#That kiss comic omg *swoons*

[coconut530]

mARTch 9: Face

From @tenyai’s wonderful OC universe, character made by @celinekim218

[meggettes]

Bridgerton spoilers I am live-blogging below LEGIT SPOILERS

—Spoiler Break—

Episode 2 (blazed thru e1)

Eloise is a stand up comic that’s why she sucks so much lol at least now she’s found an audience maybe she might calm down (no im not thinking of my sister why would you say that)

Will Colin finally woo Penelope with writing? With his pen even??? 👀

i am feeling Francesca so hard the quiet observant pianist is so strong

Benedict is my FAVORITE would he third for the mondriches I could believe it

Was totally unprepared for Cressida character development but am surprisingly fully here for it

Also what the fuck even pen’s own mother believed she isn’t lovable that is so messed

Colin is the only one who is like of course you’re lovable (i know because it me, he doesn’t yet think to himself)

STAHPPPPPPPPPP “kiss me it’ll mean nothing just pls” IS NUTS AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

This is only episode 2!!!!!!!!! Way too early in this trope!!!!!! Unless…

Unless it’s a turned table!!!!!!! Aaahhhh!

Episode 3

THIS ROMANCE NOVEL ASS OPENING 💀💀💀

STOP ITS HIS DREAM I AM DECEASED

THE TURNS HAVE TABLED

he dreams in bodice-ripper 💀

Better than I could have anticipated he is so down bad what a puppydog babygirl

Oh my god who is danbury’s guest is it Sophie’s stepmother??? Is that how Sophie is going to bewitch Benny boy at the final ball of the season??? (I am Benedict centric in case you couldn’t tell) (so much so that I actually read his book) (they’re gonna change it a bunch but I can’t wait to see how that season goes. and then the Francesca and Gregory seasons)

Alone under the willow tree scandal-scandal-scandalous (if anyone saw)

They are so— I am so on board now the mutual pining I had no idea this was what we were in for thank god legit better than I expected

Wow literally what the fuck is wrong with people saying this fucked up shit to this girls face

if Ben wouldn’t third for them I would 🥵

GALLANT that’s the word! He is being very gallant! Not enough gallantry about I’m afraid

I am here for this Debling guy and our shiny Penny! The banter is superb :)

Also is he a Shakespearean actor is that why he knows what to do with his arms (nothing, properly)

Also I fucking love Eloise’s embroidered surcoats they are glorious

Is Cressida more likeable now because there’s a persistent sadness in her eyes instead of the meanness of previous szns

Is Colin really looking so different this season because his tailoring is different than everyone else’s? And they claim it to be “French”??

Speaking of tailoring, Penelope looks like a leading lady now instead of previous szns because her new wardrobe finally gets her waistline correct. It was much too high previously, making her look uncomfortable and juvenile. This proper underbust empire waistline is so gorgeous makes such a difference

Omg Cressida’s spark of interest in lord naturalist is so sweet!

camel thru eye of needle ✨Jesus Reference✨

ok Cressida and rugged bird man endgame

has anyone else noticed each of the Bridgertons has a prevailing one of the five senses? Daphne touch, Antony smell, (Benedict I would say is sight,) and Colin seems to be taste. Or maybe it’s just a mouth kissing thing. But I guess we shall see. Oh and Francesca sound.

HANNAH NEW HERE SHE IS AHHHHH

And as a potential interest for Benny okay!! Two faves sharing the screen let’s watch em cook

Francesca is so pretty wtf who is this actor she looks like belle from the animated beauty and the beast disney like fr right off the cel n her big baby browns

This balloon hullabaloo! Dashing strong menfolk! Let the swooning and fluttering commence

The innovations ball!

Oh? OH?? Violet suitor???????

Put this dress of Cressida’s on the Met Gala carpet!

OH DANBURY’S GUEST IS HER BROTHER IS VIOLET LOVE INTERESTEST

OH FRAN HAS A LOVE INTEREST I AM ALL ABOUT THIS

TILLY DO LESS (love her all about her)

Violet mom of all time aww she loves her kiddos

Stop he is not

Don’t

Please COLIN

oh thank god

THIS TENSION AHH

Debling is a great guy

randomly this cellist looks like Daniel Brühl kinda

Aw Violet sad for her boy

Ditzy sister preggers??

this episode y’alllllllll

Episode 4

Iike this red hair pale blue dresses combo on my girl Nicola is STUNNIN make those Irish eyes SPARKLE

This Francesca suitor is so WONDERFUL

they are CUTE

John Sterling!!!

CUTE!!!!!

her tweed over-jacket is taking me out of it a bit

BACK IN THEY ARE CUTE

Sitting in companionable silence!! Sparks flying among introverts!! Dare I say

Ok Mondrich, keep the club just don’t work in it! easy solutions

GIRL HE PROPOSED THE PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE AND YOU HAVE UR HEAD FULL OF COLIN THOUGHTS

AND HES DOUBLED DOWN WITH PROSTITUTES AND GOT HIS HEAD FULL OF PENELOPE THOUGHTS AAAAAHHHGG

sweet Fran is such a quiet lil cutie pie aww

oh shit Colin realtalk wow cook king the lads were not ready for it not on his level

Violet, mom among moms

Can there finally be a season with no broken proposals pls it upsets me how much that happens on this show like it’s a casual thing to do

widower slow burn with widow ready for it here for it golden bachelor

is this……. ship inklings bw Eloise n Cressida rn

Omg Danbury isn’t one bit a fan of her brother

OH MY GOD

Lord Kilmartin WROTE her SHEET MUSIC

She’s Not Drinking The Lemonade

Lol Colin gonna get a front row seat to Pen’s proposal ughhhhhhh tensionnnnnn

AHH MAY HE CUT IN

JK about the ship-inklings actually but that was a nice moment

Oh Debling is iq-eq smart and I like him he is a sharp cookie he can’t propose to her now he likes her too much to get in the way of all that

OH COLIN FUMBLED

Oh no his feelings are hurt :( no proposal

He’s a straight shooter girl he’s straight shooting you oops

pennnnnnnnnn

RUN WHITE BOY RUN

HATE when diagetic music is off key with the score it is a PEEVE

Frannie is so happy awwww

POLIN are they going to KISS in the CARRIAGE

ON HIS KNEES???????

TORTURE????????

momentary 💔 but immediate 💓

SMOOCH CITY

Carriage hookup!! Titanic who!! Steamy!!!!!

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

way to go girl speedrun from never been kissed to finger blasted in the back of the family limo

FOR GODS SAKE PENELOPE ARE YOU OR ARE YOU NOT

END OF FIRST HALF (!!!)

Epilogue

this part 2 teaser what drama what will he do when he finds outttt

[leatherbookmark]

i feel so fucking bad for op of that one post and the insane anons/replies they've been getting

"we just don't know! maybe the term fujoshi came to be because men didn't want to marry women who fetishized homosexual relationships" i'm going to throw something against the wall. no it DIDN'T and you fucking know it

"while *maybe* it has a history in japanese feminism or otaku culture, it doesn't in the english-speaking side of the internet, soooooo"

"ok but the word is used to harass trans men and--" AYE and it still doesn't change the fact that western fans took a term that JAPANESE WOMEN were using IN THEIR CONTEXT and gave it a new, COMPLETELY NEGATIVE meaning.

do you understand the problem. do you people understand the fucking problem. especially when japanese artists have been starting to post on tumblr because twt is shitting its pants? do you understand the problem of associating japanese terms with immoral debauchery robbing gay people of their dignity while the english terms are pure, healthy and wholesome? DO YOU UN(ry

"but yaoi IS pornographic and fetishistic" okay and now look me in the eyes and tell me people who foam at the mouth at the mere thought of those nasty disgusting fujos and their gross yaoi genuinely care about what gay men feel or think. or that they've thought about the issue for more than 5 seconds.

because if your problem is "pornographic" -- okay but people fuck. people are horny. people enjoy pornographic materials. surely you're not against that. surely if you don't want r18 materials in your zine/discord server/blog, you can say "no r18 materials please" rather than "no yaoi".

if it's "fetishistic" -- as in? reducing something to an object with the sole purpose of titillating you? good news, fictional characters aren't real, they're not going to be sad. bad news, you could say the same about completely sfw, fluffy coffeeshop aus, because you don't write them to give justice to gay men, you're writing them because you think they're cute and you want to see your otp kiss over a caramel macchiato after weeks of shy smiles and cup sleeve messages. and then possibly boink! gasp! they are also just tools for you to achieve the state of Kicking Your Leggies In The Air OMG I Love Them So Much. but good news, again, they aren't real.

even better news -- the general purpose of yaoi/pwp (yes hi hello we have a 'yaoi' equivalent in english!) isn't to portray actual gay men as accurately as possible. the purpose of it is to be fun for the creators and readers. the solution to the problem of "ugh, the entire romance section in my library is stupid harlequins where the stupid protagonist does nothing but swoon into the arms of her stupid beefy lover" is not to burn it all down and label harlequin readers (ie, your grandma and her neighbour) disgusting hornybrained homophobes, yknow.

bonus:

"yaoi has sex in it while shounen-ai is sfw and fluffy."

sort of.

according to gotdamn wikipedia, "yaoi" are self-pub (fan)works focusing on the sexual content rather than coming up with an interesting, complex story. the pwp fanfic. meanwhile "shounen-ai", as a word existing in the japanese language, literally means "love of young boys", or "pederasty". as jpn wikipedia states, inagaki taruho, a male writer, has been writing on the topic of "love of young boys" since the end of the taisho era, and in '68, he published "the aesthetic of shounen-ai", in which

In Taruho's unique essays on aesthetic eroticism (and erotic aestheticism) A[nus], which is directly connected to O[ral], is regarded as the most important and essential of all erotic organs/sites including V[agina], P[enis] and K[litoris]. He considers A to be the paragon of the comic, primitive, innocent, and beautiful. (source)

the works of inagaki, shibusawa tatsuhiko and mishima yukio were an inspiration for shoujo (largely romantic stories for young girls) manga artists, resulting in the works of takemiya keiko and hagio moto, amongst others, a generation of artists who revolutionized not only the shoujo genre but also manga in general. takemiya published "sunroom ni te" which later became "kaze to ki no uta", and hagio "thomas no shinzou" (the heart of thomas); their shounen-ai wasn't "the chaste equivalent of yaoi", because iirc the yaoi term surfaced a couple of years later, in late 70s/early 80s, while the aforementioned works all began in the 70s (sunroom in the very 1970). instead, it was complex, in both the plot and the psychology of the characters. dramatic, often tragic. it didn't show hole, but it dealt with topics of sex, sexual abuse, abuse, incest, suicide -- because of that, takemiya struggled for years to get their editors to publish it. here it is mentioned that

Early shōnen-ai works were inspired by European literature, the writings of Taruho Inagaki, and the Bildungsroman genre. Shōnen-ai often features references to literature, history, science, and philosophy; Suzuki describes the genre as being "pedantic" and "difficult to understand", with "philosophical and abstract musings" that challenged young readers who were often only able to understand the references and deeper themes as they grew older.

back to the word fujoshi -- after some v light googling i found that the term "fujoshi" with the 腐 was "used with self-depreciation", but because the first noted use of the term online is from a blog of a man (1999年 8月 11日) who's found it on a certain textboard, it's not clear which meaning was first: the derogatory one used by men, or self-depreciating used by the female fans themselves. this article mentions the self-depreciating angle and the fact that it was "obvious to everyone" that there was something "rotten" about fujoshi -- namely, that they were misreading the original works that featured no mentions of homosexuality at all, as well as the feeling of shame at being able to "impose" homosexual feelings upon the characters and sexualizing them.

it has to be said, though, that both this "shame" and the dreaded "tee hee my sinful babies! XD" brought up every time someone tries to tell people fujoshi are not the devil don't necessarily have to be a reflection of severe homophobia of the women, but rather a reflection of the society that punishes women for sexual desires in the first place, whether they feature a man and a woman or two men.

men don't call themselves "nasty freaks" for liking lesbian porn, iirc.

if the society was open and accepting to both homosexuality and female desire, would fujoshi be called fujoshi in the first place? it seems to me that the insistence that fujoshi are called fujoshi because Something's Really Wrong With Them, We Should Condemn! Wholeheartedly Condemn! Examine That is similar to people writhing and whining that queer people are calling themselves queer when queer is a slur and means a bad thing. aye. we live in a one-dimensional world and the sun is a quarter of a circle with sunglasses in the top left corner of the page.

and YES, there are men -- even japanese men! even japanese gay men! gasp! -- who criticize the popularity of yaoi/BL for the "i'm not gay, just in love with this one guy" trope, ignoring the matter of homophobia in society or making the uke too "stereotypically feminine" (ie, a meek, sweet, submissive little thing who's a master at cooking, gently taking care of his man and squeaking when said man plows him on the table). and these are valid criticisms! but you don't have to have a master's degree to know that this happens in heterosexual romances as well. furthermore, i have to leave in a second so i won't expand on this, but as i'm sure many people have heard/read, making Romance Works Featuring Two Guys gives women tools to examine femininity, the role of women in society and their position in relationships with men. just read this thing, it's neat.

tl;dr westerners please stop confidently acting like being tumblr/twitter antis gives you the right to debate and decide on the meaning and usage of foreign words, FUJOSHI DOES NOT, AND NEVER DID, HAVE THE MEANING OF "BAD WOMAN FETISHIZING M/M RELATIONSHIP AS OPPOSED TO APPROACHING THEM WITH RESPECT AND KINDNESS"

biting and mauling and exploding with my mind people who argue about the semantics of fujoshi/yaoi/BL/etc while possessing little more than your average anti circa about 2015's level of knowledge of the terms

[mysteriousxmidnight]

Love, your writing has gotten me super hooked on Evan/Miguel omg if you have any other headcanons I’d LOVE to read them 🥺👉👈

Thank you so, so much, anon! I love Evguel so much! I apologize for the delay in sharing these, but I hope you enjoy them! Some of them are high school era Evguel and some are “established relationship” ones where they’re living together, etc. Always feel free to ask for more Evguel hcs, specific scenarios, or full one shots with them - I love writing them!!!

-Evan and Miguel love spending time outside together. In this au, Connor introduced them and he told Miguel about the orchard since Miguel mentioned Evan loves nature and trees. So Miguel takes Evan there a lot, especially when Evan is having a bad mental health day.

-They go to Ellison a lot, too. Miguel has helped Evan reclaim That Tree. Evan’s even climbed it again, several times

-They’ve totally gone for walks in the rain and Miguel has done the whole “rom-com kissing in the rain” thing. Miguel is more the romantic sap, but Evan always swoons when Miguel does stuff like that

-They both love going on car rides and day trips. They try to find towns that have both a lot of outdoor adventures/parks/etc (for Evan) and bookstores (for Miguel)

-Miguel’s dad left when he was little, so it’s just him and his mom. His grandma (on his mom’s side) visits a lot, too, and Miguel’s very close with both of them. Evan was terrified the first time he met Miguel’s mom and grandma, but they absolutely adore him now and he adores them.

-I mentioned this briefly in another headcanon round-up, but Miguel and Heidi are best buds. Miguel loves hanging out with her. They talk music and comic books, especially. Miguel is teaching her to cook.

-Evan loves holding Miguel’s hand and hugging him. He just feels really safe when he’s touching Miguel.

-Miguel still goes to Hanover, but he starts later than Evan, so he drives Evan to school a lot. They go through the Dunkin drive-thru a lot. Miguel has gotten Evan addicted to iced coffee and donuts for breakfast. Miguel regrets nothing, especially when Evan’s being super silly while riding the sugar high

-Miguel loves winter and winter activities, so Evan tries to surprise him with an ice skating date, but Evan is Not Coordinated. After Evan falls on his ass half a dozen times - taking Miguel with him twice, they decide to leave. But as they’re leaving, Miguel initiates a snowball fight. Evan is ruthless, though. He stuffs snow down Miguel’s shirt AND pants and they end up going home and taking a hot bath to warm up

-Miguel has insomnia and Evan gets nightmares, so Miguel is often awake to help Evan wake up from his nightmares and calm him down. He makes Evan hot chocolate and they watch Netflix until Evan falls asleep again. Sometimes, if they can’t sleep, they go to the local 24-hour diner instead.

-Evan likes to surprise Miguel with gifts, like a cute little plant he grew, a new shirt he saw at the mall, a stuffed dog, a homemade picture frame with a picture of them on a recent date, etc. He just loves doing little things like that, and it always makes Miguel grin and kiss the crap out of Evan, which Evan loves, too

-They love going to Connor’s house to BBQ with his family during the summer. Larry isn’t much of a cook, but he’s great when it comes to grilling. They’re both super close with Zoe, so it’s fun catching up with her at the BBQs, too.

-Miguel proposes after they’ve been dating for two years. Evan obviously says yes.

[theonetheycallhannah]

The Treatment of Capt. Syverson-Chapter Two: Therapeutic Procedure

Pairing: Captain “Sy” Syverson x OFC (Shane Benton)

Summary: Shane and Sy share some moments during their treatment sessions…and a phone call that could set the tone for the next few weeks.

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: None, yet… ;)

Author’s Note: Sorry, I was so eager and excited to post the first chapter of this last night, I totally put some inaccurate info in my description notes. I will correct that in the original post and  try to do better henceforth! Hope you enjoy Sy and Shane totally flirting some more and getting more friendly in this chapter. Feedback is appreciated! Even constructive criticism! :D

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism. 

Tags: @onlyhenrys @cavillryarchive @summersong69 @titty-teetee

Let me know if you wish to be added to the list! I’m happy to do it!

Shane woke up that morning with knots in her stomach. She dropped every product she picked up in the shower, she was shaking so much. She accidentally ordered the wrong coffee on her way to work and was now drinking something much less caffeinated and far too sweet for her taste. The barista had informed her it was a grande caramel macchiato with an extra pump of vanilla and extra caramel drizzle…with only two shots of espresso…she couldn't begin to describe how wrong that drink was for her. But it was better than nothing, she told herself, not fully convincingly.

She had chosen her clothes with extra care, even though, with the dress code, her options were limited. And she had made sure to put on a bit of mascara and just a touch of perfume, even though they weren't strictly supposed to wear it…she didn't know why she was bothering.

Well, actually, she did know why. She had been checking her schedule extra diligently lately to make sure she didn't look like a hobo when Sy was coming in. He'd been coming for three weeks now, and after the initial bellyaching about Jordan not being as pretty as her…her heart!...and his feeling extra sore after his visits with him, they were on a roll and had a great chemistry together as far as their treatments went…she tried not to think about…beyond the world of therapy.

She thought back to their first session after she got back from her trip. And the conversation they had.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I think the next time you can't see me, I'm just going to cancel." he had sulked as he wiggled his mass of muscle onto the mat.

"Sy, no. you need therapy. Don't be like that to Jordan. He's an excellent therapist."

"He ain't you though." he smirked, sending her heart racing with that smile that somehow managed to look both boyish and rakish under his full, dark beard. Fucking hell. He needed to stop.

"Well, we can't fault him for that, can we? Lay back, Mister." She demanded. Done with the niceties of the evaluation and onto the treatments where she was in charge. The boss.

"Yes, sir!" she laughed at his clear avoidance of calling her ma'am.

"So where'd you go last week? Vacation or stay-cation?" he asked, the term "stay-cation" sounding downright comical coming out of his country-boy mouth.

"I went to the beach. Gulf Shores."

"I thought you looked like you got some sun."

"Yeah," she pretended his noticing the detail of her awesome tan did not send her reeling. "My folks rented a condo right on the water for my siblings and I to come and stay with them. They're still there. It was tough to leave all that beauty." the beach, pretty much any beach, was her favorite place to be.

"I bet…" he looked at her, something dreamy in his eyes, but he looked away before she could process it. "I thought I had my fill of sand and sun when I was over in Iraq. But you make it sound…like paradise." he smiled softly up at her as she worked on his knee, trying to break apart some of the scar tissue from the injuries and surgeries he'd had…and focus on that, and not the warmth rising in her.

"That's the perfect way to describe any place on the Gulf of Mexico. I doubt it's anything like Iraq, since there's so much water around. It's my favorite vacation destination. Well, apart from London."

"Them British folks always seem so stuck up. Don't know if I'd get along with any of 'em."

"It felt like a second home for me. Everyone was very kind and polite, for the most part. At least it was no worse than it is here."

"Maybe it's just because you're so nice."

"Wait 'til about week eight or ten of your protocol. You won't think I'm nice then. You'll be cussing me out and ready to ring my neck."

"Promise?" he asked, a dark grin on his lips and in his eyes…she faltered for a moment, gulping.

"Cut it out, Syverson." she rolled her eyes, covering…without great effect the way he made her feel.

"Yes...ma'am." he smirked with satisfaction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now, today, she'd be treating him again, fairly early in the day, and she had to prepare herself. She'd checked the policy, and although there wasn't anything strictly against dating a patient, it was clearly a conflict of interest, and would be frowned upon by her frigid tyrant of a boss. Best to let things remain platonic for now.

Her 9:30 was a no show, so she finished up some notes and was working on some continuing education credits when messenger popped up around 10:00.

Sergeant Sexypants is here. He's quite early and he knows it…*smirk emoji* he must like you, Shane!

Heather, come on, be respectful…he was discharged at the rank of Captain! *rofl emoji* and I think you might be right about him liking me…*nervous emoji*

Oooooooooh!!! You guys are gonna *couple kissing emoji* *eggplant emoji* *okay emoji* *explosion emoji* *baby emoji*

Omg…*three facepalm emojis* I am going to go ahead and start him early since my 9:30 was a NCNS.

Don't finish him too early. Make it last. *smirk emoji*

Jeez. She closed the chat and went to grab him from the waiting area.

"Hey Sy, you ready?"

"You bet, sunshine!" he flashed her a crooked smile. He was calling her sunshine now…ad that to the list of things she'd have to pretend didn't make her swoon.

"Great. Let's start on the bike. How's the knee feeling today?"

"Oh, it's…about the same. Stiff. Lil' sore."

"Well, it's a slow process, like I told you at your eval. You've got a lot going on in there."

"I know…just…it hasn't taken me four weeks to do anything in my life." he sulked. "So…thinking about this taking…twelve or more…" he grimaced as he sat down on the bike, and adjusted it for his longer than average legs, putting his feet in the pedal stirrups.

"You may not see it, Sy, because you're so close to it, but trust me, you're making progress. I can tell you're doing your exercises at home, and you're always willing to put in the work here. You have no idea how much that sets you apart from…some of these other people." she leaned in closer and spoke the last part more quietly to him. It was true. So many of her patients were either lazy or just in it to appease their MDs into writing them scripts for pain meds. That wasn't Sy.

"You really think so?" he gave her the side eye with his baby blues, crushing her with the color like the waves of the ocean she'd just returned from.

"In fact, I know so." she placed a reassuring hand on his broad and thick shoulder. She felt the tension between them hum, like electric current.

"Now, level one, and a steady pace. You're not trying to win any medals here. I'll take those crutches."

"When ya think I can 86 'em damn things?" he griped as he handed over the assistive devices.

"Well, you see Potter again tomorrow? I'll write an update today and send it to him. If he likes what he reads, or more likely pretends to read, regarding your progress, he may discharge them. Do you feel like you can be good to the knee and treat it nice without using crutches? I don't want you to regress and re-injure yourself. That's not gonna get you into your running shoes any sooner."

"I'll be nice. Real gentle." he winked at her…he wasn't just talking about the knee. And she knew it. But again, she pretended she didn't, ignoring once more those butterflies threatening to choke her they were multiplying so fast in her belly.

"Okay, I'll put that in my note. Patient compliant with instructions to be nice." she laughed.

They talked as they biked, Shane sat on the one next to him and pedaled along with him for something to do other than be idle. She thought it made him feel better as well. Like he wasn't doing it alone. They covered the subject of her siblings, an older brother in IT and a younger sister who was an MA, and his German Shepherd, Aika, which he was allowed to bring home from Iraq after they were both honorably discharged. Music, both of them completely in agreeance about the superiority of classic rock.

"I noticed you've worn a Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt a few times and meant to say something before now."

"Yeah, they're one of my favorites. But there are a few newer groups that I like a lot, too. Kings of Leon got me through some tough times, honestly."

"Oh, they're great! I love their sound. And their lyrics…poetry."

"No shit. Sorry." she shook her head and raised up her hands to indicate that he didn't need to apologize to her for swearing. She'd been known to make sailors blush when she was off the clock. "Only by the Night…that whole album is…it's just in my blood, ya know? Ya ever have an album do that?"

"I have. Whole artists catalogs, actually."

"Which artist?" he prodded.

"The Beatles. Pretty much every song. Like you said, it just, like, I dunno, it's almost deeper than the veins. It's in the marrow. My soul." she stared off out the windows ahead of them, thinking about her favorite band in the world and how magical it was to experience Sir Paul McCartney playing some of her favorites live…twice…and the timer on the bike went off, pulling her from her daydream.

She looked over at him, startled by both the noise, and the dreamy look in his eyes that was becoming all too familiar.

"Sorry." she stood, grabbing his crutches for him and handing them back to him from where she had leaned them as they rode.

"Hey, don't be sorry for…ahem…for loving what you love. We should all…hold on to the things that make us feel like that." she nodded.

"Thanks…I don't think a lot of people…understand the way I…my tendency to take things like music, movies, and shows…books…so deeply to my heart." they walked to the treatment room from the gym, taking their time, since they had it. A rare occurrence for Shane, always needing to capitalize on every spare minute. To make productivity a priority.

"I think…that…well, seeing a pretty grim side of the world like I have…seems like there's enough darkness and bullshit making everyone miserable. If we find something…or…someone…that brings us some happiness or even just makes that misery bearable…we oughta hang onto 'em real tight. Cherish it like gold." the silence in the small room was loud with that electrical hum of their tension again. He'd said all the right things, as he always seemed to, but under the absolute wrong circumstances. She just nodded.

"They teach you philosophy in Basic?" she giggled. He laughed back in response.

"Oh, no, Basic was way easier than…whatever goes on inside of us."

"Speaking of which," she segued deftly, "lay back, and let my try to get some range out of that knee before I take new measurements for this update I'm gonna write."

"Yes, ma'am!" he chuckled.

"You get some sick thrill out of calling me that, don't you?" she scowled playfully at him.

"Oh, you have no idea…ma'am." he winked at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Shane was wondering how Sy's appointment went as she ate her soup at lunch and caught up on her morning notes. She got a ping on messenger.

You have a gentleman caller…*eggplant emoji*  hehe, he's on line three.

Geez…thanks Heather.

No need to ask for a name. She knew Heather meant Sy.

She picked up the phone at her desk in the treatment room.

"Hey Sy! How'd the appointment go?"

"Hey, sunshine…eh…he said I'm doin' good, but he wants me to stay on crutches another two weeks." she could hear grave disappointment in his voice. She felt for him.

"Aww, I'm sorry Sy. I know you wanted off those. And I know they're a pain. Literally and figuratively."

"Why wouldn't he want me off 'em?" he was so frustrated. He must have just left the office.

"Did you ask him that question?"

"You know doctors, Shane. Not like I would have got an answer in plain English. Figured you'd know."

"Well, I haven't seen your post-visit report, but it's my presumption that he wants to play it safe. You know he spent most of his day in the operating room with you, right? An eight hour surgery, you had. He probably doesn't want to undo all that by d/c'ing the crutches too soon."

"I was gonna be careful though, Shane!" he was worked up properly, and she could hear it over the roar of his pickup in the background.

"I know you were, Sy. I'm sure you were going to take all kinds of precautions. But what if you're walking into your kitchen, during a storm, and there's a loud clap of thunder, and Aika gets startled and busts past you? What if you're feeling good one day, and forget about it, and jog to catch up to someone holding the door open for you and miss a stick or something under foot? You can't prepare yourself for every pebble or patch of mud in your path, Sy. Accidents will happen. Some circumstances are beyond our control…we just have to do the best we can. The crutches are going to help you until we get you stronger. That's what we'll focus on until those two weeks are up."

"Why is it you can calm me down like this?" he asked, sincere and truly calmer than he had been.

"I'm just a good therapist, is all."

"Ya don't think that's really all, do ya?" the sound of his deep drawl in her ear from the receiver made her shiver. He was implying something that she just couldn't entertain. It wasn't possible for them right now. Maybe…down the road…in a few weeks…

"I'll see ya tomorrow, Sy. Come ready to work that knee."

"You didn't say no…" he was too hopeful. Damn it, he was cute when he was hopeful. She was glad she couldn't see his face light up like she knew it was doing.

"You may have noted I didn't say yes, either."

"Yet. See ya in the mornin', sunshine."

"Bye, Sy."

She put the receiver in the cradle and her face in her hands.

"Shit."

She had a feeling this particular patient was about to become much more complicated.

Up Next: Chapter Three-Therapeutic Activity

[cutegirlmayra]

Commission receipt: Ember’s Story, another chapter

Ember’s Story Commission Receipt

@marydragneell Commission for The Flares That Come From Ashes (Another chapter to Ember’s story)

Time: about 2 months or so.

Review: @marydragneell :  OMG IM ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH IT ❤🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤ The beginning is so cute 😍 how ember and manic are with each other. Her being in manic's band❤❤❤❤How cute and adorable they are together. Love the sinister appearance of mephilis perfect for him. Manic being a awesome badass for his girlfriend. Shadow acting jealous in such a cute sibling way. The perfect reaction to her trigger of seeing someone she love hurt 💔 ❤The recomforting ❤🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤ Just manic calling shadow big bro XD and pocking fun of shadow. All the " i wanna get your blessing ". Perfect representation of the duality of ember mental state, her nature and how she act. AMAZING BATTLE SCENE!!!!!!!!!!! The characters grow 👌 And the fact that you show that the fusion did left a permanent impact on her.

Me: Boy it was fun! Thanks again for the opportunity. ^//u//^

Paid Amount: 60$ for 50+ pages to add to the wonderful story of Ember the Immortal Wolf, prototype to Shadow The Hedgehog, and embedded with the rejected Cursed Emerald.

Product Preview: With permission from @marydragneell, here is the ROUGH DRAFT of the product.

The Flares that Come From Ashes

Another short story for the amazing Mary!

By: Cutegirlmayra

"La, la, la~" Ember tapped the mic, then garbled some gibberish to clear her throat. "Do, ray, me." She spoke, smiling nervously as she seemed a bit spooked by the stage lights. "Come on, Manic. You really think I'm ready for all this?" Ember twiddled her claws lightly against each other, ducking her head slightly as she tried to see through the blinding spotlights and turned to see the rest of the band practicing in their own respective places on stage. "It just seems... like maybe I'm not cut out to be in a band." She rubbed her arm, shyly admitting her fears of joining his group.

"Nah, girl. You really are ready." Manic, leaning against the side of the stage, finally walked out to reveal himself and stood beside her, drumming her shoulder, then her head, then her mic as she giggled and pulled her head slightly away from his reach. "You just need some confidence singing in front of others, is all."

Ember smiled sweetly, blushing at his cute charms. "This will be a lot different than helping Shadow at..." she gagged, not wanting to say G.U.N's name and still having a biased against them.

"Right. No more secret missions." He winked to her, then leaned with his arms crossed on the mic. "Babe, you really think you can't have a first debut with my band?"

"I'm just..! Psyching myself out!" she shook her head, her long coat swishing with the motion as her tail fluffed out in hopes of getting herself pumped. "Let's practice, just one more time!" she gripped the mic and he moved for her, but placed a hand right where hers was on the mic, then moved it up to show that he would stand there as emotional support. He gripped the mic to hold it steady for her, and for a second, their fingers intertwined, just the pinkie and ring finger, making Ember smile at his tender touch of compassion.

"Remember your diaphragm is your strongest tool, use it well. But it needs to breathe." He teased, leaning to her cheek to and letting their faces touch. His breath was warm, and the scent of their last home-cooked meal made her giggle and wiggle her nose a bit. Tingles came from her hands up to her cheeks, and she blushed at how close he was.

Nodding and swooning at his flirtations, she finally took a deep breath... honing all the knowledge about music, tempo, and breath-control he had been teaching her and began to sing lightly.

"Louder, Ems!" he bounded towards the edge of the stage, "Louder, girl!" then jumped off, moving back and spreading his arms out. "We gotta hear ya in the back!" he started drumming on the chairs, "I can't hear you, and I'm up in the front!"

She tried to sing a little louder, swishing her body back and forth but still nervous and more focused on what he was doing.

"Where's my girl's voice? I thought this was a rockin' concert!" He drummed louder, since she couldn't see through the lights, letting her know he was now towards the back of the venue they were playing at tonight.

She took both hands and pulled the mic's stand towards her, the wires whiplashed and she hoisted it up above herself, belting as loud as she could a powerful note that suddenly blasted through the speakers like an avalanche on a mountain's side.

The whole of the arena shook in the vibrations, making the band behind her almost lose balance and a few plug or stuck a finger in their ears from the deafening sound.

"Whoo! Now that's what I call a lion's roar Friday and no canary Saturday! Yeah!" He seemed to be hyped about her new found sound but his band mates all shook their heads and itched inside their ears again, hearing a ringing from that loudness.

They clearly weren't thrilled about her almost blowing out the mics, but she patted it lightly and whispered, "Sorry." with an embarrassed smile. She just wanted to get back at Manic, trying to prove a point that she didn't want to—literally—bring the house down.

However, Ember was only focused on pleasing Manic at the same time. She still wasn't the best at making friends, but with the ones she was able to gain, she treasured them dearly and without hesitation.

She trusted Sonic and his gang, Shadow—obviously—and lastly Manic... first and foremost.

She was still a little hesitant about Rouge... but that was just because she worked close with Shadow, and she didn't like how close they seemed to be in more ways than just work...

Either way, this was family. What she had wanted from the very beginning. To not feel alone or useless... Manic and the others accepted that she was dangerous, but also that she was loving, funny, and sweet.

Sure, she could be sassy, but only when provoked to and by appropriate means... sometimes.

She giggled, thinking of times she's purposefully ticked Sonic off just to make Shadow smile. Though he'd scold her, it would be a light whack on the head, and she knew by the light pat afterward where he hit her that he was glad she shut his annoying mouth for a change~

Most of the time, she acted a bit like the gang's grandmother. She would pick flowers with Cream, try and help Amy to learn to sing, and duke it out with Knuckles! She wasn't always keen on the technical stuff Tails liked to do, but even then, she let him research her powers every now and then. Showing off her strength was fun too, but Shadow always told her to hold back a bit... which was hard, since Ember could get super competitive!

"Hey, let's go over some songs real quick. We still got time." Manic hopped up to the stage and sat on the edge, pulling out some sheet music and pointing to some parts. "You struggled before with this one but I think you've nailed it since. Still, no harm in rehearsing and making sure it's picture perfect right?"

'Perfect..?'

Ember lowered her mic's stand back down lightly to the stage. sorrowfully, she was pulled out of her funny, perfect memory and placed in another conflicting stance. There was no better word to dampen her spirits than that one... and it hadn't been so long since she felt so imperfect and dangerous. It was definitely something she struggled with, but worked hard to overcome within herself.

Those children... they were still screaming for food or hugs. Maria... and Dr. Gerald Robotnik... they were still marveling at Shadow before he had awakened.

Some things never changed, but her memories of not being able to save anyone... those were the hardest to lock away and turn her mentally gazing eye from.

"Huh? What's wrong, Ems?" Manic got up, noticing her change in demeanor. "Uh oh, did I cramp your style?" He moved his hand in an old 90's way and she shook her head, realizing he was trying to cheer her up again.

"Shadow's the ultimate life form... the perfect cure or whatever..." She swished her body to the side, ignoring his cuteness for a moment to try and explain herself. she nervously held her hands behind her back and rubbed them together too, trying to hide her fidgety nature. She sighed a long, breathy wind out onto the mic from her nose and then felt arms around her waist. "H-hey!" she blushed, getting lifted up into the air, her arms coming out by her sides.

"Well, it's true no one's perfect." Manic tickled her with his long, hedgehog nose by her exposed belly, making her fidget to get out of his grasp. "But your perfect for me, babe. I don't need you to do the world's sense of perfection, but only your very best self should be on this stage. Alright? Otherwise... I'm gonna have to have a private session with you in the back..." he turned her around and began to kiss her neck, making her laugh at his suggestion.

"Oh, no audience, eh? Taking the pressure off?" She teased, patting his chest lightly to pretend to get him off of her.

"Emm... something like that." He head-bumped her forehead affectionately, "Just us two. Playing... somewhat what we're supposed to do." He took her hands and pulled them out a little to her sides, just messing with her and helping her loosen up.

Her tail wagged slightly and she looked up with a red muzzle. He really was a charmer... "Are all hedgehogs born charming?"

"Naaaah," Manic let one of her hands he was holding onto go and waved her compliment off in a comical way, "Your brother was created with his natural, flaring smile." He gestured to his smirk and she fell to the ground laughing. "Engineered to be devilishly handsome, I suppose. Your family has good genes."

"Hand-selected." She teased back and the two fell in howling laughter on the ground, rolling to their backs and having their arms grasping around their waistlines, the tip of their heads right up by each other's.

"Yo, can you two stop acting so precious?" One of the band mates smiled to them, "We need to get back to practice, you know. And you two would be wise to do the same, as well!"

Manic just nodded, pretending to be serious again. "Right, mate. Of course, don't let us stop you guys from your hard work either." He held up a hand and as soon as the member turned around, he expertly threw a lightly spinned drum stick to hit his head.

"Ow! Why you-!" Then the whole of the band started laughing, jumping in to dog pile Manic.

Ember smiled at the ruckus, wagging her tail as she got up to avoid the squabble. Seeing how close he was to them, made her happy... but... She crawled away from the fight, hugging her legs to resist the urge to join them. Though she really, really wanted too jump in and roughhouse with them. She knew she was a bit too powerful to do that though... So her ears bent back and she placed her head on her legs, waiting patiently and enjoying the boys' playful wrestle match, all in good fun.

"We don't care if you bring your girlfriend in to sing, but do you have to be so cute with her, Man!?" one stated and she blushed. They never really officially told anyone... maybe just Shadow, but he denied it fiercely.

She wondered why... after all, Manic kept her away from Shadow most of the time. She stayed out of trouble too... so why was he so opposed to him?

He had stated he was fine with her having friends, so why not a boyfriend? Last time he saved her from Scourge, Shadow had admitted Manic wasn't so bad a guy... maybe he was prejudice against his hippie vibe persona? Though she knew in her heart he was raised in the rough streets where he had to steal most of the time... maybe that could be a player in Shadow's obvious disapproval of him?

"Lay off, dude, I can't help but want to hold her. Got a problem with that?!" Manic grinned from ear to ear, hitting the blokes off in their tussling sport before they all seemed to be done with messing with him. Panting and looking tired, they probably just needed to blow off some of the nerves they were feeling. It was their big night too... Ember couldn't screw it up.

"Whatever, just keep to a schedule. Kiss and coo after the performance, okay?" One went to get his fallen shades for his eyes and shook his head, just making fun of his friend.

"Yeah, at least we can avoid it then." Another stated, giving Manic a nudge in the shoulder as brothers would do.

"The love police, Ember. They're everywhere!" Manic got up with a quickened step, stumbling over as fast as he could back to her, scrambling to stay on his feet but really just crawling to her. She just couldn't help but fall for him over and over again... as he kept falling over and over trying to get to her.

He helped her up and she jumped to her feet, "Maybe we do need to just go solo then."

The band groaned and they laughed, "Don't take our best drummer, Ember." They teased in reply.

But as all seemed to go back to normal, the band rehearsing and Ember warming up her voice, a strange wind storm picked up... there was a rustling in the leaves as they flew up towards the stage lights... causing gentle shadows over the harsh beams of white. The wind blew a warning sound, bellowing as though trying to speak over Ember's singing voice. But in the darkness of the sky there twisted out a small, purple portal. It's mouth gaped wide, spinning with loops of different shades of darkness like blues and purples into a wavy effect in the black sky.

Finally, looking away from Ember a moment as he drummed, Manic sensed something off as his quills picked up in the wind's fierce direction. He stopped by reaching out and touching his drums, stopping the beat and vibrations to look around. "What is that?" Manic held up a hand for the others to also cease a moment... and listen. He then turned to his band, "Get on guard, dudes. There's only one thing that makes me this chilly." He began, getting off the drums and clutching his magical necklace a moment, "Dangerous schemes..." he narrowed his eyes towards the purple portal.

They all hurried to the back of the stage as something misty and liquid dropped like runny goop from the rift in the sky. It began to form from the shadows around it, rising from the ground in what looked like a misty, disfigured water fountain. A figure solidified... rolling its head into place and crooking its two arms out like a scarecrow in the isle of the arena...

The figure had distinct hedgehog quills... then a white tuff that looked almost grey a moment... bluish gleams from its silhouette.

It almost looked like... That obsidian color...

"...Shadow?" Ember stated in disbelief as the rift blasted away as though something fiery were on the other end. Flames that torched the sky and even blinded the band who tried to shield themselves with their arms. "Ahh..!" Ember felt like the flames were brighter than the stage lights... At last, the figure looked itself over, as though checking to make sure it survived whatever had brought it here.

The colors were slightly wrong, the grey instead of the red... what was this? An illusion? Some sort of trick?

His eyes were covered in what seemed like a green glaze, though it was clear it did resemble Shadow, in a striking way.

"Strange... this time was my only escape... I don't have long before Sonic and his friends blow out my other half..." He then sharply looked over to Ember, narrowing his eyes as he felt the pull of an odd chaos emerald. "Interesting... I sense a great sorrow in your chest... mind if I remove it?" he slowly, creepily moved in a zombie fashion with flimsy gestures with his hand to point at Ember. "It won't take long... but it will be painful... hahahaha." He laughed as though an axe hacking at stone.

"This doesn't look so good!" Manic grabbed the silver necklace that dangled loosely by his chest and a set of magical drums—different than his band's—sprung into existence through sparkles from the arena. "Get out of here, Ember. I don't think this guy is anywhere close to being your brother."

"B-but..." She covered her cursed emerald, and looked to Manic. "What about you? I'm not just gonna run while you take on this... this thing!" She was clearly spooked, but would never abandon Manic.

'It could be a clone,' was her first thought, remembering Shadow's stories and how Eggman had cruelly tormented him by making him think he—himself—was nothing more than a fake. Luckily, he was the original, and Ember could tell that right away... though she had never seen a clone.

"Shadow... I haven't heard that name in a long time." The figure slid his foot up to step forward, "Nor have I heard... Brother?" He seemed to twist his head as though stretching his neck back. "I wasn't aware there were more of his kind... but that explains why that dark essence hasn't eaten your life away just yet..." He was like a ragdoll, and quickly seemed to regain himself, rolling his spine as up to straighten himself, but instead his back lurched back and his arms dangled again to his sides. "I need a host soon, or my very being, the will and mind of Solaris, will be destroyed fully in my flame body, Iblis... Which Sonic currently is trying to defeat." His words made no since to them, but Ember gathered that he knew Shadow.

"You know Shadow The Hedgehog?" She stepped forward, but Manic just looked back at her, worried.

"I... drew my form off his shadow." His head lowered as his eyes seemed to pierce like spears through to her core. "And soon... I'll draw form from you as well..."

"Ember, don't listen to him! I can feel his vibes, he's no good!" Manic tried to warn her, getting antsy on his drum seat. However, she seemed entranced with the idea of someone that looked like Shadow... maybe another experiment?

Though she had a perfect memory, she knew for a fact that Gerald hadn't created any similar copies of Shadow...

'Flame body?' she wondered, her ears flicking as she pondered his words. 'Form?'

"Ah, I see you're of the sensible kind... excellent. Hahahaha..!" The figure laughed in his sadist way again, plotting something... "I was ripped apart from my other half by your... brother..." He gestured to his body, "I assume his form now only to survive, but since I have failed after merging with my glorious true form again... I have no choice but to rewrite time while I still have a silver of flame left in me... Reunite me with a new half, and I can tell you what will befall Shadow in the future... The persecution... the misery of his shamed life." He wildly swung a hand out to her, the side of his body faltering as he tilted with his outstretched hand, down and to the side.

Ember was immediately pulled into that promise, wondering what he meant and if he was somehow tied to another time. She stepped forward again, but this time Manic grabbed her arm back, "Ember, don't-!" he warned, but this figure only laughed at his attempt.

"Ember... what a befitting name... the last flares of my life... mixed with the ashes that shall soon be the remainder of your own... It's perfect poetry... hahahaha!" The figure stood like a scarecrow again, laughing as more dark flares formed around him, rolling his head back in dark humor.

At that last sentence Ember stepped back, and the lure he had over her lessened.

However... for Shadow's future's sake... she wanted so desperately to know more.

"I escaped a deadly fate, I only want to release you from your imprisonment... and allow it to be my salvation." He gestured his hand out to speak, seeing he had her strung on his previous words, "But not just my own... but to save your fellow immortal... as well..."

"He has answers. I knew G.U.N would betray us!" she began to grow angry, her fangs bared with her clamping bite as she gritted her teeth and growled.

"Yes... the world will never accept you... After all, we're both of the dark." He lowered his head, having her emerald embedded in her chest glowing the same purple mist with darkness lining its power in his crystallizing eyes with magma red glowing from the sockets... "Together... we can change the future." He flashed in a light and seemed to crystallize fully, "Now then... with the last of my power, I have altered time and come to this world... Ember... Give me of your power!"

"Ember, please." Manic didn't like holding her back, but he knew something was off. "You've accepted yourself, remember? The world doesn't matter, but those who love you do!" he gently tugged on her arm again, trying to get her to stand behind him on this one. "Please... this guy doesn't have your best interest at heart! Isn't that obvious?!"

"But he might have Shadow's..." Her eyes softened, but she didn't want to just shake Manic off. She knew in her heart that would be wrong, "If there's a way I can help Shadow..."

"Keeping you alive and happy will help Shadow!" Manic spun her around, turning her gaze from the figure, who lifted his head in a twitching jolt at losing sight of the cursed emerald... "If Sonic defeated him and he's running, don't you think that's a bad sign?" Manic tried to convince further, "I just can't have you go with him, Ember. Please, listen to me. Just this once, okay? You can ignore me the rest of the concert but hear my words now, at least now, Ember!" He was struggling to have her look at him, but she just kept ducking her head. She hadn't seen him this worked up before, but the idea that Shadow's future could be spared... But was he really a bad guy from another time and world? Would Sonic know of him?

She longed to have joined in that playful wrestle with Manic and his friends... If she was rid of the cursed emerald, could she live a normal life? Would her immortality fade and she could have a life with Manic? Finally end this suffering? Would her super powers fade and she could be a regular lady without a single care in the world?

Or would the world be better off without her... if she was so dangerous, maybe at least... she could leave Shadow with some hope for his future...

Impatient, the figure's being rose in the air. "I am Mephilis the Dark. I'm your only means for salvation." He began to form what looked like a crystal in his hand. It carried down to form a crystal around his body, and soon, he blasted into a hardened form with seemed to have a silver tuff that looked strangely like a bird... "Come to me, chaos emerald! Join your form to a more suitable host!" he formed a purple sphere in his hand and threw it towards her, a large dark beam flung behind her to block the other members of the band from interfering.

A huge ridge was created in the stage, and the others moved away to escape the glowing beam before Manic turned to see Mephilis charging through the air towards Ember, reaching for her emerald.

Ember's eyes looked ready to reflex... but relaxed... as though thinking it was time to accept whatever fate had in store... maybe for the greater good.

"No!" Manic slammed his drum sticks against his magical drum set that blasted out a sonic boom.

Mephilis pulled back to block the attack,... "Grr...ahhh!" In frustration, he was held back.

Manic looked to Ember, a sense of urgency and concern in his eyes, "Look, I've lived on the streets! Take my advice and get outta here or I'm gonna have to fight this guy!" he seemed really serious, "Go!" he was done saying please, and Ember could see it.

With regret at not trusting him right away, she looked back at Mephilis, then Manic. "You run too, then!" she cried out, but he was already locked in a battle with the strange figure now known as Mephilis... as dark orbs launched towards him but Manic played a sick beat that blasted them away.

"No! Go find Shadow! I'll stall him!" He seemed dedicated to the fight. "Trust me, I'll be okay! You guys go too!"

The bandmates all hesitated as well, but then took hold of Ember, trying to pull her back and let them flee with her.

"Noo..!" She shook them off, almost throwing one of them, "I won't leave you!"

However, the bandmates looked to each other and one put their hand on her shoulder, "Look, Ems. He's Sonic's brother, right? If he says he's got this, we gotta trust him." He nodded to her, "That weirdo's after you, right? He's only trying to protect you. Come on, we can fight another day. Especially when we learn more about this impostor!"

She took one final look back at Manic... "Promise?" she knew he would never go back on one...

Manic didn't say anything... but gave a light nod. "Take care of her for me, boys... her brother can keep her safe and I'll figure out more about this dude. Go now!"

"Manic..." She felt tears coming to her eyes but with an orb being sent her way, a bandmate stepped forward and whacked it back with his guitar. At least, he tried, but upon impact the guitar exploded and sent the bandmate flying back.

Ember outstretched her hand and grabbed him, moving with the others to retreat. "You better promise me... in your heart! I'll be waiting for you! Otherwise... I'm... I'm coming for you!" she was rushed with the bandmates out through the back...

"I don't take lightly to people trying to rip my girlfriend apart!" A side of Manic that Ember hadn't really seen in him came out, a protective and hardened side of Manic she didn't know was there.

She knew he lived on the streets, was a thief and all, but he always talked about having honor with it.

As she took off, she could hear him bantering with Mephilis, and knew he'd be somewhat okay. She could picture him winking to her, blowing her a kiss, and saying to find somewhere safe. But the only safe place right now would be... ughh...

She groaned in her thought process, "Shadow's going to be so mad..."

G.U.N HQ

"I didn't bail on Manic! He's not into fighting, true, but he knew something was up and I just didn't listen to him. I wanted to know what future that look-a-like was talking about for you, can you blame me?" Ember tried to explain herself, but Shadow turned around abruptly to cut her off from any further justification she would have thrown at him.

"Yes, and I will." He moved to the other side of the room, "This is bad timing. I get a headache when you say his name, and I can't remember where I would have met him. You say he has my form?" he looked back at her as she nodded, once figuring out he wasn't talking about Manic.

"Truthfully! I thought it was you at first..." she held her head down, worried about Manic again, and then tried to give him her best 'pleading little sister wolfie eyes' to get him to help.

Shadow just sighed, taking a moment to accept that she wasn't making things up for his attention. "Fine. I'll look into it, see if Gerald-"

"No! I know his secrets, this isn't one of them!" She swiped her arm out, declaring it thus. "Let's not waste time with reading insignificant files! We have to go and get Manic!"

"Calm down, sweetie. Your boyfriend's defeated but he isn't dead... yet." The womanly voice flew down from the rafters, flexing her wings out and patting Ember's head. However, the action was taken as a insult, Ember thinking she was demeaning her by making her feel like a child being comforted, "There, there. What a whiny little sister you can be sometimes. Especially since you're a number one target for that escapee recently."

"Rouge." Shadow's eyes narrowed to her, as if telling her to remain silent on that.

"Escapee?" Ember thought a moment, moving her fingers as if trying to put two and two together, then her eyes widened in shock. "SCOURGE!?" Ember gripped her head, then looked wildly to her figurative brother, "Scourge is out now, too!?"

"Apparently, seeking revenge." Rouge walked around her and headed towards Shadow, folding her arms. "You were instructed by G.U.N to track him down, yet you didn't even warn your own sister yet?"

Shadow just verbally let out a groan at her spilling the information without going over it with him first. "I didn't want to worry you." He looked to Ember, "I would have handled it silently, no need to get you fired up over a rematch."

Ember would have liked the idea but now was not the time, "E-Everyone's after me cursed emerald!" she shouted out like an Irish leprechaun, but stuttered in trying to make the atmosphere lighter than what seemed like impending doom... "So he's broken out of prison, there's a time traveling—I guess—looney now. Anything else I missed?" The room remained silent, eyes turning away from her. "Great, this is too much for a young, single, totally attractive immortal wolf to handle." She dramatically leaned against one of Shadow's desks as he glared at her.

"Knock it off. Try and act seriously for a change." He scolded.

"Isn't that why G.U.N... 'let me go'?" she did the bunny ears, but clearly she was fired from working alongside Shadow.

"You were a menace to them. You couldn't see it the way I... no, the way Maria wanted us to see them." He turned back to her, and she was slightly triggered on her name, but just shook her head.

"I've handled way worse before... than just losing Maria." She turned her head away, but knew Shadow was probably throwing daggers into her back with his eyes as she said that. Those kids... it was more than just Maria at this point, so... much more.

"...Look," To break the tension, Rouge stepped in-between, holding her hands out to calm Shadow and try and reason with Ember. She seemed to be struggling finding a good way to accomplish that... however, "You can't stay at G.U.N if you don't work for them, and since your last boot, Shadow and I have lovingly referring to you as the new apprentice to that hippie." She seemed to lower her eyes as if annoyed by that.

"Boyfriend, and I'm not a hippie." Ember folded her arms in protest, then stuck her tongue out at Shadow, knowing he didn't want to refer to Manic as that.

"Is it official, though?" Rouge raised a shoulder up over her cheeky look, disguising her clear curiosity but also sinister ploy to get her to admit that nothing had really happened yet between her and Manic...

Ember flinched, holding back wanting to fight her.

"Either way, your brother doesn't like that crowd, apparently." She looked over to him, "Jealous, maybe?"

"Enough, Rouge. He protects Ember, that's all I need to know." Shadow turned back to the door of the facility, having it open as guards waited with shields and guns, ready in case Ember 'acted up' again.

"And he's not a hippie!" Ember was humored by their efforts but was too busy with other important problems to 'play on G.U.N's fear' though she wanted too... badly.

"I disagree." Shadow kept walking and she walked behind him.

To lessen G.U.N's concerns, Rouge also walked behind her. "Seems to be the underlining case... I think you disagree wholeheartedly." she shrugged her arms out.

"Thank you, Rouge." he didn't pause in his stride.

"-That maybe he doesn't like the fact that you're spending so much time with another hedgehog other than himself." She covered her mouth with the back of her hand as Ember gasped and Shadow tensed up, turning his head around.

"Rouge!" he scolded.

"Uh oh, did I touch a nerve?" Playing innocent, Rouge smiled and looked away from him, seeing as Ember also seemed touched and went to hug him. However, he outstretched his hand in an attempt to hold her back.

Upon exiting the steel facility of G.U.N, the team decide to drop in on Sonic, seeing if the team of adventuring friends had any luck with remembering this enemy... but to their surprise—"Huh?"

"I've never heard of someone with the ability to shape-shift like that..." Tails placed a book down, trying to look through his journals but nothing was popping up about this strange Shadow figure...

"Maybe you have an admirer, Shadow." Sonic tilted his head back and to the side, giving Shadow a cheeky grin sneakily, but Shadow was too observant for his teases. He just rolled his eyes at Sonic's antics, choosing not to entertain him with a response.

"According to Ember, you were in battle with him before." Shadow explained, giving his full attention to Tails as Sonic dipped his head down and smirked, seeing as Shadow was trying to take everything too seriously again for his tastes.

"Oh? Must have trounced him then!" Sonic gave himself a hearty fist swing, as though to celebrate his victory that he didn't even understand had happened or would happen yet. "Maybe he's from the future? We could ask Silver..."

"No good, there's nothing about him here. Technically, if what Ember says is true, he does sound like it's his 'past' to him..." Tails deciphered through Ember's perfect retelling, trying to pinpoint terms that could lead to an answer.

"You assume I'm not?" She played, looking to Sonic to show that his sense of humor wouldn't go unnoticed.

He gave her a quiet snicker with his eyes closed, enjoying the fact that at least one immortal had some charm.

"N-no, of course not!... heeeyyy..." Tails worried he had upset her, but seeing her and Sonic's shoulders bouncing and grins, he knew they were laughing together. "Don't pick on me..." He whined cutely.

"Oh, never Tails." She swished her tail behind her, "Never without the intent to sweetly embarrass you."

He sighed and continued, "Anyway,... we don't know if it's our future or past. Not for certain, but it does sound like something that was currently occurring for him, and he knew he wouldn't be around much longer in that time-frame of space..." Tails tried to think over what Ember said, it was still hard to identify where this villain would have originated from in their timeline.

"Another world? Dimension, maybe?" Sonic questioned, trying to help him out with half the thinking.

Tails scratched his chin, moving his torso around before gripping his head in frustration, "Oh, I just can't figure it out! I need more information..." He looked downhearted, unable to help. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry, Tails." Ember lightly patted his head, "Maybe he's just some jerk, that's all we need to know, right? A bad guy..?" She still wasn't sure about that... he seemed to know about Shadow's future...

She was still curious about his origin... but mostly about what he knew of whatever future he had seen or known for Shadow...

"A-Aren't you curious?" Ember turned to Shadow, who walked over beside the couch and folded his arms, facing away from her. "Whether he's an enemy or not? He tried to take your emerald, which I believe sustains your life since you are a prototype. He openly admitted that Sonic had fought him and was winning. Wouldn't that mean he is?" He turned to look at her over his shoulder. "I've always known my path would be full of human fear and deceit. But I don't do it for myself... you know who I promised. I can't withdraw from this life, even if I know it will be misfortune in the end. My form will only be useful for such things as pertain to this world... If this Mephilis uses my form and seeks to remain in this world by your power, then he is corrupting both our purposes." He tightened his fist.

Ember rubbed her arm, sensing she had struck a nerve. She didn't want to push the subject and trigger the tragedy, but she also knew he didn't understand what she was actually asking, "That's not quite what I-" but before she could finish, the door to Tails's workshop slammed open.

"Get this kid some place to lay down!" Rouge had shoved the door open with one hand and holding Manic by her other arm. He was slumped over, his head down and slowly looking up with a bruised eye, squinting it open slightly to look around. He was clearly hurt, his arm around Rouge to support himself as she tried to get him over the step and into the house.

"E..Em...Ember..." he spoke faintly with a weak strength that barely let him slide a foot under himself to help Rouge move him easier.

His black eye shut again as Rouge looked over to Shadow, "Let's get him on the couch. I went to check on him like you asked me to... but..." Sonic and Shadow moved swiftly, lifting him from Rouge's care and placing him on the couch as Ember's eyes trembled, seeing someone she loved so much in pain...

She covered her mouth, "No... no more... no more hurting..." she shut her eyes, unable to bear the sight any longer.

So many memories... of the ones she's grown to care about hurting so much... because of her.

Manic coughed, being laid on the couch as Sonic gave him a worried smile, "Like old times, eh? What happened to you, Manic? At least tell me you won... right?" He meant to say 'are you okay?' but that was just how him and his brother spoke to one another.

"Oh yeah, I did decently." He tried to open his eye more for his brother, giving him a playful wink. "Ouch..." He flinched, the action might have been too strenious. But that didn't stop Manic from trying to pull it off.

She had pictured that wink... but now it was so very, very different...

He was hurt.

It was all her fault...

Though that villain should be to blame, Ember couldn't help but direct the guilt to herself.

"They got the better of me... still, my Bandmates got Ember to Shadow, and they themselves found me pretty banged up... but those two... they made a deal." Manic's last words had caught the attention of everyone in the room.

He looked over to Ember, seeing as she was lost in her own thoughts, looking anxious. "Hey, don't be afraid, Ems. I'm okay... really..." He tried to grab her attention, but she was lost in her own self-grief and pity. "I just got beat up by some powerful, wicked bad dudes, no biggie. I'm still here, see?" He smiled kindly, though worse for wear, he outstretched a hand in compassion towards her.

He wanted her to come to him... even though he had gotten hurt for her sake?

She slowly approached, but her memories of the fallen were a lot for her to take.

She didn't want him to suffer the same fact as others who had known her.

"Shadow was right." She fell to her knees and cried, unable to grab his hand as the others watched her in shock. "Our only future is misfortune... especially for those around us..."

They all looked worriedly towards her, but remained silent in her sorrowful display, not knowing how to comfort her.

"I should have stayed!" she cried out, "You should have let me fight beside you..!" She wiped the tears from her eyes as he smiled at her gentle display of compassion towards him, but also knowing she didn't want anyone's sympathy, just like Shadow. He was too prideful to comfort her, so he just let her cry, closing his eyes to give her a moment of respectful distance.

"Look at my girl... so strong, like her brother." He looked to Shadow, almost like to mock him for not being emotional about his tragic fate either. "Heh, I didn't want to see you hurt either, Ems. I did what a man should do." He nodded his head back to her, dismissing Shadow, who opened his eyes to try and judge what he meant by that. "Protecting the people you love isn't easy, it isn't easy for anyone, but that doesn't mean you don't take risky chances to ensure their happiness."

"How does this make me happy!?" Ember gripped and shredded some of Tails's wooden flooring... "How does this make anyone happy!?"

"... I am happy, knowing you're not hurt, or worse." He tried to get up, but began to show the pain and couldn't quite do it. "Now come on, Ems. Come sit with... me." Ember worriedly raced to him, skimming his back and letting him rest his head on her lap as she gently eased him into letting her sit down and look after him.

"Dummy, I can heal faster than you!" she helped him relax again and he gave her a huge, dorky grin.

"Does this mean you'll take care of me? Man, so worth it!" he joked, settling into her loving care.

She gently massaged his shoulders, rubbing his chest, and trying to self-comfort herself that he was alive. "I am glad you're alive... but I refuse to just let you talk me into running off like that again... I don't care how mad you get."

"Heh... I guess saving your life is only good for a one-time thing, eh?" Manic closed his eyes, and even with everyone staring at him, he leaned his head towards her and began to try and take it easy. "You're so used to Shadow always partnering up along side you... I just wanted to be a daring, brave hero for you... at least once."

Shadow twitched an eyebrow, but moved swiftly over to Sonic and Manic, seeming to want to change the subject and ignore the two's intimate moment. "We need you to tell us exactly what happened." he spoke with a lot of authority, but also with a hint of annoyance... maybe he just wanted to get more details out as soon as possible?

Manic turned his head slightly to Shadow, then smiled weakly. "What's up, big bro?"

Shadow flinched again, "I asked you a question. It's urgency couldn't be more dire."

"...Isn't that the same thing?" He looked jokingly up to Shadow and then to his brother, "Did you see him march over here like I'm some kinda crook?"

"You do have your head in his sister's lap, bro." Sonic folded his arms, giving him a sly look.

"Ha, I'm not the dog here." He looked lovingly up to Ember, "I'm a gentlemen."

She leaned down to his head, lightly kissing it. "You're a gentlemen rogue." she teased, "Stealing my heart and all."

"But she gave you her lap freely." Sonic snickered under his gloved hand, giving a sideways glance to Shadow, seeing his reaction.

Shadow refrained from making a comment, but it was clear he was starting to get upset.

Ember tilted her head, "Shadow? Does this really bother you?" She couldn't understand why, but wondered if he really was protective of her or not.

Shadow turned his head away, and after a long, awkward silence, Manic spoke up again.

"Can't a man catch his breath first?" he turned his head to Rouge, "Can I get some water? My mouth's a little dry here..." But Ember bent down and kissed him again, instead. "Woah..! Did I die and go to heaven already?" he marveled at her, but she just giggled as Rouge covered her mouth and seemed to enjoy the young lovers having their 'catching up' moment before retreating to the kitchen. She slid her hand over Shadow's arm, whispering something for him to relax and then came back with some water, handing it to Ember to help Manic drink.

"Let him rest a moment, Shadow. There's no use in pushing him too far." Rouge stated, nodding towards Ember. "Besides, your sister can get more out of him than you ever could~" she teased. Ember smiled up to Rouge, realizing she wasn't as bad as she thought...

At least she was siding with her and Manic, for now, anyway.

After gulping down some sips of water, Manic gave out a long, happy sigh. "Ahhh... now that hit the spot. I feel much better, able to talk more now, too." He looked to Shadow. "That guy called himself Mephilis the Dark, right? While we fought, he was insanely strong! No matter how much I hit him, he never seemed to fade in strength all that much... however, I think I almost figured him out, at least his fighting style, but..." He trailed off and looked away, seeming disappointed in the turn of the events, "That's when that Scourge guy showed up with his gang." Manic narrowed his eyes a moment, remember the encounter. " I remember his name alright... They jumped me and my drums formed back into my necklace... they held me down and beat on me as Scourge demanded to know where Ember was, but Mephilis must have saw him as an opportunity to find her as well."

Ember bit on her lower lip, worried about them tag-teaming to find her...

"I don't know why Scourge agreed, but I have a feeling he's not gonna be honest in that arrangement... but then again, I don't think Mephilis was too keen on honesty or trust either... They all look like backstabbers to me, and they're all after your Cursed Emerald, Ember..." He looked up at her again, lifting his hand to cup her face a moment. "But don't sweat it, I'll make sure they never get you. Mark my words, babe." They touched foreheads a moment, as Sonic and Tails looked to each other, concerned.

"We'll try and figure out where Scourge is and what he's up to with this guy. If they are hunting Ember down, we should plan out if we're gonna bait them or hide her." Tails gestured a hand out, stating the necessity for a plan, but Shadow immediately stomped up to him.

"There won't be a need to use Ember." he stated, looming over Tails. Tails moved back a bit, but Sonic countered by moving up towards Shadow, stopping him from intimidating his friend.

"If they've teamed up, who knows how powerful they are now. He interrupted Manic's fight, and are probably after the other emeralds. Me and Tails will try and split up our gang, find out if they're heading to Angel Island or are abandoning everything to find the impure emerald." Sonic tried to bring reason and logic into his actions, which calmed Shadow down a bit. "If you and Manic take Ember, Rouge can go off on her own to try and spot them and stay as a spy. We'll cut them off before they can cause any further trouble. But let's hope they're only after Ember... that trouble we can ambush, sound good to you?"

"...Ember doesn't do well with plans." Shadow glared back at Ember, as though implying that she needs to agree to this too.

Ember nodded her head, looking determined to get back at Scourge for hurting Manic, and also hoping to find out what this Mephilis the Dark guy knew about Shadow... and if it was true or not.

"You've gotta let me come with you, Shadow." Manic winced in pain as he got up, which made Ember panic and grab his arm to help him. "I care about her just as much as you do... I may not be as strong or accomplished at saving things like Sonic is... but I'm just as good as my brother when it comes to protecting those I cherish..."

Sonic nodded, giving his brother a thumbs up for his bravery. "You won't find a better man, Shadow!"

"...Alright." Shadow conceded. "I don't need any further convincing. If Ember wants you along to help, I won't oppose." He began to walk out the door, "But listen... heed this warning... Scourge, we understand his ways, but Mephilis, we do not. We need to be cautious, for Embers sake." He looked to her as if saying she really needed to act mature during this, and Ember just embarrassingly looked away, still holding Manic's arm as he kissed her cheek to try and cheer her up.

"Ugh." Shadow turned away, disgusted by the display of comforting affection, and walked to open the door. "Come on, we should keep a constant movement..."

"Your brother once protected the president before, right?" Manic wanted to encourage Ember that he probably knew best, but she just laughed.

"And tried to destroy him."

The room grew silent.

Then Sonic let out a huge roar of laughter, gripping his stomach.

Scourge and Mephilis, on the hunt...

"We've scowered everywhere for this girl! Why is she so hard to find?!" Scourge kicked over a burning trashcan, watching it's tin tink against the dark street... there were people screaming to escape the fires, and Scourge just looked at his hand, gripping it tightly. "What good is causing mayhem and panic if I know I'm not the most terrifying thing out there!?"

Mephilis had his arms crossed, standing next to him, looking like stone... "I think we'd get along... if you weren't so deranged." He mused to himself, turning to him as Scourge got right up in his face.

"I only make friends with subordinates. We agreed you'd let me do this my way! Flush out the rat with flames!" he threw his hand back to the burning city. "Besides, you look as twisted as I am..." he muttered under his breath.

"I have no issue with you burning the world... but as for sniffing or snuffing her out, I doubt you'd find her." He moved with strange elegance, and placed his hand on the ground. Shadows of whispy, black vines began to mutate around him, "If what you say is true... then her emerald has negative chaos energy... compared to it's seven, pure siblings... it's power can't be controlled or harnessed... It's a mad stone. One who needs a host able to contain and manipulate its madness..."

The darkness began to grow, dodging the fires but being born from their flickering shadows cast to the walls as well, upon the walls they danced... and began to search for every living soul... Like a reign of purple and misty hound dogs, falling over each other as they searched for the same... strange... energy...

"What's that your doing?" Scourge growled, scowling at him doing something without an order from himself. "I don't like things done behind my back!"

"...Finding the diamond in the rough..." Mephilis laughed, his dark power moving under screaming feet, the fires burning everything they touched. He had missed this feeling... but soon, with the Cursed Emerald, he'll have it all over again... "The shadows I'm made of are linked with a strong connection to the ultimate life form... if she is at all with Shadow, I shall know of it... and take what I need to survive."

The shadows, almost like the fire from which they were spreading, continued forth out of Mephilis and searched with a lapping, slithering haste that seemed to crawl everywhere in a furious urgency.

Soon, they were outside the city, spreading themselves into the forest. Little Flickies hid in their tree truck holes and cowered from the impending doom they seemed to send.

One of the shadow tips lingered as though to spike through a piggy that was holding its bunny friend, shivering in fright. It came closer before it sensed something, and immediately slithered towards where Shadow was, diving into his shadow...

Mephilis tilted his head, as Scourge once again grew frustrated. "Did you find something..? Care to share with the rest of the class?" He bent down and gestured a hand up as Mephilis just creepily turned to him, but didn't look directly at him.

"I found him... I'm... listening and looking to see where they are..." He heard Shadow speak and was pulled back to the moment at hand.

Shadow, hiding behind a bush with Manic, were clearly alone for right now. "She's well hidden?"

"I told her to stay put." Manic grumbled, "But you know Ember... she's always excited about a new test of strength."

"This isn't a game, she'll listen to you." Shadow was once again so serious, and it was really bumming Manic out.

"I know, I know. But she'd do anything for you." He smiled to Shadow, "You know, she's really attached to you. It broke her heart when G.U.N said she couldn't work with you anymore. It felt like they were taking something else away from her too." He explained, wondering if Shadow knew.

Shadow remained silent,... a moment went by before he sighed quietly and spoke up again, gentler this time. "I tried to warn her. She wouldn't follow orders... G.U.N is different from the past, they're trying to live better than they were..."

"You forgave them, which I respect." Manic nodded his head to him, "But for Ember... it's kinda a betrayal."

He looked away, "G.U.N was run differently in the past. They've learned to accept my power as long as it's used for good means."

"Their means." Manic countered, fiddling with a twig as Shadow glared at him. Manic was momentarily distracted with the twig, playing with it and bending it but not to the point of snapping before looking up to Shadow and then throwing his hands up in apology, and hoping he may calm down and back off a bit from the intense glare of annoyance. "H-hey, now! I'm only saying what Ember's told me. You know, you two should really talk more... she misses you." He gently put the fallen twig back into the bush. "She feels like this twig here... broken off from every family she ever made. Too dangerous to stay with anyone for too long... and mostly hunted down for her power. You can understand how she feels, can't ya?" He gave him a half-forced smile, "You have to understand... how much she longs to be in a real family..."

Shadow 'hmph'd to the side, "She's always been sensitive." but there was a warmness in that tone... A bond that Manic was happy to see shine through.

"Hey... is that a smile?" He teased, gesturing to the gentle curl in Shadow's lips.

Shadow patted Manic's accusing finger away and flicked his nose, "So she's gathering berries and other wild provisions?"

"While we remain lookout, yeah... she didn't like that plan all to much." Manic made a face and Shadow only chuckled.

"That is Ember." He joked,"And you were pretty useless in that condition... I'm... glad you recovered well." the two shared a mutual moment of fondness for her, and then looked to one another. It was as though Shadow had accepted that fact, that Ember loved Manic, but also that Manic was a good man. For a moment, he gave a look of acceptance, before looking off again. "Ember... Heh." He seemed to be thinking back on their adventures together. "She's headstrong, like Sonic. Doesn't stand still for a moment... all this and more... is why she's who she is. Which is exactly why I worry she may never find a decent job in this world..."

"She's doing pretty good at singing." Manic volunteered the idea, trying to lighten the downplay on Ember's talents but Shadow only made a face. "What? Singing don't jell right with you, big bro?"

"Don't call me that." He looked annoyed again.

"All I'm saying is maybe Ember isn't cut out for army or military stuff. She's not like Rouge, a secret agent and spy. She can't always be stealthy," Manic started.

"She longs too much for the attention." Shadow mused to himself while Manic just lowered his eyes and looked back at him as though thinking he was purposefully being a downer now.

"She's powerful, yes. But she also has a powerful, beautiful soul to her as well." He started drumming the ground, "We each have our own rhythms, Shadow. Maybe her's is better suited to things outside of fighting?"

"Yet, she loves to tumble." Shadow joked again, which made Manic just throw his arms up and laugh.

"You're not gonna give my thoughts on Ember the time of day, are you?" He seemed to realize Shadow was blocking him out, but Shadow just pushed his head down, done talking about this for now.

"Just duck down low and do as you're told... Ember wants you here, that's why you are here." He warned him, but Manic just scooted on up to him, moving his hand and seeing a brotherly side of Shadow showing.

"Hey," he grinned widely. "I've been meaning to ask you... I never did get your blessing on asking Ember to date me."

Shadow seemed to lose the slight smile he had, turning to one of more worry and anxiety.

"I wanted to make it more official after I talked with you about it, but you were always caught up with work," Manic continued, but didn't notice Shadow's shifting eyes, and the fact that he adjusted his squat away from Manic. He seemed so unsure of the topic... but what was really bothering him? "And I didn't want to tip Ember off too early about it... Mind if I ask now?"

"No." Shadow abruptly stated, closing his eyes as though to tune Manic out.

Manic took a moment to wait and process that, before speaking up again, "No..? On the timing or..?" he finally turned to try and read Shadow's expression, but Shadow kept a low-profile when it came to his emotions.

"Ever." Shadow moved away from him, and as he did so, the shadows began to move and peer around him, as though fading and glitching out of reality.

"Now hang on a sec-" Manic got up with him, trying to stop him from retreating during an important—and vulnerable—conversation before seeing the abnormality start rising up and swarming the shade around Shadow's silhouette on the ground.

"W-woah!" Manic got up from his squat, "Shadow, what is that!?" He pointed, as shadows seemed to spray out like vines whipping the ground, like an octopus's tentacles lashing out from a spaced hole on the ground, in the shape of Shadow...

Suddenly, they faded into nothingness... Shadow's shadow... was immediately gone.

"Grk..! GAHH!" Mephilis pulled his hand up, the shadows quickly retreating as if being drained back to him forcefully as he gripped his wrist. Scourge had stomped on his hand, seeing him flicker, and thinking he was going to leave them.

"Where ya going, friend?" he sneered, grabbing him and pulling him up as he continued to glitch out and in of reality, causing Scourge to barely have a hand on him. "What are you thinking of doing? Running!? Getting out of the deal!? WHERE IS SHE?"

in his wildness, Mephilis was also held back by Scourge's team: The Destructix. However, in a flash of light, Mephilis completely broke free of them and sent a blast out to knock them back. Slowly moving towards Scourge in his strange movement way, he then fired out a huge beam of power to skim Scourge's ear, spooking him back...

"You're not king... yet." Mephilis landed a manipulative intimidation, faking that they were one in the same goal. He looked at his hand again, examining the strange rift of time and space... his time was running thin. "I could erase you all from ever being born... but I chose to use my power to aid you... if we don't move now... my existence in this timeline will fade... and my own world events... vanish." He glared, threatened by the limited moments he still had.

Scourge may be in a hurry, impatient without question, but he could tell that Mephilis was trying to deceive him just as much as he was trying to trick Mephilis... "You gonna back-stab me, Dark? Better do it while I'm in a good mood..." He smirked, getting up in his face again and not fearing the power he demonstrated earlier; or at least, shaking it off. "Ember's mine. I'll rip the gem out, then you take it as host, and I control you. We all in accord again?"

Mephilis just stared at him, and as though dismissing conflict, moved Scourge aside with a soft swing of his arm. "When I am host to the Cursed Emerald... you shall have a world that will burn in black flames..." He continued on, dipping as though sinking down into the shadows...

Scourge was getting ticked off, "He'll set me aside for the last time... do you have what I asked for?" the team showed him that the portal Mephilis created did in fact lead to a forested area, and seemed to have Manic with Shadow.

"Excellent..." Scourge put his sunglasses back into place, then adjusted his crown. "Let's stick to the plan for now... we'll deal with Darky later..." he then snapped his fingers for Fiona to speak up again. "What about Sonic and the other Chaos Emeralds?"

"They've fortified the island. It will be tricky... but with Mephilis's portals, we should be able to-" She stopped as he spun around, grabbing her waist, and gripped her to him.

"Shh... you're so fidgety lately..." He cooed, lowering his sunglasses, "Babe, all I'm asking is that we plan for that guy to be smoke and dust by the time I get the Cursed Emerald..."

"R-right." She sweat-dropped, knowing that he planned to ditch Mephilis as soon as possible. "In that case~" she flung the paper back behind her, letting it drift in gentle sways to the burning grounds behind them. It was clearly her report from her spy mission, and decided to loop her arms around his neck, "We'll need a long rope... or you'll have to chaos teleport our merry band of thieves..."

"And I, their king." He shoved his face into hers, kissing her as the others waited while they messed around...

Rouge watched as they all disappeared into the portal... behind them, thousands upon thousands of burnt ruins... and flying pieces of flaming fabrics blew in the wind...

"I have to warn them!" she worriedly began to fly into the alley but turned when someone cried out for help, and flaming beams from streets and houses began to topple over one right after the other, some in the distance and others sparking as lamppost exploded as they hit the ground. "...They need me too, though." In her moment of conflict, she flew towards the burning city...

"Please be alright... Shadow... Manic... Ember..." she pleaded under her breath, "I'm leaving them to you all now."

Ember was forging but finding it hard not to pluck a berry with her claw, and then lick the juices and call it 'not eating' her bundle.

She knew Shadow would disapprove but Manic? He'd probably think it was funny. She hummed as she tried to not think about all the evil people that were after her. After all, it wasn't new, it was just kinda exciting. She was immortal, never really aged, but seemed to have never truly lost her immaturity at finding humor in even the most outrageous and life-threatening circumstances.

Sure, you get hurt, but as long as its only her getting hurt she's okay with it.

She thought back to Maria and Gerald Robotnik, how no matter what went wrong, they were always together.

The kids she'd look after and who'd treat her with their skits and plays to entertain one another... they were always together.

Shadow, however... seemed to be more concerned about his 'duty' then spending much time with her.

She loved going on missions with him, trying to impress him. He always acted like she was a liability though... even though he knew how powerful and capable her abilities were.

She could control some chaos, she could do some amazing feats, why did he always scold her on her strength and acting first before asking questions later? She was very much the same with doing something and apologizing later, her simple mottoes, she supposed. It was just her nature, and it seemed to bother Shadow... Was it truly her downfall? Curiosity only killed cats though, not wolves.

Even so, Shadow was kinda always protective of her, now that she thought of it. Even before he accepted her as his experimental prototype for his creation, he seemed to have a distaste for leaving her be too long. Isn't that what brothers are supposed to do? She couldn't really know... but seeing how Manic and Sonic joked around, verses Sonic and Tails, or Manic with his bandmates... it seemed like Sonic and Manic could goof off, wrestle, and even tease without worrying too much about the other.

So then... what was Shadow's deal? Why didn't he trust her... why didn't he want her around..?

She felt her tail swish down to the ground at the thought... She had always taken care of others, maybe that was Shadow's way of showing affection too?

Wasn't she overprotective? Wasn't she always on-guard? Perhaps she just hoped her and Shadow would be different. A true sibling bond.

She would want to return the favor, but how? He didn't even like hugs... but they did trust each other, right?

She trusted him... he seemed to trust her... was Rouge right? Was that why G.U.N kicked her out? Simply because they did trust each other but maybe two experiments was too much for them.

She paused and looked at the food in her hand, growing sorrowful again. Was the world jealous, or just Shadow?

He was the perfect weapon... the cure to all humanity... and yet, she was meant to protect him.

Then why... does it seem like he's protecting her?

Were they really... ever gonna be like a real family?

Or were they already one? But an imperfect one?

She slowly... let her hands fall and the berries drop out of her arms. Sighing, she looked to where she knew Manic and Shadow should be, "I got the food... some of them aren't stabbed... hehe..." She tried to play off her pondering emotions and licked her claws again. "They're good, at least." she teased.

No one answered...

"Shadow?" she called, trying to look over the foliage and tree trucks. "Manic?"

But no one answered.

She narrowed her eyes... and began to sneak around to see what she could find.

As she twisted herself through the bush, she let out a quiet gasp and plugged her mouth, seeing Manic and Shadow each tied up by what looked like shadowy vines that clung and tightened with their struggling movement.

In her surprise, she comically looked for somewhere that could conceal herself. So while still covering her mouth, she dived into what looked like a mossy patch near some water, and let the moss cushion her hasty fall to hide.

"Chaos... Spear!" Shadow was able to shoot out some beams to hit back Mephilis and Scourge's team, but Scourge took out a knife with a refined blade and held it to Manic, then a gun with a black coating and held it to Shadow's head.

The others had successfully dodged the spears, and snickered at their futile attempts.

"You can't contain me, I'm-!" Shadow began but realized these shadows had a strange power to them... he didn't realize they were infused with his own shadow... thus making them successfully able to contain him and his own power.

"Quick the light spectacle and realize when you're beat." Scourge pressed the gun's barrel against Shadow to move his head back against the tree they were tied up too. Manic couldn't reach his necklace, but Mephilis saw his attempts.

Floating on some shadows with his arms out wide, he turned to instruct Scourge, "Rip that silly trinket by his neck... Let him know true despair, when one holds no power, and takes everything away from you..." sadistically, he held up his hand, as if a dark sense of torment was awakening once again in him. He crushed his fists together, "I want to see the look of helplessness... as I take that light of hope from his eyes..."

"Oui! What'd I say about you giving me orders?!" Scourge flicked the knife under the necklace, "Only I'm allowed to do that!" twisting the sharp side of the blade to his necklace's bond around his neck, he yanked it off of him, pulling back the band and making his neck snap a little back as he tried to resist having his precious, childhood power and gift removed from him.

"Nooo..!" Manic saw the magical necklace fly through the air, glistening in and flipping through the gaps of light through the trees... his most precious possession left to him, which reminded him of his beloved mother... like having his family torn from him when he was an infant. It fell to the dirty soil and barely made a noise, due to the soft ground beneath...

He hunched a little, already seeming defeated by not having any special abilities, and now... not even having his only means to fight back besides his natural struggling force. "Now... I'm really mad." Manic gritted his teeth, some tears forming on the sides of his eyes. "I won't let you get away with this... with hurting Ember... or with taking any of my family from me!" he looked up with eyes full of righteous vengeance.

Shadow had never seen this side of Manic before, and it surprised him somewhat, but now was not the time to be in awe. Instead, he noticed that Manic and Scourge had created a kind of opening. This distraction allowed him to sneakily reach back and get a firm touch on his communication device. Swiftly, and trying to be discreet about it, his G.U.N training kicked in and he began typing in coordinates for Rouge and Tails. Hoping the signal wouldn't get spotted by the others... Shadow hid the device under his gloved wrist as it sent the code, however, transferring it to the others remotely was going to take some time...

Mephilis, highly sensitive to Shadow's movements, rose his head in Manic's defiant spirit and tenacious attitude, but sensed something off with Shadow. He was delighting in Manic's sorrow and frustration, but that would have to wait for now...

"He's fidgeting too much..." Mephilis lifted his hand and in a whirlwind of speed, slashed Shadow in the head and knocked him out. "There... that's better... Hahahah!" his infamous laugh carried through the forest, as Ember's hands twitched in rage.

Her Cursed Emerald began to glow...

"Heh, I like your style." Scourge used the bunt side of the gun to knock out Manic from his neck, "Now what? Where's the girl!?" Scourge turned to Mephilis, pointing the gun to him... "I think you already figured this out but... I don't like to be kept waiting..."

Ember couldn't contain her rage anymore, the insanity from the Cursed Emerald drove her out of hiding, her emotions spiraling out of control. This wasn't the first time, but she wanted it to desperately be the last time anyone messed with her friends and life. 'I'm tired of people telling me not to fight!' she felt her body lose control as she ran on all fours to defend her beloved family...

"RRAHHH!" She jumped into the air, the curse in full swing as her entire body was filled with her insanity mode flaring to life. "Let them go!" Black flames burst from her purple emerald, and Mephilis's eyes reflected their glow.

"Yeeess... You'll do nicely." He seemed fixated on the dark power it contained, seeing it as the perfect host for this new timeline.

Her eyes burned white as she came down, but Mephilis moved quickly back, floating on his shadows as the earth shook and cracked under her power.

"Alright! An ultimate showdown! At last!" Scourge readied himself, but Mephilis drifted in front of him, his shadows like a catching up behind him. "What!? What are you..? Out of my way, freak!"

He shot the back of Mephilis's head, "I'm tired of this game!" But Mephilis's head just bent forward with every shot, and it was clear nothing was penetrating through his crystal hide... The bullets looked squished and condensed upon impact with his quills.

He slowly turned back... "I'll deal with you... after my form becomes permanent in this world..." He was fading, but reached out to Ember, "I can kill Shadow, and he has the power to destroy your beloved friend as well..." He then gestured to Scourge and Manic. "What will you choose? Immortal... a prototype? You were made to be a mistake, to learn from... But with me, I can give you your ultimate purpose..." He lifted his arms up into the air, showing the half-destroyed moon. "There must be revenge that you seek... much like your figurative brother..." He slowly turned his attention back to her. "I have the means to control your cursed emerald... join to me, child of error, and I shall make you the key to all destruction!" he clenched a fist up by her, showing his resolve to want to 'help' her.

However, Ember—still wild—had already broken through Scourge's goons that had come around from behind, and slowly hunched over at Mephilis's words.

The Destructix's lay panting on the ground, remembering last time... and knowing they're efforts were futile.

Even Scourge looked pathetically over to them, seeing that without Mephilis, taking Ember head-on again might be a bad idea...

Her eyes seemed vast and hollow, as though Mephilis's words meant nothing in this state. Instead, they were simply filled with the power of negative chaos energy...

"You have a choice..." Mephilis began, speaking plainly as he could tell that Ember was no longer present, but only the Cursed Emerald's protective recognition remained. "Surrender yourself to me... or let me take over your current host's form." he flicked his fingers out, before jamming his claws into Shadow's side again. "Otherwise... I make your host's life even worse... more alone than ever before... and you, the soul who reigns over her... forever. Hahahaha!" he had figured it out, her emotions got the better of her and let out it's full power. He truly was clever, and using Shadow as a trigger, hoped the Cursed Emerald would be fueled off of her emotions, and get even stronger. "Do you now see where my loyalty lies? Now... let us join together! We shall rule this world with a burning blaze!"

Ember's power skyrocketed as her body jerked forward and then back, seeing Shadow reel back in pain before going unconscious again. It was as though the amount of empathy felt in that moment gave Ember's body the same amount of pain as it saw Shadow endure.

"Mortal... immortal... nothing escapes fate." Mephilis pulled out his claws, his shadows released Shadow from his bonds around the tree truck and he fell forward. Mephilis never ceased in his dark pleasure of torment and pain, laughing and laughing in his sadistic delights, leaning his head back as though to gloat and strike envy. "It never gets old... seeing the fear and hatred on their faces... when I kill all they care about..." Was he speaking to himself? Or to Scourge?

Now it didn't matter what he knew about Shadow's future, it was clear he wanted a ill fate for him, and for Ember as well... Though trapped inside her own mind, Ember clawed for redemption. 'Manic... everyone... if I let this fiend live, he'll tear apart the whole of what I've found!' she pounded against the dark energies that kept her locked up tight. 'My emotions... they're not meant for evil! Cursed Emerald... you're not cursed anymore! You're my power! And I choose to use you to protect my family!"

Mephilis all at once... became her new G.U.N.

Getting a momentary grip on herself, Ember reached into her chest, scratching and digging to try and pull the Cursed Emerald out of her. 'I can't lose him!' she began to cry through the searing pain as her claws bore into her flesh. However, it was instantly healing itself, burning to seal the scars she was making. She couldn't pull it out, and it wouldn't be ripped from her either... soon, it back-lashed and forced her into a full state of control, meaning that it now had full power over her... and was completely consumed in her emotions once again.

"Join me, Cursed one!" Mephilis spread his shadows around her, but the Cursed Emerald controlling Ember's body tilted its head, only interested in destruction.

Bursting into raw chaos energy, Ember's body looked more like a giant, standing wolf than anything else... her power radiated into a beast in it's rising aura...

Mephilis was slightly taken aback, "This power... Iblis would be pleased." He laughed, "Very well, I shall take you on!"

Dark orbs were thrown towards Ember's body, but she shredded through them with her dark energy claws, her true form hidden within the massive dark aura-wolf. It blasted the shadows away that tried to consume the Cursed Emerald, showing that it wouldn't be taken without a fight.

Manic's head looked up, feeling the shadows loosen and weaken from around him as he fell down from the tree he was tied too. "What... what happened?" he looked to his necklace, and reached for it in a sudden moment of clarity.

"Ah-ah-ah." Scourge kicked it away, mimicking Sonic's infamous finger wiggle and grabbing him into a choke hold. "Who said you were allowed to wake up!?"

As Manic struggled, trying to reach for a punch, it was clear Scourge was stronger than him. "Hahaha! Pathetic! She chose you over me!?" He raised an eyebrow, "I'll let Mephilis weaken her down a bit first, after all, I tried to fight her and look where that got me?"

He threw Manic as he slammed against the tree, falling back down and struggling to get up.

"But you? That's the easy part. You don't have your precious little girlfriend to protect you." He pulled out his gun, firing off some bullets as Manic rolled on the ground to dodge them. "Darn that Dark... he took all my bullets like it was nothing..." Scourge rolled his shoulders back, arching his steps around Manic and tossing the gun after it seemed emptied of bullets. "Guess we'll do this the old fashion way..." He took his knife and and then stomped directly on Manic's necklace, making Manic look up and glare in his pain.

"You're gonna end up just like him..." Scourge flicked his head to Shadow's limp form, as Manic gasped, seeing it.

"Shadow! No!" he cried out. "Shadow! Get up! Ember needs-!"

"Nothing but death!" Scourge laughed, "Same's gonna come to you, and I'm not sorry. Let's consider it a mercy kill, eh? You don't have to see your doggy dame maimed before your eyes!"

But as soon as he said that, Manic jumped at him and began to push back, grabbing his arms. "I may not be as strong as you... but I'm ten times more clever than you!" he slid his foot between Scourge's feet, then pulled it back around his foot to have him trip and fall backwards.

Manic's drum necklace skidded from the action over the ground. Manic reached and grabbed it with a tumble, rolling before having it glow in his hands. "And she picked me because I'm handsomer shade of green than you! The ones that not representative of envy!" Manic summoned his drums, then took out his drumsticks and began warming up with a drum roll. "I don't think you can take this beat, Scourge!" he began to fire off sonic booms from his drums, pushing and shoving Scourge down, as the knife in his hand was pulsed back by its sonic power.

"Grr..! No!" Scourge used his super sonic speed to start moving to dodge each drum beat. "You think you're stronger than your own anti-brother!?" but right before reaching the drums and seeing the white in Manic's worried eyes as Scourge reached out for him...

"HRRAHH!" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles jumped from the bushes, tackling into Scourge as Manic stopped playing in awe.

"Everyone!" Manic's eyes widened and then relaxed in relief. "Thank you." He breathed out, and then looked to see Shadow starting to get up on his feet, gripping his torn and pierced side.

He crawled towards Ember's insane, dark aura-wolf form as though desperate to reach her.

"Em...ber..." He stumbled to his feet, but looked a bit woozy from the loss of blood. "I'm... com-...ing..."

"Shadow!" Manic unsummoned his drums and kept a firm grip on his magical necklace, but grabbed Shadow to help him stand better. "What'd he do to you?"

"Urk... She... needs my... help." He tried to move forward, but Manic helped him not fall.

"I know, I know! But she'd never forgive me if I didn't help you first!" Manic looked to see Scourge's crew start coming too, and Ember's insane form fighting Mephilis. "This looks ugly... I know you guys recover fast, what do you need me to do?"

Shadow gave him one look, and he knew.

Save Ember...

for me, in my place.

Mephilis began compiling all his being into one, super mass of his collective consciousness. "Now... you're mine!" as though a miniature storm, flashes of lightning formed around the purple mass as the shadows circled all around it quickly, helping to move it towards Ember's insanity frame. Diving into Ember's form, other shadows leaped up from the shade of the trees to tie her down as she remained on her feet, growling and straining against their takeover.

"At last... though not Iblis... you and I shall be... Cursembaris!" Mephilis's ball of dark energy blasted the dark aura-wolf as it howled in defiance, but was absorbed into his purple and blue darkness, which then engulfed Ember's body.

No matter the power of the Cursed Emerald, Mephilis the Dark soon sealed himself in fire within it's core...

The shining emerald suddenly dulled with shadows, and soon...

"I can't waste another moment..! You're power must fuse with mine, or I will fade from existence of all worlds! I can't fight any longer without a host... You will do nicely! Hahahaha!" Mephilis got her down to her knees, as her form took on a crystallized state, and her eyes shifted to Mephilis's own...

Suddenly, her form was overwhelmed by flames, bursting up and spreading out to form her into light that mixed with his shadows.

The fire raged and burnt the ground beneath as she was lifted into the air, and then made into a black flame, crystallized, large wolf.

Cursembaris looked at it's new body... moving up to its full height, it laughed manically in a monstrous howl that blasted the wind back and forced the others to brace against the wind storm.

Suddenly, with the power of a cursed chaos emerald, it summoned many shadows. All resembled his previous form: Mephilis, and a deadly horde began to materialize to finish off Mephilis's original goal as Solaris.

"Now... to finish off this world... and burn it all, as I have promised you, Scourge... Hahaha!" Mephilis's voice was mixed with Ember's, and their laughter was more fine-tuned, making it sound even more sinister than before...

"Grk..!" Manic forced himself up, his drums ready for battle again. "I've fought you once and held my own! Release Ember, now!" he hit the drums hard, but the fused creation just flicked his wolf's paw, and thousands of the shadow-horde began to run towards Manic.

Cursembaris laughed through it's crystallized body as though cackling howls from rocks banging against an echoing cave... Ember's voice being drowned out by Mephilis. It stalked around the battlefield as though eyeing its prey, watching Manic desperately fight back against the horde. It kept it's head low, readying to pounce at any moment...

The shadows were destroyed by different drumbeat sonic booms, but Manic was already feeling the weariness setting in. Gritting his teeth, he tried to send the blasts where they needed to go.

"This world will be too easy..." Mephilis mused, holding a clawed, crystal paw out, as though ready to hunt. "I will destroy the ultimate life form... take out Sonic once and for all,... and then leave you as a toothpick for when I'm bored!" Cursembaris's snarl spewed fire through its bared teeth. This was driving Manic insane, he hated it with a deep passion and anger, hearing Ember's lovely voice mingled with such evil.

Shadow, still hunched over, brought out his hand to his side, 'I can't let this stand... I won't lose her. I won't lose anyone else!' He looked up at his sister, seeing a form which he didn't know or understand. His fist tightened, "I had to let you go once... I won't do it again!" He took off his limiters, preparing himself as he stored his power up. "Chaos... spears!" he was able to successfully target a few spears that pierced through the shadows, having them automatically disintegrate and then strike through Cursembaris's crystal hide. They were made of pure light and chaos energy, stabbing with an effect into a dark being like Mephilis and the Cursed Emerald meant it began to weaken the shadows around it, causing actual damage.

It's crystal wolf body was jammed back with each successful spear glowing an area of effect around it, spreading light through its being...

"Hopefully... you can... push through it..." Shadow fell back to his knees, then fell down as his body began to recover and forced him to yield.

It's head slowly looked up to Shadow after examining itself, and almost with concern, it stared... until Mephilis's voice, the dominant sound, rang through again in it's muffled cry. "You'd injure your own sister..? For the sake of the world..? Shadow... I never thought you so cruel..."

Shadow frowned openly, his fangs bared, gripping his injured side as he twitched helpless on the ground. "I'm not aiming for her..!"

Cursembaris tilted it's head, then turned to see Scourge had fought off Sonic, throwing him off of him but seeing his team still apprehended. He glared to it and charged, jumping and grabbing the Cursed Emerald in glowing purple as he was burned by its natural protection of itself. "My turn!" his eyes blazed with power... though the Cursed Emerald wanted to lash back and fight, it was being controlled by Mephilis... So it could only sear him for now...

"This power is meant to be mine!" Scourge used all his imbued Master Emerald strength to try and force the Cursed Emerald out. The natural repulsion was actually working in his favor... The gem began to move out from the spiraling flames and dark purple mist... Thanks to Shadow's Chaos Spears still giving the creature splotches of yellow glowing light to weaken Mephilis's control and power over it.

"N...Nooo!" Mephilis, weakened by the now exploding Chaos Spears Shadow had thrown, felt them pulse off with every hit from Manic's other light and sound based attack...

Soon, Scourge's tug-o-war was actually succeeding, as his gloves were consumed in flame, his insane smirk never left him.

Manic's feelings pounded the drums with a powerful beat that exploded his sonic booms to push Mephilis back and Scourge closer to pulling the Cursed Emerald out. Shadow watched as he flicked his fingers and wrists, letting the Chaos Spears go off one by one in rhythm with Manic's attacks.

Howling into whimpers, Cursembaris reeled its massive form skyward, leaning its head back in the pain and slowly defusing at Scourge's persistence.

"Nooo..! I refuse to lose! I must at least destroy Sonic The Hedgehog! The Iblis Trigger!" Mephilis began to fade... his time running out. He turned to Sonic and his gang, who were unsure of how to approach the creature without getting burned. Bringing out the pure Chaos Emeralds, Sonic turned Super, and stared into the magma stones that made the being's eyes... dead in their centers as his form glowed the same way the Chaos Spears had...

"You want some?" He gestured to his new, light-based form. "Come and get me!" he bolted off at incredible speeds, flying behind Cursembaris and charging into it's neck. Digging his way through, Sonic pushed and punched the Cursed Emerald towards Scourge, helping to remove it.

According to Tails, if the Cursed Emerald was removed from Mephilis, Ember would return. He noticed the shift of polarity around the two converging timelines that were still being affected by Mephilis's presence, and determined that if they stalled long enough, Mephilis the Dark would fade from this reality, his own being wiped out in the process...

"Why... can't I... fight back?!" Mephilis's voice rang through as Cursembaris swung it's head around, trying to resist the urge to create more destruction and hacok. With all these forcing whamming into it, causing great damage to the Dark forces controlling it, the light side began to shine through...

It leaned it's head up, it's eyes filling with the white fire that Ember's would have had if still in her insanity mode.

"I ... won't... hurt... my family."

Ember's voice... was finally in control.

Scourge—at last—had gripped a Chaos Spear that hadn't exploded yet, feeling his hands burn from the light of that as well as the whipping backlash from the Cursed Emerald, and ripped it out of place. He forced it deeper into the beast, jamming it behind the Cursed Emerald and desperately trying to excavate it out as he wiggled the Chaos Spear around to hopefully pull it lose. Finally, he ripped Ember's fusion out from Mephilis as he faded away in a blaze of glory.

"Ah... HAAA...ahhhhh..." Mephilis's form began to drift towards the ground, as Ember's landed in ashes... "Now... I shall truly be... forgotten..." Mephilis's consciousness, a purple mass of shadows, slowly dwindled out on the ground... a puddle becoming less and less... before all at once... getting blown gently out of reality and time...

Ember opened her eyes gently, seeing the ash below her clawed fingers drift as scourged sunglasses tank'ed against the ground near her. As Mephilis disappeared, Super Sonic slowly returned down to the ground, and looked around for Scourge. "Where is he..? What..?" He saw the sunglasses, as Ember seemed to refuse to reach for them.

Super Sonic remained silent, horrified but also dropping his jaw at the fact that the heat had been so intense that perhaps... Scourge was was burnt into oblivion too...

He turned his head down and closed his eyes, but in his moment for the dead, Scourge was glowing green behind him. "Aw, I'm touched." and then sucker-punched Sonic. "But if that emerald won't budge, I'll kill her and take it for myself!" Hearing that he may try and fuse with the Cursed Emerald, Ember slowly got up, clutching her now completely black and soot-covered chest... forcing herself upright.

Shadow gripped his side and stumbled over to Manic, giving him a nod. He knew now that Manic would do whatever it took to protect Ember and keep her safe. Giving him a thumbs up... he turned to Ember, mouthed words she only wished she could have heard... and then collapsed.

"Shadow!" Manic didn't leave his drums again, seeing Scourge crash Super Sonic against multiple trees and then grab Ember, still trying to control her power.

However,...

"You never learn..." Ember muttered, sending him back in a backlash as she moved her arm and let him grab the Cursed Emerald again, but was blown so far away in its fury... She then, seeing the damage done, knew what last thing she should try.

Surrendering fully to its cursed power, she leaned her body back. "Shadow... I love you too. I won't forget again... that you accept the good I see in Manic, and that you don't want to lose me just as much... as I'd hate to lose you too." She let out some tears, as the Cursed Emerald began its last stand at defending itself. "Manic... I've seen you struggle, and do everything within your power to protect me... I won't forget this... I won't forget your love and devotion. Even if you only have the power of a mortal... you fought an immortal cause. You have gained your victory... And I will love you forever." Then she spread her arms out, "I'll remember... but you won't need too... This awful fate... that threatened my friends and family... will never be again." She closed her eyes, as Manic tried to run to her, "Chaos... Unleashed." A huge white light engulfed the entire area...

Time was rewritten, as is what the power of the Chaos Emeralds can do... though this power was reversed in that it could completely rewrite fate only if severely threatened by removal and/or death.

Ember was sitting down with Manic after the concert, leaning on his shoulder. 'Finally... Peace.' she thought to herself, proud that she was able to muster the courage to perform after all the emotional and painful turmoil of the time that never was...

Only she alone remembered... Shadow's figurative blessing to Manic in a simple accepting thumbs-up, and that mysterious figure that she still didn't know who or what he was... She had already called Shadow to warn him about Scourge's escape and they found him right away. It was as though she saved her family without a single soul knowing about it.

'Good... who needs another gloat, anyway?' she joked within her mind, smiling as Manic kissed her forehead, still thinking she was just calming down from stage fright.

Shadow's Chaos Spears had weakened both Mephilis and the Cursed Emerald's power, allowing Scourge to pull her out. Then, when the spears disappeared, Ember had control over her insanity power for a split second, and used it to go back... knowing Mephilis wouldn't be there to screw up her future this time... But the unleashed Chaos came with a price...

She leaned up to look at Manic, "When I predicted Scourge's eventual escape, I also told Shadow how much you cared about me... I think he's willing to see that I want time with him... and with you, too." she gently put her hand into his, grasping it lightly. "Is that alright?" she looked down as though shyly to his hand.

He chuckled to himself, growing nervous. "W-what? What brought that up all of a sudden?" He rubbed behind his quills, but she fiddled with his long-hanging bangs as he smiled warmly to her. "Did you learn my secret?"

"What secret?" she looked away, pretending like she didn't know he wanted Shadow's blessing. She had heard a lot through Mephilis's fusion with her, and his shadows and knowledge of them were something she was able to discover. Though... she still didn't understand his reasoning when she searched his mind for 'Iblis Trigger' or 'Solaris'. It was all too confusing, anyway, and she didn't stay fused for too long either.

But his influence over her was still there... the longing for destruction, the cunning and manipulation... her Cursed Emerald's flame would never glow the same...

"Never you mind how I know things~" she teased, fanning them away and disregarding her own sinister thoughts that she would push away. She was strong enough to resist whatever power was still infused in her emerald... she didn't care. She only wanted to use her power to protect those she cared about. The power would be used for nothing else, "Just come here and tell me what a great singer I was tonight..." she cupped his face, knowing he really did try everything to protect her in that other, erased timeline now. They kissed very sweetly, but he soon pulled her into a deeper, more passionate moment.

"You sang like a dark angel." he slowly moved over her, as she spread her back slowly against the stage's floor, letting him make his way over her. "Like a siren through the sea of lights..." She was feeling her heart rate escalate with the moment when...

Suddenly, a voice came from the rafters.

"Now, now, you two." The alluring woman's voice slyly added, "Play nice! After all, I'd hate to tell Shadow that when he sent me to look after you, that you and your new boyfriend —who he so graciously allowed for you to be with —were being naughty..."

Rouge's voice rang a thousand times in Ember's ears and mind when she pulled away from Manic and shook her fist in frustration. "SHHHADDDOWW!" she whined in disapproval, not liking that he sent Rouge to spy on her, still thinking her a child.

"Hmph!" she folded her arms, turning from Manic and pouting. "He still can't trust me!?"

Manic just laughed, "Ohhh, now I see the family resemblance!" he pointed to her frown and then clutched his head and stomach, belting out a hardy, but joyous cascade of laughter.

She couldn't help it, she may be imperfect but so was the rest of the world. She had a family... and no matter what twists in time or space was brought their way, they would always love each other, and want to spend time with one another.

That brought her peace. Love and family, imperfect people being perfect for each other.

She hugged Manic and laughed too, enjoying the moment with him, as Rouge smiled sweetly down to them and then flew off, giving them their alone time and space... since this was the timeline within this universe's space that they could do so... without any distractions or restraints~!

END.

[1979semifinalist]

20 Best Rogue & Gambit Covers (Part II)

Here’s the same stuff I said before: 

For the hottest couple in the Marvel universe, there are surprisingly few truly great (and truly hot!) Rogue & Gambit covers to be published since the characters began flirting literal decades ago.

In the run up to our BIG RELEASE of Rogue & Gambit #1 on 1/3/18…and with a all of us aching for the lettered preview to drop, I thought I’d count down the 20 best Gambit & Rogue covers.

I AM including Kris Anka’s publicly released covers for our series in the running, even though they are not yet published…because…well, because this is the FIRST EVER ROGUE & GAMBIT COMIC AND HOW COULD I NOT???

If you think I missed something…it’s possible. But it’s also possible I’m just not a fan of that cover. To each their own as they say.

Most importantly…can anything we’ve seen yet beat the most iconic Rogue & Gambit cover of all time? (C’mon, you know the one!)

Anyway, here’s to A LOT MORE Gambit & Rogue hotness in our future and onto the list! :D

And HERE’S Covers #1 - #10!

10. X-MEN LEGACY #259 - CLAY MANN. Absolutely gorgeous. Again, BIG points off for Rogue bringing another dude to the party, but this is gorgeously illustrated, has a ton of tension and heat. What Mann manages to do with just Magneto’s hand on Rogue’s shoulder and Gambit’s on Rogue’s thigh and her hands on both of theirs is...sorta awe inspiring? And the fact that she’s got her eyes locked on the reader just puts it over the top intensity wise. It’s ironic, because this loses points for including Magneto...and yet the things that make it work like gangbusters demand that Magneto be there...conundrum. I think what it really highlights is what a shame it is that we never got a hot canon Rogue & Gambit cover from Mann.

09. GAMBIT #16 - YANICK PAQUETTE. Finally THEY. ARE. KISSING. Omg. I can’t believe we had to get to #9 before we’ve got them actually kissing! AHHHH. So. This is a great illustration. Beautiful treatment of both Gambit and Rogue...I love the body language especially. And I don’t mind the minimalist red background - and it might even be intended as a call back to the red background on that iconic Rogue & Gambit cover (you know the one). The big problem with this has nothing to do with Paquette’s lovely work at all...it’s that hideous absolutely massive “storyline banner” that takes up more than a fifth of the entire cover. It honestly wrecks EVERYTHING and makes me furious tbh. 

08. ROGUE & GAMBIT #1 - KRIS ANKA. Amazing energy and movement, love the confident use of white space, and the sassy attitude they both have in body language and expression. I am also a really big fan of the title block text as it is here...BUT that’s not how the final is going to look as it will have the “Marvel Legacy” trade dress...which is fine, but not as good as this. So slight points off there. I still like the actual “Rogue & Gambit” title block itself a lot. And the “Ring of Fire” part 1 text banner is small/high/unassuming, so it’s pretty good overall! You’ll see. And yes, I’m very biased here. Fully admit that. I’m a huge fan of Kris Anka’s work, he’s my friend, and this is my book. I come with ALL THE BIAS AND AM HAPPY TO ADMIT IT. ;D

07. X-MEN LEGACY #224 - LEE BERMEJO. This is a little dark compared to what we’re used to seeing for these two in covers and a little more realistic than I tend to prefer...but I totally dig it. It’s got a ton of intensity, and the body language and expression work is awesome. They really feel almost about to kiss, which, if you’re not going to get the actual kiss, is quintessential Gambit and Rogue, right? The title block stuff is really simple and unassuming as well.

06. UNCANNY AVENGERS #5 - CARLOS PACHECO. A really nice homage to the accepted most iconic Rogue & Gambit image of all time...it doesn’t beat it, but it’s totally lovely. A gorgeous illustration that feels like that old cover, but nicely updated and its own thing. It loses points for a little bit too much text nonsense going on...and the expressions don’t QUITE work for me, plus I’ll never love Rogue with short hair ;D but all in all, a beautiful piece.

05. ULTIMATE X-MEN #53 - ANDY KUBERT. If you can believe it...this is the only other cover on the list (ever?) with an actual lip lock! Crazy. But at least it’s GORGEOUS. I really do love this one - the blue tones, the rain, the intensity, the simplicity, I just love it. It loses a few points for really dumb stuff though. I hate the blue borders with the X symbols (so dumb) and some slightly obnoxious title block/giant numbers stuff, but mostly...I just...really hate Remy’s hair? Yeah, it just doesn’t look like Gambit with that weird wavy hair. That’s honestly my biggest beef with this otherwise gorgeous piece.

04. ROGUE & GAMBIT #2 - KRIS ANKA. Admittedly this is getting a bit of a pass for not having the title block on it, but since I know about what that will look like, I think I know enough to be okay with it. And I think people will love this cover even more when they see what’s inside the issue. But based on what we have here - it gets so many points for pure fun, plus it has great energy and movement. PLUS the obvious connection/chemistry between our leads. Bonus points for Rogue’s glorious thighs. Bonus points for Gambit’s conveniently torn uniform (and hairy chest). And Bonus points for Gambit’s perfect smirk! Again, noted that I’m highly biased...and I don’t care!

*runs away, fingers in ears*

03. X-MEN 92 #2 - PEPE LARRAZ. So here’s how much I love this cover...I don’t buy print comics any more (no room!) just digital and then trades for some stuff for my shelves. But for this I went out and bought a print copy. Had to have this in my hands. I love everything about it. Well, okay, in a PERFECT world Cassandra isn’t in the background, but everything else is perfection. The swooning, the love, the drama, even the little raven with the “heart” word balloon. LOVE IT. And no surprise really because Pepe Larraz is a hell of an artist who went on to draw a spectacular Rogue (and sometimes Gambit) in Uncanny Avengers!

02. ROGUE & GAMBIT #3 - KRIS ANKA. So...there are great, beautifully illustrated covers...and then there are great, beautifully illustrated covers that are also PERFECTLY CLEVER and instantly become iconic. That’s this one for me. As if a dozen versions of Gambit and Rogue weren’t fun enough, the heart shape they make... *kisses fingers* ...it’s perfection. I wish nothing more than us not having to put ANY text on this. I wish we could just send it out as is. Alas, no. And that is gonna knock it down JUST ENOUGH to NOT unseat the iconic classic. (But maybe issue #4 or #5 will??? We still have time!) :D

01. X-MEN #24 - ANDY KUBERT. It all comes down to this, as you knew it would. The classic cover that launched a thousand ships...or rather... CEMENTED them. It’s just gorgeous. It’s perfectly 90′s. It just BATHES in the nostalgia of classic Gambit and Rogue. it’s not afraid to cover up more than half the title block (YOU KNOW WHO THEY ARE, YOU DON’T NEED NO PESKY TITLE BLOCK!). That it rocks the most classic, well-known, and beloved looks for both of them only cements things further. And because they were still doing the “no touching dance” in these early days...their state of almost touching is just...PALPABLE. I’ll also say that though Rogue’s face gets the focus, Gambit is just really lovingly rendered too.

HOTT.

So. There you have it. My picks for the 20 Best Rogue & Gambit covers of all time.

Don’t forget to hit up your LCS on Wednesday 1/3/18 (or Comixology) for Rogue & Gambit #1 and keep reading to see if we (ahem, KRIS ANKA) can unseat the 20+ year title holder of “Best Rogue & Gambit Cover of All Time”

No pressure, Kris! :D

[idga-buck]

LIKE

A

MOVIE

The only acceptable description of Bucky kisses, I AM SURE OF IT.

Ugh. You are absolutely nailing this duality of the mind. Bucky existing simultaneously in two planes. Locked in a battle against the Asset and APPARENTLY locked via the lips with this poor coffee gal who has no idea what do with this charmer. Everything. Do everything with him. That’s an order.

Also WHAT THE FUCK. these notes at the end are killing me. I swear to you I have scrolled back everytime you mention safewords, frantically trying to figure out what they are and I cannot because you’re a wizard weaving something dark and twisty and FUCK I need more of it stat. STAT.

CAN SOMEONE TELL ME IF I NEED TO PUNCH THIS COFFEE GIRL IN THE TEETH? PLEASE?! I AM CONFLICTED. I WANT BUCKY TO HAVE ALL THE KISSES. BUT I WANT HIM TO STOP DRINKING THE ELECTRIC KOOL AID AND GOING ON ASSET TRIPS. (Idk if anyone here is also a closet nerd who loves the Beat Generation but that’s the best joke I’ll ever make and if Alan Ginsberg read comic books, he’d totally agree).

Anywho. Are you sick of me yet? Cause I’m just going to keep screaming.

Oh ps. I swooned so hard at the part where she was emboldened by the way he was looking at her. That was just.... ugh. Sentences that pure don’t belong in something so dark. Omg yes they do. Jeez. Even your writing contributes to this duality. Fuck. Are you actually a wizard? This is Magical. WOW. WOOOOOOOOOW. wow

Dreamgirl [part 5]

BuckyxReader

[part 4]

Summary: Bucky tries to adjust to his new life in the Avengers compound. One day he meets a girl who might be everything he needs in order to move on, but is his past really that far away? Warnings for this chapter: self-hate, fluff wtf, brief threat?… (general series warnings include noncon, violence, mental illness, feels probably) A/N: Yes, hello, I am still alive even if it doesn’t always seem that way. So here we are again, another chapter of a story I bet y’all keep thinking I’ve abandoned. But I will keep on squeezing out updates every once in a while until this fic is done or so help me god I will relay it via ouija board to someone who can publish it for me, is that clear?

All the pent up tension and fear seep out of his body at the sight of her face.

“Mornin’ doll,” he answers and just like that, Bucky’s morning has turned on its axis.

“You’re up early,” she comments sweetly, tilting her head a little. “I’m opening now if you wanna come in.”

Keep reading

[everlarkbirthdaydrabbles]

My birthday is March 19th and I would love a surprise drabble!!! I love Everlark in a funny situation, miscommunication, or interesting meet-cute. Can be any rating but I'm a sucker for a really steamy first kiss. Thank you! xoxo

Wishing you the happiest of days! To help you celebrate, the lovely @mega-aulover has crafted this darling bit of Everlark just for you!

I-CON

Rated: G

A/N: (….Happy Birthday, I hope you have a great day. Love Mega-Aulover…special thanks to @booksrockmyface for taking time to beta, thank you!)

The I-CON banner hung brightly over the entrance of the college building.

“Tell me again what you’ve dragged me to?” Katniss looked up at the blue banner with stars and some alien painted on it.

She wondered how Delly talked into going to this thing called I-CON.

Delly giggled, “Oh Katniss, I-CON or rather the Island Convention, is a smaller version of Comic-Con, on Long Island. Though it’s really a gathering of fan girls and boys, who are self-described geeks and nerds, like me.”

Katniss was none of these things but Delly was. Delly with her sweet disposition was heavily into Anime. A number of the authors she obsessed over were going to be present. Katniss didn’t get it. But Delly swooned over something called Tokyo Ghoul. “What’s this book about?”

“Take a look,” Delly handed her the book.

Katniss cracked open the book and flipped through the pages, a semi-scowl on her face. “You mean this is about zombies?”

“YES!” Delly squealed.

“You need to take it down a notch, Dells.” Katniss gave Delly the book back.

Everywhere there were people dressed up as their favorite characters, Delly called it cosplay.  Katniss had seen a few Princess Leia’s, a great number of Storm Troopers, a Scully and Mulder from the X-Files, and some woman dressed all in blue like in the Avatar movie.  Katniss wanted out, but Delly suddenly said, “Oh can I take a picture with you?”

Delly shoved her phone at Katniss and she was forced to take a picture with a scary looking monster.

“Come on Katniss this way,” Delly dragged Katniss into the vendor room.

There before Katniss was every fandom known to man.

“Star Wars, Star Trek, Dudgeons and Dragons, Game of Thrones, Batman, Firefly, Superman, Wonder Woman, Dr. Who, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, EEEEKKKK OUTLANDER,” Delly screeched in Katniss ear, pointing to a man dressed in a kilt.

Katniss hung her head it was going to be a very long day. Delly went off to sit in on a panel leaving Katniss to her own devices. Katniss wondered amongst the booths, she saw many dragons in all shapes colors.  But what stopped her dead was the cut out of a girl with an arrow. Katniss didn’t notice the poster of the girl was dressed similarly to her, dark torn jeans, well worn boots with laces, and a leather jacket.  The girl even wore her hair in a singular braid.

Katniss raised her eyebrow as she approached; the bow is what drew her attention. The life-size cut out was next to a man with various bows but with rubber tipped arrows, books and a few memorabilia of a strange bird pin. The man was slightly balding and wore a t-shirt that said ‘Trust No One’ and suspenders to hold up his pants over his pudgy belly.  

“How can I help you,” the man pushed up his glasses.

Katniss pointed to the life size cut out, “What movie is that for?”

The man behind the booth gave her a shake of his head, “That is for the Arrows and Bread movie coming out.”

“The movie is about a girl with a bow?” Katniss was curious.

The man laughed, “Not just any movie, it’s a dystopian society where teenagers are thrown into an arena and forced to kill each other.”

The movie sounded interesting but Katniss looked at the poster and cringed. The posture of the girl was all wrong, “She holding it wrong, the bow, I mean.”

“What do you mean, they’ve got people to teach the actress how to shoot, Hollywood has experts.”

“Well, I’m telling you she’s holding it wrong, the arrow won’t fly very far,” Katniss made her observations.

The man behind the booth challenged, “How would you know?”

Katniss grabbed a bow and one of the arrows with the rubber suction cup at the end of it. She aimed and shot it at the column. The arrow whizzed past people but instead of landing where she intended it landed on the forehead of a patron who at that moment stood where she’d aimed the arrow. Katniss eyes widened momentarily as the blond stocky man with incredible blue eyes approached her. Once more her pride had gotten the better of her.

He was taller than she, with wide shoulders and bulky arms. She should have been scared or apprehensive, but his eyes were kind and his smile was warm. This put Katniss at ease as he walked toward her with the arrow protruding from his forehead. He removed the arrow the suction cup left a red mark on his forehead. “I think this is yours.”

“Damn, lady, you’re good,” the man at the booth said taking the bow and the arrow.

“She should be she’s the best shot when were kids.  She hunted in the backwoods of our home town,” he gushed, sweetly.

It took a minute for Katniss to recall this was the sweet shy boy Peeta Mellark that lived next to Delly. The boy she’d had a secret crush all of her life.  Peeta still hadn’t lost that twang, which meant he was new to New York.

“I’m sorry you don’t remember me, but I’m the son of-”

“Peeta Mellark, we went to school together. How’s your dad doing? And the bakery?”

“Wait he’s the son of a baker?” The man behind the booth said with slight awe.  Katniss couldn’t be bothered with the vendor.

Her memory was filling up with the dozens of hours she secretly gawked at Peeta.  After high school graduation Katniss and Delly came up north along with Madge for college. As they aged and matured the girls found their own niche. Madge loved New York City and was a thriving fashion columnist. Delly preferred the suburbs; she became a teacher and lived in a small house with her cat. Katniss, she liked Riverhead. A small rural community of mostly farmers, where she bought a house after her school was over and took up a small business of humanely capturing pests, like rats, raccoons, possums and squirrels.

“Wow you’re just like her,” the man said.  He stood up with his phone and asked, “Can I take a picture with you.”

Peeta grinned and Katniss scowled, but this seemed to make the guy all the more excited. “Wow, I can’t wait to show this to the guys!” The guy then gave Katniss a bird pin, “The mockingjay is her symbol, you should have it.”

Katniss didn’t want to take it but Peeta intervened, “Thank you.”

The guy beamed and walked away, leaving Katniss standing in front of Peeta. There were things that she was good at but this, speaking to a boy or rather a man. She wasn’t good at saying stuff, and she felt awkward.

“I never expected you to be a fan girl,” Peeta said.

“I’m sorry what?” Katniss blurted.

Peeta laughed, “I see, so who did you come with?”

“D-Delly,” she stuttered.

Peeta waved his arm to the vendors, “Ah she’s the reason you’re.” He softly smiled, “I saw her during Christmastime, I told her about my plans to open up a local bakery, something small and family oriented. She suggested I look up Riverhead, said they favored family owned business.  She also told me,” Peeta’s cheeks turned pink, “you lived there.  So I came down this weekend to check it out. Delly told me about I-CON and bought me a ticket so that I wouldn’t be bored.”

“So you’re into this stuff?” It was adorable and down right sexy to see a grown man like Peeta blush.

“Yeah, I like Star Wars,” Peeta said.

Katniss wasn’t sure what to do next. She swung her arms awkwardly, she was about to speak but a guy with a phone said.

“Excuse me can I take a picture of you, Bob there told me you’re just like Kansas Evergreen the Arrow’s and Bread, series?”

Katniss was about to say no, but the guy quickly stood next to her and the flash of his phone went off.  She blinked several times, when suddenly she saw there were a line of people with their phones wanting her picture. Helplessly she glanced at Peeta.

A girl excitedly said, “OMG, he looks like PIERE!!!  Are you her honey bun?”

“Can you guys kiss?” The simple question caused the rest of the people start chanting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss.”

Katniss was so embarrassed.  She was helpless in this situation having no way out.

“Okay one kiss, everyone gets their picture and you guys leave me and my girl alone okay?” Peeta bargained with the crowd.

Katniss wanted to run but the reality was kissing Peeta was like one the things she had on her bucket lists. When he pulled her close she didn’t offer up resistance. Her heart rate had picked up as she took a good whiff of him.  He smelled like vanilla, cinnamon, icing and underneath that his dill-like smell and drove her mad. One on his hands cradled the small of her back while the other gently cupped her face upwards.

Her eyes widened, and her nostrils flared, this wasn’t like anything she’d experienced before.

Katniss was no expert in the field of physical intimacy, having the one obligatory boyfriend in college, an inglorious one month of sloppy wet kisses, and uninspiring coupling. Katniss never understood why people made such a big deal out of kisses.  But standing here being cradled in Peeta’s arms, Katniss felt her heart beating so quickly and loudly it could be heard externally.

She became hyper aware of just how broad his chest was, her palms braced themselves on top of his shirt and she could feel the warm, muscular solidness of his body. This sent a thrilling tingle down her spine. Voluntarily her lashes fluttered closed as his face neared. Her feet curled in her boots when she felt his hot breath on the bridge of her nose then on her upper lip just before they descended on her lips.

In the movies there was always music, and the world seemed to fade away when two lovers kissed for the first time. Katniss didn’t hear music but she forgot about everything as the simple peck felt like a tidal wave washed over her. She felt warm and out of breath, her knees trembled and threatened to buckle.  Her fingers curled into his shirt and she felt his hand on the small of her back slide up to bring her firmly against him.

Katniss sighed when he pulled away, her lashes lazily opened.  Peeta’s blue eyes were like stormy waters filled with passion, they mirrored hers.  Her cheeks felt warm. It was then she registered the sound of the people standing around her. The best kiss of her life was shared with a lot of strangers. She hid her face in the crook of his neck.

Peeta quickly guided them out of the room and out of the building.

“I’m sorry if I did anything to upset you,” Peeta said, bending his head to look her in the eye. But Katniss wanted to know if what she felt was real so she stood on tiptoe planted her lips on his.  Everything she felt before wrung true and had somehow multiplied. Greedily she sought to get closer.

His hands immediately affixed themselves on her shoulders, before they slid down over her arms and wound themselves around her middle and brought her in direct contact with that massive solid gorgeous body of his.  Katniss wound her hands around his neck, and helplessly gave herself up to Peeta’s lips.

A loud ‘EEEEEEEEK’ broke them up. Katniss hazily glanced to see Delly clapping and jumping up and down.

“Delly,” Katniss couldn’t help the blush, “what are you doing here?”

“I knew my plan would work,” Delly rushed forward, her glee was uncontained. “I knew if you saw each other again you’d hit it off. You both were crazy for each other in high school but neither one of you did anything about it.  And I swore, like Scarlet O’Hara, that I’d get you both together, even if it was the last thing I did on this planet.” Delly hugged them both. She then separated herself, “Are you mad?”

Katniss glanced at Peeta who looked lost for words. “No.”

“Good, now take Peeta with you, show him around Riverhead, have some coffee, move in together and call me for when you plan the wedding, Don’t worry Katniss I promise it’s going to be a simple ceremony, nothing big,” Delly said unable to contain her grin.

With that, Delly left.

Katniss shook her head, “I can’t believe I was set up by Delly.”

Peeta gazed at her with brilliant blue eyes. He grabbed her hand and with the other he touched her cheek. “So are you game for what Delly said? Show me around town, treat me to coffee, let me move in  and maybe get married?”

Katniss’s lips still tingled pleasurably and her body felt like when she ate chocolate. Two kisses made her body feel alive, and she wondered what would happen if she gave them a chance. To be fair she pictured a life without those kisses and she didn’t like what she imagined. “Come on I’ll show you the town after I show you my house, where you’ll be living. I have a pretty good unused kitchen.”

It was forward but she didn’t care. She wanted a life time of kisses. And less than a month later when Peeta moved in Katniss became a fan girl of one Peeta Mellark.

[seventeenbiscuits]

Friendly(?) Banter (Minghao Imagine)

Word Count: 1909 omg no how

Genre: FLUUFFFFF

A/N: slipped into the “my bias wrecker is minghao” phase bc of this damn fic

“Oi Minghao, get out of my way.”

“Maybe you just need to slim down, Y/N.”

You summon the most pissed off look you can muster, and shove your most favourite person in this world to the side before storming to the back of the bus.

He doesn’t thud satisfyingly to the ground, to your dismay, and instead catches himself and aims a low kick at your heels.

“Are you a little dog, Minghao? Is that why you need to nip my heels?” you retort, pushing your bag onto a seat and pulling out your earphones to block the irritating boy out. Unfortunately, the cord is tangled with almost everything in your backpack: your hair ties, strips of paper, pieces of your soul, the body of your latest murder victim…

You grin. Just kidding, you reassure yourself.

As you feel like you’ve finally untangled the earphones, someone plunks down next to you and tugs at your hair.

Rolling your eyes, you don’t even need to turn your head to know who it is.

“Get away from me, idiot,” you hiss, messing up his perfectly styled hair and shuffling as far away as you can get from him.

He mimics your voice, pulling a stupid face as he does, and you’re ready to punch him so hard that he’ll fly out of the bus, over to the moon and land on a crater and stay there forever.

You stuff your earphones into your ear and crank up your music as high as you dare. Minghao’s lips are moving with a smirk on his face, but you’ve got no idea what he’s saying. It’s music to your ears.

“Good morning, old man,” you grin with a quick ruffle of MInghao’s hair. “I see you still haven’t stopped dying your hair, or is that just your natural grey hair showing?”

He pokes his tongue out at you. You do the same.

“If I’m old, then what are you,, Y/N?” he retorts with a cheeky smile as he tags on the bus. “Ancient? Where can I find your fossil?”

With a grumpy sigh, you wait for him to find a seat before you pick one far, far away from him.

Tugging out your earphones like you do every day, it's a wonder how they don’t yank out all your possessions as you pull them out of your pocket. You plug them and put your music on shuffle. The bus starts, and you stare out of the window at the passing trees and cars.

A loud thud catches your attention. Minghao’s bag is on the floor, and he’s desperately trying to reach it but it just keeps sliding further down the bus. He looks so comical, arms and legs outstretched, trying to conserve his pride while his backpack just runs away from him. You giggle, and feel just a little bit sorry for him when you see how embarrassed he is.

As the bus continues on it’s journey, more and more people begin to fill up the bus. At this stop, an elderly couple and a couple school kids board the bus. You frown intently at the rowdy group of kids as they shove and push each other on the bus. Thankfully, they move to the back of the bus, leaving space for other people to stand.

Your eyes flit to Minghao, who’s offering his seat to the elderly couple. “Would you like to sit here?” he offers with a charming smile. He pushes his newly dyed, soft and silky lilac hair back and gets up in one fluid motion, standing to the side as the old man helps his wife into the seat. At his dashing smile and sweet act of compassion, your weak heart skips a beat.

“Thank you, young man,” the aged man says gratefully. Minghao dismisses it with a grin and a salute. He catches your gaze upon him and winks.

Your heart, beating painfully fast, starts palpating faster than Usain Bolt can run.

Whyyyy, you cry silently. Why is he just so damn attractive?

As Playboy by EXO graces your ears, you internally shriek at this unfair situation.

Ok, so in high school, he was always the one who got all the girls. Everyone wanted to date him, you groan. And now, he hasn’t changed one single bit!

Except maybe he got even more handsome, if that’s possible, you frown. And it’s like every time I want to tell him “You look nice”, instead I say something stupid like “Ew you look old”.

The automated voice on the bus announces with an almost sarcastic voice, “This stop, Botanical Gardens. Alight here for direct bus services to the National University of Performing Arts.”

Minghao, I’m expressing my undying love for you by bullying you, I hope you understand.

You get up with a sigh, brace yourself for the swarm of girls waiting at the bus stop for Minghao the playboy, and with a forced smile on your face, you dive right into your day headfirst. Today you have a packed schedule and rehearsals between classes, after classes, and a ton of choreography to learn, and you really don’t know what you’re doing.

By the time you get to the bus stop after your exhausting day, it’s dark out and the stars are winking back at you amongst the rich wine of the summer night. The moon is round and full, silver like Minghao’s hair. You let your mind wander to your rehearsal in the dance studio, watching him dance was so distracting. Every movement he did was so sharp and precisely executed with a passion and feel that you could never hope to achieve. All the little things about him made you swoon just a little, from his gorgeous hair to his flushed cheeks, pink lips and-

An electrocuting feeling races down your back and brings you back to reality as you sense someone’s presence behind you. They are wearing a long black hoodie and you can see the malicious glint in their eyes. Fear curls icy fingers around your neck, and dread writhes in your stomach. This person does not mean well.

They are tall, too tall to be anyone you know. Before you can sprint off or reach for your phone, a muscular arm wraps around your shoulders and a rough hand squeezes the sides of your face together. You choke on the combined stench of cheap cologne and cigarette smoke.

“It’s a little too late for outside to be someone like you…” purrs the man in your ear.

Despite the disastrous situation you’re in, you can’t help but laugh at the stupid attacker’s mixup with his words.

“I think you should practice your cliche “creepy harasser” lines before you go and prey on people,” you snigger, forcefully lifting his arm off your shoulders and removing his hand from your face. You pat the stunned man on his back, and slap a 5 dollar note on his hand.

“Go buy yourself a better life,” you beam innocently, before lifting your knee to land a hit where it hurts the most on him.

He crumples pathetically on the floor, and you feel just a tiny bit bad, but he really should’ve thought things out before he went and put his arms around you.

“Y/N!”

The sound of running feet attracts your attention, and as you turn, two hands grip the sides of your shoulders.

You instinctively grab the wrists of the person who just grabbed you, and you twist them, your nerves tighter than your skinny jeans after eating a whole bowl of mashed potatoes.

With a shock, you realise that you’re twisting the wrists of a very pained Xu Minghao.

“Please let go of my wrists,” he croaks, face contorted in pain.

You let him go with a startled and genuinely worried “I’m so sorry” and as soon as you do, he resumes his previous action before you interrupted by bending his wrists.

He grips the sides of your shoulders and with concern embedded in the warm orbs of his brown eyes, he examines your face, tilting you this way and that.

“Are you alright? I saw that guy grab you, so I ran as fast as I could!”

You grin. “I’m fine, but you run really slow…”

He drops his arms and puts them on his waist. “Hey, I stopped because I saw you knee him,” he protests, pushing his hand through his hair.

Oh no, you think. Not the hair, not again…

Your heart takes off again, and you can just imagine tangling your hands in his hair, tugging on it for fun, holding his hand…

“Holding his hand??” you accidentally blurt out loud.

Minghao grunts in confusion. “Holding who’s hand?” he asks, and all traces off tough boy Minghao have disappeared, his head cocked to the side like a little puppy dog. If you concentrate hard enough, you could see something glint in his brown eyes, something that feels a lot like jealousy…

“Y/N?” he calls, waving his hand in front of your eyes.

Uh oh.

“Um… um… holding… your… hand?” you try, your racing heart speaking instead of your brain, which is panicking because for the love of everything in this world, he looks so innocent and adorable and you just cannot.

When those words leave your mouth, you’re ready to just die. Your face is burning and you can feel your hands getting sweaty.

He smirks, and you remember why all the girls fell for him and his stupid heart fluttering moves in high school. With a deliberate motion, he plants both his hands firmly on the glass wall behind you, trapping you between his arms.

Uh oh.

His eyes crinkle with amused confidence, and he brings his face so close that just a little push would be enough for him to kiss you.

You panic just a little bit, and blink as fast as you can to maybe deter him from coming any closer.

Uh oh. You repeat mentally, and your brain suddenly floods with unadvisable courses of action. He’s going to kiss you, turn your head! Knee him! Throw your bag at him! Slap him! Tell him to leave! Nuke h-

In the time while you were internally carrying out your bad excuses for escape plans, he had leant forward and ever so gently brushed your lips with his.

Everything falls away. The beating of your heart and the rush of your blood hits a perfect ostinato, the bass line of his breathing and yours synchronise with the lilting melody of pure joy erupting in your heart and the notes of lightheadedness in your head. The symphony of utter happiness envelopes you, and everything feels so right, so flawless that you wonder how you lived without it.

Minghao pulls away from the kiss, eyes sparkling and a dopey grin on his face. You’re sure that your expression mirrors his, because he beams brighter than you thought was possible. He squeezes you into a tight hug and you bury your head into his chest, loving the feel of his arms around you. It feels safe.

“You don’t know how long I wanted to do that for.”

“Neither, you dork.”

Thanks for reading!

[reviewsbysam]

Again, but Better

No Spoilers in this section!

Again, but Better is the debut novel of popular booktuber Christine Riccio aka polandbananasbooks. It is a fun, fast read and overall I found to be enjoyable. 

Without giving too much away, this is a story about Shane. She is an introverted 20 year old who feels as though she has been denied the full college experience due to her introversion. She decides to try and turn this all around by going to London and studying abroad.  

I feel as though Christine still has room for growth for her future books, but from the cover art, to the concept, to the title I thought this was a clever and impressive attempt at a first book.  

For a more detailed look of what I loved (and what I didn’t as much) scroll to below this picture. Spoilers below!!!

This section is full of spoilers!!! You have been warned!

I have watched Christine’s youtube channel for years so I was a tad nervous going into this book. I was nervous that I would not enjoy this book by a newbie author, but that was (thankfully) not the case. While reading I did find things that bothered me within the writing. This included the reoccurring use of describing Shane’s talking as “squeaking” at one point in the book and the constant use of exclamation marks in the dialogue. At first, these things seemed to stick out to me; however, once I got immersed into the story I noticed none of it. I was focused on the content rather than her writing style, which I personally believe to be the sign of a good author. I have seen that others disagree, but I enjoyed the flow of her writing. Overall, I was impressed by the writing itself. 

One thing I did not like as much were some of the times in which Shane was portrayed as clumsy. Immediately upon arriving she falls down the stairs and almost walks out into traffic. Both of these instances felt a little too cliche. I understand that it is a rom-com and cliches will be present to an extent, but I felt as though more subtle or creative ways could have been used to drive the point home.

I found Shane to be a likable character. It is clear that Shane is based upon Christine herself. She even admits in this in the authors note. I know some people have found a problem with this, but I didn’t at all. It felt like an easter egg hunt while reading the book to spot the similarities, which made it all the more enjoyable. It also made Shane feel more like a genuine character.

Many many many references were made to music/books/tv that Shane (and Christine) was a fan of. There were references to Lost, Harry Potter, Cassandra Clare, Taylor Swift, The Hunger Games, The Beatles, and more. As someone who is a fan of many of these topics I was excited when they were mentioned. When Pilot and Shane discuss All Too Well by Taylor Swift I felt like I might explode. My inner dialogue was somewhere along the lines of “Omg Taylor Swift again, cool. All too well? All too well! I can’t believe they are talking about the masterpiece that is All too well in this book!” That being said, I feel as though there were possibly too many references in the book. I understand why they were included, but they probably are not as fun to read for people who are not fans of those topics. This is especially true because so many of the references were part of major plot points. An Albus Dumbledore quote written on the inside cover of the Prisoner of Azkaban was a huge part in reigniting the motivation of Shane. The climax of the book in which Shane and Pilot decide to stay in 2011 is marked by him randomly appearing and playing State of Grace, Stay Stay, Stay, and You Belong With Me on the guitar. These were critical moments within the story. I also worry that having so many current references wont age well if people decide to read this book later down the line. However, having Pilot serenade me with Taylor Swift songs would also be a major swoon moment for me, so I am not complaining. 

One of the highlights of the book for me was the travel. Reading about our characters’ time in Rome left me googling pictures of it for hours after reading. The Palace of Versailles is a major point on my bucket list and reading about it was wonderful. Christine did an excellent job painting a beautiful and enticing picture of what it could be like traveling abroad and visiting different countries on the weekends. For people who love to travel, or dream of doing so, living vicariously through Shane is a delight. For this reason, I favored the front half of the book. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the way those parts were written. Now, don’t mind me casually looking up the study abroad options my college offers. 

Somehow I have made it very far into this review without mentioning the romance at all. In reality, Pilot was mostly likable because of how we saw him through Shane’s eyes. Their witty banter was fun and I truly did feel the connection between the two of them. That being said, he had a girlfriend!!! He put Shane in the horrible position of falling for him (because yes he could have put a lid on it right in the beginning) and then making her feel guilty and hopeless because she didn’t want to be “the other woman.” It was upsetting considering he didn’t even feel much for Amy and stayed with her for six. more. years. Then, he goes MIA when Shane needed him most. He did try to keep her parents from finding out about her lying to them, but then after the fact, when the damage was done, he didn’t give her the support she needed from her friend. Pilot is not all bad though and I did like him throughout the book. It’s just in hindsight he handled things poorly. Although, that was probably the point considering this was all during Take One when things went badly and hence why they needed to be done again, but better. In fact, it made for a much clearer juxtaposition between their first time in 2011 and their 2011/2017 selves, because the second time around Amy was (for the most part) out of the picture. Additionally, I loved how much Pilot really did seem to care for her. He shined in the moments that he tried to distract her when she was upset and helped her through crisis (such as when she lost her purse and almost got mugged).

There are moments of the book I wish we could have expanded upon more. I loved when the whole gang would get together. Babe seemed like an amazing best friend to have! I was left wanting to know more about Leo and his story. I thought it was a very good little twist when Shane messaged him back the second time around and we found out he needed her more than she needed him. His character became much more 3 dimensional, but I was still left wanting more of him. Also, when Chad (more on him later) kissed Shane, I felt like that was a big moment. I felt as though the story kind of brushed by it. I couldn’t believe that Shane wasn’t more upset with how poorly her first kiss had gone or that Pilot wasn’t more upset about it. 

I though the touch of magic in the book was nice, but could have used a tad more explanation. I guess that’s the thing about magic, its a mystery. 

Now, circling back to Chad. He was the most stereotypical douche guy ever. This felt intentional on Christine’s part so it didn’t bother me. His character seemed to even border on satirical. The fact that she used the name Chad which is often used to make jokes about frat guys who say “bro” and just care about drinking... hilarious. It felt like an inside joke with the reader. 

Another really comical thing from the book were the deleted scenes. The cover of Wrecking Ball was already funny, and the girls who were fans of it scoffing at Miley Cyrus’ version made it even better. It felt like a good choice to leave it out of the book, but I’m glad it was included at the end. 

Overall, the thing that made me happiest in the book was that although it was a romance it did not make romance the center of Shane’s life. She was a driven character with dreams and ambition. She wasn’t just a brainless lovestruck girl sitting around thinking about Pilot. When Shane began not putting enough focus on her career because of Pilot, she left him. During this time we didn’t read about Pilot at all. She worked hard, was focused, and flourished. She spent more time with her friends and continued to travel. It was such an amazing message for girls and is one of the main reasons I thought Shane was a great main character. Pilot also valued her success over their relationship. When he saw that she got published he continued to stay away from her so that she could continue killing the game without him as a distraction. In the end they were able to find a balance between romance and work including reading dates (something I loved because I regularly do it with my boyfriend) which I thought was really important. Her becoming a successful writer was just as big of a deal as her ending up with the guy. She also cared about his success which was sweet. Shane motivated Pilot to start a Youtube channel and gain exposure. Apparently it worked because when he stays with her Pilot ends up achieving his dreams, unlike when he ended up with Amy the first time. 

All in all I was happy with this book. i obviously had a lot to say about it and forced myself to stop here. Overall, I give it an 80%. I can’t wait to read Christine’s next book and to see how she improves as a writer. 

I’d love to know what you though about it!