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viperbarnes · 4 years ago

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Nerve [B. Barnes]

One of Four

BODYGUARD AU

Summary: Bucky agrees to run security for a Popstar after several serious threats are made against her life. Neither of you are very happy about it.

Warnings: language, mentions of blackmail, murder and revenge porn. Discussion of the music industry, canon level violence, future chapters 18+. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT.

NOTE: This is part one of a three-part series. Story takes place at some point post TFATWS. The 'reader' has a stagename. Slight slowburn. Sort of enemies to lovers, as much as a super soldier can be enemies with a Popstar, anyway lol. Don't ask me why Bucky agreed to this... I don't have any answers, I just have have copious amounts of 'I-want-to-see-bucky-barnes-as-a-bodyguard' in my heart.

If you like this and wish to be tagged on future parts, please send me an ask. I always appreciate reblogs and comments <3

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Bucky Barnes sighs deeply as the polished chrome of the elevator doors glide shut in front of him. He didn’t need to choose a floor, the touch screen pad already lighting up and displaying a cartoonish depiction of the lift rising up the many floors of the tower. When he’d been buzzed in, it had activated the elevator for a short period of time, cleared only to travel to the intended apartment.

He’d seen a lot of crazy technology the past few years, but this building had already surpassed what he imagines most twenty-first century people would consider ‘modern’.

A luxury apartment complex right in the heart of New York City, it had taken the place of some completely unmemorable office block and turned the location into one of the most sought after places to dwell in the city.

Bucky doesn’t live here, of course. He’d eyed the sleek minimalism of the lobby with vague disdain when he’d entered, the chrome and white colour scheme bland and cold. He doesn’t understand why for so many contemporary designers, ‘modern’ equalled ‘completely-and-utterly-devoid-of-personality-of-livability’.

But he’d have to get used to it, at least for a while.

The duffle bag over his shoulder is heavy in only the way that last minute overpacking could be, and he sighs again at the decisions that had led him to this point.

An old friend and a favour owed. Bucky could think of a hundred things he’d rather be doing, but he hadn’t been able to deny the request. Even if he felt a little over-qualified.

For the foreseeable future, James Buchanan Barnes, ex-soldier, ex-brainwashed HYDRA assassin, current partner (coworker, he reminds himself) to Captain America, was on babysitting duty.

Not literal babysitting duty, nobody in their right mind would leave him with a kid, but the reality feels only slightly less demeaning considering his ample skills and experience. If his client was a politician, or some kind of important ambassador, the idea wouldn’t sting so much, but they weren’t.

No, Bucky had been asked to protect a popstar.

He hadn’t even known who she was when a ghost from his past had called him up and invited him for lunch. He’d done his best to assimilate into the modern world as best he could, had dipped his toes into the culture just enough to figure the things he liked and those he didn’t, but for the most part, pop music was something he only heard in stores or on TV.

The singer in question, a young woman who was professionally known only as Edan (last names seemed to be a dying breed in the music industry), was apparently one of the most popular singers of the last few years. The Google search he’d done had returned him literally millions of results, half of which appeared to be gossip sites which he dismissed right away, although Wikipedia proved to at least give him some basic background.

An attractive woman in her mid-twenties, Edan seemed to be universally liked, or at the very least respected. The image she seemed to put out was one of conflicting facets; one was girlish, sweet and almost innocent in tone, lots of pink, soft colours, and dresses that appeared in style to almost that of a doll, and the other that flew in complete contention to that, the dolly-like dresses extremely short, her shoes always incredibly high, her makeup sultry and smokey.

It was… interesting, Bucky had thought, but it also worked.

He’d looked up her music next, it wasn’t necessary, but he’d been a little intrigued, and had found plenty of music videos that only proved to further highlight her particular aesthetic (as he’d seen the kids these days call it). The videos seemed more like short films and were a visual feast, even for him who often found much to dislike about current-day media and its ‘aesthetics’, but the music itself…

Bucky couldn’t deny Edan was talented, her voice was beautiful, strong, and she seemed to have some sort of training behind it compared to some similar artists in her bracket (he thinks, he doesn’t know how these things worked). Even the lyrics he didn’t mind so much. They seemed a step above a lot of other pop songs he’d heard, clever in some places, the subjects varied and not just focused on sex, partying or love, but the music.

The upbeat and buoyant melodies were drowned in digitally-generated instruments that gave the songs a synthetic and artificial sound that grated on his ears. Everything was so clean and over-produced to the point that any uniqueness about the lyrics or the voice behind them was washed away and overwhelmed by a somewhat generic undercurrent and complete disposability.

Bucky had explained as much to Sam when he’d told him about the ‘mission’ he’d taken on, and the other man had enthusiastically asked for his opinions on the woman in question. At his reply, Sam had just shrugged and told him that was the nature of pop music these days, it was what it was, and that he shouldn’t feel guilty if he finds it starts to grow on him, since most of the time, it was literally engineered to do just that.

Bucky could never imagine it growing on him, but he’d said the same about having all the world's knowledge on a tiny device within his pocket, so he hadn’t argued.

The elevator glides to a stop at last, opening its doors onto one of the top floors of the building. Given that the whole place was built and designed around luxury and wealth, each floor only held three or four apartments, but the top seven floors were all singular residences, the lift directly accessing the apartments themselves.

The first thing Bucky sees is a living room far cosier than the rest of the complex had promised. Gone were the chromes and whites of the lobby, the sunken living room before him is warm and earthy, browns, greys and dark greens offset by coral and teal accents.

It still looked like a scene directly out of a catalogue, but at least he could recognise the couch as a couch and not some weird, angular modern art piece that was barely made for sitting.

On the other side of the lounge space is a floor to ceiling glass wall that spans the entirety of the room and overlooks the city, spewing light into the whole apartment. From the security details he’d already been given, Bucky knows the glass is a state-of-the-art one way, bulletproof polycarbonate that rivalled any military alternative. If it wasn’t, he would have had a whole lot more to say about the literal window of opportunity for misfortune.

In the space between the sunken living area and the window, several people gather, all of them busily going about their various tasks. A man and a woman stand by a wheeled rack of clothing, their faces drawn into very serious frowns as they point and pull at various items of clothing. A tall stool has been pulled from somewhere and sat in front of the window, assumedly to supply natural lighting to the makeup artist that pulls back for a moment to inspect her work.

You, of course, are sat in the stool, back to him, seemingly waiting patiently for the task to be done. Music blares from a set of speakers, and no one seems to have heard his arrival. Still, they had to know he was arriving, he’d been buzzed up via intercom less than a few minutes ago.

Awkwardly, Bucky adjusts his footing, unsure if he should call out, or just approach directly… It felt weird to him not to have a front door. Luckily he’s saved from either option, another man, this one in a smart looking suit, a large tablet in his hands, looks up and spots him, his features breaking out into a wide grin.

“There you are, Mr Barnes! Thank you so much for coming…” The man strides toward him confidently, tablet tucked under his arm now as he offers out a hand for him to shake. The man had every detail of a smarmy, greasy agent, and yet, there was something softer about him, something that at least appeared to be more sincere.

“It’s no problem.” Bucky lies, giving the other man a thin smile as he shakes his hand firmly.

“I’m Nelson, Edan’s PR agent, we spoke last week.” Nelson releases Bucky and gestures that he follow him.

“I know myself and the label are incredibly grateful and appreciative of your time, so rest assured we hope to have this little issue wrapped up as soon as we can.” Nelson continues, speaking a little quieter now. Bucky just nods and comes to a stop beside the other man, still several feet away from where you are now looking over two different dresses being held before you.

“I trust you received the info docket we sent you?” He asks.

“I went through it last week and familiarised myself already.” Bucky tells him. The packet had mostly been scheduling information, normal security routines to bring him up to speed, and an informational on how he should present and not present.

“Good, good. That’s great!” Nelson nods happily, before his expression shifts to something more serious, and he eyes you for several moments before looking back at Bucky.

“One more thing; Edan isn’t completely aware of the situation…” He begins, sounding somewhat guilty. Bucky blinks at him, also looks at you, and then back again.

“What?” His bluntness gives away his inner thoughts about this whole mission, but Nelson quickly, appeasingly, raises his hands.

“Look, it wasn’t my idea. The label thought it would be best to only tell her so much, so that it doesn’t freak her out and cause any hiccups… it’s recording season, they want everything to remain as smooth as possible.”

Bucky stares incredulously at the agent. Although the explanation seemed sugar coated in protecting your well-being, Bucky was more than familiar with the way companies and corporations worked, and sees right through the flimsy excuse.

They didn’t want you distracted from making them money.

The idea is even more absurd when he reminds himself that the distraction in question was an increasingly dangerous group of apparent stalkers who had recently been upgraded to murderers.

There were people trying to harm you, possibly kill you, and the label wanted you to focus on making more shitty pop music.

But he can’t exactly back out now, and it certainly isn’t the place to begin questioning the whole operation, so he’s forced to quiet the anger he feels, and simply sigh in exasperation, shaking his head. Nelson gives him a winced shrug.

“Is there anything else I need to know?” Bucky questions pointedly, but the man shakes his head this time.

“No. No more surprises, at least.”

Bucky lifts an eyebrow and Nelson stutters.

“The only other thing I’ll tell you, well, it’s advice really,” He speaks quickly, pursing his lips.

“Edan can be… well, she can just be a lot sometimes… but I swear she’s not all that bad. Just stick with her, don’t take anything personally… Your patience precedes you so let’s just hope…” Nelson trails off and purses his lips again.

“Lets just hope.” He finishes.

In the time it took for the short conversation to be had, you had slipped away to change, and were now standing by the window, eyes glued to the phone in your perfectly manicured fingers.

“Edan? Edan, this is Bucky, you know of him, right?” Nelson shoots forward, grabbing your attention and making you stand up straighter. Bucky follows him hesitantly, stepping around a stylist who was collecting various shoes from the floor.

“The new ball and chain.” You reply, eyes swivelling to Bucky and giving him the least subtle up-and-down he’s ever received. Your face is impassive, but your voice gives away the fact that you seemed just as excited about this arrangement as Bucky was.

At least you had that in common.

“Alright, pack the attitude away. Mr Barnes has a lot of other things he could be doing, and we are grateful for his help.” Nelson scolds. You roll your eyes.

“You realise this is the equivalent of calling in a missile strike to deal with a cockroach, right?” You cross your arms over your chest moodily and again, Bucky completely agrees. A look passes between you and Nelson and then you’re huffing, rolling your eyes once more.

“Hi. Thanks for helping me.” You give him an unenthusiastic half-smile, but your words aren’t completely insincere. To be honest, your abruptness doesn’t phase Bucky in the slightest. It’s only about half of what he’d expected from a spoiled popstar.

“No worries.” He responds, giving you an equally as displeased smile. You seem to cotton on to your mutual resentment and let out a sigh.

Nelson nods, then claps his hands.

“Alright, you need to get going or you’ll be late. Play nice, remember what we spoke about,” The agent hastily begins ushering you toward the elevator. Bucky knew you’d had an interview scheduled today, but he thought he might have at least been able to set his stuff down before jumping right in.

He settles for dropping his bag by the sofa, and quickly following you. He’d been told he needed to dress in all black, preferably in a suit, but he hadn’t owned a black dress shirt, so he’d had to go with a black t-shirt under the casual black blazer he wore. He’d forgone gloves as of recent, and continues to now. Most people on a first glance just assumed he had one glove on anyway, and anybody who looked closer found themselves quickly looking away when they realised who he was.

Nelson doesn’t seem to be leaving with you, and he stays standing outside the elevator as you step in, phone back in your hands again. Bucky hesitates, but gives him a reassuring nod before he joins you.

“And Edan,” Your agent speaks up again, alertness in his voice this time. You glance up at him questioningly.

“Listen to everything Bucky tells you.” He finishes warningly, a note of worry entering his words. Bucky thinks for a moment he might blurt out the truth, but he doesn’t. You sigh again.

“Yup.” Your annoyance is palpable, but Nelson doesn’t get the chance to say more, the doors sliding closed with a chime.

The elevator is dead silent, aside from the occasional tap of your long nails against the screen of your phone. Bucky stands awkwardly, unsure of exactly how to proceed. He eyes you subtly, using the mirrored walls of the lift to aid him.

It dawns on him how surreal it is that a week ago he’d been scrolling down pages and pages of images of you, and now here you were, in all your sex-kitten-esque glory. He hadn’t realised how much he’d detached from the fact you were a real, living person, and grimaces. Certainly he’d been aware that the public persona you wore was likely only partially real, but he stops to wonder why he’d never once before given thought to what you as a person would actually be like.

The doors chime again as they open, and you immediately step out, never looking up from your phone.

“Hey, wait,” Bucky protests, glad at least that you don’t ignore him outright, the clicking of your heels halting as you look back at him dispassionately.

“You shouldn’t just enter rooms without me checking them first.” He explains, and despite his own ire at the whole situation, he tries to understand your perspective, your unfamiliarity with such protocol. He would never want you to actually get hurt, and so if he’s doing this job, he’ll do it well.

“This is the one of the safest buildings in New York.” You tell him, seemingly amused at his cautiousness. Bucky quickly closes the space between you, all the while casting his gaze around the underground parking lot. He can practically hear you roll your eyes as you wait for him to access your surroundings, and he fixes you with a serious look.

“You should never assume that secure equals safe.” He tells you. You stare at him for several seconds, eyes narrowing.

“Then what's the point of security?” You demand. Bucky marvels at the fact some people took such things at face value.

“To make it harder to infiltrate. If somebody really wants to get in, it’s only a roadblock.”

You scoff at that, and look away from him.

“‘Infiltrate’?” You say, half-mockingly.

“Please, you make it sound like some shitty spy film.” You begin walking again, but Bucky reaches out, gently grabbing your arm. You look back at him in all-out irritation now, but he doesn’t let go.

“You’re going to let me enter rooms before you, and you’ll wait before following me.” He states firmly, no longer ‘suggesting’ the idea. You glare at him, and even though you hold out for longer than he expects, you relent with a huff.

“Ugh. Fine.” You yank your arm out of his hold. Bucky smiles only a little patronisingly, before he gestures for you to continue on.

Predictable, once again you roll your eyes at him.

Bucky would certainly say he prided himself on his patience, Nelson hadn’t been wrong when he’d said it preceded him. Before any of his current exploits, or any of the HYDRA nonsense, he’d been a respected and highly-skilled sniper. He could wait hours, even days for his perfect shot, and among all the other things various museums had to say about him, his patience and precision were always chief.

But out of nazi’s, political targets, thugs, goons, Sam when he was in one of those moods… none of them could even hope to hold a candle to you.

Bucky isn’t sure, he hadn’t perfected his theory just yet, but he’s almost certain you had made it a daily task to test his patience and get on his nerves. From your snobbish and bratty attitude, to questioning or objecting to nearly everything he had to say, Bucky was growing tired of your shit.

His only comfort was that your brattiness extended beyond him, to Nelson, various producers and industry folk who he silently enjoyed watching you walk all over. The one thing that did give him pause from writing you off as a whole, was that you were never, ever rude to those who someone in your position might consider beneath you. Servers, sound techs, chauffers, even the intern who messed up your coffee order four times last week on a morning show set received more respect from you than the CEO of your own label.

Much like your personal aesthetic, it was another confusing juxtaposition Bucky doesn’t expect. In those moments when you’re thanking a waiter, or reassuring a forgetful intern that it was your order that was complicated and nothing to blame on them, your genuine graciousness and tolerance is authentic in a way Bucky honestly hadn’t thought you capable of when he’d first met you.

But there were a lot of things he hadn’t expected.

When you aren’t purposefully trying to get a rise out of him, when it seems like you think nobody is watching you, or you don’t have to be ‘on’, you’re almost eerily quiet. A vast change to the loud and charming (to other people, Bucky does not find it charming) obnoxiousness you possessed at all other times, when you were alone together, you often didn’t speak much at all.

You’d stare off out a window, or scribble away in one of the many notebooks you seemed to always have on you.

For all the trouble you were worth when you got on his last nerve… You really weren’t that bad.

Bucky actually almost enjoys these moments, basking in the pleasantness of not quite being alone, but with the total lack of expectation to interact. It’s something he appreciates, being the less-than-talkative type himself.

What he doesn’t appreciate, is being dragged out of the house at eleven pm because all of a sudden you’d decided you wanted to dance.

Bucky stands by the bar in the VIP section of the club, his deep glare all he needs to ward anybody off speaking to him. You’d complained when he’d refused to change into something ‘nicer’, but seemed wise enough not to push your luck. You on the other hand, had gone all out, flashier than usual even, like you hadn’t been completely un-made up only forty minutes prior.

Clubs were a nightmare for security detail. He couldn’t, and had no desire, to shadow you all night, and the amount of unknown elements meant he constantly had to be alert for threats while simultaneously keeping an eye on you. Fortunately the mezzanine level of this particular venue held a smaller, private bar and dancefloor for those deemed important enough, cutting down the size of the area he had to visually patrol.

The bartender clearly recognises a bodyguard when she sees one, and doesn’t ask him to move along from his perch at the end of the bar. She also keeps topping up his soda without him needing to ask, or pay, even though he repeatedly offered. It’s a small blessing, one he appreciates greatly seeing as it maximised the attention he could give to eying the crowd and keeping track of you.

He half wishes he didn’t have to keep looking back at you, however.

You’re on the dancefloor, several drinks down already, and dancing wildly to the beat of whatever trite the DJ is playing. The other reason he wishes he didn’t have to keep looking for you was the man attached to your back via your hips, apparently.

His name was Carter Something-Rather, and Bucky doesn’t believe he’s ever met a more dislikeable human being. Even Walker had had some sort of redeeming qualities in that he’d wanted to help people (sort of), but Carter? He doesn’t so much as get on Bucky’s nerves as he gets on his ‘extremely-punchable-face’ list.

The guy always seemed to be smug about something or other, and was the very definition of a spoiled, privileged white man with too much money and not enough brain cells. You’d been seeing each other for a while before Bucky came in the picture, so he’d had to put up with the man hanging around every so often. Unlike you, with your selective kindness, Carter had no such redeeming qualities.

He didn’t even treat you with the respect Bucky might’ve thought appropriate.

He’d never admit it out loud, but deep down, Bucky knows half the reason he dislikes the other man so much is down to how he treats you. It wasn’t even just his old-fashioned sensibilities rearing their heads, he knew the societal norms for dating had changed. No, Carter downright treats you in a way Bucky would have threatened him over if he were a boy his sister had been seeing.

He stood you up, ignored your calls for days, spoke down to you, and his anger seemed to be on a hair trigger. It wasn’t Bucky’s place to question your life decisions or stop you from seeing him, but he almost wishes it was.

Even now, with your bodies pushed together so close it almost makes Bucky blush, Carter’s hands roam completely inappropriate places, much like his eyes, that seemed to be glued on a blonde several feet away.

He was a dog.

And Bucky hated him.

His phone vibrates in his pocket, and he blindly digs it out, silencing the alarm that is completely inaudible over the song that plays too loudly for him to actually make out any discernible melody. With a sigh of relief, Bucky stuffs a tip worth more than all his drinks and yours combined in the bartender’s jar, and pushes his way towards you on the dancefloor.

You have your eyes closed, but Carter nudges you, making your eyes fall on him. Your lips quirk up in the corners, and honestly Bucky can’t blame you. He must have been a sight to see in the middle of a club dancefloor.

“Time to go.” He shouts over the music, waving his phone, and the time, at you. You pout immediately, never stopping in your movements.

“I’m not ready yet! Another hour!” You plead, different to your usual assertiveness. Bucky shakes his head.

“No. You told me to make sure you left by two. It’s two, I’m making sure you’re leaving.” He states firmly, slowly, because he can see the effect the alcohol has had on you already. You scrunch up your nose and glare at him.

“Bucky… Please!?” You whine, again pleading with him in a manner you haven’t before, as if he could really tell you what to do.

Bucky realises, somewhere in the back of his brain, that despite all your bluster and irritation, by now you’ve recognised his authority when it comes to your wellbeing, and had subconsciously extended that deference to certain things that he should really have no say over.

Bucky straightens and extends his hand.

“No. We’re going. You have an appointment in the morning.” He says with finality.

“You can’t tell her what to do, man, if she wants to stay out, she can stay out.” Carter interrupts, clearly having found the time to stop eye-fucking other women and pay attention to his actual girl. Bucky opens his mouth, ready to tell the guy to shut up, but closes it when he feels your hand land in his.

“I’ll call you later, okay?” You sigh, resigned, and already stepping out of Carter’s hold and toward Bucky. Strangely, it makes something in his chest spark. Carter was technically correct, but you’d decided to listen to Bucky anyways.

“Where’s your coat room ticket?” Bucky asks, distracting you from where Carter was waving you off with an annoyed huff.

You turn back to him blinking, then frowning as his question fully processes.

“Oh, uh… here…” You think for a moment, before your face lights up and you remove your hand from his to reach down the front of your dress. Bucky quickly averts his gaze with a shake of his head, and gingerly takes the very warm plastic square from you when you produce it.

“Alright, lets go.” Bucky steps slightly behind you, his hand moving to rest on your back, between your shoulders, to make sure he didn’t lose you while moving through the thick crowd.

At the stairs down to the main floor of the club, you pause, staring down at them for several seconds until Bucky speaks.

“What?” He asks, looking between you and the offending steps. When you look back up at him with an almost bashful expression, he shakes his head again and offers you his arm.

“I told you to slow down on the drinks.” He chides, moving slowly down the staircase, any balance you had remaining gone in the face of your already ridiculous shoes versus the steep descent.

“Fuck offff…” You grumble, sounding exhausted, as if everything was only now catching up to you.

Bucky doesn’t say anything, just waits with all that famous patience of his as you carefully make your way to the first floor. You let go of him when you make it, smoothing over your dress and moving quickly through the venue and toward the coat room.

Bucky lets you collect your things on your own while he calls and makes sure the driver you kept on retainer was ready for you. Receiving confirmation, you walk towards the exit to the club blithely, Bucky in tow.

The street outside was busy, packed with cars, and Bucky frowned, spying your car at least halfway down the street. He’s about to inform you of such, his hand gently gripping your forearm as he guides you, but a bright flash and a sudden yelp from you makes the thought leave his head.

He cusses, swearing that you’d been careful when arriving, that someone inside who’d recognised you must have tipped the bottom-feeders off. This was, above all else, the worst part of this job.

The paparazzi swarm, like they had zero decency in them to even give you space to walk. The flashes come quick now, damn near blinding him each time. You always seemed to blow off mention of the cameramen who seemed to show up wherever you went, but Bucky thinks, a lot like many other things when it came to you, it was all an act. You always seemed to tense up, body going rigid when the first flashes started, and not for the first time, you’d reached out and grabbed tightly to his arm as if on instinct.

It’s worse tonight though, maybe because you’d been drinking, but you seem to freeze, shrinking back in on yourself and attempting to cover your face. Bucky, much like earlier when he’d put his foot down about leaving, snaps into control, firmly pulling you back and into him, where at least he could block some of the photographers.

“Come on, just keep walking, the car is just down here…” He leans his head down enough to tell you, and he sees your head bob up and down, but you’re still attempting to cover your face as the paparazzi start following, trying to get ahead of you for a better shot.

Bucky glares darkly, and releases his hold on you briefly, only to pull open the closure on his coat and wrap your head and upper body up in it, bringing you to lean against his chest. Your hands quickly grab around his middle for balance at the odd, uncomfortable position, but You were hidden now, one hand keeping the jacket closed while the other Bucky brandishes out to push aside the relentless onslaught of cameramen who yell and shout a million different questions at you.

Your driver has already jumped from the car, opening the door for you as you finally make it to the vehicle, and you briefly manage to untangle yourself from Bucky’s coat to climb inside. He follows quickly, the door slamming shut behind him, and the driver easing back into his seat, pulling away from the curb and out of the line of cars for the club.

The sudden silence makes Bucky aware of your hard and uneven breathing, and the fact that you had once again grabbed his arm.

You stare blankly out the window, eyes still wide as you visibly attempt to get a hold of yourself. Bucky feels sympathy and something else he can’t quite name flash through him. You might have been a brat, and annoying as all hell sometimes, but nobody deserved to have to deal with what had just happened.

“Edan?”

You snap your gaze to him and swallow. You looked frightened.

“Are you okay?” He asks, and you continue to stare at him for several more seconds before you’re nodding.

The fright eases from your features, leaving you looking shaken, but okay.

“Yeah,” You say, voice a little rough, and you clear your throat.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just thought we’d been subtle.” You look away from him then, and go back to staring out the window. Bucky doesn’t think you’ve noticed that you’re still tightly holding his wrist, and he frowns.

“Edan…” He says again, and this time you jump, releasing your grip on him like he’d burned you.

“Sorry.”

Bucky blinks.

Sorry?! You’d never said sorry to him before!

A moment passes, and then you’re nervously glancing back at him.

“Thanks for… um, you know…” You wave your hand at him, at his coat, but look away again quickly. Bucky watches you closely, lips pulled in a thin line.

He didn’t like this.

Not that he hadn’t hoped you’d stop being so rude all the time, but you’re clearly, visibly upset, and it’s a state he’s never seen you in before. You were always cool, confident, even when you were being quiet. He doesn’t like the way your fingers fidget with the ring you wear, or the way your teeth bite at your bottom lip.

He hadn’t realised how much you’d grown on him until he identifies the strange feeling in his chest as concern. Not professional concern, as one would expect from a bodyguard, but personal concern, the kind of concern he felt whenever Sam or Sharon got a little too close to serious injury, the kind of concern that flipped a switch in him and made him do whatever necessary to alleviate the cause of that concern.

Like how he’d wrapped you under his coat only minutes ago.

Physical touch wasn’t a common occurrence between you, in fact Bucky attempted to avoid it unless necessary. Crowded spaces were an exception, but it was usually just his hand on your back or your arm, or occasionally, like with the stairs, the other way around. Dragging you close and holding you against his body, your arms around him, was not something you'd ever done before.

And yet, he hadn’t even thought about it. His only thoughts had been toward covering you up and getting you out, his mind narrowing into the same tunnel vision he got when dealing with other things.

Bucky finds himself chewing on his own lip as the drive passes, and then when you finally make it back into your building's garage, he pauses after he gets out, hovering by the open door as you follow him, stepping out on shaky heels.

The lighting does nothing for your tiredness, and you look worse than he’s ever seen you before. His chest does the annoying stirring again but he swallows it back, keeping pace with you as you walk silently to the elevator.

Inside, you lean against the polished glass, eyes shut and your brow creased. Bucky is only able to shut off his thoughts, and he continues to follow you, even after you’ve entered your apartment, wobbling your way toward your bedroom where you finally kick off your ridiculous shoes.

You don’t speak or say anything when he disappears briefly into your ensuite, returning with a glass of water, and Bucky quietly requests you drink at least half before laying down. You do, all fight seemingly extinguished with the night's turn.

He stands awkwardly as you pull back the blankets, and then turn your back to him expectantly, hand blindly tapping at the back of your dress, where your zipper lay just out of reach.

With his thoughts still banished, he acts on autopilot, pulling the zip down to where you can reach it, and then stepping back.

“M’gonna change.” You tell him, voice thick and tired, like you were already asleep. Bucky takes another step back. You stare at him for a moment, then drop your gaze.

“Thanks for making me leave…” You mumble, avoiding his eyes.

“Course.” He manages after a few seconds, and then quickly, before the strange, backwards interaction can get stranger or more backwards, he turns on his heel and leaves, closing your door behind him.

Bucky stands in the corner of the room, arms folded across his chest. He tries to focus on anything else, but inevitably, his eyes always track back to you. You certainly didn’t look like you were functioning on four hours sleep, unlike him, whose dark circles seemed to always be looking for a chance to make themselves known.

You were put-together and in fine form, on your best behaviour, despite the shitty mood he knew you were in. This morning you’d foregone your usual snark and sneering, instead just wearing a silent, dark scowl right up until your meeting had begun.

He’d fallen asleep wondering if things would be different between you now, a little less hostile maybe, and he’d gotten at least a partial answer when he’d reminded you about entering rooms before him. Instead of your usual flippant response, or the occasional cussing him out, you’d sighed deeply, glaring, but had walked right back out of the room and waited for him. He honestly hadn’t been expecting it, and was only trying to lighten your mood or distract you at least. He’d already accessed the room as a non-threat.

He tunes out most of the conversation that takes place between you and several high-ups at your label, not really caring about whether or not your fifth album had a spring or winter release.

That changes however, when you stand, moving across the room and seating yourself at the grand piano. Bucky can’t help but watch with interest as you pull out one of your many notebooks and open it up, flipping to a page about halfway through.

The grand piano in your apartment had gone untouched the entire four weeks he’d been living with you, but he’d seen the keyboard in your bedroom. He hadn’t actually realised you played though, what with the complete lack of any real instruments in your music.

Bucky listens, a little taken aback as you play several samples of different songs for the producers. He’d never noticed that you yourself actually wrote your music, that whenever he’d seen you scribbling in your books, you’d been writing songs.

It makes him feel a little bad for the judgement he’d passed on your work, and for assuming you were just a singer who had no involvement with your craft. Clearly, you did far more than he’d given you credit for.

Bucky also realises, as each sample song is played, that he likes this music. It wasn’t exactly his usual taste, still pop-ish, but with nothing but the piano accompanying your voice, Bucky finds himself honestly, truly enjoying the small snippets he hears. It makes him wonder, if he went back to your other music now, would he like it more?

The thought is pushed from his mind when you finish, removing your hands from the keys and looking toward your producers with more hope and sincerity in your face than he’s ever seen before.

“So I was thinking this time we could strip some of the usual sound back, go simpler. I-- I was thinking I could play for the recordings, maybe…?” You suggest. Your producers all remain quiet for a moment, their faces pulled in thought, until one, the one who seemed like the boss, finally speaks.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to change something like that up so suddenly. Your sound now is iconic, people love it.” He tells you gently. Bucky’s eyes snap to you just in time to catch the way you seem to utterly deflate.

“And if I’m being honest,” The only other woman in the room pipes up, drawing your attention.

“It’s not very sexy, you know?” She smiles in a condescending way.

“I guess… but I just thought--”

“--I think maybe in a couple of years, something like this could work, but right now, I think any big change like that could ruin you. People like you right now, they like what you bring.” You’re cut off by the third producer.

“You’re still so young, Edan, you don’t want to be casting yourself off into singer-songwriter territory yet, trust us. While you’ve still got plenty of sex appeal to work with, you should.” The conversation seems to be over, and although you plaster on an understanding demeanour, Bucky can see the same upset he’d seen last night through the cracks.

“Oh, and send me those full songs. We’ll have the lyricists have a look over and fix anything that needs fixing before any of the beats get laid down.”

You only nod at the three, thanking them kindly for their time and shaking their hands before they filter out, leaving the room in a deafening silence.

You seem frozen for a moment, processing the meeting and the rejection.

Bucky feels disgust climb up his throat. He can’t put his finger on why, exactly. It was clear you wanted to do more with your music, to be involved and to change up the image you apparently only had so much say in. How much of your aesthetic was really yours? How much was just what your label had designed for you.

Bucky is suddenly, violently reminded of the fact you still had no clue about the reality of your situation, of why he was even here with you in the first place. Your label had opted not to inform you, in favour of maximising your output.

No wonder you were such a brat most of the time. No wonder you had such an attitude.

Bucky steps away from the wall to address you, but you’re moving quickly, packing up your notebook and shoving it in your purse.

“Why are you letting them tell you what to do?” He blurts, making you pause. You look up at him sardonically.

“Because they control my career…?” You say, as if it should be obvious. But frowns.

“People would listen to your music-- this music,” He states confidently, but you only scoff and shake your head, going back to packing up your things.

“Sure, and they’d also listen to the next sexy little thing to come along, so that doesn’t really mean jack shit.”

Bucky stares at you, and for the first time, sees you a little clearer.

None of this was real. Very little of it, anyway, and the fact you really made it seem genuine, said a lot about your performance ability. A lot more than your radio-hits ever could.

Whoever you were before you’d signed with your label was buried under layers and layers of meticulously designed fluff to make money.

Bucky had figured that a lot of this industry was artificial, but it held an ugliness he had never wanted to be privy to. His regular life was ugly enough, he’d thought that at least shitty pop music was just shitty pop music.

It’s all a little heavy for him, and he doesn’t know what to say, if there even is anything he could say, to comfort you. He doesn’t even know if you’d want that. It wasn’t as if your relationship was particularly friendly.

It was barely even professional.

He stays quiet as you finish packing up, and then escorts you home again.

Later, as he ends his call to Sam with a sigh, and prepares to ring Nelson, he pauses, blinking, listening. Faintly, from the other end of the apartment, Bucky can hear your grand piano.

Next >> || Series Masterlist

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes/reader #bucky barnes/you #bodyguard!bucky #Series: Nerve

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wienerbarnes · 4 years ago

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The Electrifying Mind Reader (1/2)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader (Cheek to Cheek)

Word Count: 3,186

Warnings: violence, capturing, angst👀, drugging, reader doesn't have fun in this one but i don't wanna spoil it yall know i always end w happiness so part 2 will fix things

A/N: hehehehe i had this idea but im still trying to see where it goes depending on how fatws ends, how the loki disney+ series goes, etc, etc, but ugh i never wanna stop writing these two so imma just make shit up forever also don't let the warnings scare you lol yall know im soft on the inside

MAIN MASTERLIST | CHEEK TO CHEEK MASTERLIST

The mission was rough, to say the least.

Another HYDRA base found in Eastern Europe. One you’d worked for for a few years. Making you have both a personal connection to the mission, and be the only person on the team who knew this base intimately. This specific location arose after Bucky’s time, but during the prime of yours. So, you, Bucky, and Sam took it upon yourselves to go out and investigate while Sharon helped from the tower.

Until it was occupied with more HYDRA soldiers than any of you could’ve imagined.

580 soldiers. 580 Nazi’s all in one building. You wanted to blow it to shreds as soon as you landed there, but Sam went against that idea; there was too big a possibility that there were innocent people in there, either those brainwashed or those being held hostage. Neither you nor Bucky could argue with him there, the two of you fell under those categories yourselves.

We can take 'em, Sam said. With him in the sky and Bucky and I on the floor with the brawn and mind control powers, we can totally take ‘em.

What a fucking lie, that was.

The three of you got separated fast. And it didn’t take long after a few fights and punches that your coms broke and went offline. You think they would’ve made better com devices that were better adapted for this kind of stuff. They make arms and shields out of vibranium but not tiny coms to go in your ears?

Being separated from your teammates with no way of contacting them while still not being completely confident in your powers was not good for you, especially considering the history you have with this place. You want to hope that your handlers aren’t at this location anymore, but there’s really no way to know. The last thing you need is to run into one of them and for them to recognize what used to be their favorite play toy.

Except somehow, something worse happens.

A bomb goes off. Not necessarily blowing you to pieces, but with you being placed next to a window, being hurled a few stories into the snowy woods didn’t exactly put your body in good shape.

It takes about twenty minutes to orient yourself again. For your ears to stop ringing, for your body to stop shaking, for you to look around and have some kind of a feel for your surroundings. You don’t see the quinjet you arrived in anywhere, nor Sam and Bucky. But you know with the tracker sewn into your stealth suit, someone will find you eventually.

So, you start walking.

The shoes on your feet aren’t exactly made for the snow; you didn’t imagine you’d be hiking much on this mission. But the boots are thick enough to keep your toes from getting wet, which is good enough.

You stick close to the trunks as you walk on, planning to make a large circle around the perimeter and hoping to run into the quinjet, wherever it is. You hope they waited for you, at least.

Meanwhile, Bucky yells at Sam on the ramp to the quinjet, engine already purring as Sam is telling him to get on, that we’d come back for you with Sharon and better equipment to help them look.

“I’m not getting on the fucking plane, Sam!”

“It’s a jet, not a plane.”

“I’m not leaving my fucking girlfriend in the snowy woods alone outside of the Nazi base she used to be held at! Come back later, I’ll find her myself!” Bucky yells, vein popping out of his neck in anger.

If it was any other agent, he would’ve agreed. To go back to the tower, to get more equipment, to bring more people. But this isn’t any other agent; it’s you.

So, he starts walking.

He figures you’ll walk a few miles out, keeping your distance from the base in case anyone who survived that blast goes looking for any one else in the area. He begins heading west, planning to go a few miles straight and then start rounding the area, he can clear by nightfall, but hopefully he’ll find you before then.

Bucky doesn’t think to look for you in the treetops, though.

You hear a voice, and you panic. There’s nowhere to hide; only tall trees and mountains of snow around you, so the only way you think to go is up. You quickly hoist yourself up into the tree, balancing on a branch and hoping you’re covered enough by the snow covered branches.

It’s quiet again, and for a moment you think it was just the voices in your head; that there was nobody actually in the area. It’s hard to get a peek out with the blanket of snow clouding your vision in this tree, but you think you see a flash of metal. It could either be a gun or it could be Bucky’s arm. You cross your fingers and take your chances.

Wrapping your hands around the branch, you slowly bring your legs down to swing a bit before landing on the ground, prepared to greet your boyfriend and joke about engaging in monkey business.

Except it’s not Bucky.

A tall man, both arms made of metal, one with a shiny red star on the shoulder and the other with a skull and tentacles, turns to face you, drawing his gun and aiming it at your head.

“Oh, fuck.” Is the last thing you hear yourself say before a shot is heard and you see black.

Bucky hears a shot from the direction in which he was walking from. That could either be someone from HYDRA shooting at someone or you shooting at someone. He doesn’t like either option.

He breaks out into a sprint, gaining momentum and speed as he flies through the snow, charging back in the direction he came, hoping he can figure out where the shot came from in time. There was only one, so either it was a warning shot, or a lethal one.

When is Sam getting back? The longer he imagines your bleeding body on the white floor, the more he feels his anxiety spike and his heart race. You have your gun. Even if that shot was for you, you don’t go down without a fight. You’ve been training with your mind control with Wanda. You’re fine.

Surely, you’re fine.

The next time you wake up, it’s to a sharp slap across the cheek.

Your eyes open to see two men in front of you. You ignore the stinging in your face and the ache in your arm and glance between the two soldiers before you. You former handlers. Two of them at least.

“Sorry, boys,” You begin, glancing down at the bandage wrapped around your right bicep, where you assume a bullet was a while ago, “I’m unfortunately taken and only like it when my boyfriend slaps me around.”

You try to rub at your shoulder with your opposite hand, by there tied behind your back to the chair you’re sitting in. There’s also ties around your ankles and the fold of your knees.

You take a moment to stare at them to see if there’s a way to tap into their heads, get one to shoot the other, or untie you at least before they do that. But nothing.

They both giggle. “Just as feisty as ever, aren’t you.”

“Yeah, yeah, listen, great catching up and all, but I actually have a doctor’s appointment I need to get to and I do need to get going -” Another smack, and then two hands vest the collar of your top.

“You’re not going anywhere! You left once, but now that I have you again, I’m not letting you leave my sight, my Mind Reader.” He tells you.

“...Can’t read minds. Can control them! But, can’t read them, sorry, no dice.” You correct, hiding behind your fear with a plethora of jokes and teases.

“We’ll see about that.” He looks deep in your eyes.

You smile drops and you look over your shoulder, realizing the room you’re in.

A large, black, metal chair sits above a few steps of concrete. Dark screens and bars surrounding it. There are open brackets for your arms and legs to be restrained, and the infamous headpiece that sends painful shocks to your brain. The man with two metal arms who shot you earlier stands beside it.

You remember the first time your powers manifested. Hours of drowning and waterboarding, followed by hovering candles and fires around your skin, poking and prodding you with needles to make something, anything happen. The goal was to send you into such an overdrive, overwhelming you to the point that your body to work with whatever poison they were putting in you.

“You wouldn’t,” You tell them, “You’re not stupid. You’re evil, but not stupid. You wouldn’t risk me in good ole’ Sparky.”

“Wouldn’t I?” The two men hoist you up and begin to drag you towards a heaping pile of metal. You try with all your energy to tap into their minds, tap into anyone’s mind, but to no avail.

This is it, you think. Who knows what will happen next, what you’ll remember. I hope Bucky doesn’t find me, I don't want him to see me like this. Two metal arms hold you down, one choking you hard and the other sitting heavily atop your injured shoulder while the machine powers up. The ties around your limbs are cut and the brackets automatically close, locking you in by your wrists, biceps, and ankles.

“See you on the other side.” He tells you maniacally, a syringe being pushed into your neck by the man with metal arms and the head piece coming down over your face before the worst pain you’ve ever felt courses through your body.

You scream.

Bucky has spent the last couple of hours running around this stupid forest with only failure to show for it. His last option is to go back to what’s left of the base. Sam’s about to land again, this time with Sharon and an extra agent or two.

He’s tossing the pieces of rubble around, looking for something, anything, to show him that you’re around here, that you’re alive.

Until he sees it. It almost perfectly looks like a metal rod sticking out of the ground. But it’s a handle. He pulls on it with all his strength until the lock and chain from the other side snaps, the door swinging open.

He climbs down the small ladder barely hanging against the wall before his feet thump on the ground again. He doesn’t like the nostalgia he feels slowly walking through the dark room, the distant groaning of a body, and smell of just pure evil.

He finally sees a slight glow coming from around the corner at the end of the hallway he’s ended up on, and he speeds up his pace, desperate to find someone, desperate to find you.

And he’s sorry he does. He’s sorry that he’s seen what he’s just seen. A door, on the opposite side of where he’s entered, left ajar and slightly swinging, signifying that someone’s just gone through it, and you, sitting slumped in that fucking chair, groaning and using what little strength you seem to have to weakly pull at the restraints around your wrists and ankles.

It’s his worst nightmare. You, stuck in that chair. He doesn’t waste a second running over to where you are, latching his hands on the headpiece that still sits on your face. He grabs a hold of the two pieces of metal and props a foot to the back of the chair, using all his might to snap it apart. He lets out a yell as he pries it off, bending the metal handle that connects to the main body of the machine.

He pants, reaching for the other restraints and prying those apart too, the sound of metal on metal making his ears hurt, there’s no way his metal arm isn’t wrecked after this.

He grabs a hold of your face to get a good look at you, to make sure you’re still alive. Your pupils almost completely cover the iris, the whites tinted pink. There’s also drool staining the corners of your lips and you're mumbling something to him that he can’t understand.

“Baby? Baby, I’m here, we’re leaving now, okay? I need you to stay awake for me while I get you to the jet, okay? Can you walk?” He coos and speaks to you softly and calmly, gently lugging your body into a standing position, but all you do is slump against his frame.

He can still hear the silent whirring of the machine, and from the subtle shakes in your body, he can guess the chair wasn’t used on you too long ago. He remembers having to be carried by two guards larger than him after a session in the chair, and he's about twice your size and strength, no matter your powers; he can’t imagine what your body’s feeling right now.

You whimper as he catches you, and he’s quick to slide an arm between your legs, the other grabbing a hold of your good arm and slinging you over his shoulders. The metal in his left arm is pinching into the skin of his shoulder, letting him know the plates are messed up from his pulling apart the machine.

Kinda went full Banner on the chair, didn’t I.

“Sam should be here, love, okay? So, just stay awake for me and you can rest on the plane. Huh?” He tells you, trying to engage and hoping you’re awake as he talks to you.

Another groan from you, which is good enough for him. He finally climbs back out of the basement and doesn’t see a jet in sight.

“God damn it, Sam,” He mumbles, and you whimper above him again, your breathing turning into panting and he senses your panic rising.

“Babe… Babe!” Bucky, sets you down gently, trying to capture your attention. A sharp call of your name forces you to look up at him.

You see three of him, and every color you see is much more vivid than you’ve ever seen before. You feel yourself shivering but also feel like you’re burning from the inside out. You know he’s talking to you, but you can’t focus on a single word he says because all you’re thinking about is how you don’t want to feel like this.

“Put me to sleep, knock me out, make me not feel this,” You interrupt him, but by the look of utter confusion in his face, you don’t think you’re speaking clear enough for him to understand you. Which only makes you panic more.

His eyes travel around your face and neck, observing the bruising on your forehead from where the headpiece of the chair rested and the finger-shaped marks on your neck. He also takes notice of the small hole on the side of your neck, about the size of a needle.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry this happened to you, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop it, to protect you, like I’m supposed to. But, I need you to be strong right now, I need you to suck it up until I can get you on that fucking jet and in a fucking hospital, okay? Please! Please, baby, just tough it out for a little while longer, can you do that?” He cradles your face and head with both of his hands.

Bucky’s on the brink of a panic attack himself. The only thing keeping him from breaking down is the fact that he’s the only one here to make sure you stay awake.

A distant purring of an engine is finally heard and his head darts up at the sky to see the quinjet come into view.

“Look, babe! See? Already here! Just the short trip to the tower, okay, love? You can’t die on me, please,” He trails off.

You squeeze your eyes shut as you try to bring yourself up into a kneeling position to stand up, and a cry escapes you as you feel an utter lack of control over your body. Your brain is trying to move your arms and legs but they feel so heavy that they just don’t move.

Suddenly, Bucky’s hoisting you up again, bridal style this time, and he’s running to the quinjet. You don’t even feel the pain in your shoulder and chest when your arm bounces around because you feel like your insides are melting.

Your brain and head haven’t stopped buzzing since sitting in that chair. You only remember flashes; flashes of black, flashes of the room, flashes of those bastards’ faces while they stare amusedly at you writhe in pain.

You don’t realize you’re on the jet until your body is laid on a cold table, the only table on the quinjet that’s attached to the wall. You look around to gauge your surroundings; you see a blonde head of hair and two other taller figures. Your hand twitches, wanting to reach out for Bucky, but he’s not looking at you. You whimper again, but it must not have been loud enough because he only continues to speak to the two other people, who you guess are Sam and another agent.

You straighten yourself on the table as your heart speeds up faster and faster. You brace yourself for a panic attack but it doesn’t come.

Nothing does.

Bucky tries to tell Sam everything as quickly as possible while the jet takes off. He can only imagine how hysterical he looks right now, and how much explaining he’ll have to do to the other agent on the jet with them; he’s pretty sure he might’ve slipped in calling you his girl by mistake once or twice.

He glances over his shoulder to check on you but does a quick double take. You’re not moving. Your eyes are open, but you’re not moving. Not shaking how your body was before from the electricity, not groaning or whimpering from whatever was wrong with you.

He remembers going on autopilot from there. He strains his ears and can’t hear the rapid beat of your heart, he doesn’t hear anything coming from you. His own heart feels like it stops when he climbs on top of you, straddling you, and leaning his head over your mouth to try and catch your breathing - which he doesn’t - and raising a hand to feel your heartbeat - which he also doesn’t feel.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” He starts CPR immediately, pumping his fists roughly against your chest, counting in his head among all the other chaos floating around in there.

“C’mon sweetheart. Wake up. Wake up, baby.” He continues.

“Bucky, you’re going to break her sternum!” Sharon tries to warn him.

He pauses only for a brief moment to turn his head towards her, “Sharon, shut up!” He snaps, this probably being the first time he’s ever screamed at Sharon. He turns his head towards Sam and Agent 36, “Sam get this fucking plane to the tower, now!”

“Please, please, please don’t do this to me. Not now. Not because of them.” He resumes the CPR while mumbling to himself, leaning down to breathe air into your mouth.

“Can’t lose you, can’t lose you.”

He can’t lose you.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes series #marvel

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icannotreadcursive · 4 years ago

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Sometimes, people have different--very different--sets of headcanons and sets of ships etc for a given piece of media and cast of characters because they have basically different understandings of who those characters are.

A lot of times, that’s just because every fan as their own unique life experience to apply when engaging with and interpreting a work, so they see different things reflected back.

But when it comes to what I call Legacy Characters--characters that have had their story told and retold, adapted and readapted, reinvested and reset time and again; such as comic book characters--a huge part of who a fan understands a character to be is determined by what versions of that character they’re familiar with, what aspects of different versions have coalesced in their brain to form their sense of that character in general. Usually, the biggest influence there is which version of a character that fan encountered first.

I see both knock-down drag-out fights and casual disrespectful disparaging comments within some fandoms--especially big comics fandoms like Marvel--that on the surface of them are more of the typical dumb “my interpretation is the only right one and anyone who disagrees is wrong and Doesn’t Understand The Media” stuff, but that I am SO SURE mostly boils down to this issue of having very different but all equally legitimate senses of the characters from having familiarity with different appearances of the character, or in a different order.

For instance--using what I find to be the most glaring case as an example--the Marvel shipping wars amongst Steve/Bucky, Steve/Tony, Sam/Steve, Bucky/Natasha, and (increasingly) Sam/Bucky shippers. Sometimes the Pepper/Tony, Pepper/Natasha, and Bruce/Tony shippers join the fray.

These conflicts get so nasty. Even a lot of the more chill shippers, when prompted, have very ugly things to say about ships other than their own and the people who support them. Allegations of racism, misogyny, fetishization, and general toxicity run rampant and are often talked about as though they are the only possible reasons someone could ever have for shipping or not shipping a given pair.

I want to make it clear that I personally do ship or have shipped several of the above, including ones that mutually exclude each other. There’s a few I’m neutral on up there, and one that kinda squicks me--we’ll get to that later.

Every single one of them is a perfectly good ship. None of them are inherently fucked up in any way and I will not hear any argument to the contrary.

Do some supporters of these ships get overzealous and obnoxious? Yes, that’s kinda why we’re talking about it, but that’s not a problem with any of the ships themselves.

I’ve noticed some patterns around people being into particular ones of these ships and their personal histories with various Marvel media.

Steve/Tony: mostly comics fans at this point, either were into the comics before the MCU became a thing or the early days of the MCU got them into the comics and they’re now more into the comics than the films. Because there’s a LOT of material in the comics to support the ship! There’s so much! Including the fact that in one comics reality where Tony is a woman, she and Steve get married!

Now, there was a ton of this’ere Stony fic that got churned out in the early days of the MCU, a lot of it from fans getting into this world for the first time through the phase 1 movies, at which point other potential partners for these guys either hadn’t been introduced as characters yet, or hadn’t been fleshed out. A lot of film-main (as opposed to comics-main) Stony shippers moved away from the pairing as the MCU continued, Bucky became the counterpoint of Steve’s Character arc, Sam got brought in, Pepper and Bruce each got more screen time, and the dynamic between Steve and Tony in the films got increasingly adversarial in a way that’s less sexy more fucked up.

The battle cry against Stony from other factions, especially from the Steve/Bucky camp is usually “but they’re so toxic!” and, I mean, yeah--if your sense of these characters is primarily based on how they are in the MCU, they are. But in my experience, even if they’re working MCU events and settings, the Steve and Tony being imagined by Stony shippers aren’t really that Steve and Tony.

Steve/Bucky: look, Stucky is an MCU thing. Articles have been written and published about the fact that the dynamic between Steve and Bucky in the MCU follows the beats of an epic romance to a T. The basis for this ship is all there on screen--throw in a little bit of history nerd mojo and you’re in deep.

By my observation and estimation, most new or formerly-very-casual Marvel fans who came in via the films and remained film-mains, and who are inclined to not-strictly-heteronormative shipping at all went the Stucky route. Folks who initially shipped Stony then switched to Stucky are pretty common. People starting with Stucky and then switching to any other ship with Steve to the exclusion of Stucky? Very rare. And while for a lot of people Stucky is their OTP in the strictest sense, I do see a lot of Stucky shippers who are here for other ships as well, either in an alternate realities kinda way or an amicable exes/polyamory kinda way.

The only people I’ve seen who have a problem with Stucky as a ship (other than “my ship is a different ship, therefore this one is bad and wrong”) are comics-mains whose sense of Steve and Bucky is heavily informed by runs of the comics in which Bucky is significantly younger than Steve and kid sidekick type figure. For them, the dynamic between the general forms of these characters leans mentor/student or protector/charge, so the inclination is to read the MCU relationship as fraternal, because it being romantic is squicky based on their sense of the characters.

Sam/Steve: comics-mains, film-mains with significant comics familiarity, film-mains who just aren’t into Stucky for one reason or another, or film-mains who are just really into Anthony Mackey which is a perfectly valid reason to get behind a ship. People who know Falcon from the comics seem much more likely to be into this ship and also more invested in this ship. I’m not qualified to say much about support for this ship from the comics themselves because my personal familiarity with Marvel comics doesn’t include much of Sam Wilson at all, but I am absolutely qualified to say there’s support from the films, especially CA:WS.

The worst vitriol against this ship tends to come from overzealous Stucky OTP shippers who really need to remember that fandom is supposed to be fun, and flat out racists. That must be acknowledged and needs to be addressed. Fandom racism in general, and against Sam in particular is a thing and it can absolutely be a factor in shipping.

However it’s not inherently racist to just not ship Sam/Steve because you see them as bros, or because Stucky is your OTP, or because you ship Sam with someone else, or whatever. Worthwhile to take a minute to examine why you don’t ship it, if you don’t, and check that for racial bias in how you view and treat Sam as a character, especially if you’re white.

Sam/Steve and Stucky are the two ships I see coexist the most! A lot of people ship both of them separately and exclusive from one another, but a lot of people also go ether the OT3 or the “Steve and Sam were definitely a thing for while there but now they’re not” route.

Bucky/Natasha: comics-mains or film-mains with significant comics familiarity, particularly for the comics worlds in which Bucky and Natasha are a couple, which seems self explanatory as to why that correlates. Not a lot for it in the films, Nat and Buck don’t interact much in the films that we see, and they’re kinda trying to kill each other in much of what we do see. But, like I said, they’re a thing in some of the comics so there we have that.

This is the one that squicks me. Clearly it’s a super valid ship; depending on the canon it’s a canon ship. Frankly, they make sense together, canon or not--their individual backgrounds as spysassins and with brainwashing etc means they’d be able to understand one another in ways no one else around them really can. But my personal amalgamation of these characters from the films and what comics I’m familiar with has Bucky having been Natasha’s teacher when she was a kid in Red Room. So I cannot ship it, I can’t do it.

The fact that I personally am squeaked by it has absolutely no impact on the fact that it’s a good ship, and the fact that it’s a good ship cannot and does not negate the fact that it squicks me.

Bucky/Sam: okay, there’s not a lot of this out there yet, but what there is seems to mostly be coming from film-mains who either don’t ship or co-ship Stucky and/or Sam/Steve, and who really liked the dynamic between these two in Civil War, and I guarantee you we’re about to get so much more of this ship with Falcon and Winter Soldier premiering. I’ve already seen some hate directed at this ship from the same places Sam/Steve gets hate. I predict, though, that this one will also get co-shipped alongside Stucky by the less strictly OTP of those shippers and I’m curious to see what the dynamic ends up being between Bucky/Sam shippers and Sam/Steve shippers as this camp grows.

In conclusion, I guess, note that not shipping a ship doesn’t have to mean attacking that ship (and it shouldn’tI) and not liking a ship, even being deeply uncomfortable with a ship for your own reasons doesn’t mean that ship is bad. We’ve all got our own individual sets of experiences both in life and with the characters in our fandoms that can dramatically change how we see those characters and their relationships to one another. This gets especially complicated and diverse with Legacy Characters like those from sprawling long-running comics multiverses. Someone’s understanding and interpretation being different from yours does not make either of you wrong!

As long as no one is an asshole about it it, it’s actually really interesting and cool to compare interpretations and see how your understandings overlap and differ, to think about what bits of canon have been formative for you and what personal experience may have made you inclined to interpret certain things certain ways.

Fandom is supposed to be fun. Shipping is supposed to be fun. You can and should hype up and express love for your own ships without tearing down others.

#long post #meta #fandom etiquette #marvel #shipping #stucky #stony #sam/steve #bucky/nat #bucky/sam #squick is a useful word #don't be an asshole

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mystical-flute · 4 years ago

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Love Persevered

Also on AO3

It's not S.W.O.R.D that ends up with Vision's body, it's S.H.I.E.L.D, and a miracle happens when Wanda goes to collect his body.

Wanda Maximoff had heard of S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course she had - she had heard many, many things about them during her time with HYDRA. How evil they were, for standing in the way of greatness, of glory...

When she’d heard about the real S.H.I.E.L.D from Clint and Natasha, she was almost disappointed she never got the chance to work with them. Nick Fury and Phil Coulson sounded like better people than the monsters that had tortured her and Pietro and brainwashed them into doing their bidding.

She shuddered a little, striding into S.H.I.E.L.D’s headquarters. It was smaller than she would have anticipated an organization of its caliber being, but Wanda supposed, after all the damage that had been caused after the Blip and other issues leading up to it, she should be grateful the organization existed at all.

What she was worried about was why they were the ones that had Vision’s body. Yes, he had been listed on the Wall of Heroes, and she was very grateful for it, but why hadn’t he been buried? Why hadn’t he gotten what Tony Stark had?

It was up to her to give it to him.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m Wanda Maximoff. I’m here for Vision’s - I - I’m here for Vis - ” she’d tried to steal her nerves, tried to come to grips with what she was asking for, but the words just wouldn’t come out. “Please. I know he’s here.”

The woman behind the desk gave her a sad, understanding smile as she picked up the phone. “Director, Wanda Maximoff is here.” A pause. “Yes sir,” she put the phone back down and turned back to Wanda. “Director Mackenzie will be waiting for you on the third floor at the end of the hall. Just use those doors. Elevator is on your right.”

Wanda blinked in surprise. It would be that easy? Really? Normally with government agencies there was a host of red tape she needed to cut through. But maybe S.H.I.E.L.D understood she wasn’t here to fight, or even talk. She was just here to give Vision the goodbye he deserved.

“Thank you,” she managed to choke out, before rushing through the doors and up to the third floor as directed.

“Hello Miss Maximoff. I’m Director Alphonso Mackenzie. Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Wanda, and thank you. Can I see him?”

“Of course, right this way.”

He pushed the door behind him open, allowing Wanda to step through into what she could only describe as a lab. On a table, covered in a white sheet, was what she assumed was Vision. However, she was more concerned with the people that were standing nearby, looking at records and computer screens.

“Who are they?” she heard herself ask sharply.

“Fitz,” the one woman said, pointing at the man next to her.

“Simmons,” the man said, pointing at the woman who had first spoken.

The second woman rolled her eyes, holding out her hand. “I’m Daisy.”

Wanda shook it suspiciously. “What were you doing with Vision?”

“We… were hoping to give you some options, Wanda,” Mack began. “S.H.I.E.L.D has been able to create androids called Life-Model Decoys, or LMD’s. They’re essentially reconstructions of people. Originally, they were intended to be used as shields to protect our agents, but there were a couple of extenuating circumstances.”

Wanda furrowed her brow. “And that means…?”

“We created decoys to… essentially resurrect the dead just… not in their original bodies,” Fitz said. “Jemma, Daisy, and I were making a map of Vision, in case you decided you wanted one of him.”

Wanda felt her heart stop. She must have been dreaming, right?

“You would… bring him back?” she choked out over the lump in her throat. God, she did not want to hope, but it was so, so tempting. “What - what’s the catch?”

“There is no catch,” Simmons answered this time. “I swear on my cottage in Perthshire.”

“Why do you want to help me?” Wanda had done so many terrible things to so many people. Why would a government organization want to help her now?

“Because S.H.I.E.L.D believes in helping people, and that no one should be alone. But at the end of the day, this decision is up to you,” Daisy said. “As his next of kin, this decision is yours alone.”

She could have him back.

Wanda had not dared to hope for such a thing. But she could have him back. These people - a group that Clint and Natasha trusted - were giving her a second chance she wasn’t sure she deserved.

Still, she looked suspiciously at the scientists in front of her. “Would he be the same Vision I fell in love with?” she asked.

“We can replicate his personality and his appearance, yes. He would no longer be considered a synthezoid, however. He would be an android. We’ve also never created an LMD of a synthezoid, so we don’t know for sure if he’d still have his powers, but… otherwise, he would act and look just the same as you knew him,” Fitz confirmed. “He will have all of his memories of you as well.”

Wanda was shaking now, and her knees buckled. If Mack hadn’t been right next to her, she knew she would have fully collapsed to the black tiles below her.

“Do it,” she gasped, nodding once. “Please. Bring him back to me.”

“It will take a few days,” Mack said, helping to steady her. “You’re welcome to stay here if you don’t have a hotel or anything else.”

The dam broke, tears racing down her cheeks. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.” She rubbed her eyes. “Can I have a minute alone with him before you start?”

“Of course.”

The scientists and director stepped out of the room, the door clicking shut softly behind them.

She rubbed her eye against the sleeve of her sweater again, swallowing back a wave of nausea as she peeled the sheet back.

He looked as she remembered. That was good. Part of her had been worried that any government agency would dissect Vision, or worse - try to turn him on their side, but it seemed S.H.I.E.L.D wasn’t like the others.

She was so glad he’d ended up in their hands.

“I’m sorry there wasn’t any other way…” she whispered, hovering a shaking hand over where the Mind Stone should have been. “I can’t feel - ”

Wait.

Wanda paused, frozen over Vision’s form.

She felt something. It was faint, so very, very faint, but it was there.

It was him.

“Vision?” her voice cracked. “Vision, can you hear me?”

If he could, he didn’t respond, but that little flicker of feeling meant that… maybe this body could be saved.

“Director!” she called.

Mack was in the room in a second. “Wanda? What’s the matter?”

“I - I think Vision is still alive.” It was a sentence she didn’t think she would say after the battle with Thanos.

“Tremors! Fitzsimmons! We may be on a resuscitation job instead of an LMD job!”

The scientists rushed into the room, their eyes wide as they rushed to the computer and monitors.

“My God,” Simmons murmured, turning to Wanda. “Did you… happen to use your magic at all while you were alone?”

Wanda swallowed thickly. “I… yeah, a little bit. It’s something I used to do with him.”

“We registered a trace amount of energy when we brought him in, but we couldn’t place where it came from. Only that it was partially found in space. That same energy was picked up by our computer when you were in here. You were the one to originally - ”

“Yes, I was,” Wanda interrupted, not wanting the word spoken. “What does that mean?”

“It means Simmons and I can repair Vision’s body, and you can repair his mind,” Fitz concluded. “Some of the more… mechanical pieces of him began to deteriorate over the last five years. I can upgrade that, but we’ll need your energy to… bring him back online.”

“I - I can’t - that’s not how - ”

“Wanda,” Daisy said firmly, and Wanda turned to her with wide eyes. “I know how you feel. You don’t feel strong enough, or powerful enough, right?”

Wanda nodded a little.

“My sister thought the same. She has powers too - so do I. She was asked to do something she never thought possible with her gifts.”

“What’s that?”

“Bring me back to life.”

Wanda thought the breath was knocked out of her as she stared at the agent in front of her. “You - you died too? And - and you were brought back?”

Daisy nodded. “My sister and I are known as Inhumans. Kora has energy manipulation. She managed to manipulate my life energy after I was - literally - floating in space without any protection. You said you felt a flicker of Vision?”

“Yes.”

“Then you need to focus on that feeling and fight like hell to bring him back.”

Wanda took a deep breath, all of it overwhelming. She’d thought she would be coming in here to claim VIsion’s corpse and take him to be buried. Now here she was… potentially bringing him back. Small as it was, she knew she couldn’t turn it down, so she nodded.

“Okay. I’m ready.”

“Fitz and I will begin the repairs right away,” Simmons said, giving Wanda a kind smile. “You can wait in the hallway. We’ll let you know when we’re ready for your powers.”

“I’ll wait with her,” Daisy offered, leading her back out into the hallway.

“I’ll leave you all too it. Call me if there’s an emergency,” Mack said. “It was nice to meet you, Wanda.”

Wanda nodded, sitting on a bench with Daisy. Was this what it was like when someone was in a hospital waiting room, waiting for news about their loved one’s surgery? That must have been what this felt like.

There was a comfortable silence between her and Daisy, as Daisy quietly tapped on her phone and the muffled sounds of machinery whirred behind the lab doors.

“What was it like?” she choked out, wanting an escape from the sounds.

Daisy looked at her in surprise. “What?”

“Your… dying. What was it like?”

“Oh.” Daisy paused, slipping her phone into her pocket before she leaned back on the bench. “Well… we were fighting this guy named Malick. He had inhuman powers like my sister and I, and he managed to pin me against this… energy thing. We planned for this. For my to - to sacrifice myself. So I managed to grab him, look him right in the eye, and just let out the strongest attack I could. The last thing I remember was everything exploding around me… and then it went dark. Empty… until Kora brought me back.”

“Is that what Vision’s feeling now? Empty?” she whispered. “Has he felt this for five years?”

“It’s hard to say. But I know you shouldn’t dwell on it, Wanda. Just focus on him. On your future.”

“Westview…” she said softly, a sad smile on her face. “Vision bought a plot of land. We were supposed to build a house there. ‘To grow old in’.”

Daisy smiled. “I think that sounds sweet. Hold on to that. Focus on that when you’re doing your magic, or whatever it is.”

Wanda nodded, her hands shaking. “I can’t believe it’s real. Now that I actually have time to think - I was afraid I was going to be alone forever. The other Avengers went home to their families but I - I don’t have anyone. I thought I was coming in here to retrieve a corpse… and now I might be walking out of here with the man I love.”

“You will be. Fitz and Simmons are the smartest people I know. They will work until their fingers fall off to bring Vision back to you.”

“She’s right about that. They’re the ones who brought me back.” This voice was new, and Wanda jumped slightly as she turned to it.

“A.C! I didn’t know you were coming in today. How was Miami?” Daisy asked.

“Humid. Wasn’t so easy on my circuitry,” the man replied, glancing over at Wanda. “You must be Wanda Maximoff. I’m Phil Coulson.”

She blinked, rising to her feet. “Clint and Natasha told me you were dead.”

“I am. Well - my body is. I’m an LMD. Did they explain to you what your option was with Vision?” Coulson asked.

“They did but… I think we can bring him back, just as he is. Your associates are repairing his body now.”

Coulson’s eyes widened. “Oh - well, that’s surprising. But good. We weren’t sure, which is why S.H.I.E.L.D offered you an LMD of him.”

“It’s very appreciated, Agent Coulson.” Wanda picked at the hem of her sleeve. “Do they know you’re alive?”

“Who?”

“Clint, Thor or Bruce. They were part of the original Avengers, right? Do they know about your… new form?”

Coulson hesitated. “No. I was kept in the shadows, and then it’s been a little nuts the last five years.”

She pressed her lips together. “I think you should tell them. I mean, the rules are being bent all over the place now, right? They would be happy to know your consciousness is still alive. Clint especially. He - he told me he still has regrets over what happened with Loki.”

A look of guilt crossed Coulson’s face. “I see. I’ll contact them, then. Thank you for letting me know. Do you mind if I wait with you and Daisy?”

She shook her head. “Maybe you can tell me about what Clint and Natasha were like when they worked here.”

Coulson laughed. “Oh, I have a few stories about that.”

It was hours later before Simmons poked her head out of the lab. “You can come in now, Wanda.”

Vision was still purple and lifeless, but his skull looked good as new. She could see the reinforcements that had been made to the non-organic parts of his body too, and smiled in relief.

Now came the tricky part.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Fitz said, a tablet in his hand.

Wanda nodded, stepping up to VIsion. She placed her hand over his head where the stone should have been and focused on everything she loved about him. About the future they’d tried to build. About the future they would build, when he came back to her.

“I can feel you, Vision,” she whispered. “Please… come back.”

She watched as the energy in her hand suddenly turned yellow - the Mind Stone! - and poured into Vision’s skull. The color began to return to him, and finally, those blue eyes opened.

“Wanda?” he asked.

“Vision?”

He sat up, holding his head. “What happened? Where’s Thanos? Are we still in Wakanda?”

“Thanos is gone. We’re safe now. We’re at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters,” she explained.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. Yes, I recall stories about them.” He paused, data downloading in his mind. “Ah, yes, I see. And you took custody of my body because of my connection to the Avengers?”

“That’s correct. Agent Coulson here was one of the founding members of the Avengers initiative,” Daisy explained.

“And you died, but apparently returned as well. It is comforting to know I’m not the only person to return from death,” Vision said.

“Everything seems to be stable with you, Vision. How are you feeling?”

Vision hopped off the table, testing a few of his abilities quickly. “I feel brand new. Thank you Dr. Simmons.”

“Then I clear you for discharge,” Simmons smiled, holding out a card. “If you need anything, S.H.I.E.L.D will be at your call.”

Wanda leaned against Vision. “Thank you for being so kind… for doing all of this for me.”

“You’re welcome,” Daisy said. “Good luck in Westview.”

“I quite liked them,” Vision said as they got into her car. “Did you know Agent Coulson used to have hair?”

Wanda chuckled softly, switching the car on and pulling out onto the busy street. “It’s not hard to imagine. Human men go bald sometimes. I guess Coulson just got unlucky genes.”

“What do you suppose I would look like bald? As a human, I mean. I know I’m… quite bald in this form.” He patted his own head for emphasis.

“I don’t know. But I think we have all the time in the world to find out.”

Vision smiled. “Yes, we do. Westview awaits.”

They drove off into the sunset, and the promise of tomorrow.

#wandavision #agents of shield #wanda maximoff #vision #daisy johnson #leopold fitz #jemma simmons #alphonso mackenzie #phil coulson #fanfiction

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travllingbunny · 4 years ago

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The 100 7x11 Etherea

This is the episode we’ve been waiting for this whole season - and while I don’t think it’s the best episode of the season, it is certainly the most exciting one. It would be that just the fact that Bellamy is finally back on screen (and not just for a couple of minutes, but for an entire episode fully focused on him), and it was great to see him and have an episode fully devoted to him, and remember once again what an amazing actor Bob is and the presence and intensity he brings to the show. But it also turned out to be the first episode of season 7 that is a genuine game changer and that shocked the viewers with a twist that wasn’t entirely predictable.

Even though the fandom had been speculating on the so-called brainwashed Bellamy or “void Bellamy” or generally Bellamy that is for some reason the (temporary) enemy of Clarke, Octavia and the rest of the protagonists, and hoping for that storyline, with a Mockingjay-like possibilities for romantic angst between him and Clarke (especially after a photo of Bellamy in the white robe leaked early in the year, months before the season even started to air), the way it happened seems to have upset many of the fans )to quote a podcaster, “I was hoping for a brainwashed Bellamy, but not like this”). Probably because the show has Bellamy retain agency in his transformation and that it is indoctrination into a cult be more like real life and partially rooted in Bellamy’s own emotional issues, beliefs and needs, rather than taking the easier route of having him be Sci-Fi brainwashed, Winter Soldier style.

That said, I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this episode and how good I think it is. The first half of the episode, Bellamy was very much himself, and it was focused on survival and trying to get off the planet, and the dynamic between him and Conductor Doucette - throughout the episode - seems to play into the familiar trope of two enemies, or people of opposing views, who have to spend time together, gets to argue, survive together, and eventually bond as fellow humans. This story would not be particularly interesting - not only have we seen it many times, but it feels redundant for Bellamy, who has learned to see the POV of his enemies, bond with them and see the common humanity in them, many seasons ago. It also would not have been interesting if Bellamy managed to change Doucette’s beliefs - which the audience already thinks are rubbish - as this wouldn’t tell us anything new about Bellamy and would only give development to Doucette.

But instead, what was really happening throughout this episode, under the guise of bonding with the enemy, was Bellamy’s spiritual journey - aka his indoctrination into Cadogan’s cult. The crucial part of it happens not just to his exhaustion and desperation in tough circumstances, or his companion offering him faith as a solution, but through something Bellamy actually sees in the cave, and his own visions a little later. This is where the episode becomes a lot more interesting - and also a lot more frustrating. I don’t think I’ll be sure how I feel about this until I see the rest of the season, and learn how some things from this episode are explained or followed up on. In particular, the explanation (or lack of it?) for Bellamy’s visions in this episode will pretty much determine what course the show is taking in its final season and what it is trying to be.

Whatever the explanation, the end result - which we see after Bellamy returns to Bardo - is disturbing and painful to watch. It is something we have never seen before - Bellamy himself trying to enforce a total abnegation of everything Bellamy Blake is. Which includes willingly repressing his feelings for his loved ones to the point of betraying them (and results in the most painful Bellarke reunion ever, and one of the most painful reunions of the Blake siblings). I don’t know if I’m fully buying such a huge transformation - which is one of my problems with the episode. But this is certainly quality angst, and means that the season has become much more exciting to watch.

Is it weird that such a big twist happens in episode 11, out of 16 episodes, after 10 episodes that have been mostly setup for the big plot? Yes, just like it is weird that Bellamy has been MIA before this. BTS reasons obviously affected this season a lot - if it hadn’t been for them, I think we’d have a similar storyline, but this would have happened much earlier in the season. Are 5 episodes enough to resolve this in a satisfactory way? Well, it’s certainly enough to resolve it - this is a show that has characters go from hate to love over the course of 5 episodes, has characters hook up/fall for each other after knowing each other for 2-3 episodes, the show that showed Hope’s entire 10-year relationship with her father figure in a 7 minute scene, and the show that just had this massive character transformation happen over one episode. Will it feel satisfactory and convincing - it could, if it’s well-written and if the show doesn’t waste too much time on the Sanctum plot and fully focuses on its two main characters now that one of them is finally back.

Starting from the beginning - this time, its Bob saying “Previously on”, in line with this season having different cast members saying those opening words in different episodes (Eliza in 7x01, Marie in 7x02, Luisa in 7x03, there was no previously on in 7x04, Marie in 7x05, Lindsey in 7x06, Richard in 7x07, no previously on in 7x08, Eliza in 7x09 and 7x10 - it’s a bit surprising that Eliza said it in episode 9 even though she wasn’t in it at all, but otherwise those fit characters that were strongly featured in the episode in question).

We also get yet another version of the opening titles - which start and finish with a shot of the Anomaly. Earth again makes a cameo near the end, just as it did in 7x10, though it’s in the shadow now so can’t be seen as clearly.

While 90% of the episode takes place on Etherea, it opens and ends on Bardo. The opening scene is the only one not featuring Bellamy - apart from a replayed memory. We learn that the MCap machine was damaged by Echo, and is only now operational again. Finally, a good explanation why the Disciples did not put Echo, Diyoza or Octavia - again - in MCap after they agreed to cooperate. Levitt is using it on one of the Disciples who were in the Stone Room during the explosion. I guess he was still recovering a week after, and now they are presumably trying to help him, since - as the other Conductor tells Levitt - he is suffering from PTSD. Hey, isn’t that the first time anyone has mentioned that word on the show? At least the Disciples have kept the knowledge about mental health issues, even if their ways of dealing with it are questionable at best. We learn that no one is being punished, not even for killing Anders, as the other conductor says. (Not even? Does she think that’s worse than attempted genocide? Hope didn’t even back down from it as Echo eventually did, and the two Disciples Anders called witnessed it. The Conductor may think that the consequence is more important than intent... But even so, she clearly thinks Anders’ life was more important than those of two other Disciples, who were murdered by Echo as a part of her torturing Levitt. I guess that “For all mankind” thing doesn’t mean you consider all of the people, or even all of the Disciples, equal...)

Levitt finds out what 99% of the audience was sure of anyway and goes “He’s alive!” Surprise, surprise. But Levitt, shouldn’t you say “They are alive?”? Knowing Levitt’s attachment to Octavia, he is talking about Bellamy, not about one of his colleagues, Conductor Doucette, who was also presumed dead. (Doucette, not Douchette - even though the latter would make for a good joke.)

Let’s think about why this scene exists (apart from being used as a sneak peek). Obviously it was full of exposition, but why was it important for Levitt to find out that Bellamy is alive at the same time as we learn about it? We could have just seen Bellamy falling through the Bridge to the planet of Etherea. I suppose the purpose is dual: 1) to learn that the Disciples indeed did not know Bellamy was alive and on Etherea, 2) to learn that Cadogan knew Bellamy was alive an on Etherea, at least a few hours to a day before his return, which may be important for the events of this episode.

One of the questions the fandom has been debating is, did Anders intentionally send Bellamy to Etherea to be indoctrinated? Since 7x05, I have believed that Bellamy was on Etherea, and my initial reading of the scene was that Anders made the decision to send him there - and that this was why Doucette started to beg him: “Please, sir, no”, as he wasn’t happy to be stranded there. Then I started second-guessing it, because it became increasingly obvious that Anders was dumb as a brick and unable to come up with any smart plans how to brainwash people (as we saw with HEDO - he just threatened them into compliance instead of trying to really change their minds). Now I think that sending people to Etherea may be a standard practice that Disciples do on very special occasions when they want to send someone on a spiritual journey/pilgrimage/true brainwashing that they can’t come back until they make a ‘leap of faith” (just like they use Skyring as a standard prison). Maybe this is not even something that most Disciples know, but info only reserved for Level 12s or even Level 13s. But the grenade attack was real and made Anders believe Bellamy was dead and the plan was off - as there is no reason to believe that anything before Bellamy’s last day in the cave was manipulated from Bardo.

However, that last day - with Bellamy’s visions - could have been, and it happened around the same time Cadogan would have found out from Levitt that Bellamy was alive and on Etherea. There seems to be no time differential (or too small a differential to matter) between Etherea and Bardo - just like there seems to be none between Earth and Sanctum, since Bellamy and Doucette retained their memories going from Bardo to Etherea and back, both times without a protective helmet.

Etherea, the planet

The promo for this episode made the planet look much worse and less survivable than it really seems to be. Apart from the grey filter* that the show is using to make it look worse and kind of drab and gloomy, it seems to be a perfectly nice planet, with vegetation and an OK climate - as long as you are not trying to get off the planet through the Anomaly and climbing the extremely high mountain to reach the Anomaly Stone. It’s funny that, aside from Nakara, every other planet connected by the Anomaly has better living conditions than Bardo. The Disciples obviously use Bardo just because of the facilities they’ve found there. But Skyring is a really lovely planet - its only problem is the time differential from the other habitable planets, but that would not be a problem if a big group of people just decided to live there and start a community. Sanctum is lovely, too - well, except for red sun toxin and killer insects and meat-eating trees. (Why have the Disciples mostly ignored it? Is it because of those things, or maybe they didn’t want to mix with the Primes and other Sanctumites? Or they just didn’t see a use for it?) And Etherea is another problem where people could decide to live, if they gave up going to other planets.

*The show uses different filters to make the woods around Vancouver look like different planets:

Sanctum - bright colors, lots of red during day, purple at night

Skyring - blue filter (nice planet)

Nakara - blue filter (frozen planet)

Etherea - grey filter

Earth - normal, except in S5 everywhere outside Eden - greyish yellow filter for a desolated post-Praimfaya Earth

But of course, Bellamy is definitely not interested in staying there and only wants to find a way off this planet, and Doucette, unlike Orlando, is neither serving a sentence he wants to see to the end nor is expecting the Disciples to send a team to retrieve him. This is another one of the “just two three four people on the planet” episodes, but this stay is just a few months rather than years, and spent in much harsher and most exhausting conditions during most of that time - because Bellamy never stops trying to get off the planet. There are parallels and strong contrasts to every one of those other situations:

Eden - The first few months of Clarke’s experience surviving on the desolated Earth parallel Bellamy’s months on the mountain - surviving in tough conditions (extreme heat in Clarke’s case vs extreme cold in Bellamy’s), physically and mentally exhausted to the point of breaking. There are even visually parallel shots of both of them walking with a stick or eating bugs. But the big differences are: after trying and failing to get in the bunker and after the Temple collapsed, Clarke had no way of getting off the planet or out of her current situation and reuniting with any of her loved ones. She could only survive and wait. She was all alone and only talking to Bellamy, who wasn’t there, to keep herself sane. Bellamy, OTOH, was actively trying to get off the planet and reach his loved ones all that time, and he had a companion - another adult with strong beliefs, who he talked to and who did his best to indoctrinate him. After those first few months, Clarke found Eden and met Madi, and the rest of her (mostly off-screen) life on Earth during the next 6 years was much more similar to Octavia’s life with Diyoza and Hope on Skyring.

The Garden - Unlike Bellamy, Octavia lived in a beautiful place and with someone who was already her friend and a child she came to look after, finding family she loved (rather than faith and abstract “love for all mankind”). Like Bellamy, Octavia kept trying to get off the planet and reach her sibling and her friends, which was equally difficult for a different reason, as the Anomaly entrance was deep under water (unlike Bellamy, she wouldn’t have actually able to leave the planet as she didn’t have a Conductor or codes for the Stone - but she didn’t know she needed them) - for 6 years, before she eventually gave up and settled for her peaceful life for the next 4 years and sending Bellamy a letter.

Hesperides - Like Bellamy, Echo, Gabriel and Hope wanted to get off the planet and reach their friends/family, but unlike Bellamy, they couldn’t get the codes and had to wait for 5 years, and, unlike him, they lived in lovely place. Like Bellamy, they had a devout Disciple as a companion, but there were three of them, which made it more difficult for him to indoctrinate them, no matter how much he wanted to make them Disciples, and they were the ones trying to manipulate him. They developed a friendship with him, as Bellamy did with Doucette, but while Bellamy saved Doucette when he didn’t have to anymore, Echo betrayed him and left him as expendable, and the other two eventually went along with it.

But Etherea is not just another planet for the Disciples - it is notable for what can be found in a cave on the way to the top of the mountain, which Cadogan apparently looked for and found, as a part of his pilgrimage - his own “40 days in a desert” - because, of course, he sees himself as a messiah (and, as we saw in 7x09, this is an important thing in the Bardo religion and something children are taught about in school).

Bellamy immediately learns all about Cadogan’s teachings - everything the rest of the characters took several episodes to learn about - by reading his book (”pocket propaganda from another false god”) and immediately pokes holes in it. He makes all the good points and lists most of the reasons why the Disciple faith makes no sense, including the fact that it makes no sense to be fighting for peace and end of violence by waging another war. Everything he says in the first half of the episode are things I would completely agree with. Which makes it all the more frustrating when he starts ignoring his own reasonable arguments by the end of this episode. One might say that the Disciple propaganda attacks both his heart - using his desire to find peace, an end to all the struggle and pain, and eventually, his love and memory of his mother, to ignore what his head is telling him - but they also eventually attack his head, by presenting what seems like actual physical evidence, and the end result is to ignore not just the rational objections he had, but also try to suppress his love for the most important individual people in his life.

He lists the people he loves - “Octavia, Echo, Clarke” - which is the first time Bellamy himself has used the word love for the latter two (and in fact, for anyone other than Octavia). BTW, notice that no one in the show has ever used the word “girlfriend/boyfriend” except Diyoza (when this was what she assumed Clarke was to Bellamy)? Maybe these words have fallen out of use in the post-apocalypse societies. The main characters usually talk about their “friends” or “family” (the latter not always being biological). Doucette later talks of "your family, your friends” and “your obsession with your sister and your friends” - where Echo and Clarke are both lumped into this category. Echo is not singled out as “your girlfriend” or in any other way.

Here’s the thing about Bellamy’s and Doucette’s dynamic: if this story wasn’t really about indoctrinating Bellamy, there really wouldn’t be anything there we didn’t know about Bellamy before. Of course he wouldn’t kill this random Disciple guy if he didn’t have to - and, in spite of what he tells Doucette at the start, it’s not just because he needed him to survive. Bellamy learning to see the humanity of his enemies and working with them and bonding with them is something we have seen many times: at first with Clarke, then with Lincoln, Indra, the Grounders, Kane, Echo. All the way back in season 2, he valued human lives, even from the enemy side: he opposed Murphy’s idea of killing the captive Grounder thief (while Finn summarily killed him), he angrily said he’d kill everyone in Mount Weather but then tried his best for that not to happen, after seeing the children there; even during his Pike-supporting days, he tried to persuade Pike and the others to spare the wounded Grounder warriors, in season 4 he talked Riley down from trying to assassinate Roan, and in season 5, he refused to kill the cryo frozen Eligius prisoners, and later convinced Madi to spare the Eligius convicts who were their PoW. And while Bellamy has been motivated, most of all, by personal love (particularly for his sister and Clarke), we’ve seen him save many people, including strangers or near strangers. That speech Doucette gave him about “loving all mankind” is something season 1 Bellamy needed to hear, the one who was focused just on Octavia and then just on her and the Delinquents, but Bellamy has had a massive character development since. Bellamy knows more about loving all mankind than Doucette or any of the Disciples do. Doucette says he “loves all mankind” including a total stranger - well, dude, didn’t you try to kill Bellamy at first? And the rest of what we’ve seen from Disciples is much worse. They talked the talk, but don’t walk the walk, unless they think kidnapping and torturing people and trying to break their spirit is “love”, And Anders definitely showed that he did not “love all the mankind” when he ordered a hit on Hope, or when he gave that speech in 7x10 about what disgusting “wild beats” all these non-Disciples were.

But unlike Anders, Doucette can talk in a convincing way and make decent arguments in favor of his faith to non-believers, rather than just preaching to the converted - or at least, he can appear to give decent arguments. He’s taking a page from The 100 fandom with the argument that Bellamy is so selfish and egotistical for... loving his sister and his friends and constantly fighting and sacrificing himself for them. (The 100 fandom loves making that same argument about Clarke.) Quite a skill, to make such BS argument sound convincing. He basically gives Bellamy a version of the “Love is weakness” advice - in this case, that “love is selfish” and leads to destruction and pain. And when Bellamy asks the rhetorical question, if that means that you shouldn’t love anyone - Doucette turns it around and talks of love for all mankind. But that “love” he speaks of is abstract and fake - it is impossible to love everyone. You cannot love total strangers, or people you simply don’t like - certainly not the same as you love your lover or friend or family member. You can, however, be compassionate, and value human lives,.Which is, in fact, something the Disciples don’t do, as we’ve seen on Bardo (but Bellamy has not seen it yet) - they just value lives as more soldiers for the cause. Their “humanity” is abstract - they are ready to sacrifice individuals for it (everyone except the Shepherd). Bellamy, on the other hand, has always been about valuing individual lives and saving them - be it Mel on season 2, or the slaves in season - and he managed to do it while also loving his sister and his friends. The Disciples and Doucette’s arguments present a false dichotomy. But, unfortunately, Bellamy still has deep guilt and self-loathing that he never fully resolved (even in season 6, he still talked about his many sins in 6x04), and he’s tired by always having to fight another war for survival, just to followed by another. (Which is similar to Clarke’s misgivings in 7x03: “I’m afraid that fighting is not what we do, it’s what we are” and Raven’s and Clarke’s conversation about guilt over having killed so many people.) The only time he didn’t have to always worry and/or fight were the years on the Ring, but he was still grieving Clarke and missing Octavia and motivated by going back down to reunite with her He knows what he’s capable of doing out of love - and he also has unresolved issues with the women he loves. In season 4, he lamented how pathetic he was coming back to his sister when she kept treating him badly, and in the 7x07 Ring flashback, he thought his love for his sister was his “weakness”. He’s certainly been hurt by her, finally rejected her and then later got to reunite with her, get an apology and forgive and make up with her. He and Clarke have also certainly hurt each other and forgiven each other, and that relationship is still unresolved. Bellamy himself admitted to Jo!Clarke in 6x09 that he was exhausted by their ups and downs and lack of resolution. And Echo... well, he should know exactly where he stands with her, but he didn’t seem happy about their relationship and seemed to want her to be Clarke someone else.

I can see why Bellamy started to envy Doucette his emotional calm that his faith and worldview seemed to bring him.

We got another Pike mention in this ep (and again, it was a reference to his positive role - as a teacher of Earth skills). The last time Bellamy made it was in 6x07 when he found out Clarke was alive. Pike was also a father figure to Bellamy - just like Kane, and now Cadogan. Bellamy has been called both a King and a Knight. Some of his biggest mistakes were when he chose to trust in a leader/father figure (the last time, it was Pike - who was, however, very different from Cadogan and his views on the opposite side the spectrum from Bill’s), and ALIE!Raven thought that one of the ways she could try to taunt him and erode his confidence was to call him a follower rather than a leader. Only she tried to convince him that he was in subjugated position to Clarke - which IMO was never true. They have always had an equal relationship (except when external circumstances made it otherwise - see, Kane and the adults taking the power away from Bellamy, while Clarke was able to take it back from Abby mostly because she was backed up by the Grounder Commander), and Clarke was the one who always tried to boost Bellamy’s confidence in his abilities as a leader. He was definitely a leader of his people in season 5 and season 6, and he works best as co-leader with Clarke (and vice versa). But even when Bellamy supported Clarke, he was questioning his decisions, even though he was rarely able to change Pike’s mind - he wasn’t blindly obeying and accepting everything, as he would have to with the Disciples.

Another factor in Bellamy’s transformation is of course the fact that he spent months in the cave - to the point of physical and mental exhaustion. Every time he and Doucette would climb the mountain, the peak where the Stone was would turn out to be even higher. Bellamy himself used two of the Greek myths to describe the task - Sisyphus and Icarus. A pointless task that results in having to do everything all over again (just like what he said about having to always fight another war), and a dangerous task likely to destroy you.

Bellamy was still insisting on reason over faith - “I believe in what I can prove” - but then he got to see the beings of light, as “proof”..

And here we come to the more interesting part of this ep and something that the show may or may not explain. I’m pretty skeptical about Cadogan’s views of what these beings are. How do we know that they have really “transcended” and become eternal or whatever, living on some kind of higher plane? No one has communicated with them, or have they? They are aliens, from our POV. Maybe that’s their natural state? Maybe they’re dead and this is just what remains of them? Maybe they died in a similar catastrophe as the Bardoans but one that was more about fire than ice, as Selina hypothesized in her review)? Maybe they are in agony? Sure, they look beautiful to human eyes, and fit the human culture’s idea of what spirituality and transcendence is like - but you can’t know that for sure. The frozen crystal giants on Bardo also look beautiful, after all, and that entire species died horribly

And then the second “otherworldly” thing happens after Bellamy finally agreed to prey - and he has a vision, involving Cadogan as his spiritual guide, leading him from a place full of weapons - swords and guns - to the place where he sees his dead mother, Aurora. It’s a beautiful and emotional scene, and I can’t imagine all the things Bellamy is feeling as she touches his face - including, probably, more unresolved guilt - over getting his mother executed (because he loved his sister and tried to make her happy). Aurora tells him Go to the light, Bellamy” and he looks at the figures of light - but we don’t learn what, if anything, he saw there .

I hope we learn that Bellamy saw something important - maybe something connected to the Judgment Day Becca talked about - that would explain the extent of his conversion, although it seems that it is mostly supposed to be a consequence of the fact that the storm stopped at the moment when he chose to prey.

The final step in his ‘spiritual journey’ is after that, when he barely managed to reach the top. After repeating the mantra “I am not afraid” (something else from the Blakes’ childhood - the same line Octavia was repeating on Bardo to resist the Conductors), he admits to himself “I am afraid”. In retrospect, a sign that he was broken, and started feeling that his past and his family were not enough to give him strength and faith. The jump from the top was described as a “leap of faith” by Doucette - which is kind of ridiculous, since it had nothing to do with faith, just with the fact that Cadogan was there and knew how the Anomaly worked, and the fact he was able to climb the mountain and leave is proof that the Anomaly worked properly.

(I wonder why the heck the Anomaly works so differently on different planets - in some cases you can enter the Anomaly right next to the Stone when you’re leaving the planet, and in others, you have to go back to the original entrance that’s somewhere else.)

Now, the visions may be explained in several different ways:

hallucinations - earlier, Bellamy found a family photo and recognized Cadogan, and he would know how Conductors and high ranking Disciples dress, he’s seen the white robe on Anders and Doucette

everything in the cave is real, and Cadogan has some sort of a telepathic connection to the cave (the true believer’s interpretation)

the brain implant/hive mind theory (by Selina again - I don’t believe in this one as there has been no evidence of it so far)

projections/hologram - see Jean’s theory that Cadogan used the hologram technology to project images of himself and Aurora (whose image is familiar to the Disciples from Octavia’s memories)

a combination of some of the above - the beings of light may be real, and Cadogan may have stumbled onto something but has again misinterpreted what it was all about; Bellamy’s vision of Cadogan was a hallucination or projection, but he also did see something real when his mother (again, possible hallucination or unexplained spiritual phenomenon) told him to look into the light.

It’s possible that the show will never fully explain what really happened here, just as Murphy’s vision of hell has never been explained.

The reunion

Up until this point, the episode doesn’t seem to show a seriously disturbing turn in Bellamy: we saw that he was starting to take the Disciples’ faith seriously and even to believe in it, and the first thing he does when turning up in the Stone Room on Bardo is look happy and relieved he made it, and hug an equally happy Doucette. So, he made a friend among the Disciples and will be the one telling Clarke and the rest: “We should take this seriously, they have a point, here is what I saw on Etherea...” - right? That would make perfect sense while not fundamentally changing who Bellamy is.

But no! Bellamy falls to his knees and calls Cadogan “My Shepherd” - which was one of the most painful scenes for me to see in all of the show, even more so than the later scene where he snitches on Clarke. There’s been a lot this season about “kings” forcing subjects to kneel - but instead of the “kneel or die” approach that Anders more or less used (while Sheidheda is using it in the most literal way possible), this is out of genuine belief. I don’t know if I’m really buying this massive transformation that we see here and in the next scene. It’s just a bit too much. Maybe information about what it was that Belalmy saw when he went ‘into the light’ would help explain it better.

Cadogan is happy to use Bellamy to convince Clarke to cooperate, and informs him: “Your friends are here, they have gotten themselves in some trouble”. Maybe this adds up to the reason why Bellamy is uncomfortable when he sees them a bit later, because they’ve been bad - but only some of them were (Echo with her murders, torture and genocide attempt, the others - not really, except Hope, someone he doesn’t even know yet). But when he comes to see them, he looks broken, exhausted and numb after all his experiences. And probably wary of giving in to the “selfish love”. (His friendship with Doucette is presumably in line with his new faith, but he seems to think his friendship with Clarke is not? Is that his relationship with Clarke actually involves love, real love for an individual?) After finally reuniting with the people he had been trying to reach all that time on Etherea, he doesn’t even look happy to see them. To quote Bellamy from earlier in the episode,Sometimes, Bellamy Blake, irony is funny. This is not one of these times.

Meanwhile, his friends are in Cadogan’s living quarters in house arrest. Conveniently, it’s just Clarke, Echo and Octavia there - plus Gabriel, but the focus is on Bellamy’s reunions with the three women he named as the people he loved earlier in the episode. Raven is not there, neither are Miller, Jordan, Niylah or Hope. (The last time Bellamy saw Jordan, Jordan was the brainwashed one. Hey, what happened to that storyline? Did it end up as a casualty of the rewrites?)

They’re discussing what to do, and Clarke has decided to basically sacrifice her life so the others could escape. We know that Clarke is a very selfless person, but the way she’s been increasingly casually deciding to sacrifice herself feels a bit disturbing - as if she’s stopped caring about her own life or hoping for happiness. At this point, her big character development would be to choose happiness and try to have what she wants. Even her “selfish” actions up to this point were mostly about trying to protect others. We haven’t even seen her show much emotion this season - as if she was on autopilot - except for her early grieving Abby earlier in the season, and moments when she’s silently grieving Bellamy,

Cadogan is there to offer the carrot rather than the stick, and being a drama queen, doesn’t Clarke and the others that Bellamy is there, but lets him in. They are massively surprised but don’t notice something’s off, or rather, they seem to assume he is just physically exhausted and in pain rather than mentally/emotionally off, as he silently looks at Clarke and Octavia and then Echo. Camera shows close-ups of the reactions of the people who love him: Clarke’s, Echo’s and Octavia’s reactions before going back to Clarke. (Probably because she’s the main character, in case people have forgotten, and her relationship with Bellamy is at center of the show), Octavia is happy and proud tries to hug her brother, but the Disciples pull out weapons. Clarke ignores the weapons, counting on her status/leverage, and hugs him.

She looks lovingly at him, with something we haven’t seen from her in a long time - happiness, that’s definitely not “best friend that I’m not attracted to” but “best friend I have naughty thoughts about”. (Only love can make you hug someone who must be smelling really badly at this point, considering Bellamy hasn’t washed or changed his clothes in over 3 months!)

This hug is different from any other Bellarke hug ever, since Bellamy is so numb, even when he hugs her back, but she is too happy to see him back to notice. And then when she takes the chance to also get him up to speed and tell him about the Flame - he gets an incredibly sad look on his face. He is not unemotional now - but he has decided he must ignore and suppress those feelings, betray her trust and tell Cadogan the truth, because his faith and the so-called “love for all mankind” comes first.

Everyone is shocked when he calls Cadogan “My Shepherd” and then beyond shocked when he betrays them - and camera again shows Echo’s, Octavia’s and Clarke’s reactions, going back to Cadogan, and then the episode ends on a close-up of Clarke’s shocked face. Because, you know, she’s still the main character. And finally, now we can hopefully have a S7 storyline that properly focuses on the show’s protagonist and utilizes Eliza’s talent allowing her to show a range of emotions. When Clarke believed Bellamy was dead, he was someone she could hold in her memory and try to honor it by saving his sister and girlfriend - but this is a whole new way of losing him, right after thinking she got him back, and means real emotional turmoil.

Bellamy has become a true believer and decided to stop being himself. And the people who love him will now have to deal with his loss - in another way - all over again, and try to save him. I’m torn because this storyline offers huge opportunities for a “power of love” storyline right out of a fanfic, but I’m uncomfortable with the idea that it may come at the expense of having Bellamy be manipulated and subjugated to a white megalomaniac villain in the last season. But I hope and expect we will see genuine character development and re-affirmation of who Bellamy Blake is. Now, there are a lot of things Bellamy doesn’t know yet and that have contributed to him drinking Cadogan’s Kool-Aid (he hasn’t seen Cadogan’s dealings with his family or Second Dawn, or what he did to Becca, or Anders’ actions on Bardo, or the way the Disciples mistreat their own people, and he doesn’t know about Cadogan’s mistranslation of the Bardoan text), but I don’t think the resolution of this storyline will be about Cadogan or what Bellamy knows about his religion. I think it will be Bellamy himself and his relationships. Clarke and Octavia had big character arcs in season 5-6 where they had to deal with who they are, who they’ve become and what they want to be negating everything he is. He needs to finally really deal with his self-loathing and guilt and he needs to gain back trust in himself, the Bellamy Blake that others loved and trusted and relied on. He needs to feel loved and decide that love is strength and a positive rather than just ‘selfish’ force. (And who can show him that? Hint: not his girlfriend Echo, whose love he would definitely see as confirmation that love is selfish and destructive, as it makes a person do things like murder, torture and attempted genocide out of revenge. Another hint: probably the same person who gave him confidence and made him believe in himself and grow as a person, multiple times, all the way back in season 1 and again in season 3 and season 4, telling him he was a person that other follow because of his big heart and the way he can inspire people. And third hint - the same person Bellamy was saving - her physical self - in season 6, will be the one who’ll have to save him, mentally, save who he is., in season 7.)

Rating: 8/10 (could go higher or lower depending on how the cave visions are explained and what the outcome of this plot is)

#the 100 #etherea #the 100 7x11 #bellamy blake #clarke griffin #bill cadogan #octavia blake #the disciples #the anomaly #bardo

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bexterbex · 5 years ago

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A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 2

A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with some canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–

He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?

Originally posted on my Ao3 Crystallclover. If you missed Chapter 1, Click Here

Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Chapter 2: An Arrival to be Remembered

UFO has been sited entering the Earth’s atmosphere

Unknown armed and masked being exit ship heading towards the White House, is the President in danger?

Aliens spotted in D.C.

You woke up to the sound of your alarm, and got out of bed. You have been in the habit lately to start your day without checking your phone first. Mostly to avoid early morning emails from your boss before you have even had coffee.

You head to the bathroom relieve yourself, wash your face, and brush your hair. Exiting the bathroom you head to the kitchen and make yourself some breakfast and coffee. You enjoy the sunrise through the large windows in your apartment. Finishing eating you immediately wash your few dishes and get ready for work. You pick out your work ‘uniform’ of a black blouse and black trousers. You head to the bathroom to brush your teeth, put on a little makeup and get changed.

Heading back to the kitchen you prepare a to-go cup of coffee and pull out your lunch for work. Finally, you check your phone.

First, you see an email from your boss reminding you for the 10th time about the morning meeting that you have every Thursday. It isn’t like you to forget something you do every single week for the past year. Never once have you been late, in fact, he was always the one to forget. You wonder if these emails were meant more for him and less for you. But he was always the micromanager.

Next, you check your texts. Your usual morning photo from one of your siblings about one of your nieces/nephews. Another one from Hayden asking if you were still on for tomorrow night’s weekly bar trip. You answered ‘Yes 😀 .’ Another from Carter asking what you think of the news headlines this morning. Odd, although this isn’t the first time you two had discussed something like this it was odd to receive a text like this from them first thing in the morning.

You open Twitter to see #alieninvasiondc trending. You scroll through the news tag. Every major news site around the world is talking about the shuttlecraft that landed on the White House lawn last night, and the armed and armored soldiers that departed from the craft. All of the soldiers wore white armor, except one in silver. There was one who was in all black and a red-haired human-looking man among the group. Not much is known other than they haven’t been seen leaving the White House.

You text Carter back ‘Just looked now, either this is a hoax or the world as we know it is coming to an end. I’ll see you at work.’

You packed your work bag, grabbed your car keys and set off to work. You park in the ramp attached to your building and walk to the elevator. You wave at the security attendant to the opposing skywalk like you do every morning. You arrive at your floor and buzz-in. You say hi to Nancy in reception and head to your desk.

Strangely all of the televisions in the office were muted and tuned into CBC News, normally the one in the break room and the ones in reception were on, the others only really got used during Hockey Games or events like the Olympics. Your boss was in the walkway with his attention turned to his phone.

You set down your things at your desk and boot up your work computer while setting up your laptop on its stand. You did your usual check through work emails until the 9:00 AM weekly meeting. Your boss hasn’t moved from his position in the walkway.

8:55 AM hits and you grab what you need and head to the conference room. The tv was on in here as well. The others in the Marketing department filled in after you. Your boss, Scott, had yet to move from his place in the walkway. 9:00 AM hits and you continue small talk with your co-workers, most of the conversation is directed at the events in D.C.

9:05 AM your co-worker Ally sends a Slack message to your boss. He looks up from his phone to the clock on the wall and runs into his office. After a few minutes, he rushes out and into the conference room.

“Sorry, I am late everyone the Wife is just paranoid over this Alien Invasion thing. I can’t get her to stop texting me,” he chuckles.

Ironically this isn’t the first time he has been ‘late’ to a meeting after being on the phone with his wife an hour after work already started.

Suddenly you all get an Emergency Alert System notification on all of your phones.

‘International Emergency: Please tune in to your local news broadcasting station to receive an Emergency Report.’

Scott asks, “where is the damn remote?”

Ally hands it to him, he unmutes the tv.

The headline reads: ‘President of the United States has an Important International Government Update’

Live from Washington D.C.

On the screen, it shows the President of the United States, with the silver soldier, one in all black and the red-haired man from the video of the invasion last night.

“I have an important announcement. Earth has been contacted by people from space who call themselves the First Order. The First Order has informed me that they would like to peacefully work with Earth. As long as we fully cooperate as an entire planet no harm will come to any of us. Currently, our galaxy is at war, and the First Order seeks our help, in return of offering Earth protection from a group of people called the New Republic.

They have explained to me and the U.N. as a whole that the New Republic is not to be trusted along with their mercenary army called the Resistance. It is through my decision and the decision of the U.N. that we will cooperate and join forces with the First Order to be under their protection.

All citizens of Earth in the next 7 days must register with the First Order. You will be given a citizen number, some citizens may be reassigned to work directly with the First Order. All military personal will be reassigned to be under the First Order. You should not worry as most citizens will be unaffected, life will go on as normal. As long as citizens follow these orders and any orders to come, we shall be safe,” said the President. The President moved out of the way for the man in all black and with a black mask to move to the podium.

“I am the Supreme Leader of the First Order. I promise no harm will come to those who cooperate with us. We seek to peacefully transition your planet, as you know it Earth, to a primary First Order Planet. We value honesty and loyalty, along with hard work. We strive to rebuild the Empire and to maintain order in the galaxy. That is all,” The man's voice was distorted through the mask he was wear, it sounded mechanical or digital but it had a deep sound.

The broadcast cut back to the news anchor. “Currently all citizens of earth are to report to their a local city government building or town hall within the next 7 days for First Order registration and possible reassignment. All citizens must remain calm and do as the government has directed. Any questions or concerns will be answered by local government officials and First Order personnel. All foreign citizens to Canada will follow the same protocol as citizens. All citizens are asked to bring various forms of identification, such as a Passport, driver's license, birth certificate, social insurance number card, any immunization forms, military I.D. and more. You can find a full list of required documents at the CBC website or at canada.ca. As a reminder, all citizens are urged to stay calm and to follow all orders regarding and following First Order registration. Citizens are also advised to stay tuned to local news sources for any updates.”

The conference room sat stunned at the announcement.

“Well were f*****,” said Scott. “We are all surely f*****. Who are these people to think they can just take over like that? Do they think we are just going to sit by and let them brainwash us? Let them take everything from us?”

“I don’t think we have a choice, you heard the U.S. President, the U.N. is in agreement. This is for our own safety. If you are going to go against them and get yourself killed keep us out of it,” said Daniel one of your marketing co-workers.

“I’ll talk to Henry, and see if we can all take the week off, who knows this may be the last time we even get to see our families,” and with that statement, Scott left the conference room.

You sat there not really moving, processing what you just witnessed on the tv and the confrontation between Scott and Daniel. So did the rest of your co-workers. You could tell they were all in shock, the world as you knew it was about to change, the future had shifted.

All of your phones went off again. This time it was an email from Jonathan the CEO.

‘All employees will take today, tomorrow and next week off, in order to give proper attention to the government mandate. Please be safe and I hope to see you all come -Henry G. Wells’

Everyone in the conference room got up and went to their desks. The office was silent, except for the sounds of items being put away and people gathering their things. You were almost done getting ready to go when Carter appeared next to you.

They didn’t speak, for fear of being the first one to break the ominous silence. Carter just looked at you expectantly. You finished packing up and walked with them out of the office. The elevator was packed but silent. Everyone got off and walked to their cars. Carter followed you to yours.

Keeping their voice down, almost to a whisper, they asked, “I know I texted you this morning about all this but what do you think now? Do you want to go back to your place or mine?”

You thought about it for a moment before responding, “let’s go back to mine. We can discuss it from there.”

Carter accepted your response and went to their car to leave. You followed suit. Today was not what you expected.

Tags: @sheadre

#kylo ren #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren imagine #sw #sw sequels #a soul to mend his own

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ponett · 5 years ago

Text

i was finally able to see the bad star war that everyone said was bad. as it turns out, it was bad. here’s a read more post with my thoughts on it so that i don’t spam my twitter with spoiler tweets

for a baseline: i like the original trilogy, but i don’t think any of those movies are perfect. i think the prequels had some good ideas but i were mostly terrible. i love the clone wars (both versions) and rebels. while i admit that tfa was extremely similar to a new hope, i thought it was executed great and had a wonderful new cast that showed a ton of promise. i liked rogue one, although i found its first act really sloppy. and i have some quibbles about tlj, but it had an incredibly strong vision and actual themes, and i’d consider it my favorite in the series

i’m exactly the kind of person who was always going to hate the rise of skywalker, because it’s basically a bad fanfic written by someone who didn’t like tlj and wanted to “fix” the story. like that bizarre story treatment jenny nicholson read for this movie. the bad one. it was like that

it wasn’t all bad i guess. here are the small things i liked:

some of the new environments were cool. there was cool imagery and practical effects work

i appreciated that the moon of endor where the death star wreckage was wasn’t just the one with the ewoks, and thought the vibe there was cool

zorii bliss’s armor was really cool

the image of the fleet of star destroyers all lined up was striking

i liked that the ghost showed up for the final battle

i liked that ahsoka was one of the jedi voices rey heard, even though that kind of implies that ahsoka is, uh... dead?

while extremely fucking trite and dumb, i’ll admit the closing scene on tatooine got me. yeah, rey has no real connection to this place and it’s just a nostalgic throwback, but i’m a sucker for full circle endings like that

uh. that’s about it

this movie kicks off in the middle of an action scene and just kind of keeps jumping to new setpieces nonstop until it’s over. new characters and locations get introduced and then moved past in the blink of an eye. there’s no time to let any of it sink in. it feels like abrams crammed two movies worth of shit into this one to make up for the the fact that some people didn’t like tlj, and as a result none of it resonates. i just felt so empty throughout most of the film. events were happening on screen and none of it mattered

thoughts about individual elements:

LEIA

putting the scenes with the recycled footage of carrie fisher at the beginning of the film completely took me out of it. it was so obvious that she wasn’t really responding to what was being said, and the conversations had just been built around the limited leia lines they could use

the dialogue scenes with leia felt like a space ghost interview

C-3PO

was in this movie a lot for some reason? i guess abrams wanted to make up for how little c-3po there was in the last two movies. they tried to have that emotional moment where his memory is wiped, but then they just turned his memory loss into a big joke?? and then he got most of his memories back anyway

in general, the movie is afraid to let the audience be uncomfortable for long. 3po’s memory loss. the supposed deaths of chewbacca and babu frik, that sort of thing. you’re not allowed to be sad. after tlj so effectively built tension throughout the film and really pushed the heroes to the brink, this is a disappointment

LANDO

is here because he needed to show up, and because it’s a throwback to have him pilot the falcon again. he’s just kind of there with little to do and no arc

FINN, POE, AND ROSE

before the movie came out, i had low expectations. all i really wanted was to get one last fun adventure with the new characters. when i started to hear about the spoilers, my expectations sank even lower. but maybe i would still get this

nah! rose gets like two minutes of screentime because redditors hated her, and finn and poe are barely even characters. they don’t have arcs in this film, they’re just sidekicks on rey’s journey

finn really hurts. prior to tfa’s release, finn was framed as the new star. this was, of course, a bait and switch, as rey was really the new jedi. (finn apparently IS force sensitive according to this one, but hey! we can only have one big jedi hero, so like leia before him, i guess we’ve gotta wait for some EU novel to give finn a lightsaber)

but finn was still a central character in the last two films, and he had so much potential. he was a stormtrooper who defected! that’s something new! that’s interesting! it complicates the black and white morality of the series. but no. that’s been all but abandoned at this point

many have complained about how tfa establishes that basically all the stormtroopers are people who were kidnapped as children and brainwashed by the first order... but then they still have no qualms about gleefully killing them. in the first two movies i was like “yeah, it sucks that they have to kill those guys, but if it’s to prevent genocide, it’s understandable. that’s just war. maybe they’ll touch on it in the last movie.” so in this one, they kept reminding the audience that the stormtroopers were enslaved as children. jannah is even introduced as another stormtrooper who defected like finn. but then... it goes nowhere. finn doesn’t get any first order troops to defect. they don’t care about the other stormtroopers. how many hundreds of thousands of enslaved soldiers did they kill when they blew up those star destroyers

it was nice to see finn and poe take the charge as leaders in the end, but it also feels like they didn’t take the lessons from tlj to heart. the whole point of that story was that one-in-a-million shot heroic suicide missions aren’t worth it, and that they’re more useful to the resistance alive than they are as martyrs. but then in the climax of this film they take like 30 ships to go fight a fleet of a hundred fucking star destroyers

on the subject of that final battle: i thought that the ending of tlj was so powerful. the resistance was decimated, but they still had hope, because they knew there were others out there who could help. people like rey, or the broom boy, who came from nothing but had good hearts. in this one, though, they say that apparently nobody responded to the leia’s call for help in the entire year since the last film. everyone only shows up during the climax after lando’s like “no, but for real guys, we need help”

and i did think that that sequence was cool. and i did like seeing the ghost among the ships. it was fun. the message that fascists like the first order rule by making people feel isolated, and that they’re defeated by realizing that good people are never alone? that was good. i thought that was a strong message. but it’s such a minor footnote on a movie that’s so bad in so many other ways

oh and they made the latino dude a drug dealer. okay. thanks for that

KYLO REN

i hate that they redeemed kylo and i hate the way they did it

yes, him being coerced to turn to the dark side by snoke (who was apparently just a puppet controlled by palpatine all along (UGH)) as a kid was tragic. but that doesn’t excuse his actions. kylo was given infinite second chances throughout the trilogy, and every time he responded with violence. he killed so many people himself, and willingly took part in a fascist regime that killed billions. yes, his story is sad, but he’s not some poor little boy, he’s thirty fucking years old and he vents his trauma by slaughtering innocent people

literally the entire main trio of the original trilogy died because of this asshole. han tried to talk to him in the first movie, and got stabbed and dropped into a pit. luke died astral projecting to face him in tlj. and now leia just kind of arbitrarily died to flip the switch in his brain from bad to good from across the galaxy. it’s literally as simple as that. he doesn’t have a personal journey here. he just stops being evil because his mom made him through the force

like, again. all those enslaved stormtrooper grunts who had been brainwashed since they were kids? gunned down. but giving kylo endless second chances is the most important thing in the world

and then they end the movie by having this creepy abusive stalker genocidal asshole sadboy kiss rey, retroactively framing their dynamic as a romantic one. just, gross as hell. even in this one, for most of the film, all he does is threaten rey and boss her around

i dunno. i thought the first order were interesting as antagonists. yeah, they were just the empire 2.0. but i thought it was appropriate! the idea was that just because palpatine was dead and gone didn’t mean that fascism was gone. there were still hateful people who wanted to rule the galaxy via genocide. like how we still have nazis in the 21st century. except, oops! palpatine was actually alive and pulling the strings the entire time, so now that theme’s out the window. we just have to kill him again FOR REAL this time and now the galaxy will actually be safe

people wondered where the first order would go after snoke died in tlj. but it was so obvious to me? kylo was in charge. kylo was always the most interesting bad guy. just let him call the shots and be the final adversary. but no. that wasn’t good enough. we had to bring back palpatine as the jrpg final boss to have an epic conclusion

REY

oh, poor rey. youtube critics got mad that a girl could be a strong jedi without being related to some other powerful force user from the old movies, so now she’s stuck being a palpatine forever

i will admit, the protagonist of the new movies being related to palpatine but still being a good person in spite of her heritage... that could have been something. but it’s so clearly not what they had in mind from the start, and it spits in the face of the last movie’s themes. it turns out greatness CAN’T come from anywhere. it has to come from one of these select few Special Bloodlines

oh! and this ALSO reframes rey’s parents abandoning her and selling her into slavery as an act of kindness, because they had to hide her from her spooky evil grandpa. so THAT’S fun. (edit: OH! and luke and leia knew about rey the whole time!!! and didn’t go out and look for her!!!!)

it’s just. it’s so bad what they did to rey. i don’t know if i even have much to elaborate on there, everyone’s already said how stupid it is

---

overall, i still wouldn’t say it’s the WORST star wars movie. it’s more watchable than the phantom menace, that’s for damn sure. the actors put in effort. the sets and practical effects are nice. it’s just so... empty

tros possibly feels the closest to how i imagined the new trilogy would be when it was first announced, but in a bad way. a movie built entirely on established ideas of What Star Wars Is with nothing new to bring to the table. it’s like a bad eu novel. just recycled imagery, cameos from characters we already know, palpatine coming back from the dead, that sort of thing. it’s a movie made by committee to appease reddit. it’s nothing

now i gotta use that free trial of disney plus to watch the mandalorian and wash the taste out of my mouth i guess

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lailarain · 4 years ago

Text

Warning: Spoilers for Danganronpa: The End of Hope's Peak High School:Despair Arc

(I'm watching for the first time)

We're back at it again, guys!

Also, yes, I've realized that I porbably should've watched Danganronpa 2.5 first, but I'll do that after Despair Arc

Episode 1:

Oh it's ponytail teacher lady🙂

NEW INTRO YEAH BABY

POTHEAD GUY I MISSED YOUUUU

FUYUHIKO, SONIA, MAHIRU, AND HIYOKO THE NOSTALGIAAAAAA

I'm only a few minutes in and I'm already dying of laughter from the dialogue😭

MIKAN I MISSED YOU

This ponytail teacher lady, istg😂😂😂😂😂

THE TEACHER HAS A BLADE WHY DOES THE TEACHER HAVE A BLADE

Okay where is Nagito he's the only reason I'm watching this🙄

"oH goD jUrAsSiC pArK"

IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS?

NEKOMARUUUU

Isn't that that one pervy chef?

Teruteru, that's pretty gay😀

AKANE HELLOOOOO

Soda the simp has arrived

GUNDHAM YES I MISS YOU SO MUCH😭😭😭😭

IBUKI MY GIRL

PEKO WHY'D YOU HAVE TO DIE I MISSED YOUUUU

NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO NAGITO YES

NAGITO'S LAUGH🥺🥺🥺

I fear this teacher😀

Wait....Mitirai...and the Ultimate Imposter......what the fuck is going on

HAJIME IS THAT YOU, MY BELOVED NON-SHAPE-KNOWING BOI

Awwwww he's hurt by what people say🥺

CHIAKI I MISSED YOU

Hajime, you DO have a talent. You're the Ultimate Nagito Magnet

Man, I'm probably not gonna get to see Hajime on screen a lot in this anime😔

Hey blonde bitch how ya doin

Okay we've officially seen the gang! Time for episode 2!

Episode 2:

"They're all good eggs" tell that to killing game nagito lol

Why the fuck are those two always fighting😭

"I'll have you know that we are training in real life combat conditions" "Oh in that case, knock yourself out"

This is why you don't take random glowing bottles from pervert chefs, kids.

NAGITOS JUST SITTING THERE SMILING LMAOOOOOOOO

Hajime looks so uncomfortable that a teacher is trying to have a casual conversation with him😂

Oh are they talking about the Kamakura project?

Gundam playing video games makes me so happy and idk why maybe because I love how dramatic he is lol

You ever like someone so much that when they do something as simple as speak you start freaking out at how awesome they are? Yea that's how I feel about Nagito.

ARE THEY PLAYING MARIO KART?!?!?!

why is the school rumbling GUNDHAM WHAT DID YOU DO

Nagito crying over the food lmaooooo

What did Akane sayyyy😀

NO ONE TOLD ME THIS WAS A HENTAI

WHAT THE FAWK IS GOING ON

Props to Fuyuhiko for being a man and stopping Kazuichi

Istg whatever they pay these voice actors clearly isn't enough

MIKAN WHAT DID YOU SAYYYYY NO ONEE TOLD ME YOU WERE A LESBIAN

I don't even know what to say about Nagito😳

CHIAKI JUST FUCKIN PUNCHED HIM

"I regret nothing"

Nagito's so wholesomely making everyone uncomfortable🥺

Chiaki and Hajime's relationship is soooo wholesome🥰

Episode 3:

Hajime has literally solved the murders of his friends 5 times, and he calls himself average🤨

Why are all the other Reserve Course students blue?

Wait isn't that blondie Fuyuhiko's sister?

Hajime being in the middle of these random girls fighting be like 👁👄👁

Okay I'm kinda scared to ship the green hair girl and Mahiru because they might be siblings

Hard to believe that this girl is my baby boi's sister. At least Fuyuhiko has the dignity to not randomly bully a girl for no reason

Okay I hope the FBI doesn't come to my door if these two are siblings but MAHIRU I SAW YOU BLUSH GIRL I SHIP IT

Thank god fuyuhiko understands that his sister is crazy

Hajime and Chiaki gaming together is so cute🥰

I hope Chiaki didn't just accidentally convince Hajime to do the Kamakura Project😀

The blonde just called her lovesick for Mahiru...I think we got non-related lesbians on our hands

Wait.....THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED IN TWILIGHT SYNDROME MURDER CASE WHAT THE FUCK

Okay I'm kinda starting to feel bad for the blondie

GREEN HAIRED GIRL KILLED HER HOLY FUCK THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY

Wait...if the green-haired girl didn't kill her...then who did?

Woah....why is the green-haired girl acting like that🤨

WAIT GREEN HAIR GIRL IS DEAD WHAT

Is this really how people normally treat Reserve Course Students? The discrimination is so unfair.

HOW DARE THIS BASTARD TOUCH MY PRECIOUS HAJIME😤

Oh so they're on a mission

Omfg Hajime don't you DARE think you're nothing and agree to be a lab rat I swear

FUCK NO HE AGREED

I am so close to crying rn😀

How's Chiaki gonna react to this😔

Episode 4:

Chiaki is sad aww🥺

Okay Nagito looking serious is NEVER a good sign

SHIT NAGITO FROWNED THAT'S NOT GOOD

Komaeda is so polite😌

Nagito.....what is Plan B😀

WHITE-HAIRED GIRL HOW YOU DOIN😁

Oh its other blonde boy and peach-haired bitch

WELL CLEARLY NAGITO'S LUCK AIN'T SHIT

HOLY SHIT NO😭

WAIT NAGITO SET UP FUCKIN BOMBS?!?! Man, I love my chaotic boi🥰

THEY SWITCHED BAGS TOO?!?!?

This is gonna be a huge shit show, isn't it?

POOR WHITE-HAIR GIRL SHE'S COMPLETELY INNOCENT😭😭😭

What the fawk😀

HOW IS HE SO CALM, JUST LIKE "I don't think that was a laxative😕"

NAGITO'S JUST TALKING BOUT HOW UNLUCKY HE IS WHILE ALL THIS SHIT IS GOING DOWN LMAOOO

WAIT SHE JUST SLAPPED HIM

YES TEACHER LADY YOU TELL HIM HOW FUCKIN AWESOME HE IS

Yay Komaeda won't get expelled😊

WAIT NO DON'T TRANSFER HER I LOVE HER NOOOOO

Uh yeah he did it all for yall 'cause he's fuckin nagito komaeda🤨

WAIT SHE'S GONNA COME BACK?!?!?! HOLY SHIT YES

Episode 5:

Poor Mitirai🥺

yeah, see? This is why I relate to Mitirai. ANIMATION IS FUCKIN MAGICAL.

Thank GOD. I thought we were gonna have to watch the teacher lady suffer😅

Okay I know this is pretty off topic, but where the fuck is Hajime

Of course as soon as I ask that question, they start talking about the Kamakura project😅

Expelled? Bullshit.

Wait NO I WANNA SEE MORE NAGITO🥺🥺🥺

WAIT THOSE ARE THE CHARACTERS FROM THE FIRST GAME

Awww they're so happy to see her how wholesome🥺

"You perfect cinnamon roll" MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY

SAIONGI WENT THROUGH A GROWTH SPURT HOLY FUCK

Wait Mitirai and......Mitirai? So he IS the ultimate imposter.

"People flake out and let you down, but carbs are always there" - Mitirai. Truer words have never been spoken😢

IT'S JUNKO FUCKIN ENOSHIMA BABY

Right, the killing game hasn't happened yet, so both Mukuro and Junko are alive and well

So, are the ultimate imposter and mitirai sibings?

Mitirai no don't overwork yourself🥺

Did he just....say "I need you"....pick her up.....and give no other context?😀

Poor Mitirai

WAIT MIKAN NO IT'S NOT THAT KIND OF MOVIE

MAKOTO MY BOY I MISSED YOU

HAJIME IS THAT YOU? YOU LOOK TERRIBLE

Wait...HAJIME NO

HAJIME DON'T YOU DARE

WHAT ABOUT CHIAKI?!?!?!

HAJIME'S EYES ARE RED NOOOOOOO

I'm gonna miss good old Hajime😔

Episode 6:

HAJIME NO TALENTLESS PEOPLE ARE STILL PEOPLE

WHY THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING THIS TO AN INNOCENT HIGH SCHOOLER

It's......Izuru Kamakura😔

Hajime no🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Awww Chiaki misses him

Wait why didn't the teacher just lie and say that Hajime was expelled🤨

I am so close to crying rn😀

Ponytail teacher lady is gonna realize the heartbreaking truth about Hajime, isn't she?😔

Awwww buff guy🥺

That is the weirdest tourture I've ever seen

The sad thing is she doesn't even know that it was Hajime who was made the victim to the project.

Wait why is Kamakura there what's going on

"KAMAKURA KAMAKURA YAS Q U E E N."

CAN MUKURO STOP LETTING JUNKO MAKE FUN OF HER LIKE BITCH YOU ARE AWESOME

Ikuru literally the entire time Junko is talking is basically just: 😑

WAIT HE AGREES WITH JUNKO NO

wait....MITIRAI IS GONNA MEET JUNKO FUCK NO

FUCK NOOOOOO

Okay we're officially halfway through, and I'm super pissed that Nagito is god knows where because he's the ONLY reason I'm watching this

Episode 7:

MITIRAI STOP TALKING TO HER RUN ASAP AHHHHHHHHH

Junko does realize that she basically just triggered every single fan of Danganronpa, right🤨

"aWw lOoK aT hiM trEmBLe hE'S goNnA bUrsT a blOoD veSsEL bEcAuSe I jUsT diSseD hiS wAifUS"

WAIT JUNKO NO DON'T SMILE LIKE THAT

THEY THINK HE'S DEAD LMAOOOOO

NAGITO YES FINALLY

NAGITO WTF PUT SOME CLOTHES ON

Wait so is that the crash site of the what killed his parents🥺

Kazuchi, Teruteru, stop being pervs and shut up please🥰

GUNDHAM YES WE STAN

MITIRAI IS MISSING NO

Istg if they lay a hand on Mikan they bouta lose a hand😀

Poor buff guy🥺

SHIT NO THEY'RE GONNA BRAINWASH HER

Junko's eyes really went ⬆️↗️➡️↘️⬇️↙️⬅️

Wait who tf are these people🤨

Junko what is it with you and killing games😀

Wait she's actually really good at singing😯

Can we get an f in the chat for these poor students

IZURU WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO

THEY'RE SWEEPING IT UNDER THE RUG AGAIN?!?!?!?

So that was his promise😔

It's the cool moving comic thing from the games😯

The Reserve Course students are NOT happy😀

Poor Chiaki still misses him😔

Imagine if she knew HE was the killer

Episode 8:

(So some of my notes were deleted and when I rewrote them they got deleted twice. So I'm just gonna go where I left off.)

NAGITO YES MY BOY I MISSED YOUUUUU

"Who are you" lol

At least CHIAKI is nice to Nagito

YES NAGITO YOU LIFE-SAVER😤

Talk about what🤨

WHY ARE THEY TREATING THESE STUDENTS TO "KNOW THEIR PLACE" ISTG

Okay Nagito what is it with your luck

"Oh we found a secret passage cool😶"

POOR MITIRAI

WAIT NAGITO KNEW?!?!?!?

NAGITO HAS A FUCKIN GUN I REPEAT NAGITO HAS A GUN WHY DOES HE HAVE A GUN

OKAY WHY DOES NAGITO SOUND SO THREATENING ALL OF A SUDDEN

Okay am I crazy or was that interaction between izuru and nagito just now pretty gay?

NAGITO HOLY FUCK NO

OH THANK THE LORD

NAGITO THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A SIMP FOR IZURU

Episode 9:

That....is Hinata😔

WAIT NO DON'T YOU DARE HYPNOTIZE CHIAKI

Teacher lady is gonna be hypnotized, isn't she😖😞

OKAY JUNKO THIS IS TOO FAR

Wait is Mikan pretending?

Poor Guy😢

YEAH LISTEN TO NAGITO

I mean, I don't wanna abandon the teacher but it's already too late

WAIT IS THAT WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE?!?!?

It's so sad to know that they're just running into destruction😔

NO POOR TEACHER LADY

STOP IT RIGHT NOW

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

NOOOOOOOOOOO

You're already too late😞

WAIT WHY ARE THEY BEING SO VIOLENT

Poor Mitirai, man🥺

WAIT NO JUNKO YOU WOULDN'T

Junko STOP LEAVE HIM ALONE

You're in deep shit, Junko

WAIT NO DON'T DIE MITIRAI

Oh thank god😅

Mitirai😭

Poor Nagito too

WAIT MIKAN WHY

NO THE TEACHER IS DEFINITELY HYPNOTIZED NOPE

Episode 10:

Something's wrong....

Chiaki, don't be fooled

Wait is he actually gay tho

Okay Junko please SHUT THE FUCK UP🥰

This isn't gonna go well, is it?

CHIAKI NO

JUNKO DON'T YOU LAY A HAND ON HER

Wait why are they in a trial room

WAIT NAGITO WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN THEM BEFORE

CHIAKI NO

(Won't let me type anymore. Continue post here)

#the end of hope's peak high school #danganronpa 3

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karazrel · 5 years ago

Note

endgame steve was brainwashed by hydra and became a homophobe thats truly the only thing i can think of when i see him in that movie bc i really fucking hate his character there and i feel like chris hated it too when he read that ugly ass script full of plot holes and occ acting. i feel like they really started fucking up steve's character just around cw when they basically made the last cap's movie into avangers 3 and the writers started pushing the hetero agenda onto cap for no reason +

+ just so people would know hes a hetero male who like kissing his niece and have some weird obession with peggy. they also made it look like he didn't give a fuck about bucky after all the three movies he spend fighting for him and then suddenly nothing, not even ONE SCENE with them alone acting like friends and shit, nothing. its bad writing, they can say whatever they want and what happend behind all of this, but when i don't see it on screen, then how tf would i knew??? + so yeah i hate how they ruined his character over past few years and stopped caring about him and his development and didn't show scenes that actually were important and it was just cap being in love with a compas and looking sad as hell 24/7 and acting occ. i really hate it here.

Honestly I never in a million years would’ve expected them to make steve anything other than a straight man so like I’m not even upset about that part as much as I am upset by how illogical and ooc it was? Like his whole alleged trilogy was about moving on from the past and realising that he has a home here with Sam, bucky and nat. He saw that peggy moved on and had a good life, he got that closure, we didn’t see that stupid ass compass once after aou because he had also moved on and left behind everything it represented.

And then all of a sudden he’s randomly bringing it back up and talking about a woman who died seven years ago instead of his best friends who sacrificed everything for him?? Like Sam took him in and helped him when no one else would then became a fugitive and went on the run for steve and steve didn’t even mention him once??? He fought the avengers and 200 countries for bucky but a lady he kissed once 60 years ago had a bigger impact on him????????? Like they could’ve at least brought Sarah Rogers up instead of having him creepily stare at a married woman for ten minutes but no we can’t have shit in this house.

That’s not even going into how fucked up it is for him to stay in the past and get with a married woman then stand by as every preventable atrocity in the world happened not the least of which is his best friend being captured and tortured for years so that he could have his white picket fence fantasy with 2.3 kids and a dog. Fuck the russos, all my homies hate the russos.

#anti endgame #god that movie sucked ass #asks #anonymous

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thiswasinevitableid · 5 years ago

Note

#5 Sternclay please? SFW or NSFW, doesn't matter to me. Thank you!

I went NSFW, minor CW for light D/S and a brief mention of suicide.

5 Should I update my outfit again? I think they like my new boots but the cape didn’t get the reaction I was hoping for

“Okay, I want your honest opinion.” Barclay turns towards the communication screen.

On the screen, Indrid Cold raises an eyebrow, “My honest, unvarnished opinion?”

“Yeah.”

His friend throws his silver haired head back and cackles, the kind of supervillain laugh that makes Barclay jealous, “Oh, oh my friend, that is the most absurd get up I have ever seen on any hero, villain, anit-hero, supermodel, or psuedovillain.”

Barclay sags, “that’s kinda what I figured.”

“I mean, the tight black tank-top? The black pants? Those boots, goodness, did you get rid of your modified hiking boots?”

“No. Pretty sure he liked those.” He mumbles.

“Ah haaah.” Indrid tents his fingers, leaning forward with a grin, “still pining for your man in black, I see.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Barclay, I doubt changing your outfit is going to bring him over to your point of view. And what happened to the trans-pride patterned flannel top you got for the last time? I recall you being proud of how it flattered your physique?”

“He didn’t even mention it.”

“Wasn’t he chasing you off government property at the time?”

“So? He’s commented on things like that before. Uggggh.” Barclay slumps down in his command chair, “How did you get the Ranger to move things to the next level?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.”

Barclay stares him down. Indrid stares right back.

Finally, his friend sighs, “My wires got crossed during a fight and I kissed him instead of headbutting him. Not one of my prouder moments. Though it has decreased the number of fights in my life and increased the number of orgasms.”

“Don’t think that’ll work. No offense to the Ranger, but Agent X is all business. I try kissing him, he’ll taze me or some shit.”

“Well then, you’ll have to get creative. Perhaps...oh drat, he’s early.”

Barclay’s about to ask who when a crash echoes offscreen.

“We should catch up again soon, Barclay.” As the feed goes dark, Indrid turns and shouts, “You green-clad nuisance, I just had that door fixed!”

Barclay shuts off his end of the communication, stands and stretches as he regards the security feeds from his cameras scattered through the woods. Being fifty miles from the nearest town was supposed to make him feel safer; lately it makes him the frustrating combo of lonely and paranoid.

Then again, does it really count as paranoia if Agent X is always on his tail? The man is intelligent, and has government resources behind him. If he wants to find Barclay, Barclay has a bad feeling he’ll be found.

Worse, he suspects he wouldn’t mind being found.

That’s part of why he’d called Indrid. Yes, he wanted feedback on his new look, but Indrid is one of the few people he trusts to understand his situation. They each chose cryptid aliases (Mothman and Bigfoot). They fell into villainy through similar channels; Indrid from being chased out of towns with (usually figurative) pitchforks one too many times when he was just trying to help, Barclay because he’d learned to survive mostly on his own and grown tired of seeing certain kinds of evil rewarded while things that didn’t even count as evil were harshly punished. But Indrid also understood what it meant to get a crush on the very person who was hunting you.

He knows the affection is one-sided. Agent X is the put-together, cultured, cosmopolitan; Barclay is not (were you to ask his friends, they would argue that being tidy, well-read, and widely traveled shakes out to the same thing).

The elevator ride from his underground hideout to the main cabin is brief. Another ding in his villainy score is that he really loves his rustic, cozy home, and only uses his fancier tech for work. What’s the point of a suite in some skyscraper? You can’t even have a proper back porch.

Maybe he should start a fire in the fireplace, or read that stack of food magazines he has squirreled away. He could reheat dinner too, homemade green onion pancakes and bao for one.

In any case, he’s not going to get anything serious done tonight, as he doesn’t really scheme in the way his fellow villains do. His actions are a tad more impulsive, in response to the government or certain corporations doing corrupt shit. Besides, the forecast calls for a snowstorm, and he’d rather not get stranded in the woods.

After settling on the couch he picks up the top magazine, a travel issue.

Twenty romantic getaways off the beaten path

Hmmmm, would Agent X like the beach? Or is he more of a mountains guy?

He should read a different article

8 recipes to cook for a special someone

What the fuck, this is supposed to be the travel issue, not the valentines day issue.

After sorting through the pile, he grabs the Halloween issue from last year and heads upstairs. He needs to sleep, only partially because sleep might keep him from daydreaming about his arch-nemisis.

The black boots come off and he sets them in his closet. Hops onto the bed and stretches out.

Somewhere in the middle of a fascinating article on cast iron pans, he falls asleep.

When he wakes up, his arms are trapped above his head and someone else is reading his magazine.

“I’d been meaning to read this issue. Their writing is always excellent.” Agent X looks up, smiling mildly.

“Glad I could help. Now help me back by untying me.”

Agent X sighs, “You know very well I can’t do that.”

“So what, you break in here just to read my shit?”

“Of course not. Actually, I didn’t choose to come this time.” he stands, producing a slender, silver device from his sleeve, “In fact, I’m being reassigned.”

“Wait, how the fuck is that even a thing? You’re a ‘hero’ you pick your enemies.”

“No, I’m a government agent. And they’ve decided that you are not nearly a large enough threat for me to keep chasing you. Never mind that I devoted years of my life to the endeavor.” Barclay finds the bitterness oddly flattering. As the agent talks, Barclay moves his hands; there’s a reason he taught his security AI ASL. The mirror behind his enemy flickers to life, showing him a video feed of the Snowspeeder Agent X used to get there.

“They were going to assign me to chase The Mothman, but his nemesis is….very territorial and they decided that was not a wise move.”

Barclay can’t help snorting out a laugh.

“This isn’t funny.”

“Trust me, that bit’s hilariou-oh shit” he registers the solemn look on Agent X’s face, “Are you supposed to fucking kill me?”

The tricky thing about a nemesis who wears glorified sunglasses is that it makes his face hard to read most times, but right now he looks horrified.

“No. I, I was allowed to decide how best to handle you as a threat, and I do not believe you’re that dangerous. So I’m just going to install a tracking chip in your spine and be on my way.”

“Like hell you are.” Barclay curls in defensively, signs “destroy.” In the mirror, the snowspeeder silently explodes.

“Barclay, please, don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

“Don’t fucking tag me like some wild animal then.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

Barclay growls, “That’s been your line for three fucking years. You’ve got choices, agent, we all do.”

“You’re right. And you could have chosen something other than a life of crime.”

“Don’t act like you know what I choices I was given. And don’t come any closer with that thing.”

Agent X takes a half step before Barclays feet connect with his chest, sending him clattering into the dresser and the tracker pen under the bed.

“Shoulda tied those too agent!” With all his might he yanks on the cuffs snapping the wrung of the headboard.

“Is this really how you want our last interaction to go?” Agent X stands, nightstick coming free from his belt.

“Nope.” Barclay charges him, the agent sliding gracefully out of is path. Just as they pass, Barclay spins, cuffs connecting with the agents hand.

They glow green, accepting the fingerprint.

“Damn it.” The Agent turns on a dime, launching at him.

“Three years, agent, I know your gadgets as well as you do. Sorry about the speeder.”

He points at the mirror and Agent X glances away momentarily to look.

“Shit.”

“Yep. Have fun getting back on foot. If you stop fighting, I can loan you a snow-cat.”

Agent X turns the stun function of his nightstick on in response.

“C’mon really?!” Barclay growls, pounces before the agent has a chance to react, and hurls him into the mirror.

It shatters, and the agent falls, crumpled and clutching his arm, to the ground. Barclay straddles him, pinning him on his stomach, immaculate black suit ripped in the back.

“Okay, let’s try this again: You’re going to stop attacking me, break that tracker thing in half, and then I’ll give you the keys to something that can get you out of here.”

“I can’t, I cannot fail this mission.”

Barclay does his best, wicked smirk, “In that case, I get one more thing for all the trouble you’ve caused.”

With that, he rips off Agent X’s mask and goggles.

The face beneath them is better than he ever envisioned: sharp cheekbones, blue eyes, movie star handsome in every way.

His gaze is unflinching, enraged, and when his fingers curl minutely Barclay grabs his hand and pries it open.

In the center is white, cylindrical pill.

“Is this...fuck, is this a suicide pill?”

“Yes. Now give it back.”

“Not a fucking chance.” He stands, crosses to the window and chucks the pill out into the night, “Christ, agent, do you really think I’m going to torture you?”

When he turns back, arms crossed, the veneer of Agent X’s expression cracks, and he presses his face into the floor with a shuddering gasp.

“It’s p-protocol. If, if my identity is compromised.”

He wants to be moved by the tears in that voice, but he’s still pretty pissed.

“You’d swallow a pill for them, just like that. Shit, they really do brainwash you guys.”

“It’s not that.” The agent raises his head, spits out blood, “I still have family. If an enemy knows who I am, they could go after them for leverage. Ending my own life keeps the people I love safe.”

The fight goes out of him and he sighs, “Look, I’m not gonna go after your family, I promise. I won’t share your identity either; I know you’ve probably figured out the identities of people I care about and haven’t ratted them out. Consider this a thank you for that.”

“They’ll terminate me anyway.”

“That’s fucked up.”

“That’s protocol.”

“Fuck protocol.”

The agent giggles, the sound increasingly hysterical, “I’m quite the triple threat; in one move I lose my job, my safety, and my purpose. I guess I live on your floor now.”

“I’m not gonna make you live on my floor.”

“Your holding cell, then.”

“Uhhhh” Barclay rubs his arm, “I don’t have one. It’s not like anyone besides you has ever tried to infiltrate here.”

“Please tell me you have a guest room.” The agent is still hiccuping laughs.

“Yeah. I can fix it up real quick for you.”

Agent X sits up, wincing, “You’re really letting me stay?”

“I mean, yeah? No way I’m sending you back to people who we know will kill you. I know you think I’m a villain, but I don’t really want people getting hurt. And I respect you as an adversary, not to mention I actually kind of like you, Agent X.”

“Joseph.” The agent slowly drags himself up onto the bed. “It’s just Joseph now. Joseph Stern.”

“Don’t seem like there’s much ‘just’ to you, Mr. Overachiever.”

Joseph tries flipping him off, only to flinch when he moves his arm.

“Good lord, I thought that wasn’t a real mirror, why is there so much glass in my skin?”

“Uh, you know how when you drop a cell phone and the screen kinda-splinters and you can get bits of it in your fingers? That’s basically what happened to your back. Uh, sorry.”

“It was in self defense.”

“Will you let me help? I got lots of first aid stuff.”

Joseph nods and Barclay hurries into the bathroom to grab one of the two dozen med kits scattered around the house.

“On your stomach.”

The other man rolls over, and Barclay gets to work on his back. Joseph remains stoic the entire time, until Barclay begins dousing the cuts with disinfectant, at which point he hisses.

“I know, I hate this shit too. Dunno why people are always inventing new torture devices and interrogation techniques, this’d do the trick on most people I know.”

“Very true. It’s alright, pain is deserved when you fuck up as royally as I did tonight.”

“Hey, none of that, okay?” Barclay says gently, easing the tatters of Josephs shirt off, “That pain isn’t a punishment, it’s something I’m doing to keep you safe and so you can heal. You don’t deserve to be hurt, Joseph. And I’m sorry for all the times you ended up that way because we fought. I know it comes with the territory, but that doesn’t mean I can’t apologize.”

Silence as he finishes bandaging that well-developed back, and as he cleans up the debris from the fight and the aftermath.

“In that case” Joseph murmurs, “ I’m sorry too. For, well, for any time during the last three years where I hurt you.”

“Apology accepted.” Barclay sits down on the bed, facing his guest, who turns his head to smile weakly at him.

“What happens now?”

“No clue. I can heat up some dinner, and there’s lots of books here, and some movies. Even got a couple of video games for when friends visit. Or you can sleep, if you want.”

Joseph gives him a curious look, “I meant to ask, is this what you wear at home all the time?”

Barclay blushes, “No, uh, I was just trying out a new costume. Usually wear, like, my flannel shirts and stuff.”

Joseph cautiously rolls onto his side for a better look. A prolonged, hungry, better look.

“What do you think?” Barclay keeps his eyes fixed on the headboard and not on the lines of muscle on Josephs stomach.

“I think you look like you should be cruising the Folsom Street Fair looking for some gym bunny who’ll call you sir.”

“Is that a...good thing?”

“Yes.”

When he meets those blue eyes, their pupils are wide.

Barclay chuckles, “You gonna call me, ‘sir, babe?”

“Only if you want me to.”

The bed dips as shifts to be next to Stern, “Nah, but I’ve been dying to fuck you since the Pipeline Incident.”

“Lord, Barclay, that was a year ago. But the answer is yes.” Stern tries to sit up, but Barclay rests a hand on his shoulder, kissing his cheek.

“I just patched you up, babe, so how’s about we keep this simple for tonight?”

“Oh, okay, uh, how should we?” Stern is blushing, head dipping in slight deference, and it’s the most gratifying goddamn thing Barclay has ever seen.

“Get those pants off, lay on your stomach, and put your ass in the air.” He sits back so Stern can obey, which he does as quickly as possible.

“Good boy.” Barclay rumbles, sitting behind him, “Shit, all that superhero training makes for an amazing ass.” He rubs it possessively, Stern moaning softly at the touch.

“Thank you.”

“Think it’ll look even better with my handprints on it?” The question is breezy as he drags a nail along the right cheek, waiting for Sterns permission.

“Yes.” Stern whispers into the pillows.

Barclay swats the right side, “What was that?”

“Yes!” Stern cries out, wiggling his hips in response.

“Much better.” He hits four more times, two for each side, Stern yelping with delight at each one.

“Now, let’s get one thing straight,” He grabs Sterns hips, pulls his ass against his crotch, grinding slowly, the pants for his definitely not for work anymore outfit just tight enough to give excellent friction from the movement, “I get the feeling you get off on a little pain. And I sure as hell like watching you squirm from it. And” he smacks his left side, for fun, “I bet you think you deserve this.”

Five slaps, fast and with more force behind them.

“Yes, yes, Barclay, please.”

“You’re right, you do. But not because you deserve to be hurt, or to suffer. You deserve to feel good, Joseph. And the second this stops feeling good and you start using it as punishment, I stop doing it. We clear?”

“Crystal.” Stern whimpers at the next slap, and Barclay bends forward to loving kiss a line up his throat and nuzzle his cheek.

“Good boy. You okay to touch yourself--hah, that answers that.” He laughs as Sterns right hand disappears beneath him and his mouth parts in a moan.

“Fuck, Barclay, I, I’ve, nhhnn, I’ve wanted this so long.”

“Me too babe. God, Joseph, you got any idea how fucking incredible you are?” He finds an angle that lets him continue rutting against his ass and kissing his neck and face without touching his injuries.

“No, perhaps you can say more?” Stern grins

Barclay growls, delivers a particularly hard slap, “Oughta make you stop jerking off since you’re fishing for compliments but, fuck, babe, you look so goddamn hot when you’re moaning and twisting around under me, shit, I love hearing your voice, and your smile makes me forget my fucking name and fuck, fuck, yeah, ohyeah.” He tugs Stern close as he comes, keeps pouring out increasingly jumbled praise as Stern tenses in his arms and comes across the covers with the most erotic sound Barclay has ever had the good luck to hear.

“Lord almighty I needed that.”

Barclay chuckles, guides them both down into a comfortable cuddle, “Glad I could help. You hungry?”

“Starving.”

“Okay, lemme rinse off and I can make us dinner.”

By the time he’s out of the shower Stern has stripped and remade the bed with clean covers, and takes his hand as they head downstairs. Barclay reheats the leftovers and makes them tea while Stern reads to him about fifty of the best new restaurants in the west.

The next morning, the FBI’s villain control division receives word that Agent X has been killed in the line of duty.

Three weeks later, they learn that Bigfoot has a new partner: the man in black.

#sternclay #agent stern/barclay #TAZ Amnesty #superhero au

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daresplaining · 5 years ago

Note

Hey, Idk if you know this but imma ask you anyway cause I think you’re cool. ANYWAY, how do other hero’s react when they find out Daredevil is blind? (You have any HC’s that go along with it?)

Hi, and thanks! I’m happy that running a comics blog is considered cool.

This doesn’t actually come up as much as you’d think, because this kind of revelation almost never starts with people discovering that Daredevil is blind. Matt is (mostly) good at pretending he can see while in costume, since that’s an illusion he feels the need to maintain. Instead, what usually happens is this: someone (a fellow hero or otherwise) will learn that Matt is Daredevil, they’ll assume he fakes the blindness, Matt will then explain about the hypersenses, and that will be that. Sometimes he’ll be asked to prove it, but not always.

[ID: Excerpt from Kesel’s Daredevil run. Matt and Foggy are standing together in an office. Foggy has his back to Matt (and the reader).]

Foggy: “Okay, Matt– you can stop pretending, now.”

Matt: “Foggy–?”

Foggy: “This whole ‘blind’ thing. I know you’re really Daredevil! Some ‘best friend’– lying to me all these years… playing me for a fool…”

Matt: “No, Foggy– you’re wrong! I thought you understood… I really am blind, from a childhood accident that heightened my remaining senses–”

Daredevil vol. 1 #353 by Karl Kesel, Cary Nord, and Christie Scheele

[ID: Daredevil and Karen Page are sitting together in a large, fancy, primarily green sitting room.]

Karen: “And, your brother ‘Mike’… the aerial explosion in which you ‘died’… even your ‘blindness’… they were all nothing but ingenious frauds!”

Matt: “Two out of three right, my darling! I never had a brother… and that explosion was trumped up to flush out a would-be blackmailer! But, I have been blind for years… perhaps in more ways than one!”

Karen: “Really blind? I don’t… understand…!”

Matt: “When you get down to brass tacks, Karen… neither do I! As Matt, I told you once about the childhood accident that blinded me! That story was true, but not the whole truth!”

[ID: A panel showing a montage of Daredevil doing cool acrobatic tricks against an orange background.]

Matt (off-panel): “For, in some mysterious way, the same mishap that robbed me of my sight… amazingly sharpened my remaining senses, to far beyond those of other men… enabling me to avoid disasters, and to perform athletic feats that few people even dream of! Taste… touch… smell… hearing… all my senses were heightened! Except perhaps for that secret ingredient called… common sense! Why else would I never have told you before… that I love you?”

Daredevil vol. 1 #58 by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan

[ID: Daredevil and Black Panther are swinging in tandem across the nighttime city.]

T’Challa: “DD… I know I promised no questions… but I have never comprehended how a blind attorney can battle crime with the best of them! –If you truly are blind, that is!”

Matt: “I am… but I’ve got some other super-senses that just won’t quit! Remind me to tell you about ‘em sometime!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #69 by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan

[ID: Daredevil and Spider-Man– who is in his black costume– are crouched on a rooftop, talking.]

Peter: “So… ‘Peter’, huh?”

Matt: “Yup. And in case you’re wondering, my handle is… Matt Murdock.”

Peter: “You’re kidding, right? I mean… Murdock’s blind… I mean… that is… uh, let’s go someplace and talk about this…”

[In the next panel they’re in Peter’s apartment, and in civvies. Matt is sitting on a chair, wearing a white shirt and blue pants. Peter is walking into the room, wearing a green shirt and blue pants.]

Matt: “Faintly acrid, but a nice apartment.”

Peter: “Boy, you really must be blind. And yeah, I had a fire recently. Let me understand– you could tell when you heard my heartbeat as Peter Parker and later as Spider-Man that we were the same guy? That’s some power. What do you call it?”

Matt: “Listening.”

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 1 #110 by Peter David, Rich Buckler, and Bob Sharen

[ID: A panel of Luke Cage and Danny Rand– both in civvies– standing on a rooftop at night. They are looking up toward the viewer (at Daredevil, off-panel). Danny is holding up a newspaper.]

Luke: “You can put that down. He’s blind.”

Danny: “Oh, he really is blind. I thought he was pretending because of all the heat on him.”

Luke: “No, he’s really blind.”

Danny: “Oh.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #38 by Brian Michael Bendis, Manuel Gutierrez, and Matt Hollingsworth

These are just a few examples, but you get the idea. It’s very rare that someone figures out that Daredevil is blind without it being tied to a full-on secret identity reveal. The best example I can think of is this great moment from one of the Daredevil/Batman crossovers. Trust the World’s Greatest Detective to figure it out…

[ID: Daredevil and Batman are standing together on a rooftop at night.]

Bruce: “Let’s say you’re visually impaired. You favor your other modes of sensory input. A subtle inclination of your head when there’s a sound. An extremely slight flaring of your nostrils, probably indicating olfactory acuteness. You’re practiced– or possess sensory enhancements– making your powers of observation markedly proficient.”

Matt: “Thanks. Yours aren’t bad, either.”

Daredevil and Batman by D.G. Chichester, Scott McDaniel, and Gregory Wright

I love this because Matt’s blindness and powers would affect his body language, and I kind of wish that more characters– particularly those with combat expertise– would notice. As it stands, pretty much everyone who knows that Daredevil is blind also learns about his hypersenses immediately afterward, and since there’s always been a tendency for writers to allow Matt’s powers to get him out of situations that would generally require sight, his blindness doesn’t come up as much as I wish it would within the context of his actual hero work and team-ups. The little evidence available suggests that his fellow heroes are accommodating (we get little details, like the fact that the text on Matt’s Avengers ID card is written in braille) and they’re generally impressed by him, but they don’t make that big a deal of it. Sometimes they’ll forget he’s blind, but he is quick to remind them. In the wider context of the Marvel superhero community, a blind superhero isn’t that weird, no matter what Brainwashed Wolverine™ might claim:

[ID: Wolverine and Matt (in costume, but without his mask) are fighting in Matt’s apartment. Wolverine is slashing with his claws; Matt is trying to restrain him]

Logan: “Hands offa me, you blind freak!”

Matt: “This isn’t you that’s saying this. You have to fight it, Wolverine. You’ve just been reprogrammed.”

Logan (caption): “Listen to you, Murdock: talking like you’re some kinda super hero– Ever wonder why they didn’t ask you to join their fancy teams, big shot? Ever wonder why you always work alone? ‘Cuz you’re blind. Handicapped. Oughta hear the sick jokes they crack behind your back–”

Wolverine (2003) #24 by Mark Millar, John Romita, Jr., Paul Mounts

(This comes after a long rant about how Matt gets more dates than him. Brainwashed Wolverine™ was going through some stuff in this issue…)

One context in which Matt’s blindness does come up is in his interactions with other blind superheroes. In these cases, it usually serves as a source of bonding. Gerry Conway gives us this weird-yet-touching issue in which Matt encounters a blind hero from another dimension:

[ID: Daredevil is standing over a figure (Tagak), who is wearing a purple and orange skin-tight suit and a leopard-print mask that covers his whole head.]

Matt: “Now maybe I’ll get some answers! Like, number one… who you are… and number two… how you pretend to see– when you’re blind!”

Tagak: “How…?”

Matt: “Big clue: the way you hesitated just now… and let’s just say it takes one to know one!”

Tagak: “Then you…? It seems there is much to speak about, my friend!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #72 Gerry Conway and Gene Colan

Since Matt generally works so hard to hide his blindness while in costume, it’s notable that he shares this information with Tagak within minutes of meeting him– especially when he didn’t actually have to.

Here’s a more recent example, from after Matt has revealed his secret identity to the Inhuman superhero Reader:

[ID: A panel showing Reader sitting at a table, with Matt– in civvies and with his arm in a sling– standing next to the table.]

Reader: “Wait… are you really blind? Gotta admit, I kind of liked being on a team with another blind guy.”

Matt: “I’m really blind.”

Reader: “Then how…”

Matt: “You’ve got your tricks, Reader, I’ve got mine.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #609 by Charles Soule and Phil Noto

This example is a bit more complicated, since (spoiler alert) it’s all in Matt’s head, but 1. this conversation seems in-character for Reader anyway, and 2. the fact that Matt would want him to react this way is still significant.

And then there are the villains! One of my favorite examples of Matt’s blindness coming into play in his hero work is this great scene from Waid’s run, in which the Jester– having learned Matt’s secret identity but assuming that the blindness is just an act (as everyone does at first, see above)– sets a trap that is entirely vision-reliant…

[ID: Matt, in civvies, comes across a life-sized dummy of Foggy hanging from a noose. He perceives it in an unrecognizable form with his radar sense. This alternates with panels of the Jester, who is sitting in front of an array of computer screens and getting increasingly agitated.]

Matt (caption): “And what is this? A Jaycees haunted house? Who are you supposed to represent?”

Jester: “He’s staring right at it! Why– why isn’t he reacting?”

Matt (caption): “Real dead bodies have a distinct odor, Jester. This smells like foam rubber and latex. What were you trying to accomplish here? Fail.”

Jester: “React, damn you! That’s your best friend hanging from a noose! Anyone who’s ever seen Murdock in a fight knows the ‘blind lawyer’ gag is a put-on! Open your eyes!”

Daredevil vol. 3 #32 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Javier Rodriguez

I don’t really have headcanons as much as I have a wish to see more of this sort of thing in the source material itself (though I would love to hear other people’s headcanons, if they have some!). We’ve come a long way, in general, from the “Matt’s senses more than compensate for his blindness” attitude that plagued early (and some more recent, unfortunately) Daredevil comics, and Waid’s run in particular made great strides in this area, but I always feel like more can be done. I want Matt to hang out with more of the Marvel Universe’s other blind characters (there are a bunch of them!). I want his blindness to come up more often in his team-ups with sighted heroes. We’ve seen antagonists target his hypersenses, but I was surprised and a little disappointed that, back when his blindness was public knowledge, his rogues didn’t try to use that against him. On the other hand, we got awesome things like this during that period…

[ID: A panel showing Matt on the street, in civvies, signing an autograph for a blind kid with a service dog.]

Daredevil vol. 4 #11 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Matt Wilson

…which is another of the many reasons I’m sad it’s over, as Matt/Daredevil interacting more with the non-powered disabled community is another thing I want– including negotiating his identity as a superpowered disabled person.

There’s a tricky line that needs to be walked in handling this aspect of Matt’s character. In making his blindness too prominent, or too debilitating, there’s a risk of turning him into a caricature or making it seem like a burden rather than a simple fact of his existence. Matt is a complex character, and his sensory array is only one part of that complexity. But he is one of the most prominent blind characters in comics– if not media in general– and I still feel like there are a lot of stories surrounding this part of his identity that haven’t yet been told, in the context of both the civilian and superhero sides of his life.

#nightwing1536 #Daredevil #Matt Murdock #Asks #Sensory Shenanigans #Adventures in Continuity

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omgjasminesimone · 6 years ago

Text

Homecoming Part 4

Author’s Note: We’re nearing the end! Just one more part after this I think.

Summary: Bryce and Casey attend Abigail’s wedding. They both drink too much.

Word Count: ~ 3600

Previous Part: Part 3

Next Part: Part 5

Bryce sighs dramatically as he takes a seat at the long dinner table. It has been quite a long day and he just wants to get back to Casey and his hotel room.

Ryan had set a very early appointment for the tux rental fitting, followed with an awkward breakfast with all the groomsmen. Bryce knows most of them from prep school, and Francis is a groomsman too, but he doesn’t like any of these people, so he would have much preferred brunch with Casey.

Bryce was distracted during the rehearsal, thinking about what Casey might be doing at the moment. She told him she was going to go on one of the hotel excursions, a hike to Manoa Falls. He wanted to text her throughout the day, but knew she likely didn’t have cell reception.

His entire family was at the rehearsal, and it was the first time he’s had to interact with them without Casey as a buffer the whole trip.

It was almost unbearable. His mother was completely overbearing, seemingly in charge of every aspect of this wedding and directing the rehearsal like some kind of deranged dictator.

Francis and his father brought up the real estate business at every opportunity, but he ignored them to the best of his ability.

Maybe worst or all, Abigail has paired him with his ex-girlfriend for all the wedding party duties.

He and Tia dated his senior year of high school, and then two more years while he was at the University of Hawaii. She’s pretty, long blonde hair, big blue eyes, the kind of girl his father approves of. She was probably his first love. He can’t remember exactly why they broke up. He vaguely remembers a huge fight. And that she had cried.

She seems to have forgiven him though, spending most of the time at the wedding rehearsal flirting with him. He brought up his current girlfriend several times, but Tia is undeterred.

Even now, she’s trying to play footsies with him at the dinner table. He moves his foot away subtly.

“Sir, are you ready to order?”

The waitress’ question leads him to glance through the fancy French food on the menu. Ryan’s parents are paying for the rehearsal dinner, and they’ve picked the most expensive French restaurant in Honolulu to showcase their wealth. They can’t be upstaged by Kate Lahela’s opulent displays.

Bryce hates rich people food. “Can your chef make a custom order? Burger and fries?”

The waitress looks taken aback. “Umm... probably?”

Bryce flashes her a megawatt smile. “Thanks.”

She continues around the table, collecting more orders. Bryce pulls out his phone, sending a text to Casey.

Bryce: how was your hike?

He immediately sees the dots indicating she’s responding.

Casey: Amazing!!! ❤️❤️❤️

A series of photos follow, the breathtaking views from her hike making him smile.

Bryce: glad you had fun. hope you weren’t too lonely 😔

Casey: I wasn’t lonely. You know how easy it is for me to make friends.

Casey: I met a couple on their honeymoon and they let me hang out with them.

Casey: They even invited me to dinner. We went to this Italian place and the pasta was soooo good. 🤤

Bryce: and what are you doing now?

Casey: Took a long shower, and now I’m in bed watching A Star is Born.

Casey: Lady Gaga is so talented.

Bryce: in bed? what are you wearing?

Bryce: (hoping you’re naked) 🤞🏽

Casey: Not naked, but I’m in that teddy that you like. I’m waiting for you to come rip it off me.

Bryce bites his lip, reading her last message again.

A photo comes through, Casey posed seductively in the bed in that deep red silk teddy. It’s not a selfie.

Bryce: who took this?!

Bryce: is that couple with you?

There’s a slight pause before he sees she’s typing again.

Casey: I used the timer you jealous dork. 😂

Bryce chuckles a little under his breath, his jealousy dispelling. He scrolls back up to the photo, eyes scanning over her greedily.

His uncle lets out a low whistle, glancing at his screen. “Damn Bryce, you did good.”

Bryce flushes and immediately pockets his phone, his uncle Tito chuckling beside him.

Dinner takes forever, countless speeches by friends and family about the bride and groom. His own speech is short and to the point. After what feels like eternity, but is really 3 hours, he’s finally able to get in his rental car and head back to the hotel.

He practically jogs from the elevator to their room, shoving his keycard in the door impatiently.

“Baby, I’m home-” He begins, trailing off when he sees she’s asleep. She’s snoring softly and the tv is still on, bathing her in a blue glow.

He turns off the tv, shrugging out of his suit jacket. After a quick shower, he climbs into bed beside her, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her forehead before falling into a deep slumber. He dreams about returning to Boston in just two days time. He’s ready, he’s had more than enough family time.

...

Bryce arrives at the church where Abigail and Ryan will be married very early in the morning. He’s unsure why his mother insisted on such an early time, since the men all spend the time awkwardly sitting around after getting ready in less than 30 minutes. He can only assume it takes the women longer.

When Abigail, his mother, and the bridesmaids are finally ready, it’s time for photos. They must take over a thousand photos, moving around the church, then outside the church, and then, hey, why don’t we get a view of the ocean, now how about a view of the church? It’s never ending, and he’s exhausted.

They finally get a lunch break, food laid out on the picnic tables outside the church. He can’t help but laugh as his sister delicately tries to eat some pineapple without ruining her lipstick. She’s covered her dress with a large bib to ensure it remains pristine and white.

“Abs, want me to chew it for you? Then I can regurgitate it into your mouth like a mama bird.” He jokes.

She flips him her middle finger, with a perfectly manicured French tip, and continues to slice the pineapple into minuscule pieces with a knife.

Tia tosses her lunch trash and approaches the table where he’s sitting alone. All morning, she’s been using the photos as an excuse to hang all over him, somehow almost always managing to end up on his arm.

“I saw some guests heading in when I went to the bathroom. Almost time to get this show on the road. We’re almost free!” Tia exclaims excitedly.

Bryce quirks a small smile. “You really should have declined her bridesmaid invitation. You know how our mom is. There was no way she wasn’t turning into a complete momzilla and making this whole process a living hell.”

“You didn’t refuse either.” She points out.

“They didn’t give me much of a choice.” Bryce insists.

“Well, it’s not all bad. I like these blue bridesmaid dresses. And I do get to hang out with you.” She grips his arm.

He peels her off. “Tia, I told you. I have a girlfriend.”

“A girlfriend isn’t a wife.” She retorts, winking cheekily.

“No, but one day she’ll be my wife. Casey is the one.”

Tia looks more hurt by that than he expected. The hurt on her face is quickly replaced with anger, and she storms away from him.

“Well damn, I guess Bria isn’t happening.” Abigail laments, throwing away the packaging from her lunch.

He rolls his eyes at the old couple name she used to call them. “Why would you pair me with her Abs? You knew I had a girlfriend.”

“To be fair, I hadn’t met Casey yet, so my loyalty was 100 percent with my girl Tia. I really like Casey though, I think she’s good for you. But it’s too late to change the pairings for walking down the aisle now, so just grin and bear it.”

“I’ve been grinning and bearing all day.” He retorts.

She smiles at him sadly. “Yeah, me too.”

Bryce becomes uncharacteristically serious. His little sister can always bring out his protective side. “Abigail, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah, our parents would love if I pulled a runaway bride. Can you imagine what all those hundreds of guests would say? ‘First, she gets knocked up as a teen, now she runs away from her very appropriate and wealthy fiancé, what’s wrong with that Abigail Lahela?’” She chuckles mirthlessly.

“Who cares what they’ll say? You don’t even have to stay here. You and Haku could move in with me in Boston. I have a guest room.”

“Bryce, I’m a big girl now. It’s time to get out on my own. Ryan is a good guy. He treats me well and this is an important business connection. I married for love before, and that didn’t work out too great for me.”

“Wow Abs. They’ve really brainwashed you. You sound just like our parents.”

“Whatever Bryce.” Abigail mutters before heading back over to her bridesmaids.

They go back into the bride’s and groom’s dressing rooms in the church, retouching makeup and preparing to finally walk down the aisle.

The wedding coordinator Mrs. Lahela hired appears. She looks frazzled, like she can’t wait to get paid and be done with this wedding. “It’s go time people.”

The wedding party splits into their assigned pairs. Haku fidgets nervously at Bryce’s side. He puts a reassuring hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “You’re going to be a great ring bearer kid.”

Traditional Hawaiian music starts playing. This is something their dad was against, but Abigail managed to get him to agree to her being in charge of one thing at her own wedding, the playlist.

Francis and Gabrielle are the first pair down the aisle. A few more pairs go before it’s Bryce’s turn. He offers Tia his arm, and she smiles at him.

They walk down the long aisle, to where Ryan is standing at the altar. They split off from each other, Bryce joining the groomsmen behind Ryan.

Bryce searches the room for Casey as the maid of honor and best man conclude the aisle walk.

He spots her in the aisle seat of the fourth row. She’s so beautiful, in a silver strapless gown that hugs her in all the right places. Her curls are up in a delicate updo, light makeup accentuating the look. He has no idea how he got so lucky with her. He throws her a flirtatious wink, and she blows him a kiss in return.

Haku and the flower girls, who are Lahela cousins, walk down the aisle. Haku stands beside Ryan and he claps his soon to be stepson on the shoulder reassuringly.

Finally, the wedding march starts. Abigail comes down the aisle on her father’s arm. Bryce has to stop himself from scoffing at the smug look on Aoloa’s face. He’s probably already counting the money this union will bring him.

…

The reception is held immediately following the ceremony at the Lahela mansion. Bryce grabs a drink from cocktail hour in the formal dining room before heading out to the backyard.

His mother has really outdone herself. There are literally peacocks strolling around. Twinkling lights and lanterns add to the party atmosphere. A large tent is set up, with a dance floor and dinner tables.

Bryce strolls over to the tables, frowning when he sees a place card for Mr. Bryce Lahela on an elevated table at the front of the tent. Not only does the Mr. instead of Dr. bother him, he also wants to sit with Casey, not the wedding party.

He feels like he’s barely seen her over the last two days. He spots her at one of the circular tables where she’s currently sitting alone since most of the guests are still at cocktail hour. She’s sipping on a tropical cocktail.

He takes the seat beside her, glancing at the place card. Mr. Joseph Grant, an older gentleman who owns a private beach and beach club. A notorious bachelor, who will likely spend the entire evening flirting with Bryce’s girlfriend.

He frowns, glancing at the other place cards and seeing that this table is full of Lahela business contacts. His mother could have at least placed Casey with fun people, like his cousins and uncles. Or his friends.

He tosses Joseph’s place card to the ground, claiming the seat for himself.

“Amor, it seems like your mother put a lot of effort into these seating arrangements.” Casey gently chides.

Bryce takes Casey’s hand, placing a kiss to her palm. “Don’t care. I’ve barely gotten to see you baby.”

Casey smiles. “I missed you too. But I’m not going to let you steal Mr. Grant’s seat.”

“Fine.” He stands and easily picks her up, sitting in her seat instead and placing her in his lap.

Bryce kisses her shoulder, and then her neck. Her skin is so soft, and she smells like something he can’t quite place, but it’s flowery. “You smell amazing.”

“I went to the hotel spa this morning and got a scrub. I forgot my purse, so I charged it to the room, but I’m going to pay you back.”

“No, you won’t.” He nibbles below her earlobe. “Very willing to pay for this moment right here.”

Casey laughs, turning slightly so she can capture his lips. “Your mom is glaring at us.”

She is. The guests have started to migrate to the tent, and Mrs. Lahela is sitting at the wedding party table he’s supposed to be at.

“Let her glare.” He rubs gentle circles in her side through the silky fabric of her dress.

“I still want her to like me Amor. You should get back to your seat. Please.”

Bryce frowns, but Casey knows he can’t refuse her anything. “Fine, but you owe me later. Save me a dance.”

She stands so he can leave. “I’ll save you several.”

Before he leaves, Bryce grabs a pen out of Casey’s purse on the floor. He crosses out the Ms. on her place card, replacing it with Dr. “We didn’t go through medical school to not be referred to as Dr.” He reasons.

Casey laughs, kissing him one more time before he walks off.

When he returns to his assigned seat, he uses the borrowed pen to correct his own place card as well. ‘That’s Dr. Bryce Lahela to you.’ he imagines himself retorting if his brother or father bring up the real estate business one more damn time.

…

The newlyweds’ first dance concludes, Ryan hugging Abigail close and placing a kiss to her forehead.

“And now the dance floor is officially open!” The DJ announces, John Legend’s You and I coming over the speakers.

Bryce is quick to hop down from the wedding party table. Now that dinner, the speeches, and the first dance are all done, he’s finally completed his groomsman duties. Time to actually enjoy himself.

He spots Casey over by the open bar with his uncles. He approaches, wrapping his arms around her from behind. She leans back into his touch.

“Aren’t they adorable?” Tito asks the assembled group. “Definitely more in love than the newlyweds.”

Bryce grins. “Sorry to steal her, but I was promised a dance.”

“And dance we shall, but first peacock selfie!” Casey detangles herself from his arms, pulling him to the edge of the lawn where the peacocks have gathered. “I can’t believe your mom rented peacocks! This is definitely going to be my most liked pictagram photo ever.”

She’s clearly a little drunk. Since he was at the wedding party table all night, he had to settle for the champagne he was expected to drink after every toast. But Casey’s been free to hit the open bar, and he’s watched her take full advantage.

They crouch near the prettiest peacock, Casey fiddling with her phone and struggling to unlock it.

Bryce pulls out his own phone, unlocking it easily and snapping a selfie while he kisses Casey on the cheek.

He shows her the photo. “It’s cute!” She exclaims, so he chuckles and uploads it to his own pictagram account.

“Alright, now we dance.” Bryce declares, intertwining their fingers and leading her back to the dance floor.

The song has changed to Bruno Mars’ Just the Way You Are. Appropriate. “Girl you’re amazing, just the way you are.” Bryce sings in her ear, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“I love you Bryce.” Casey says softly when the song ends, hands rising from his shoulders to play with the hair at the nape of his neck.

“I love you too Casey.” He promises before capturing her lips.

They gently sway to several more songs before Bryce is interrupted by a finger tapping on his shoulder.

“Dearest, so sorry to interrupt but the ambassador’s son is here, and I’ve spent so much time gushing over you that he wants to meet you.” His mother explains, not looking all that sorry to be interrupting.

Bryce sighs irritably. He hates mingling. It’s one of the worst parts about his mother’s parties.

“I’ll be right back.” He promises Casey.

She waves him off. “Take your time.”

…

Of course, his mother doesn’t just want to introduce him to the ambassador and his family, she parades him around the whole place. Brags about what an accomplished surgeon he is, how proud she is. All for appearances of course, she’d been just as against medical school as his father.

The open bar helps him get through it, stopping to get another drink between each group his mother insists on introducing him to.

He’s more than a little tipsy when he finally manages to slip away almost an hour later, immediately looking for Casey. He spots her at a dinner table, drinking with his friends.

She’s very drunk, he realizes almost immediately. She looks like she’s about to fall asleep at the table.

“What did you guys do to her?” Bryce playfully accuses, taking the seat beside Casey and allowing her to lean on his shoulder.

“She thought she could out drink me. I told her she couldn’t.” His oldest friend announces smugly.

“I’m…. not … conceiting…. confeated…” she mumbles drunkenly.

“Conceding.” Bryce helpfully supplies.

“That! I can out drink you. I just need a little break first. Maybe some water.” She reaches for the water pitcher, knocking it over accidentally.

His friends chuckle as Casey pouts. “Okay Dr. Valentine, time to concede. Let’s get you to bed.” Bryce says before lifting Casey and cradling her to his chest.

“Bed? We’re staying here?” Casey asks, playing with his blue tie as he carries her.

“Well you sure as hell can’t drive. And I’m a little drunk too.” He explains, entering the house and carefully climbing the steps towards his childhood room.

He gently deposits her on his bed, removing her shoes and clothes. He changes her into his old T-shirt and high school gym shorts. He admires her for a moment, pushing her curls out of her face since her updo has long since come undone.

He’s about to get up, but she grips his arm. “Stay.” She pleads sleepily.

Bryce kisses her forehead. “I’m just going to say goodbye to my friends and my uncles. I’ll be right back.”

Casey nods, yawning and releasing him. She rolls onto her side, and he turns out the lights before leaving the room.

Bryce returns to the backyard just in time for the beer pong tournament his Uncle Tito has started. His mother would never allow this, it’s too low class for her tastes, but she’s turned in for the night. She’s probably chugging a bottle of wine, finally away from prying eyes.

Bryce loves beer pong, so of course he joins. But he’s already tipsy, so he’s not as good as usual. He finds himself missing several shots, being forced to drink more and more as Uncle Tito hits almost all his shots.

An hour later, Bryce is definitely drunk. He stumbles into the house, heading towards the guest bathroom. He’s about to turn the door knob when the door opens, surprising him. Tia crashes into his chest.

He steadies them both by wrapping his arms around her. He’s trapped against the hallway wall, Tia leaning against him.

Tia glances up at him, smiling. “You smell like beer.”

He smiles back, the room is spinning, but he tries to focus. “You smell like vanilla. Are you still using that same perfume?”

“You remembered.” Tia says softly, her hands tightening in his white dress shirt.

Suddenly she leans up, aggressively pressing her lips to his.

If he was sober, he would have stopped this immediately. Pushed her away and quickly returned to Casey, the love of his life. But he’s so drunk. And her lips feel nice, and taste like the strawberry lip gloss she was always so fond of.

He kisses Tia back, hands tangling into her hair. Her blonde tresses are silky and smooth, so different from Casey’s dark curls. And that’s enough to break the drunken spell. To make him realize what he’s doing. That he’s cheating on Casey.

Glass shatters at the exact moment that he pulls away.

Bryce’s wide eyes meet Casey’s. The glass of water she was bringing to his room shattered on the expensive tile floor.

…

Author’s Note: You’re probably wondering why I did this. And to be honest, I’m wondering the same thing. But the idea just came to me and I wanted some angst and conflict.

Taglist: @octobereighth @sibella-plays-choices @hazah @akrenich @lovehugsandcandy @professorortegasstudent @regina-and-happiness @brightpinkpeppercorn @choicesarehard @lizeboredom @desiree-0816 @hellooliviaolivia @dreaming-of-movies @friedherringclodthing @weaving-in-words @fairydustandsarcasm @goldenjellyfish12 @pessimystic-fangirl @mimikoasahina @srta-give-me-my-jax-rl @god-save-the-keen @caroldxnvxrs @cora-nova

#open heart #bryce lahela x mc #bryce x mc #choices fanfiction #playchoices #choices #bryce lahela

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godofevrerything · 5 years ago

Text

Hell Rising Chapter Four: Rin

I hated close knit neighborhoods. They were the most dangerous places to be in. Everyone knew everyone, and a stranger, especially a colored stranger, could be picked out in a second.

I looked around, feeling sick. The air smelled like exhaust and tar. Nothing like the clean air and spice from India.

The cargo ship had been suffocating. I had been running all around the ship for a week, in a constant state of panic.

It was a damn miracle that nobody tossed me overboard for trespassing.

I walked down the sidewalk as quickly as I could. The sooner I was out the the neighborhood, the better.

"You're not from around here, kid. What do you think you're doing?"

I jumped, fear pumping through me. But the question wasn't directed at me.

The security guard glared at the brunette boy in front of him. I ducked into the alley, and peaked out at the scene.

The boy was shaking. "I was j-just passing through, s-sir! I mean no h-harm, I swear!"

I felt a surge of empathy for the boy. He was taller than me, and several years older, maybe 17.

His blue gray eyes darted around in a panic. They swept to the alley and met mine, silently pleading me to help him.

I was conflicted. If I stepped out to help him, I'd get the brunt of the punishment. If the security was this gruff to a light haired, white boy, who knows what they would do to me.

But at the same time, if I helped him, he'd be in my debt. I could use him as my shield to get anywhere.

I drew in a breath.

Allah protect me.

I stepped out of the alley and plastered a relieved look on my face.

"Master, there you are!" I gasped. "Come along, the Madame will be furious if you aren't home for dinner!"

The guards head snapped to me, scowling darkly. "Are you this boys maid?"

I dropped into a low curtsy. "Sir, I am so sorry that the Master went astray. But we must go."

The guard took a step towards me, his eyes flashing. "What kind of damn brainless fool are you to lose your master? A stupid islander like you should know to keep close to their superior."

I bit back a yell. I shoved my hands into my pockets. I could feel the sparks crawling up to my wrist. No. I couldn't kill the guard. That would be the opposite of escaping quietly.

"Once again, I sincerely ap-"

"A cheap sorry, especially an apology from an islander doesn't change the fact that you superior has trespassed." he spat.

"Sir, do not speak to my maid that way."

We turned. The boy had drawn himself up to his full height. He was actually as tall as the security guard, if not, he was taller. But the scary thing was his cold eyes. All the nervousness was gone, replaced by a icy sense of confidence and superiority.

The security guard frowned. "It's a maid. She's not worth much."

"It doesn't matter." the boy scoffed. "She is my maid, and I do not tolerate anyone speaking to my staff that way."

Oh god. Didn't this kid know that people didn't think much about their staff? He was going to get us locked up for being decent.

"Also, if it's anyone who can speak to my staff that way, it's me. God knows how many times she screws up. And if her esteem goes too low, she won't be able to work as well." the boy added.

Well. Never mind.

For a long moment, the guard stared at us, his eyes narrowed.

Then he shook his head. "Go on then. Just remember to not loiter. And make sure to keep your staff in check." the guard addressed the boy.

The boy nodded. "Of course." he tossed a glare at me. "Now hurry up. If I'm late, you won't get any dinner tonight."

I gritted my teeth. Christ, he didn't have to be such an ass.

"Of course, Sir." I muttered.

We walked away from the guard as quickly as we could. I kept my head down, my heart in my throat. The boy was silent.

We made it a few blocks outside of the neighborhood when he spoke up.

"Um, thank you."

I glanced at him, raising my eyebrow.

He shifted, looking at anywhere but me. "For what you did back there. You, uh, saved me."

I scoffed. "Yeah, I know. And are you thanking the tree, or me?"

He looked at me, startled. "Huh? I'm thanking you?"

I smirked up at him. "Sounds like a question. And typically, you look at the person when you're thanking them."

He flushed. "Oh. Sorry."

I waved my hand. "Forget it. I don't need a thank you."

He frowned. "Then why were you making a big deal about it?"

I shrugged.

The boy swallowed. "So, I'm guessing that you need my help."

I chuckled. "Glad you brought that up. I'm going to need to travel with you."

He blinked. "Why can't you travel on your own?"

I sighed. "I could, but that would be extremely hard. I've traveled on my own for about a decade, and I can tell you; it's no picnic. You know that guard that you just talked to?"

He nodded.

"Well, imagine that you have to deal with that a hundred times a day, the harshness is ten times worse, and you don't ever have anyone like me to pop out and save you." I speared him with a look. "Now imagine dealing with that for every day, for a decade. Not pleasant, right?"

He shuddered. "No. But, if you've dealt with that for a decade, then why can't you deal with it for a bit longer?"

I groaned. "I can, but I don't want to. I mean, nobody would want to. And not to mention that if I slip up once, I'll be thrown in jail for life."

His mouth opened. "They're that harsh? Please tell me you're kidding!"

I smiled grimly. "Nope. Thats my life. I mean, the guard was awful to you, and you're white. I'm Indian, and not to mention, a girl."

He drew in a breath. "Alright. I'll help you. I have two tickets to Missouri. The train leaves at noon."

I grinned. "Great, lets go."

His eyes widened. "What? But you don't even know my name!"

I snorted. "So? Names don't matter to me. People come and go. No use trying to remember them. It's not like they're remember me."

He stared at me.

I sighed. "Look, are you coming or not?"

The boy held his hand out to me.

I frowned. "What are you doing?"

"It's a handshake." he said.

I glared at him. "I know that. But theres no point. It doesn't matter."

He shook his head. "It matters to me. Come on, it'll only take a minute."

I stared at his hand and sighed. I shook it quickly. "There, happy?"

He sighed. "That wasn't a proper handshake."

"It doesn't matter. You'll forget me anyways." I sneered.

He shook his head. "No, I won't."

I sighed. "Liar."

He frowned at me. "Are you always this cynical?"

I chuckled. "It's called being realistic. And since I don't think you'll stop asking, my name is Saundrine. But call me Rin."

He smiled. "I'm Ivan."

I glanced back at Ivan. He was just as innocent now as he was five years ago. He had become more confident, I supposed, but he still had the optimistic innocence.

I kept telling him that the world wasn't good. People died every day and the ones who lived came and went. Few stuck around, and most hurt you. If he had went around without me, I had no doubt that he'd be locked up in a lab by now. He'd probably blatantly flirt with some man, and the officials would drag him away.

He wore his heart on his sleeve. And never held his tongue.

I sighed. He was going to get killed someday if he didn't watch himself.

Rana squeezed my hand. "What are you thinking about, Sunshine?"

I drew in a breath. "When I first met Ivan. He's just as oblivious to the world as he was back then."

Rana smiled. "Cute. I'm just glad that you two didn't meet like Darcy and I met. Wouldn't want you to have nightmares like me."

I sighed. "That makes the two of us."

Kai tugged on my hand. "Amma?"

I looked at him. "Yes?"

"My feet are tired. Can you carry me, please?" he asked.

I chuckled. "Sure."

I put Kai on my shoulders. He yawned and lay his head on top of mine. I glanced at Rana. Sabrina was curled in her arms, fast asleep. I couldn't imagine the toll it took on them to escape the hotel. No wonder why they were exhausted.

We walked through the city, keeping our heads down. Ivan and Darcy were walking behind Rana and I, something they never did. They always walked in front of us, to sort of shield us from any officials. But now I supposed the roles became switched.

"-Johnson and Ivan Stravinsky. The two young adults not only destroyed their hotel room and grievously injured our police force, but have also been helping two convicts to flee from the law."

My head snapped up. There, on a TV screen in a shop window, were Darcy and Ivan's faces. Right on the news.

"That's right, Dan." the reporter continued. "Johnson and Stravinsky are reported to have helped the escaped convict Namarana Ishimi and a young woman. Ishimi is also reported to have two young children with her, and has been dragging them all around the country. It is unclear if the young women is Ishimi's accomplice or captive. Now, let's hear from David Ricker, the head of the police force."

"Ricker." Rana snarled.

Ricker appeared on the screen, wearing an oily smile. "Thank you Lindsay. I believe that Ms.Johnson and Mr.Stravinsky were simply brainwashed by Ishimi. They were two good young people who Ishimi manipulated into helping her. Nevertheless, they did cause considerable property damage, and not to mention the damage done to our fine police force."

"Well what were we supposed to do, you sick bastard?" Rana growled. "Let them kill us?"

"Rana, quiet." I hissed.

She exhaled angrily, her eyes trained on the screen.

I glanced back at Darcy and Ivan. They were stock still, their faces white. To my horror, there was a small crowd surrounding us, listening to the news.

"I truly believe that Johnson and Stravinsky can become sane again if they simply turn themselves in." Ricker sighed. "We have plenty of outstanding psychologists and medics who can help them through the trauma that Ishimi put them through. And once she is taken care of, I truly believe that the city will be safe again. For she is the reason of the unrest in the city."

"You sick son of a-" Rana hissed.

I stomped on her foot, cutting her off. She glared at me, and I glared back.

"Is there anything that you'd like to say to Ishimi, sir?" the reporter asked.

"Absolutely."Ricker chuckled. "Ishimi, I suggest that you turn yourself in. You've terrorized the country enough, and even manipulated innocent people into helping you. Turn yourself in, or we will be forced to drag you into government custody."

"Forced, my ass." Rana mumbled.

Luckily, nobody seemed to hear her.

"Come on." I muttered. "We've heard enough, let's go."

I grabbed Rana and Kai's hand, pulling them out of the crowd. Darcy and Ivan followed us, silent.

We made it two blocks before Darcy spoke, her voice shaky.

"You know, I always wanted to be on TV when I was little. But this is not what I meant."

Ivan shook his head. "None of us did."

Kai spoke up. "Haha, why were they saying all that stuff about you?"

Rana didn't answer, choosing to stare down at Sabrina in her arms.

"Haha doesn't want to talk right now, Kai. But don't mind what that man on TV said. He was lying." I whispered.

"But why was he lying?" Kai asked.

I shook my head. "Because he is evil. That what evil people do. They lie all the time to make themselves look like heroes. And they paint the real heroes as villains."

"That's awful." Kai whispered. "Can I kick him?"

"Yeah, I'll join you." Rana muttered.

"No, Kai. Kicking him won't solve anything." I sighed.

"But it would make me feel a hell of a lot better." Rana scoffed.

"It still won't change anything." I sighed. "If it would, trust me, I would have beat him black and blue already."

Rana let out a weak laugh.

We walked into a bookstore, ducking into the back isles.

I turned to Darcy. "In the cab, you said that you had a friend who would help us. You said she'd meet us here."

Darcy blinked. "Oh. Yeah."

"Yeah?" I asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hi guys. Glad you made it out."

We turned. A girl approached us, smiling faintly. She was a bit younger than Rana, with short pastel pink hair.

Rana stared at her, frowning. The girls eyes were silver, and they flashed slightly when she looked at Rana.

"Something on my face?" she asked.

Rana blinked. "What? Oh no."

"Great." she sighed.

"Guys, this is my friend, Jae." Darcy said. "Rana, you've already met her when she took care of the kids. And Ivan knows her. Rin, Jae. Jae, Rin."

I nodded. "Hello."

"Hiya." Jae chuckled.

She turned to Darcy. "So are we going or not?"

"Going?" Rana asked. She held Sabrina a bit tighter, her eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, to the safe place." Jae snorted.

"Safe place?" I repeated.

"Well, one of them."

Darcy frowned. "Jae, you've never mentioned safe places."

Jae laughed lightly. "Ah, well. I've only known you for what, nine months? I couldn't trust you yet. Y'know how people turn your trust against you."

"I can relate." Rana muttered.

They shared a grim smile.

I frowned. "You said that there were multiple safe places. Why haven't we heard of any of them?"

Jae sighed. "Practically nobody knows about them. We have to be extremely careful about letting people know about the safe places. They're all connected, so if one wrong person hears about them, the government will be able to connect and destroy all of the safe places in a whole state. And then the ones out of the state."

"That's dumb." I muttered.

Jae glared at me. "Excuse me?"

"That all of the safe places are connected. I mean, every safe place shouldn't be shut down just because one is discovered. Really, at the most it should be all the safe places in a city connected. Not all in the state. And even if they're just connected in the city, it's idiotic." I scoffed.

Jae sneered at me. "Well, you aren't in charge of the safe places. So could you please shut your mouth and listen to me. Like you said, you didn't even know that they existed."

"Do not talk to Rin like that." Rana snapped. "You might know more about the safe places, but that only proves that you don't have as many street smarts."

Jae's mouth opened slightly. She stared at Rana in shock. Rana glared at her.

"Ummm... So, what about the safe place?" Darcy squeaked.

Jae looked her, lips pursed. "It's hidden. Follow me."

"Oh, so we're just supposed to trust you without any evidence that you're telling the truth?" Rana asked.

Jae paused. "I am telling the truth. I would never lie to you."

"We only met you today." I sighed. "We don't trust you."

Her eyes flashed. "You don't trust me. Darcy and Ivan trusts me."

Ivan raised his eyebrow.

"Is there a problem here?"

We all whirled around. There was young man standing a few feet from us.

"What?" Rana whispered.

"I asked if there is problem." the young man said. "You all are quite loud and rude. Also,"

He paused and frowned at Kai and Sabrina. "Children aren't allowed in the library."

"What are you talking about?" Darcy asked. "Libraries are for everyone."

He scoffed. "Well, they are not for people who aren't mature enough to take their private matters outside."

"Oh, and they are for people who stick their noses into other peoples private matters?" I scoffed.

The young man sputtered indignantly.

Rana shot me a glare and gave the man a sweet smile. "I'm terribly sorry for the disturbance, sir. We didn't mean to be this loud."

He sniffed. "Well, you have been."

Jae smiled. "We meant for it to be a small discussion, but it got," she paused, searching for a phrase that wouldn't have the man be suspicious.

"out of hand." Rana finished. "Truly, we apologize for the disturbance. And we'll be right out of your hair."

The man frowned at us. "Hold on, have I seen met you?" he asked.

He asked Darcy.

She froze. "What? N-no. Why?!"

Rana laughed quietly. "We've never seen you in our lives. Now if you'd excuse us,"

He shook his head. "No, I know I've seen you two."

He pointed at Darcy and Ivan.

They froze.

"Well, my two friends are stunt doubles!" Jae chirped. "You probably recognize them for a show."

"Yeah, they've had to stand in for some actors as well." Rana chuckled. "I'm so proud of them."

She gave Ivan and Darcy a bright smile.

The man frowned uncertainly. "No, I've seen them somewhere-"

He winced suddenly, grabbing his head in pain.

Rana frowned. "Are you alright?"

"Headache." he mumbled.

"Ah, well we'll just get out of your hair then." Jae chuckled.

She grabbed Darcy and Ivan's hands, slipping out of the mans view.

"Yes, we'll get going now." Rana said brightly. "After all, dealing with strangers might worsen your headache. And I know how bad headaches can get."

She grabbed Kai and my hand, rushing out of the bookstore before he could answer.

We met Jae, Ivan and Darcy a few blocks down.

"That was close." Jae croaked. "We have to get you to the safe place now."

"Then let's get going." Rana snapped.

They started walking down the sidewalk. All of them, without a single question or complaint.

I rushed after Rana and grabbed her arm. She jumped, glaring at me. I didn't care. I took Sabrina from her arms and gave the baby to Darcy. I told Kai to go walk with Ivan. He listened, and I went back to Rana.

"Rin, what the hell?" Rana demanded.

"Keep your voice down." I hissed.

She glared at me furiously.

"Why are you trusting Jae?" I whispered. "You don't know anything about her! For all you know, she could be leading us right to the Admin!"

"Jae is Darcy's friend." Rana whispered. "I trust Darcy's judgement."

"Darcy's judgement is what got us wasted in a dumpster and covered in hot sauce in Houston!" I snapped.

"Don't bring that up." Rana scowled. "I don't ever want to think about Houston. And I trust her judgement with people, not alcohol."

"Are you kidding me? Darcy is the type of person to trust a serial killer in the middle of the woods!"

"That's Ivan." Rana corrected.

"And," she hesitated. "I trust Jae. There is something about her that makes me trust her."

"What?!" I yelped.

"Look, if you can't trust Jae, then trust my judgement. You can do that, right Rin?" she asked.

I frowned. "Of course I trust you, but-"

"Great." she interrupted. "Now let's get going before the Admins men come back and try to kill us again."

"I second that." Jae called out.

"Were you eavesdropping?" I snapped.

"Nah, just heard the end bit." Jae chuckled. "Now hurry up."

We went down the street and ducked into an alley. I held onto Rana's hand tightly, frowning at Jae's back.

She yanked the manhole up and grinned at us. "Come on."

Jae dropped into the hole.

"No! Hell no. I am not climbing down into a sewer!" Darcy yelped.

Rana pulled her hand from mine and scooted into the hole. "Then enjoy getting pumped full off drugs and endless interrogation."

She disappeared from view.

Ivan hesitated and then went after her.

"Kai, sweetheart, come on down! I'll catch you!" Rana called up.

"Kai, no." I hissed.

He hesitated.

"Come on Kai, we got to move!"

"Come on, Amma." Kai said. "Haha will catch us."

"Kai?!" Darcy yelped.

He climbed down in the damn hole.

Darcy leaned over the hole. "Um, can I drop Sabrina down?"

I stormed over to Darcy. "Absolutely not. Drop her down that hole and I'll push you in."

"Don't listen to Rin!" Rana yelled. "Drop Sabrina. She won't push you in here, don't worry."

"Darcy." I hissed.

She dropped Sabrina.

And climbed down instantly.

I dropped to my knees and looked down the hole, my heart nearly beating out of my chest. What if Rana didn't catch Sabrina? What if Kai didn't get down alright? Why didn't I hear him? Why didn't I hear Ivan? Were they de-

"Got you, Sabi!"

I heard Sabrina squeal in delight, and Rana laughed. I heard Kai talking to Sabrina, and Ivan helping Darcy down.

Thank you Allah.

"Rin, come on!" Rana called. "We have to go. Hurry up!"

I swallowed. If Jae was leading us into a trap, well....

She was going to regret it.

I swung my body into the hole and yanked the cover closed. I climbed down the ladder as quickly as I could.

Rana grinned and gave me a quick peck. "There you are! Thought you weren't coming, Sunshine!"

I shook my head. "As if I would let my family walk around with a stranger."

Jae groaned. "We get it, you hate me. Now let's get going."

"Hate you? I don't-" I started.

But she was already walking away.

Rana grabbed my hand. "Come on, Sunshine. You can fry her if it's a trap, don't worry."

"How can I not worry?" I sighed.

We went down the sewer, holding hands in the dim light. Eventually, Jae stopped in front of a wall. She kicked the bottom of it.

"What are you-" Rana started.

A panel appeared on the wall. Jae leaned in and spoke quietly.

"It's Jae. I have some newbies with me. Darcy Johnson, Ivan Stravinsky, Namarana Ishimi, and-"

She glanced at me.

"Saundrine Iago." I said.

"- Saundrine Iago." she finished.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then there was a rumble. And the wall opened.

We stepped inside.

My mouth dropped open.

It was a huge pavilion, with hundreds of tent and booths. Everything was colorful. Voices filled the air.

Happy voices.

Jae grinned.

"Welcome to the Haven."

#Hell Rising #original story #dystopian

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huntertales · 5 years ago

Text

Part Three: The Things We Do For Our Kids. (Freaks and Geeks S08E18)

Episode Summary: The reader and the Winchester brothers investigate a recent set of murders that appear to be caused by a vampire, and are surprised to learn that teenage hunter Krissy Chambers is involved. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 4,150.

Previous Part | Supernatural Rewrite Masterlist

A little after the kids headed off to school and Victor headed off to do some errands around town from what you heard him say before leaving, you decided to explore around the place to waste some time. There wasn't much to see, the place looked like any other house you been in. You made your way over to the mantle to see the family was already making memories for years to come, however many they had left from the way they were living their life. You felt a smile tug at the end of your lips seeing the three teens looking happy together.

You had to at least admit they worked well together as a team. If they really wanted to become hunters and devote their lives to making the world a better place, you and the boys couldn't stop them. But that was after they were legal adults and finished high school. Right now they were impressionable teenagers trying to work through the grief they were feeling. And their guardian was giving you all sorts of strange vibes that wasn't settling well in your stomach. You didn’t care what Victor said, there was no such thing as the perfect hunter.

All of you were the same way; individuals either dragged or brainwashed into this lifestyle with your set of skills that kept you alive and killed all sorts of monsters. Didn't matter how smart and fast you were, it all depended on how a person handled danger when it came running in your direction. And not even the strongest of hunters was immune to the darker side of this lifestyle. From lost lives to the horrible things you had to do in order to survive. You grabbed a photograph from the mantle of the teenagers looking happy on a sunny afternoon. They seemed happy, like a group of friends just hanging out. You didn't want these kids to experience the things you did just yet. You didn't want these kids to experience all of this just yet.

You looked over your shoulder when you heard the front door open to see who it was, expecting it to be Victor. But you were surprised to see it was the three teens, who should have been in their first period from the time on the clock. "Hey. What happened to school?"

“Victor pulled us out.” Aiden told you.

“Why?” You asked, wondering why the sudden change in plans.

"'Cause we've found another target." Victor came out from the kitchen with a folder in his hand, the mention of a new addition to the case summoned Sam from another part of the house. The both of you exchanged a slightly concerned look and gathered around, Sam asked who the man found. "The vamp that killed Krissy's dad. You ready?"

You glanced over to see Krissy’s first reaction of finally tracking down the monster responsible for the death of her father. This was something every hunter dreamed about. Revenge was ripe for the taking. Something was starting to smell rotten. “Okay.” Victor opened up the file and pulled out a black and white screen shot of what appeared to be a young woman walking across the way. “Pulled this from a security camera at a nearby gas station.”

“Wait,” Sam seemed to having the same amount of skepticism about the information Victor was giving all of you. “how do we know this is definitely her?”

“Police sketch, victim’s accounts,” Victor pulled out a sketch of the female that vaguely matched the one in the photograph along with an official report of the events in black and white. But what sold Krissy on this girl being her father’s killer was another closer shot he pulled out. “And this.”

Victor pointed at something the girl was wearing, which turned out to be necklace from the looks of it. Kirssy reached out and grabbed the photograph from the table to get a better look. She felt a sense of familiarity come over her at the sight of the piece of jewelry. “My dad’s necklace. My mom gave it to him on their anniversary.”

Sam found himself unable to be convinced these photographs or the evidence Victor provided was the real deal. He grabbed another picture to get himself a better look. You leaned over slightly to examine it yourself, which you noticed a tiny detail that didn't match over pictures you seen of this kind. Sam mentioned his concerns. "Are you sure this is a video surveillance pic?"

“It’s her!” Krissy suddenly snapped at the man.

You knew she was fueled by the idea that this person she was staring at—wearing her father's necklace--was the person responsible. It was all there in black and white. You didn't have time to change her mind about investigating further into this when you heard your phone ring. Excusing yourself when you saw that it was Dean checking up, you answered and wandered off to another part of the house for a private conversation.

"How'd it go with the girl?" You asked him wandering through the kitchen and to another place to distance yourself from the group.

“Strange. Might be that the vampire wasn’t lying. He was fresh made within the month,” Dean said, giving you details that didn’t add up to the things you already knew. “but Josephine’s family was murdered three months ago.”

“So, who killed them?” You wondered.

“I don’t know. I’d like to talk to whoever’s driving that blue van. Other than that,” Dean said, he didn’t have much of anything else to tell you that helped figure out who was responsible. “What about you and Sam?”

“Something’s up. Victor says he has a surveillance photo of the vampire that killed Krissy’s father. But, Dean…” You glanced over your shoulder as you dropped your voice to a whisper so no one heard what you were about to say. “I’m not so sure.”

“Why’s that?” Dean asked you.

“There’s no time stamp on it.” You said, the little detail was making you feel like there was ever so slightly off about the evidence where Victor got it from.

“Okay.” Dean said, listening to your suspicions. “So you think he’s lying?”

“Well, that,” You admitted it was the first guess that crossed your mind. “Or he’s just wrong. It’s hard to say.”

“Yeah, I never trust a guy who wears a sweater.” Dean’s humor made a chuckle escape your mouth as you glanced over at Victor to see he was talking, probably making some plan to get this hunt started. "You want me to head back there?"

“No, no. I’m good. Sammy and I can take care of this.” You reassured the older man. “We’re gonna do some more digging.”

"All right." Dean said. "I'm gonna talk to the hotel clerk, see what he knows."

You ended the call shortly after that, deciding to take a better look at those security photos to see if they were in fact the real deal. You glanced out the window you had been standing next to during the rest of the duration of the call. It all seemed like another peaceful and quiet morning, until you spotted a van parked across the street—in a shade of blue. You pushed back the curtain to take a better look for yourself. While the car seemed to be empty, you had a feeling the driver was around somewhere close by.

You didn't waste a second heading back to the dining room where you remembered everybody else was. The only people left were Sam and Victor, the three teens were nowhere to be found. You let out a faint sigh from the possible trouble they were getting themselves into. "Where did everybody go?"

“Tracking that vamp.” Victor told you, making you feel unsure if that was a blessing or a curse for the predicament you were in.

“Well, I think we’ve got a problem a lot closer to home. Look at this.” You said. The three of you headed back to the window where you had been just standing to show the men what you had discovered. “See that blue van? Dean saw it outside the hotel yesterday. We think he’s working with the vampire we killed.”

“Looks like we’re going hunting.” Victor said.

You didn’t waste a second in finding where you placed your machete, Sam doing the same. Victor armed himself with a gun for any precaution if something went wrong before all of you headed towards the van. Groups were stronger in numbers. Sam lead while you followed behind, Victor trailed in the back. You and the younger Winchester approached the van to see the drivers side windows were rolled down, Sam inspected the inside to see if he could find anyone hiding in the back. But there was no one in sight. Which meant the vampire was on foot. Where to? That’s what you needed to find out before it was too late.

The three of you decided to check the neighborhood and through the quiet park just a few minutes walk from the house. Luckily for you there was nobody in sight, everyone was either at work or school. Sam decided to split up with you and Victor, taking one area of the woodsy park while you took the other. It seemed like a decent idea at the time. The other hunter hadn't given you much of a reason to distrust him. Other than providing some faulty information that didn’t seem like it made sense of why he would have pulled such an ammature move. You tried to tell yourself you were being too harsh on the man. But your gut told you otherwise. It told you to keep him at a distance and never take your eyes off of him.

You had been doing just that, following behind the hunter you had only met just the other day. Who had given you almost no indication that he meant any harm. He just wanted to do what was best for his kids that he was looking over. Make sure that they had a better life and hunting experience than he had. And he’d do anything to make sure nothing got in his way. It was the sound of a twig snapping in the distance behind you that caught you off guard and took your eyes off of Victor for one second. And it was the one second that all he needed to get his way of sealing the teenager’s path in hunting for good.

You needed to crack a few eggs to make an omelet, in Victor’s case it was a rough whack to the back of the head that sent you dropping to the grass, knocked out cold for the next part of the plan. Sam would be facing the same fate as well. Victor didn’t feel the least bit bad at what he was doing. Parents do drastic things all the time to give their children a better and brighter future. And who better to send the message he was trying to get across than with a couple of hunters who made life harder for others. Victor was doing the world a favor.

+ + +

You had to admit you were starting to get nervous about the idea of parenthood and raising a child. If you took away the hunting and supernatural, there was so much that you were left to think about. You weren't dreading the sleepless nights of feeding and a fussy baby. Endless diapers and laundry that needed to be done. You were nervous about the fact that you were going to be bringing a brand new life into this world. You were going to be responsible for raising another person to make sure they grew up to have the right morals. Make sure they were kind and understanding. Most important of all is that they were loved.

If there was anything you knew about the parents who raised you...it was about choice. Letting your child decide their own future was what scared most parents. You wanted your child to be successful and happy. But you also wanted them safe, pick something you knew they were good at. Your mother wanted you to be sheltered as possible and live a normal life, she never had. John wanted his boys to always be ready for danger. In Victor's case, he wanted to raise the best generation of hunters by molding them from the ground up. He gave the teeangers a sad backstory and everything to give them motive along with a strong bond.

You slowly felt yourself coming back to consciousness after being taken off guard by Victor. The prick was sitting on the couch to greet the both of you when you awoke. You were immediately overtaken with anger at the mere sight of his face. Much as you wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine, you couldn't do much more than sit back in the dining room chair with your wrists tied to the arm rests. You moved your glare away from Victor and towards his friend standing on the other side of the room.

“Good. You’re both awake. We don’t have much time.” Victor said, pushing himself up to his feet. Sam didn't seem to like the sound of what the man was saying, leading him to ask what else was part of his big plan. You had a feeling it didn't involve letting you and Sam go when he flipped over an end table, sending the contents on it to go crashing to the ground. "Picture this. The kids arrive home victorious, only to find Sam dead in their living room. Y/N clinging to life. It seems that the nest of vampires they were hunting were seeking revenge..." Victor told you and Sam about his brilliant idea, all while turning over the coffee table to add more to the story to make it believable. You felt your fingers slowly curl into a fist. "And killed you both. Thus, inspiring them to hunt even more. Not letting any sort of distraction stop them. I’m sorry, guys. I can’t have anyone poisoning my kids’ minds.”

“Other than yourself, that is.” You called him out on his own behavior, not falling for the little act he was putting on to fool himself at what he was doing. You slowly shook your head at what you were learning about him, what things he would do in order to make a couple of better hunters. “I knew there was something off about you the moment I met you.”

“I don’t need to justify my actions to you two or his self-righteous ass of a brother!” Victor defended himself against your judgement of what he thought was the right thing to do.

“You mean like why you’re working with a vampire?” Sam asked the man. “So what’s he get out of this? Free roaming rights?”

“We are at war—a war that we are losing. That leviathan fiasco was a wake-up call. We have to do what we can to survive. But I wouldn’t expect you to understand, Sam. You’re not a father. And Y/N, well...I’m doing the world a favor. Don't think we all know about what you are. Something like you should never bring a child into this world. It'd only bring more destruction. Neither one of you know what it's like to hear the cries of your children dying. But now I have a second chance to make it alright," Victor was telling himself anything he needed to make the excuse of being apart of at least a half dozen murders for the better good. The seething glare coming from you and Sam's lack of sympathy told Victor he wasn't moving the crowd. It took all of your willpower not to spit in his face when he came forward to the both of you. "to create the next generation of hunters—stronger, faster, smarter."

Victor's brillant plan of staging a home invasion was quickly foiled by the sound of the front door opening followed by Dean's voice announcing him and the kids were home. Dean only made it to the living room before he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of a gun being pointed in his direction, Victor at the other end of it. The three teenagers were welcome to the sight of a few tables flipped over and a stranger in their house, all while you and Sam were tied up. You shrug your shoulders when Dean looked in your direction as to figuring out what the hell was going on here. You had a feeling it wasn't going to take very long for the truth to come out.

“What is going on here?” Josephine cautiously asked.

“These three are not to be trusted.” Victor warned the teenagers he'd been looking after for the past few months, presuming they would trust him more than a couple of people they just met the other night. "They're trying to destroy us."

“Do you know this vamp, Victor?” Aiden asked.

“Of course he does. Tell me, Vic.” You spoke up without a moment’s heistance to rat out the old man. “Tell them all about how you’re working together.”

"Is that true?" The kid asked him, growing nervous as to who to believe.

Victor was silent for a long moment before admitting defeat, "It's complicated."

"No, actually, it's not." Dean said. "See, blue van here's been turning fresh vamps and setting them up for you kids as easy kills."

"But why?" Josephine asked.

“Because they didn’t kill our families, did they?” Krissy was starting to put the pieces together for herself, quickly figuring out who was the real enemy here as she started to approach Victor.

"Then who did?" Josephine questioned the older man, demanding to know the truth.

“I did. And they all screamed...and begged for mercy, especially the little ones.” The vampire couldn't help himself at admitting all the gory details about his feasts, the ends of his lips stretching into a pleasured smirk at the sight of the teeanger's horrifed faces.

“Enough, Seth!” Victor shouted at the vampire. He focused his attention back on the teeangers to explain himself better on his drasti actions. “You have to understand. I saw a way to make the future better. But to get there, I had to do something hard.”

“He killed them off your orders?” Krissy asked, hoping what she was saying was just a wild guess she was taking in the dark. Only it was the bitter truth. Victor ruined their lives, broke all of their hopes and dreams into tiny pieces. But he built them back up, made them stronger.

“You needed motivation. I scouted each and every one of you. And knew it was the only way to get you to hunt.” Victor went into more detail about his brilliant plan that sounded more cynical when he said it out loud. Aiden’s voice broke when he realized the price for all of it to happen was the slaughtering of their families. “I know their deaths are tragic. But think of all the future lives that will now be saved because you are now together.”

“So, these fake vampires were just a way for you to train us and fill our heads with lies?!”

“Don’t you see? This is bigger than all of us. We have to learn to put things in perspective.” Victor showed the kids that he didn't want to hurt them anymore when he gently tossed his gun down to the couch, making him defenseless. "Come with me. We can get past this.”

Krissy pretended to think about it for a moment as she took a few steps forward to the man. She turned her head to look at her family, wondering what all of them wanted to do. It was clear Aiden and Josephine were happy with the idea of putting a bullet in between Victor’s eyes than trust another word that came out of his mouth. She slowly shook her head, as if silently giving Victor his answer. He let out a sigh, having a feeling it might come to this. If they weren’t going to behave like good kids, then Victor decided a punishment was needed.

Without warning, the vampire grabbed Aiden who was closest, making Dean quickly draw out his gun and pointed it directly at the monster. Victor announced the three of them were leaving, Krissy wasn’t afraid of the man. She told him that wasn’t happening.

“I taught you everything you know.” Victor told the young woman. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

Victor forgot that Krissy was born into this lifestyle, her real father was a hunter who taught her a few tricks to keep herself safe. And work together with others as a team. Josephine pulled out a knife from her side and attacked Victor, pushing him out of the way while Krissy grabbed her dart gun filled with dead man's blood and straight in the vampire’s eye. She lodged another one that was the lethal one that sent his body dropping to the ground. When the creature was out of the way, it was time to take care of the real monster. Krissy grabbed a real gun and pointed it straight at Victor.

“Krissy, don’t.” Dean warned the girl.

She didn’t listen to him. You watched as she began walking forward to him with her weapon pointed at him, with a look in her eye you were all too familiar with. “If we want revenge for our families’ deaths, he gives it to us!”

“We don’t kill people.” Dean told her. Krissy wasn’t listening. “You don’t kill people.”

“He’s not a person.” Krissy corrected him. “He’s a monster.”

“Krissy, this ends badly, no matter what we do. Killing him isn’t going to bring back your family. It isn’t going to make you feel any better.” You told her the truth, no matter how much of a bitter pill it was going to be. “You’re only going to be bad as him.”

She listened to what you had to say, thinking they over for a moment before she put her finger on the trigger, making it seem like she was about to put a bullet in the man’s head. The man she called a father figure, who was nothing more than a coward down on his knees in front of her. “This is for my dad.” She pulled the trigger, making everyone flinch for the expected bang that was to follow. But all you heard was the click of the revolver. The gun was empty, but Victor felt as if he was shot. “For Josephine’s family,” Another shot. “For Aiden.” She pulled the trigger, one last time. “For me.”

Death was an easy punishment anyone to hand out when they deserved it. And much as you wanted to see Victor suffer the way he forced these innocent kids, it wasn't the proper treatment he deserved. And Krissy realized that. She shoved a hand inside her pocket and took out a handful of bullets, dropping them over Victor, who was now curled up on the floor in distraught. Maybe at the reality of what he had done. Or his entire plan had backfired in his face. All of his hard work had dwindled down to nothing.

“So,” Aiden spoke up, not sure how he felt himself about this plan. He thought Victor was getting off too easy from what the horrible things he’d done to them. “We’re just gonna let him live?”

“Yeah. All alone, with himself. No family. No friends. Ask me, that’s not much of anything.” Krissy said. She had to admit she was more pleased with the punishment Victor was given.

People make their own hell. You are your own worst enemy. Anything you did to Victor was nothing what he was capable of. You were happy with the idea of locking him up somewhere in solitude and forcing him to spend the rest of his life torturing himself. And at the end of his pathetic life you knew what was waiting for him, an eternity of more misery. He’d never children and wife he loved so much ever again.

Krissy didn’t want to waste anymore of her energy on Victor after all that he did, she wanted to save the vampire she had nearly killed. All of you turned your back on Victor to more important matters. But just mere moments is what the man needed to escape the punishment of facing the rest of his life facing his guilt and grief. Instead, he grabbed a gun from the holster he had around his ankle, putting a bullet in his brain and splattering his blood all over the wall. You let out a frustrated sigh when you saw his limp body hit the ground.

[Next Part]

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