#The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hannahmanderr · 1 year ago

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Before we get into the chapter, a HUGE platonic smooch for @duchi-nesten who took the time to draw the Ancients from this story with bribery from me and @scarletsaphire I'm absolutely screaming over them still, they are just UGGHHH SO GOOD

From left to right is Zunje, Babel, Pele, and Kala!

Anyway, onto the chapter! It's an important one! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Everything begins. Everything ends. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jazz flinched as another wayward blast of ectoplasm exploded into the wall of the office building across the street, reducing it to little more than rubble. The battle was becoming more and more destructive as time bled on, and her nerves were really starting to get to her. She needed to get back out there and put a stop to it.

Unfortunately, there was the slight complication of her parents.

She’d tried to play dumb when Frostbite slipped up, but it had been pointless. Frostbite had been all too happy to explain that the Great One was, in fact, the ghost hero known as Danny Phantom.

Perhaps if it had just been her dad there, she would’ve been able to distract him, or figure out how to explain it away, but as luck would have it, her mom had pulled up shortly after the ghost king’s arrival.

It didn’t take them long to put two and two together. At least, that’s what she assumed.

Even more unfortunate was that her concussion had spontaneously decided to rear its ugly head, causing her to lean over and throw up in the middle of the road. Mom and Dad were far less than keen on letting her continue fighting after that. She’d protested of course, pointing out that the all-powerful ghost king was about to raze Amity Park to the ground, but they wouldn’t have any of it.

She had been forced to take shelter behind a large pile of rubble, along with her parents and Frostbite, as the battle intensified. Pariah Dark’s question about Danny had been met with a brutal attack from one of the four-armed Ancients, and the battle had progressed from there. At some point, the little lava-haired Ancient had taken over the direct combat with the ghost king, aided by the gnome and the four-armed ghost with a cloak of clouds. The last Ancient - Pandora, if Jazz remembered correctly - had engaged the black-armored knight. Sam and Tucker were still out there, somewhere, working to keep the thrall army at bay.

And that was just the fighting. Overhead, in the sky, the rip that had heralded Pariah Dark’s appearance still gaped over Amity Park. The air seemed to vibrate with its intensity; Jazz could feel it prickling at her skin, making her feel foreign in her own body. Like reality itself was beginning to fail.

In short, things were Bad-with-a-capital-B.

Jazz leaned over to peer around the rubble protecting them. “We should really be out there,” she muttered, even as her head throbbed worse.

“You’re not going anywhere, young lady,” Mom said. “Not while you’re injured.”

“I told you, I’m fine! I got it out of my system, I’m good to go.”

“I may not know many details about human biology,” Frostbite said, arching an eyebrow at Jazz, “but I have enough experience with the Great One to know that head injuries are serious in humans.”

Jazz didn’t miss how her parents winced hearing about “the Great One” and his injuries.

They hadn’t said a word about Danny - Fenton or Phantom - since Frostbite’s slip-up. It only put her that much more on edge. Sooner or later, Danny would return, and if Mom and Dad were going to flip out and shoot him on sight, she wanted to at least have the chance to warn him.

As it was, she couldn’t tell what they were thinking. Her mother’s poker face was nothing short of perfect, and her father, though he often wore his heart on his sleeve, was strangely stoic about it all. If there was one thing Jazz hated, it was not knowing things, and not knowing their thoughts on Danny was killing her.

She could only hope and pray. The fact that they weren't actively trying to gun down Frostbite was a good sign at least.

But for the time being, she pushed those thoughts away. “Believe me, I know plenty about head injuries. I wouldn’t be wanting to go back out there if I thought it was serious enough.”

“I don't think the person with the concussion should be making that judgment ,” Mom said. “You won't be going anywhere until we know you're safe.”

Jazz frowned. Was that a hint of hysteria in her voice?

Yeah, that couldn't be a good sign.

Still, her words gave Jazz an opening. “Alright, fine! Whatever! It's not like the world is ending or anything, in case you haven't noticed. Why aren't you guys out there, at least?” Maybe if she could convince them to go back to the fight, she’d have a chance to catch Danny before they saw him. Maybe she’d have a chance to warn him.

Her parents didn't answer. They exchanged a glance that Jazz couldn't read, and Dad’s shoulders sagged. He opened his mouth. “We -”

“What's going on here?”

Jazz’s eyes snapped up to see Valerie hovering just behind her parents and Frostbite; Wes clung to Valerie with his eyes screwed tightly shut. Her parents turned at the sound of Valerie’s voice, and though Jazz couldn’t see her mom’s eyes behind the red-tinted goggles, she could only imagine the look on her face.

Her dad, however, beamed widely. “The Huntress!” he exclaimed, grabbing at Mom’s arm like an overexcited child.

To her credit, Valerie avoided wincing too strongly. “Yeah, that’s… me.”

“Did you find him?” Jazz asked. She didn’t bother to hide the anxiety in her voice.

Valerie frowned, but nodded. “Yeah, but he’s… well…”

“Can we maybe have this conversation on the ground?” Wes asked shakily. Valerie responded with a roll of her eyes, practically shoving him off her. He stumbled the short distance to the ground and collapsed spread-eagle on the street. “Thanks,” he muttered.

Dad’s nose crinkled in confusion. “Uh… is this the backup you were talking about, Jazzy-pants?”

Jazz ignored him. “What do you mean? Where is he?” she asked Valerie.

“It’s okay, I’m here!” a voice called out. A moment later, Danny - as Phantom - pulled up beside Valerie. “I’m here.” Jazz’s breath caught in her throat. She had known, of course, that Danny had gone to get the Crown of Fire, but for some reason, it hadn’t crossed her mind that he would have to wear it. Granted, the crown on his head now was most definitely not on fire, but she thought the frosted look complemented him much better than fire. The way it sat on his head, and the way the cloak he wore rippled in the breeze and caught the light…

He looked regal. Like he really was a king.

It made her heart swell with pride. Her baby brother… he had come so far. She’d never doubted his leadership abilities, not really. His common sense could be… debatable at times, but her brother had a good heart. He was still young, of course, and the thought of him being a monarch had never occurred to her, but in that moment, Jazz couldn’t help but think that the role suited him.

She must have shown it on her face, because Danny caught her eye, and his hand flew up to the back of his neck. “It’s a long story…” he muttered sheepishly, his cheeks growing green.

Jazz opened her mouth to respond, but Dad stood up abruptly, cutting her off. Mentally, she kicked herself. She’d gotten so distracted by his arrival, she’d forgotten about their parents.

Danny instantly paled. Whatever he saw in Dad’s face, it couldn’t have been good. Jazz tried to stand, to intercept him, but Frostbite gently held her down. “Easy,” he rumbled quietly. “Do not act prematurely.”

Of course, she wanted to protest that, but she quickly became distracted by her father’s slow approach towards Danny. Her mother wasn’t too far behind.

Danny’s hand twisted into the cloak, and he averted his gaze. “Look,” he began shakily, “I… I get it if you hate me, and - and I… I’ll let you hunt me down or tear me apart or whatever you want, but please, you have to let me stop all this first, or there isn’t gonna be a world for you to tear me apart in. I just need to - mmph!”

Jazz squeaked and clapped her hands to her mouth as Dad lunged forward. She pushed Frostbite’s paw away to stumble to her feet. She had to get there first, had to stop him from hurting Danny -

- but her heart stuttered to a stop as Dad wrapped Danny in a tight embrace.

“Danny,” he said, his voice cracking. “We were so worried… You have no idea…”

A stunned Danny returned the hug as Mom pulled down her hood and glommed on to his other side. “You don’t… hate me?” he asked, his voice muffled by their dad’s burly form.

“Listen to me, Danny,” Mom said, peeling him out of Dad’s arms and holding him by the shoulders. She looked him firm in the eye. “No matter what you do, no matter what you are, we could never, ever hate you. Never, do you hear me?”

Jazz could see the tears glistening in the corners of Danny’s eyes even from where she sat. His lower lip quivered the slightest bit before he threw his arms around Mom’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry,” he said hoarsely. “I should’ve told you forever ago, but I just…”

“It’s okay, sweetie,” their mom said, rubbing circles into his back. “It’s okay. We’ll have time to… to figure it all out.”

“Yeah, assuming the world doesn’t end first,” Wes snarked from his position on the ground. Jazz shot him a heated glare.

Valerie simply looked away and folded her arms across her chest. Jazz frowned. Something clearly wasn’t sitting right with her, but…

“Wait,” Dad said, furrowing his brow, “what’s this about the world ending?”

“It’s okay,” Jazz said. “The world isn’t going to end. Danny’s going to make sure of it.” Maybe she’d have felt more sure of her words if there hadn’t been a gaping hole in the sky threatening to rip reality apart, but someone had to look on the bright side.

Their parents glanced between the two of them. “What do you mean?” Mom asked slowly.

Before either of them could answer, another wayward ectoblast flew overhead, crashing into the roof of the building right above them. Huge chunks of rubble broke off of the building and began to plummet straight towards them.

Valerie reacted quickly, pulling Wes up by his shirt collar and grabbing Jazz to drag them to safety. Danny and Frostbite reacted just as quickly by throwing up ectoplasmic shields. The rubble slammed into them, then slid off the shields and away from the rest of the group.

Valerie whipped her head towards the battle. “I think I’m… gonna go help them,” she said. She flew off before Jazz could say anything, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in her wake.

“I need to go help too,” Danny said thickly. He stared after Valerie. “It’s… that’s what I’m supposed to do. If I can beat him, everything will go back to normal… Mostly, anyway.” His hand twitched up towards his head.

Mom whipped her head in the direction of the battle. “Him?” she asked, nodding to where Pariah Dark and the lava-haired Ancient were still fiercely fighting each other. To Jazz’s horror, the Ancient seemed to be losing ground.

“Precisely,” Frostbite said jovially. How he could manage such a tone in these circumstances was beyond Jazz. “Once the Great One is able to defeat Pariah Dark, he can assume the throne and put the Heart of the Infinite Realms at ease! It’s quite simple, really.”

“Assume the - wait!” Wes shot upright. “You’re telling me that dumb crown isn’t just some weird costume?”

Danny flushed green, and his hand flew up to the back of his neck. “I, ah… like I said, it’s a long story.” He glanced at Mom and Dad. “I’m really sorry, believe me, I wish I could’ve told you differently, and I definitely wish it wasn’t the case, but…”

Jazz watched as Mom’s gaze drifted up to the crown on Danny’s head, as if she were just now noticing it. “What throne?” she asked weakly.

“Um… it kind of maybe sort of might be… the throne of the entire Ghost Zone?” Danny replied with a sheepish grin.

Dad scratched his head. “When did this happen?”

Danny’s face grew sober again. “I don’t know. I only just found out a few hours ago myself.” His eyes flicked away from their parents, down at his feet.

A pang of sympathy struck Jazz’s heart. Sure, Danny looked the part of a king, and somehow, she had no trouble believing he was the king, despite her earlier confusion, but somehow it had escaped her that he had barely had enough time to process everything. That everything was happening so quickly.

And their parents… it had to be equally difficult for them to process. They had only just learned their son’s true identity less than an hour ago, and now they were finding out he was essentially the heir to the throne of a world full of the same beings they had once sworn to annihilate. It would be a lot for anyone.

And so it nearly brought Jazz to tears when she saw Dad fight to plaster a smile onto his face. He placed a gentle hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Hey,” he said in a tone entirely too quiet for Jack Fenton, “it’s okay. Like your mother said, we’ll have time to figure it all out.”

Danny still didn’t look up. “Yeah,” he said, barely audible. “We’ll have time.”

His tone told Jazz he didn’t believe that in the slightest.

An ear-splitting roar shattered the moment. Everyone slapped their hands over their ears. Jazz only just managed to catch a glimpse of Danny gasping and hunching in on himself, clutching at his sternum.

A wave of hot air washed over Jazz. Trembling, she peered around the rubble, only to gasp in horror at the sight of the little girl Ancient bleeding lava all over the four-armed Ancient. She was still alive - as alive as a ghost could be anyway, but it was evident even from a hundred yards away that she was fully incapacitated. Pandora still fought with the knight, but everyone else - Sam, Tucker, Valerie, the other Ancients, even the thrall army - had practically frozen in place.

The most terrifying sight of all was the evil ghost king, looming over the street, staring straight at her.

No, staring straight at Danny.

“Come and meet your fate, little Prince!” he called mockingly. His voice reverberated over the street, causing buildings to rumble ominously. “Or will you take the coward’s way out?”

For a moment, the only sound that could be heard was the humming of the rip in the sky. Jazz held her breath as Danny glanced at their parents, then gently pushed Dad’s hand off his shoulder and took to the air.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” he called back. “Just… give me the Ring before things get worse.”

Pariah laughed, a menacing sound that sent chills down Jazz’s spine. “Why should I surrender what is rightfully mine?”

Danny's eyes flared. “That power’s not yours. It’s mine.”

Jazz blinked at the sudden shift in Danny’s tone. It was still his voice, yes, but there was something about it…

Pariah roared wordlessly again. “Never!” he snarled. “Kilaris is MINE!”

With a guttural yell, he launched himself at Danny. Jazz could’ve sworn she saw a bright white light flare from the crown on Danny’s head, just momentarily, but when she blinked, it was gone, and Danny too had charged forward. The two collided in a blinding explosion of red and green.

Mom and Dad moved to follow Danny, but Frostbite held a paw up. “No,” he said, his voice somber and heavy. “This is not a fight you can help him with. He must win this by his power alone.”

“Listen here,” Mom snapped. “I don’t care how you do it in your world, but I will not stand by and watch my son fight some impossible battle on his own! I - we are going to help him, whether you like it or not!”

“I understand.” Frostbite flinched and threw up a shield just in time to stop another huge chunk of building from crushing them all. “But though you may not be able to help him in combat, there are other ways you can help him.” He glanced at Jazz. “Keeping your daughter and his friend safe, for one.”

“Pfft. Me? Friends with Fenton? Fat chance,” Wes scoffed.

“He will be able to fight with a sound mind if you help him protect yourselves and the other humans,” Frostbite continued, ignoring Wes. “And I must go and help my colleague.”

Mom turned, watching the battle with helpless eyes. “But… Danny -”

“ - will be just fine. But we must give him a fighting chance by helping elsewhere.”

“He’s right,” Dad said quietly, taking Mom’s hand. “We have to help get Jazz out of here. It’s getting too dangerous.”

“I told you, I’m fine! I can help too!”

Another explosion rang overhead. Jazz yelped and ducked as an enormous bolt of green energy flew over her head. It came close enough that she could feel its cold aura graze the top of her scalp.

“Y-you know, on second thought, I think I’m with Yeti Man over here,” Wes muttered, cowering behind a fallen wall. Jazz had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

Her attention, however, quickly turned back to Mom. Again, she found herself wishing she could read minds. She could see the gears turning in her mother’s head after all, but Mom’s stoic face didn’t give her true thoughts away.

Jazz hated not knowing things.

Then Mom’s jaw tightened, and Jazz’s heart fell. She knew that look. “We’re getting you two to safety,” Mom said. Then, giving Frostbite a pointed look, she added, “And then we’re coming back to help Danny.”

Frostbite closed his eyes. “You will only distract him from what he needs to do. It is not wise.”

“That might be what you think,” Mom said as she bent down to help Wes stand, “but he's my son. I've let him struggle alone for too long.” Her voice cracked. “I have to start… making it up to him…”

“I assure you, the Great One does not bear any ill will towards you,” Frostbite said, frowning in sympathy. “This is not the time to begin ‘making amends’, though.”

Mom opened her mouth to retort again, but Dad laid a hand on her shoulder. “C'mon, Mads. We can figure it out later. Right now, we've gotta help these two.”

It was strange seeing her father being the rational, calm one, but Jazz chalked it up to the weirdness of the day. It was the only way she could keep it all straight in her head.

Mom shot Frostbite one last hard glare before leading Wes towards the RV sitting down the road. Dad scooped Jazz up into his arms and began carrying her to the RV, much to her embarrassment.

She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. “Don’t you worry, Jazzy-pants!” he said. His tone was bright as always, but Jazz could tell it was at least somewhat forced. “Soon as you’re safe, we’ll get right back out there and help Danny kick some evil ghost king butt!”

Jazz bit her lip. “What about what Frostbite said? About… interfering?”

Her dad hesitated before answering. “I’m sure he’s wrong. You can’t trust a ghost, after all!” His face froze as soon as the words left his mouth. “I mean, uh, not Danny of course! He’s different.”

She didn’t quite know how to respond to that. That… was a misconception they’d have to clear up sooner or later.

As she peered over Dad’s shoulder, back towards where Danny was fighting tooth and nail against Pariah, she hoped there would actually be a sooner or later.

“Be careful, little brother,” she whispered to herself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The thread flickered.

Clockwork frowned as he allowed it to flow across his hands and in between his fingers. This certainly was the correct timeline, he knew that without a doubt, but its flickering concerned him greatly. It had been so strong when Vlad Plamius made the decision to allow Danny the Crown, but now…

He closed his eyes as he sifted through time. Before, the future had been as clear to him as any other. Now though, he could only see up to a certain point before it was obscured behind what felt like a thick wall of mist. There was still a future there, yes, but not one he could see.

It was, in a word, unusual.

“My dear Kilaris, what are you up to?” he murmured as he let the thread of the timeline slip from his fingers and back into the broader tangle of Time. Its flicker became swallowed up by the combined glow of the cluster of timelines, but Clockwork knew it was still present.

His eyes drifted to one of his time windows. The same image of Danny exiting the portal that he had watched just an hour or so ago played out again, this time in real time. A thin trail of frost followed in his wake as he flew to meet his family. The frost shimmered briefly in the ethereal light of the rip in the sky above, leaving a silky, glowing strand, almost like -

- ah. Of course.

“Must you always be so overdramatic?” Clockwork said aloud, the semblance of a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth.

He rested his hands on top of his staff. He knew what needed to happen now.

It was only a matter of time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fighting Pariah was nothing like it had been the first time around.

Before, Danny had been fighting in a clunky mech-suit. True, it had helped enhance his powers (until it tried to kill him), but it had made his movements equally clunky and stiff. He’d needed to adapt to the added weight and size quickly, but it still cost him when he took a few crucial hits.

This time he was not bound by any suit. He was free to move as he pleased, using the advantage of his smaller form to move with agility and speed that Pariah did not possess. He could dive in close for a punch or a kick, then turn on a dime and dart away. He wouldn’t have been able to do that in the Ecto-Skeleton.

There was also the fact that he had the help of the Ancients. True, it looked like Pele had taken some nasty hits from Pariah and would be down for the count, but the others were still going strong especially with Zunje now, keeping the Fright Knight and the thrall army at bay. He didn’t like seeing Sam and Tucker down there in the fray, so close to his own battle with Pariah, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

And then there was the Crown. It remained secure on his head, feeding him a power that buzzed through his veins and his core, making him feel like he’d just taken six shots of espresso mixed with pure ectoplasm. It was an exhilarating feeling, one that made him wish he’d actually used the Crown when he’d had the chance, during his first fight with Pariah.

(A wish he immediately scolded himself for.)

Danny gritted his teeth as he threw up another ectoplasmic shield, this one with a thick coating of ice thanks to the power of the Crown. It helped protect him from Pariah’s elemental attacks, which ran much hotter than his own.

Ectoplasmic fire exploded across the shield, and Danny could feel its heat as it curled around the edges towards him. He had to dig his heels into the air to brace himself against the sheer force of the hit.

Pariah didn’t give him a chance to fire back. No sooner had Danny lowered his shield did he see Pariah lunging for him, fangs bared and a fiery, maniacal look in his lone eye. Danny yelped and darted to the side, just barely missing Pariah’s fist.

Danny tried to respond with his own blast of ectoplasm, the Crown’s power coursing through him, but Pariah deflected it easily with his mace. The blast ricocheted off of it and into the street. Danny gasped as it flew right over Jazz’s head, just barely missing her by a foot.

That turned out to be a mistake. He should’ve known better than to let himself get distracted. It gave Pariah the opportunity to take another swing with his mace, catching Danny in the gut and sending him crashing into the ground.

Danny gripped his stomach and swallowed down a cry. The mace’s sharp spikes were not just for decoration, it seemed; they’d dug mercilessly into his torso, leaving him with deep, ragged gashes. The fall into the street hadn’t been too kind on his ribs, either. He could already feel the Crown diverting some of its power to the injuries, trying to heal him as quickly as possible.

Pariah roared as he dove for Danny, fire exploding to life around his fist. Danny managed to roll out of the way, and Pariah’s fist slammed into the street, cracking it even more. In any other fight, Danny probably would’ve tried to make some snarky comment about how the potholes in Amity Park were already bad enough and they didn’t need more, but he was still struggling to get air back in his lungs. Not to mention he found it much harder to crack jokes in the middle of his more serious fights, mostly because he had to concentrate on not getting beaten to a pulp.

As Danny rolled, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father scoop Jazz into his arms. Mom helped Wes up, and they ran towards the RV, which was still parked haphazardly down the road. Miraculously, it was still standing.

He could almost breathe a sigh of relief. He still didn’t know if Sam and Tucker were safe or if they were still out there fighting the skeleton army, but knowing his family (and Wes) were safe offered him a little bit of reassurance.

Focus. Do not lose sight of the goal.

Right. The Ring. He still had to get that. Somehow.

It was going to be much easier said than done. Getting it off of Pariah’s hand seemed impossible, especially with the relentless drive of the king’s attacks. Danny barely had the chance to recover and launch his own attacks, let alone come up with a plan to swipe the Ring.

He forced himself up and into the air. His cloak flared with cold energy as he allowed ice to gather in his hands. That was another advantage he had this time around - the help from his elemental core. His ice attacks were some of his strongest, and he silently thanked whatever unseen force had granted him an ice core as he loosed the energy all at once, freezing Pariah’s entire arm to the street.

You’re welcome, little Prince.

Danny almost stopped in midair. That remark definitely sent a flurry of questions flying through his head, but he had to keep his attention on Pariah. We’re not done with this, he still thought back.

Of course not. You still have much to learn.

He didn’t think the Heart meant it as a dig, but he still mentally stuck his tongue out. Even if he didn’t have time to ask questions, he could still be sassy. No one could take his sass away.

It was strange how much clearer the voice in his head seemed now that he had the Crown on. It had been clear before, but there was a new clarity to it, like when his eye doctor gave him a new prescription for his contacts. He supposed it made sense; now, he had that direct contact.

It still didn’t explain why the voice sounded like his own train of thought sometimes.

Even stranger was the feeling of the power offered to him by Kilaris. It was stronger than the power he’d had while wearing the Ecto-Skeleton, and that had probably been the time when he was the most powerful throughout the past two years. It helped that unlike the Ecto-Skeleton, the Crown did not drain him of his energy as he used it; instead, it continuously fueled him, pouring more and more power into his body, like it could never run out. It was thrilling, this feeling of endless energy. His core practically vibrated from it all.

At the same time though, fear nagged at him. This was how it felt with just the Crown on. How much worse would it be once he got the Ring too? The thought sent a chill down his spine, and he found himself subconsciously beginning to suppress his core. Suppress the ceaseless power flooding into him.

Why stop the power you are meant to have?

Danny swallowed.

That’s exactly what he was afraid of.

It all passed through his mind in the few seconds it took for Pariah to begin trying to melt the ice securing him to the ground. “Why you little -!”

More ice pooled in Danny’s hands. “Sorry,” he said as he re-froze Pariah’s hand to the street. “You just looked like you needed to chill out.”

Pariah bellowed, and the ice cracked and shattered. “Impertinent child!” he sneered. “When I am in control once more -”

“Save it!” Danny fired off a round of concentrated bolts of ice in quick succession, forcing Pariah to retreat a little. “I already told you, the Heart’s not yours anymore! It hasn’t been for a long time!”

“And you dare presume it is yours?” Pariah said. He quickly gained back the ground he had lost by leaping at Danny again.

Of course, Danny easily flew out of the way. “I don’t ‘presume’ anything!” he shouted. “I already know!”

It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to say, and he really didn’t like the taste the words left in his mouth, but if he’d learned anything throughout his career as Danny Phantom, it was that his opponents got sloppy when he riled them up. Snarking at them just happened to be the easiest way to do so.

Is it truly “snark” if you speak the truth?

In spite of himself, Danny almost laughed. If you’re gonna be stuck with me, you better get used to the snark, whether it’s true or not. We come as a package deal.

He ducked out of the way of another punch. He didn’t recover quick enough; by the time he managed to turn around to face the king, an entire wall of red energy was surging at him. There wasn’t time to fly around it. It struck him with a force so strong, he was thrown back more than a hundred yards.

His ribs groaned in pain as he slammed into the concrete and skidded back a few more yards for good measure. Nausea churned in his stomach from the blow, and he had to resist the urge to lean over and throw up. All too soon, Pariah was on top of him again, swinging his mace.

Knowing there was no way he could move in time, Danny turned intangible and allowed himself to sink into the ground. He counted to three, just enough time to get his nausea under control, then called ectoplasm to his hands. With the Crown’s power, the energy’s green glow was so bright, it almost seemed white.

It wasn’t difficult to track Pariah’s hot ecto-signature underground. Danny lined himself up underneath him, then sprang from the ground. His blazing fists collided straight with Pariah’s jaw. It didn’t push Pariah back like he had hoped, but it distracted him long enough for Danny to fire his ectoplasm in one long, continuous blast.

Pariah growled under Danny’s onslaught before finally bringing up a red shield. “You truly think this will be enough to stop me?”

Danny didn’t let up. “I’ll do whatever it takes to stop a monster like you from hurting the Realms again.”

“Really now?” Pariah twisted his shield into a blast of his own. It pushed against Danny’s, and he once again had to dig his heels into the air behind him to keep from being thrown back again. “Then why don’t you?”

Danny’s heart skipped a beat, and his attack faltered for the briefest of moments. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think you do,” Pariah said, laughing. “I have seen you. I have seen your fears, your doubts…”

“You don’t know me at all!” Danny yelled. Frustration distracted him, and he unwillingly drew on the Crown’s power to fuel his blast. “Just ‘cause you got in my head once doesn’t mean anything!”

“Poor little Prince,” Pariah cooed mockingly, as if Danny hadn’t even spoken. “This is why you are weak. This is why you will fail to protect everything you stand for. You are nothing more than a scared child.”

Danny couldn’t stop the anger-fueled energy pouring into him and, subsequently, pouring out of his hands. The Crown was all too happy to supply it. It just responded to him too easily. It responded to his resentment of Pariah, his frustration at the tyrant king’s insinuation that he was a coward, his rage at the fact that Pariah refused to hand over what was rightfully Danny’s -

Danny screwed his eyes shut tightly. That last one, he knew it was the Crown’s influence, but he couldn’t stop it. It was all coming too hard, too fast, too strong, and it was thrilling. The power flooding through the Crown just felt so right, like maybe he really was meant to have it all along.

He wanted to throw up.

The power demanded a release. It thrummed against Danny’s skin, coursing through his core, making his green ectoblast grow brighter and brighter until it was nearly a blinding white. It would not remain bound for much longer.

And so with a guttural yell, he unleashed it.

He wasn’t entirely sure what happened - the rush of energy leaving him all at once had left him overwhelmed and disoriented - but when he opened his eyes, the whole block had a thin layer of ice covering it, sparkling in the ethereal light of the rip above. Large branches of the trees in front of the buildings had frozen and cracked off the trunks, shattering on the ground below. He could see at least one downed power line.

Pariah had fallen to the ground, into a huge crater Danny swore hadn’t been there before. Crystals of frost coated his hair and his cape. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head, clearly just as disoriented as Danny.

Danny stared at his hands in horror. Did I really do that?

The Heart didn’t answer him. He couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.

Probably bad. For him, anyway.

And in that moment, he swore to himself he’d never allow the Crown to give him that much power ever again. Never.

(No matter how right it had felt to control it.)

Pariah’s cough caught his attention. “You…” he muttered before stopping abruptly.

Danny’s breath caught in his throat as Pariah’s lone eye fell on the Crown sitting on his head. For just a brief moment, the world seemed to screech to a halt around them, and a silence filled the air, so thick it left a dusty taste in Danny’s mouth. Even the rip in the sky above seemed to pause in its yawning.

Then a fire sparked to life behind that one eye and a wave of heat crashed over Danny, nearly knocking him over. The roar Pariah let loose chilled Danny to the bone and left a whiny ringing in his ears. He didn’t even bother to try and stand his ground against a rage so strong; he simply turned and rocketed off in the other direction.

Just in the nick of time too, it seemed, as Pariah lunged after him. In an instant, a flurry - no, a storm of scarlet ectoblasts surrounded Danny. He twisted and ducked and dived and put all his flying skills to the test trying to dodge them all. It was difficult, since the blasts were all coming from behind him, but strangely enough, he felt as though he could sense them in the air as they flew at him, like he could just tell where they were without looking.

“Is that you?” he asked as he narrowly avoided yet another attack.

On the contrary. It is you, little Prince.

“That makes zero se- agghh!” A blast clipped Danny’s side, sending a flare of white hot pain up his ribcage. The blast was strong enough to send him careening off course, and he couldn’t stop himself from colliding with a building and plummeting to the street below. His head hit hard enough to cause his vision to go black.

He groaned pitifully as he laid on the road. The pain shooting through his side felt as though it was trying to burn straight through him, even in spite of the cloak and Crown’s efforts to heal him. Something sticky and wet pooled underneath the hand gripping his side.

For a minute, he just laid there, fruitlessly trying to will the pain away. Unbidden memories of being in a very similar pain in a very similar fight began to well up. He forced them back down. Not right now.

A blood-curdling scream had his eyes flying back open.

Vision half-blurry from the fall to the ground, Danny pried his head up off the street and looked. In front of him was the elementary school, surrounded by a shimmering green ghost shield. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared, since it was after school hours and the building would normally be empty, but his eyes landed on a small crowd of civilians, hovering near the inner edge of the shield and watching the battle with fear in their eyes. The scream had come from a little girl no older than six, covering her mouth in horror and pointing at him.

No, pointing behind him.

With a grunt of pain and a tremendous effort, Danny took to the sky again, wobbling in midair. Pariah’s boots slammed into the street not a second later, right where he had been laying.

This was bad. This was really getting bad. He was injured, and though the Crown and the cloak kept his energy levels high enough for the most part, he was devoting too much energy to the fight to focus any towards healing himself. Energy didn’t exactly help when it was his physical body that was damaged.

And now there was the fact that he had a slew of people behind him, huddling underneath a ghost shield. True, it would protect them from Pariah, and it would protect them from stray blasts, but rubble could easily go flying in, or someone could step out of the protected radius. It was too dangerous to keep the battle this close to them.

(Not to mention he saw more than one cell phone out and recording, and that definitely set him on edge.)

He tried to dart away from the shield, but Pariah managed to snag his collar as he whizzed by. He gagged and his hands flew up to his throat.

“A coward!” Pariah cackled. “That is who you are! Fleeing from the battle? Fleeing from those under your protection?” He threw Danny into yet another building. “And Kilaris dares deem you worthy?”

“So you admit it,” Danny coughed. His hand gripped his side again. “That the Heart wants me over you.” Not that he was crazy keen on that fact.

Pariah’s face morphed into a dark frown. “The Heart’s opinion is worthless!” he snapped. “It is I who controls Kilaris! Its will bends to me!”

In spite of the pain and every instinct telling him not to, Danny shot Pariah a cocky, albeit weak, grin. “Bet.”

He had to keep from laughing at the stunned look on Pariah’s face. It was clearly not the response he had been expecting to his declaration, and the fact that Danny had been able to catch him off guard that badly was priceless.

The humor didn’t last long, though. In the blink of an eye, Pariah was charging at him again. This time, Danny anticipated it enough to be able to phase back through the building. He emerged at the ground level, underneath Pariah, who was still looking for him.

Danny moved to leap up once more, but his ribs screamed in protest. He hissed as he tried to keep from doubling over.

The cloak’s interior had to be sub-zero at this point, it was working overtime. Another layer of frost was beginning to glaze over it. The Crown too grew colder on his head, feeding pulse after pulse of energy into him.

You have been holding back, little Prince. The power has the capability to heal you and aid you in battle simultaneously, but you must let go of your fears if you are to use its true potential.

Danny didn’t answer. He was too distracted barely dodging Pariah’s mace and firing up a barrage of ice at him to do so.

There was also the little fact that he didn’t want to answer. He didn’t want to… couldn’t acknowledge…

Yet he couldn’t deny just how badly his core wanted it. The memory of how that power had felt just those few minutes ago burned through his head, and his core jumped in earnest.

He gritted his teeth and forced his core to quiet. It would be fine.

It had to be.

As soon as the ice left his hands, though, he collapsed in on himself once more, clutching his bleeding side. It was long enough of a distraction for Pariah to slam his feet into the street, causing enough of a quake to knock Danny off his feet and to the ground.

Okay, so maybe it wouldn't be so fine.

Pariah swung his mace down again, and Danny responded with a green shield. It was too hasty, not properly formed, and it shattered underneath the force. Danny yelped and tried to roll away, but the mace still clipped his back, tearing open the skin there.

Yeah, definitely not so fine.

The temptation to give in and let the Crown flood him once more was growing by the minute. Danny didn't know how long he could sustain himself with all these injuries, let alone how he could win the fight and take the Ring. His core ached to be filled by the Heart's power. He knew that if he let it happen, it would almost guarantee his victory.

But his eye caught the ghost shield behind him, where the crowd of civilians stood watching him with horror painted on their faces. He remembered just how badly he had destroyed the block over when he'd let the Crown's power overwhelm him, and his stomach flipped. No way could he put his people in that sort of danger.

You can control it, little Prince. You are more than capable.

Again, Danny didn't respond. The battle consumed too much of his focus. Gasping against the flare of hot pain, he took to the air once more to avoid yet another swing of Pariah’s mace. It missed him by a hair. He raised his hands once more to answer with an attack of his own, and -

“Danny!”

It was instinct. He turned his head at the sound of his mother calling his name.

It was the worst mistake he could’ve made.

He met his mom’s eyes for just a moment, but it was a moment enough for Pariah to make his move. Danny didn’t register the heat moving behind him until it was too late. He turned around just in time to see Pariah’s hand flying towards him.

Reflexively, he turned intangible in the nick of time. Pariah’s hand sailed harmlessly through his head and out the other side. His tangibility returned, and he reached out to return the attack.

It wasn’t until an emptiness unlike any other hit him like a brick wall that he realized it hadn’t been him Pariah had been gunning for.

Danny immediately dropped to his knees and doubled over in pain as his core cried out. Just like at Vlad’s, his core felt like it had been ripped straight from his chest and drained of all its energy. Cold air surrounded him as his cloak flared to life, trying desperately to compensate for the lost energy. The only sound was his frantically pulsing heart in his ears, and he couldn’t catch his breath enough to shout.

It hurt. Ancients, it hurt.

And unlike at Vlad’s, the emptiness pressed on.

Danny managed to look up as panic bubbled to the surface. His stomach only churned worse when he saw Pariah standing in front of him with a wild grin, holding the Crown that had been sitting on Danny’s head.

“You should’ve surrendered when you had the chance, little Prince,” he said.

Danny tried to respond, but couldn’t. It was too much. The void inside him felt like it was about to swallow him whole, just like the void above was threatening to swallow Amity Park.

Please, he begged in a fit of desperation, help me!

The Heart didn’t respond.

“It cannot help you now, child,” Pariah Dark laughed, as if he had read Danny’s mind. “Not when it is finally back in the hands of its true master.”

And as Pariah laughed once more and raised the Crown to put it on his head, Danny lifted a feeble hand towards him, trying to call up his ice, his ectoplasm, his anything, anything that could stop him. He couldn’t feel his power, he couldn’t feel his core, he couldn’t feel his Heart -

Pariah roared in pain. Danny’s head snapped up to see him drop a steaming Crown. It landed on the street with a loud clatter as Pariah held his also-steaming hand close to his chest.

“You!” he bellowed, glaring daggers at the Crown. “You will yield! That power is MINE!”

Danny ignored him. He had zeroed in on the Crown and begun to drag himself toward it. Somewhere in the back of his head, he realized he probably looked absolutely ridiculous right now, and it pained him to think about how badly he wanted - needed to get the Crown back, but he didn’t care.

He couldn’t tell if he was simply imagining it, but he could almost feel a little tendril of power, reaching out to him, trying to hook into his core, trying to pull him closer.

Pariah roared again, and Danny had to retreat back into the cooling comfort of his cloak as a wall of heat crashed into him. “No!” he snarled. “If you will not bow to me, then you will have no one!” With a shout that shook Danny to his bones, Pariah snatched the Ring from his finger and threw it down next to the Crown with such force that it formed a little crater.

Danny’s heart began to pound even faster. This was it. This was his chance. He just had to move -

But he never made it. Pariah unleashed a terrible scream, and then hot, red energy poured from his hands.

Straight onto the Crown and the Ring.

If losing the Crown had hurt, Pariah’s attack on it was excruciating. Danny gripped his head and his core, unsure if he was the one screaming or if it was someone else or if he was just imagining it.

“Stop!” he managed to gasp. “You - hurting…”

But Pariah paid him no mind. Instead, he yelled louder, and another barrage of energy slammed into the Crown and Ring. Danny reacted as though he had been the one to get hit, falling to his stomach and crying out soundlessly.

He could barely see the Crown and Ring through Pariah’s onslaught, but when he finally gathered the strength to lift his head and look, his entire being froze.

A crack appeared in the Crown.

And now he was sure he wasn’t imagining the scream of pain because it definitely had to be him with how his core cracked too, and there was definitely another voice screaming in harmony with his and Ancients, of course it would be screaming, with the way Pariah -

“I am the power of the Realms!” Pariah roared, and another crack appeared in the Crown.

Danny reached out one last time, but he knew it was fruitless. There was no way…

Danny cried out.

The Crown and Ring cried out.

Kilaris cried out.

And then

Kilaris

s h a

t t

e r e

#danny phantom #danny fenton #ghost king danny #fanfic #danny phantom fanfic #hannah writes #supernova #jazz fenton #pariah dark #i have no clue what else to tag this

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charleyad · 5 months ago

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Embark on a Haunted Halloween Transformation: Unleash Your Inner Phantom with iFoto's AI Headshot Generator

Ah, the crisp air of October whispers tales of ghouls and goblins, and with it, a chance to embrace our inner shadows. This Halloween, why not conjure up some spectral selves? Enter iFoto's AI Headshot Generator, your new mystical helper in the art of self-alteration.

Picture this: a humble selfie, captured in the glow of a sunset, now transformed into a resplendent image of a bewitching banshee or a ghostly figure from a bygone era. With iFoto's AI Headshot Generator, the impossible becomes possible, and your camera roll is the canvas for this spectral creation.

As the moon climbs high in the night sky, casting an eerie glow, take a moment to envision your alter ego. Are you the mysterious Phantom of the Opera, with eyes as deep as the ocean and lips painted with axx mirth? Or perhaps the playful, mischievous trickster, a fiendish imp with a twinkle in its eye? iFoto's AI Headshot Generator allows you to peer into the veiled realm of your imagination and bring forth these haunting figures.

Gather 'round, ye brave souls, as I regale you with the enchanting tale of iFoto's AI Headshot Generator. It's a tool so advanced, it seems to breathe magic, turning your ordinary snapshots into works of art that could only be conjured by the hand of a sorcerer.

Imagine, if you will, the thrill of seeing your own reflection transformed into a creature of the night. The shadows of your face morph into the features of a spectral banshee, her eyes gleaming with an eerie light, her lips twisted in a silent scream. Or perhaps you'll find yourself as a spectral knight, draped in a cloak of mystery, your armor etched with the runes of ancient powers.

iFoto's AI Headshot Generator is not just a tool; it's a portal to a fantastical realm where your wildest Halloween dreams can come to life. So, let the festival of fearless fun begin, and transform your selfies into spectral specters with iFoto's touch of magic.

#iFoto #AIHeadshotGenerator #Halloween2024 #Halloween #passport #AIgenerated #driverphoto #ResumePhoto #portrait #linkedinphoto #AIportrait #producthunt #PassportPhoto #careerhelp

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memoriesfolder · 6 months ago

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Story 1 🥹…enjoy

Deep in the forest, far beyond the reach of daylight, the Velveteen Grove was a sensual paradise. Every tree was cloaked in velvet leaves, and the air was heavy with the scent of honeyed nightshade. The legends told of a fae that appeared only at twilight, taking the form of the most beautiful figure one's heart could desire. But there was a catch: anyone who entered the grove could never leave unless they resisted *The Lure's* charms until the break of dawn.

One fateful evening, a wandering knight named Theron heard the siren song of the fae. His heart, broken from years of battle and loss, longed for peace, for pleasure, for escape. He followed the sound through twisted paths, into the dark heart of the forest. Soon, the scent of honey and velvet surrounded him, and Theron found himself in the Velveteen Grove, the whispers of the wind enticing him further in.

There, bathed in the pale glow of moonlight, stood *The Lure*. She had the eyes of a predator and the body of a dream, her voice a melody of promises unspoken. She approached Theron, her every movement languid, deliberate, as though time bent to her will. Her touch was warm, almost too warm, as if his very skin might melt beneath her fingertips.

Her breath was like fire against his neck as she whispered ancient desires into his ear. Every word tightened around his heart, winding deeper, as she offered him comfort, seduction, and oblivion all at once. Her lips brushed his, and he felt his will slipping. But in the haze of passion, Theron remembered the warnings from the villagers—how those who gave in to *The Lure* never returned. They became part of the forest, their souls consumed by her hunger.

Yet, *The Lure's* grip was intoxicating, her body like silk, drawing him into a fevered embrace. Her nails traced his spine, sending shivers through his body. The grove pulsed with a wicked energy, every leaf seemed to hum with forbidden desires. Theron’s heart raced, his breath quickening as the night deepened.

But he knew that if he succumbed, he would lose himself forever.

Desperate, he closed his eyes and began to recite every prayer, every chant he had ever known. He clung to memories of love lost, the pain that had once broken him. He focused on the agony instead of the pleasure, fighting to keep his mind clear. *The Lure* laughed, her voice sultry and dark, mocking him as she pressed herself closer, her warmth almost unbearable.

The night seemed endless, the moon hanging in the sky like a silent witness to his struggle. But as the first light of dawn broke through the trees, *The Lure* hissed, her beautiful form cracking like shattered glass. She recoiled from him, her once-perfect visage becoming twisted and grotesque, her voice now a shriek of fury.

With the coming of day, the grove began to wither, and Theron found himself standing alone among dead trees and rotting leaves. He had resisted her, but the price was steep. Though he escaped the Velveteen Grove, he would forever feel her phantom touch, her whispers in the dark, calling him back to her embrace whenever the moon was high and the night was long.

And so Theron lived, a haunted man, knowing that one day, when his strength finally faltered, *The Lure* would return to claim what was rightfully hers.

#fantasy #fan fic writing #fan fiction #fanfiction #love story #new story #self written #fans

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diary-of-siyu · 2 years ago

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Today I played card game I love, Yu gi oh with my cousin and my friend Lukas Danai Muller. Yu Gi oh is a card game where you can use many types of card to win the game, there is 3 types of card, monster, spell, and trap. Inside Monster there is normal, effect, fusion, synchro, XYZ, pendulum, link. Inside spell there is normal, quick play, and continuous, and equip spell. Inside Trap there is continuous, counter and normal. I used My phantom knights deck and activated many effects for example: I normal summoned the phantom knights of torn scale, than I special summoned The phantom knights of silent boots. without activating both cards abillity, I link summoned Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the burning abyss. I activated Cherubini's ability and activated it's abillity. I sended Graff, Malebranche of the burning abyss to the graveyard. I activated Graff, Malebranche's abillity and special summoned Cir, Malebranche of the burning abyss from my deck. Since I had Cherunini, CIr Malebranche didn't went to the graveyard and using Cir Malebranche and Cherubini as a material I link summoned The Phantom knights of Rusty Bardiche. The abillity chained with Rusty Bardiche and Graff Malebranche and since in Yu Gi Oh the last chained card's abillity activates first so I revived cherubini and with Rusty Bardiche's abillity I sent The phantom knights of ancient cloak to graveyard and setted phantom knights' shades brigadine. I activate Torn scale's ability and special summoned it from graveyard. I activated Ancient cloak and I got stained graves to my hand. I activated silent boots ability and I banished him and grabbed phantom knight's wing. I activated Torn Scale's ability and discarded phantom knight's wing and sent The phantom knight's ragged glove to graveyard. I activated Shade's brigadine as chain 1, phantom knight's wing by banishing it from grave yard as chain 2, and activated stained graves abillity and special summoned it as level 4. I special summoned ragged glove and shade's brigadine. Using ragged gloves and torn scale, I xyz summoned Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow, with shades brigadine and stained graves to xyz summon Number 86 Heroic Champion-Rhongomyniad. I activated Gossip Shadow's abillity and it became material of Rhongomyniad. I won the game after my friends turn by attacking him with 4 monsters. Next round I used the same deck but I lost by hero deck.

#duel monsters #diary

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toyotasoarer · 3 years ago

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boot + cloak

#yugioh #phantom knights of silent boots #phantom knights of ancient cloak #soarart

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thesoulspulse · 2 years ago

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Regarding The Ancients (Part 1)

We don’t really know all that much about the Ancients who defeated Pariah Dark or what happened to them after they faded into legend, but there are a few things I found interesting about them so I’m here to share my thoughts with you! Now, when Skulker was telling Danny and the others the legend of Pariah Dark’s defeat we saw these representations of the Ancients in the flashbacks but who’s to say if this is what they actually looked like? Personally I like the idea that Clockwork was one of them, but I digress.

Before we get into the rest of it, let’s start with a quick recap of the legend itself!

“It was many years ago. Before you. Before me. Before most of us.

His name was Pariah Dark. And he ruled the Ghost Zone. He was a ghost of such power and magnitude, only he could control the energies contained within the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage. When wearing both- he could do anything.

Until a group of powerful ancient ghosts banded together in a last ditch effort to defeat the King. By locking him within the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. Or so we thought.”

~ Skulker, Danny Phantom S2, Reign Storm

One thing I really like about the show sometimes is actually the lack of information so we can fill in the blanks or small details that can be expanded upon. For example, while watching a clip of this scene here are a couple of things I noticed:

The Fright Knight brought Pariah Dark the Crown of Fire from somewhere else, suggesting he stole it from someone else, possibly from the Ancients themselves who are safeguarding it for the ‘true’ Ghost King?

The Fright Knight himself placed the crown on Pariah’s head, but Pariah was already wearing the ring so either he ordered the Fright Knight to steal it beforehand as well, or perhaps he personally defeated/destroyed its original owner.

The next part is where it gets interesting for me at least when I noticed a small inconsistency. Up until the end of the flashback there were exactly 6 robed figures, but in the last part there’s an extra, a 7th that wasn’t there before. Did they rejoin the group at the very end to reduce most of Pariah’s Kingdom to ruins? Or were they always there but no one remembers them?

The 7th ancient is really hard to see once they lay waste to Pariah’s Kingdom, but they’re definitely there since there’s a seventh energy ray aimed at the castle. And personally, I like the idea of there being 7 in total because 7 is symbolically seen as an angelic number:

“Number 7's represent fullness in life. This number is the number of perfection. This is much like the seven wonders of the world, the seven days of the week, and more. The number seven also suggests completeness. It is one of the secret numbers we see that is a symbol of perfection and symbol of eternal life.” ~ https://sarahscoop.com/the-numerology-meaning-and-symbolism-of-angel-number-7/

Six still works too since it’s a perfect balance, but again, seven is a lot more mystical in my opinion. And so my question is this-

P.S. I’m only using Lydia to represent the 7th one visually since her cloak is what inspired me to create my oc Azrael along with the Ancients. I’ll continue with a few theories in the next part.

Part 2: https://thesoulspulse.tumblr.com/post/698800245165948928/regarding-the-ancients-part-2

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moonlightrapsodia · 7 years ago

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Yuto, his dragon and his Phantom Knights :D

#yuto #dark rebellion xyz dragon #phantom knights ancient cloak #phantom knights cloven helm #arc v #Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V #my art #Phantom Knights

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botwstoriesandsuch · 4 years ago

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youtube

Finally finished this! Sorry I’m a bit late.

Made this song in pairing with a new Revalink soulmark fic: Paraphrase

Based on a prompt @motherhyrule (Happy Birthday and thanks!)

Read it on AO3 or, here...

Chapter 1: Holes

There were holes in the sky.

While the artificial blue glow of Vah Medoh was a constant reminder of abnormal circumstances of this view—looking out into the east, you could be fooled for a moment to believe in serenity.

The details of the great, inky abyss were blurred by the occasional grey cloud, crawling towards the light of a decaying moon. Its pale, crescent complexion gave a humble glow to the dancing seas of grass and the motionless hills of glistening lake water. Below, wooden huts embraced one another on the edges of an ancient spire. The winds had crafted a fine sculpture, the unique silhouette of Rito Village cast faint shadows on Lake Totori.

There was distant whistling from either the cutting breeze or a bored village guard, perhaps leaning against his spear, dreaming of slumber.

There's a fire, somewhere. A spiral of smoke rises with a delicious aroma fantastic enough to reach the heights of Medoh. Someone making a late-night stew, under the dotted, broken sky.

If you could tear your eyes away from the nature down below, the navy blue canvas would still be there to greet you—a perfect night that cloaked any traces of the sun, as if time was always meant to be this way. Unchanging, and ever an elegant, unrivaled mix of blue, black, and grey.

But of course, unchanging was not everlasting. The perfect canvas was pierced by the frozen heights of Hebra, and flaming stars. Whole armies of them were scattered across the sky, as if the goddess had flicked a handful of embers at the night, burning through the blue and into an unknown.

"I heard that stars are actually holes into the heavens." Link finally said. "Like...They break through the sky, and at night you can look through them and see the great beyond." He leaned back, shifting himself into a more comfortable position on the rocky cliff.

The ghost beside him raised an eyebrow, wings tucked behind his back.

"Oh? And where exactly did you hear that?"

Silence.

The boy looks out to the distant mountains, wreathed in grey clouds with filtered moonlight. When the wind blows his golden hair just the right way, you could catch a glimpse of a familiar expression.

"...I'm not too sure."

Revali nodded, looking back into the night. He stood beside the hero, and let a quiet sigh escape him, the turquoise flames that circled around the Rito seemed to rise and fall with his chest. "Well. I cannot confirm or deny such a thing, but I imagine it's a decent enough fairy tale to entertain the fledglings."

Link scoffs, a smile tugging at his lips. "Really? They don't give you a big ghost book on how all of life works? What's the point of being dead if you don't know the answer to all the fancy questions?"

"I appear to have missed Hylia's educational spirit lecture. Perhaps my schedule was busy at the time. I do apologize."

"Don't apologize to me! You're the one who missed a once-in-a-afterlife-time opportunity."

"..."

"...Too soon?"

"No, it was just a horrible joke."

"Pfft. Well OK, Mr. 'Well I'll be plucked'"

"I don't think I'm going to accept criticism from someone who's sense of humor isn't even a year old."

"Aha...Fair enough."

A chuckle. A nod. A smile that doesn't reach his eyes.

Silence.

The moon crawls further west. Winds start to die with conversation.

The ghost sighs again, but of course, no breath escapes him. Something itches in the back of his mind, and he looks up at Medoh.

Her phantom blue eyes pierce both mortal and incorporeal, yet there's a tenderness in the way her head tilts towards Revali—every so slightly so as not to wake the whole kingdom with the groan of gears. The gesture is wordlessly understood by her pilot, something about speaking the unspoken. He clicks his tongue.

I don't remember flipping a relationship advice switch in your control unit...

Medoh's lights glow brighter and dim, playfully.

The Rito shakes his head.

No, he thinks again. It's better this way.

The Champion looks out towards Hyrule Castle, Medoh's red laser aimed directly into the heart of the swirling malice. From this view, it’s almost beautiful. Like layered petals of a rose...

I cannot wait to burn it to the ground.

"Yeah..." Link replied. "Don't worry, Revali. It'll be different this time. I won't let you down, again."

The Rito blinked. "Ah. Did I...say that outloud?"

Link nodded, tilting his head to the side with a smile. "You always seem in such deep thought when looking at Medoh. Your face gets a lot more s—uh...I don't know... " He trailed off, making the wise decision to not finish the sentence. Afterall, he wanted to hang out for a little bit longer before Revali's glares punted him to the Akkalain Sea.

Nonetheless, Revali grimaced. Looking at him? Acknowledging him? Oh, there was nothing worse in the world than that...

Time really can change anything.

"Hmph. Well," Revali turned his head back towards Medoh, "With Windblight gone, it's nice to actually have conversations...As unconventional as they may be." He makes sure that his smile can only be seen by the sky.

"She's good company."

Link picks at loose pebbles, tossing them off the cliff and letting gravity take them to new destinations. His hands are already coated in a dusty beige dust.

"Well, if Medoh ever becomes a bore. My schedule's always open." He chuckles. "I'm certainly a different sort of company in comparison, so I should be able to spice up your d—!"

"No."

The iciness of his tone runs Link's spine cold. He dares to look up at the Champion.

It takes all of Revali's strength to continue staring at the stars.

"You should really stop coming here, Link. You have a job to do, and so do I. You gain nothing by returning here each night."

He pauses, his beak clenched just a bit too tightly.

"You did well, avenging me, but now...Your job here is done, and there is more work to do. The fact that you keep visiting each night while the world fades away is pathetic, honestly. You banter and quip as if you have all the time in the world, as if everything doesn't depend on your success. Quit acting childish."

Silence. It drowns out the whistling wind.

Revali looks at the holes in the sky.

"It'll be morning in a few, so get lost. I don't need you here."

The Rito can feel the hero's eyes tearing into him.

= = = = = = =

"Careful now! Can't have you return with half a head. Can I?" Revali loosed an arrow just above Link's head, striking true in a Bokoblin's right eye.

Link whips around just in time to see the monster drop dead, just a foot away from where the knight stood. He turns back and gives the Rito a thumbs up in gratitude.

"Eye think that solves that problem." Link groans and rolls his eyes, but Revali smirks at the grin he attempts to hide. "Ah...One of the best things about these occasions is that you're in no position to quip back at me with your hands full like that." Revali shoots him a wink. "Perhaps I'll interpret your silence as overwhelming awe for my verbal abilities."

The Rito bows left and right, playfully. "Thank you, thank you. It takes a great deal of practice, but perhaps you'll grace my level of skill one day."

Link signs as best he can with the Master Sword in his left grip.

"You're an asshole."

"Perhaps. But it's your fault for sticking around!"

"On your left..." He suddenly says.

There's no hesitation as Revali moves his head out of the way, letting Link swing his sword over his shoulder. A brilliant beam of blue light escapes the edge of his sword, the disc of energy making contact with a Bokoblin's neck, slicing it asunder mid-roar.

"Hmm. Now that's just breath taki—"

"Shut UP!" Link says, knocking an elbow into his ribs. He starts to sign again. "Let's keep heading east. We need to close this pincer quickly. I'd like to finish before lunch..."

The Rito scans the snow covered path, littered with monster guts and blood. Deep reds and purple stain the pristine, crisp morning. The sky is a deep green, pine trees covering the day, dressed in coats of white. The breeze blows the smell of rotting corpses and hickory his way.

"Alright. Let's get a move on. Don't need the Princesses yelling at us again."

"A bit late for that, don't you think?"

The boys both look up in time to see a large burst of water erupt from a nearby cliff. It cascades into a shimmering slide, that freezes as it flows. A bright red Zora flips through the air and descends on it, landing delicately in front of the two. She gives a warm smile that could melt the winter.

"Shall I assume you ran into some chuchu troubles, again?"

Revali scoffed. "That was one time!"

"Hehehe...chuchu go 'sluuurrrp...'"

"Plus, that incident was entirely a certain knight's fault. I've been nothing but incredibly efficient and productive, since then."

"And your tail feathers are all the better for it!"

Revali thwacked Link with his bow to shut him up. The knight rubbed the back of his head with an "Ow..." and shot a rude glare, but the Rito continued. "So where is the Princess?"

Mipha gestured uphill to where she had come from, her magical waterfall already beginning to melt away. "We finished cleaning up the other end of the Tabantha path. She's met up with Urbosa and Daruk by one of the bridges."

The Zora smiles as she looks between Revali and Link. "I volunteered to check on you two while the others headed back. Neither of you need help cleaning chuchu slime out of your hair, yes? I do have the pliers, this time."

Revali's rageful squawk was drowned out by Link's laughter.

Before the trio's banter could truly serenade with the sounds of the forest, Mipha was off to regroup with the others, and Link was soaring in the sky.

The sky was open and clear, not a speck of grey clouded the air. The sun was perched comfortably on the heights of Tabantha ridge, painting the horizon with strokes of orange, the distance blushing in the morning's presence.

The wind flipped Link's hair back and forth, so he finished tying the braid behind his neck, woven tightly with a single, Prussian blue feather. Its tip looked like someone had dipped it in the moon's pale glow.

Braid or no, the heights above Lake Totori were quite cold, and Link nuzzled himself further into Revali's soft feathers. If he were any softer, it wouldn't be out of the question to drown in him.

"You're distracting me." Revali craned his neck back, raising an eyebrow at his passenger. "Keep it together, back there."

The hero shrugged his shoulders. "It's cold."

"I told you to drink another elixir before I took off."

"I wasn't cold then! Besides," He flopped back into the Rito's soft down. "This is adequate protection." Link's words were slightly muffled as he spoke.

Revali sighed. "You're insufferable..."

Eying the destination down below, the Rito rolled his shoulders to get Link's attention. "Keep steady. We're almost there." He started to dip forward.

"And try not to go flying, I imagine it won't work out well for you."

Before Link could even process his words, his stomach started to drop. Falling fast, Revali arched nearly perpendicular to the ground, his bright blue scarf flapping behind him. The Hylian on his back could do nothing but grip onto his armour for dear life, clothes flapping wildly. His loose sleeves caught the wind, pushing them back to reveal pale gold letters, etched in the underside of his right forearm.

Leaving so soon?

The wind rushed by Link's ears, and the sky quickly faded from the cerulean glow of morning, to the snow laced air of the Hebra. What was once broad strokes of indistinct colors soon morphed into the intricate faults, flaws, and edges of towering grey mountain peaks. With the heavens stolen from them, and the frozen earth quickly coming to greet them, Revali quickly opened his wings to catch the air, swooping just above the ground and shooting forward towards the Flight Range.

Rows of cool safflina and wildberries whizzed by, the scent of smoked boar drawing closer and closer. Revali could practically feel Link's appetite from aura alone. Although, the fact that his grip on his back was starting to tighten didn't exactly keep it subtle, either.

"I left the stew going before we headed out for the mission. It should be perfect by now..." He tucked his wings into himself with a quick twirl as he shot through a narrow pass.

The cold updrafts of the Flight Range now biting into his face; the Rito let his wings expand with a few more great flaps, before landing gracefully on the railing of the wooden platform.

Link practically soared off Revali's back and bounded straight for the simmering pot.

"'Thank you, Revali, for giving me a ride across all of Tabantha without asking for so much as a rupee in return!' Oh, you're so welcome, my dear hero. It's always a pleasure to aid a flightless Hylian in need." He shook his head as he made his way into the hut.

"'Oh, but really Revali! The speed at which you travel, and the strength required to take on my loathsome person as you fly is truly something to admire. It's a miracle you took me with you at all.' Why, you are much too generous with your compliments, Link. I have half a mind to write this all down for—MmMph?!"

In a brilliant move of both telling Revali to shut the fuck up, while also sharing their meal, Link shoved a ladleful of delicious stew in the Rito's beak.

Warm, savoury stew trickled down his throat, banishing the cold from his body in mere moments. His tastebuds were nestled with flavours of nutmeg, tender meat, and the delicate heat of a perhaps a single, spicy pepper.

Link's expression was equal parts, "Will you shut up now?" and "So how's it taste?"

"Not too bad...The prime meat I procured is obviously the main event. But your seasoning skills are certainly something of note..." Revali made his way to one of the cabinets, as Link rolled his eyes.

The Rito set his bow beside the Master Sword, leaning it against the painted wood. His eyes lingered on it for a bit too long, before he scoffed and continued on his routine.

Quiver on the counter; bomb arrows wrapped properly; armour loosened and set aside; scarf—

The feathers on Revali's neck suddenly floofed up at Link's touch. But he didn't dare turn around and risk losing the sensation.

He carefully unfolded the fabric around Revali's neck, and drew it off his shoulder. He wrapped it around himself, and signed at the Rito, "Mine, now."

The Rito chuckled, before turning back around to look at the hero, now adorned with far too much blue. Blue tunic, blue scarf, and sapphire eyes—it wouldn't be out of the question to mistake him for the sky.

Link stretched out his hand, and traced the edges of Revali's face, eventually falling down his neck, and towards his shoulders. His fingers eventually hovered over some familiar words that wrapped down the left side of his neck and down his shoulder.

You should give yourself more credit.

They both did nothing but smile at each for a moment, leaning closer and succumbing to the moment. Revali could already feel Link's breath, and see the bits of snow still sticking to his (horribly) braided hair.

The Hylian saw something curious in the Rito's expression as he planted a kiss on the tip of his beak. Looking back up at his jade eyes, he couldn't help but smile wide. Revali cocked an eyebrow.

"Something to say?"

Quiet. The fire chuckled in the background.

Link finally leaned in and whispered to him.

"You smell like shit."

Revali scoffed loudly before shoving Link to the carpet, where he burst out laughing, the wind carrying it to the spirits above.

"Gods, you're insufferable. Why do I settle for you..."

Link unsuccessfully attempted to toss a pillow in his face in revenge—Revali catching it with ease.

"Beats me! Now come here, you stinky bird." He patted the space in front of the fire. No doubt he wanted to sit between his wings again

"Stew or no, I need you to keep me toasty."

In no time, Revali had sat down and wrapped himself around Link, resting his beak on his head.

A hole in the ceiling let sunlight trickle on them as they warmed up.

= = = = = = =

Link finally sighed, the sound falling off into the void below.

"You-I can't-It was never..." He trails off, before chucking another pebble off the cliff, shaking his head.

"...I'm sorry. I know that you...That we're not really...friends or whatever...I don't mean to force you into anything uncomfortable. I owe you that much..." He looked up at the spirit, a determined look on his face.

"But, don't worry. Whatever mess I was before, whatever person you hated 100 years ago. They're gone, now. I promise I'm different. I promise I won't repeat whatever mistakes I made with you."

Revali just wants to die all over again.

"Well. That's good to hear. Perhaps there's hope for you yet, hero..." He walks forward, so he can't see his face, pointing a translucent feather far out east.

"I'd say your next objection should be Rudania. It's the closest. You can backtrack through whatever roads you've already trailed through getting here." The Rito then waved towards some glistening summits just a bit south. "Although, you said you've been to Kakariko and Hateno, yes? You could probably trek to Zora's Domain from there. The Zora will no doubt be a great asset to your further adventures—"

"Who was I closest to?"

Revali knew it was impossible to feel cold at this point, but he felt something shiver nonetheless.

"What do you mean?"

"Like...the pilots I mean. Was I...particularly close with any of them?"

"Well how should I know!" Revali snapped. He immediately regretted it seeing the look in Link's eyes. "I mean...sorry..."

Silence.

"...Mipha would be overjoyed to see you, I'm sure." He pointed again towards the cliffs surrounding Zora's Domain. "She had quite the heart...She'll make better company than I, I'm sure."

"Mhm...Alright." Link nodded to himself.

"But whatever you choose, don't try taking on Naboris, yet. Urbosa was one of the strongest warriors that even I've ever met. So I imagine that what awaits there is...deserving of more preparation."

The moon escaped from the clutches of a grey cloud, and the two of them were bathed in moonlight.

The knight's sword on his back glistens.

"I'll start making preparations tomorrow, and I'll finally be out of your hair." Link scratched the back of his head. "Although...I hope you don't mind if I come back every now and then to get pointers on using your Gale. I really only used it that one time when you gave it to me, and I've been a bit scared ever since, aha..."

Revali nodded. "That would be a more productive use of your time, yes."

Link finally stood, adjusting the strap of his sword around his shoulder.

"S-So...with Mipha. I actually heard from Kass that...uh he's—well you see, I figured you could confirm if she actually—"

"Stop." His response was as sudden as thunder. Link started sputtering again.

"S-Sorry. I know you just s—"

"Stop doing that. Stop trying to learn about the past, there's nothing for you there." Revali poked a feather at Link's head, which surprisingly made physical contact as he flinched away. "You've been given a gift, you understand? You have the luxury of being unburdened by the pains and memories of 100 years ago, while the rest of us have been stuck wallowing in what we once knew for over a century. Things that we can never attain now that we are dead." He glared, eyes sharp enough to stab into Link's flesh.

"It'd be an insult to the rest of us to throw away such a gift. So stop being ungrateful, and move on."

Silence.

Revali sighed, turning back towards Medoh. "Now get los—"

"You have no right to speak to me like that!"

The Rito whipped around. "Excuse me?"

"You don't know what it's like!" Link stomped a foot down. "You don't know what it's like, to have no attachments, no nothing to grasp onto!"

The Hylian shook his head, looking at his hands. "You're dead because of my failures, and for that, I'm truly sorry. I really am. But..." He looked the Rito, dead in the eyes. "But now I have nothing of value. Nothing to tell me what I'm worth, besides being a fighter. Besides defeating the Calamity. I don't know what kind of person I need to be," He waves a hand at Revali, "Or even what person I should try not to be. I can't...I don't want to just be nothing. Nothing but a sword and useless snippets of a dead past.

"So don't try and tell me there's nothing for me in the past. I need to know what I was, what I lost, and what I did wrong. N-Not just for me, but for everyone's sake! I want to truly know what this is all for, even if it hurts me..."

Link looked down, caressing his right wrist. "I want to know...what it was like to be complete...at the very least..."

Revali looked him up and down, something clawing up the inside of his chest, threatening to escape as dangerous words.

"...Let me see your arm."

"What—?"

"Hurry up, and just come."

Link cautiously stepped closer to Revali, extending his right arm towards him, like a handshake. But he roughly tugged him closer and folded the sleeve of his Rito garb away, exposing the skin to the crisp night air.

Pale gold letters adorned Link's inner arm, running from his wrist to his inner elbow.

Why did you think it was impossible?

The Rito nodded to himself. He had noted the first word being different when he had first reunited with Link, but it put him at ease—and completely shattered something—to have his suspicions confirmed.

"Do you know what this is, hero?"

"Yeah, it's a soulmark. This is probably what my soulmate 100 years ago said when they—"

"No." Revali let his arm fall, turning away. "It's a soulmark alright, but your soulmate is very much alive."

"Wh-What?!" Link started to walk up to Revali. "T-That's impossible! I-It's been over a hundred—"

"That's not the soulmark you had when I met you." Revali said simply. "You died. You were revived. You are adorned with a new mark, and are destined for someone new. Or someones. Or, maybe your soulmate is just yourself, it really depends..." He turned his head back.

Link was just staring at his arm. He bore no smile, but Revali could see the new fire in his eyes.

"It's like I said. It'd be an insult to go digging up the past. But I suppose I can't stop you..." Revali continued to make his way to Medoh. "You want something to fight for? Fight for that..."

The moon disappeared behind another cloud, and the glow of Medoh was all that bathed them. Link finally looked up, calling after the ghost in the mist.

"I...Thank you, Revali. But just so you know..." The Rito Champion turned, staring directly at the hero's determined expression.

"This doesn't change what I want. I still intend to know who I was."

There was quiet as they each looked at their ghosts.

Revali sighed, giving a sad nod.

"I know."

He disappeared in glowing blue flames, the embers falling towards the stars.

#if you reblog this revali comes to your house and gives you a hug. it's a proven fact #revalink #paraphrase revalink #mudkip music #botw fanfiction #botw #breath of the wild #legend of zelda botw #loz botw #soulmark au #botw soulmark au

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lunarimpact · 4 years ago

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Once Again

Darkness crept through the wood, splintering among the forlorn branches, the imposing tree trunks. It snuffed out the light, the very sun, and called to him in hushed whispers, the lulling voices of distant memories. It ached to pull him in, to swallow him whole in the dense forest, chilled earth scattered between thin blades of swaying verdure and browned leaves. Behind the tall knight, who all at once was made small and meek, a merry tumult tugged at his ear, for the birth of the Christ was upon them. For the birth of the Christ was upon him, and he daren't tarry into that ever-dark.

"Does it stir your heart so, Sir Gawain? The call of the Green, of the Gray King and his hounds of plenty?" Her voice came to him feather-light from behind the breadth and width of his shoulders, the yellowed cloak he wore soaked in heavy mist. He knew her voice so well, that soft cadence of a fair maiden, a pale phantom set upon the throne, ever at her King's side. So why then was she at his back now, instead of that merry hall?

"This is a dream." He concluded, the words drifting free of him in scarcely a whisper, shaken from his consciousness. He dare not speak too loud, lest his dream fragment all the more around him, and he finds himself rousing with a sharp and sudden gasp.

"You ignore my inquiry, dear nephew, as the Sun may ignore the clouds when it rains." The monarch spoke, those gray eyes, so merry and bright, must have crinkled at the edges. Her lips, a pale rose, must have been tucked just faintly beneath her teeth in that smile of hers. Yet something felt missing, felt ingenuine in his imagining of her. Was it the tone of her melodic voice, did he find it wanting? Was it the chill that had begun to set into his bones, his spine, instead of the all-encompassing warmth which should have poured forth from the merriment of that ancient hall? He thought, then, to turn to face her, the tall bride of his Lord-Uncle, the goodly daughter of Gogfran Gawr. Yet his feet would not listen to his mind, and his heart grew still in his chest, and the encroaching darkness of the wood stretched out to him.

"Who are you who calls me kin, who dwells within mine own shadow and keeps me from the light?" He spoke out, a fearful pallor spreading across his olive skin, beneath chainmail and cotton. He could hear the faintest of chuckles from the woman behind him, a chuckle which wouldn't have been stirred from the chest of the lovely Gwenhwyfar, but mayhaps, no, indeed her ill-begotten sister-twin

"Gwenhwyfach," she said, her voice lifting only the faintest. And the merriment of old came to a catastrophic halt, shattering like glass upon the stone at her admittance. The world stilled, the ghostly shadows of the wood fixed in place, their calling falling upon his deafened ears. "For whom else would deliver such a blow ‘pon mine sister's cheek to start the end of an era of conditional peace. But this, you've known this in your heart since your travels through those woods to fulfill a promise made. A game. You've known that all must come to an end, and that death waits for no one."

Were her words not true in their way? Death had even come for Christ on his day, as Death had come for the Gray King, and any other who might take upon his crown. And Death had come for Gareth. And Death had Camelot's King. For Death was Green, creeping in in all manner of ways. Taking up roost in the shadows, creeping across doorways. And was she not some tool of Death's, then, an echo of their fine queen, their fair lady. And though he ought to despise her so, this phantom who dare share his dream, his distant memories of youth, he found only a stillness within his heart, for she had done little more than play her part in Death's game. For she, and he, and all of Arthur's knights, were bound within this game.

And the stillness between her admittance, and his turmoil, an awful noise filled the air. He heard a scream from in the woods, a woman's voice. How she howled, that feverish cry. And had his body not been made of stone, he might have lunged forward into the woods somewhere. He would have ran as quickly as he could, with empty hands, to seek the source of that terrible scream. And yet he knew, without a doubt, that what awaited him might end the life he didn't have.

#writing ; the chorus sings #Gawain ( Arthurian Myth )#Gwenhwyfach ( Arthurian Myth )

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elgaberino-mcoc · 4 years ago

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MCOC Wishlist Poll Snapshot: Entire Rankings

001 Mystique 002 Quicksilver 003 Beta Ray Bill 004 Sandman 005 Adam Warlock 006 Kitty Pryde 007 Lizard 008 Morbius the Living Vampire 009 Kraven the Hunter 010 Cloak & Dagger 011 Spider-Man 2099 012 Black Cat 013 Bullseye 014 Jessica Jones 015 Ares 016 Shang-Chi 017 Gladiator (Kallark) 018 Baron Zemo 019 Lady Deathstrike 020 Enchantress 021 Valkyrie MCU 022 Knull 023 Morgan le Fay 024 Scorpion 025 Captain Britain 026 Galactus 027 Dazzler 028 Silver Samurai 029 Black Knight 030 Dracula 031 Hobgoblin 032 Pyro 033 Fantomex 034 Spider-Woman 035 Jean Grey 90s 036 Silk 037 Polaris 038 Silver Sable 039 Sif 040 Anti-Venom 041 Mister Negative 042 Crystal 043 Legion 044 Shocker 045 Malekith the Accursed 046 Destroyer Armor 047 M'baku the Man-Ape 048 The Mandarin 049 Emplate 050 Multiple-Man 051 Shuri 052 Banshee 053 Onslaught 054 Warpath 055 Sunfire 056 Cannonball 057 Dark Phoenix 058 Blue Marvel 059 Prowler (Aaron Davis) 060 Okoye 061 Mockingbird 062 Spiral 063 Madame Hydra / Viper 064 Hydro-Man 065 Red She-Hulk 066 Agent Anti-Venom 067 Blackheart 068 Gorr the God-Butcher 069 Songbird 070 Quasar 071 Absorbing Man 072 Whiplash 073 Armor 074 Daimon Hellstrom 075 Wendigo 076 Nimrod 077 Graviton 078 Gwenom 079 Deathlok 080 Firestar 081 Vulcan 082 Wonder Man 083 Selene 084 Blob 085 Klaw 086 Rachel Summers 087 Thor (MCU Stormbreaker) 088 Shadow King 089 White Tiger 090 Tombstone 091 Jack O'Lantern 092 Valkyrie Classic 093 Toad 094 Moonstone 095 Weapon H 096 Jocasta 097 Dani Moonstar 098 Monica Rambeau 099 Wolfsbane 100 Franklin Richards 101 Ancient One 102 Arnim Zola 103 Exodus 104 Forge 105 Supergiant 106 Madelyne Pryor 107 Hank Pym 108 Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) 109 Negasonic Teenage Warhead 110 Spider-Man Noir 111 Phantom Rider 112 Blink 113 Sebastian Shaw 114 Clea 115 Black Tom Cassidy 116 Kurse 117 Danger 118 Daken 119 Omega Sentinel 120 Grim Reaper 121 Radioactive Man 122 Shatterstar 123 Darkstar 124 Werewolf by Night 125 Hope Summers 126 The Magus 127 Union Jack 128 Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) 129 Crimson Dynamo 130 Pixie 131 Conan 132 Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) 133 Azazel 134 Jigsaw 135 Boom-Boom 136 Swarm 137 Xorn 138 Machine Man 139 Black Widow (Yelena Belova) 140 Madame Masque 141 Misty Knight 142 Chamber 143 Mistress Death 144 Skaar 145 Morlun 146 Thanos (Endgame) 147 Leader 148 Sleepwalker 149 Deacon Frost 150 Black Swan 151 Agent 13 (Sharon Carter) 152 Fin Fang Foom 153 Ka-Zar 154 Arcade 155 Iron Spider 156 Dust 157 Gorgon 158 Lash 159 Namora 160 A-Bomb (Rick Jones) 161 Ikaris 162 Nick Fury (Classic) 163 Rescue 164 Nico Minoru 165 Volstagg 166 Weapon Hex 167 Stingray 168 Maximus the Mad 169 Cyttorak 170 Skurge the Executioner 171 Doc Samson 172 Maverick / Agent Zero 173 Sauron 174 Baron Blood 175 Captain America Falcon 176 Wong 177 Mantis 178 Whirlwind 179 Firelord 180 Magma 181 Molecule Man 182 White Fox 183 Nova (Sam Alexander) 184 Satana 185 Dum Dum Dugan (LMD) 186 Holocaust 187 Shiklah 188 Valkyrie Moonstar 189 High Evolutionary 190 Bloodaxe 191 Magus (Technarch) 192 Nighthawk 193 Punisher: War Machine 194 Goliath (Bill Foster) 195 Nova (Frankie Raye) 196 Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) 197 Dr. Cecilia Reyes 198 Sentinel X (Shogo Lee) 199 Thena 200 Hellcat 201 Cosmic Spider-Man 202 Attuma 203 Shroud 204 Doctor Nemesis 205 Siryn 206 Nate Grey 207 Iron Monger 208 Black Mamba 209 Agent Carter 210 Kluh 211 Tiger Shark 212 Purple Man 213 Snowbird 214 Ice-Thing 215 Lilandra 216 Superior Spider-Man 217 Thane 218 Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur 219 Jackal 220 Jean Grey (X-Men Red) 221 Punisher: Frankencastle 222 Puck 223 Rockslide 224 Red Ghost and his Super-Apes 225 Deathbird 226 Hydra Supreme 227 Strong Guy 228 Zarda the Power Princess 229 Sage 230 Quentin Quire (aka Kid Omega) 231 Prowler (Hobie Brown) 232 Slapstick 233 Stardust (Lambda Zero) 234 Titanium Man 235 D'spayre 236 Colleen Wing 237 Thunderbird (John Proudstar) 238 Iron Maiden 239 Gorilla-Man (Kenneth Hale) 240 Jack of Hearts 241 Titania 242 Avalanche 243 Toxic Doxie 244 Death’s Head 245 Impossible Man 246 Worthy Captain America (Mjölnir/Endgame) 247 Outlaw (Higgins) 248 Scarlet Spider II (Kaine Parker) 249 Beetle 250 Typhoid Mary 251 Bloodscream 252 Serpent (Cul Borson) 253 Ms. America Chavez 254 Ghost Rider (Reyes) 255 Hummingbird 256 Mercury 257 M (Monet St. Croix) 258 Black Tarantula 259 Spitfire 260 Wizard 261 Superior Octopus 262 Maria Hill 263 Minotaur (Dario Agger) 264 Echo 265 Morph 266 Karolina Dean 267 Zarathos 268 Thundra 269 Smasher (Kane) 270 Hyperstorm 271 Boomerang 272 Stature (Cassie Lang, AKA Stinger) 273 Meggan 274 Caliban 275 Hollow 276 Abyss (Styger) 277 Silverclaw 278 Red King 279 Doctor Druid 280 U.S. Agent 281 Sersi 282 Molten Man 283 Zzzax 284 Singularity 285 Agatha Harkness 286 Blastaar 287 Korvac 288 Citizen V 289 Carter Slade the Satan-Stomper 290 Post 291 Shuma-Gorath 292 Sin 293 Triton 294 Quasar (Kincaid) 295 Martinex 296 Iron Man (Mark I) 297 Wiccan 298 Speedball 299 Paladin 300 Amanda Sefton 301 Overmind 302 Diamondback (Rachel Leighton) 303 Feral 304 Charlie-27 305 Rom: Spaceknight 306 Juggerduck 307 The Uranian 308 Blazing Skull 309 Starfox 310 Living Laser 311 Hiro-Kala 312 Namorita 313 Jack Flag 314 Stormborn 315 Doctor Bong 316 Crescent & Io 317 Gamora mcu 318 Wave 319 Ironheart 320 Venom Rocket 321 Doctor Spectrum 322 Davos the Steel Serpent 323 Lady Hellbender 324 Falcon classic 325 Bloodstorm 326 Tempus (Eva Bell) 327 Voyager 328 No-Name the Brood 329 Demon Bear 330 Moondragon 331 Arachne 332 Aero 333 Andromeda 334 Speed Demon 335 Phyla-Vell 336 Xemnu the Living Hulk 337 Aleta 338 Araña 339 Human Torch (Jim Hammond) 340 Constrictor 341 Iso 342 Arkon 343 Genis-Vell 344 Shanna the She-Devil 345 Volcana 346 Batroc the Leaper 347 Arclight 348 Scientist Supreme 349 Yukio 350 N'kantu the Living Mummy 351 Gentle 352 Caiera the Oldstrong 353 Beetle (Janice Lincoln) 354 Penance (Baldwin) 355 Super-Adaptoid 356 Ajak 357 Future Colossus 358 Moses Magnum 359 Vampire by Night 360 Superia 361 Puppet Master 362 Chimera 363 Count Nefaria 364 Stick 365 Hellion 366 Agent May 367 Mister Hyde 368 Spot 369 Cobra 370 Doop 371 Lyja 372 Wrecker 373 Stargod/Man-Wolf 374 Stilt-Man 375 Machinesmith 376 Spider-Bitch 377 Madame Web 378 Corsair & Sikorsky 379 Thor (Groot) 380 Balder 381 Random 382 Power Man (Alvarez) 383 Starhawk 384 Sun-Girl (Selah Burke) 385 Arcanna 386 Scream 387 Kree Sentry 388 Agent Phil Coulson 389 Thunderstrike (Kevin) 390 Talos 391 Carmilla Black 392 Uatu 393 Jennifer Kale 394 Warwolf 395 Enigma (Aikku Jokinen, AKA Pod) 396 Belasco 397 Swordsman 398 Trevor Fitzroy 399 Dazzler Thor 400 Hepzibah 401 Atlas 402 Ogun 403 Yellowjacket (DeMara) 404 Hala the Accuser 405 Entropy 406 War Machine (Infinity War) 407 Animax 408 Captain Universe 409 Whizzer 410 Hogun the Grim 411 Cottonmouth (Clemens) 412 Blizzard 413 Storm (Queen of Wakanda) 414 Silhouette 415 Immortus 416 Beast (Hex-Men) 417 Solo 418 White Rabbit 419 Aurora 420 Equinox 421 Hellcow 422 Owl 423 Arsenic & Old Lace 424 Beetle mk iii 425 Valeria (Age of Conan) 426 Trapster 427 Throg 428 Mimic 429 Hulkling 430 Iron Lad 431 Angel (Black Vortex) 432 Marionette 433 Phastos 434 Hobgoblin 2099 435 Razor Fist 436 Asp 437 Baymax 438 Captain America (Peggy Carter) 439 Sp//dr 440 Tarantula (Kaine) 441 Silver Scorpion (Barstow) 442 Midnight Angels of Wakanda 443 Demolition Man 444 White Wolf (Hunter) 445 Synapse 446 Kingo 447 Grey Gargoyle 448 Gilgamesh the Forgotten One 449 Justice 450 Atlas Bear 451 Iron Fist (Orson Randall) 452 Victorious 453 Lincoln Campbell 454 Luna Snow 455 Zadkiel 456 Crystar 457 Husk 458 Gravity 459 Kaecilius 460 Marrina 461 Ghost Rider (Circle of Four) 462 Nighthawk Supremeverse 463 Fixer 464 Cardiac 465 Capwolf 466 Kull the Conqueror of Atlantis 467 Noh-Varr 468 Korath the Pursuer 469 Miss America (Joyce) 470 Blackjack O'Hare 471 Bi-Beast 472 Vance Astro 473 Bushmaster (Quincy) 474 Krugarr 475 Poundcakes 476 Yo-Yo 477 American Son 478 Mister M 479 Cottonmouth (Stokes) 480 Manphibian 481 Infamous Iron Man 482 Paibok the Power-Skrull 483 Shatter 484 Daredevil Shadowland 485 Nakia 486 Garrison Kane 487 Makkari 488 Elloe 489 Northstar 490 Spiderling 491 She-Hulk (Lyra) 492 Proteus 493 Grey Hulk 494 Doorman 495 Toro 496 Nuke 497 Acroyear 498 Blonde Phantom 499 Drax MCU 500 Orrgo 501 Marvel Girl NPC 502 Fandral the Dashing 503 Spider-Girl 504 Ms. Thing 505 Captain America 2099 506 Veranke 507 Haechi 508 Mulholland Black 509 Mighty Destroyer 510 Eclipse 511 Powell McTeague 512 Druig 513 Copycat 514 Terror 515 Ahab 516 God-Emperor Doom 517 Doombot (V Series) 518 Sword Master 519 Cyclone 520 Black Mariah 521 Zenzi 522 Thor: Herald of Thunder 523 3-D Man 524 Hulk Endgame 525 Tetu 526 Doctor Octopus (Liv Octavius) 527 Margali 528 Molly Hayes 529 Sinara 530 Aldrich Killian 531 Goldballs 532 Mindless Ones 533 Nikki Gold 534 Foolkiller 535 Darkwing Duck 536 Thunderstrike (Eric) 537 She-Thing (Ventura) 538 Killmonger (Emperor Symbiote) 539 Iron Duck 540 Ms. Marvel II (Ventura) 541 Spymaster 542 Scalphunter 543 Spider-Man (Miles Morales Movie) 544 Karn 545 Gun-R 546 Terminus 547 Achebe 548 Llyra 549 Bushmaster (John) 550 Sugar Man 551 Great Lakes Avengers 552 Xarggu 553 Human Fly (Deacon) 554 Shogun 555 Plantman 556 Brawn 557 Elixir 558 Litterbug 559 Smasher (Rokk) 560 Bug 561 Mammomax 562 Synch 563 Anaconda 564 Wolvie 565 Dirk Anger 566 Captain [****] 567 Ezekiel 568 Diamondback (Stryker) 569 Unworthy Thor 570 Master Mold 571 Masked Marauder 572 M.O.D.A.M. 573 Hellsgaard 574 Hulkbuster 2.0 575 Forgetmenot 576 Ghaur 577 Arcturus Rann 578 Ultimate Green Goblin (Movie) 579 Dragoness 580 Porcupine 581 M-11 582 Taskmaster MCU 583 Dansen Macabre 584 Lady Bullseye 585 Harpoon 586 Unicorn 587 Bushwacker 588 Loki variant 589 Night Nurse 590 Psyklop 591 Mack 592 Eel 593 Water Snake 594 Chaos King 595 Red Hulk (Maverick) 596 Kaluu 597 The Russian 598 Geena Drake 599 Jimmy Hudson 600 Slayback 601 Mentallo 602 Skull the Slayer 603 Karkas 604 Dominic Fortune 605 The Buzz 606 Doctor Crocodile 607 Ox 608 Dorrek VII 609 Needle 610 Krang 611 Dino-Thor 612 Stegron 613 Zeitgeist 614 [VACANT] 615 [VACANT] 616 [VACANT]

#the poll #poll update #entire poll #recent rank #poll snapshot #top ten

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deathtale0-0 · 4 years ago

Text

Sorry this is an earlier work, but I do like the opening

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You bring me comfort, when Death is near.

You’ll never know Dear, how much I love you,

Please don’t weep there’s nothing to fear.

The last of the lingering light winked out; the shadowy overcast moved in and masked the otherworldly scene from prying eyes, as the deathly pale moon arose from its hollow grave. Twilight clouds were lost souls, wandering the Earth searching for their cairns where they could finally find their peace. Moonlight gleaned through the thin crooked crack that inhabited the simple sky. Stars laced the sun-forbidden night; they danced and pranced around the faded moon. Wisps of disturbed mist wafted throughout the crisp air.

The fear rippling off of the warriors could be smelt clear as day, but they would not show it, could not. Not when everyone was relying on them; not when they were buying their people time.

As the enemy approached, they straightened up, accepting the fact that they would not walk off this battlefield alive, but would die trying. Blood – and for some magic - thrummed though their veins, adrenaline preparing them as best as it could for what they would face in the oncoming onslaught. Man is wicked at heart in life, that truth had borne witness in the past months, they conjure up lies and hurt and pain, so perhaps in death they were worse. Perhaps in death theses soldiers were about to unleash their true selves as they willed themselves, into a killing calm.

It began as a whispering in the air. The wild, wandering wind started to scream and howl as the sky choked and coughed out great gouts of water. Lightning lit the field. Thunder rocked the very foundation of the dying Earth, it was as if the heavens were about to collapse, wreak havoc and discord upon the mortals as well as immortals. Mortal phantom daggers of pure light pierced the unearthly dark with such ferocity every so often, giving the mass of muscle and bravery a view of their amassed foes. Dark forms of haze rolled in, replacing the twilight clouds - cloaking the bloody combat that was to come. The infantry was at the mercy of nature. Everyone knew that the fury of a storm was something to fear, but for the soldiers fighting for their homes with their heart and soul, the storm braced them for what horrors they were about to face, filled them with a kind of peace, acceptance.

A lone figure moved to stand apart from the horde of the fighters. He was their captain, named Lionheart by their people - the outcasts, the loners, the strangers. The ground crunched beneath his polished boots as he moved like a dark knight, clad in black fighting leathers and chain mail, not a full set of steel plated armour like the rest of them - that would just slow him down. In that moment, Lionheart was a fallen angel, ready to raise Hell for their enemies. And then he roared, a raw sound that ripped itself from his throat...and his soldiers echoed his battle cry. The unyielding line of their enemy rippled, whether it was with fear or not they did not know, did not care.

And with teeth and courage bared, two thousand warriors drew their swords for a war they would not win...

Their armies clashed with a force that would have left gods dumb founded. Deafening clangs rang out as metal struck metal in that first terrible moment; swords were swung with the power of Hades and met with victory in the form of widened eyes, a bloody mouth and a falling body. Arrows hissed by nicking ears, throats, hands as their owners whispered prayers in between shots that they would find their marks. Soul-deep hatred fuelled the enemy, while those that were fighting for their people pushed through by force of sheer will alone, and they fought to the ancient, ageless beat of the world. Though the captain was pure warrior, playing his role in the death dance, and leaving bodies in his wake, they were losing, quickly, badly. The orchestra of dying was playing their best symphony tonight as bones shattered, splintered, crunched while the battle raged on. Shadows were weaving through legs, intent on completing their task to kill. Death was working overtime. Although the storm had stopped, and the stars had wearily kissed the moon goodnight; the soldiers had fought till dawn...and dawn, is when help came.

With the proud just sun rising behind them, the line of cavalry came to a halt atop the hill…

#short fiction #short story #i tried #meh i don't really know #original work #i hope you enjoy #creative writing #battle scene #fight scene #fantasy #story

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multiverseforger · 4 years ago

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Edit

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Marc Spector is a Jewish-American rabbi's wayward son. As an adult, Spector had been a heavyweight boxer before becoming a U.S. Marine serving in Force Recon, afterward, he left the Marines to become a mercenary occasionally doing work for the CIA. As a mercenary he befriends the French pilot Jean-Paul DuChamp, whom he affectionately calls "Frenchie". While working for the African mercenary Raoul Bushman in Egypt, the group stumbles upon an archaeological dig whose crew includes Dr. Peter Alraune and his daughter Marlene Alraune. The dig had uncovered an ancient temple where artifacts included a statue of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Intent on looting the dig, Bushman kills Dr. Alraune. In response to Alraune's murder, Spector challenges Bushman to personal combat and is defeated by Bushman and left to die in the sub-zero temperatures of the desert night. The Egyptians who worship the ancient gods find Spector and carry him to their temple. Helpless before the statue of Khonshu, Spector's heart stops. Khonshu appears to him in a vision, offering Spector a second chance at life if he becomes the god's avatar on Earth. Spector awakens, wraps himself in the silver shroud that covers Khonshu's statue, and again confronts Bushman. He defeats Bushman and returns to America with Marlene, Frenchie, and the statue of Khonshu. Deciding to become a crimefighter, Spector creates a silver cloaked costume, based on the silver shroud, and becomes Moon Knight aka "The Fist of Khonshu".[24]

After his return to the United States, Spector invests the money that he had accumulated as a mercenary and develops a small fortune. To distance himself from his mercenary past, he creates the identity of millionaire entrepreneur Steven Grant, using this identity to purchase a spacious estate. To remain in contact with the street and criminal element, he also creates the identity of taxicab driver Jake Lockley and has acquired civilian allies such as Bertrand Crawley, Gena Landers, and her sons.[25]

In the character's first appearance, the criminal organization the Committee supplies Marc Spector with the name Moon Knight, his costume and weapons (using silver) to hunt down Jack Russell. In Los Angeles, Moon Knight captures the Werewolf for the Committee, but then frees him and halts the Committee's plans, fighting Russell again.[26] He battles Conquer Lord,[27] teams up with Spider-Man to fight Cyclone,[28] and fights Lupinar,[29] and his brother Randall, the Hatchet-Man.[30]

His origin of being "created by The Committee" is explained as a ruse set up by Frenchie so Marc can shut the Committee down.[31] He then encounters the Midnight Man[32] and returns to Chicago to prevent the poisoning of its water supply by a group called the Werewolves,[33] encounters Morpheus[34] and teams with Daredevil to fight the Jester.[35] It is around this time that he first encounters Stained Glass Scarlet.[36] Later, he battled the Werewolf once again,[37] battled Bora, and met the X-Men, the Fantastic Four,[38] and Doctor Strange.[39]

Volume 2: Fist of Khonshu (1985)Edit

Spector abandons his Moon Knight, Grant, and Lockley identities after the effects of Russell's bite (lunar cycle-based strength)[40] fade away, and functions as an independently wealthy man opening art galleries around the world, with the help of art historian Spence. Spector's estranged relationship with Marlene ends when she finally leaves him for her ex-husband when he becomes Moon Knight again.

The cult of Khonshu telepathically summons Spector to Egypt and supplies him with a new arsenal of moon-themed projectile weaponry, originally designed by a time-traveling Hawkeye in ancient Egypt. Khonshu himself appears to Spector and enters his body, giving him the same lunar abilities he previously had.[41]

As the agent of Khonshu, he aids the West Coast Avengers, but at the cost of alienating Frenchie and further distancing Marlene.[42] He time travels to 2940 BC to rescue the Avengers, where he learns of his weapons' design by Hawkeye.[43] He officially joins the West Coast Avengers[44] and enters a relationship with Tigra for the remainder of his tenure on the team.

While investigating the Phantom Rider with Daimon Hellstrom, Moon Knight and the Avengers are attacked by soldiers working for Khonshu's rival, Seth, who is invading Asgard. Khonshu abandons Moon Knight to battle Seth after explaining it was his wish to join the team, not Spector's. Moon Knight resigns from the team,[45] and reunites with Marlene and Frenchie,[volume & issue needed] only to die and be resurrected by Khonshu once more.[volume & issue needed]

Marc Spector: Moon Knight (1989–1994)Edit

This volume introduces Moon Knight's teenage sidekick Jeff Wilde, also known as "Midnight", the son of Midnight Man, a member of Moon Knight's rogues gallery. At this time, Moon Knight first encounters the Black Cat.[46] Midnight is turned into a cyborg by the Secret Empire, then is seemingly killed in a battle with Moon Knight, Spider-Man, Darkhawk, the Punisher, Nova and Night Thrasher.[47]

Teaming up with the Punisher, Moon Knight defeated ULTIMATUM,[48] and during the "Acts of Vengeance", fought Killer Shrike, Coachwhip, and the second Ringer.[49] He then encountered Silver Sable and her allies Sandman and Paladin.[50] As Marc Spector, he was tried for murder in Bosqueverde, South America.[51] Moon Knight teamed up with the Punisher again, as well as Spider-Man against the Secret Empire.[52]

While fighting with his brother Randal Spector over who is destined to carry the mantle of Moon Knight, Marc discovers Khonshu is not the god of vengeance but the god of justice.[53]

Moon Knight eventually upgrades his armor to adamantium armor rather than his original Kevlar costume.[54] This upgrade is critical since Moon Knight needs the armor to hold his body together after being infected by the then-possessed Hobgoblin. The disease is revealed to be the villain known as Demogoblin trying to possess him.[55] With the help of Doctor Strange and Mister Fantastic, the Demogoblin parasite is removed. Moon Knight seemingly severs his ties to the Avengers by burning his membership ID card after being brought in by Thor to answer charges in regard to his illegal actions against Doctor Doom.[56] By the end of the series, Moon Knight is killed violently, sacrificing himself to save his loved ones from a computerized villain called Seth and his "Zero Hour" program.[57]

Resurrection Wars and High StrangersEdit

Moon Knight was resurrected in two separate limited series in 1998 and 1999.

Learn more

This section needs expansion.

Minor appearancesEdit

In 1998, Spector uses his Ka to help a critically injured Black Panther through the Kingdom of the Dead.[58]

In 2001 and 2002, Moon Knight joins the "Marvel Knights" non-team to capture the Punisher.[59] After making a brief appearance in the "Avengers Disassembled" story-arc, he makes a minor return in the 2005 Marvel Team-Up miniseries, fighting alongside Spider-Man, Daredevil, and the Punisher. He later appears in issue #2 of the Great Lakes Avengers mini-series where Doorman offered to recruit him in the GLA, but he immediately rejects the offer.[60]

Moon Knight Volume 3 (2006–2009)Edit

This volume opens with Marc Spector's early retirement which comes after a brutal battle with Bushman. Although his body is broken after a tremendous fall and both knees shattered, Moon Knight finally defeats his nemesis Bushman by carving off his face with a crescent moon dart. Spector is then haunted by a spiritual apparition of Khonshu, who chose a faceless Bushman as his ethereal representation. Marc Spector's background is updated, so he fought in the Gulf War and that his time as a mercenary was during the 1990s. It is also revealed that Frenchie is homosexual and in love with Marc Spector; which is why he stuck around for so long.

The new Secret Committee then hires The Profile, an amoral character who can analyze a persona past and future habits with a glance, to help them entrap Moon Knight. He escapes after the plan collapses because they authorized a mugging of Frenchie too soon. Profile then becomes a reluctant source of information for Spector himself, even giving him advice on rekindling his relationship with Marlene.

Moon Knight eventually gets drawn into the Superhero Registration Act as he investigates a string of murders perpetrated by Midnight, his former sidekick. Other Marvel heroes take notice of his violent return to vigilantism. Spider-Man attempts to contact Moon Knight but is rebuked.[61] Captain America pays him a visit to deliver a warning and they quarrel.[62] The Punisher and Moon Knight have a lengthy conversation about the nature of their vigilantism and their shared past.[63] Moon Knight is forced into a final confrontation with his cybernetically enhanced former sidekick Midnight, seemingly killing him for good.[34]

Iron Man also investigates Moon Knight's activities by placing him under close surveillance. Finding his mental condition unstable, Iron Man decides that arresting Moon Knight under the Registration Act might make his mental instability worse. Moon Knight begrudgingly applies for registration after much prodding from Khonshu, not wanting the law to keep him from his work. The new law requires him to submit to a psychiatric exam. The psychiatrist controlling the exam, along with the government and Tony Stark, has no intention of granting Marc Spector approval for registration. After speaking with Spector's repressed alter egos Jake Lockley and Steven Grant, the psychiatrist begins the process of officially turning him down, suggesting possible future imprisonment. Subconsciously Spector breaks the doctor's will by speaking in the voice of Khonshu and pointing out the doctor's own antisocial tendencies, as told to him earlier by the Profile. The psychiatrist not only approves his application but bows to worship him as well. However, later on, Marc meets the Profile with their dialogue suggesting that the personalities above were just an act to be approved for registration.[35]

Moon Knight shows little regard for his newly licensed superhero status or any passion to the people around him, further alienating himself. His former nemesis Black Spectre returns. Carson Knowles, recently released from prison, attempts to frame his murders on Moon Knight. He steals some Stark nanotechnology and plans to unleash it on the city. Moon Knight pushes Knowles off a building apparently to his death. Tony Stark, as the head of the Initiative, revokes his superhero registration, but buries the fact that Spectre had stolen Stark Tech.[64]

The Thunderbolts, led by Norman Osborn, are now on the hunt for Moon Knight. Tony Stark and second-in-command Maria Hill argue with former Avengers government liaison Raymond Sikorsky, now a representative of the Commission on Superhuman Activities, who desperately wants for Moon Knight to be apprehended with extreme prejudice.[65] Marc Spector himself busts up a drug deal while wearing an entirely black costume while going through an internal monologue about how crime-fighting is much easier without the burden of his reputation and "costume recognition."[66]

Several weeks later, after barely surviving an altercation with the Thunderbolts, Spector pleads for Khonshu's forgiveness for turning his back on him and for the god's renewed assistance. Khonshu appears and informs Spector he doesn't need him anymore, as he now has other worshipers. Spector returns to his Moon Knight costume to aid Frenchie DuChamp in gaining revenge on the Whyos gang for attacking his restaurant and injuring Frenchie's lover Rob, only to find the Whyos' attack was designed to draw Spector into another conflict with the Thunderbolts when he is ambushed by Venom.[67] After a brief fight Moon Knight is captured, but escapes when S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up. Frenchie agrees to help Spector, and Ray joins the reformed team as well. Bullseye is released to kill Moon Knight, as Spector prepares to go out with a bang.[68]

Moon Knight is next seen battling Bullseye on the streets of NYC. He eventually leads Bullseye to a bunker/warehouse where he has planted several explosives. Bullseye narrowly escapes as Moon Knight ignites the explosives. Later that day two press conferences are held: one by Norman Osborn to announce the Thunderbolts' success and Moon Knight's death and the other held by Tony Stark who denounces the methods used by the Thunderbolts. At the end of the issue, it is revealed that Moon Knight has faked his death, escapes from the warehouse through a secret passage in the floor, and is hiding in Mexico. It is also revealed that the Marc Spector persona has "died" and that Jake Lockley is now in control.[69]

Now living as Lockley, the Moon Knight escaped to Mexico.[70] Laying low to avoid attracting the attention of the Registration Act any further, Lockley gets roped into a mission involving criminal cartels, two boisterous sibling luchador assassins, and a murderous Toltec avatar. During this stint in Mexico, Moon Knight learns he was being shadowed by The Punisher from the moment he crossed the border. Frank Castle's reasoning was that he knew Moon Knight would find himself somehow involved with the very cartel Frank had been pursuing; however, the Toltec god's avatar made quick work of the cartel.[71]

Eventually, the super-hero Civil War ended with Norman Osborn as director of H.A.M.M.E.R. and with him replacing S.H.I.E.L.D.. Lockley knows that Osborn had been behind the group of Thunderbolts sent to kill him and that a deranged psychotic was not fit to run the U.S.A.'s national security agencies, so using some spoils from the Cartel, Moon Knight decided it was time for a comeback.

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manjehaal · 5 years ago

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Avenging Her

Read on AO3.

Nora grasped the hilt of her saber, backing her steps, lifting the amethyst blade to shield her face. The hum of the weapon could not quiet her skipping heartbeat. It was like a fist wrapped around her lungs, as a rush of cold air hit her exposed arms.

Khione, as they called her, stood above the tie-fighter, hovering over the Sith temple like a phantom, with silvery eyes lit like a candle in the shadows. The tie lowered, and Khione landed without noise, igniting her saber as she met eyes with the girl. "Put the weapon down, child."

“I’m not afraid of you," Nora said, angling her saber into a threatening stance, held still despite the shakiness of her knees.

The woman possessed a wicked smirk as if to mock the girl's attempt at bravery. “Then you will die braver than most," she said, slashing at Nora's blade, pushing back with a force that the young padawan couldn't compete with. She feared, if Khione pushed any harder on her weapon, her arms might collapse into themselves. She stumbled back at another strike, finding the hilt slashed away from her fingers just as soon as the woman's scarlet blade sliced through it, leaving it in pieces on the floor of the temple.

"Perhaps I was wrong," Khione said, narrowing her icy eyes at the child and bringing her saber to hover above Nora's head, about to strike.

But coming from the lit end of the opposite entrance, standing wide-eyed with fury, was a man. A man that Khione had thought would be long dead, buried in the grounds of the fallen Jedi, a ghost taken by one of Vader's inquisitors. A man that she hadn't set her eyes on since she bore the name of someone else.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” he said, voice steady, causing Khione to startle into frozenness, letting her blade hover over the head of the trembling padawan. He was looking at her with untamed fury, like he carried the weight of all the fallen, coming to seek their vengeance.

And at his anger, Khione was struck frozen under his gaze.

~.~

Caitlin assessed the damaged skin, running a cool finger over the edge of his palm. A stray brush of Zolomon's saber did little damage to his hand but left a blistery ache that caused him to flinch at the healer's cold touch.

"How did this happen?" she asked, pressing a bacta-patch over his skin.

"I had a vision," he said simply, taking a deep breath, bringing his injured hand to his lap, wincing at the way his fingers shifted. "And I acted too quickly to prevent it."

"And did you prevent it?"

"This time."

It was a common cause of injury, a Jedi's foresight. Many Jedi, especially the young, would run headfirst into battle at the time of their first vision. But with time, it became easier to navigate such power, and they began to control their compulsions. Based on the stories of this particular young Jedi, she had assumed he would be younger, by the number of times he had been referred to by the other Jedi healers. The Clairvoyant, they called him, with a roll of their eyes.

“So you’re a padawan learner?” she asked, sliding a few more patches of bacta in a bag for him to take on his way.

He rolled his eyes, with laughter rolling off his tongue. “Actually, I was knighted a few years back."

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that-”

He shook his head, silencing her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m older than I look."

And he was older than she had expected, but his youthfully wide eyes and smile had confused her. That, and the youthful rashness that had landed him under her care in the first place. But when she looked closer, seeing the darkness under his eyes and the weariness of his gaze, she understood. It was a strength that kept him bright-eyed, despite the weight of his clairvoyance probably keeping him awake for most hours of the night. From what she had heard, he was somewhat of a protege, consulting the Jedi fairly often for a force user of his level.

Catching her gaze, he gave her a cheeky grin. "But it will do me good when I reach Yoda’s age, yeah?”

She smiled, reaching for his hand. He relaxed, letting his hand rest under hers, taking in the strength of her power, cooling the space where the red burn shimmered.

“So how does one become a Jedi healer?” he asked, inspecting his hand.

She smirks. “How does one become a Jedi clairvoyant?”

“Most Jedi are clairvoyant.”

“Not like you. You're different. Word gets around."

He smirks, taking the bag she held out to him. "I would tell you my secret, but you'd regret asking. Sleep is a luxury most want to hold onto."

~.~

The way she looked at him, stunned by the light of his face and his narrowed eyes, it may be believed that she wanted to be by his side. She was frozen in her tracks, keeping her blue eyes focused on the figure standing in the light. And though bodies may manipulate, they both knew deep inside that they were staring at an old friend. She leaned in, feeling the raw familiarity of Cisco, just the same as he had always been. And he reached to her, his Jedi Healer Caitlin Snow, now a ghost of an old friend. They felt the shift of certainty. She was sure, but he was slow to let himself believe it.

“It was foretold that you would be here, Clairvoyant. Our long-awaited reunion has come at last.”

"I told you foresight was dangerous," he said, voice thick with emotion. And then he breathed shakily, letting his hand fall onto the hilt on his belt. “I’m glad I gave you something to look forward to.”

She closed her blade that was still hovering over young Nora, taking a step toward Cisco. “We don’t need to be enemies, Cisco. The Emperor will show you compassion if you supply the locations of the living Jedi.”

With a piercing gaze, his eyes were on fire with fuming hatred. “There are no Jedi left. You and your fellow inquisitors have seen to that.”

She smirked, feeling his conflict just as heavily as she used to in their youth. Then, knowing Cisco's weakness like the back of her hand, she turned back to Nora. “Perhaps this child will confess what you will not.”

She turned to face him, not missing the look of betrayal in his soulful eyes, flickering at her flippant regard for his padawan's life.

He shook his head repeatedly, putting his hands up in some sort of defense, denial screaming in his eyes.

“I was starting to believe I knew who you were, behind those cold eyes. But it's impossible. My friend could never be as vile and bitter as you.”

“Caitlin was weak," Khione said with bitterness on her lips. "So I destroyed her.”

He made a pained expression, tightening his lips, before huffing out a breath, letting his eyes grow cold with anger. “Then I will avenge her death.”

With rebuking eyes, hinting a smirk, she wagged her finger in front of him. "Revenge is not the Jedi way.”

And then, finally letting his hand find the hilt of his saber, he removed it, letting an ivory blade pierce the dim temple.

“I’m no Jedi.”

~.~

"What is it?" she asked, her attention drawn to his heavy eyes, like a storm of thoughts pulling him away from the roof he was sitting on.

He was different than she had expected. Though unique in their own right, Jedi had a certain level of predictability they had to maintain. This meant honoring the Jedi's ancient code, severing off attachments and keeping their eyes on the will of the force and maintaining the balance. It meant valuing peace over passion and considering death a great victory. They said possession was birthed from greed. They weren't to seek out violence. They were keepers of the peace, not soldiers.

Cisco cared very little for the code, making it no secret that he considered the strictness an impossible feat. He would argue that passion, with restraint, could be good. That the enjoyment of life or possession was not a fault. Sometimes war was necessary and denying love was just as deadly as hatred. He said that perhaps the balance the Jedi valued so dearly was misinterpreted. That the code was one of the extremes while the darkness was the other, and not maintaining a balance of both could lead to a loss on both ends.

He was free in that way. He didn't fear to tell her what he truly thought of these things.

Today though, he had a weight in his eyes that she couldn't pull with her lighthearted comments. When he smiled at her, it didn't meet his eyes. But he would tightly grin, keeping his eyes trained on the senate building just a bit off.

"Tell me what's wrong," she said, letting her legs dangle over the side of the roof.

"A feeling," was all he said, flicking his eyes away from the building and back to his friend. "A disturbance."

"A disturbance?" she asked, biting her lip. "That must be really bad. Not the usual bad vibe as you normally put it?"

"A disturbance," he confirmed, grimly wrapping his cloak tighter around his body to shield him from a gust of wind.

"Something coming for the Jedi?"

"Not for. Within, I think."

He looked much like a child, wrapped up in his large brown cloak and tied tight with his knees brought close to his chest.

His views on the Jedi were becoming more hostile as time passed. She wondered if it was just intuition or if his visions brought this about. Caitlin didn't doubt the Jedi's benevolence, but she wondered if maybe she should. If maybe his words held truth, being that he had an insight that she never could obtain. Being a healer, she had very few visions of the future. It had been many years since she could recall anything of the sort. But Cisco was entranced in them. If Cisco saw something, she knew to believe it.

"Your views on the Jedi have changed."

He sighed, brushing his hand over his tied-back hair. “Sometimes I think they’re taking advantage of my power. Like it's all to win their war and if I am damned because of it they wouldn’t care.”

"War has a price,” she said, understanding. "They see you as a valuable asset. Do you really think their intentions are that vile?"

“No, not vile. And you see, I’m not afraid to make the sacrifice, I’m just afraid they won’t give me a choice. Sometimes the visions are a lot and well, it..hurts.”

This came as no surprise. Many times she had seen him doubled over, clenching his teeth, gasping at the touch of an object, trembling as he sat, terrified. The injury only furthered his pain.

“They shouldn’t expect you to hold the entire weight of the galaxy on your shoulders.”

“But they know I’m willing to do it.”

They sit in silence for a bit and then he speaks up.

“What about you? You’ve been distant.”

She narrowed her eyes away from him, afraid at the thought of being found out. “It’s nothing. Not something I should let get to me.”

Cisco laughed, giving her a knowing expression. “Ronnie Raymond.”

“What?” she asked in shock. “How did you know?”

“You’re not very discrete, Cait. I've seen the way you look at him.”

She leaned her head back on the wall, closing her eyes. “I need to let him go.”

“Why?”

“Why?” she echoed as if to mock him. “Because it's my duty to honor the code. I can’t be in love. It isn’t my right.”

“It’s everyone’s right,” he said softly. “They can’t just control things like that.”

“It's for the best.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Have you ever thought the Jedi might be wrong?”

“Wrong or not, I could be expelled.”

“Love might be worth it.”

She paused, looking at Cisco with an incredulous gaze, marveling at the stark comparison between him and the other Jedi. He said things as he saw them. The other Jedi were more careful, not wanting to be seen as disrespectful to the old ways.

“Have you ever been in love, Cisco?” she asked, wondering where these strong opinions were born.

He looked up at her, his cheeks warming as if a secret flashed through his avoidant eyes. “Not yet.”

“But you’d do it? Leave the order for love?”

He didn't give her time to wonder. “Without question.”

She laughed, shaking her head at her friend, being classic Cisco Ramon. “You really are one of a kind.”

~.~

Cisco stood there with his blade extended forward, his feet planted firmly into the ground as he waited for his opponent to move.

She followed his lead, with a flash of scarlet bursting in front of her face, reflecting on the glaze of her eyes.

The knot in his chest resulted in a fit of rage, with hatred clutching at his eyes, aiming at the monster that had infected Caitlin's warm heart. His fist clutched the sword, and he was moving forward, charging toward the demon, with every intent to destroy. He slammed his blade against her own, fighting with quick and furious strokes. After many violent swipes, Frost fell into a bow, holding her sabers up as Cisco attacked from above.

They circled each other, slamming the colors against each other, with red on white, fighting to get the upper hand in strength. And Caitlin, never being one for violence, now was relentless to take down Cisco, knowing he was her only remnant to the past.

~.~

She was sagging forward once she caught up with him, resting her forehead on his shoulder, feeling his heartbeat through his poncho. She couldn't dare to look up and see the decision in his eyes, confirming the fear that had been swimming in her thoughts since the bombing. He placed a thumb on her cheek, lifting her gaze to meet his, and her stomach twisted at the sight. It was Cisco, her Cisco, but he wasn't changing his mind.

"I know how much Ahsoka meant to you," she said.

"It's not about Ahsoka. It's about the Jedi. The Jedi, Caitlin. They betrayed her and I have to leave before I'm next."

She couldn't breathe. What had happened to Tano was awful. The accusations. The stripping of her title. The manhunt. Cisco had gotten close to her and Skywalker over the past year, coming back and telling Caitlin of the stories of their heroics. He said that they were what the Jedi should be. So the betrayal, that came so quickly with just a little bit of incriminating evidence, had shattered Cisco's perception of the Jedi. He would never be able to move on and Caitlin knew that.

But she was his best friend. She was the one he told his secrets too. One day had turned to years for them. Years that Caitlin would never give up. So it hurt in ways that she couldn't even explain to herself. She couldn't accept that he was turning his back on the Jedi Order. That he was turning his back on her.

“I’m going to miss you,” he said, hugging Caitlin tightly on the steps of the temple.

She didn’t say anything but she couldn’t stop the tear from sliding down her face. “Are you sure you have to go?”

He smiled, placing a hand on her arm. “I wish I didn’t, but I can’t live like this. Maybe nobody should.”

She just looked back at him, looking lost.

“You should come with me,” he said, resting his hand over her arm. “Then you could be free too. Be with Ronnie. Start a family as you’ve always wanted.”

It was as if she didn't have a say. Her voice was automatic. “I have a duty, Cisco.”

He looked disappointed but he nodded. He knew her after all.

“I know, Cait."

Then he swallowed, looking at the Temple with resolve in his expression. But then, a trace of fear lit his eyes and he reached into her heart with his gaze. He would reach out again. He had to.

"Please be careful. There is darkness in the order. I’ve sensed it for some time. They will fall."

"They can't. They won't," she said quickly, denying the sincerity in his eyes.

"I’d hate to see you fall with them.”

She couldn't worry. She couldn't believe a massive institution like the Jedi order could ever fall. So she ignored his words, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Will I see you again?”

He turned after a gentle nudge, with a light, hopeful smile. And then, facing the other direction, he looked back, nodding. “I have no doubt.”

And he was gone, being taken by the Jedi path and the dimming sunset.

~.~

They circled each other, eyes locked as their sabers met, passing silent messages through the sea of slashing light.

Cisco's steady eyes betrayed his failing heart, like shattered glass poking at his confidence, leaving him winded at the blur of Caitlin's hidden brown eyes. He should have said it, long ago, long before the Jedi got to her, and then Vader. Long before they replaced her hands meant to heal. Back before the light of day left her eyes and the setting suns took him off. He should have told her the truth, as he walked away, telling the real reason to her face. The real reason he wanted her to come with him.

I love you, his eyes whisper, though his hands were still moving. If he put down his blade, he knew despite his disbelief in Caitlin's distorted eyes, that she would kill him. Without hesitation. He knew, from his time on his own, just how powerful the darkness could be. And just how dangerous it was to let it thrive.

I never loved you, came a glimmer of narrowed eyes, as she pushed her saber, leading him to the walkway on the outer edge of the Sith temple.

At the turn, she paused, and for a moment he dared to hope that she might hesitate, standing there like a ghost with her icy hair and silky dark cloak. If not for the hum of the weapon in front of her eyes, she almost looked the same, in the way her lips curled and her body was postured. But as he dared to defuse his blade, taking a step back, her eyes flickered to silver, with gold bleeding through.

Suddenly, her eyes didn't recognize him anymore, and she did what she had to do. She looked at him and she saw a target. And she was strong, predicting most of his movements, countering them with quick precision.

Shocked by the edge of the path, he misses his step, tumbling downward with a simple strike, seeing nothing but her wide eyes watching him plummet into the darkness below.

~.~

He had always assumed she had been killed, much like the other Jedi had during Order 66. He had even hoped for it at times, knowing that there were fates far worse than death. If not the fate he possessed, in a constant state of running and hiding, then the worse was to be in the Empire's pocket. He had never in all his worst nightmares imagined that Caitlin would be one of them.

After reconnecting with Tano, he had found a place in the Rebel Alliance, going by the code name 'The Seer' for some time. He had served as a voice in broadcast, just an anon with drops of what was to come. Some came from his own foresight, and some came from intel gathered by other rebel cells. Talk over radio had pushed him to follow stories of a Death Star, an old Sith cult, and most interestingly, a mysterious woman that late-night tips called Killer Frost.

After a few years, he found himself in contact with a daring journalist by the name of Iris, later connecting with her husband Bartholomew. They came to him by the direction of Tano, with their young daughter, Nora Dawn, who was a Force-sensitive. She needed training. That was what finally drew Cisco out of hiding, willing to finally reveal himself as one of the last remaining Jedi. Whether that meant facing an entire fleet in the cockpit of an X-wing or revealing his ancient weapon to fight back against one of Vader's inquisitors.

He hadn't even considered that Cait, the healer who kept him company, could ever be one of them. Not until a particular mission alongside the West-Allen trio.

This one tie-fighter had been pursuing them relentlessly, predicting their every movement, keeping up despite the risky turns Cisco had taken. It was if this person could sense his movements before he would take them. As if they had some foresight of their own.

He couldn't deny that he felt something. He had spent a good part of his life constantly surrounded by other Force-sensitives so he could pick up on such things easily.

“The force is strong with them,” he says to himself, reaching out to feel their presence. He should have been more cautious, he supposed, reaching out to distinguish just how strong the user was. He hadn't been prepared for the onslaught of vague nostalgia or the eeriness of the cold presence. He hadn't expected to be submerged in ice-cold shivers. But despite the blaring pain, it felt familiar, as if he had felt this particular presence before. As if he had even known it with his whole heart. He couldn't keep up with his racing thoughts but his eyes went wide with recognition.

Just as the thought finally crossed his mind, like a cold hand clasping around his breathless throat, the words came pouring into his mind with her familiar lips.

“The clairvoyant lives.”

The strength of her power and the grip of her voice on his soul made him dizzy, as a gasp of incredulous denial bursts from his mouth. The wave of darkness clutched him, and he lost his grip on the ship's controls, slamming forward and passing out.

~.~

Cisco came to a few minutes after Khione tossed him back, squinting at the bright lights of the imploding temple. If Nora had listened, she would be removing the Holocron as they speak, as an attempt to make the foundations collapse on Khione as well as remove the power from their power-hungry enemy.

But with Khione in her vicinity, he feared what the corrupted woman could do to his overly ambitious young apprentice.

He had to keep moving, he told himself, stretching his aching legs and moving to climb the temple walls, with his vision focused on the wellbeing of Nora, and not his aching grief at the thought of Cait.

Maybe she was gone. Maybe he had to accept it.

* .

* '

* *

It was like an invisible hand was pulling on her, keeping her from exiting the temple. Much like the gentle, telekinetic pull of Cisco pulling her to safety, or even the generous push of the Force as she reached out to jump a long distance. But this, this was hardly gentle or generous. It was like she was trying to pull the skin from Nora's back, forcing her to slide backward, like a moth to a flame.

She closed her eyes, holding the Holocron tight in her grip as Khione pulled her closer, about to slice her through with her fiery saber. She almost accepted it, that the ship hovering in her line of view, the one brought to her rescue by her father, was just too far away from reach. That her master wasn't coming back. That Khione had gotten to him already.

But then, just as she let the monster pull her into that brush of death, a shriek came echoing through the walls of the temple, and a bright blade of silver struck through the back of Khione's cloak, leaving a string of fabric across the temple floor.

"Run," he said, pushing the ghost back as he came soaring over her, with fury slicing through them. He placed a pulsing hand on Nora's shoulder. "Run," he said again when she didn't move, with a growl in his throat. "Find Tano."

Nora stepped toward the exit, moving as he commanded, quickening her pace as Khione pulled herself from the glassy floor.

Struck by Cisco's determined eyes, she felt her body move toward the ship, like an invisible angel pulling her by the fabric of her clothes, lifting her to the safety of THE FLASH. The temple was falling in on itself, and Cisco had managed to throw her back, swiftly sliding her through just before the doors fell through with it.

Cisco had never looked like he did then. Not with such hatred. Not with such rage. Not even with even grief. He had been the one to warn her of the dangers of such emotions in the line of battle. How easy it could be for the darkness to take hold of emotions such as those.

She just stared, not aware of her father, Bartholemew, moving her to the confines of the ship, or the fiery debris that was hitting her face. Her concern was for her master, consumed by his own grief and pursued by the phantom behind the wall.

* '*

* *

"Wake up!" he pleaded, turning again to face Khione, trying to push aside the voice of Nora crying for his name on the other side of the wall. He walked toward her, now just a puddle of black robes and white hair blocking her face, trembling at his steps.

They said nothing, both listening to Nora, pleading for him to follow, repeating his name in a loop.

He couldn't help it. He looked to the door, sending a silent message to his padawan, telling her that things would work out. That the force would be with her. That Tano would be there to show her the way.

The voice stopped then, and he assumed Barry must have forced her into the ship, causing a great relief inside of Cisco. But then, as he took in the sound of silence, he heard his name again, but this time, coming through the layered voices of Khione, but unmistakably, within it all, he heard the voice of Caitlin Snow.

“Cisco?”

~.~

His brain had felt as if it was in a knot, with denial pounding at each wave of fear. The possibility that Caitlin Snow, the girl with the softest brown eyes, could somehow be on the side of the Empire, felt like a lie even when he spoke it. She just wasn't capable. She was always too kind. Too kind to hurt anyone. And even at a time of war, when keepers of the peace were asked to be soldiers, Caitlin hung back, using her power to tend to the wounded rather than fighting at the frontlines.

All of it. The entire concept. The entire thought. The possibility that Caitlin Snow had somehow become evil was a possibility that he just could not accept.

But yet, he had felt her. Or at least, something like her. Something familiar. Something similar.

He had argued with himself, saying that it had been a test. That it was something replicated with the intention of making him confused in this way. That somehow, a mastermind had constructed it. That they had stolen the soul of Caitlin Snow and projected it somehow.

But it was foolish.

Deep down, he knew what he felt. He just couldn't admit that it was the truth.

Despite his denial, he wasn't able to rest until he found the truth. So he went to Nora, leading her to a Jedi Temple revealed to him by one of Ahsoka's Holocron, promising Nora a lesson in the depths of the ancient structure. They entered as a pair, using the Force to access the door, and then waited together, until Nora heard a voice that Cisco could not.

It was then that Cisco had to wait in the shadows, opening himself to the possibility of the cold truth. Shedding his figurative armor. Letting himself feel for the first time since the dark thought crossed his mind.

And for quite some time, nothing happened. It was just him, the walls around him, and the cool rock against his bare feet. He could feel his own breath as he sat there, rupturing like a volcanic element deep within his ribcage. It was a fire he hadn't tasted since the heart of the Clone Wars, and it felt like rage and hunger and hatred and death. But it was all that he was for a few moments, as the fight between the light and the darkness circled like a duel inside of him.

He puffed out some air, unclenching his teeth, with his vision on the light.

He had to let it go.

It was the only way the Force would give him an answer.

And then, as he slowly released his fear, breathing out the hatred, and clinging to the light of compassion, he leaned in, and The Force was with him.

The silence moved away.

He waited.

And then, a voice. "Cisco?" it asked in a ghostly soft tone, coming from behind him, like a gentle balm against his aching chest. He searched the area, trying to locate her, wondering if it had even been a voice at all or if he might have misheard it.

But then, again. "Cisco?" it asked, stronger, and he couldn't deny it. It was her. It was Jedi Healer Caitlin Snow. His best friend. His loyal companion. His hidden soulmate, that he had hidden from even himself. Her, whispering like a lover in his ear, tearing away at his fear.

"Cait," he whispered softly, eyes arching upward with burning recognition, as his eyes blur over at his pounding heart.

The softness fluttered and a broken murmur replaced it, and she asked, “Why did you leave?”

He can feel her eyes behind him, burning holes through the fabric of his tunic, hovering over him with accusation. Shattered, her voice asked a question. “Where were you when I needed you?”

He couldn't breathe. He couldn't answer. But his mouth was open, speaking to the phantom voice. “I made a choice, Cait. I couldn’t stay.”

“You were selfish," it broke through, pounding on his eardrum, now a mirage of distorted voices. Voices that belonged to Caitlin, but came from everywhere in the room.

“No Caitlin," he said quickly, feeling his throat go dry at her declaration. "No," he said, pushing hard at the word, demanding that the bodiless voice understand him. As if this wasn't a vision. As if this was the true Caitlin Snow looking him dead in the eyes.

“No Cisco!" her voice came violently, piercing the room. "You abandoned me! You failed me!”

His eyes were heavy, threatening tears. But he clenches his fist, keeping his trembling form from bursting at the seams.

She is right, he thought, pushing two fists into the floor, carrying the weight of his guilt.

“Do you know?” she asked, her voice changing to haunt him, with an echoey tone that talked over Caitlin's whisper. “Do you know what I have become?” the echo asks, with a malevolent triumph at the lift of her voice.

And then a cold wind, like a breath of the dead, covered his skin. Leaving him gasping and trembling. “No,” he says repeatedly, unable to comprehend or believe.

NO. NO. NO. NO.

NO.

Nooo.

No.

And then a roaring scream came from his throat as a tear finally slid down his cheek.

He turned to the voice, flinging his lightsaber toward its direction only to find darkness. Just an empty walkway and a set of stairs. Just looking at him. Just mocking his aching body.

And despite it all. Despite what he had just felt. Despite what he had just heard. Despite it all.

He tells himself that it can't be true.

~.~

Over and over, his answer was given to him.

Caitlin Snow was one of the same as Khione. Killer Frost, the legend passed on in the late night transmissions, was Caitlin Snow. Caitlin was Khione. Khione was Frost. Frost was..Caitlin. His dearest friend was an inquisitor. An inquisitor who he loved.

He knew this, deep down. He always had since the moment he felt her presence taunt him. But now, in the Sith temple, with his back to Frost, he finally heard her voice. Through the mouth of a monster. Her. Caitlin. Calling, asking him, his name, wondering just as he wondered about her if she was really looking at her friend in her memory.

"Cisco?" she asked, the voice suddenly clear as her own, not shredded by the overtone of Khione. Just her, with her own eyes, and her own heart, seeing, for the first time in so long.

Cisco spun to face her, his eyes large and hopeful, finally unable to deny the face that he is looking at. And as he saw her, peering back at him through her icy eyes, transformed by the white of her hair and the paleness of her face, he couldn't do it. He couldn't be angry. He couldn't hold onto the fury. And it passed, melting away as he stepped closer.

“Caitlin.”

“Cisco,” she said again, softer.

“Caitlin,” he forced, with realization in his voice, and tears swelling in his eyes.

She was still gripping her weapon with clenched fingers, white with rage, but she was frozen. Her eyes did not leave him as she moved closer.

"I won't leave you," he said, extending a hand, reattaching his saber to his belt with the other. "Not this time. Never again."

She looked at him closely, her eyes betraying the frown of her lips. And as he watched her, moving forward with a gentle step, her eyes beginning to soften. And for a moment, but only a moment, her eyes were flooded with brown, as if Caitlin had been enough to turn off Khione.

But just as quickly as her eyes bled to brown, they slipped back into an icy glow and her face transformed. It looked as if it caused her pain, but she said the words anyway, switching her blade on and aiming it toward him.

“Then you will die.”

~.~

Time had once been simple. But not so simple that he hadn't fallen in love with her.

What had it been? Maybe he couldn't define it. Maybe he shouldn't be able to. Maybe he just did.

Or maybe it had been the two of them, existing beside one another.

Or maybe it had been more than that.

Maybe it was simple.

It had been Cisco meeting Caitlin in the center of the healers, being taunting by the others with their knowing gazes.

And it had been Caitlin pulling him to the roof, looking into his eyes for a sign of light despite everything.

And it had been Cisco, making up stories while Caitlin stared wistfully at a stary canvas.

And it had been Caitlin, kissing his cheek after he came back angry and torn.

But on one night, it had been Caitlin, pulling at the cotton of his cloak, wrapping her fingers around his shaky hands. She had leaned in, looking deep into his eyes with warm reflection. "I have something for you," she said.

"You know how the Jedi feel about possessions," he countered, with a smirk peeking out of his distress.

"Yes, but I also know how you feel about the Jedi and their code."

He laughed, eyes sparkling at her words. "So what is it?"

"Close your eyes," she said softly, cheering at his compliance.

"Okay."

"Open your hand."

He reached forward, feeling the warmth of her touch as she pressed a cool object into his palm. He brushed the object, feeling its edges, clutching it to feel the shape of the rock.

"A kyber crystal?" he asked, eyes fluttering open to look at her.

She smiled, pointing down to his palm. "In its purest form. Perfectly clear."

He peered down, examining it closely.

"Not corrupted. Not tarnished. Neither made of darkness nor light. Just pure. Just The Force."

He lifted it, letting the sun reflect it, creating a wave of colorful light across the glistening sky.

"Like you," she said, closing his hand around it and pushing his fist to his own chest. "Just like you."

~.~

"Kill me if you must," he said, eyes burning through hers. "But I won't fight you, Caitlin."

"That's a mistake," she said, laughing at him. "Caitlin is dead."

He just shook his head, bringing himself to stand mere inches from the tip of her lightsaber, lingering there with certain eyes. He would never accept the lie from her mouth. "Not to me. Never to me."

About to protest, the ground crumbled beneath her feet, causing her to spiral backward behind a stream of falling rock.

"Your faith is misguided, my friend," she sneered, coughing as more of the foundation fell around them. "You need to let me go."

He just shook his head, tearing his saber from his waist and tossing it to the side. "Don't ask me to do that."

"Let me go, Cisco," she said again, stepping forward through the rubble, her eyes growing more intense.

He knew deep inside that this was the end.

And as he met her eyes, he could see Caitlin, trying to save him from the monster that was standing before him. Caitlin, reaching out to him as the floor folded in on itself. And in his backtrack of footsteps, he missed the falling ceiling, and the outstretched hand as the darkness clouded his eyes.

She hated him.

She had to.

It was her duty as an ally to Vader.

Killing Cisco was simple, wasn't it?

Despite the goal given to her by her master and the cold rage in her stomach, she found herself panic at the danger above her enemy. It caused her to stumble, with confusion aching in her mind, as something told her that she was forgetting something. Something immensely important. Her fury subsided as she glanced at him, and her blood ran cold, with the realization that Cisco may truly die at her hand.

And the startling fear brought her forward.

She dropped her weapon into the melting rock and reached forward, taming the fall of the upper levels, moving her hands to seal the cracks. She accessed the ancient power of Khione and birthed rage, bursting forth with shimmery icicles to frame them both. She had landed over him, spooning him in her silky cloak and covering him with her exposed arms.

She couldn't feel the rocks striking her as she focused on the frozen dome she was building over them. She couldn't feel anything at all. She just knew what her body was trained to do since the moment she met Cisco Ramon. And that was, without question, to save him from harm. To cure him. To heal his injury.

She forgot what she was supposed to be doing.

Keeping her arms wrapped over him like protective armor, she held him tight as the temple collapsed above, sinking into his warmth.

And she closed her eyes, attempting to pull her mind away from the sense that she was home.

When everything finally stopped, she pulled away from him, catching her wrist on the chain around his neck, losing her breath at the shock. She held it, the pure kyber crystal, in the palm of her hand. She felt the edge of it with her thumb, attempting to swallow back the way it had felt in his hand, warm and calloused on that temple roof. And for a moment as she stared at him blankly, a feeling swelled deep in her chest, and she remembered him.

All of him.

His heart. His mind. His love.

And she dared to look his way, gasping at the twitching of his lips.

She dropped the chain, letting the crystal fall to his chest.

His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at her. "Cait, is that you?"

She was still close to him, just hovering over him without movement. At his kind gaze, her eyes bled warm for a moment and she pressed a kiss to his forehead. Then she lifted his hand, just as she had long ago, pressing her fingers to the broken skin in an attempt to heal him.

He smiled, gazing up at her, locking his eyes to hers.

"Please," she said, begging him with her eyes. "Please don't chase me. Please don't force me. Don't make me kill you."

He swallowed, eyes stinging from tears.

"Please, let me go, sweet Cisco."

He couldn't nod. He couldn't ever promise something like that.

She rose at his reluctant stare, turning to leave him. Knowing her hands were not Caitlin's anymore. Knowing her heart was frozen for too long to love him. They had killed Caitlin Snow during the fall. Cisco had been right to warn her, but she didn't listen to him. So this was her penance. This was the price she had to pay. This was the thing she had to lose.

And she had to leave him alone. Hate him to save him. Hate him enough to not chase him. Because if she loved him, she would go after him. And if she went after him, she knew she may kill him.

It was mercy.

But still, she whispered, trembling as Khione took her form, "Please, strong darkness, allow me to let him go."

#Killervibe #Cisco Ramon #Caitlin Snow #Killer Frost #Star Wars AU #westallen #nora west allen #Ahsoka Tano #Anakin Skywalker #Star Wars

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