#You can pick whatever age Danny died at just so long as it's younger than Damian

[radiance1]

Damian was going to live with his father.

He was... Pleased, of course. Of course he was, why wouldn't he be? He was the Heir to the Demon, son of Talia Al Ghul, true blood of the Batman and the rightful inheritor of the Robin title.

So of course, he was pleased.

And yet.

"Stay close to me." He whispered, a small and barely noticeable weight settling on his shoulders that made untense the slightest amount. "Don't reveal yourself, don't do anything that I can't cover up and stay invisible."

He reached up towards his shoulder, closing his hand around the smaller, unseen one and gave it a reassuring Squeeze.

Either for himself, or the one he had slain. He didn't know.

Damian had more than enough information on his father, yet not enough for him to trust him with his most well kept secret.

That of his younger brother's existence after death.

Not from the Lazarus Pits, no. Damian had slain Danny himself and watched his body be disposed of. He knew not why Danny persisted, nor stuck around him, but he made the best of the situation as he could.

He loved his mother.

But he could not trust her with this.

He knew of and had expectations of his father.

Yet he also, could not trust him with this.

He respected his grandfather, but he could trust him even less with something like this.

No, Danny was his secret and his alone. One that he managed to keep years since his death, with added help from his younger brother's powers.

(Danny was always too soft, too kind, too emotional and all of the things that would have failed him in this organization.)

(It was a mercy kill, rather than a duel in Damian's eyes.)

(He did not regret killing Danny, but he regretted that he wasn't strong enough to not have to.)

Damian was his older brother.

Damian had a responsibility.

Damian would keep this secret, from the entire world- no. The universe, if he had to.

(He wasn't able to protect him then.)

(So he will protect him now.)

[ghostsray]

Ch7: Second Chance

(this is a day late oops. but hey, it’s also longer than the previous chapters, so that ought to make up for that, right?)

(first - prev - next)

Niel coughed and waved the last wisps of green smoke away from his face. When his vision cleared, he looked around and saw himself standing in...exactly the same spot he had been in, inside the Fentons' laboratory. Something was off, though. Danny and Ellie were gone. There didn't seem to be any trace that Ellie had melted anywhere in the lab. The table they had landed on was placed against a different wall, and instead of work-in-progress weapons, it was covered with blueprints.

Niel frowned as he tried to recall what last happened. He had made a wish, and then a ghost...a wish-granting ghost? Niel had wished something about change, but that wasn't definite enough to inform him of what that ghost might have done. Then he turned around and saw the portal--or rather, where the portal should have been.

The frame was still there, but in place of the glowing green swirls was a gaping hole. Tangles of cables slithered along the base. Niel didn't even know the portal could be closed.

He wiped away the last tears from his face and furrowed his brows. So he made a wish about changing things...a ghost granted it...and now the portal was closed. That had to be related, right?

He heard footsteps descend the stairs, and he turned around and saw Danny frozen at the bottom, staring at him with wide eyes. Before Niel could say anything, Danny rushed to the nearest shelf and grabbed an ectogun, aiming it at Niel shakily.

"You--you're a g-ghost," Danny stammered.

Niel raised an eyebrow. "Um, yeah? It's me."

Danny looked confused. He didn't lower his weapon. "Ghosts--" he began, "ghosts are real?"

It was then that Niel finally noticed that something seemed different about Danny. He had less scars, less bags under his eyes, and...he was shorter? Vlad had designed his clones to be fourteen after the age he got Danny's DNA from, but by the time Niel was created, Danny was sixteen. He had always been a few inches taller than Niel due to the two extra years, but the Danny that stood before him now was the exact same height.

Blueprints, a closed portal, a younger Danny who didn't believe in ghosts...wait. Niel's stomach sank as he asked, "What year is it?"

Danny frowned, but then he said, "Oh, right. Ghosts come from different periods of time, right?"

He told him the date. It was two years ago.

Niel muttered a curse word under his breath. (It was harsher than Vlad's fake swears. The situation seemed appropriate.) He looked at Danny, who was still aiming that gun at him.

"Put that away," Niel said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Danny hesitated, but he didn't lower the gun. "My parents--"

"They told you that all ghosts are bad, right?" Danny looked surprised, but Niel rolled his eyes and continued, "You're probably thinking that I'm trying to trick you into trusting me or something."

"And you're not?"

"No! I just want to find a way back to the Ghost Zone." Maybe then, he could find that wish ghost and make her undo whatever she had done to bring him here.

"How did you even get here? The portal isn't finished yet," Danny pointed out.

"Natural portal," Niel lied. "It shut as soon as I came through. Are you sure this portal here can't work?"

Danny shook his head, then said, "My parents made it. Maybe they can find a way to--"

"No!" Niel interrupted. He did not want to deal with the famous ghost-hating Fenton couple. His exclamation startled Danny so much, the boy's finger squeezed around the trigger of his gun. A blast came out and shoved Niel onto the ground.

Danny dropped the gun in shock and covered his mouth. "I'm sorry," he said, then scrunched his face, as if wondering why he was apologizing to a ghost. Niel groaned. As he tried to push himself up, his hand screamed in pain, and he felt his ghost core pull away. Oh shit.

Danny recoiled as the rings of light spread across Niel. When Niel stood up again, fully human, Danny's jaw dropped.

"You look just like me," Danny said. "How...?"

Niel shrugged, then winced when his hand ached. Right. He'd forgotten that he broke a finger. Not to mention his burn from earlier...

"It's a long story," Niel said.

Danny must have noticed him wince, because his eyes travelled to Niel's hand. "Your fingers--"

Niel covered his injured hand. "They'll heal."

"You were just a ghost," Danny said dumbly. "And now..."

Niel shrugged again with one shoulder. "It's...a long story?"

Danny's face scrunched up, then stretched in surprise. "You asked me what date it was. And you look like me...Are you...me from the future?"

That was...a valid conclusion to jump to. "It's complicated," he answered. "Look, I just want to get to the Ghost Zone."

Danny's mouth moved wordlessly for a minute, and then he slowly slid down into a sitting position on the floor. "I think I need a moment to process this."

Niel tapped his foot impatiently. "Seriously?"

"Hey, I just found out that not only are ghosts real, but possibly time travel, too."

"You think that's bad? I'm the one who's stuck in the past, right after--" Niel clenched his jaw and swallowed. He couldn't just say 'right after I discovered that the guy who cloned me from you doesn't actually care about his kids' without delving into an explanation about the whole clone thing and why Vlad even wanted to clone Danny.

Danny looked up at Niel again and asked, "How did I become part ghost?"

"You part died, obviously."

"That doesn't make any sense. You can't be part dead."

"Yeah, well, you were. Or will be. You get what I mean." Niel shook his head and walked to where the empty portal frame stood. Something must have activated it in the future. He knew it had something to do with Danny gaining his powers, but he wasn't familiar with the details...

Danny stood up behind him. "Why don't you want Mom and Dad to help?"

"They're ghost hunters. I'm part ghost. Figure it out." His eyes traced the lines on the portal's sides. A few panels were sticking out, wires poking from beneath...

"But if you just explained things--"

For some reason, Niel felt a flare of anger in his chest, and he turned on Danny and snapped, "I'm sorry, who here is the half-ghost version of you from the future?"

He didn't know why he felt so angry at Danny, or why he was still pretending to be Danny from the future. Maybe he wanted him to hate his parents just like Niel hated Vlad. He knew that was despicable of him to wish for, but then again, he was raised by a supervillain.

Danny took a step back, watching Niel with crestfallen eyes. A heavy footstep descended on the stairs, grabbing both boys' attention. "Dann-o? Is that you?" a voice called out. It was Jack.

Danny looked back at Niel, but the other boy was gone. Truth was, Niel just turned himself invisible, but Danny didn't know that. He turned in place, trying fruitlessly to spot where Niel had went, when Jack's large form peeked into the lab. "There you are. What are you doing in the lab?"

Danny stammered and said, "Um--"

But Jack just grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's okay, son. If you were curious about ghosts, all you had to do was ask! Just don't be alone in the lab next time, all right?"

"Duly noted," Danny replied.

Niel silently moved toward the lab's exit. He glared at the back of Jack's head as he went. A part of him hoped the man would feel his stare and grow unsettled, but Jack seemed unperturbed.

He swerved past Maddie on the stairs to avoid passing through her as she went to join her husband. Then he picked up speed once he reached the top and phased through the Fenton household's front door.

He wanted to run, as far away from Fentonworks as possible, except moving his arm sent jolts of pain through his hand and he wasn't in the mood for Naruto running, so instead he sat down on the sidewalk and sighed. Welp, he was in the past, before Danny ever gained his ghost powers. That was certainly one way to allow him to "change everything".

The Fenton portal didn't work. Niel hadn't learned how to summon his own portals yet, and he doubted a natural portal would conveniently open up. He wondered if maybe the wish ghost could still be in the human world--she granted this wish, so she must have allowed herself some leverage, right? Maybe he could summon her if he said her name three times, like that musical about a ghost he pirated online once. The problem was that he didn't know what the wish ghost's name was. He was pretty sure he heard about her before, but...ugh, why did his memory have to suck?

Niel's stomach sank as he realized there was only one portal left he could use, and to get to it, he had to go to Vlad's house. At this point of time, Vlad hadn't even met Danny yet. He hadn't begun working on creating a perfect clone. How would Niel feel if he saw him? The image of Vlad's bloodred eyes and glinting fangs snarling at him as he tried to protect Ellie's melting form was still fresh in his brain.

Niel trembled, but he knew he had no choice. He stood up and began walking toward the mayor's mansion. He went a few steps before he paused as a realization hit him.

Was Vlad even mayor yet? It was two years ago. Vlad, from Niel's time, had been mayor for one year. That means he wouldn't move to Amity Park yet until next year.

Great! Not even Vlad's portal was in Amity Park. Niel wasn't sure if that dissapointed or relieved him. He would have to travel all the way to Wisconsin if he wanted to reach the Ghost Zone.

So, his options were either to travel to another state, or go back into Fentonworks and try to open the portal while no one was looking. If Danny turned half ghost from opening the portal, what would happen to Niel, since he was already half ghost? Would he become full ghost, or would the action somehow reverse his genes and make him full human? No, wait, that second option makes no sense. He'd probably just die and go full ghost.

"Danny?" someone said. He looked up and saw Danny's sister, Jazz. She was holding a book from the library and staring at him with furrowed brows. Oh, crackers, was he visible? He glanced down at himself, and sure enough, he was there. Niel mentally berated himself. Losing his invisibility just because he lost concentration? He should have trained his powers better than that.

"What did you do to your hair?" Jazz asked.

Niel unconsciously touched the shaven part of his hair and said with a shrug, "Impulse?"

Jazz frowned. "Carrying out drastic impulses isn't always healthy. It could be a sign of poor psychological health."

Niel was about to wonder why she suddenly started speaking like an encyclopedia, then he read the cover of the book she was holding. A psychology book. So she's into mental health.

"It's fine," Niel mumbled and tried to walk past her, but Jazz grabbed his hand. Unfortunately, it was his injured one, and he hissed as she closed her palm around his fingers. Jazz widened her eyes when she noticed his injuries.

"How did you--nevermind, that's not important. Why did you not heal your hand after you burnt and broke it? We do have a first aid kit."

"It'll heal."

"On its own?"

Right. Humans didn't heal as well as half-ghosts. Jazz shifted her grip onto his wrist and started pulling him inside.

"Jazz, it's fine," he insisted, but she didn't listen. She opened the front door to Danny's house and grabbed him through. His anxiety spiked, and he turned his wrist intangible to slip through her grip. Jazz turned back in surprise when her hands became empty, but at that point, it was too late--they were standing inside the Fentons' living room, and staring at them with wide eyes were the Fentons themselves, Danny included.

"Jazz, sweetie, who is that?" Maddie asked, craning her neck to get a good look at Niel.

Jazz turned around to answer, but her words died in her throat when she spotted the real Danny. "What? How--"

Maddie and Jack saw Niel, and they pulled out their guns. "It's a ghost impersonator," Jack exclaimed.

"That's ridiculous," Jazz quickly argued, but she was scowling at Niel in confusion, trying to figure out how and why he looked so similar to her brother. "Who are you?"

The Fenton couple's weapons began to whir as they powered up, but Danny jumped in front of them and shouted, "Stop! He's me from a different time!"

Maddie frowned. "Are you saying he's a time traveller?"

Jack lowered his weapon and scratched his chin. "If ghosts are real, then why not time travel?"

"Well--" Maddie hesitated. "It's possible in theory, but..."

"None of this makes any sense!" Jazz interrupted, throwing her arms up. "Ghosts? Time travel? Look-alikes? What is going on?"

Niel stepped forward, and everyone quieted down to watch him with anticipation. "Maddie and Jack are right, actually," he said, then made his eyes flash red. "I am a ghost."

Maddie gripped her gun again, but Jazz protested, "You can't be a ghost, you're alive! I felt your pulse."

"He's part ghost," Danny murmured. Everyone but Niel turned to look at him.

"Part ghost? That's impossible," Maddie scoffed, though there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Of course you would say that." Niel glared at them with his red eyes and said, "You don't care about scientific discoveries. You only care about fitting the world into your narrow theories."

Maddie frowned, obviously not liking what he was saying. Niel didn't care. He tugged on his core, and the others in the room stepped back in shock as he transformed with a flash of light.

He waited for them to raise their weapons again, or shout out ghost insults. Instead, Jack broke the silence by saying, "That was incredible!"

Niel faltered. "It...was?"

"You were just human--and then you weren't. How did you do that?"

There was no malicious tone in Jack's voice. In fact, he sounded genuinely curious. Maddie nodded in agreement, her eyes wide with wonder.

Niel glanced between them, his brows drawn together. "You're not going to shoot me? Because I'm a ghost?"

"You said we don't care about scientific discoveries," Maddie said. "I don't know where you got that idea from. Of course we're intrigued by new discoveries. Danny said you were only part ghost, and Jazz confirmed this by saying you have a pulse, which ghosts cannot have. That must mean you really are a human-ghost hybrid--something we thought was impossible, but we were wrong."

"We want to know everything," Jack said excitedly, then quickly added, "without hurting you, of course."

"Of course not," Maddie agreed. "We're not that amoral. We would never hurt a person, even if they were only part person."

Niel felt like a rug was being pulled from underneath him...until he held onto that last sentence, and his expression returned to a scowl. "So you wouldn't have cared about what happened me if I was a full ghost?"

Maddie hesitated. She and Jack exchanged a glance.

"To be fair, we've only ever heard stories about ghosts," Jack admitted, "and those stories always portrayed them as evil, so that was what we assumed them to be..."

"But if we gain proof against that, then of course we'll change our minds," Maddie completed.

"Really?" Niel said skeptically. "You won't assume the ghost is only pretending to be nice to trick humans into trusting him?" That was what he had always heard the Fentons say about Phantom on the news. The couple shifted guiltily.

Jazz watched the exchange in quiet calculation. "Hold up, so," she said to Niel, "are you or are you not from the future?"

"I am," he answered, which wasn't a lie.

"Then, something must have happened in your time to make you so bitter toward our parents. Am I right?"

Maddie and Jack were watching him apprehensively. Niel frowned. "You thought your son's ghost form is evil."

"We would never think that about Danny!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, Danny didn't tell you about his ghost half."

"Why not?" Maddie wondered.

Niel met Danny's eyes. He knew the same thought was going through their heads. Danny glanced away and fidgeted. "Because...you hate ghosts," Danny said.

Immediately, the couple's expressions morphed into guilt. "Oh, sweetie," Maddie said. "We would never hate you if you became a ghost."

"Of course not!" Jack agreed. "Ectoplasmic or not, you'll always be our son."

Danny looked up at them hopefully. "Really?"

"Really," Maddie promised. She smiled, and Danny smiled back. Both of them were suddenly swept up by Jack's burly arms into a hug, causing Danny to laugh.

"We'll always care for our family," Jack said, then gestured for Jazz and Niel to join in.

"And we're sorry," Maddie told Niel. "Really. For anything we might have done--er, will have done in the future."

Jazz's lips quirked upward, and she joined in her family group hug. Niel did not.

He stayed rooted in his spot, watching them, while something akin to panic rose inside him.

"No!" he exclaimed, surprising the family. "No, you're supposed to hate ghosts! You're supposed to hate me!"

"Scientists can be wrong," Maddie said, startled from his outburst. "Whatever we said, we can make it up to you."

Niel trembled. This was wrong. This was all wrong--the Fentons weren't supposed to be such great parents! And yet he couldn't deny the heartwarming scene in front of him. Maddie and Jack cared for their children...

...Vlad did not.

How ironic was that? Niel had spent so much time thinking that Danny would be better off under Vlad's care than under his parents'. Now, everything was flipped. Vlad was horrible, and the Fentons--

The Fentons were gazing at him warmly, Jack's arms still outstretched in an invitation for Niel to join them in their group hug.

"Danny," Jazz said softly. "It's okay. I think they can change."

Niel didn't meet her eyes. Danny, she had called him. They all still thought he was a future version of Danny. And Niel...didn't want that to change.

Danny's family was amazing, he now realized. And they thought he was their son. They thought he was a part of them. Maybe, if he kept lying, he could be a part of their family, and then he'll never have to return to Vlad ever again.

That thought grew in his head until it was all he could think of. He was brought here on a wish, and that wish was being granted. He could be a part of a real family, and as an added bonus, Danny wouldn't have to go through his accident or fight any ghosts if they never completed the portal. Everyone would be happy. He, Danny, and--

Oh. Guilt swam in his stomach as he realized he had forgotten all about his sister--his real sister, not Jazz. If he stayed, Ellie would never had been made.

"What's the matter, dear?" Maddie asked. Niel swallowed.

"I'm..." he sighed and said, "I'm not your son."

He looked at Maddie nervously to see her reaction...and was confused to see that her expression hadn't changed from its warm smile. Then he looked at everyone else and realized she wasn't the only one--none of them had moved one millimeter.

"Um...hello?" he asked and waved in front of their faces. None of them even blinked. What the f--

"Hi," a new voice said, and Niel screamed and jumped in surprise.

He whipped around and found a smiling ghost. The ghost was blue-skinned and wore a purple cloak along with what must have been a dozen watches. As if those weren't enough to tell him the time, he also held a scepter with one more little clock on top.

As Niel watched, the ghost shifted from a young adult, to an old adult, a child, then back again. A light flicked on inside his brain.

"You're that time ghost," he said. "I've heard about you. Your name had to do with clocks or watches...um...Watchman?"

The ghost chuckled. "Close enough. It's Clockwork."

"You're supposed to be a myth."

Clockwork spread his arms and asked, "Do I seem like a myth to you?"

"I guess not," Niel admitted. "Assuming the myths are true, you either control time, or you have a deep obsession with collecting watches."

"Har har, very funny," Clockwork said. His monotone voice somehow made his words sound funnier. "You know, you're just as witty as he is," he said and pointed his clock-staff at Danny.

"I like to think im wittier," Niel said casually. Internally, he may have been freaking out. Clockwork might not be a myth, but he sure as hell was a legend. One who was talking to him.

Clockwork hummed and floated over to the Fentons, who stood still as statues--frozen in time, Niel now realized.

"They're a nice family, aren't they?" Clockwork commented. Despite how legendary the time ghost was, Niel suddenly found himself biting his tongue to stop himself from retorting. If the myths were true, then Clockwork knew all about Niel's (half)life. He knew how much emotional turmoil this revelation caused him.

"Maybe," was what Niel ended up saying.

Clockwork shifted into a child. Maybe he did it to spite Niel. "You were very hateful to the parents."

"They hate ghosts."

"But not their son."

Niel pursed his lips. He looked at the frozen Danny, being held in frozen Maddie's arms as she smiled. "I guess...maybe they deserve a second chance."

"Indeed," Clockwork hummed and returned to the Fentons. Niel found himself wishing the time ghost didn't act so aloof. He was observing the Fentons like they were an art exhibit, and Niel was a fellow tourist. "You know, you were never meant to be transported to this time," he mentioned to Niel. "Desiree--that's the name of the wish ghost, by the way--she grants wishes, but usually they're supposed to stay small. Nothing as big as changing the timeline."

Desiree. So that was her name. "What happened to her?" Niel found himself asking.

"I'm afraid she's being trialled."

"What?"

Clockwork turned away from the Fentons to look at him. His form jumped from child to old man, so his face looked more serious as he spoke. "Like I said, changing the timeline is a big deal. The Observants aren't happy with her. If this were a one-time thing, they might have let her go, but this wasn't the first time she went too far with her wishes. Time was never supposed to be a part of her arsenal."

"What...punishment do they have for her?" Niel asked. Even though he never interacted with her much, he found himself sympathizing with her.

Clockwork shrugged. "The Observants no doubt have some severe punishment in mind, but I might convince them to go soft on her. Get them to sentence her for a hundred years in jail, maybe."

"That's supposed to be soft?"

"Desiree herself is several hundreds of years old. One century isn't long when you're immortal."

"That's fair, I guess..."

Clockwork observed him with his pupil-less eyes. His form shifted again into a young adult. "I don't believe you feel sorry for her because she granted your wish, do you?" He waved at the Fentons and added, "Surely you know you can't stay here forever."

Niel knew. As soon as Clockwork appeared, he figured the time ghost was here to transport him back to his own time. Still, hearing that from him felt disappointing.

"I don't want to go back to Vlad," Niel murmured.

"You don't have to," Clockwork pointed out. "After all, your sister seems to be doing just fine on her own."

Niel wrinkled his nose. "I'm not living on the streets."

"I don't know. It might do you some good humility." Niel wondered if Clockwork was joking, and then he saw the ghost's grin. Niel frowned.

Clockwork chuckled. Then he turned serious again. "But really. You don't belong in this timeline."

"I know," Niel said dejectedly. That didn't make him feel any better.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Clockwork by his side. "You will be part of a family someday," the time ghost told him. Niel didn't believe that. But Clockwork can see the future, so maybe, just maybe, that was true.

Niel looked at the frozen family once more. "What will happen to them?"

"Their memories of their encounter with you will be erased, obviously. Their fate will progress as it has been written. Things will return to normal--as normal as it is considered for Amity Park."

"And what will happen to me?"

Clockwork gave him a knowing smile. "Telling you would be a spoiler, wouldn't it?"

Niel was quiet for a moment. Then he opened his mouth to say something, but when he blinked, Clockwork wasn't there. A few more blinks, and he realized he was no longer standing in the Fentons' living room. The smells of stale ectoplasm, batteries, and sterilizer filled the air. He was in the Fentonworks laboratory, and judging from the light seeping through the crack between the portal's closed blast doors, he was back in his own time.

"--uck!" Danny said, then stopped. "Oh. Nothing happened. Huh."

Niel turned around and saw Danny rubbing his neck in embarrassment. "I thought, since you said the word 'wish'--but nothing happened..."

Niel's vision moved away from Danny and landed on Ellie. Ellie, who was little more than a puddle. Ellie, who had been attacked by her and Niel's own father, if Vlad can even be called that.

Danny followed his eyes to Ellie. "Oh, right. Don't worry, I've got the Ecto-Dejecto right..." He turned back to Niel, but he was gone. The portal doors were open. "...here."

Niel floated aimlessly through the Ghost Zone. He couldn't stand another second inside that lab, seeing Ellie like that. But he couldn't stand the thought of returning to Vlad, either. So here he was, drifting through the Infinite Realms.

Now that he wasn't currently being pursued by Skulker, he had the time to take in the scenery. Blobs of ectoplasm floated here and there, making the world seem like an oversized lava lamp. Islands, rocks, and doors floated here and there. Occasionally, a ghost flew by in the distance.

Niel didn't feel any wonder from seeing the view. He felt empty. He felt...lost.

[thcllslnrd]

Midnight, The Stars and You

So I was watching Doctor Sleep again yesterday with my mom, since she didn’t get to see it when it came out, and of course I got feels about Danny and Abra’s niece/uncle relationship so kjsdfhkd ofc I wrote a lil smth for it 

Also this movies been out since like...November 2019?? So I probably don’t need to say it, but spoilers for all of Doctor Sleep and The Shining!!

Summary: Abra’s been doing okay after the night at The Overlook hotel with Rose and her Uncle Dan, but she still has some questions after she keeps hearing a certain song.

Sometimes Abra could still hear the music.

See the flames from The Overlook, the burning wood collapsing over the piles of snow surrounding the hotel.

The smell of ash still stung in her nose, as if she was stuck standing there and watching it burn forever on a loop. The ash in her hair, the sirens from police cars starting to ring louder and louder as she just watched.

What else was she supposed to do?

She knew it was for the better of everyone. What happened to Rose, the hotel...to her Uncle Dan. But that doesn’t mean it still didn’t keep her up at night, plague her dreams day and night, sometimes worse than others.

Sometimes she had days where it was all she could think about. It wasn’t scary anymore, not after knowing what good it did to let that hotel fall, to let the spirits in the hotel eat Rose alive, to get Uncle Dan back to his mother after all those years of waiting and waiting.

But she never remembered hearing the song when it all went down.

Sometimes it played when she wasn’t thinking, doing her homework or washing the dishes after dinner, and she would catch herself eventually.

Midnight, with the stars and you… Midnight and a Rendez-vous

She never heard it that night. Not when Rose was in her mind, not when they were both in Uncle Dan’s mind, not even in room 237. She assumed it had something to do with all that though, something she didn’t know everything about.

She first heard it trapping the old lady in the bathtub of her own home, like an echo of her spirit.

She locked the old woman up in a chest, eventually creating a trail of chests, like in the maze from Uncle Dan’s mind. It was the only way she knew how to keep control of all the Overlook spirits that followed her, but the song came with all of them, not only from the woman in 237. The bartender, the old caretaker from the 1920s, the twins.

There was a missing puzzle piece to all of this somewhere that made everything make sense in the end.

So Abra did the only thing she knew she could do after months of listening and questioning.

“Uncle Dan? ...Are you awake?” The younger girl sat at the foot of her bed, eyes closed, legs crossed, shining as loud as she could.

From what she understood, it took no effort for her to be heard, the way she Shined.

“I’m always awake for you, Abs.” She opened her eyes, hearing his voice, not his Shine.

There he was, standing by her window. It’s where he always showed. He did like to move around though, sit on the floor, sit on the bed next to her when she couldn’t sleep, brain too busy thinking about Overlook, the Knots.

It helped to have someone who understood what happened by her side, and he knew how helpful it would’ve been if he had someone like himself at Abra’s age.

“Hey, Uncle Dan. How have you been doing?”

“I’m doing pretty good, actually. How about you? Usually, I come to you first, not that I don’t mind seeing my favorite niece a little extra.”

“I’m doing...good, all things considered.” Abra smiled warmly, switching the position of her legs and getting comfortable.

She wasn’t sure how to ask all this, if it was a sensitive topic for Uncle Dan, or if he even had the answers she was looking for, but there couldn’t be any harm in asking. It wasn’t like her mom had any answers for her, or she had any other Shiners to go to.

“I do have a question, though. I’ve been noticing something about the spirits, just the Overlook spirits, as I’ve been retrapping them.”

Your eyes held a message tender, saying "I surrender all my love to you"

Her Uncle Dan joined her now, sitting on the corner of her bed. He knew there were still some things she didn’t know, didn’t have time to learn or understand before he dragged her and Rose in with him.

“What’s going on, Abs?”

She was quiet for a moment, looking at the wall in front of her, remembering the way they used to talk back and forth before they actually met, before the Knots, before the Overlook.

“Do you, or... did you ever hear this song? It’s like...like this old jass song, and every time one of the spirits follows me or gets close, I hear it. I don’t know why its there or what it means, but sometimes I feel like it’s on a constant loop. I always hear it from the spirits, but sometimes I think of it on my own too, and it’s this continuous background noise I have playing in my head.”

Uncle Dan immediately knew what his niece was talking about when she brought it up. The song that he linked to all the things he used to see when he was just a kid, when his dad was spiraling at the Overlook, when he started seeing and hearing more than usual.

“...Yeah, I know the song.”

Midnight brought us sweet romance… I know all my whole life through

He started humming quietly, not remembering the words well enough, but the music a steady lullaby in his head.

Abra nodded upon hearing her uncle repeat the music back to her.

“Where does it come from? It’s the hotel, isn’t it?”

Now her Uncle Dan nodded, following with an explanation. He’d need to go slow, get this all out properly in a way she’d understand. She was a big girl though, it wasn’t going to be a hard task.

“Yeah, it is,” He sighed quietly before starting from the beginning. “Back when I was a little kid, when my dad took the job as caretaker of the Overlook, is when I found out more about my Shine. I had no idea what it was or why I had it. I actually thought it was some sort of imaginary friend because that’s what my mom, Wendy, called it. I called it Tony and everything.

“But on our first day at the hotel, I met an older man who worked as head of the kitchen, Dick Hollarann. He knew as soon as I got there that I had a Shine, and he sat me down and helped it make sense to me. I still didn’t really get it because I was young and didn’t understand how something like that could be real, but looking back now it makes a lot of sense. He explained how we see things more than the average person, the way we get visions and can predict things, or can see things that happened a long time ago, and how everyone’s Shine is different. But...he also warned me.

“He told me about the Overlook, about how it had a ‘certain Shine’. I didn’t understand what he meant until about a month and a half down the road. My father, Jack, was a writer, he started to...lose himself a little more every day. Would lash out at my mother, grow violent, wouldn’t sleep, wouldn’t make a lot of sense when he spoke about certain things. Do you remember that night when the hotel possessed me? When I wasn’t me?”

Abra just nodded, listening to her uncle tell of his past.

“I think it was the hotel slowly consuming him. It never felt like him after so long, after I had to escape through the hotel window and run away from him. My mother and I eventually escaped, and my father died out there in the cold. I didn’t know for sure until I came back that night, but I always felt that he become a spirit of the hotel. Like everyone else who died from madness there. Dick actually died in the hotel too. I learned that a few weeks later when he came to visit me like I do with you, but he was never at the hotel’s mercy anyway.

“I never actually heard the song until sometime after too, when I started locking the spirits up myself, but I think it’s the hotel. There was a big ballroom with a bar that I used to play in, had plenty of room for me to ride around on my little tricycle, so maybe something happened there. Maybe that’s where it all started, maybe that’s where it comes from, or that’s where the madness started from, but I don’t know for certain. I’m okay with not knowing for sure now, but I know that’s where it stems from. It’s all connected to the hotel.”

That...that made sense to Abra. The Overlook had always been bad news, years and years before her Uncle Dan took her there and burned it down, but now that the spirits where left for her, it was going to always be apart of her.

“How long did you have to deal with the spirits? Have to listen to the song?”

I'll be remembering you, whatever else I do

Her Uncle Dan placed a hand on her back, smiling. “I was much younger than you, so it took me a few years to get everything locked up, but we both know how strong you are, Abs. It’ll take you no time at all to trap the Overlook guests and any other harmful spirits that come your way. The music, however...it stuck with me for a very long time. The hotel’s gone now, so maybe it won’t stay as long for you, but it took me a long time before I could ever stop listening to it. It’s a piece of you Abra, but I promise it can do no harm to you.”

Abra smiled at her uncle, nodding along slowly again. She had no idea how much had happened before she got there with Uncle Dan and Rose, but it made all the more sense. Walking down the halls and around the lobby of the hotel was enough of a scare. The old caretaker, the blood pouring out of the elevators. She couldn’t say that she’s ever seen Jack Torrence though, but if he’s apart of the Overlook, his time will come one day.

Besides, the song never did sound so bad anyway.

“Thanks, Uncle Dan. Everything makes a little more sense now.”

“No problem, kiddo. You deserve to know about it, the way you’re picking up after everything now. I can only do so much here, but I never mind a little talking.”

“I don’t mind a little cleaning up, either.” Abra smiled, standing up after her uncle did. It was late, her open windows letting starlight fall in through the room. Danny did notice the alarm clock on her nightstand, glowing a bright red 10:47 pm.

“If you’ve got any other questions or just wanna talk, you can always call, but I think we should call it for tonight. Six o’clock rolls around early.”

Abra just laughed at her Uncle Dan before taking a few steps forward, leaning up and wrapping him in a hug.

“...I love you, Uncle Dan.” Her voice was a bit muffled, her face pressed against his chest in the embrace, but the words were unmistakable.

Danny smiled to himself, placing a hand on her back and hugging her in return.

“I love you too, Abra.”

Eventually Abra pulled away from her uncle, climbing into bed and turning off the lamp on her nightstand. The man waited for his niece to bury herself under the covers and get comfortable, knowing she’d need the sleep for school tomorrow. He walked back to the window and leaned against the wall, smiling back at his niece.

Midnight, with the stars and you…

“Shine on, Abra Stone… Shine on.”

[meru-chanx3]

For Soleil and Claire 28,34,38,B,D and H (ृʾ́꒳ʿ̀ ृ　)ु(ृʾ́꒳ʿ̀ ृ　)ु(ृʾ́꒳ʿ̀ ृ　)ु

28. Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth?

Soleil lies to cover up things a lot to preserve his own guilty ass whenever he slacks off or splurges his portion of their funds, which is why his party members have a hard time trusting him for the most part. But when it comes really horrible, painful things, Soleil would probably lie for the sake of keeping a friend innocent and happy instead of suffering at knowing the truth. He’d rather be hurt by hidden lies and secrets instead of others.

Claire on the other hand is very sincere and it’s quite difficult for her to suppress anything. She can’t stand keeping others in the dark and even though she may debate about sharing since she’s worried about how others would react, she ultimately tells the truth. She believes being honest is always the right thing and that people have a right to know anything that concerns them. The longer people keep things bottled up, the more harmful it is when the truth does come out. Claire would rather face things head on right away than dodge a problem and allow it to fester overtime.

34. How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt?

The guilt is always following both of them. For Soleil, he tries to cover it up as he attempts to deny its existence, but every now and then, the dread creeps up and snags him by the throat. It’s difficult for him to shake it off because he knows very well that he is the source of problems and he can’t do much about his predicament.

For Claire, the guilt from screwing things up with her magic is always hanging over her like a dark cloud and it’s always weighing her down until she befriends Drache and his companions. Afterwards, she realizes that the problems from the past aren’t her fault and she is able to successfully move past her guilt and anxiety.

38. What memory do they revisit the most often?

Soleil always treasures the years he spent as Rosette’s guardian when she was a child. He found her on the streets, sickly and starving and he neglected some of his guardian work to take extra care of her and nurse her back to health. Soon enough, he’d become like an older brother to her and he’d cook her meals and take her out into the nearby fields and meadows to teach her how to hunt. He absolutely enjoyed being there for her, but he knew she had to grow independent of him eventually (since he had angelic duties that would later pull him away) and he wanted to make sure she attained skills so that she could support herself. Rosette reminded him of the younger siblings he used to have as a human before he died in a war and was granted the chance to become an angel so he can continue helping humans. However, like his siblings, she grew up to resent him, so whenever Rosette treats him harshly, he’s hit by pain from both his previous life and now.

Claire didn’t have a pleasant childhood, being raised by foster parents who despised her magic. She often remembers her days being cooped up in the dusty attic, with nothing to do but read whatever books she could find in the house. She very much liked the adventure novels and longed to embark on her own journey, but she knew she wasn’t brave or strong enough. Whenever guilt and paranoia creep up on her, she’s reminded of the isolation, resentment, and loneliness she experienced, but she is later able to counter that with memories of studying in Eterna’s library wing. Compared to not being allowed to do anything at her foster parents’, studying at the wizarding academy was much more enjoyable. Even though she’d get stressed and overwhelmed from time to time, she was doing something worthwhile and fulfilling regardless, and knowing that motivated her. The image of the stuffy attic would be replaced with the soothing niche in her guardian’s library. Reading adventure books hasn’t changed and despite having piles of textbooks to digest, she still manages to find an hour or two to pick a novel up.

B. What inspired you to create them?Konosuba and Yuusha Yoshihiko made me want to come up with some kind of fantasy comedy-parody, bUT of course angst never escapes my works and somehow, dark, serious parts somehow seeped in and I don’t. know what to do. about this [oqdifijeowvf. I started off with Drache, the good demon who is the straightman amongst troublesome, chaotic companions and when trying to come up with opposite or exaggerated personalities, I was like, “What if there was an angel, but they were lazy and perverted and everything an angel shouldn’t be?” and then Soleil was born. He was meant to be the stupid comic relief, but I’ve always fancied happy-go-lucky characters who suffer ;w;

I originally meant the main cast to only consist of the quartet of Drache, Reiner, Soleil, and Rosette, but after creating the obviously Harry Potter-based Claire witch, I just utterly fell in love with her helplessness and desire to be better and have friends and she became a core member of the uneven bangs gang along with Leon.

D. Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?Lord Drache came into my mind around March when I was finishing up the two shows mentioned earlier, so it’s fairly new compared to, like, Kingdoms, which is a decade old and changed so, so much over the years aaaa.. But even still, the initial party changed a lot from the first time I drew them to the second, which I then stuck with. INITIAL

CURRENT

Drache didn’t have pointy ears and his hair fell shorter and stuck out. I was like, “f ri kc, he looks too much like Danny I cant,” so he had the most redesign. He also looked fiercer and meaner and that initially had been his personality as well until I changed him to be more mature and cool-headed with a more tired, done look since he’s now the most responsible of the group looking after the rest. aLSO. His hair used to be black and his eyes red, but i just didn’t look right, so I changed it to dark red and yellow.

I made Reiner fluffier and more child-like since I aged him down to sixteen. He used to be closer to Drache’s at twenty, but I felt him being too naive at that age was odd. I also made Rosette look more carefree and gave her sharper eyes. With Soleil, I guess his eyes aren’t so big as his initial sketch too? He and Rosette had larger eyes for some reason. It made them look younger than they were and I didn’t like it;; As for Claire and Leon, those single drawing are all I’ve drawn of them so far :’)

H. What trait do you admire the most?Drache’s strong conscience and diligence; Reiner’s big, pure heart; Rosette’s bravery and honesty; Soleil’s selflessness and devotion; Claire’s gentle nature and enthusiasm to keep learning; Leon’s imagination and persistence. Uncommon OC Questions! | Lord Drache’s Inner Hell

[perce]

"Phanniemay/Dannymay” Day 1: Bruises-PM13 & Hope-DM

a note for my participation is that i’m picking a prompt from past PMs and DM each and combining them in a bizarre attempt to do both lol. 

this one’s set in my Raised by Ghosts au bc idk how to do non-au stuff¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

spoilers for stuff later in the au, not that that’s stopped me before

Danny knew something wasn’t quite right about him.

Of course, he’s understood for a long time that he’s not like his family; that he’s not a ghost, he’s human, alive, blood courses through his veins, not ectoplasm, all that jazz, but this is more than that. Or rather, it’s becoming less true.

He also knew that Ember and Skulker weren’t the font of information he believed them when he was younger, but he supposes a ghost that had formed from a person who’d died at about the age he is now (he thinks, assumes, because he isn’t even sure how old he is, let alone her) and a weaker ghost with even less memory of his life that powers himself through robotics wouldn’t really know anything about genetic makeup and how it’s affected by long-term exposure to ectoplasmic radiation to an extreme level.

Not that he does either, and he’s scared, but his caretakers are fighters, and when he shows signs of ghostly powers, they decide he should at least know how to use them properly. (Once they get past the freak out of him partially phasing through things or softly hovering in his sleep.) Sadly they overestimated just how far his powers went, which, really, it’d taken this long for them to develop to this point, something below even the lowest level ghosts, what were they expecting?

Of course, that was awhile ago now, and he’s grown since then, able to fly on his own, if only for brief flights, and can even manifest small ecto-balls that his “loving parents” are eager to teach him how to aim and make stronger. By example, especially. 

He’s pretty sure they’re forgetting that even if whatever is happening to him, be it forming his own core or simply adapting to ectoplasm, he is still human. Mostly.

He can’t complain to much about it though–he can, and does, technically, because who would appreciate a punch to the sternum only accompanied by a “Gotta think fast, kid.”–because their combined efforts to prepare him for the ghost zone, to allow him to handle himself out there to some degree, has also brought them closer together, allowed him to understand his family in a way he’d never been able to before.

Kitty liked to take him on cruises through the air in the human world when he was a kid, which he’d loved, but it couldn’t compare to the companionship he felt as he flew alongside her, stumbling with her to catch him and all.

Johnny, aloof as he pretended to be, once told him when they were chased out of a convenient human city that sometimes you just have to take things in stride and make the best of the shit fate hands you, and his growing powers were just another example of that, he was sure.

Skulker and Ember always fought off other ghosts with vigor while all he could do was watch, and now he thinks, maybe one day he’ll be able to defend them as they’ve done for him all his life.

So if getting a little beat up now meant all that and more, he’d throw himself into it until he could kick Skulker’s ass.

[mutant-jojos]

Minor character profiles

Other characters to be added as necessary!

Joestar family

George Joestar - The father of the three Joestar boys. Born in England, he served in the royal air force for a time before moving to the U.S., where he took up a career in real estate. A kind, hardworking man and a loving father. After his first wife left him, he met Seiko Higashikata while on a business trip to Japan, and married her about a year later. Murdered by Dio in 2010. 

Elizabeth Joestar: George’s first wife and biological mother of Jonathan and Joseph. Formerly a highly successful lawyer, and particularly known for her role in the so-called “Pillar Men case” of the late 80s, in which she ensured that three mutants who had committed many murders got convicted. However, in 1996 she suddenly divorced her husband for reasons unknown to her children, and her current whereabouts are unknown.

Holly Joestar (Seiko Higashikata) - George’s second wife, Jotaro’s biological mother, and mother in every other sense of the word to Jonathan and Joseph. Born in Morioh, Japan; Upon moving to America with her husband, George, she adopted the name “Holly”. Beloved by all for her sweet and gentle nature. Murdered by Dio in 2010. 

Danny - The Joestars’ beloved childhood pet, a friendly and highly intelligent harlequin great dane. Unfortunately, he died in 2004 after being hit by a car; After some debate, it was eventually determined that he did not simply wander into the street, but was in fact pushed by Dio.

Tomoko Higashikata - The younger sister of Seiko Higashikata/Holly Joestar, and mother of Josuke. Had an affair with a foreigner during her college years, which led to the birth of Josuke, who she raised as a single mother with help from her father and long-distance support from her sister’s family. Died in a car accident in 2013.

Ryohei Higashikata - Seiko and Tomoko’s father, a police officer in Morioh. Helped to raise Josuke along with Tomoko. Died in a car accident in 2013.

Jotaro’s pet fish - Jotaro has had many pet fish of varying types over the years. Their names are Beyoncé, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Shakira, Mariah Carey, Britney Speares, and Katy Perry. Only Beyoncé, Mariah, Shakira, and Britney are currently alive; Madonna died during a power outage, Cyndi Lauper was eaten by Katy Perry, and Katy Perry died of an infection after having been bitten by Beyoncé. Jotaro and Kakyoin suspect that Beyoncé purposefully bit Katy with the intention of avenging Cyndi.

Joestar aquaintances

Dio Brando - Jonathan’s childhood... “friend”. Initially hated mutants (although he never showed that side of him when Jonathan or his parents were around, much to the frustration of Joseph and Jotaro), but after developing powers of his own at age 12, he came to believe that he and certain other mutants were inherently better than humanity as a whole. As he grew increasingly more conceited, he and Jonathan had several falling-outs, culminating in a violent fight in which Dio murdered George and Holly Joestar. He has not been seen since. His powers include levitation, super strength, freezing, and the ability to heal himself- at the cost of draining life force from other living beings.

Will Zeppeli - A longtime friend of the family, and mentor to George’s father, who died young and was also named Jonathan. Very eccentric, but kind, and helped the boys get back on their feet after the deaths of their parents. Owns a book store, where Jonathan works.

Jonathan’s friends

Robert E.O. Speedwagon - Grew up on the streets, and was involved in crime throughout his youth before finally doing his best to go clean. Currently seems to bounce around from job to job and doesn’t always even have one, but when he does, he manages to give a portion of what he makes to charity, no matter how small his wages. A supportive friend with fantastic hair. Very gay for Jonathan, although Jonathan himself is oblivious to this. His superpower is heating his abs red hot.

Erina Pendleton - Jonathan’s longtime girlfriend. They initially dated in middle school, but she lived abroad for several years before finally returning in 2010. Currently a medical student, with dreams of opening her own clinic that treats anyone, including mutants, at low costs so it’s accessible to the poor. Very passionate about improving healthcare for mutants, and very kind and motherly, but doesn’t take shit from anyone.

Joseph and Caesar’s friends

Smokey Brown - An orphan with a knack for picking pockets, and friend of Joseph’s since the first year of high school. Although he is known to be somewhat easily freaked out, he’s generally the voice of reason among their group. Always there if you need someone to confide in. Currently attending college with plans of going into politics.

Suzi Q - Joseph’s girlfriend, although they had feelings for each other long before they started dating, and only got together after a lot of pressure from Smokey and Caesar to just fucking confess already jesus christ. (Even now, they’re still a bit shy in their relationship.) Sweet, energetic, and absolutely terrible at making decisions.

Josuke and Okuyasu’s friends and classmates

Koichi Hirose - The first friend Josuke made after moving to the U.S., partly because of his basic Japanese skills. A very well-behaved boy and definitely the most reasonable member of their friend group, although he can be persuaded into doing reckless things, and can be quite cruel and crafty when he wants to. He has the ability to create auditory hallucinations- whether affecting everyone within a certain radius, or targeting specific individuals- and is lucky enough to have very pro-mutant parents, so his friends often hang out at his place.

Yukako Yamagishi - Koichi’s girlfriend, although she’s friends with Josuke and Okuyasu too. Almost impossible to stop once she’s put her mind to something, and probably the most likely to get away with murder out of anyone. Her power is manipulation of her hair. Her parents are very anti-mutant, and don’t know that she and Koichi are mutants, or that they have other friends who are.

Toshikazu Hazamada - A student in their grade, a shapeshifter who’s been known to cause trouble using other people’s identities. Although he is definitely a troublemaker, he’s not always especially malicious, and has something of a truce with Koichi due to having the same favorite manga.

Other

Rohan Kishibe - Author of the international best selling manga Pink Dark Boy, and former classmate of Joseph and Caesar, to whom he is known as “Hey, aren’t you that kid who drew all the weaboo stuff in 9th grade?”. Can “read” the histories of others, a power which is activated through physical contact. (While it is voluntary, he usually wears gloves just as a precaution.) Seems to have taken a liking to Koichi, for whatever reason, but doesn’t always get along with most of the others due to his generally snobby personality. Doesn’t consider himself part of the mutant community, and instead believes himself to be on a separate tier from all of humanity; However, unlike Dio, he doesn’t believe that this devalues anyone else and isn’t really interested in the whole “enslaving humanity to do my bidding” thing.

Mikitaka Hazakura - An odd boy with shapeshifting powers, probably about Josuke and Okuyasu’s age, who claims to be an alien whose full name is Nu Mikitakazo Nshi. Has been known to eat things that really aren’t meant for eating.

Telence T. D’Arby - An egotistical tryhard gamer who’s something of an unwanted rival to Kakyoin. Both of them have frequented the same gaming store for many years, and ever since Kakyoin beat him in a Mario Kart tournament, Telence has been determined to beat him at everything he possibly can.

Hol Horse - Another former classmate of Joseph and Caesar. Nobody knows why he acts like a bad cowboy stereotype. Everyone kind of thought he’d grow out of it after the first year or two of high school, but somehow, he didn’t. What a weird guy.

Tonio Trussardi - Owner of the best pizza place around, and just generally an amazing cook. Has the power to sense health issues (both physical and mental) in others, and like a true Italian, often attempts to remedy them using the power of good home cooking.

Wang Chen - A Chinese immigrant who sells weird T-shirts and other things out of a banged up old van behind the post office. Always has kind of a shifty aura about him and the fact that he’s selling these things out of a van behind the post office is questionable, but hey, at least his shirts are cool and reasonably priced!

Keicho Nijimura - Okuyasu’s older brother, with the power to manipulate certain small objects. Due to having to take care of his family on his own at a young age, he was always very stressed, which usually manifested in anger and aggression towards the most convenient target (which was usually Okuyasu). Tragically, he eventually committed suicide at age 17.

Mr. Nijimura - Okuyasu and Keicho’s father. Had a difficult time holding down a job, and signed up for an experimental medical trial that resulted in his mutation- whatever it may have originally been- going wild, until he was eventually more animal than human. Killed by Keicho at the same time he committed suicide.

Reimi Sugimoto - A resident of Morioh. Josuke’s former babysitter when he was a kid, and also took him in during the period of time between the death of his family and when he was able to move in with his American cousins.

Rudol von Stroheim - A local police officer and actual neonazi. However, he seems to be mostly all talk and might not even actually have a real concept of reality. Joseph often finds it entertaining to prompt him into going on his long, hilariously bizarre rants, and sometimes records this and posts it on his blog.

Straizo - Another cop. Mysterious and cold, and more professional than Stroheim.

The Passione gang - An up-and-coming local mutant gang who the cops can never seem to catch. Coincidentally, in the years since their gang formed, drug-related crimes in the area have dropped drastically, and local gardening and agriculture seems to be flourishing.

[recentanimenews]

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH: The Fall of a Legend In Episodes 48-84

It's time once again for the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! I'm Cayla Coats, Editor in Chief of Crunchyroll News, and I'll be your host this week as we travel ever further into the hallowed halls of shonen legend in our quest to watch all of Naruto. Last week, we covered episodes 71-77, and we pick up today with episodes 78-84. Let's get into it.

This week we got a kaiju fight between Naruto and Gaara that ends in a particularly impactful moment of empathy between the two young ninja. Sadly, we lost Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, during the battle back at Konoha. But things never stay still for long in Naruto, and the search is on for the next Hokage!

Let's find out what the Crunchyroll Features team thought of this week's episodes!

Shukaku is a pretty terrifying enemy for Naruto, but the way that ”A Thousand Years of Death” injects some levity into the fight while simultaneously functioning as solid battle strategy really gets to the heart of what’s so special about this show. How did you all feel about the interplay in episode 79 between Naruto fighting Gaara and the ninja fending against invaders back in Konoha?

Kevin: For me, a lot of the war between the Leaf and Sand ended up being “oh yeah, that’s happening, too.” It’s not handled poorly by any means, but going from seeing Gaara turn into a giant monster to the third or fourth scene of the Third Hokage and Orochimaru standing still and having a battle of wills doesn’t do much to help the tension or emotion of either scene.

Danni: I loved the way it kept cutting between the one-on-one battles between Naruto/Gaara and the Third Hokage/Orochimaru. Pulling back to show the entire village resisting against the invasion really helped set this arc’s climax apart from previous ones. It wasn’t just Naruto defeating Gaara that saved the day, it was the Third Hokage’s sacrifice and everyone keeping the invaders at bay that kept the village from crumbling.

Paul: I was happy to see the Leaf Village pull together and beat the stuffing out of the invading forces from the Sand and Sound Villages. I liked the strong sense of community displayed by Leaf Village, and I was surprised with the amount of screen time that the animators dedicated to showing people helping out with repairs. It really drove home the size and scale of the crisis.

Joseph: I also loved the scenes of everyone banding together outside of the two main battles. Cutting back to the Old Man Who Wouldn't Die definitely got a little comical, especially when watching the episodes back to back, but I liked how it was handled overall. There are finally some killer Naruto moments, too, from his expert-level kancho to the transformation while fighting Gaara.

Jared: It’s one of the things that I was impressed with in the last set of episodes as well. Considering all that was happening, it’s hard to keep all of that in check and give each situation the right amount of time. With all the fights happening, it also gave it the feeling of chaos, which it definitely needed.

David: Still really can’t take the kaiju stuff very seriously, but I am a fan of showing how everyone in the village was fighting back in their own ways. That, and the level of detail in the aftermath, made it feel like a ‘war’ in a way a lot of similar stories fail to.

Carolyn: I have to agree with Kevin, I kept forgetting the Hokage and Orochimaru were fighting in the middle of all the Gaara stuff.

Kara: It was actually kind of neat. I forgot about the Hokage fighting Orochimaru as others said. But when they’d cut back it was like “Oh, hey, this is going on!” and it was more a pleasant surprise/reminder than anything else.

Noelle: I thought it was handled pretty alright, all things considering. Of course, I’m more invested in some fights than others (Gaara vs Naruto) but reminders that there’s a fight going on that’s more than just those two was fairly helpful. Still funny at parts though.

I really admire Naruto’s ability to turn his own trauma and past pain into empathy. Even after everything he’s done, Naruto still reaches out to Gaara to tell him he understands how he feels. And yet his determination to protect his friends is unyielding.

Now we’re getting into the really sad stuff. Hiruzen’s final act of sealing Orochimaru’s arms was pretty amazing, especially with the disarmingly kind parting words he left his former pupil. How effective did you all find this scene?

Kevin: It is legitimately difficult to explain how impactful the Third Hokage’s death is, both in terms of the show’s narrative and audience expectations. For most viewers, I suspect that they thought Sarutobi was going to be a minor authoritative character for the entire show. Instead, he got a deeply emotional fight against both his predecessors and pupil ending in a minor victory that cost him his life in exchange for crippling but not killing the main villain.

Danni: Extremely effective. I can easily see this being the big turning point in the show with the Hidden Leaf Village’s peaceful age ending at the assassination of their leader. I imagine it also puts into perspective for Naruto the kind of responsibility he needs to accomplish his goal of becoming Hokage.

Paul: I'm a sucker for martial arts stories where the kind-hearted master can't bring themselves to go full-force against their evil pupil, so the bit with the Third Hokage picturing Orochimaru as he used to be when they were both younger and more innocent really hit me in the feels. Unfortunately, I accidentally spoiled the reveal about Orochimaru's arms getting sealed and the Third Hokage dying when I was looking for some unrelated info on Wikipedia, and I'm afraid that knowledge lessened the impact…

Joseph: Even though I kind of joked on their struggle in the previous answer, the ending really tied it up with some emotional impact. I also appreciated the flashback to his past training Orochimaru that came into play after the fact.

Jared: It was really good. After all that had happened in that fight and all the reveals, the Third Hokage still trying to see the good in Orochimaru was real emotional and effective. Plus with this really seeming like a huge tonal shift for what’s to come next, it had to be that effective to push that forward.

David: I’ve seen this show before and I still couldn’t believe he died so early! It definitely hit hard when I realized this was it for him (the realization that ~80 episodes still felt ‘early’ also hit hard for a completely different reason).

Carolyn: Empathy always hits me hard. So, on both counts, Naruto and the Hokage, it was inspiring and hard to watch.

Kara: I think the back-and-forth between the two fights, now that I have that to think about, really shows that… actually, yeah, maybe Naruto does have what it takes to become Hokage. We’re starting to crack open what it means to have that degree of responsibility, which I think a lot of people within the show believe is just a matter of being a Super Good Ninja. But interposing Naruto’s willingness to connect with Gaara with the Hokage’s genuine kindness was very telling. There are some emotional skills you can’t just trin into people.

Noelle: I’ve seen the show before, so knowing that the Third was going to die wasn’t that surprising. Still, he was set up as an overwatching figure that was supposed to stay around for quite some time, so considering how long the series is, that he dies so early on is surprising. Still, it sets into motion that things change, peace isn’t forever. Underneath all that, empathy being the driving factor behind resolve and transformation is something I adore.

How did you all think the funeral was handled? Personally, I was blown away by the restraint shown by the staff in having a few moments of near silence with no music while Naruto gets dressed and goes to meet up with Sakura and Sasuke.

Kevin: Naruto silently sitting on his bed, then getting up and getting dressed to meet up with Sasuke and Sakura to go to the service is one of the images that still sticks in my mind when I think of Naruto.

Danni: It got a little bit heavy handed with the bit about the rain, but I’ll let it slide. It was definitely a lot more restrained than I expected, which I loved. The silence really punctuated the loneliness of someone you love passing on and the resulting triumph that coming from the support of the entire village.

Paul: I understand the symbolism of why funerals are always in the rain, but that particular artistic flourish didn't work for me. What did work was the shell-shocked expressions on the faces of all of the funeral-goers, and the quiet moment you mention where Naruto has to drag himself out of bed and get on with the business of living. That part felt very genuine.

Joseph: The rain is one thing, and is pretty generic on its own, but when the sun comes out and shines on the framed photo. Oh boy. Other than those standard symbolic practices, it was handled with care.

Jared: Having that rain shower happen during the funeral was a bit on the nose, but I think everything else they did with it being this incredibly somber moment in the show worked. It really puts over just how the Third Hokage and everyone else who died in the invasion reverberated throughout the entire village and forced it to a stand still.

David: Cliches aside, I’m mostly glad the show is willing to dedicate basically a whole episode to mourning. A testament to how great the pacing has been thus far. Also, did anyone else notice Kiba brought Akamaru to the funeral? What a well behaved boy.

Carolyn: Silence is always a great addition to scenes like this. We depend on music as an audience to tell us how to feel and react. Silence leaves us feeling whatever we feel and that makes it more uncomfortable, which is what you need for a scene like this. I also appreciate that the characters were even given time to grieve. So many shows where deaths happen left and right tend to have the characters just move on like it’s normal or they are desensitized. “It’s all just part of this ninja gig!” It’s nice to see death acknowledged in an emotional and realistic manner.

Kara: I also noticed Akamaru at the funeral. That was lovely. And yeah, I thought that whole scene was handled nicely. I don’t mind anime funerals being a bit on the nose symbolically, because they sort of are what they are.

Noelle: I could go without seeing another funeral in the rain for the rest of my life. That being said, that the BGM completely cuts out, showing just how hollow everyone feels- that’s really good right there. The entire episode showcases just how important the Third was, and we needed that.

How did you feel about the arguably precarious balancing act of Itachi’s fight with Kakashi and the Jiraiya/Naruto research road trip shenanigans?

Kevin: Much like with the Sand-Leaf War, the two stories work fine on their own, but cutting from one to the other stops either from building up drama or comedy. I would’ve preferred if Naruto left the village, then follow Sasuke’s story to the jonin and then to the fight with Itachi and Kisame, then cut back to Naruto and Jiraiya, showing the Akatsuki following them, with both stories meeting up again when Sasuke confronts Itachi.

Danni: I honestly didn’t feel like the cuts between the two were particularly jarring. Maybe I’ve been watching anime long enough to not really notice the dissonance between super serious fights intercut with someone being a creep.

Paul: Just like I wasn't sold on Orochimaru before, I'm not quite sold on Itachi yet. He seems way too powerful and way too arch, and his official introduction front-loads too much info with too little time to digest it. They'd have been better served with more foreshadowing and a slower reveal, since through Sasuke's memories we only see Itachi as a homicidal psychopath that murders his entire family for no real reason. Meanwhile, Jiraiya continues to be the worst, although that bit where his giant frog summon had a pair of huge swords strapped to its back was pretty keen.

Joseph: Like Danni, I didn’t really find it jarring at all. Both stories are different, but I’ve come to expect those tonal changes. With that said, the introduction to Itachi and the Akatsuki is huge. I really dug the fight between Itachi and Kakashi, even if they could have depicted the hellish world in a cooler and less garish way. Some people would pay good money to be stabbed with swords for 72 hours straight.

Jared: I think with just watching this show so far, it’s not surprising they were able to juxtapose these two stories with each other. For me, what was surprising coming out of this part was just how fast the show gets right back into it after the funeral scene and everything. Pretty much immediately we have a new villain group set up and Itachi making his grand return which they certainly put over big with how he wrecks Kakashi.

David: The juxtaposition between Naruto’s normal antics and Itachi causing chaos by simply existing didn’t feel off in itself. However, it made Sasuke’s concern for Naruto’s safety feel really silly until Itachi finally got to him. Sasuke fearing the worst immediately cuts to Naruto and Jiraiya being silly enough times that I never actually felt like Naruto was in danger, but maybe on some level that was the point.

Carolyn: I guess I kind of saw it as a foreshadowing or “calm before the storm” type thing. Look at these two goons who don’t even know what dangers lie ahead.

Kara: It’s kind of wild, but it’s kind of what I’ve come to expect from Naruto. Over here, people are straight up killing each other with their minds; over there, people are being dweebs. I do think it’s interesting that we’re now getting two completely rounds of back story in very different ways: Sasuke’s very sobering childhood vs. Jiraiya being the one who got tied to the post during training.

Noelle: It’s a bit of mood whiplash, I won’t lie. Mostly because Itachi’s been built up as an extremely ominous character, and cutting that in with joke moments… well, that sure is a choice alright.

And, finally, what were your highs and lows for this stretch of episodes?

Kevin:

High - This week had some great moments (Gamabunta transforming into the Nine-Tailed Fox, Naruto headbutting Gaara, the conclusion of Sarutobi and Orochimaru’s fight), yet somehow still easily the best moment of the week was the near-silent scene of Naruto getting ready for the Hokage’s funeral service.

Low - Itachi murdering the Uchiha clan. I won’t say much for fear of spoilers, I’ll just tell first time watchers that basically everything involving the Uchihas and Sharingan will be fleshed out later with a lot more detail.

Honorable Mention: We are Fighting Dreamers! Da da da, dat-da, da da da. Fighting Dreamers…

Danni: The technically correct answer is the leadup to the Hokage’s funeral, but I have to go with the funniest out of context scene in the entirety of Naruto where Sasuke finds out the man who murdered his entire clan is back in town because some idiot barged in the room shouting about it. Low point is Fighting Dreamers. I miss Asian Kung-fu Generation.

Paul: My high point was the pay-off for all of the mirror imagery in the fight between Naruto and Gaara, culminating in the insert shot of the leaf on top of the sand. I really dug that. My low point was the ham-handed way that they try to promote Itachi as the new top villain. The bit with Orochimaru talking about how scary and bad-ass Itachi is didn't work for me, especially since he'd just lost the use of his arms and his Chakra, so I'd think he'd have other stuff on his mind than how Itachi fills him with diaper-wetting terror.

Joseph: My high was Naruto being an EXTREMELY GOOD BOY in these episodes. For the low, there wasn’t much, but it did stick out to me that Naruto counts Sasuke among the people who have befriended him and whisked him away from the type of path Gaara went down. Did Sasuke ever really accept Naruto for who he is? I guess to a certain degree he tolerated him, but I don't know that I'd lump in with all the positive influences in his life.

Jared: I think my high point that’s outside of what happens at the funeral, is the end of Naruto/Gaara when they face off in-between the big blade in the ground and there are two shots that you see their faces meet in the middle which I absolutely loved. Low point, which isn’t really low, was the poor dude who barged in yelling HEY Y'ALL DID YOU HEAR ITACHI IS BACK and somehow didn’t see Sasuke standing there. Buddy, you’ve got to read the room.

David: High point for me was Jiraiya’s memories of training with Orochimaru and Tsunade. I’m a sucker for cyclical storytelling like that. Low point was Jiraiya’s usual antics. Guess it evens out in the end?

Carolyn: My favorite moment was actually Big Daddy Toad’s reaction to learning Naruto helped out Baby Toad. Low point, yeah, I guess just Jiraiya again.

Kara: High point is literally any flashback to younger Third Hokage (except for the line about him sneaking around being invisible with Jiraiya, eesh) because I’m enjoying learning more about him. Close second was Exposition-maru coming in and telling Sasuke everything.

Low point was the show not letting my enjoy Jiraiya by reminding me he actually is the perv Naruto claims he is.

Noelle: High point, the Naruto-Gaara fight and their mirror imagery, I still love that dearly to this day. There’s some genuinely good imagery going on right there! Low point would be, sadly, Itachi’s intro, because it feels kind of clumsy, with them building him up too much. It’s a shame, because Itachi is my favorite character in this whole series, but his intro isn’t that strong.

COUNTERS:

"I'm gonna be Hokage!" count: 3 (26 total) Bowls of ramen consumed: 3 bowls (33 bowls, 3 cups total) Shadow Clones created: 23 + 1 uncountable scene (297 total)

  And that's it for this week! You are welcome to join us for this rewatch, anytime, especially if you haven't already watched the original Naruto!

  Here's our upcoming schedule:

-Next week, on APRIL 12th NOELLE OGAWA will take a turn at the wheel for EPISODES 85-91.

-On APRIL 19th NICOLE MEJIAS will walk us through the legendary Sannin battle in EPISODES 92-98.

-April 26th will see DAVID LYNN guiding us through the Land of Waves arc in episodes 99-105.

  Thank you for joining us for the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next time!

  Have a question for next week's batch of Episodes 85-92 Drop it in the comments and you might find your answer in next week's installment!

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