having run away in fear of his father. CN shows the police the brooch & vouches for his innocence but as expected the seed of doubt has been planted.

Ladybug confronts him, once again enraged that he made such a heavy decision without her & secretly envious of how effective the Cat duo were in a month compared to her in an entire year. Paris was starting to talk about her incompetency & the distance between her and CN.

She tries to manipulate his old feelings for her & brings up revealing their secret IDs to one another. CN flat out refuses. So she orders him to hand over his miraculous. He also refuses because he doesn’t trust her or the Order with Plagg.

She tries to take it by force. Except Harley & Catwoman have taught CN how to fight dirtier, harder, sharper. He doesn’t hold back & this time, there’s no mind control akuma LB can target or temps to back her up. His new trick, Black Hole, keeps her on the ropes.

Eventually, Ivy arrives to bind LB & CN snatches the earrings. Because life’s full of disappointments, it’s Marinette. Ignoring her tantrum, Ivy gags her so he can undo all the commands Fu & Mari put Tikki under.

Once freed, Plagg teaches Adrien a spell he concocted. A spell he kept close to his chest because god forbid the Order/Fu find out he can think of something other than cheese & chaos. The spell ‘destroys’ Mari’s connection to everything Miraculous-related, meaning she can’t mention & will barely remember CN himself, both in and out of the mask.

While waiting for the spell to settle, Adrien snatches the Miracle Box & frees the other kwamis which opens cans of worms abt the Order’s corruption. One thing’s for sure: there’s no way in hell Adrien is letting them go back.

Adrien says his goodbyes to Alya & Nino and tells Marinette’s parents everything. They’re heartbroken at how far their daughter has sunk but swear that they’ll transfer her to another school & enroll her into therapy. The others also find out about her crimes (minus the LB part) but at this point, Mari made it clear she wants nothing to do with them so all anyone can do is move on.

Mari is forced to live with a gap in her memories & the sudden tension on her parents and ex-classmates. Why are her parents stricter? Why is the class shunning her? She just wanted to protect….someone! (but who?) And Lila’s to blame, not her! Why is no one fawning over (their everyday LB) her anymore?

Days later, he quietly gathers what little he has left from the penthouse.

A: I guess this is goodbye.

H: Where you heading?

A: Anywhere. Always wanted to travel the world.

S: Alone?

A: I have the power of mini gods & destruction on my side.

S: I don’t think they count as a chaperone, kit.

A: My aunt & cousin won’t want anything to do with me thanks to Gabriel and I can’t stay here. Not now.

S: …..interested in touring the rest of Europe?

A: I can’t-

S: No strings attached. Well, except your charming company.

H: It’ll be fun!

I: Someone has to teach you proper biology.

Adrien cries & group hugs ensue.

Sometimes, family is a teen hero, his mini god of destruction dad & his 3 gay criminal aunts. 

[bookobsessed1412]

So, the kids and trolls win the game, enter universe C, and find themselves back on their respective planets, with their respective guardians/lusii all alive again(with the human guardians being siblings. Which means jane’s dad and John’s dad were cousins, because nanna and poppop were siblings, so it would be weird if their son(s) was/were the same person. Fuck. I wanted them to be the same person.) and they all remember both lives(the players have the memories of their new lives too). Also they’re all gods now, even the ones who didn’t reach godtier in the game. And the ones who went insane and/or evil (if you even want to keep them going evil and not just change it so they didn’t go evil) have turned good again and had redemption arcs and whatnot (whether they went evil in the first place because of mind control/brainwashing/mind manipulation or not), and Gamzee is back to being moirails with Karkat (if they ever stopped in the first place)(cause dammit I really like gamzee and i love gam<>(and/or)<3kat. Also, creepy-but-good gamzee is just as cute as original-nice-kind gamzee, so you can have him be either one).

Anyways. They still have the ability to communicate with each other over the internet or whatever even though they’re, like, galaxies away from each other or something. Probably a reward from the game. And they still have their sylladice even though they don’t exist in the new universe. And they have the ability to shift between troll and human forms. They also have the ability to switch between the two planets. Probably via transportalizers, which they have the ability to create.

So. With all these abilities, and the Alternian empire still being fucking awful (though maybe not quite as awful as before? idk.), they decide to create a rebellion/revolution. Jade finds a space relatively near earth to place the planets she still has(maybe freaking out astronomers in the process, what with new planets suddenly appearing out of nowhere), and they become a safe haven for trolls that they rescue that would otherwise have been culled for some reason or another (of course, they’re only allowed on them after a thorough mind/soul search using godly and/or troll powers to determine that they’re not going to hurt the consorts, as well as informing them of the rules and laws that they have (they probably went through all the earth and Alternian laws they could find in order to figure out which laws they wanted)).

Also, if davekat (which is tied with gamkat as my favorite pairing, with johnkat coming second), you could maybe make it a three-way matespritship-Moiraillegiance-human boyfriends thing between Dave Karkat and gamzee (davegamkat?), because Dave and gamzee totally would have got on like a house on fire if Dave hadn’t accidentally ruined everything by (accidentally?) mocking gamzee’s religion when gamzee was in a delicate place, and I really want to see them learn to like each other. You don’t have to, of course, but it’s rare I find Dave and gamzee learning to get along post-sburb, especially as oftentimes gamzee tends to stay evil, or just doesn’t get the chance to enter into the new universe.

[diaphobic]

The Diaboys as Fathers

(+ Yui as a mom!)

—Some headcanons of how I think their kids would behave and some cute fatherly things.

This has been sitting in my drafts for far too long.. I was going to add to it but never got around to it. So here it is~ I will add to these for a bit.

Trigger warning: Mentions of past s*xual abuse on Laito’s headcanons!

Under the cut because it’s.. reeaallly long.

Shu

His kids would be very musical, obviously. They wouldn’t play to please Shu though. Shu made it clear that they are to do what they hav wfhm doing, and they found out they love music.

Well mannered kids. They aren’t lazy, but aren’t exactly overachievers either. Shu didn’t put a whole lot of pressure on them, but he did stress the importance of learning.

His kids will be multilingual: Japanese, Latin, and English will be their main languages. They learned these languages to get closer to their father since he sees those languages as valuable.

Nap time is their favorite time. They always cuddle up on Shu’s chest. He’ll rub their backs until they fall asleep. If requested, he’ll sing them a lullaby to help them fall asleep. They love his singing.

Shu would be very attached to his kids. He doesn’t have any trouble getting up and around if it’s for his children. They’re the light in his life. As his kids start to get older they realize he needs their help, so they’ll go out of their way to support him and get him up when they notice he’s struggling.

Reiji

Reiji is a worried father. His kids are anxious, yet confident. They’re able to hide their anxiety quite well.

His kids hold onto his legs when they’re nervous. Reiji tries not to coddle them too much, but he caves when they cling to him like that. He’ll scoop them up right away when they get too frightened. He wants them to feel loved.

His kids love science experiments. Reiji will do lots of fun little experiments with them (mostly nontoxic things because reiji is a nervous father and can’t let there be a chance his babies will get hurt). The kids love making volcanos with baking soda and vinegar.

They’re always dressed nicely. His son absolutely loves matching his suit with his fathers. Although by the end of the day the little guys suit will be disheveled from playing. Reiji’s daughter loves wearing glasses even though she doesn’t need them. She wants to be like him, but isn’t a big fan of suits and ties.

Loves teaching them stuff. It’s his favorite thing when he sees his little toddlers fingers on his lab table as they try and peek over the tall table. He’ll scold them for getting near dangerous chemicals without asking first, but then he’ll tell them all about it. He loves feeling needed.

The kids know when Reiji is truly mad, and when he’s just trying to discipline them. His silent fury is more terrifying than his scoldings.

Ayato

Lots and lots of pranks. His kids love pulling little stunts on their father. They’re quite cunning. Ayato returns this playful nature and will often prank them back. Shockingly he isn’t too mean to them. The pranks are lighthearted.

The kids love to get on Ayato’s shoulders. He’ll plop them on his shoulders when he’s shopping so he doesn’t have to hold them. His kids will grab on his hair and try to steer him using it (like ratatouille).

His kids are very bold. They aren’t too shy with anyone. They’re pint sized versions of Ayato. He won’t let them ever feel unworthy and not good enough, so they’ve turned out to be confident and happy.

Lots and lots of photos. Ayato loves making memories with his kids, and loves saving photos. He secretly spends hours each week putting together a special scrapbook for each moment he spends with his children.

Kanato

The kids cry, he cries back. Sometimes the other way around. Usually this ends with Kanato calming his kids. Sometimes his kids fake tears just to see their usually indifferent father rush to their side to calm them. Little master manipulators <3

His children all have their own stuffed animals. His son has Teddy Jr. Kanato likes the idea of his kids having a support stuffed animal, but he doesn’t ever want the kids to become overly dependent on them. He’ll make sure to be a good enough father so that never has to happen.

The kids will know how to bake. He’ll have a hard time learning that his kids aren’t his maids/butlers, and he can’t make them do everything for them.

Kanato loves matching his outfits with his child’s. They’ll go out in daddy daughter outfits all the time! Usually he hand sews them because he feels it shows his love better.

Kanato tries his best to make his kids feel loved. He’s testing ways to show his love through actions and words. He doesn’t want his kids to feel unloved and neglected like he did.

Laito

(TW for mentions of past s*xual abuse on Laito’s HC)

Laito is the type of father that is VERY body conscious. He’s extremely sensitive about helping his kids with bath time or using the bathroom. He’s terrified of crossing a boundary like his mother did, so he leaves that stuff to his wife. She’ll have to encourage him and guide him through helping his kids.

End of trigger warning

Aside from bath time and other private needs, Laito is a very loving father. He absolutely LOVES cuddle time. He’s a sucker for physical affection from his kids. As babies, his kids would often tug at his hair or knock his fedora off. There was a time where Laito had to tie his hair back because his kids loved his hair so much.

He enjoys teaching his kids the importance of cherishing loved ones. This means lots of surprise gifts for mom. His kids often will make him gifts because they taught him to cherish loved ones. He always gushes when they do this.

You bet he’s going to doll his girls up. He loves picking out his daughters outfits and letting her pick out his. He isn’t afraid to embrace his feminine side for her. She loves matching dresses with her father. Laito doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. As long as his precious daughter is happy, he’s happy.

Laito loves gossiping and embarrassing his wife. He’ll tell his kids all sorts of cute yet embarrassing stories about their mother. They love it.

Laito is the parent that keeps up with school gossip. He knows all of the other mothers by name and he’ll catch up with them every time he goes to pick his kids up from school. He keeps an eye out for his kids safety this way, and he loves the drama humans have. He finds it funny.

A SHARED JOURNAL. Laito got a journal for his kids and him to pen pal in. Even though they life together and spend all day with one another, he still wants to do this. They love writing him thank you notes and telling him what they love and want to do more of.

Subaru

Cannot say no to a cute face. Subaru has such a hard time telling his adorable children no. They know just how to get to his heart. They’re masters at the puppy dog eyes.

Subaru is very delicate with his kids. He’ll lift them up gently. He’s gotten better after a while, but when the kids were newborns he had such a hard time holding them.

His kids will grab his arms so he’ll lift them up in either arm. Once they get a little older they’ll start to do mini pull-ups using his arms.

His kids love animals. Subaru would always take them to the park or put in the garden for play time, so they began to love nature. They’re very soft with animals and love holding them. Though Subaru won’t let them have pets just yet, they always somehow attract a wild animal or two when outside.

Subaru keeps a journal of his kids milestones and daily activities he did with his kids. He likes to look back on all of their adventures and recall these things. It’s his way of showing he loves them. He’ll give these journals to his kids when they move out so they can remember how much he cares for them.

His kids will be like little warriors. They’ll know how to protect themselves, AND they’ll have the compassion to protect others. They’ve learned this by watching their father protect them and any other person he sees in danger.

Yui

Her kids are well mannered and very kind. She raised them to choose to be kind because it’s what people deserve, not because they should be. Yui’s kids are very emotionally involved with everyone.

She never forces then to do anything they don’t want to. This includes things like volunteering or doing extra curricular activities. She wants her kids to do things out of the goodness of their hearts, not because they were forced to.

Yui’s kids love volunteering. They often will attend school bake sales, church events, city events, all of it. Anything they can do with their little hands they will.

Yui reads to her kids every single night. She wants them to feel connected with her and have a good schedule. She thinks bedtime routines are a very important part of the day.

[cavecry]

evil!Goldenflower au goes something like this (keep in mind I haven’t read Bluestar’s book or tpb in years so my memory is a bit rusty lmao)

Goldenflower is born absolutely tiny (bc TC values big, beefy cats) and resents her brother Lionheart for being bigger than her and “stealing the spotlight.” as apprentices she attaches herself to Tigerclaw bc he and Lionheart don’t really get along, plus Tigerclaw is also big and talented so maybe some of his status could rub off on her? she finds out somehow (maybe through Whitestorm? idr who else is their age) that Tigerclaw has feelings for her and it goes to her head. she starts manipulating him to get him to stay loyal to her and make her look good for the clan. yada yada, Rusty joins TC, Tigerclaw is being evil shady but now he’s paranoid about pleasing Goldenflower. during this time Tigerclaw and Goldenflower have their first litter, a singlet called Swiftkit ( ;} )

at some point idk, Tigerclaw’s rope finally breaks. they have a public fight that turns into a breakup except oops! Goldenflower is pregnant again and now Tigerclaw looks like a jerk in front of everyone. Goldenflower is pissed and won’t come out of the nursery, meanwhile Tigerclaw is very clearly spiralling despite Whitestorm and Darkstripe’s attempts to support him. Tigerclaw gets exiled for trying to murder Bluestar in her den and goes to SC and becomes Tigerstar

most of Tigerstar’s SC stuff would probably be the same, except Darkstripe has to be more careful when he sneaks Bramblekit and Tawnykit out to meet their dad, since Goldenflower is still angry at him for breaking up with her. she’s distraught when Tawnypaw runs away to SC and, to her, chooses Tigerstar’s side. she starts trying to manipulate Bramblepaw too, in part bc he looks so much like his dad and she doesn’t want him to “betray” her too. when Tigerstar sets up the dog attack, he isn’t expecting Swiftpaw to be there instead of Bluestar or, better yet, Goldenflower — this causes him to seriously snap and pursue his TigerClan goals, though this time it’s less about wanting to rule the forest (though that’s still his cover story) and more about destroying TC specifically. Goldenflower gets extra protective over her remaining son and hates Fireheart even more for (a) being freaked out by Bramblepaw and (b) being a (mostly) respected deputy despite not embodying TC ’s standards

in the climax of tpb, I can see either of two endings working out for T&G’s arcs: they kill each other instead of Tigerstar getting oneshotted by Scourge, OR Tigerstar dies and Goldenfloower runs away to become a rogue. I could see rogue!Goldenflower harassing the clans with a posse of followers (maybe Brokenstar/Tigerstar’s former followers?), maybe trying to get access to Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt specifically. maybe she could become like, the Queen of the Rogues or something fun like that. once Tigerstar and Goldenflower are both dead though, I can see another couple of options: either they both go to the DF, OR Tigerstar goes to the DF but Goldenflower goes to StarClan (bc why not make StarClan actually corrupt given all the awful stuff they’ve passively/actively enabled in canon)

if they both go to the DF, I can see them sort of splitting it down the middle between them and forcing everyone there to choose a side like they’re getting a divorce LMAO (imagining Goldenflower and Mapleshade girlbossing together). they basically almost tear the DF apart trying to get back at each other and recruit armies of living cats to fight each other, to the point where StarClan and living clans get involved and hello oots arc. it would probably have to end with their spirits being destroyed for good. if Goldenflower gets to be in StarClan though, I can so easily imagine an inter-dimensional war lead by T&G with the living cats stuck in the middle. maybe Goldenflower could have a trial like Ashfur before she got in, and Swiftpaw could insist on letting her in. either way she rallies StarClan against the DF in her quest for revenge on Tigerstar for “ruining her life” — meanwhile Tigerstar has also rallied the DF against StarClan in his quest for revenge on Goldenflower. their spirits are still destroyed but maybe in this version the rest of the DF and StarClan are destroyed with them [eyes emoji]

[yugirl]

Day 18: “This Wasn’t in the Rule Book.”

Crossovers, coffee shops, and canon divergence collide today in the wonderful world of AU! Go nuts.

((Magical girl au? Magical girl au! @pridewhatpride my love?? This is for you!))

~~~~~~~~~

I gritted my teeth and looked up with fear and dread. It was no use… the Light of Destruction was so strong and so powerful.

Jaden was struggling to get up; Bastion was struggling to breathe; Jesse couldn’t move.

But… I couldn’t let it end like this…

“Yellow… Green… Black…” I whispered. My spirit partners appeared and looked in concern.

“What are you gonna do, boss��?!” Yellow squeaked.

“I’m going to keep fighting with everything I have… but I understand if you three don’t… if you want to run… now’s your chance….”

Jaden seemed to see what I was doing and summoned Winged Kuriboh.

“Chazz is right… just because we’re going to keep fighting doesn’t mean you guys have to… so if you want to get out of here, then go….”

Bastion grunted, “there’s no need for you to put yourself at risk if you don’t want to Pikeru… go….”

Jesse looked at the Crystal Beasts. “I’m with them… you’ve all been by my side from start to finish, but I want you to be safe….”

“YOU'RE INSANE!!” Yellow squawked.

“Huh?”

“Sure, I may be a scaredy-cat, but I’m not backing down when we’re this close to the finish line!!”

Green nodded in agreement. “Yeah!! If you’re gonna keep fighting, boss, then we are too!!”

“That’s right!! Brothers stick together!!” Black added.

I couldn’t help but smile “thanks, you guys….”

Winged Kuriboh seemed to mewl in protest as well, nuzzling against Jaden and assuring he was staying.

“Thanks, Pal…” Jaden smiled.

“Yeah! If you losers even think you’re fighting without us, think again!” Pikeru said smugly.

“Thanks, Pikeru…” Bastion chuckled and patted her head.

“Your friends are right, Jesse….” Topaz Tiger nodded.

“we’ve all come so far together, and as you said, we’ve been here from start to end. But it’s not the end yet….” Amythest Cat added.

Jesse teared up and nodded. “Thank you!!”

I used my lighting spear to help myself stand up before turning to help the others up one at a time…

“If this really is the end… I just want you to know…I… I love you guys….” I muttered.

Jaden teared up and nodded. “I love you too!”

Bastion wrapped an arm around Jaden to comfort him. “I love you all as well….”

Jesse teared up too and pulled us all into a hug. “I love you all too!! Thank you so much for staying with me and helping me complete my mission!!”

We hugged each other for the longest time, our hearts burning… no, they weren’t burning; they were glowing.

“What is this!?” I gasped

“Could this be… a new power?” Jesse wondered.

Suddenly four rainbow coloured crystals appeared, a star, a gem, a heart and a diamond.

“This isn’t anything like the rainbow dragon….” Bastion whispered

“That’s because it’s not!” Jaden explained, “I can feel it… this is our power!!”

I looked to my friends… the three boys I met on this journey, and the spirit partners who stuck with us. This indeed was the final battle.

“Everyone… LET’S GO!!”

“Right!!”

The rainbow crystals resonated with each of us. The power was overwhelming.

All of us ascended into the sky,

“SUMMON RAINBOW DUEL SPIRIT FUSION!!”

Thanks to the rainbow crystals, we transformed one last time into new, more powerful forms. It was time.

The light of destruction couldn’t believe that we were still fighting. It thought it had destroyed us once and for all.

“No matter what happens, we’ll always keep fighting to protect those we love!!” Jesse declared

“We want to live and pursue the future!!” Jaden added

“Destruction may always exist, but creation and life are needed to maintain balance!” Bastion stated

“And that’s why we can’t bow down to the likes of you!!” I pointed my spear at him. “We will defeat you once and for all!!”

Jaden charged in first, his new gauntlets glowing with power.

The light of destruction fired a laser towards us in response, but Jaden was having none of it.

“レインボー　コスミククラシ!!”

“RAINBOW COSMIC CRUSH!!”

He punched through it, blasting the light in different directions, leaving earth and us unharmed.

The light was baffled. It couldn’t comprehend this power.

“My turn!!”

Bastion flew towards the light and readied his throwing knives.

“レインボータイダルブラスト!!”

“RAINBOW TIDAL BLAST!!”

The knives surged through space, pinning the light to the spot and rendering it helpless as the power of the elements coursed through it. It had nowhere to run now.

Jesse went next, readying his sword. He was ready to avenge everyone and everything the light had ever hurt.

“レインボークリスタルストリーム!!”

“RAINBOW CRYSTAL STREAM!!”

The rainbow light burst from his sword and started to break the light up. It tried to escape, but it had me to deal with.

“THIS IS FOR EVERYONE YOU’VE MANIPULATED AND HURT!!”

I raised my spear high into the air, Channeling my lightning powers.

“レインボーデルタサンダー!!”

“RAINBOW DELTA THUNDER!!”

The light screamed in pain and agony. It wasn’t done. It conjured up his power for one final attack, but we knew it was on its last legs.

“EVERYONE WITH ME!!”

We gathered together, and with the power of our bond, our weapons fused together, creating a brand new weapon—the Miracle Rainbow Spear.

“Impossible!!” The light snapped, “don’t you know if you use all your power, the worlds will be separated!?”

“Even so… I have a sworn duty to protect both this world and the spirit world…” Jesse reflected “, my friends have shown me the true importance of being the crystal protector, and I will always treasure that… I will never forget that even if we are separated!!”

“People come and go… that’s an unfortunate part of life… but I will not cry when it’s over….” Bastion felt a grin grow on his face, “I will smile because I’ll remember every precious memory we’ve given each other!!”

“No matter what comes between us, we will always be together no matter where we are in one world or another….” Jaden added, holding back tears. “OUR FOUR HEARTS WILL ALWAYS BEAT AS ONE!!”

“It’s funny… when this journey began, I didn’t want anything to do with these guys… but now I don’t want this adventure to end….” I smiled “but I know they’re right!! No matter what happens, we’ll always be together!! I’ll never forget any of this and the friendships we made!!”

Our hearts beat as one as the spear resonated with us. It was time to end this.

“ミラクルレインボーレフラクション!!”

“MIRACLE RAINBOW REFRACTION!!”

The bright colour exploded from the spear charging towards the light, eliminating the white completely

“Stop it!! It’s too bright!! Stop it!!”

I screamed as I thrust the spear forward, charging with one last burst of energy.

“IMPOSSIBLE…. I AM THE LIGHT I AM ALL POWERFUUUUUL” piece by piece it was disintegrated

It was over…he was gone…

The four of us floated through space, relieved it was all over.

“Y’all… thank you so much for your help… I can’t believe it’s all over….” Jesse sighed

“Yeah…” I smiled. “I’m glad we were able to save everyone….”

“Now humans and duel spirits and live in peace….” Jaden nodded

“Indeed, a happy ending all round”, Bastion chuckled.

Suddenly Jesse and the duel spirits started glowing.

“Huh!? Jesse, what’s happening!?”

“It’s time, guys… I’m going back to the spirit world….”

“N-now!? But I thought we had more time!! I thought we’d at least spend more time together!!” Bastion gasped

“Sorry, y’all… I don’t make the rules, my missions over, and now it’s time to go home….”

“You can’t go, Jesse!! There’s still so much I wanted to do!!”

“Jesse, please!! We love you!!”

“I love y’all too!! But remember what we said… we’ll always be together… no matter what… we’ll see each other again… I know it!!”

Winged Kuriboh flew over to Jaden, who eagerly hugged him. “I’ll miss you too, Winged-Kuriboh!”

“I’m gonna miss you!!” Pikeru sobbed

“I’ll miss you too, Pikeru….” Bastion sighed and patted her head “don’t forget me, alright?”

“I don’t think I could ever forget a loser like you….” Pikeru giggled before flying in to hug him.

“BOOOOOOSS!!”

I pulled the Ojamas into a tight hug. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was going to miss them a lot.

“We love you, boss!!”

“I… I love you guys too… take care now, alright…?”

I slowly let go, and the Duel Spirits flew back to Jesse, all returning to their world while we returned to ours…

I don’t remember much after that… the months sort of flew by, and I graduated high school. Bastion left to work with Professor Eisenstein, Jaden disappeared after graduation… That was the last I saw of th-

“That can’t be the end!!”

“Huh?” I looked down to my oldest daughter “what do you mean, Aurora?”

“That can’t be how it ends!!” Aurora protested, “did you really get separated forever!?”

“That’s so sad!!” Rosalie, my second daughter, nodded.

“Uh-huh!” My son Damien agreed.

“Well, I said we got separated. I never said forever….” I mumbled

“S-so, did you get to see each other again?” Rosalie asked.

“I don’t know….” I pulled my kids onto my lap and hugged them “do you want us to see each other again?”

“I do, I do!”

I chuckled and hugged them all close. “Maybe we’ll see each other again….”

I heard the door open and the sound of tired shuffling.

“Oh, let’s see who’s home!!”

Aurora jumped up first and dashed out the door, seeing the three exhausted adults.

“DADDY! PAPA! MOM!”

“Hey, Aurora!” Jesse grinned and picked her up, giving her the biggest hug.

Rosalie ran over to Bastion and hugged him tightly. She was always a papa’s girl.

Damien and I chuckled and walked over to Jaden, both greeting him with a kiss on the cheek.

“How was work?”

“Oh, you know the usual!” Jaden smirked.

I walked over to Jesse and wrapped my arms around him, planting a firm kiss on his lips.

“Mmm, that’s nice! What was that for?” Jesse grinned

“I just missed you a lot today….” I smiled.

Well, it seemed to work. The kids wanted us to meet up again. And we did.

[kyouxa]

Diabolik lovers Chaos Lineage: Kino (Story 13+CG)

In terms of the gameplay: The black choices lead up to a bad ending, the white choices lead up to a good ending. Please no reposting onto other sites, ask me before translating this into another language too! If you enjoy these translations, please consider supporting me on ko-fi.

Monologue

I knew that the unexpected return of one’s visual memories could be quite intense.

But despite knowing that, I had Ayato-kun and Subaru-kun call for both, Kanato-kun and Laito-kun. I sent them since both of them regained their memories already.

And of course, I was also aware that the pictures on the smartphone wouldn’t awake any good memories they have—

After all, Ayato-kun and Subaru-kun were bawling and being absent minded for a while after that too.

But we simply didn’t have time for them to recover. We were leaving those two to Ayato-kun and Subaru-kun, while Kino-kun and I hurried over to Scarlet’s mansion.

The ones we had to save from there were obviously Shu-san and Reiji-san.

Kino-kun and I, who already forcibly opened the door of the mansion’s entrance hall, also forcibly showed the photos on the smartphone to them.

Place: Scarlet mansion — Entrance hall

Shu: Nn… what’s this...

Reiji: This is way too foolish… I still am the eldest son of the Scarlet mansion. I also am very much unaware of a family titled “Sakamaki”...

Yui: (It’s still the same thing. Trying to show them those imagines will end up bringing their memories back, but for the price of them suffering)

(And even though they will suffer, I have to make use of what I have in my hands to make them remember…)

Shu-san, Reiji-san… do you know who I am?

Reiji: ...Yes, I do know now. Thanks to your… actions.

Shu: That was a really unpleasant encounter just now.

Yui: ...I’m really sorry about that. But, I’m more than glad you’re back to your usual selves now…

Monologue

Armed with the ultimate weapon of Kino-kun’s data, we were able to safely regain the memories of all the Sakamaki family members.

I still can’t help but wonder what Kino-kun was thinking about when he stared at me during that process.

After that, I asked about Yuma-kun, who was apparently already absent from the house, and then went into the forest with Shu-san and Reiji-san.

Ayato-kun and the others were already waiting in the cave I happened to find in the depths of the forest.

And then, the Sakamaki brothers, who had their memories returned, finally came together.

Place: Outside — Cave

Yui: Seems to me as if Laito-kun and Kanato-kun are doing okay too, right?

Subaru: I guess. They completely lost their temper at first, but they’ve finally calmed down now.

Yui: I see, I’m happy they calmed down...

(So it was a risky way to have them all regain their memories this way after all…)

(I’m so sorry, everyone…)

Subaru: So, what’s going to happen to us from now on?

Yui: I sadly don’t know any details about that either.

However, there’s no doubt that someone gathered us here and rewrote everyone’s memories in order to make us fight one another.

Subaru: Our memories… ?

Yui: Besides, it also seems as if the place we’re currently staying is something like a miniature garden made with magic, so it won’t be easy for us to get out of here...

Subaru: Seriously... ?

Laito: Sounds like it’s unmanageable, doesn’t it?

Kanato: So you’re saying that we still can’t go home from this place for a while, is that it?

Yui: Laito-kun! Kanato-kun!

Laito: Nfu, sorry. I just simply had to eavesdrop.

Yui: Are you two fine enough to stand up already though?

Kanato: It’s more than frustrating to continuously lie down.

Yui: I-I see...

Reiji: It appears as if Kanato and Laito have finally awakened as well, how pleasant.

Yui: Reiji-san and Shu-san!

Reiji: We now have to discuss our current circumstances. Everyone, come here.

Yui: Ah… yes!

*everyone gathers*

Yui: (It honestly feels quite out of place to see everyone gather together after such a long time…)

(I guess I somehow became used to only seeing Kino-kun as representation for the Sakamaki mansion…)

Kino: ...Guess this is the final game over, hm?

Yui: Eh… ?

Kino: Now that everyone here regained their memories, they’re probably going to suspect me all the time.

Yui: I know it’ll be okay if you seriously explain yourself to everyone.

Kino: What exactly am I going to explain to them? If I tell them about my true colors, they’ll be even more cautious than they were before.

“I was aiming for amicable fire, but I had no other choice but to aim for you depending on the current situation.”

Yui: D-Don’t cover it up… !

Reiji: Please be quiet.

I have heard a little bit in advance already, but please explain what exactly is happening again.

Yui: (..... ! He’s looking at me. That’s right, I’m the one who still knows this situation better than anyone else)

I don’t know if I’ll be able to explain it cleverly, but I’ll still try my best…

Monologue

I summarized the acquired knowledge I’ve gathered during my time here until now to everyone.

This is undoubtedly a space created by someone’s magical powers.

And according to that, we’ve also been taken here by the mentioned person we don’t know anything about yet.

Lastly, this person changed up our memories to make us start a fight between each other—

Place: Outside — Cave

Subaru: So we don’t know who it is yet, but I’m guessing we were manipulated by that old bastard again. Damn it!

Laito: Now that my memories returned, I can also clearly sense that this is all feeling out of place.

I was already wondering why everyone was so desperately motivated to fight over something like a supreme ruler.

Subaru: You weren’t showing any sort of eagerness whatsoever!

Shu: Be quiet already… at least we understand the situation now.

But there’s still one more thing we have to get confirmation about.

Reiji: ...That is indeed right. Now then, there appears to be one unfamiliar person here, is that right?

Yui: …..Nn!

Kino: There you go, they noticed immediately.

Ayato: What the, so I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know that guy.

Laito: And I already thought I was familiar with everyone, but I guess there’s still someone we need to get acquaintance with.

Kanato: I wouldn’t even have noticed him. Who are you? Please introduce yourself.

Yui: (Kino-kun…)

Kino: Fine with me. I’m Kino. Karlheinz’s zeroth son.

Subaru: Zeroth son? You mean that old man… ?

Yui: Kino-kun is… Karlheinz-sama’s secret child.

Ayato: Secret child!?

Laito: Heh, so there’s still another brother aside from us, you say?

Kanato: I haven’t heard anything about there possibly being a secret child.

Subaru: That’s also the first time I’m hearing about this.

Shu: Well, that old man could possibly pull off anything.

Yui: Shu-san…

Reiji: I agree on that. That could be a quite possible story for him indeed.

Nevertheless, none of my siblings here share any possible knowledge about your existence either.

Which is simply too convenient for this situation and your sudden appearance. The timing seems to be way too perfect for that.

Kino: What are you trying to say? Can’t you tell me what you wanna say bluntly?

Reiji: Then I will simply say it straightforwardly. Is it not that you are the main culprit behind this situation?

Yui: ….. !

Kino: See, I already knew it would come to this.

Yui: (Now everyone’s eyes are really watching him with suspicion… !)

Shu: I remember I received an anonymous letter while my memories were still weird. And because of that, I got into a lot of uncalled trouble.

Wasn’t that your doing as well?

Kino: As expected from you, Shu. Quite a good guess, I’d say. That’s right. I was the one who sent that letter.

Yui: Kino-kun!

Shu: You admitted that really easily.

Reiji: I see, so it was truly you who bothered doing such a trivial mischief.

Kino: That’s correct. Well, I have no other choice but to say the truth after coming this far, right?

Or maybe this is just an evasion, so I sound too imprudent to come up with this kind of kind?

Yui: (I have to talk about this. I have to aim to stir up this family circle, to get everything to somehow work out)

(And if I succeed, everyone might end up being hostile with each other… !)

Well, um!

Yui: To tell you all the truth, Kino-kun has also continuously been helping me until now!

Kino: ...Hah?

Shu: He helped you?

Reiji: What an abrupt call… but what is it that you mean by what you said just now?

Yui: U-Um, that is...

(I know there’s no way I could directly lie to either Shu-san or Reiji-san’s eyes…)

(But even if that’s so… I’ll just tell them the truth of that matter then)

The day I regained my memory was the same day I woke up in the church and then got taken away to the Scarlet mansion.

Subaru: You remembered that early already!?

Yui: Exactly. At first, I was awfully confused about everything though. After all, Reiji-san and everyone else were in a really weird state.

I didn’t know where this place was, and neither could I try to discuss it with anyone.

Reiji: ...That is indeed true.

Yui: But Kino-kun already remembered way earlier than I did already, so he ended up helping me a lot.

And when all of you were about to kill each other, he gave out fake information and therefore disturbed that plan.

Because of that, Ruki-kun and Carla-san were unable to do anything as well.

Laito: Hmm, now that you say it, it does sound plausible, right?

I mean, Carla’s plan to go seal away Bitch-chan was eventually canceled at the end.

Kanato: Ruki also told me and Ayato about that certain thing. We’ve been merely looking at the situation for a while by now.

Yui: He didn’t only do that though, he also helped me when I was about to fall off a cliff.

And just after that, Kino-kun was the one who extended the conflict between Ayato-kun and Subaru-kun.

Ayato: Ahh… come to think of it, that really was the case.

Subaru: Thanks to that, nobody got beat up at the end.

Yui: If Kino-kun hadn’t been there, someone might’ve ended up being injured. And that… could’ve been me as well at that point.

So, please… believe in him, for my sake.

Kino: You...

Shu: Even if you suddenly end up saying that, there’s still no way I can believe this so easily.

...You’re lying about this guy, aren’t you?

Yui: That’s not the case whatsoever.

Reiji: Is there any evidence of his innocence then?

Yui: Evidence, you say...

(There’s no evidence. And since there’s not… I have to make something up)

The evidence is that all of us want to go home from this place. And because of that, Kino-kun’s power is definitely being really useful.

That’s the only proof I can give you.

Kino: You, what are you being so selfish for… !

Reiji: I see. You are trying to prove his innocence in order to get benefits out of it.

Yui: (I can’t look away now. I know it’s difficult, but I can’t act timid)

(I’ll never let Kino-kun be isolated ever again)

Reiji: ...Okay, I sense those are your true feelings in this situation. It is meaningless to continue this dispute anyway.

We shall try setting aside our misgivings about this man for the time being then.

Yui: ….. ! Reiji-san…

Reiji: Does anyone have any objections about this?

Shu: Not really, just do as you please.

Ayato: It was difficult to understand and neither did I listen to everything. But not understanding anything is better sometimes, right?

Yui: (And here I was wanting everyone to listen to me all the way)

Subaru: Heh… well, just in case you’re really a bad guy, we’ll just crush you before you can do anything.

Kanato: I’ve been fine with this from the beginning.

Laito: Seems as if everyone has no objection then, Bitch-chan.

Yui: That’s good to hear… thank you, everyone!

(The suspicion might’ve not completely vanished yet, but that’s totally fine enough for now)

Kino: ...You really did that, hm? But you know that I’ve never said anything about not trying to do anything in those circumstances anymore, right?

Yui: Kino-kun, you won’t do anything weird anymore. I’ll guarantee that myself.

Kino: Why would you be able to guarantee that? Ah, whatever, I lost motivation either way...

Laito: Say, why don’t you go and settle this discussion in a rather calmer place than here?

I’m not really in my best conditions right now, which is also probably because my memories just returned to me.

Kanato: I’m also… still feeling somewhat dizzy to be honest...

Yui: Then I think it would be best if you laid down a little again.

Reiji: There is no point in proceeding with this discussion if we are unable to come to a conclusion, is there?

Let us do as she suggested, and rest. We should be able to think about a way to get out of this place here at a later time as well.

Yui: Yes!

*time passed*

Yui: (I’m so happy to see everyone with their memories back now)

(And luckily, Kino-kun won’t be suspected for the time being either…)

Kino: Hey, you. Come with me for a bit.

Yui: Eh? Okay, sure.

(I wonder what it is? ...Oh no, could it be about the retribution I made up just now!?)

(Err, what will I do if I can’t have faith in him? I should figure it out for myself)

Place: Forest — Lakeside 

Yui: Kino-kun... where exactly are we going? You know, everyone will be worried if we leave the cave any longer than that.

Kino: ...You unnecessarily covered me up.

Yui: Eh?

Kino: Tell me, why did you protect me by covering my actions?

Choices

1) Because you did help me (white)♡♡♡

2) Because I don’t want you to fight (black)

— Because you did help me♡

Yui: It’s true that Kino-kun helped me through a lot though. And that’s simply what I told them.

Kino: You only cut those parts out of the story that didn’t seem very convenient to tell them, isn’t that right?

Yui: T-That’s... well, I guess you’re right.

— Because I don’t want you to fight

Yui: Because I didn’t want any of you as brothers to fight in this situation right now.

Besides, I didn’t want anyone to hate on you either…

Kino: That again? You’re not gonna stop telling me about this stupid playing brothers thing anytime soon, right? I have no intention of working together.

Yui: But when I talked to them about it, they seriously seemed as if they were ready to accept you.

Kino: I don’t know about that. I’m still skeptical. After all, you’ve only told them about convenient information about myself.

end Choices

Kino: Say, you threw them into utter confusion by lying to their faces, right?

You also hide the fact that my true intentions were to kill all of them, right? I wonder, is it really okay for you to lie to them like that?

Yui: Err, that’s...

(I know very well that it’s not good that I’m hiding this. It would just be so terrible to talk about something like this now. But then, I also might be careless with driving everyone into an either life or death position with hiding it)

(But the moment I would’ve told them those exact things, they would’ve also started to look at Kino-kun as their opponent—)

...That’s fine.

Kino: Hah?

Yui: As long as I know Kino-kun’s safe, I accept lying to all of them.

And no matter what I would’ve told them, I wouldn’t leave you by yourself anymore.

Kino: What did you just...

Yui: Ah...

(What I said right now is how I really feel, so why am I the one with a rising temperature!?)

(Besides, he’ll leave me once we’re out of here anyway… that’s right, Kino-kun will go to Yuri-san when he returns)

Err, anyway… don’t you think it would be best if everyone escaped from here together by now too?

We should definitely concentrate on that first before anything else. It also seems as if Shu-san and the others are willing to cooperate with that plan.

Kino: ...Why would you bring up their names now all of the sudden?

Yui: Eh?

Kino: You must be happy, your so-called important Sakamaki’s finally returned to being normal. Guess you’re really satisfied about that.

Yui: Y-Yeah, I’m really happy they’re back.

(I just hope Kino-kun won’t start a fight with them in any way)

Kino: ...That smile, it pisses me off.

*Kino grabs Yui*

Yui: Eh? Kino-kun. I can’t move when you hold onto both of my arms like that...

Kino: That’s exactly what I’m aiming for… Nn

Yui: Ah… d-don’t bite into my ear, stop that...

Kino: So this really is your weak point after all. And you felt it even though my fangs just touched them?

Yui: Ngh...

(My whole body got all over the place because of that. I have to admit that it doesn’t feel unpleasant, but I can’t stand this either way… Nn)

Kino: I know I sucked from there already, so this time I’ll try and do it more gently.

You let out such a nice voice the last time I sucked there after all… Nn… Nn...

Yui: ….. !? Kino-kun, please… no more… Nn…

*Yui struggles*

Kino: It’s no use trying to struggle, y’know. Here, look at me properly. You have to feel me through your whole body.

Yui: Even if you say things like that...

Kino: I’ll release you once I get a full taste of your blood. This time I’ll go for the neck...

Nn… Hmm...

Yui: Ah… Ahh...

(This is weird, I feel no particular pain this time. Maybe it’s because he almost sucked all the possible places on my body already… but is that really it?)

(I can feel Kino-kun’s voice and breath burn into my skin… my whole body feels as if it’s on fire, it’s so hot…)

It’s… it’s no good…

*Yui falls over*

Kino: Oh, did you lose strength?

Yui: That’s because… you’re sucking my blood like that…

Kino: And that’s the reason why you lost your strength? I mean, I didn’t even suck that much yet.

Not only that, but you also have a bright red face. Did you feel good or something?

Yui: (...Uwah, he saw right through me)

Kino: Well, whatevs. Seeing your face red like that was kinda refreshing to be honest.

If my dear princess wishes for me to cooperate with them, I might as well do so for her sake now.

Yui: (...Nn, he just told me for the first time ever that he’d cooperate with me)

Do you… mean that… ?

Kino: I mean, I can still crush them after we returned back to the real world. On top of that, I really wanna get out of here as soon as possible.

Yui: Ah…

(That’s right. There’s still a person waiting for Kino-kun to come home… Yuri-san. He surely wants to leave for her sake)

(Why… Why is it that my chest hurts)

(...I know I shouldn’t feel like this. I have to continue to think positively until the very end)

Thank you. Let’s work together to make sure all of us get home safely!

Kino: With everyone, hm?

Yui: Eh? Did you say something?

Kino: Nothing in particular. Anyway, let’s go back there now.

Yui: Ah… y-yes.

Monologue

As I watched Kino-kun’s back, while we started walking, it still looked as if he’s very lonely to me.

I felt my chest tightening itself when I saw this, so I hurried up to be able to walk with him side by side.

And then, as I casually looked up, I saw the starry sky shining down on us.

[themonotonysyndrome]

Emerald Onlooker

Part 2 of the Successors to the Future is here! I, uh, didn’t expect a lot of people liking it, but since I’m still pretty excited about this AU, I want to write as much as I can. 

Thank you again @tri3tri for inspiring us with your Second Wive AU and many, many wonderful Yandere!Malleus content. A little summary about this AU: Yandere!Malleus married and took MC against her will. He turns her into a Queen and they had 2 daughters. However, Yandere!Malleus is pushed to take on a second wife (a Fae woman, Gekkon) to give him a son, a male heir. During the wedding ceremony, MC took the opportunity and escape to NRC with her daughters in tow and Crowley finally did them a solid and send the three of them to MC’s world.

Successors to the Future, summary: Without a court of condescending Faes and Malleus’ oppressive affection, MC and her daughters live happily in the other world. When she left Twisted Wonderland, MC didn’t realise that she was pregnant and thus, she gave birth to a son who grew up as carefree as a bird and just as kind. However, now that her eldest daughter had just turned sixteen and discover her Unique Magic, she was returned to Twisted Wonderland as a first-year student in Diasomnia. Since it’s only a matter of time before Malleus and his court discover her presence at NRC, MC and her children did their best to prepare her for that inevitable day. 

This oneshot is a continuation of that. 

FD/N = First daughter’s name/Renata Draconia (half-human, half dark Fae Princess. Malleus & MC’s eldest child)

SD/N = Second daughter’s name/Sherrie or Cherry Draconia (half-human, half-dark Fae Princess. Malleus & MC’s middle child)

S/S = Son’s name/Lucien Draconia (half-human, half-dark Fae Prince and the heir to the throne. Malleus & MC’s youngest child). 

MC/S = MC’s surname

-

Sherrie enjoy going about her daily lives on her lowest brain capacity most of the time. There’s nothing like just... switching off your brain and ignore all the boring things around you.  

The only thing that gets the gears and cogs in her brain spinning is when she plays video games like Portal or coming up with schemes to get her eldest sister out of trouble. 

When she jokes about only having 2 braincells and that both are constantly on holidays at the same time unless Renata did something stupid, Renata howl with laughter while Lucien just rolled his eyes at his cackling sisters. 

But now that Renata is playing student in Night Raven College, Sherrie is surprised to find herself looking forward to not only help her oldest sister dodged their father’s steps, but also pulling the proverbial rug underneath the Thorn Kingdom. 

Especially Lilia Vanrouge. 

It’s addicting. The unholy glee running within you when your cute puppets finally realised who’s been tugging on their strings all along. 

Humans are easy and oblivious enough for her to practise on. Despite how monotonous school can be, the environment was a good place for Sherrie to learn and play. Everyone has a chip on their shoulder; everyone wants to stand out among the rest. 

So it’s really not that hard to learn who’s the right person to blackmail, who’s desperate enough to do anything to make their crush look at them and how to make the key figures dance on the palm of her hands. 

This year’s prom night was certainly a memory she won’t ever forget. 

And now? Now Sherrie can’t wait to play with the so-called ‘superior’ species - their father’s ancient court and loyal retainers - once she and her sister could establish contact. 

They’ve been working hard on this little project. Everyone in her little family is. Renata is off being a good little student and let the gossips travel on its own, their little brother is doing his best to assured their mother that all would be well and Sherrie?

Sherrie is busy setting up the stage for the climax once Renata usher all the important players to where she wanted them. 

(Mama likes to call her a ‘smart cookie’, always rubbed her head affectionately and said, “You’re a brilliant girl, Cherry. You’re just lazy. I know you can achive anything you want with the proper motivation, just like Floyd-senpai.”.) 

(Their Mama can never know just how far her daughter had use the same skill that she praise to manipulate others.) 

In the middle of the evening - just shy after midnight -  Sherrie heard a water drip somewhere in her bedroom. 

Drip... drip... drip... 

She pushes her chair away from her gaming laptop, game paused and just listen. Her eyes scan the dimly lit bedroom. 

Drip... drip... 

“This better not be the start of a horror movie.” 

It’s coming from... somewhere near her vanity table. Sherrie ignores the clutter of make-ups, perfumes and figurines on the table and waited eagerly. Her leg couldn’t stop bouncing when the surface ripple like water’s surface once. 

The ripple clears and instead of staring at her reflection, her oldest sister stares right back at her. 

“It works!” Renata said incredulously. “I can’t believe the headmaster’s half-assed runes actually works!” 

“The fuck? What happened?” Sherrie reply, a bit taken back. Behind her sister, Sherrie could see a bed, study table and walls and other furnishing that eerily looks similar to the ones back at the castle. 

Renata waved her hand in a dismissive manner. “I had to literally bullied a grown ass man to help me contact you. It took me a week of camping in the library to figured out how, but we managed to come up with runes that allow us to create a link to every mirror in the house.” She explains in an exasperated tone. “I’ll teach you the drawing tomorrow. All you guys need to do is just draw them on any mirror and it’ll send me a signal to find a mirror of my own.” 

“That kinda sounds like a phone call. Like, an interdimensional phone call!” 

“I know right! I already put a compact mirror in my purse so I can call you anytime!” Renata said with a smug grin. She’s clearly proud of her clever little trick. Even with the help of the headmaster. 

Sherrie never doubted that her sister couldn’t find a way to contact them. She’s a prodigy when it comes to magic. 

She might be young, but she could still remember how their tutors gave out praises as if they were candies when it comes to her older sister and her affinity for magic. 

It’s just too bad that their compliments are worthless when they always ended with, “If only the Princess is a full born Fae...” 

“Ok, so, contact established. Now are you still in Phase 1?” Sherrie said, bringing their conversation back to important matters. She made sure to properly and slowly explain their game plan a week before the Ebony Carriage took Renata to Night Raven College. The words are clearly written, highlighted colourfully and important steps are accompanied by cartoon stickers. 

Despite being a prodigy at magic, her sister woefully has short attention span when it comes to playing the long game. Her attention spans burn hot and fast, just like her anger. It also burns out just as quick as it came. 

Renata rolled her eyes, unimpressed. “Yes, yes. I’m still in Phase 1. It’s hard to make friends when everyone is wary of you. Do you know they hung up portraits of past Dorm Leaders and their Vice Dorm Leaders in each dorm? It’s so annoying when everyone stares at me and at father’s portrait whenever I walk into Disomnia!” 

Sherrie hums and made a quick dash to grab her tablet. The one where she wrote down her plans. She swipes the screen to the list of names that their mother had given them. 

“They’re just NPCs, don’t worry about them. What you need to focus on are the students with the surnames that Mama gave us.” Here, Sherrie is tapping on the screen of her tablet to the mirror. “Have you met any of them or did you fucked up the plan already?” 

“Calm your tits, I’ve been following your instructions.” Renata assured her, not the least riled up. “We’re only in the first semester; I only managed to match the names and faces of my dorm mates so far. It’s gonna take me at least a month of snooping around before I could find them.” Renata paused and her eyes suddenly lit up as if she just remembered something. “Oh, but I’ve been farming intel of the Thorn Kingdom using the Lucky Leanan spell every day after curfew. It took some trial and error but I successfully managed to find the castle again!”

Sherrie recalls that one of Renata spells - Lucky Leanan - creates a small fairy made out of pure magic that would do sneak attacks by shooting lightning bolts while Renata fights. It’s small enough to flit behind an opponent’s line of sight and take them off guard. 

Small enough to sneak into the castle without anyone none the wiser. 

So Sherrie nodded. “That’s a good move. You’re safely far away from the castle and you can remotely dispel Leanan if it gets dicey.” 

“Yup! Look at my one braincell go!” Renata cheered. “If I keep this up and give it plenty of water and sunlight, maybe it’ll grow!” 

Sherrie burst out laughing alongside her sister. Her joke took her off guard. Hopefully their laughter didn’t wake up their mother and Lucien. 

Sherrie hiccups and wipe the tears from the corner of her eye. It feels nice to talk to her sister again.  

She misses her disaster of sister already. 

“Anyway, I need to hit the bed soon.” Renata said, breaking her train of thought. “I’ll do my best to gather as much info as I can about the ongoings inside the castle for you. Are there any heads up you want me to look for?” 

Sherrie smiles brightly and reply, “Of course! If you could, be a dear and get everything about father’s... other wife. Everything - right down to the most boring shits.”

“On it.” 

-

That first-year Diasomnia student has been the talk around campus for weeks now. 

Not only is she the only girl in Night Raven College, word on the streets quickly spreads that she’s look too similar to one of the previous Dorm Leader of Diasomnia to not be related. 

Staring at her while she’s busy taking a selfie of the Great Seven statues, he agrees that the similarities are too uncanny. 

Now, why would he sends his own Princess to a villain school without any retainer? 

That, and why under a different surname? 

Something’s not right. 

Renata MC/S brought with her an interesting mystery to Night Raven College. A mystery that caught his interest at the first whiff of her scent. And oh Great Seven, her delectable scent. The first time his nose caught that mouthwatering smell, it had his tail swishing in eager and his head spinning. 

It’s the scent of his favourite flower - blood lily - with a hint of something... otherworldly. He still can’t quite put words into it. 

He wants to unravel her. Understand what makes her tick. 

Uncover what she’s hiding. 

Four days later in History class, Professor Trein gave him - and Renata - their golden ticket. 

“Kingscholar, MC/S - you two will be partners for this assignment. I expect you two have no objection.” 

“It’s fine...” 

“I don’t have a problem with the arrangement, professor.” 

The professor nodded and class is dimiss. Students began making their way out of the room. Except for him... and her. 

Renata steps in front of his desk when they finally have the class all to themselves. He takes a good, long look at her. 

She’s certainly beautiful; a real heartbreaker. But there’s something interesting within her bright green eyes. Something volatile. He wonders what could it really be. 

“Hi there. So you’re Bakari Kingscholar, hmm? Hope we can ace this assignment without any problem.” Renata said with a small smile. Is she trying to be friendly? Because it just looks condescending as hell. 

But that just makes this a lot more fun. 

“Same here. Girl or not, I won’t let it slide if you prove to be a dead weight.” 

His warning clearly took her off guard with the how her smile froze. It was only for a moment though, before she let out a laugh. As if he just told a funny joke. 

“Kitty-cat is flexing his claws, huh?” Renata had the audacity to grin. The other Savanaclaw students would’ve lowered their heads at his tone. “Don’t worry. Do your part and I promise I won’t light your tail on fire.” 

Oh, his old man needs to know about this girl. 

-

You have no idea how much fun it is to write about Malleus and MC’s children! Especially the Princessess. Unfortunately, they’re more like Malleus than they or MC even realise it. Anyway, my main reference for SD/N is none other than... TADA! Fyodor Dostoevsky from BSD!

It’s just that Sherrie is a lot more lazy and rather keep to herself and stay at home. She only goes out of her to way to mess with people because of Renata and her tendecies to get into trouble.  

I’m still thinking on the draft for part 3 so we’ll see how that goes. Also, I was struggling wether to name Leona’s son or not. I think that honoured should go to @tri3tri​! 

[simonxriley]

OC lore part 1 of 7 for @gear-redfield 

Since I have a ton of ocs I’m gonna start off with the ones that are in different fandoms and then work my way through the fandoms I have multiple ocs for. I think I’m gonna do 5-6 HCs for them so it won’t be a mile long. The other ocs I’ll go into more details (maybe).

Riley Sanders (Metro Series)

Has three Watchers for pets, they’re her babies. But there was barely any room on the Aurora for them until they ended up getting the other rail carts. They tend to sleep anywhere they want, mostly in place where they stop people from moving around the train. 

She’s not very talkative, likes to keep to herself for the most part. The people she talks with the most is Ulman, Artyom, Anna and Duke. That was until Katya and Nastya joined them. 

Being able to breathe fresh air was kind of liberating for her. It made her happy that there were placing where you can live and breathe on the surface, not stuck in the dark, cold and damp metro. 

Besides her and Ulman, Nastya was the first of the Aurora crew to hold their son. 

Her brother wasn’t with her when that whole issue on the train occurred. He has no idea if she’s alive or not and she vice versa. She’s hoping she’ll be able to see him soon and have him meet his new nephew. 

Amazing at stealth. Can sneak by a group or camp in a matter of minutes without killing anyone. 

Kenadee “The Viper” Taylor (Ghost Recon) 

She joined the US Army right out of high school with her high school sweetheart, Maverick. They married a year later and a year after that had their daughter Addison. 

Joined Delta Force at the age of 24. That whole selection process was rigorous but very rewarding. 

She has a very happy outlook on life, always bubbly. You wouldn’t think she’s apart of Delta. It throws people off every time. 

Lost her husband in the field when their daughter was 5 years old. She retired after that and moved back to her hometown of San Diego where she could raise their daughter in a better environment. 

Joined Nomad’s Ghosts five and a half years later. All thanks to Midas, who she met because their kids go to school together. 

Carries around a knife coated in snakes venom, only uses it during interrogations. 

Anja Kovic (Uncharted)

Was born to Borislav Kovic, a General Major in the Yugoslavia Ground Forces and Svetlana Kovic, a former nurse. Also the younger sister to Vladimir. 

She grew up in a highly abusive household under her fathers rule. He had that mindset of the men work and the woman stay home, then add on the strictness of being in a military family. 

Wanted to be a nurse growing up but those dreams got shot down when her father married her off to the war lord Zoran Lazarevic at the age of 18. 

Marriage to Zoran was horrific, she was just happy he spent more time in the field than with her. His death did not sadden her whatsoever. 

Lost her mother to suspicious circumstances when she was twelve. Leaving her and her older brother at the will of their father. 

After Zoran’s death she was finally free. She left for Serbia in search of finding her brother and during that time gave birth to her and unfortunately Zoran’s son, naming him Dragan. And yes, she did find her brother and became the nurse she always wanted to be. 

Evelyn “Evie” Hazelton (The Order 1886)

Was born to Edith Hazelton and an unnamed father in London, England on October 1st, 1860. (Her mom was a prostitute) 

She lived in a brothel up until her mom’s murder. She loved it, to be surrounded with so many women that helped her through her life, gave her advice and helped molded her into the woman she is today. 

Sir Percival/Malory gave her a spot on the Order after her mom’s death and she became the protege of Sir Galahad/Grayson. There she learned how to fight and shoot a gun. 

The first time she ever saw a werewolf she thought it was a big dog. It was late at night, she was young and couldn’t tell since it was in the far distance. 

Has a scar going down her back from being scratched by a werewolf during a fight. 

Very protective of the people she cares about. She was the only person who pleaded not guilty during Grayson’s trial because she knows him. She knew he wouldn’t have worked with the rebellion if it didn’t suit a good cause. 

Lydia Wilson (Call of Cthulhu) 

Her parents were apart of the cult that was trying to bring back Cthulhu. However, they left Darkwater when Lydia was five and moved to Boston. 

No matter how much her parents tried to make her forget the past, she didn’t. She still has memories of the cult, what the uniforms looked like, the masks. It never left her. 

Started hearing the voice of the Leviathan in her dreams once she hit her late 20′s. Eventually she caught wind of what he wanted and she set sail for Darkwater, a place she hasn’t been since she was five.  

Her father ran a tailoring shop and she helped a lot through her childhood. 

When she spaces out she has a resting bitch face. It makes her loo unapproachable according to her mother. 

The first time she saw the Shambler she though she was hallucinating. That wasn’t the case and she never wants to deal with it again. 

Lily (MCU)

Born on the planet Prometheus. A planet cover in lush green grass and waterfalls. 

Ever since she was a child she had this fight in her. She use to find a decent sized stick and pretend to fight a tree. 

Was married to Thanos for over 20 years. The only good that came out of it were her kids. 

Joined the Avengers after Thanos’ death. It was nice to be around people and strike up conversations. She just loved learning about Earth and she would talk about her home world. 

She was the first owner of the scepter until it was given to Loki. That made her angry, she really loved that scepter. 

The first person she befriended was Carol Danvers because her youngest daughter, Lotus really liked her. 

Ashlynn Davenport (Tomb Raider)

Was born into Trinity. Her father was a sergeant in the Trinity army and her mom was a nurse. 

She liked her life for the most part, loved her parents and friends, but the more she found out about Trinity and all the harm they do she wanted out. Unfortunately they didn’t happen when she was being married off to the Trinity field commander, Konstantin. 

Being married to Konstantin meant moving around a lot, never really staying in one place for too long. Once the mission was done then they moved on. She didn’t mind it, not at first. She liked traveling around and seeing the world, but the stuff Trinity did put a bad taste in her mouth. 

Ash can be quite manipulative when she wants to be. It was something she learned from her dad growing up. 

She helped Lara take down Trinity from the inside when they were looking for the divine source. No one figured it out, all of thinking it was Lara. 

Ashlynn actually loved Konstantin, she just thought his mind was corrupted by his sister and was trying to make him see what was right. So when he died she was pretty pissed and was going to say her true feeling to Ana. Unfortunately the Trinity sniper got to Ana first. Leaving her with a bunch of anger inside her. 

Sawyer Monrow (TLOU)

She was 12 at the time of when the cordycepts outbreak began. Her life was pretty great as well and then over night everything changed. 

Her family ended up at the Hartford QZ, where her and her younger brother went through military training (just like in Boston) to teach them how to kill infected and other humans if necessary. 

Met Joel and Ellie in Pittsburgh. She was with Henry and Sam at the time and after their deaths she stayed with them and made the trek to Jackson. 

She can be very standoff-ish at first glance. It’s how she acts in this apocalyptic world, more so to protect herself and because she doesn’t trust people. 

Started a relationship with Joel a year and a half later. He was the first person she really let in and was happy for the few years they were together. She even considers Ellie like a little sister. 

She lost her family when the Hartford QZ fell. She tried to save her brothers, but couldn’t. That still haunts her to this day. 

Phaedra Alexeyev (Werewolf The Apocalypse) 

She’s very good at backstabbing and manipulating people. All thanks to her former caern. A part of her hates it, but the other knows how in handy it can be. 

She was born at the Shadow Lords Thunderstrike Sept, Ural Mountains, Russia. Close to the city of Chelyabinsk. 

Phaedra and Cahal became a surrogate family after they both had to kill a family member. 

Always the first ready to jump into the action. When there’s a fight she’s on the front lines, she’s not going to miss out. And she just likes to fight in general. 

She born under a full moon making her have the Ahroun Auspices.The Full Moon makes the Ahroun the living weapon of Gaia. They are the warrior among a race of warriors, the champion of a martial people. Ever ready to kill, and to die if need be.

Her name means Bright Defender. 

Emma Ross (Stargate Atlantis)

Joined the Marines to help pay for her college tuition. She surprisingly enjoyed it and continued to serve as she got her degree in science. 

Lived a very mundane life growing up. Had two wonderful parents, a good upbringing, nothing exciting really happened. Which might have been the reason she joined the military. 

The hardest thing she has to do is lie to her friends and family when she was transferred over to the Atlantis expedition. Being so far away from them sucks, but with the Daedalus she has more of a chance to go visit them.   

As much as she’s in danger, she’s never felt more alive than being on Sheppard’s team. All the action just makes her blood pump. 

Ronon calls her ‘red’ due to her being a red head. She finds it kinda funny. 

She’s very friends and loves to strike up conversations whenever she can. Getting to know more people on Atlantis made living there easier. 

[ectonurites]

so i read the big long young just us kon vs yja conner post. (amazing analysis btw) but i have another question about your thoughts on superboy as a character. So in the dc animated universe (that's over now but whatever) there's the Reign of the Supermen movie, and in that one Kon learns that Lex is his dad very very very early on. And since you said that you think Conner learning about Lex early was the biggest thing that changed it, I was wondering if you have thoughts on DCAU Superboy?

awh thank you! i am so pleasantly surprised people actually read that 

[link if u are only seeing this post and want to read the other one]

BUT AH YES THAT BOI i very nearly included a section on this version of him in the other post but decided not to just because it was. already nearly 6k words. however im glad you asked this because I DO have thoughts on him (sorry no pictures this time just words):

My ultimate thought regarding him is: the Reign of the Supermen movie managed to create a Superboy that the Lex reveal wasn’t anywhere near as big a deal for, compared to his other versions. Which I personally think was really cool to see!

This reveal having a smaller impact allowed him to maintain what was basically his 90′s comic characterization even after it, instead of going deep into broody tt 2003 territory or being anything like cartoon yj Conner.

Though, that now raises the question of why it has such a lesser impact

In this setting, he already had an association with Luthor from basically the moment he’s in the movie. Here, he is LexCorp’s Superman, rather than him partnering with Tana’s news station like in the comic (because they chose to understandably omit Tana. Also, trying to adapt the actual role Lex had in the comic version of this whole event would be a mess especially because this was during that era where Lex had like... faked his death, was pretending to be his own illegitimate son, had long hair, and was dating Supergirl? it was very weird, and understandably a movie adaptation wouldn’t wanna touch any of that with a 10ft pole. In general the Reign of the Supemen movie changed SO MUCH from the original comic, but I think did a pretty good job of integrating a lot of the spirit of the story into something new. I haven’t rewatched it since reading the comic though, so I might be looking through memory-fogged rose-tinted glasses, but I plan on doing so soon and will prob talk about it). 

Anyways, even before the actual reveal that Lex was also one of his DNA dads, Lex is out here acting like he’s Conner’s stage dad and... is literally in charge of him. Thus, even though obviously Lex still isn’t a great guy in this universe, it has nowhere near the same impact as finding out ‘renowned supervillain, that I have seen heroes go up against time and time again, is my dad!’ It’s more like finding out ‘oh my weird controlling boss is actually my dad?’ Still weird, still a lot to deal with, and he still gets sulky for a bit after finding out, but it’s way less drastic.

Not sure if I’m going to be able to articulate this next point well, but there’s another thing I think that kinda factors into it too. In my other post I had talked specifically about how not only the timing of finding this out was relevant, but also how the level of confidence Kon had in who he was as a person at the time mattered. 

In the comics, when Superboy found out, he had been very confident in himself and been an established hero for years and thus learning this new information made him (to some extent at least) feel like his whole life had been a lie, and he now felt he was a danger because of how evil Lex is known to be. [Also of note: not only was he worried about hurting his team, but this happened after the point where he’d started living with the Kents. He had a lot of anxiety around thinking Clark wouldn’t trust him to live with his parents if he knew, and fear that he might hurt them.]

In the Young Justice cartoon, when Superboy found out, he had confidence in his abilities as I said before, but he still didn’t really know who he was. He still never got to experience trying to be Superman like he had expressed always wanting to, because he was brought into a world that already had a Superman. So this revelation is just adding onto a pile of confusion. [And I believe (I haven’t watched season one of yj in a while so this might not be correct) that at the point he finds out, Lex was already a known adversary of heroes & The Team themselves. So the fact that someone they were actively going up against had a connection to him (and was manipulating him through the patches) was a point of concern.]

Then we look at movie Superboy. He’s cocky and pretty confident in himself and his abilities, and was getting to shoot his shot at filling that Superman role right away, just like his comic counterpart. But he doesn’t go years believing a lie about himself, since he finds out about the Luthor connection so early. At the time of the reveal he also doesn’t have the same connections to other people (either the Teen Titans & The Kents like the comics or The Team in the cartoon), meaning he’s not going to angst over being a potential danger to all of them. 

Also... he finds it out while he’s still actively working under Lex. In the comics, he finds out from an email he and Tim get while they’re at Titans Tower. In the cartoon Lex baits him to meet somewhere alone to tell him, before demonstrating he has a code word that effects him. In the movie, Lex brings him down to the very lab he was cloned in while lecturing him, because he works for Lex, and the reveal happens because of one of the scientists. It’s just such a wildly different circumstance for the reveal to happen under, because movie Superboy doesn’t see Lex through the same “only exists to me as a villain” lens his comic & cartoon counterparts do.... he’s basically just his overbearing boss at the time. 

Like yes this is where the seams start to unravel, because Superboy then realizes ‘oh god Lex was bringing me down there to kill me then just decided against it’, but he’s going through an entirely different struggle with that than what his other counterparts had going on. Also by having this reveal happen in the middle of the movie like, before the final battle and everything, he doesn’t really have time to dwell on all of this. He’s gotta go stop Cyborg Superman with the others he doesn’t have time to go ‘angst angst angst’ about it for long!! 

This also means that by the time he met Superman, Superboy already knew about the Lex connection. In both the comics and the yj cartoon, Clark and Conner met and knew each other (not necessarily in a close way in the yj cartoon BUT regardless) before Conner found this out. Meaning it was something that he kept a secret from Clark for a period of time, as it ate away at him. But here, since he finds out before Clark is even active and alive again, it’s not something he ever needs to hide! Like he deadass tells Lois about it the first time he sees her after he found out. 

SO to summarize, the Lex reveal is way less drastic for this version of Conner because:

Superboy and Lex had a completely different dynamic at the time of the reveal than any other versions 

Superboy in this setting didn’t have as many connections to others/wasn’t on a team at the time he found out, meaning there were less people he’d be concerned about putting in danger

Superboy never felt the need to keep this a secret from anyone for any extended period of time 

Honestly I would have loved to see more things with this Superboy because it puts him in this unique position of having already faced this big challenge (dealing with Lex being a DNA dad) but not letting it bring him too deep into the angst, he’s not hiding it from anyone, he can just kinda... exist as himself! But noooo Apokolips War had to. Do that. that whole thing. 

[nyanberri]

Had to churn these out for my Ashford Island AU real quick while I had the motivation for it. I would prefer to think of them more as NPCs rather than OCs, so two of them don’t even have names, lol. Anyway, they’re the original three leaders of the island during its founding and I have no plans rn to do anything with Tsukimitsu-san and Lady Alicein, but they’re here for lore reasons at least. Nothing too plot related, but there are details under the cut.

Details are separated by character!

Tsukimitsu-san:

Head of the Tsukimitsu clan and chose to bring his family over to the island at the request of Germain.

He’s probably in his late 30’s.

His design is a combination of Yumikage and Iori, with his hairstyle being inspired by Yumi while his hair color and face are meant to be similar to Iori’s. His skin tone is also from Yumi.

His personality is very relaxed and he prefers casual conversation over business talk. He’s not afraid to get snippy if someone pushes him enough though. He definitely drinks maybe a little too much as well.

The Tsukimitsu family eventually become the sole leaders of the island(until the split happened at least) with the head of the family being both mayor to the town and president of C3. Only a few times in the past 600 years has a member of the Tsukimitsu family not held those positions. Tsukimitsu-san himself took over as village head after Germain disappeared and he and Lady Alicein couldn’t cooperate without Germain.

He always viewed Germain as a trusted friend and someone he looked up to, which was passed down the Tsukimitsu family line and part of what lead to the creation of C3. Somewhere along the line, C3 stopped caring that the Ash siblings were his kids and became hostile to the entire Ash family, including Germain himself. Even if he knew the secrets of what Germain was hiding, Tsukimitsu-san wouldn’t have wanted things to turn out the way they did and in death he regretted never checking up on Germain’s two sons.

Germain Ash:

Founder of the island and the father of Sleepy Ash and later the other seven Ash siblings.

He looks like he’s in his late 20’s but no one actually knows how old he is.

He is The Count of Saint Germain from canon, yes, but for the sake of the AU he’s pretty much become his own fleshed out character that’s not meant to be a parallel version of the canon Count/Sensei.

I made Ash the family’s last name a long time ago so I have to commit to that but I wanted to keep the Germain from his title and it is a viable first and last name, so his name in the AU is Germain Ash.

I tried to get his hair as close to the one panel in the manga that shows the back of his head as possible, but I can’t believe how difficult it was to make his hair look accurate, so it just ended up looking like Lily with Hugh’s bangs and color. So I ran with that and now I’ve decided All Of Love and Old Child take a lot after him.

I based his outfit on a real painting of The Count. His skin tone is also Sleepy Ash’s.

He has a ton of other outfits to fit in with each area he’s lived in, but that would be a hassle to draw, so he’s only in his first outfit. It also comes with a hat!

He has no set personality since literally everything he does is an act to manipulate everyone around. He’s legitimately an incredible shitbag though and no one should trust him. In fact, get as far away from him as possible. Get off the damn island. Anything to do with him counts as a hazard to your safety.

Considering how terrible of a person he’s supposed to be, I did take inspiration from Lev Lainur from Fate for him.

The Blake person mentioned is his first wife and Sleepy Ash’s mother.

Lady Alicein:

The matriarch of the Alicein family who chose to move her family to the island at the request of Germain.

She’s likely in her early 30’s.

Inspiration for her and the basis of her design comes from the first Alicein that Lily made a contract with, seen in his memories in chapter 20, but she’s not meant to be the same exact woman.

Her entire color palette comes from Mikado, since it seems like Mikuni and Misono primarily take after their mothers, who aren’t Aliceins.

She isn’t a bad person, but she’s very stern and puts her family above everything else so she comes off as incredibly selfish in ways that has done irreversible damage. She’s also tough on Tsukimitsu-san and Germain since she takes her role as a head of the island very seriously.

She has zero trust in Germain and can tell he’s keeping secrets and doing something he wants to remain hidden. She talks with his wife, Blake, sometimes, but isn’t friends with her and dislikes Sleepy Ash on the basis that he’s Germain’s kid(and that later extends to Old Child and Doubt Doubt).

She started keeping a diary ever since she moved to the island and that may become important one day. Depends.

After Germain disappears, she and Tsukimitsu-san can’t cooperate and she hates the position Germain left her in, so she pulls out of all responsibilities to focus on maintaining her family.

She wants the Alicein family to stay away from the Ash family, but obviously centuries later that doesn’t stick and if she knew of All Of Love and Doubt Doubt’s connections to her family she would be pissed. And she would also hate how later generations of her family helped support the Tsukimitsu’s founding of C3. Basically she thinks taking Germain’s offer was the worst possible thing she ever could have done. And it kinda was for everyone, all things considered…

[elizabeethan]

Walk With Me (I Think We’ll Find A Way)- Chapter 7/8

Killian Jones travels across realms to find Emma and Henry in New York after receiving an anonymous message about a new curse. When he finally tracks her down, he makes a bold move and greets her at her front door, but before he can even attempt to convince her to come back to Storybrooke with him, he’s met with a surprise that will change his life.

Season 3B AU

Prologue, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Read on Ao3

It’s here friends :) One chapter to go!!

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“Because I commanded you not to.”

The words tore a hole through Emma’s chest. Her foolish son somehow found his way to the woods and was standing off to the side with the Dark One’s dagger, holding it in front of himself and facing it towards Gold.

“Henry,” Neal starts, and she wants to scream at him to run, get out of here! but she can’t. Her brain has stopped working and her lips won't move. She feels Killian squeezing her arm but she can’t turn away from her child putting himself between her and the fucking Dark One.

“Get out of here, Henry,” Gold says.

“We’re not going anywhere, Rumple.”

Belle materializes behind Henry and Emma wants to explode. Where the hell is Corrine, if the two of them are here?!

“Belle, what are you doing?”

“You know why I’m here, Rumple. I’m not letting you steal this town’s memories just because you think it would bring me back to you.”

“No, no. That's not what I'm doing. I’m doing this for my son.”

She shakes her head and steps in front of Henry, who’s still wielding the dagger threateningly. He refuses to turn around towards Emma, which means she’s unable to reach out and grab for him. She’s worried that if she moves from this spot, Neal just might kill her.

“I left you, in the Enchanted Forest. I didn’t remember doing it, but I did it. And now you're here, doing the exact thing that I left you for doing!”

“Belle,” Neal tries, but she shoots him a threatening look.

“What you’re doing is selfish and dangerous. Neal, Emma’s clearly made her choice, and you need to accept that. If you truly love her like you say you do, you’d accept that.”

“I’m doing this for her; for us!”

“You’re endangering your son and her daughter. That’s not love, Neal. I should’ve seen a long time ago that wanting to control and manipulate someone isn’t the same as loving someone.”

“You’ve got it all wrong, Belle!” Gold tries.

“I can’t believe I was wrong about you all this time, Rumple. Your heart really is rotten, isn’t it?” He doesn't have a chance to answer. “Henry, the dagger, if you please,” she says, taking it from him as Emma breathes a sigh of relief. “Rumple, I want you to transport Neal to a cell in the sheriff’s station, and then you’re going to take us to the town line. We need to be alone for what comes next.”

They disappear in a cloud of red smoke. Emma’s hesitant to believe that this is all over, but the three of them are gone and Henry is standing safe and dagger-less a few feet away from her. “Henry,” she says, hating the worry laced through her tone.

“Mom,” he calls with a smile as he runs for her, throwing himself into her waiting arms.

“What the hell were you thinking?! You could’ve been seriously hurt! Where’s your sister?”

“With grandma—”

“Henry,” Regina interrupts. Emma sighs, wanting nothing more than to continue to hug her son but accepting the fact that her life isn’t that simple. He turns towards her voice and his face is alight once again.

“Mom!” he calls, running towards her for an emotional reunion.

Rather than watch the two of them together, she turns towards Killian and smiles. He looks down to her and takes her hand in his, squeezing gently.

“Well, Swan, I do believe—”

“We’ve gotta go,” David calls as he tucks his phone into his back pocket. “Robin, can you make sure Neal is where he’s supposed to be? Emma, you’ve gotta come with me. Mary Margaret just went to the hospital and had to bring Corrine with her.”

“The baby?” she asks, pulling Killian along with her toward her father’s truck.

“He or she is on their way.”

~~~~

Henry rides to the hospital with Regina in Gold’s car. Emma’s honestly a bit surprised that Regina is even bothering coming to the hospital, until she pulls up to the doors, drops Henry off, and pulls away again. Typical.

“Your mom didn’t want to come in?” Emma asks him, and he shrugs.

“Something about family bonding or whatever. It’s okay.”

They walk into the lobby and see Corrine sitting happily with Ruby, Tink on the other side of the coffee table and rolling a small ball towards her as she squeals with laughter. She hears Ruby gasp who’s that? before Corrine whips around and starts running towards her parents and brother as fast as her fat little legs can carry her.

“Hello, my love,” Killian says as he scoops her up, making a grunt as if his body is protesting. What a dad.

“Hi,” she says once she’s up. “Ball.” She holds up the small green ball in Killian’s face, making him back away with a laugh.

“You’re playing ball with Ruby? And…” he turns, cocking his head, “Tink.”

“Hi, Hook.”

“Curse is broken,” Ruby says by way of explanation. “Turns out you two weren’t the only ones getting it on after Neverland.”

“Ah,” he says with a blush, and Emma’s smiling until she hears Henry speak up.

“What does that mean?”

Ruby shoots them all a wolfish grin.

Prince Oliver Leopold is born mere hours after they arrived at the hospital; a healthy, happy boy who somewhat resembles his niece and nephew but has his mother’s bright green eyes.

Emma holds her baby brother and swoons at his plump lips and swollen eyes and rosy cheeks and before she knows it, she has baby fever, dammit. It’s worse when Killian takes the baby from her at David’s insistence and starts cooing. Captain Hook is cooing at a newborn.

Corrine won’t stop saying baby. It’s so adorable. She wants to hold her new uncle (Emma won’t ever get used to that), but refuses any help and would definitely forget to support his head, so a tantrum ensues, naturally. Killian hands the baby back to his mother and takes Corrine out to the hall, because apparently he’s already become an expert parent and handles tantrums flawlessly.

When she leaves the room a few minutes later to check on things, she finds them in the waiting room, Corrine on Killian’s lap with her thumb shoved in her mouth while he holds his phone in front of her. Emma rolls her eyes.

“We should probably try something aside from handing her a phone whenever she freaks out,” she reasons to him with a smile.

“Probably, but this always works so well. Plus, it’s rather catchy.”

When she gets closer, she sees that he’s playing a One Direction music video. Corrine is so fully engrossed that she’s barely dancing, just staring into the screen and bopping her free fist up and down slightly. “You're whipped,” she says to him with a snort as he smiles softly.

“Not since I was a lad.” Shit, she thinks, her face dropping. Poor choice of words.

“I’m sorry,” she says hesitantly. “I didn’t think before I said that, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, love,” he says with the same smile.

“Yuh you, yuh you momma,” Corrine says with a cheeky grin shot Emma’s way.

“I love you, too,” she returns.

“Yuh you, duddy.”

He leans down to her and kisses her cheek tenderly, chuckling lightly. “I love you, too, darling.”

She tries to say darling but it doesn’t come out quite right as she struggles with her Ls. It’s cute either way, and she’s still the smartest baby around.

“I think this one is overdue for a nap. Care to tag along?” she asks as Corrine reaches up for her and she scoops her up. They’ve barely eaten or slept today, so she’s surprised Corrine is even still functioning.

“Sure.” Killian stands, locking his phone and tucking it into the back pocket of his jeans like a real twenty first century man.

~~~~

Henry asks to go to the sheriff’s station on their way back to Granny’s. Emma isn’t sure what he’s going to say to his father, but she assumes he’s about to get an earful from a rightfully angry thirteen-year-old.

Henry gained his memories back, but his old, cursed ones remained. This means that, while he finally remembers who he really is, he also remembers the story Emma gave him about his father. The reason he was abandoned is clear in his head, along with the betrayal that comes with almost having his memories wiped again and his sister removed from his life at the hands of the same man.

Safe to say, Henry is pissed.

Killian offers to go into the station with him and he accepts, as long as Killian promises not to listen in. Emma’s heart is racing the entire time they’re gone, but Corrine’s soft snores and gentle kicks to the seat in front of her keep her mind somewhat at ease for the ten minutes that they’re inside.

When they emerge from the building, she notes that they're both looking down as they walk to the car with somber looks on their faces. She wants to ask what they talked about, but she knows Henry would rather not talk about it, so when they get into the car, she drives towards the inn silently.

Henry decides to take a nap as well, so Emma puts Corrine in her crib and shoots him a gentle smile before grabbing the monitor and leaving the room to cross the hall towards Killian’s door.

“Hi,” he says as she enters, glancing up from the book he was reading on his bed.

“Hey.”

“Alright?” she shrugs, contemplatively standing before him before crossing the room and taking a seat on the other side of the bed. He closes his book and crosses his ankles before shifting so that he can face her.

“Weird day.”

“I’ll say,” he chuckles. “Would you like to lie down, Swan?”

She shrugs again. “I would, but I'm scared to go to sleep. We still haven’t seen Belle, so we don't know what happened to Gold.”

“Aye,” he agrees with a sigh. “But I think I trust her to make the right decision in that regard.”

“She’s taken him back countless times before, though.”

“It’s a complicated relationship, love. She said something about having left him when they were in the Enchanted Forest, and she’s obviously still angry.”

“Yeah.” She sighs deeply, sinking a bit further into the mattress as he places his arm on a pillow behind her back.

“Lie down, love. You're exhausted; I’ll stay up and make sure nothing goes awry.”

She sticks her lips out in a pout of contemplation, but the heat of his arm behind her neck is tempting along with the memory of his body shaped around hers during the night. “You’ll stay here the entire time? Unless Corrine wakes up?”

“Promise.” She nods at him, scooting herself down so that she’s lying with her head on his chest and her arm slung across his waist. She takes a moment before she hitches her ankle up and over his own, breathing heavily as she feels her body begin to relax. “Swan?” he says softly.

“Hmm?”

“Can you tell me what Baelfire did to you? What were your parents talking about?”

She tenses in his arms, squeezing her fist around his shirt until her knuckles are white. “He, uh, he left me. He betrayed me. Before we were together, he stole some watches and hid them, and then I went to go get them because he had wanted posters floating around. He went to fence the watches and when I met him afterwards, the police picked me up. He had given me a watch as a gift, and that was all the evidence they needed. Turns out he was the one who called the cops.”

“Bloody hell.” His hand runs along her spine with a comforting pressure as she relives one of her worst moments.

“Turns out August told him I was destined to be the Savior and he had to leave me, but the decision to call the cops was all him. So I went to jail for eleven months and that’s where I had Henry.”

“I’m sorry, Swan. That’s awful.” His voice is soft as it rumbles through the soft afternoon light in the room

“I’ve had a lot of time to get past it,” she shrugs

He nods against her hair and she revels in the gentle squeeze he gives her, the compression against her chest soothing her nerves.

“Swan,” he says again, and she lets out a breathy chuckle.

“Yeah?”

“What does whipped mean, in that context?”

She wants to groan, still disgusted with herself for even saying it, but she answers anyway. “It means she has you wrapped around her tiny little finger. I’m pretty sure she could convince you to do anything for her without so much as blinking.”

He laughs. “You’re probably right.”

They’re quiet for a few minutes, and she thinks she might fall asleep, but something stops her and makes her speak.

“She loves you so much,” she says after a few moments.

“Aye, I love her as well.”

“She needs you in her life, you know.”

He intakes a breath and she thinks she may feel the ghost of his lips pressing into her hair. “I need her, too,” he says softly.

She nods her head against his chest and takes in the scent of leather and sea and rum. He may have traded in his leather slacks for jeans, but he still smells the same, and she’s relieved. “That’s why… that’s why we’re staying here.”

She feels his body freeze as his arm tightens around her and his breath hitches in his throat. “Aye?”

“Mhmm. After everything, I just… I want to be close to my family. I almost lost them again today, even though a part of me still doesn't believe that Neal would do that, but… still.”

“I have trouble believing it myself.”

“Yeah. But Corrine likes it here. Henry obviously does too, and as much as it pains me to say, his mother is here. And... you're here.”

He rolls them over so that she’s on her side and he’s facing her before he takes his hand and runs it along her cheek gently. “I would've gone with her. With you.”

“I would've let you. But I'd rather stay put.”

He hums out a soft laugh, one that says I can’t believe this is happening, then touches his index finger along her brow and down the side of her face before he reaches his hand behind her head and pulls the two of them together in a soft, warm kiss.

She kisses him back instantaneously, swiping her tongue out against his soft lips as a sigh escapes her mouth. She feels so relaxed in his arms, and the feeling of him gently massaging her lips with his own and his fingers stroking against her scalp with gentle pressure is lulling her back into the sense of calm that she’s been missing. She thinks she could get really turned on if she lets herself, but for now, the chaste, gentle kisses relax her into a state of bliss.

She pulls away from the unexpected kiss after a few moments and sighs through her nose, pressing their foreheads together and biting her bottom lip. “I’m glad you have your heart back,” she says after a moment. “It probably wouldn't have been very fun kissing a heartless Killian.”

“I think I still would have had fun kissing you even without a heart.”

She hums out a laugh. “Yeah, but this is much better. Are you okay? After the whole heart thing?”

“Aye, I’ve been through dire straits before, nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Right,” she laughs before pressing her body close to his and snuggling her head into his chest. “Can you tell me what happened?”

He clears his throat. “Neal must've knocked me out. Or it was the Crocodile, I'm not sure. But I woke up in the cabin surrounded by potions and spells and other nefarious things and knew something was wrong.”

“That’s where they were making the memory potion.”

“Aye,” he confirms. “Neal told me his plan, then he sent me back to the loft for dinner without my heart so that he could control me. He wanted to see me suffer and lose everything I hold dear. I believe the Dark One must've enchanted his hand somehow and that’s how he was able to control me.”

“What a bastard. I can't wrap my head about it.” He hums softly in agreement. “What was it like? Not having it, I mean.”

He’s still and quiet as he takes in a breath, then answers, “it’s like I was dead. I was so numb and empty, I couldn’t feel anything but pain and fear. But when you put it back, love, I’ve never felt better.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. Picturing the way he must have felt causes Emma near-physical pain “That sounds awful.”

He changes the subject away from his suffering easily. “May I ask you something else?” she nods against him. “When did you know? That it wasn’t me?”

She shrugs, the painful memories of last night flooding back into her mind. “Before you even got there I knew something was wrong. Henry said you left him alone at Gold’s and I knew you wouldn’t do that. And during dinner, Corrine refused to even look at you because she’s a smart baby and she even knew something wasn’t right. But it was really clear after dinner when you said you were leaving.” She nearly chokes on the words as they leave her lips.

“You have to know how hard I tried to not say it.”

She nods, thinking back to the tears in his eyes and the tight grip he had on her wrist. “I do know, I saw it. You were fighting him.”

“Aye, I was,” he whispers.

“You were doing it for your family.”

His grip on her tightens still and he presses another kiss to the crown of her head before he says, “that I was, love.”

~~~~

Despite no longer living in a magical forest over which he reigns as king, Emma’s father chooses to have a small ceremony to celebrate the birth of his son. As strange as it is to be 30 years older than her brother, and for his niece and nephew to be older than him, Emma happily attends the small gathering hosted at Granny’s once everyone has finally woken up from their naps. Their sleep schedules are going to be completely messed up for the rest of the week, but that’s something she’ll just have to deal with.

When Corrine, Henry, Killian, and Emma finally find their way down to the diner, the party is in full swing. Emma doesn’t miss Killian playfully swiping a donut from Ruby’s tray, giving a little piece to Corrine and finishing the rest himself. She could scold him for feeding her sweets before dinner, but seeing them together and seeing her back to her normal playful self with him makes her heart swell.

She catches Belle at the counter and hops into a stool beside her. “Thanks for your help today.”

“Oh, of course.”

“What, uh,” she starts again, contemplating whether or not it’s logical to start this conversation. “What happened to Gold?”

She purses her lips and looks down. “I sent him over the town line. He won't be back.”

“I’m sorry.” No matter how much she can’t stand Gold, she couldn’t imagine being in Belle’s position; loving someone so evil and having to make such a hard choice.

“Don’t be. I did leave him, you know, in the Enchanted Forest. He started working with Neal and… I was just unhappy with the changes I was seeing with him. He was starting to show his true self. So I left, and he seemed to just snap. I knew they were going to do something drastic when I found out that Neal spoke with your parents, so that’s when I stole the memory potion and sent that message to Killian.”

Emma draws her brows close together as she spins in the stool to face Belle. “Wait, you sent the message?”

“Yeah, you didn’t know?”

Emma shakes her head; the information is making more and more sense the more she learns. “Thank you. Seriously, thank you. You probably saved everyone in Storybrooke. You definitely saved my family.”

She smiles up at Emma. “It was the right thing to do,” she says, before she becomes distracted by whomever has just entered the diner. When Emma turns, she sees Robin’s friend Will waving at her and making his way towards them. She excuses herself when he kisses Belle’s temple softly and wiggles his eyebrows at Emma.

When she gets to the booth that Henry’s sitting at, she takes a seat enthusiastically and bumps his shoulder with his, making a comment about his new uncle to which he barely responds.

“I’m sorry, kid. I know this sucks,” she says after a moment of pointless small talk.

“Yeah.”

“You spent two years thinking your life was one thing and now it’s something completely different.”

He nods. He’s silent for a few moments and she sits with him, knowing that he may need time to ponder through his thoughts. “Why did he do it?” he finally asks.

She sighs and puts an arm around him. “I don't really know, Henry. Your dad… something happened to him and he just couldn’t handle not having his family with him.”

“We weren’t ever a family, though, not really. I mean, sure, we hung out, but it wasn’t anything like what you and I have, or even what me and Regina have.” She nods. “It was only a few months that I knew him. And he left you in jail.”

“I know. I’m sorry that you had to see your dad like that.” He shrugs. “You know I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you, right?”

With a nod, he says, “I know. That’s not what I'm worried about.”

“Can I ask you something?” He nods. “What made you come to the woods? What happened with you and Belle that made you do that?”

He shrugs again. “I don't know, really. We were messing around at Granny’s and I was talking about how mad I was, and that I wanted to just take the dagger and give both of them a piece of my mind. Then Belle said ‘if only we had the dagger,’ and I told her we did have it. And she said we had to go and put an end to this. You guys probably should have just brought it with you.”

Emma nods in response, laughing lightly at his logic. She was expecting some type of grand revelation between the two of them, but the reality was much more simply: Belle knew that Neal and Gold were up to no good, and she decided that she had the power to put a stop to it. “You’re right, we should have. Luckily, we had you to save our butts.”

“My dad…” he starts, ignoring her lightheartedness. “I just can't believe he would do something like this.”

She makes a bold move and says, “is that what you told him? When you went to the sheriff’s station?”

Henry chuckles sadly and rolls his eyes. “You mean Killian didn’t tell you?”

She bumps his shoulder again and responds, “I don’t think he would even if I begged. He respects you too much.”

He nods back at her, still looking down at his glass of water and plate of cake. “I guess I told him that. I told him I was done with him. I said he could’ve had a chance but he ruined it by doing this.” Emma nods softly. As much as it hurts to hear her son say these things about his father, a part of her must admit that she’s relieved to hear that he’s made this decision. She isn’t exactly psyched at the concept of giving Neal visitation rights after this. “I told him he’s a selfish dick for trying to keep my mom away from the guy she loves.”

She freezes at that, and not because her kid is using the unsavory language that he probably learned from her. Henry has always been a smart, perceptive kid, but has he always been this perceptive? To the point where he knows she loves Killian before she does? “Henry...” she tries to speak but can’t.

“It’s okay mom. Maybe two years ago I would’ve wanted you to be with my dad, but… I don’t know. Hook has only been here for a few weeks and he’s been more of a dad to me than Neal ever has.”

~~~~

Corrine is put to bed by her father several hours later after a tantrum over not being able to put her hand in a bowl of hot soup. She wanted to grab the floating crackers as Tink dropped them into the dish, and each time Killian stopped her hand she screamed no at him. At one point, it started to get out of hand and Emma called, “Corrine Alice Swan, you get your hand away from that bowl, right now,” as if the child could understand full sentences. She understood the tone, though, and boy, did she respond with a vengeance.

Killian took her upstairs to her crib once she started screaming so loudly that Emma’s sure the entire town heard. Now that she can’t hear the blood curdling screech anymore, she’s about 98% certain that Killian is in the bedroom playing a One Direction music video, but that’s alright. The two of them dancing along together is quite possibly the cutest thing she’s ever seen, so she thinks she’ll let it slide as she ascends the stairs and opens the door slowly.

What she’s met with is not a pair of One Direction fans, but rather, a swaying Killian holding a tearful but relatively calm Corrine as he hums lowly in her ear and rubs up and down along her back. Emma swoons, again overtaken by the image of dad-Killian in all his glory.

He’s only known his daughter for about five weeks, but in that time they’ve become so close. Each day, Corrine learns more and more as she explores her world, and Killian is always trying to help her along by teaching her new words and phrases. He’s a natural with her, especially at this age, and the more of it Emma sees, the more she wants.

“It’s time for sleep, my darling. Mummy and daddy will be here when you wake,” he whispers softly into her hair, and when Emma looks again, she sees Corrine’s thumb hanging out of her mouth and her face squished into his shoulder. He turns around and catches Emma’s eye, blushing fiercely as he bends to place the baby in her crib. Once she’s settled, he rubs a finger along her sweet face to remove one final tear and backs away before making his way towards the door and following Emma out.

Emma doesn’t miss the promise he makes his sleeping child to be here when she wakes up; he’s still reeling from almost losing her, and it breaks her heart.

“She didn’t need the phone, huh?” she jokes as they make their way down the stairs.

He laughs lightly in response and says, “I believe she was too tired for that. It’ll be difficult to get her back on schedule, I’d say.”

When they get back into the diner, Killian disperses into the crowd and Emma sees Henry talking to Regina. She’s happy that he’s rebuilding his relationship with her, she really is, but she’s also having trouble getting past their history. Try as she might, she can’t unsee that small child waiting on her doorstep begging for help defeating his Evil Queen mother.

Regina stands from the booth when Emma makes herself visible and walks over to her, clearing her throat and brushing down her blouse before she speaks. “Emma, I was thinking it might be good for Henry to spend the night at my house tonight. He’s open to it, but said we had to check with you,” she says bitterly.

Emma raises her brows, glancing back at Henry, who gives her a smile. “He is?”

“Yes,” she responds sharply, as if Emma has offended her. “He has his own room, why should he stay here?”

Emma lets out an exasperated huff but nods her head. As much as her delivery absolutely sucked, Regina has a point. Perhaps she should start thinking of a permanent living arrangement herself. “Okay, if he wants to, then that’s fine.”

Regina looks chuffed as she says, “good,” with the soft hint of a smile before heading back to the booth to collect Henry.

With both kids gone or asleep, Emma suddenly finds herself free of her motherly duties for at least the next few hours, and so decides to follow Killian to the patio with two tumblrs of rum, neat.

“So, Gold’s gone,” she says once she’s sitting next to him, and he tips his glass to her in thanks.

“Aye, I ran into Belle earlier. Relieved?”

She nods, taking a sip from her glass. “Yeah. I’m still… I don’t know. I’m pissed.” He nods back at her. “He knew that we… were together on the ship, so he’s known this whole time. He knew it in the Enchanted Forest, and he knew it when he came back here. He could have just let it go and accepted that it was over between us, but he didn’t. And he messed up because of that.”

“Aye. It’s quite frustrating, isn’t it?” She nods in agreement and rolls her eyes as she stares into her glass. “Do you think he knew about Corrine all this time?”

“That she’s ours?” He nods. “No, I think he genuinely blocked the possibility that we have a kid out of his mind. I think when he found out from you and Henry at the pier, that’s what clicked his plan into place for him. He realized that he would’ve lost without this memory potion.”

“Makes sense,” he starts, sitting up in his seat slightly. “I mean, it doesn’t. But it does.”

“Yeah.” They clink their glasses together as they both finish the contents, feeling the warmth rushing through their veins as it combats the cool bite of the late-autumn air. “I have a question,” she states.

“Go on.”

“Can you tell me what Henry said to Neal?”

He purses his lips, glancing up at her and shaking his head. “I don't want to violate his trust, love, but I can tell you that he’s a very smart lad.” She nods. “And I can also tell you,” he starts again, slowly and hesitantly reaching his hand towards her’s, “that Bae is not exactly safe to be around, and I’d feel much more comfortable if you and Henry stayed far away from him.”

“Did he threaten Henry?” She feels her palms starting to sweat.

“Not Henry, love. The lad stepped away from the bars and Neal said some things about you that I’d rather not repeat. That I wish your son hadn’t heard. I stepped a bit too close— in anger, I’ll admit— and he lunged for me, as well.”

She nods her head again, looking down at the table grievously at the news. Before everything, before Neverland and before the curse, she thought she may have been able to have a good co-parenting relationship with Neal, or that they may have even been able to become friends again. But now, he’s gone and ruined everything because he thought he could have more than he even deserved.

“Thanks for going with him.”

“Of course I would, love.”

“And thanks for… for coming after us, in New York. If you hadn’t…”

He shakes his head to silence her and says, “It was the right thing to do.”

They sit in comfortable silence for a few more moments before she says, “can I ask you something else?”

“What is it, darling?” She smiles at the fond nickname.

“How did you do it? How did you get to us?”

He looks down with a small, shy smile and says, “Well, the curse was coming, so I ditched my crew and took the Jolly Roger as fast and as far as I could to outrun it.”

“You outran a curse?” she asks with a doubtful smile.

“I’m a hell of a captain,” he returns in a flirty tone, to which she responds with a soft laugh. “Once I was outside the curse’s purview, I knew that the walls were down. Transport between realms was possible again; all I needed was a magic bean.”

“Those are not easy to come by.”

He looks down again and takes a breath. “They are if you have something of value to… trade.” His words are clearly calculated as they leave his mouth.

She hums again and asks, “and what was that?”

He smiles, eyes still looking at the ground, until he looks up and raises his brows at her, smiling as if he wasn’t about to admit to her that he sold his heart and home to find her and save her family. “Why the Jolly Roger, of course.”

She’s frozen. Her brows pinch together as they often do when he says something heartfelt and profound, although this time feels different. It feels like more. “You traded your ship for me?”

He doesn’t hesitate, answering her with a firm nod. “Aye.”

It happens so fast; she’s kissing him and his hand is lacing through her hair and hers through his. Her heart feels about ten times bigger than it should be at the feeling of his lips on hers after such an emotional confession, and she doesn't know if she’ll survive much more of his thoughtful words and selfless actions. When she finally pulls from him slightly, it’s as if he’s taking stock of what’s happening between them; as if he can’t quite believe that they’re here despite having been here before.

“I—” she starts, although she isn’t quite sure what she wants to say. She smiles as he does, the feel of his thumb running along her jaw and chin and his nose nuzzling lightly against her’s stirring the butterflies in her stomach and the heat much lower. “I want you,” she finally whispers. “All of you. Every part of you and everything that comes with it… I want it all, with you.”

It’s as close to a profession of love as she’s ever come before. She’s perhaps closer to telling him that she loves him now than when she actually said the words to Neal over a decade ago. She thinks she should be afraid— of his answer or of what may change between them, she isn’t sure— but she isn’t.

“I want everything with you, too, Emma. Always.” His use of her name rather than any number of nicknames he has to choose from, and the meaning of his statement, isn’t lost on her.

He kisses her again, like he can’t stay away from her any longer and absolutely needs to have her lips on his. While the last kiss was soft and slow, this one is more passionate and heated as he presses closer to her and laces his hand tighter into her hair. He pulls her gently towards him and she hears his chair scraping against the ground as he scoots forward. Once he’s got her where he wants her, he deepens the kiss, curling his tongue against her bottom lip until she opens up to him. It doesn't take much, the feel of him pressing close to her driving her mad with want.

She’s just about lost her mind when she starts to shift in her seat, planning to move forward and hoist herself up and onto his lap so that she can get closer to him and hopefully sate the heat erupting through her down to her core, until she hears someone behind him clear their throat.

Shit.

“I think it’s about time you and I have a little talk about your intentions with my daughter.” Emma squeezes her hands around the collar of his jacket as her eyes fly open. Thank god she hadn’t actually mounted him…

Killian clears his throat in an attempt to calm himself down before answering Emma’s father, although he still looks completely wrecked and refuses to turn around. “That’s a little old-fashioned even by my standards, and I still pay with doubloons.”

“Yeah, well, I’m leaving,” he says firmly, although she can hear a smile in his voice. “I was coming to give you a hug, but I’m not sure I want one anymore,” he jokes.

She laughs breathlessly as she stands up, moving to her father and giving him a tight hug. “How’s mom feeling?”

“Good, just tired. I’m happy that everyone threw this together, but I feel guilty being away from them, so I'm gonna go back to the hospital.”

“Give her a hug for me?”

“‘Course,” he says, kissing her cheek sweetly, then making a disgusted face and laughing.

Her breathing is still rapid and her heart is still racing as she sits back down next to Killian, so she takes in a big gulp of air and wishes she had more rum.

“Awkward,” she says with a small laugh.

He laughs. And he keeps laughing, and eventually he rests his head against his arm on the table and continues on laughing until no sound is coming out and he’s just a mess of shaking shoulders and teary eyes. At some point, she started laughing too, and anyone who exits Granny’s at this point would probably have the two of them committed.

“We can’t catch a break, love,” he remarks through more chuckles, and she laughs harder still.

Then she has a thought and acts on it so quickly that she can hardly even keep track of it. “Take me upstairs,” she says boldly, desiring not to be interrupted again when all she wants is to feel him on her.

He raises a dramatic brow and cocks his head at her in question, or perhaps seeking confirmation, and asks, “aye?”

She nods, biting her bottom lip in a way that she thinks may be more flirty than she intended before she leans in again and kisses him softly. “Take me upstairs,” she repeats against his mouth.

He stands so quickly that the table shakes and the glasses nearly fall over, and she laughs again. He holds out a hand to her, his smile bright and beaming, and when she takes it, she knows that things between them are shifting and that her life is changing.

She can’t wait.

~~~~

~~~~

Read Chapter 8

A/N: there’s one chapter left!! The next one is..... pure smut. Like, there’s a little plot in there but... it’s smut. So. Stay tuned if you’re into that?

[drshebloggo]

how to make WW84 a stronger movie

As sort of requested, here’s a beefed-up version of the list of notes I made watching WW84 because I was getting cranky with the execution of this movie and couldn’t help but jot down ideas. I WANTED to love this thing but the script was not selling its ideas to best effect.

For me, I think there were a few challenges inherent in the movie they wanted to make. BUT with a few different choices here and there in the way the story was told, it would’ve improved its impact without sacrificing what they were going for with tone and characters. 

CHALLENGE #1: this movie is set SO far in the future from the events of the first film. 65 years have passed, and Diana is still just gliding somberly through her life and that makes me SAD. All her friends are dead! She’s on her own and cursed with immortality!! She lives in an ‘80s decor sadness chamber surrounded by photos and memories of people she’ll never see again!!!

And yet the film gave us no real textual information about that. They did the laziest thing possible, which was pan the camera around a million photos on mantles and told us NOTHING. Literally WHAT has Diana done for the past, say, THIRTY YEARS since her Earth Friends all died without her??? Has she literally made NO OTHER friends? She’s still sad about Steve 65 years later and nothing else has progressed?

This lack of specificity leaves Diana fading in the lead role of her own movie despite the fact that there’s TONS of material there that they just... ignored. For me, she read flat, which bummed me out majorly. Her best stuff was with Steve because that actually MEANS something. But it’s all she’s got in this film. They didn’t bother filling in any other information about her life. 

FIX IT: literally just make Barbara already friends with Diana at the beginning. Not only does it make Diana more interesting, it reduces the sheer amount of exposition that the film piles on in the first 45 minutes. This also means you can bring Steve back sooner than the 45 minute mark, which would help grease the wheels in the first third of the movie. And it also means that Diana losing Barbara to inhumanity would actually have a greater impact on Diana beyond “oh my kooky new friend turned into an evil cat; this is vexing.”

CHALLENGE #2: the tone is WILDLY different than the tone of the first. They went from WWI trench warfare to shopping malls and fanny packs. It’s a HUGE tone shift, and it takes some getting used to. But there are good things to it; namely it provides great comedy for Steve, who is a definite bright spot in the movie. 

Overall I’m on board with doing a superhero movie that pivots away from grit and darkness and toward camp and comedy, and it’s cool to do something new rather than reiterate the same tone from the first film. But I think they could’ve done more to sell the tone shift. 

There are HIJINKS inherent in the premise that I’m guessing were fairly unilaterally unexpected. There’s a vaguely historical magic WISHING STONE and three buffoons each made a wish and turned shit upside down. I myself wish that Maxwell and Barbara and Diana were rendered in triplicate, as equal collaborators in this batshittery. I don’t think you’re watering down Diana’s role as lead (no more than giving her no other emotions to play than sadness) by doing so, and it even works nicely to own the idea that Max and Barbara are on equal narrative ground as Diana.

As far as the villainy goes, Max is more recognizably a Bad Guy, but Barbara is NOT, and it’s fascinating to show at least Diana and Barbara working together but slowly falling apart as shit goes SIDEWAYS. Hijinks can be zany and also meaningful! What if a villain is just a friend who wants something different than you and you have to come to terms with that and stop them from doing dumb shit? There’s an element of screwball to this premise and I wanted them to lean in more. This would also give Diana more to do than cry and fight.

FIX IT: show Barbara getting her powers using the same tropes of other superheroes getting their powers and figuring them out. Play it like she’s Peter Parker finding out she’s Spider-man. Hell, do a montage with all three of them using/abusing their powers: Barbara beating the shit out of things, Maxwell manipulating people, Steve and Diana making the fuck out and enjoying the shit out of it. These are the joys of wish fulfillment! 

AND, if they had set up the rules of the artifact beforehand (see Challenge #3), then the audience would know they were watching very happy people who are going to have their LIVES RUINED SOON. And that is good storytelling. (Maybe this is oversimplified, but honestly half of good storytelling is just making the audience feel two opposite emotions at the same time. The other half is dramatic irony, which would also apply to this trio montage.)

CHALLENGE #3: What the hell are the rules of this magic wishing artifact anyways??? The audience should know them before the characters do. The way this movie doled out information was bananas. They waited right before they were going to the tell the audience something to show us what they were about to tell us. Just show us earlier and tell the characters later!!! That way WE’LL already know because we’ve seen it, and THEY’RE not saddled with expositional dialogue to make sure the audience follows the idea.

FIX IT: For the love of humanity, nix the opening sequence with the horse race and make it about the damn stone!! Rip off Lord of the Rings and tell the history of the innocent but dangerous thing. Rip off Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and animate something about how it gives wishes at a cost. Hell, let Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright(’s unbelievably ripped arms) tell young Diana the story so they can still hang out and be a part of the film! Throw in some lore about the gods, just to remind us where Diana comes from and her belief system, and we’re good to go.

While you’re at it, toss in the whole point of the film into the moral that Diana’s moms impart to her at a young age. It’s not a spoiler. We don’t wonder if 1984 Diana will do the right thing. She does not need to LEARN this moral. She already knows the moral, but she still has to make the hard choice to let Steve go and of course it doesn’t come easy.

In summary: that horse race had little to do with the rest of the movie and it’s wasted story space, especially for setting up the entire magical premise that the movie hinges on, let alone the actual message of the film.

CHALLENGE #4: Do we care about Maxwell and his kiddo enough to rest the entire movie’s resolution on it? Ehhhh. The glimpses into young Max’s abuse is another example of showing information RIGHTBEFORE it’s important, rather than setting it up earlier to pay off later. It’s a far weaker choice.

FIX IT: Age up Alistair. If he’s a teen or preeteen, then the stakes feel higher because it seems more monumental to undo the trauma of neglect at that age. Much like in his business pursuits, the clock is ticking and Max is running out of opportunities for success in all realms of his life.

Maybe show Maxwell trying to reason with Alistair earlier in the movie, saying that he’s a good dad because he’s not as bad a dad as his own father. It shows us how he justifies his behavior, gives us the information that he had an abusive dad, and gives an actual interaction between father and son other than “daddy you’re not here” and “shhh son here’s a pony.”

Possible other fix-it which connects to other fixes: what if Barbara actually renounces her wish before Max does? It should be more painful to the audience to lose Barbara to her wish because we’ve technically LIKED her at one point. She means something to Diana, and so she means something to us. Honestly, the audience has rooted for her independent of Diana! The scene where she realizes she’s not powerless against her harasser but then completely loses herself in violence against him? One of the movie’s best. It’s pretty dissatisfying that she just goes completely off the deep end and then nothing with her is resolved after the wishes are broken.

But, with the way the movie is set up, the big emotional climax is the scene of Diana getting through to Max/the entire planet, so it’s hard to undo that and give it to Barbara instead, considering that it won’t wrap up the plot. But geez, do SOMETHING with Barbara that’s based in actual emotions. Don’t hinge your entire movie’s emotional resolve on a father-son relationship that’s two-dimensional and doesn’t have anything to do with the main character! You had emotional investment in Barbara; use it!!

At the very least, have Diana get through to Barbara in some way, either before Maxwell renounces or after, and maybe even intercut it with Max and his kid. 

CHALLENGE #5: I experience great existential malaise at watching a mylar balloon drift off into the ether. Was there no better visual for the final moments of the film? Asking for myself, and also the planet. (This one is mostly a joke... but seriously, you guys, the PLANET.)

[writing-for-me-at-this-point]

Forever | Alucard | Yandere

Request: Can i request castlevainas alucard as a yandere?

Word Count: 1,602 words

Page Count: 4.5 pages

A/n: hope you enjoy, it was my first yandere request and i hope it lives up to standards! AND I THINK I SPELLED ADRIEN AS ADRIAN FUCK IM SORRY LMAO.

Tags: none :)

        It had been months since the decaying corpses in the front of the castle had dissipated into nothing but bone, two lone bodies forever impaled next to one another, a reminder and a warning. A reminder of the cruelties humanity has birthed and a warning to those who wish to follow in their footsteps- leading many astray from the castle and it's inhabitant, in fear of Dracula's return or the eternal echo of his being being trapped to roam the halls, impaling those who he deems unworthy.

        Giggles can he heard echoing through the castle, though soft, they're there. A young woman laughs, a baby's innocent babbles that light up a room are there too, and a man- his chuckles only deepened as they continued. Inside, the woman ran through the castle, her giggles only fueled the others, and a young child no older than one or two years of age rode on the shoulders of the honey-eyed man.

        The two came into his life during the darkest moments, the young woman named [ Y/n ] ignored the warning left on his land, running up to the door and banging on it with the hilt of a whip- her baby wailing as fear over took her. Opened his castle to her, and as he watched the doors close, his eyes met those of a woman whose soul was filled with venom that watched from the treeline. He had helped you once he noticed the pool of blood surrounding you, assisting you stand as he noticed dizziness starting to over take you, mindful of the child who's cries now started to calm.

        Large slashes crossed her back, her wrists were raw and her legs were scarred. The infant, who matched your [ S/c ] tone, yet held the deepest brown eyes looked to him, as if begging Alucard to help them.

        He was careful around both of them, helping [ Y/n ] as she healed and searched the land for the other woman he saw, but never found a trace of her yet. As [ Y/n ] started to heal, he would keep her company while she started to move around more and more, often speaking with her while she fed her son- making Alucard flush slightly at how she seemed to reject modesty and be fairly comfortable with exposing a moment like this to him. He found out that her sons name was Damien and was the product of a romance with her mistress's son, who she had been working for as a maid, and once the woman found out she wasn't all too pleased- hence the slashes across her back and arms, and the whip she managed to grab along with her child before she ran.

*****

        "And that is how I managed to run, all the way here, I..." She seemed to trail off, looking down at her son who continued to suckle, uncaring of anything and only longing for the nurturing hand his mother gave, before her eyes trailed up to Alucards, a small frown forming on her face.

        "I am sorry for the trouble I caused. Once I am healed, I can leave immediately, or perhaps work for you in return?" She asked, staring into the amazed pools of honey once again, confused why he looked almost appalled at the idea.

        "That would never be necessary. You can stay as you please, I- I myself have grown fond of you, and the little one of course. Charming boy, really." He mused, nodding his head to Damien who couldn't be all but happier.

        "Then maybe we should."

*****

        Alucard had come back inside the castle, a deer in his arms as blood was scattered across the shirt he wore, glistening on his face as well, dripping from his chin and splattered on the rest of his face. You were still sleeping soundly in the room, from what he could hear, which was pleasant for him. He could make you and the baby dinner without you seeing the mess he had made. A bit too bloody than he would have liked you to see. Waking up to a fabulous dinner hadn't been on your mind, though, Alucard had a habit of spoiling you.

        You had grown even closer with Alucard- no, Adrien since then, who seemed to fall deeper in love with you as the day went by. He had told you stories of his childhood, his friends, his betrayal, and yet instead of being fearful in anyway- you only listened and empathized with him, assuring him that you would stay with him for as long as the universe allowed you to. 

*****

         "I never thought I'd understand how my father felt," He started one night, Damien sleeping in the new cradle Alucard himself had made in the room down the hall, his head on your chest while you played with his hair.

        "But, once you came here, I didn't know what to think." You chuckled at his words, feeling him smile against your skin, his deep chuckle shaking you both as his arms tightened around you.

        "You spoke with me, listened to me, cared for me when I needed it." He continued, enjoying your nails scratching his scalp, the safest feeling hes felt in quite a while.

        "Thank you."

*****

        Running down the hall with a child on his person wasn't what he thought he'd be doing months ago, chasing the woman of his affections with a smile on his face, hearing their laughter made his heart and head fill with light joy. Just as you turned the corner, he reached an arm out and wrapped it around your waist, Damiens body faltering slightly before he grabbed onto Alucard again. 

        "Gotcha." His face fell onto one shoulder, your son falling onto the other, moving your hands you placed it on your boys heads.

        "I guess you did." You continued, before moving to take Damien, then laying your head on his chest.

        "Well, I don't plan on letting go, so you're both trapped with me." He laughed lightly, pulling you with him to the hall, thinking now would be a good time to take you both on a walk outside.

        "I think I'd be okay with that." You laughed, making your way out onto the back of the castle, something you noticed that had been happening more often than not, then again you'd rather not have Damien see the remnants of Taka and Sumi. Though they weren't lonely, with the newest editions of your old mistress and her own children who aided her in harming you, it seemed even in death Taka and Sumi had company on the land as well- everyone was happy! Alucard hummed at those words, his heart beating faster, he knew you meant it innocently, but he couldn't help it.

        He wanted you here. You and Damien. You're both his to care for. To take care of him. To love. And to love him back.

        You're both his. And he is yours.

        For as long as you remained. Though, he knew of your mortality, he wished to change that soon, to keep you and your memories with him for the rest of eternity. Damien would surely follow, though he'd wait until he was a bit older, wishing to enjoy his childhood and help him grow into a fine young man. He'd of course have both of your permission, but he knew you'd follow his advice and Damien would do what his father said, so the only issue that came to his mind would have been the sunlight. 

        He could deal with that later though, find a witch or some magician that could cultivate a ring or two, to help you both walk with him in the sun. Perhaps a wedding ring? That would be a lovely gift, he thought, a wedding ring that would keep you with him. Maybe, he could commission a ring with the Belmont crest for Damien to wear, keep him safe from any other hunters who might have their suspicions.

        "Adrien?" Your voice had pulled him from his thoughts, not noticing you and Damien at the river already, the young boy splashing around happily while you stayed near the edge- keeping him from getting in too deep.

        "Yes?" He blinked, turning quickly to you, and striding over.

        "Did you hear what I said?" Your voice was soft, scanning him.

        "Ah. I'm sorry. I was just, enjoying the moment, thinking about how lucky I am. What was it again?" His arms tightened around your waist, placing his chin on your head, taking a deep breath.        

        "I said... I love you. I really do. You're the only one- who can make me feel this way. Safe. Happy. Loved. It's you." The warmest smile came to your face as you felt his heart beat quicken, your hands on his arms as you looked down with a distinct flush on your face, Damien coming up to hug both of your legs as well.

        He couldn't believe it, it was real, you loved him. You said it. You meant it. You want to be his as much as he wants to be yours, you want to stay with him, you want to love him deeply. He felt so relieved, that his affections were returned, and he picked up Damien and kissing his head before his lips came down onto yours.

        "And I love you too." You smiled against his lips, hearing his love for you back made you swoon, unknowing of the gentle manipulation of your heart that tugged you further into his world.

        Something you gladly welcomed.

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

I have had a fanon universe exist in my head ever since I stopped buying Marvel comics in 2012. I seldom post about it because the truth is I'm not much of a writer. I have ideas, I like writing character interactions and I love the hyper-connectivity of a super-expansive universe. There are at least 5 years of planning for an entire line of Marvel books in my head and I'm finally posting about one.

Marvel have announced this new Captain Marvel story called “The Last of the Marvels” and the likely misleading initial promotional stuff seems to suggest the return of the old Captain Marvels, or at least Genis-Vell. I'm sure the story will be exactly what you expect, Carol Danvers getting patted on the back by all past Captain Marvels and told she is better than they ever were. This post isn't about speculation or petty criticism but one of my first imagined crossovers features the same basic idea of bringing back the old Captain Marvels for a celebration of the Captain Marvel legacy.

“Negablast”[1] would be a 6-issue miniseries that debuts in Month 4 of the Anachroverse. It would be the first major crossover. Outside of the core miniseries, there would be tie-ins in the Cosmic books (Guardians of the Galaxy, New Champions[2], Infinity Watch, Nova and Silver Surfer) as well as a single issue tie-ins, more loose in nature, in books that have a very minor connection (Avengers, Agents of Atlas) and fleeting mentions in others (Thunderbolts, New Warriors).

The main series would star the trio of Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), Photon (Monica Rambeau) and Quasar (Wendell Vaughn). The plot is that the Kree Supreme Intelligence wishes to “evolve” and so it seeks to supplant Epoch and become “the new Eon”. There is a whole backstory and justification to the Supreme Intelligence coming to this conclusion[3]. Supreme Intelligence has a squad of servants[4], including but not limited to the Kree Starforce, which carry out his orders, fight the heroes and attempt to slay Epoch or any of his connections. Another integral character in the mix is Noh-Varr who initially is gaslit and follows the Supreme Intelligence's orders. Halfway into the story, he becomes enlightened to what is going on and switches sides which brings us to a “third party” to all this and that is the three dead Captain Marvels. Mar-Vell is, quite frankly, the main character in this despite really only showing his face nearer the end. Genis-Vell and Phyla-Vell are both brought back and more on that later when we get to more plot stuff.

I'm trying to pare this down and not bothering with all the individual parts (which in turn makes it sound like a mess tbh) but the core idea here is a celebration of Captain Marvel and his legacy. But before that, this is where the continuity and continuity clean-up starts overshadowing the story (as expected from me). First, we have Epoch shed the facade of Eon that he was seemingly worn since the end of Quasar's series[5]. We learn that Epoch is still a child and he will not truly become “Eon” for possibly centuries. He has been appearing that way to disguise his own vulnerability[6]. Secondly, we learn that when the Supreme Intelligence made Noh-Varr into The Protector in Bendis' Avengers, this was part of his whole “becoming the new Eon” thing[7]. We get some added context to Phyla and Gravity and their stints and/or holders of the title Protector of the Universe[8]. Remember when Mar-Vell returned in Chaos War and then gifted Deathcry with Cosmic Awareness?[9] All these little stray ideas I’ve taken and tried to make into a story to push Carol, Wendell and Monica into the spotlight as the “true” legacy of Captain Marvel.

So, our main similar plotbeat to Last of the Marvels is the return of Captain Marvels. For mine, we have Noh-Varr dispatched to slay the Priests of Pama who he is told are attempting to resurrect a great evil. When he gets there (and after a fight with the heroes), he learns he has been lied to and they have an Adam Warlock-style cocoon which actually holding Phyla-Vell's body[10]. Apparently, she can't enter this world because she is “incomplete”. I'm skipping all the continuity here but suffice to say there is some[11] for the end-point that is Phyla emerges but now shares her form and is bonded to Genis-Vell ala the way Rick was to Mar-Vell and Genis (they clang their nega-bands together and switch places)[12]. Speaking of Rick, he’s in the plot but a tertiary character.

Big finish is, and this is doing such a disservice to this story to be so quick with it, but we have big astral Cosmic entity Mar-Vell versus big astral Cosmic entity Supremor. Alongside Mar-Vell is basically all the Marvels – Captains, Boys, Girls – and it's just a big George Perez style mess of appearances[13]. Bad guy is beaten once and for all[14] and Mar-Vell can return to his peace, but before he does he gets to give heartfelt farewells to his legacy:

Carol Danvers – “You kept my legacy alive and are the best I could ever be”[15]

Monica Rambeau – “You honoured my memory the most faithfully of all; by simply being a hero”[16]

Wendell Vaughn – “I feel a great relief knowing that the Universe is being protected in my stead by one such as you”

Genis/Phyla – “My children... I'm so very proud of you both and my biggest regret is not being there to make it all easier for you.”[17]

Khn'nr – “There's no greater sense of my legacy as a hero than knowing that I inspired and live on through another, of a race bred to despise me”[18]

Noh-Varr – “Of all, you are perhaps the one I see myself in the most. An outsider on Earth, used manipulated by greater powers... but above all else, knowing what is right and what is wrong and when to act on it.”

Hulkling – “I know you are plagued with doubt as to your true parentage but I would be more than happy to call you son.”[19]

Rick Jones - “Rick... you were... you are... my best friend. Thank you for everything.”

Genis/Phyla are left alive but adopt a new name (Sentry[20]), Khn'nr too maybe but who knows if he ever does anything else. The ending would be Mar-Vell departing and leaving the name of Captain Marvel as free “for someone else out there”. Just then a lightning bolt cracks and the comic ends.[21]

[1] A portmanteau of Captain Marvel's nega-bands and the Quasar crossover Starblast. [2] New Champions is basically the Annihilators-esque team led by Nova. They're named after Nova's old squad the Champions of Xandar. It took me 7 years to finally settle on a name for them because I disliked Annihilators as a name so much. [3] Riiiiiight, here we go. Supreme Intelligence has seen the Kree race itself evolve – in fact he forced that to happen. However, Supreme Intelligence has never truly evolved itself since it was introduced. It's gotten bigger, it's gotten smarter, it's gotten more evil. But it's still just a big head in a jar basically. It knows it needs to adapt and become something more which leads us back to Secret Wars II of all places. Supreme Intelligence was among the entities called into service to confront the Beyonder. This was the only time the Supreme Intelligence was considered among the Universe's powerful Cosmic beings, it gave it a taste of what it could be and what it should be. It believes it should be ranked among the Universe's great forces, it is the gestalt of an entire race, but that is not enough it seems. Eon became the entity that got locked into the Intelligence's crosshairs down to it's “usurping” of Mar-Vell as an agent. Learning of Eon's passing and replacement with Epoch (inadvertently from Genis-Vell), Supreme Intelligence has recognised that the station of Eon is at it's weakest and it's the easiest time to destroy Epoch and inherit that role itself. [4] We have the Kree/Starforce (Doctor Minerva, Captain Atlas, Ultimus, Shatterax and new additions Arides and Wraith) and we initially have Noh-Varr. We also have a very robust cast of ones that are serving greater interests or ulterior motives: Maelstrom, Ereshkigal, Mangog and very very briefly Thanos (can't have a Captain Marvel story without him). As Maelstrom is there, we also have Maelstrom's minions including Gronk, Helio, Phobis, Deathurge and the Weird Sisters. And the evil Marvel Boy from Quasar's series. They are largely confined to tie-ins. In fact, even Mangog is mostly a side-story – Supreme Intelligence dispatches him to ravage the Shi'ar empire, a petty move in retaliation for the Shi'ar's victories against the Kree. [5] After Starmasters #1, Eon's spawn Epoch only made further appearances as the classic Eon and at times was even just called Eon. [6] Including (but not limited to) Infinity Gauntlet, Marvel Universe: The End and that Fantastic Four story with Gravity. [7] A lot of my early fanon stuff is trying to make sense of Bendis stories within the context of the larger functional Marvel Universe. The truth is, I believe, Bendis simply didn't know that it was Eon not the Supreme Intelligence, who bestowed Mar-Vell with the Protector of the Universe stuff. [8] Phyla-Vell was not Protector of the Universe but Epoch allowed her to hold onto the Quantum Bands until the return of Quasar. When the need arose, Epoch turned to Gravity rather than Phyla-Vell to act as his champion. Still expecting the resurrection of Quasar, Epoch did not seek to make or force Gravity into continuing as Protector. [9] Mar-Vell became aware of Supreme Intelligence's plans upon his brief resurrection in Chaos War: Dead Avengers #1-3 and so in that short-time tried to shift some things around to ultimately aid the heroes when the time came to oppose Supreme Intelligence. This meant bestowing Deathcry with his power so that it didn't perish with him. [10] Since her death at the beginning of Thanos Imperative. [11] Genis accidentally created Phyla, don't forget. [12] I think this is a unique enough set-up to allow both of them to exist without it being the case that I'm just bringing them back for the sake of it [13] Let's see... all 6 of the Marvel Captain Marvels – Mar-Vell, Monica, Genis, Phyla, Khn'nr, Noh-Varr. All the Ms. Marvels – Carol, Sharon Ventura, Karla Sofen. Plus the Marvel Boys – Robert Grayson, Wendell Vaughn, Vance Astrovik, that kid Vance gave the costume/name to who never appeared again. Marvel Girls – Rachel Summers. We'd have Major Victory, Gravity and the kid from Marville. Definitely forgetting some here. I had a huge big list. [14] Supreme Intelligence would be taken off the cards forever. His gambit fails but maybe one day, the Kree could create a new one... [15] Some light pay-off for her “best of the best” stuff. [16] Monica presents a problem in that she has no real connection to Captain Marvel besides the name. But then ironically, she has been the best hero of the bunch. [17] I went through so many different iterations of this over the years, and so many back-handed compliments like “Well, you tried!”. [18] Oh, yeah, him. I think this was a character that I needed in this story because so many people would overlook him – and I really do believe that there was something worthwhile in the character originally – but I don't see resurrecting him as a particularly good decision. It would seem cold to have him return to being dead while Genis and Phyla get to live but I have thought about him staying alive (he'd adopt the name Crusader, after that other Skrull guy who died fighting for Earth in Secret Invasion) but I think he should just be allowed to maintain his warrior's death or whatever. [19] Okay, yeah, Hulkling's parentage would be in doubt. I’m surprised it took this long to get to something where I have to explain another story in this fanon universe. This is mainly because I don't like the retcon – it really takes me out of that story to think that amidst the Kree/Skrull War, Mar-Vell found time to have sex with a woman he just met and has no chemistry with - but I don't think I'd ever say he couldn't be Mar-Vell's son. Just that it's a possibility he's not. [20] Sentry. Named after the Kree Sentry. Genis proposes the name and in classic Genis-style it's already a name that was used prominently by someone else and again someone he even met. [21] Yep, all to the purpose of getting rid of the Captain Marvel name for a fanon DC Universe that doesn't even exist in my head.