#accomplice to twelve murders and all

[eruanna1875]

....

Actually wait yeah-

Does anybody else want to take this poor frazzled lil guy and wrap him up in a blanket and cuddle with him until he falls asleep? Because I do, and I have thought about it for YEARS

[1moreff-creator]

DRDT is back!!! Here’s my live reaction to everything that happened this week! Obviously take everything I say with massive piles of salt, these are in the moment reactions and aren’t supposed to be fully coherent thoughts.

DRDT CH2 EP12 SPOILERS (Oh that feels good to write)

We’re back!!! Teruko we fucked up!!!

The theory that Charles was going to bring up the possibility of a wrong time of death was true! There weren’t really any other theories about what he was going to say from what I saw, but it’s still cool we got that right. You have no idea how giddy I am to finally hear him talk about it, after waiting so long for him to finish the sentence lol.

Also Teruko’s face lmao.

Oh, poor Teruko, she looks so sad. She’s gonna bring up the marks on the wrist, right?

Or, yeah, the swinging.

(Does this screw up any theories? No, her body was still likely strung up at 7:30 AM, which is what most people thought I’m pretty sure)

Ah, Whit. I missed how shady he always is even when he has, like, an airtight alibi for the time the fish were taken (which is still around 7:30 PM to nightime btw, don’t forget Nico’s account).

They’re not gonna bring up the time the fish were taken, are they? That furthers my belief that the person who took the fish and the murderer are different. Nothing concrete obviously, just kinda narratively works better that way.

“Or did you do it on purpose?” Veronika how I’ve missed you :D

David’s face lmao xD

“I’ll fix that mistake” (Paraphrased) Hell yeah! Go Teruko! :D

I missed you too, Literature Boy Insane. That “pathetic” voice line was cool. Also, thank you Hu.

J: “The body would have been cold if it was drenched at some point.” (Paraphrased). Interesting point about the water, I wonder if it’s important or not. We know she wasn’t drowned because the relax room wasn’t open at 7:30 AM, right? So I don’t know how she could have gotten drenched.

Ace no genuinely how do you not know how water works what.

“The range of human stupidity is larger than I thought.” Charles, you’re great.

[Levi and Nico complain about Arturo’s medicine skills] Okay, but like, Arturo has repeatedly told you he’s not that kind of doctor. Like you can blame the guy for a lot of shit but this one ain’t it chief.

(Also don’t think I don’t see how Levi throws suspicion on Arturo. Small point towards Levi!Culprit and Levi!Accomplice)

“You shut your whore mouth!” Okay maybe I don’t need to defend Arturo actually, he seems like he has it handled. You good my guy?

Oh shit we actually brought up that Arturo is ridiculously young for someone in the medical field. I did not have that in my (hypothetical) bingo card.

Twelve?! Dude my guy wanted out of that house yesterday damn.

Dude he’s kinda going off! I was not expecting Arturo fans of all people to eat this good this episode, but this is interesting!

Oh right the crazy lady- “Adorable”? Verturo shippers eating!

“Feel free to add to the number of dents in the computer lab” (Paraphrased) PFFFT Charles!

Wait wasn’t there actually a dent there? Wasn’t that a thing I saw on people’s theories? Holy shit is that actually going to get addressed?

[Whit explains] AHAHAHAHAHA HOLY-!

“I let it slide because it was funny” I missed MonoTV too actually.

And no fish! Nico’s account of the fish still being there last time they checked goes unmentioned, meaning it’s likely going to be used for a twist later!

New alibis? Could be possible.

Whit: “I don’t have an alibi. Neither does Charles” (Paraphrased) Which you know because…?

Oh so that’s not addressed. I repeat the statement of Whit being unnecessarily shady all the time.

????? DAVID AND J ALIBI???? This could be kinda huge actually.

David: “Oh. Shit.” This is the reaction of a man being cleared of murder. That’s so funny.

Didn’t David usually wake up late? Inconsistent sleep schedule ig.

J: “Oh yeah, and Veronika.” Girl you gotta say this shit earlier.

Yeah, look, J, you went and made Veronika sad! >:( /j

David: “Whoops” Holy shit every line this man says is gold actually what?

David? Lying? Noooo, how could you say that? I forgot how funny post magical girl transformation this man was.

David I am going to need you to give an actual answer. I spent hours looking at That Video and I still don’t know what your deal is please-

“And she’s Teruko” J’s also really funny actually. Hold a knife to someone’s throat once and they hate you forever, smh.

“Oh and don’t say something like “I wanna kill myself” that’s boring” (paraphrased). Holy shit I missed Veronika- that’s my second fave right there! (Min you will always be N1 don’t worry).

David-Veronika duo is great actually.

By the way David said “the truth is…” I am not expecting a serious answer.

You know, for a moment I actually did think he genuinely thought he was the blackened. But my first instinct was right.

“I would have actually tried looking at the crime scene” Bro what the fuck is he actually cooking.

“A good person” drop!!!! If you know, you know!

Also, I wanted to point this out here, I might have accidentally misinformed a part of the fandom a bit? One point that I brought up was that several important people to this chapter have been called “a good person”, and one of the examples I gave was Hu calling David a good person. Which… I don’t think happened? I evidently misremembered a line where Hu called David a “good friend”, which is a different phrase with different connotations in DRDT, and I genuinely apologize for that. Especially because I have seen people repeating that David had been called a good person in the past.

But now David has called himself “a good person”, if in a roundabout way, so the point actually stands lol.

Oh shit the Xander name drop.

… He was trying to kill Teruko wasn’t he. Because Xander tried it, and because David has Teruko’s “the killing game is all your fault” motive. Oh shit.

Speaking of the “good person” point, that argument might actually be dead lmao. Given that Xander got called that and he’s, well. Not particularly important to chapter 2, let’s say.

[Hindsight Post-Video: Actually, the argument could now be “anyone referred to as a good person is deeply important up to chapter 2”. Or, alternatively, argue that Xander is somewhat important to the Chapter 2 trial because he inadvertently caused David to magical girl transform. The “good person” list in case you don’t recall is Teruko, Levi, Eden, Arei, and as of this episode, David and Xander. We’ll see what we make of it once the chapter ends ig]

Oh Teruko is pissed I am loving this.

Holy shit the voice acting is amazing holy shit Teruko is going off she said Xander didn’t treat David like a human (“No Longer Human” reference??? I might just be insane though) oh this is incredible!!!

Oh he knows something deep. This motherfucker knows what was written in Xander’s “kill Teruko” note I bet.

WAIT HE KNEW XANDER BEFORE HOPE’S PEAK?! HE KNOWS WHY HE’S THE ULTIMATE REBEL?!

Motherfucker you are going to tell us what Xander did before Hope’s Peak and why you know his work or I swear to God-!

Okay actually, David, I am going to need you to give… a straight answer at some point? Like I get you’re canonically bisexual (and it’s showing) but a single straight answer isn’t going to kill you.

Also, the music?! Is peak?!

David: “If the answer is no…” Neat sprite! Just thought it looked nice, and the line’s cool too :>

The return of the Teruko Baffled Sprite, long awaited.

Secret reveal? The killing game’s her fault?

Okay not the angle I was expecting in the slightest. Obviously gonna have to analyze how truthful he’s being at the moment, but he’s basically pulling a DRV3 ending logic thing. Cool!

So… Xander is absolutely Opening Guy, right? Like, I know that was the most common theory, but c’mon.

YEAH HU GO OFF!!!!

Voice acting going crazy too!

I adored Hu’s screaming section. How long till it’s revealed she has the “hopeless child” secret?

Hu’s a queen, hell yeah.

Pffft J’s high horse voice line-

Thank you Charles for being the only competent one (affectionate). Btw what does Veronika think of David’s reasoning? I was kinda hoping we’d see that.

[Red herring joke] Whit. Whit /disappointed/silly

Oh shit I was not expecting that line to actually cause a reaction damn.

You know, I’ll be honest and admit Eden’s really not acting that much like a culprit. I still think she is, I’m just surprised I’m not able to confirmation bias my way into suspecting her through her voice lines :v

Aaaand we’re back to Ace v Nico! Woo!

Okay wow the new alibis are like, laser focused on going against the most popular theories, huh? I’m not going to say anything’s deconfirmed yet obviously, but Hu!Culprit, J!Culprit, even Veronika!Culprit and theories surrounding David being involved have some questions to answer damn.

[To the question of if anyone else had alibis] “Nope” Whit how do you know this.

Levi!Accomplice also takes a hit because Eden and Levi aren’t trying to alibi for each other, but it can be explained. If they never prepared to give each other alibis, it’s safer to just… not, since they can’t actually say what they were doing during that time. And yes, possible explanations like this is why I’m not calling anything outright deconfirmed yet.

I wrote that before Levi three dotted directly after Eden, looking like he was thinking of trying to give her an alibi. Now that’s confirmation bias that can’t be safely used for theories!

Oh right J still hates Arturo xD

[The whole thing about excluding suspects who had an alibi at night and not in the morning] Oh God, Levi really wants me to think he’s the culprit huh? The method’s still too crazy for me to really believe that, but still.

This is also bad for Levi!Accomplice. Not a dealbreaker, but still weird that he’d say something that could point in Eden’s direction. I am not even going to try to defend that yet.

Cool. Can we finally talk murder method?

Levi: “That’s my secret.”

Oh okay, we’re not talking method yet.

…

Wait, WHAT?!?!?!!?!!!?!

THAT’S-! That’s not-! What the hell?!

Okay, so. Cool, Levi’s the remorseless murderer, we got that one right. But, the reveal is so insanely out of left field holy shit…

I am not lying when I tell you I had to get up and start PACING like I was not ready for this. I am vibrating. He just- He just said that shit! What the hell?!

I have genuinely no idea how the hell this is gonna play out. Holy shit I cannot wait for the next episode. It’s just… so peak!!! We are so back!!!

—-

General Closing Thoughts: This episode was awesome! I was lowkey a little worried that the first episode back wasn’t going to be as insane as it ended up being, but wow it blew me away. And it was only twenty minutes? When the episodes go up to possibly an hour??? It’s just… holy shit.

It was awesome to finally start getting some insight into why David Did That, and I’m genuinely super excited to see where this goes. I’m still trying to figure out the exact angle on things like hiding Teruko’s secret, if he even is doing that because I now believe there is a non-zero chance he isn’t actually lying. Like, it’s low, but not zero. I do find it strange Veronika didn’t react to it, though, but at least we got that one line before David started talking.

But that’s only the cusp of the iceberg. I genuinely adore the details we got on Arturo’s backstory, and Hu’s blowup, and Teruko’s remorse- it’s all so awesome.

(The fucking dent in the wall of the goddamn computer room got an explanation I still cannot believe that. Wow)

Props to the voice acting and the music btw, absolutely incredible all throughout.

Btw, correct me if I’m wrong, but there weren’t any “minigames” this episode, right? Nothing wrong with that, just found it interesting.

Theory-Related Initial Thoughts: This episode is… possibly one of the biggest theory slaughters I’ve ever seen?

Like, obviously, again, it’s still too early in the trial to fully rule out anything, so I’m going to leave it to the other DRDT scholars to revise their own theories to fit the new evidence, but wow those new alibis are something. Between Hu, J and David having alibis for 7:30 AM, that’s three of the top suspects who weren’t there at that exact time to either kill Arei or mess with the body. Again, maybe there’s explanations for it, I’m not calling anything unconfirmed yet, just that many theories were inconvenienced.

As for my theory, Eden!Culprit Levi!Accomplice… ups and downs. The more Eden speaks, the less I’m convinced she’s the actual culprit, even if I’m a decent 80% sure she took the tape; the more Levi speaks, the less I’m convinced he’s an accomplice. I’m not going to deny that their dialogue isn’t 100% what I would expect. I don’t think it’s disqualifying, I still believe it to be the theory with the best evidence, it’s just that some things strike me as odd.

That was what I thought… until the end. Because I have no idea what’s about to happen with Levi revealing the secret like this, but… there is a very possible Levi!Accomplice turn here? Like, it’s the “Levi’s holding the glove” idea; the moment Eden loses her alibi, Levi does something that immediately puts a target on his back, potentially trying to get himself voted off before people catch on to Eden as a possible culprit. First he tries to argue that he shouldn’t be a suspect because of the alibi thing, which could make him more suspicious in some people’s eyes (maybe that’s too much 4D chess but it could work), then revealing the secret. I don’t know how likely this is, but it’s a genuine possibility.

Otherwise, I’m… not entirely sure what the angle is? I need to rewatch the trial to figure out why Levi’s talking about “detailing the trial” then immediately revealing his secret. I didn’t rewatch any DRDT before the episode, hence the confusion. But… at this moment, I don’t know what Levi’s cooking, other than possibly accomplice behavior. And even that feels more confirmation bias-y than anything.

There’s also the really weird line where Whit just… knows, Charles had no alibi at 7:30 AM? Unless they discussed it or I’m forgetting something, I don’t actually remember how he’d know that? Was he stalking Charles? Was he just wandering the halls? What kinda-?

(I don’t think that’s likely, but I don’t have a really good read on what’s happening there)

Other than that, here’s a crackpot one to lighten the mood. Mastermind business. I’ve never brought this up before, but I’ve always believed that were Veronika to be the mastermind, she would get revealed early. As in, possibly at the end of this trial, given Teruko had some idea to end the killing game after her chat with Veronika in the movie room.

I’m bringing this up only because Veronika didn’t react to David’s explanation of what he was trying to do by claiming to be the blackened. She was set up for a reaction with the whole “please tell me it’s not boring” thing, and then she… didn’t. It’s possible, in a conspiratorial sense, that she didn’t react because David hit the nail in the head, and Veronika was genuinely upset at the idea. If that’s the case, her reaction could be postponed to the end of the trial, maybe the end of Trial 3, for the early mm reveal there. It’s a very half-baked idea I’m failing to communicate properly ‘cuz I’m eepy, but it’s there.

I rank it in the same level of mastermind evidence as “Nico is unafraid of grabbing MonoTV by the tail.” Immensely silly and should not be considered solid evidence by any means, and yet it’s still probably gonna get mentioned if I ever make a mm probability ranking lol.

Anyways, absolutely incredible episode all throughout. Holy shit were so back, this was amazing. See you next week for more peeks into peak!

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Your recent post touched upon every issue I have with the Zutara fanbase. When it comes right down to it: Zutarians (the cult-like weirdos, not the ones in the fandom that just enjoy the ship for what it is) antipathy towards Kataang really does seem to be rooted in a hodgepodge of thinly-veiled bigotry, sexism and projection. I mean, their primary argument against Kataang is because "It's weird for a slightly older girl to like a slightly younger boy, but it's perfectly fine for her to be attracted to an older man." Yeah, that certainly doesn't sound hypocritical or based on extremely outdated/idiotic notions on attraction and gender dynamics that don't jive with how it works in reality; It really does make me wonder if they live in a freakin' bubble and were all homeschooled or something. And when they talk about how "empowering" it would be for Katara to be with Zuko (a member of a dynasty of ruthless colonizers and racists that oppressed and killed members of her tribe) and become his royal consort, they paradoxically proceed to constantly ridicule her for not being more sympathetic/nicer to Zuko despite the fact that she had valid reasons for being hostile towards him. Like, y'know: Threatening her home, kidnapping and blackmailing her with a precious keepsake from her deceased mother, consistently trying to capture/attack/kill her and her friends, betrayed her trust when she offered him sympathy, being an accomplice in the murder of her best friend/true love…

Yeah, I think she had plenty of justifiable reasons to tell him to take a flying leap.

Yet, they go "but poor Zuko…"and none-to-subtly imply that she should defer to him and disregard her own trauma and hardships associated with him because his feelings are more important than hers. Yeah, the "pro-feminist" vibes are really on display with those sentiments, Zutarians. Meanwhile, they tell the innocent twelve year old who happens to be the sole survivor of a genocide orchestrated by said-family of colonizers that he should "get over it" and proceed to call him a rapist every chance they get because of an ill-timed kiss (that he immediately reproached himself for), while their entire ship is based on an imagined scenario straight out of a trashy erotica involving their favorite "bad boy" taking advantage of a young girl while she's tied up, defenseless and unwilling.

And when you call them out on it? "It's just fiction, guys. None of it is real." *Snorts* Yeah, okay. So, you can suddenly use common sense to differentiate fiction from reality when it comes to justifying why *your* ship involving *your* favorite male character performing non-consensual acts with the heroine you *allegedly* respect in your fantasies is perfectly acceptable because you acknowledge that the characters and situations aren't real. But when the protagonist innocently mistakes a moment for one of intimacy with his canon kinda-sorta girlfriend (whom he shared mutual kisses with on two separate occasions) and realizes that he messed up? "Shit just got real, fam! He's 100% a sex offender and a horrible influence on our children! So are his creators! And anyone who supports him and Katara as a couple are misogynists, pedophiles and rape apologists."

>_>

Like, do they ever stop to think how terrible this makes them - and by extension, their ship - look when it's being enforced by such putrid rhetoric and double standards? It honestly makes me feel bad for the Zutara fans who just want to see Katara and Zuko together because it appeals to them and think they're compatible. It's a shame that it's become a ship mired by idiotic, pseudo-political garbage and baseless conspiracy theories all because the zealots desperately seek validation that they weren't wrong. Or more honestly, because they just can't admit that they're simply horny over fictional cartoon teenagers getting it on together, regardless of any evidence (or lack thereof) of attraction between them. Which is hilarious because you have the VAs themselves admitting to their own fetishes when it comes to ships like Zutara or Azula x Zuko, but you don't see them spewing this crap to justify why they like what they like.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant. Your post just resonated with me and I felt like I needed to get it out.

Venting is what this blog is for, make yourself at home

[teenageread]

Review: Crushed

Synopsis:

It's springtime in suburban Rosewood, which means iced soy lattes, fresh manicures in shimmering pastels - and prom. But while everyone else is flipping through the racks at Saks in search of the perfect prom dress, Hanna, Spencer, Emily, and Aria are on a different kind of hunt: They're looking for A. . . .

Hanna puts her campaign for prom queen on the back burner to volunteer at a burn clinic, where one of A's victims is recovering. Emily digs into Ali's past at the mental hospital with some very crazy consequences. Spencer contacts a private eye to help her stalk her stalker. But when their sessions get a little too private, they may forget to keep their eyes on A. . . . And Aria's worried that A is even closer than she thought. When her dark secret from Iceland finally comes to light, she discovers that maybe, just maybe, the one person she's been trying to hide the truth from has known all along.

The liars are finally taking the fight to A. But no matter what they do, A's always one step ahead, ready to crush the girls completely.

Plot:

After the disaster on the Eco Cruise, the Liars are done with getting tormented by A. Hiding in Spencer's soon-to-be step-father bunker, they create a list of all the potential accomplices to A, whom they are nailed down to be Real Ali, who somehow survived the fire and are being taken care of by a private nurse. With all the names written down, Spencer gives each of the liars a task: Hanna is to go back to the burn clinic that Graham was placed him to see if he recognized A, Emily is to be friends with Iris as she was roommates with the Real Ali at The Preserve, Spencer is to track down Real Ali, and Aria is to investigate the one who has always been there when things went wrong, her amazing boyfriend Noel. As the girls dodge Special Agent Jasmine Fuji, an FBI agent tasked with interviewing everyone staying at the Jamaican resort the same time Tabitha was, she has additional questions for the liars. With prom approaching fast, the liars' love lives are also failing. Hanna has to lie to Mike. Reefer immediately bails on Spencer. Emily's love is also running from the FBI, and Aria is under increasing pressure, suspecting Noel is A. With A always being one step ahead of the liars, it is time for them to fight back and solve the mystery of their tournament before they are sent to jail for a murder they did not commit.

Thoughts:

Sara Shepard is out of their writing slump, as this thirteenth installment is as good as the start of the series. Shepard has the liars actively hunting A down for the first time, trying to figure out who they are and stop the tournament they have been put through. Shepard also ends their "what happens during the summer" segment, finishing off with Aria's Iceland summer adventure, which seemed to come out of nowhere, and similar to the other liars, it did provide plot points throughout this novel, but overall it was not really needed besides providing another character for the liars to interact with in the future. As the series is coming near the end, it is interesting to look at the romance element of the story, as Shepard divides the girls with solid love lives with Aria and Hanna to the one-offers with Spencer and Emily. Shepard spent the entire book twelve trying to get Spencer with Reefer, who bails by page twenty and is set up to never appear again. Meanwhile, Emily lusts after the FBI's most wanted, who also seems like they are never coming back. Yet this is one of several books where we see Mike and Hanna, and Aria and Noel, fighting, getting back together, fighting some more as the liars keep lying to their boyfriends. I understand the concept of maintaining the A secret, and not putting a target on their boyfriend’s back. Still, the liars should realize that by this point, the boys are involved, so lying to them about mundane things, like working at the burn clinic, creates unnecessary problems. This is also the first time Shepard has the girls look inward on who A could be. Throughout the story, Noel is the prime suspect despite being Aria's boyfriend for more than a year. With this focus on Noel and finding A in general, Shepard takes a backseat on previous villains of Kate, Klaudia, and Naomi, who barely get any page time within this novel as the liars are focused on finding A. For this, there is no worse character or best character, as each of the liars is focused on finding A, giving them each of tasks that they do not really mess up, as their hearts are all in it, trying to end the tournament. With this novel having similar cliff-hanger vibes as the first part of the series, this book definitely revamps the series with its fast-moving plot that relates to the series as a whole and character motivations that focus more on A rather than their mundane lives.

A Suspects:

The concept of the novel is our four girls trying to find out who A is, thus I thought it would be fun to keep a suspect list to see how many people Shepard writes for the girls to at one point suspect and by whom. So here is the list for book #13:

Noel by Spencer

Chase by Spencer

Body Count

As Shepard keeps killing people off, I think it would be a good idea to keep track of who died, but without spoiling the ending of the current book, as her habit is killing them off with two chapters to go. So here is the list of the dead for the previous book #12:

Jenna, Ian, Mona, Toby, Courtney, Tabitha and Gayle

Read more reviews: Goodreads

Buy the book: Amazon

[murder-and-maryjane]

Did You Know🤔

The Carol City murders were a series of murders that took place predominantly in Carol City, Florida and in and around Miami-Dade County between October 1974 and January 1978. The murders were committed by American mass murderer and serial killer John Errol Ferguson (February 27, 1948 – August 5, 2013) who murdered at least eight people but is believed to have killed up to twelve. He was aided in six of the murders by two accomplices: Marvin Francois (January 18, 1946 – May 29, 1985) and Beauford James White (October 29, 1945 – August 28, 1987). On July 27, 1977, Ferguson, Francois, and White entered a drug house in Carol City where they tied up a total of eight people and shot all of them in the head execution-style. Two of the eight survived. At the time, the incident was the largest case of mass murder in Miami-Dade County history. Months after the massacre, Ferguson murdered a teenage couple in Hialeah after raping the female victim. He is also suspected to be responsible for the May 1977 murders of an elderly couple and is suspected of killing a further two men in 1974. Ferguson, Francois, and White were all eventually captured, sentenced to death, and executed by the state of Florida. Francois was executed in the electric chair on May 29, 1985, followed by White, who was also executed in the electric chair on August 28, 1987. Ferguson was executed over two decades later by lethal injection on August 5, 2013, following years of appeals over his sanity.

[joywritesbutitsactuallymystories]

The ghost

Steve Allan was your typical Londoner. Each day was planned, the whole week through. On Saturdays he went on a walk through the park. It was getting dark, so Steve decided to take a shortcut. It was dark on the Square. Only one of the street lamps were working. Eddie was there, an empty bottle in hand.

Like I said, it was dark. Steve could barely see where he was going. It was only natural that he couldn’t see the figure, silently moving towards him. The man felt a sharp pain in his neck and started losing vision. It was over in a few seconds. He fell into the light of Eddie’s street lamp, The London Eye looming above.

Robert Constantine, the world-renowned detective, sighed. He had come to the conclusion that catching the Ghost Killer was impossible. Major Crimes was working on this case for the last year and a month, and every next murder only seemed to complicate things. A murder a month, every one different. Nothing tied the deaths together. Nothing except the murder weapon. A thin, iron needle. That was all. For all we knew, we could’ve been on a wild goose chase. And yet, they did not disappoint, once again striking.

This time around it was a middle-aged man, Steve Allan, who fell under their needle. Finally, we had the smallest of leads – Steve's wife knew three previous victims, Samantha Black, Adam Curtis, and the first one to die, Andromeda May.

Needless to say, it was a dead end. The wife of Steve, Janet Brown was proven innocent, and the famous detective without a lead.

We returned to the precinct and Robert interviewed a witness of Allan’s murder. We only had one, as none of the residents of this part of the city were looking out their windows at the time. Even if they were, they wouldn’t have seen much. Almost all the lamps in the region were broken. Edward Dean, the local drunk, was sitting in the reception. Rob invited him into the interrogation room.

“So, Mr. Dean, what exactly happened last night?” Rob opened his notepad.

“Well mister. I was sittin’ an’ drinkin’ a bottle of gatter an’ he just keeled over.” He wildly gesticulated with every word. He stopped, drank a swig of beer and continued his story. “Never did like ‘im. Deserved what happened, really.”

“Why did he deserve what happened?”

“Didn’t like his lifestyle, is all” he answered, and I knew Constantine wouldn’t get anything more out of him. We left the interrogation room.

“What now?” I asked. Robbie answers:

“I don’t know.” We return to the briefing room and continue looking through the scarce pieces of evidence we have. A latex glove, collected from the murder of Jacob Hamilton and a few witness statements. Nothing soluble, especially seeing as the glove had no traces of DNA on it, neither the murderers nor the victims. The only good piece of news we had that day was that the needle that killed Allan was the same one used to kill all the others.

But then a policeman approached me.

“You are under arrest, for the murder of Steve Allan.” He lead me out of the room, leaving behind a very confused, very hurt Robert Constantine.

~~~

To whom it may concern,

While looking through my apprentice's laptop I found this blog, and took it upon myself to bring this story to an end.

The author of the earlier texts is indeed the murderer of Steve A., as well as twelve other civilians, the list being as follows:

Andromeda May

Matthew Lakes

Robert Kilburg

Orion Jane

Inez Ilsley

Jacob Hamilton

Martha Green

Nico Freeman

Rebecca Evermoore

Veronica Davis

Adam Curtis

Samantha Black

As you can see, the last names line up in reverse alphabetical order, which suggests that the serial killer planned being discovered.

I must say, I was very disappointed in my assistant after finding out about the crimes. I don’t hide the fact that I was friends with my accomplice, and trusted them deeply. Still, this does not cloud my judgement, and I will do all in my power to make sure their rule of terror ends.

Signed,

Robert Constantine

~~~

Fools. You really thought this was over? You cannot capture a ghost. The thirteen were just a warning, a prologue to something much, much bigger. Cut one head, two sprout from the stump.

The streets of London will run red. The tower will fall, and when We are done with you, even the ravens will abandon ship.

So, lock your windows. Barricade your doors. Hold your loved ones close. For when you’ll die, you’ll die alone. And no-one will be left to mourn your ghost.

~~~

The serial killer sat in silence in the interrogation room. A smile crept onto his face. He would’ve known those footsteps anywhere. Robert Constantine, the world-renowned detective. The two friends sat opposite each other, one looked at the other with kindness in their eyes, the other one with hurt.

They sat for a while in silence, before the detective finally spoke.

“Why?” The question hung between them. The other leaned back into his chair, their smile turned into a grin.

“Why wouldn’t I, Robbie?”

They sat in silence for some time before Robert, the world-renowned detective, left the room. The place was completely empty. He turned on his desk lamp. Robert sighed, taking off his glasses. “Finally it’s all over”, he whispered to himself in relief, “Never again should I come back to this case.”

[reidscanehand]

Ne Regrette Rien

RCH 3K Celebration

Based on the song “Ne Regrette Rien” by Edith Piaf

Pairing: Spencer Reid x BAUfem!Reader

Category: Angsty Fluff

TW: mentions of the potential murder of a child, details of the murders of young girls (all typical CM stuff, specifically based on the season 1 episode, “Riding the Lightning”)

I was absolutely delighted to receive this request. This song was not on my playlist, but I did know of it and I do actually happen to enjoy a lot of Edith Piaf’s music. I’ve had a thought of adpating this episode for a fic (I rarely write early seasons’ Spencer, so this was fun). Thank you to the anon who requested this and I hope you all enjoy it! xx 

Spoilers for “Riding the Lightning”, by the way; I try not to focus on the episode too much and to focus more on the relationship between Reader and Spencer, but just it case. Also, if you haven’t watched this episode or haven’t watched it recently, I’d give it a watch; it is a high quality and extremely underrated episode in my opinion! 

Non, rien de rien Non, je ne regrette rien Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait Ni le mal Tout ça m'est bien égal Non, rien de rien Non, je ne regrette rien C'est payé, balayé, oublié Je me fous du passé

He’s still not sure why the whole team has to come down to Florida, but he’d be lying if being crushed up next to you in the SUV isn’t his vision of heaven. Spencer is absolutely thrilled to be here and you seem pretty delighted, too, both of you geeking out a bit over the landmark quality of this VICAP interview: the FBI have never had a chance to interview a serial killer couple before. In fact, you’d told him that you were prepared to beg Gideon to let you join in when Hotch announced the entire team would be flying to Florida for the interview. Hotch would be in the lead on Jacob Dawes’ interview, Gideon would take the lead on his wife, and believed accomplice, Sara Jean. Spencer would second Gideon on the interview with Sara Jean, Hotch would be alone with Dawes, and Elle and Derek would be sent to look for more evidence on Sara Jean since she’d revealed very little in trial. In fact, while Jacob had admitted to killing the twelve bodies the authorities dug up from under his workshop, detailing how he and Sara Jean had lured, tortured, and killed all twelve victims, Sara Jean had only admitted to killing her son, Riley. 

Being in on the interview with Sara Jean is strange in the first place. She’s not a serial killer, that much he can tell. You’d told him that theory on the way to the prison, just from looking over her file. Now that he’d met her, he couldn’t help but agree with you. In fact, he doubts that profiling skills are even necessary to recognize that fact once you’ve met her in person, anyway. She’s soft spoken, not that all serial killers are loud by any means, but she’s a good soul, a kind soul, one that can be seen from miles around, like a beacon in the night. 

He almost wishes you could meet her, just to see how right you’d been, though you’d said you were just happy to observe. You, Garcia, and JJ are watching the interview video feed from a separate room set up by the prison. You’re far from just observing, actually. The discovery of a thirteenth body, a murder previously undisclosed by Jacob Dawes, means there’s a possibility - a massive possibility - that there are even more than that. It’s down to you, Garcia, and JJ to see if you pick up on anything - a change in tone, posture, a flicker of something even mildly untoward - that could lead them to more victims. 

“You’re a doctor?” Sara Jean asks him as they walk to the interview room. Spencer smiles and nods. “A medical doctor?” 

“No, ma’am,” he answers shyly. “I have three PhDs.” 

Sara Jean’s soft blue eyes light up and she smiles gently at him, “A doctor! And so young! Your mother must be very proud.”

He nods again shyly, opening his mouth to speak when they are interrupted by none other than Jacob Dawes. Gideon had purposely asked the guards and Hotch to take this specific hallway so that Sara Jean would be forced to see Jacob, and so that he and Spencer could try to observe something about the dynamics of their relationship. 

“Sara Jean!” Jacob calls, as though he isn’t handcuffed and surrounded by guards. In fact, he seems, to Spencer, at least, entirely unaffected by the setting. It’s not too terribly surprising for a psychopath, but it’s still off putting. “You look so fine, babycakes! This was meant to be. Our names will live forever, it’s a beautiful thing!” 

“Spence,” your voice whispers into the comms in his ears, “look at her.” At your bidding, Spencer glances over at Sara Jean, only to be struck by her expression. Stony. Mollified. Bewildered. “She doesn’t look happy to see him.” Spencer nods, knowing you can see his response even if he can’t actually say anything to you. Not for the first time, Spencer is struck by how damn good you are at this job. He’s a good profiler, this he knows, but the way that you watch people, the way you can read them is something so innately a part of you, something he doubts could be trained. 

“You designed that to happen,” Sara Jean almost whispers, turning to Gideon. She isn’t accusatory, she doesn’t even seem mad. It’s a resignation, just like everything else she’s said about the case, about her impending execution. Gideon doesn’t respond. His expression doesn’t even change. “Did you learn anything, agent?” 

“Spencer, I don’t think she did this,” you whisper into his earpiece again. “She seems….something isn’t right about this.” Locating the camera, Spencer looks directly at it, nodding subtly, and hoping you can see in his expression that he agrees with you. 

Avec mes souvenirs J'ai allumé le feu Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux Balayé les amours Avec leurs trémolos Balayé pour toujours Je repars à zéro

You’d once told Spencer that you tended to really ‘trust your gut’ when it came to profiling. If he had a gut like yours, he’d trust it, too. Not only had something not been right about the case, but Sara Jean had, in fact, had absolutely no part in the abduction or murder of any of Jacob’s victims. Or, in fact, the murder of her own son, which was the only act she’d admitted to on the stand.

On their trip to interview Sara Jean’s mother Morgan and Elle were given a letter sent fomr Sara Jean to her mother - a deathbed confession of innocence. They’d read it over the phone, feeding it through to Gideon and Spencer, both of whom started reading it out loud to a distraught and terrified Sara Jean. She’d nearly jumped on Spencer trying to knock his earpiece out. She’d succeeded, actually, in knocking it out - unsurprising, really, as Spencer’s reflexes are hardly the pride of the FBI. It does, however, allow him to see you in person for the first time since the interviews started. You are escorted to the interview room by a very disgruntled looking Hotch, who - to Spencer’s understanding - is very much in need of a break from his interview with Jacob Dawes. 

“How’s it going?” you whisper, helping Spencer affix the comm to his ear. 

He’s so focused on trying not to blush as your knuckles graze his jawline and your gentle fingers touch the shell of his ear that he misses your question, “Wh-what? I’m sorry.”

You smile sweetly, “How’s it going?” 

“It’s okay,” he whispers, feeling the blush (despite his best efforts) crawling up his neck to cheek as you clip the comm cord to his lapel, requiring your hands to delightfully grip at his chest for a few moments. “She’s not what she seems. At all.”

“I told you so,” you tease softly, giving him such an adorable grin that he just manages to swallow over his urge to pass away at the sweetness of the sight. He cheeks are now burning. 

“That you did,” he manages to reply. 

“Keep up the good work,” you assure him, straightening his jacket against the newly adjusted comm. “And know that I’m super jealous of you but that your big, beautiful genius brain is exactly what’s needed for this.” 

You pat his arm and walk away and Spencer’s so overwhelmed that he just manages a broken, rasping, “Th-thank you” in response as you exit with Hotch. He can feel Gideon watching him, but is surprised to look up and meet Sara Jean’s gaze. 

It’s an odd expression, the one she’s wearing now. She looks a bit abashed, Spencer assumes it’s because she just broke an FBI headset, but she also looks slightly curious. Gideon turns to the door to speak to Hotch, a conversation to which neither Spencer nor Sara Jean is privy. He takes an awkward step towards her, more to get out of Hotch and Gideon’s way than anything else. 

“Sorry,” Sara Jean says quietly, “for breaking your ear thing.” 

“Oh,” Spencer replies, surprised, “it’s alright, ma’am.”

“Yes,” she whispers, almost to herself, “I’m sure it is.”

“What do you-”

“That girl,” she interrupts him, voice still soft, “who is she?” 

“G-girl?” Spencer gulps louldly, knowing exactly who she means.

“The agent that fixed your ear thing,” her smile deepens and Spencer knows she’s onto him. “Who is she?”

“That’s, um, that’s Agent Y/L/N,” he replies, willing his voice not to crack despite the pressure in his throat.

“So, she’s another agent?” Sara Jean asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And she also works for the BAU?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And you’re in love with her?”

“Yes ma-” Spencer cuts himself off, realizing what he just said. Sara Jean smiles at him, but it’s not smug or cruel, but gentle and motherly. 

“You haven’t told her, have you?” she asks quietly, sitting back down at the table. Spencer sits back in his seat across from her, shaking his head at her question.

“How long have you known her?” Sara Jean asks, her voice still kind and quiet, mindful of the cameras and microphones being fixed in the room and the fact that they’ll soon be back on and you’ll soon be able to hear their conversation.

“About a year,” Spencer whispers. “She joined the team right before I did.”

“She’s your best friend, right?” Sara Jean clarifies. Spencer nods and she smiles again. “You gotta tell her, you know?”

“I can’t do that, ma’am,” Spencer immediately responds. 

“Oh, but you do,” Sara Jean replies. “I don’t wanna hear any of that silliness of worrying about your friendship. I have seen a lot in this lifetime Dr. Reid and I can tell you this-”

“Mics should be back on,” Gideon announces, still speaking with Hotch over by the cell door. 

“Having regrets makes life far harder than it already is,” she continues as though Gideon hadn’t spoken. “Of all the wishes I have, wishing that I had said all I needed to say, loved all I needed to love, and done all that I needed to do are up at the top, but at the very top is having no regrets and had I done all of those things, I wouldn’t have any of those, now would I?”

The gaze she fixes him with is so intense, Spencer can’t respond. He sort of nods lamely, highly aware that everyone can hear what she’s saying now. But he knows she’s right. He’s been meaning to tell you for a while now, but he truly doesn’t want to ruin your friendship. But the closer and closer you’ve become, the more he’s fallen in love with you. It’s a never ending cycle. 

“Reid,” Gideon suddenly says, breaking his reverie, “I’ll continue here. I need you to go do a handwriting analysis on the letter.” 

Spencer nods and leaves the cell, following Hotch back to the room where you, JJ, and Penelope are working. JJ’s about to go second Hotch on an interview. Penelope is working with Derek and Elle on the hunch that Riley was never dead, but that Sara Jean took him to a hospital or church or that he might’ve been adopted. The room is a flurry of activity, but Spencer can’t focus on any of it, still thinking over what Sara Jean said. 

“Hey,” you whisper as Spencer stares blankly at the letter. “What were you and Sara Jean talking about?”

He meets your eyes. He wants to tell you. He wants to pull you to him and hold you in his arms. He wants to kiss you. 

“Nothing,” he manages to rasp. “Nothing at all.” 

Non, rien de rien Non, je ne regrette rien Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait Ni le mal Tout ça m'est bien égal Non, rien de rien Non, je ne regrette rien Car ma vie Car mes joies Aujourd'hui Ça commence avec toi

Not all cases end in the way the team wants them to - that’s just a fact of this life. However, it’s beyond rare for a case to end like this: Sara Jean hadn’t killed her son, Riley. She’d surrendered him to a family she cleaned for, a wealthy family that renamed the child. Riley was now a cello prodigy, a young adult with a promising future. Sara Jean didn’t do anything wrong and she didn’t want anyone to know about it. She wanted to die. And the team had to let her. There wasn’t enough evidence to substantiate her release from her execution. Gideon had somehow had the strength to watch it happen, per Sara Jean’s request. 

You’d cried into Spencer’s chest. He’d finally managed to gather the courage to pull you into his arms and comfort you - though courage proved hardly necessary. Seeing you cry was catalyst enough. 

It’s been several hours since then, now. The team isn’t leaving until the morning, spending one more night in their relatively nice Florida hotel. Spencer’s standing on the roof. He’d been unable to sleep, walking around the hotel until he’d seen the sign to walk up to the roof. 

He’s staring up at the stars, his mind rolling over the events of the day when the door to get back inside opens behind him.

“There you are,” you almost whisper, as though scared to break the quiet of the night around you. “I thought I might find you here.” 

You cross to stand by him and Spencer realizes he’s already smiling, “Of course you knew. You and that gut of yours.”

“Yeah,” you nod, “me and my stupid gut.”

“Stupid?” Spencer looks over at you, admiring how you glow under the stars. 

You’re looking up at the view, but close your eyes, head still tipped to the sky, “I knew today wasn’t going to end well. I felt it. And it made me...it made me sad. Which is pretty pathetic, really. We’ve handled worse, honestly and-”

“Y/N,” Spencer interrupts, tentatively placing a hand on your upper arm. Your eyes snap open, but you still don’t look at him. “Feeling bad that someone died is far from pathetic.” 

“Maybe I could’ve said something, maybe I should’ve-”

“Y/N,” he whispers again. Using the slight leverage he has on your arm, he pulls you to him, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you into his chest. “This isn’t your fault or mine or Hotch’s or Gideon’s or even the governor’s fault. Sara Jean wanted to die and wasn’t going to let anything keep her from that. She wanted to keep Riley safe and make sure he’d be okay. It’s not ideal, obviously, but it’s certainly not your fault.” 

“Is that what she meant?” you ask, your face still buried in his chest. 

“What?” 

You pull back slightly, wrapping your arms around him in response and looking up at him, “When she told you she wants to live without regrets?”

Spencer swallows, but shakes his head, “No-I mean, well, maybe. Maybe subconsciously, but that’s not what we were talking about.”

“Well, what were you talking about?” you ask, eyes never leaving his.

“Um,” Spencer gulps again. “Just some-something else.”

“Spencer, you know you can tell me anything. Even-”

“I can’t...this isn’t just anything, Y/N,” he whispers, almost holding you tighter if possible. “This is...it’s too huge.”

“Spencer, are you okay?"

“Yes,” he nods, “yes, I just...I-I-”

“Spencer, are you sure you’re-”

But he stops you by pressing his lips to yours. He’s not sure why. Maybe it’s how beautiful you look in the moonlight. Maybe it’s the fact that you’re so sweetly concerned about him. Maybe it’s the fact that Sara Jean was right and he’s in love with you and needs to tell you. And to his utter delight and relief you kiss him back. 

You pull back for only a moment, looking up at him with wide eyes, but a beautiful smile, “Oh.”

And as you press your lips to his again Spencer has absolutely no regrets. 

~~~

Link to My Main Master List

Link to My 3K Celebration

[kurokoros]

Bertholdt’s personality being watered down to “haha anxiety!” really irritates me.

I, too, would be a complete nervous wreck if I was trained to be a child soldier in order to be considered an honorary human being by the oppressive government that beat the fact that I was an evil monster into my head from the time I was born to when they separated me from my family and shipped me across the ocean so three other children and I could commit genocidally charged war crimes under the threat of violence against myself and my family should I fail my mission, and then I was forced to integrate with people I’d been told were devils all my life  which lead to an internal crisis as my views were questioned and the guilt I felt for committing mass murder at age twelve started to eat me alive, all while my support system of mission accomplices crumbled as one was killed in front of me at the start of the mission, one wouldn’t talk to me publicly to keep her cover, and the last--my best friend--was dealing with his trauma and guilt so poorly that he developed a secondary persona to help himself cope with betraying people he’d come to care for.

but yeah haha anxiety is so funny and quirky guys

[doctorstethoscope]

The Right Chapter 23 || Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader

hello my loves! Some of you may have already seen this, but I have news! This fic is officially complete. There are thirty chapters, so you still have seven left after today’s update. I’ll be keeping the usual Tuesday/Saturday posting schedule, so you have a month left of updates.

Now that I am done drafting this fic, my requests will be open while I begin to bank up new chapters of the Hotch x Reader Scandal!AU that I plan to write next. Please send in requests here. I would also LOVE if you could fill out this survey about the Scandal!AU so I can get a sense of what you all would like. I will make sure to write it in a way that makes sense, even if you haven’t seen Scandal! 

As always, thanks so much for reading, y’all are just the best. 

Read previous chapters of this fic here!

contains: canon-typical descriptions of violence, cursing, hospital mention

wordcount: 2.3k 

A little while later, Hotch sends JJ and Emily to the school to interview the classmates of the students who had been murdered, and you and Morgan head off to the medical examiner’s office. 

“Find anything interesting in the calls from the tip line?” Morgan asks you as he pulls out of the parking lot, and you shrug. 

“I need to go back through my notes. There were a couple kids' names that came up, but I want to go back and cross check for the names that came up more than once-- i figure if the name only comes up once, it’s kids pranking each other and I don’t want to waste our time on dead ends. Garcia’s looking into a teacher for me, though.” 

“We just need a couple more puzzle pieces, and then it’ll all come together,” Derek says, more to himself than to you, and you murmur out your agreement as he pulls into the examiner’s office.

“Cause of death for Mrs. Mack and Mrs. Sutton was a gunshot wound to the neck. The daughters, to the abdomen,” the doctor says, passing over her report. “The men were all strangled. The boys by hand, the men with a garrote.”

“Any idea what order they were killed in?” You asked. 

“My guess is the women first, one right after the other. Then the sons, and the husbands.” 

“How did he stop the husbands from taking him down while he killed the sons?” Morgan asks skeptically. 

The medical examiner points out a bruise on Mr. Sutton’s skull. “Looks like he was knocked unconscious, maybe by the butt of the gun or something in the home.” She explains.

“Thank you,” you said to the medical examiner, who smiled and left you both to your work.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Morgan asks you.

“White man in his twenties or thirties, snubbed by a woman he desired for another man, taking out the families he’s convinced he’ll never have?” 

“Call Hotch,” he said, taking off at a brisk pace back towards the car and trusting you to follow. You pulled your phone out of your pocket and discovered that Garcia was already calling you. 

“Hi Garcia, can you patch Hotch in?” You asked. 

“Already here bug, and trust me, you’re gonna want to hear this.” She told you, and you put the phone on speaker so Morgan could listen in while he drove. 

“What did you find, Garcia?” Hotch asked. 

“So, I looked into Marc Vexper, and it turns out this long-term English sub has something to hide-- he didn’t make a single card purchase on either day that he was out, and his phone was completely off from the moment he stepped off the school’s campus to the time he returned.” 

“Morgan and I are just leaving the medical examiner’s office now-- Marc fits the profile to a tee.” You interject. 

“Oh but wait, the high school of horrors doesn’t end there,” Garcia warns you. “I took a peek at Marc’s texts looking for clues about his whereabouts, and I noticed some too-friendly chats with Victoria Sullivan, a student in his AP Literature class. Her phone was on both days, and I’ll give you one guess as to where she was both days-- and it wasn’t school.” 

“You’re kidding,” Morgan sighs out. 

“So did he groom Victoria into doing it herself, or was she an accomplice?” Hotch asked. 

“The men were strangled, Aaron. There’s no way she could have done that herself.” You tell him. 

“We need an address, Penelope.” Hotch demands. 

“Already on your phone. The station’s closest.” She tells you. 

“We’ll meet you there.” Hotch says, and the line clicks. 

In a routine you’ve performed too many times to count, Morgan flicks on the lights and sirens as you mount your phone with the GPS sending you in the right direction. It’s all the same as it usually is, so why are you so nervous? 

**********************

Hotch elects not to put on his lights and sirens as he approaches Mr. Vexper’s house, not wanting to alert him that anyone had found him out. There are two cars in the driveway-- a modest sedan with a few dings in it, and a shitbox of an old jeep with a parking permit for the local high school on the back bumper. 

“The girl is here-- she might be a hostage.” Hotch tells Spencer, who nods. “We need to be careful. There’s no need for any other kids to lose their lives,” he says, quietly opening up his car door and gesturing for Spencer to take a back entrance while he takes the front. He climbs the worn wooden steps and peeks into the window, seeing nothing before he takes one hand off of his gun to swing open the front door of the home, where he’s met face to face with the Victoria Sullivan, standing on the main stairway of the home, gun leveled square at the middle of his forehead. 

“Victoria, put the gun down,” Hotch says slowly, raising his own hands as a sign of good faith. “I’m here to help you. Where’s Marc?”

Before Victoria can answer, Hotch hears the woosh of metal in the air and feels an overwhelming crack in his legs, falling to the ground as he yelps in pain. 

“Run, Vicky! You know where to go!” Marc yells, and the girl disappears from Hotch’s blurring line of vision as March continues to beat on Hotch with a crowbar, stomping on his legs. 

Hotch vaguely hears Spencer's running footsteps, and Marc takes off, running in the same direction as Victoria. 

Spencer falls to the ground next to Hotch, attempting to gently tend to his injuries, but Hotch weakly waves him off. 

“Go, go, save the girl, he’ll kill her next. I’m okay. Go,” he coughs out, and after a moment’s hesitation, Spencer goes. 

Hotch groans as he gropes around in his pants pocket, pulling out his cell phone and calling Garcia. 

“I need help,” he says once the line clicks.

****************

If Aaron lived through this, you were going to kill him yourself. You knew you were being irrational, you knew it wasn’t his fault, and worst of all you know that he hadn’t even done something you could be mad at him for, like going in without backup. This was just the job. This just happened sometimes. And you were absolutely fucking livid that it was happening to him. Not to mention scared shitless. 

Morgan had pumped the gas as soon as Garcia called, but it still wasn’t fast enough. Your leg bounced anxiously in the passenger seat. 

“He’s gonna be fine,” Morgan attempted to placate you, but you wouldn’t have it. 

“You don’t know that,” you spat out. 

“He’s tough. He’s got a lot to stick around for. He’s gonna be okay,” He tells you, and this time you don’t argue.

When you finally pull up to the house, Aaron is on a stretcher being loaded onto an ambulance. You throw yourself out of the SUV before it’s even fully stopped, calling out for Aaron. 

“I’m okay,” he sputters out as you climb into the back of the ambulance. 

“No you aren’t, you asshole,” you scoffed at him, your voice a little watery. “Tell the paramedics what happened so they can help you,” you said, stroking at the hair at the top of his head as your chin quivered. 

“Don’t cry,” he says, reaching up for you and you see that his hands are bloody. 

“Shh, shhh. Don’t worry about me. Let them help you,” you calmed him down, trying not to let your tears interrupt the medics when his eyes roll into the back of his head and he loses consciousness.

 Aaron will live, and you suppose you won’t follow through on your threats to kill him. Once he’s in the hospital, they wheel him back to a restricted area, leaving you alone in a waiting room while the rest of the team finds the unsub. You call Jess, let her know what’s going on, but ask that she keep it from Jack until you’re back in the room with him and Hotch is able to talk to Jack himself. You didn’t want Jack to worry, and you knew that Aaron’s assurance that he was fine was the only comfort Jack would accept.

After a while-- it could have been thirty minutes or three hours, Emily appears in the waiting room..

“I was appointed to come check on you,” she says by way of greeting. “Have you seen him yet?”

“Not since they took him out of the ambulance. He looked… bad,” you struggle to find a word that explains the magnitude of it. 

“He’s gonna be fine. No gunshot wounds, just some nasty bruises. I’m sure it looked worse than it actually was.” She consoles you gently.

“I hope you’re right.”

At that moment, a doctor appears in the doorway. “For Agent Hotchner?” He asks, and you walk over to him. 

“I’m Aaron’s partner,” you explain, the word “girlfriend” feeling entirely too childish for the scenario. 

“Agent Hotchner is going to be just fine. His left leg is fractured slightly at the femur and the kneecap, but we’ve put him in a brace to stabilize the knee, and he should recover over the next eight to twelve weeks. He’ll need some physical therapy, and field work is out of the question until he is cleared, but he’ll make a full recovery.  He has a mild concussion and a few bruised ribs, but we’ve given him some meds for the pain and the concussion shouldn’t present any further complications.” 

No field work. Aaron was going to be pissed. “Thank you, doctor.” You said gratefully. 

“He’s been asking for you, if you’d like to follow me,” The doctor responds, and you allow him to lead you down a maze of hallways, leaving you just outside Aaron’s room, where his eyes are shut and his chest rises and falls slowly. Figures, you were sure he’d been up all night running through profiles in his head.

You sat on his right side, away from his injured leg, and rested your head against his mattress, near his hip bone. He looked so fragile like this, wrapped up in a thin blanket and a johnny, bandaged from his collar bone to his toes. You wondered, briefly, if he felt this helpless and frustrated the night that he picked you up from your old apartment. The tears well up against your will, but you allow them to fall, for a few moments. You had earned the right to care for him, to worry about him, to fret. You had earned the right to sit vigil at his hospital bed and try to force images of a lifetime lived without him to stop passing through your head. 

Aaron stirred, and you sucked in a quick breath, not wanting to wake him. He settled, again, and you rested your head back against the mattress, letting the gentle rhythm of his breath lull you to sleep. 

He twitches a little while later, and the sudden movement jolts you awake. His return to the waking world is slower, and you let him come at it at his own pace, not wanting to overwhelm him when he was probably already going to be in pain and disoriented. You hear him mumble out your name and you stand, placing one hand on his cheek and the other in his uninjured palm. 

“I’m right here, baby,” you whispered to him. 

“Are you okay?” He asks, trying to look you up and down without moving his neck. 

“Am I--” you chided gently. “Honey, I’m fine. Are you okay? Does anything hurt?” 

“My leg,” he tells you, trying to sit up, but you push back on his shoulders. 

“Absolutely not,” you tell him. “You broke your leg. You are staying in this bed until a doctor tells you otherwise.” 

“Fuck,” Aaron muttered out. Suddenly, a thought occurs to him. “Is Spencer okay? And the girl, Victoria Sullivan?” 

“The team took them both alive. Spencer is fine, just a little breathless from his run.” You tell him. 

“When is it gonna heal?” He switches topics back to his injury. 

“You mean, when are you going to be allowed into the field again?” You asked skeptically, and he at least has the good grace to look sheepish. “Not for at least six weeks, more than likely closer to ten, plus physical therapy.” 

“God damnit,” Aaron sighs. 

“It could have been a lot worse, Aaron,” you point out softly, and he looks up at you. 

“You’ve been crying.” He says softly. 

“No, I haven’t.” 

“Don’t lie to a profiler,” He chides you gently.

“Well, I’m the woman who loves you and I’ve earned the right to cry when you’re hurt.” You said defensively, but not unkindly.

“Hey, I’m okay. Really, I swear. Come up here,” he urges you, and you roll your watery eyes. 

“I’ll hurt you,” you tell him. 

“You’ll hurt me worse if you don’t come cuddle,” he pouts. 

“Corny bastard,” you chuckle, tenderly sliding into bed next to him. 

Unable to shift and cuddle, Aaron settles for reaching out for your hand, which you allow him to take in his own. He strokes his thumb over the back of your palm tenderly. 

“I’m sorry I scared you,” he whispers, and you might start crying again right there.

“Don’t do it again. I was ready to kill you myself,” you warned him. 

“Noted.” 

“We should call Jack. I didn’t tell him what was going on, I didn’t want to scare him. Jess knows.” 

“I just… want to hold your hand for a couple more minutes.” 

“Okay, love. A few more minutes.”

tagging:  @romanogersendgame @wanniiieeee      @zheezs14      @greeneyedblondie44 @angelic-kisses13  @baumarvel @ssamorganhotchner  @ijustwannaread2k19    @rexit-mo @shmaptainhotchnersmain @qtip-blog @averyhotchner  @the-modernmary @itsmytimetoodream @choppa-style @hotforhotchner11 @infinite-tides @isthatme-thatsme @g-l-pierce @bakugouswh0r3 @ssahotchie @sleepyreaderreads

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“SIX YEARS, 12 STRAPS FOR EVANGELIST'S SON,” Toronto Star. March 11, 1933. Page 25. ---- Rugby Player Gets Five Years and Ten Strokes for Armed Robbery --- Special to The Star Hamilton, March 11.-"This sort of thing frequently ends in murder; you might be facing a charge on which you would finish with a rope around your neck," Magistrate Burbidge said to-day as he sentenced Frank Bradley, 21, son of an evangelist, to six years in the penitentiary and twelve strokes of the cat-o'-nine-tails, and Wilbur Schultz, 19. rugby player and son of a manufacturer, to five years and ten strokes of the cat-o'-nine-tails, on two charges of armed robbery.

On three charges of car theft the youths were sentenced to one year definite concurrently with the other sentences.

"They were out of work and figured they could get some easy money to carry on until spring." stated Detective Barrett. "The car they stole yesterday was to be put in a garage while they looked over the situation to pick out something big. These other jobs were just piker stuff. They obtained a shot-gun from a man named Dutch who was just out of prison."

Crown Attorney Ballard moved for immediate sentence referring to the accused as potential murderers. "This type of crime is very prevalent in the republic to the south of us, and has to be stamped out," he stated.

Schultz and Bradley admitted holding up and robbing Robert Megaughan, manager of Jackson's Bread Co., February 28. Megaughan was walking to a bank near his office with $1,900 in cash in his pocket and $58 in silver in a satchel. The robbers demanded the satchel, thinking they had the company's receipts, but all they got was the paltry sum in silver.

Their admissions also included the daring hold-up of Powell's branch grocery store, March 6.

Confident a break was impending, police withheld news of the theft between 8.30 and 9.30 yesterday of a large sedan owned by Vernon A. Smith, salesman of Rockwood. He was eating in a King St. E. restaurant and had left almost $600 in merchandise in his car.

Headquarters officials ordered every available man to take up the chase. An hour later. Detectives Sharpe and Barrett found the car parked on Blake St. They waited. Schultz and another man approached the car and were captured. Later, the detectives learned the second man was innocent and was merely acting as an agent to aid Schultz find a garage where the sedan could be parked a few hours.

Bradley was later arrested as Schultz’s alleged accomplice in theft of Smith's car. Both denied knowledge of the hold-ups until late. last night when an identification line-up was arranged at headquarters and seven persons positively identified them as the participants in the Megaughan and Powell robberies, police stated.

Detectives Barrett and Sharpe led a search which unearthed the shotgun and revolver in a rooming house. Not until then did Schultz and Bradley admit any knowledge of the crimes, The Star was told.

[AL: Bradley was also known as Frank Dadgley and Ted Lewis, and had been in Burwash and the Montreal jail before - he was 21, from Brantford, and had a tattoo of a Heart and Anchor tattoo and the word ‘Lovey’ on his arm. He was a cook’s helper. he was convict #2980 at Kingston Penitentiary but was transferred to Collin’s Bay January 1935. He was convict #822 and was released March 1937.

Schultz alias Wilbur was 19, and was from Hamilton - having spent some time in the Barton jail there. He was a machinist helper. At Kingston Penitentiary he was #2979 and unlike Bradley was a difficult and disobedient prisoner, reported 15 times between 1933 and 1935 for speaking out of term, theft of supplies, resistance to guards, foul language, and taking part in a prison strike. He mostly worked in the tailor shop Schultz was also involved in a riot and hostage taking in March 1935, when a group of twenty-five inmates, wearing improvised masks and with their inmate numbers ripped from their uniforms, occupied several workshops, barricaded the doors, and took three officers hostage; Schultz worked in the tailor shop in that building. Unlike the 1932 strike, the guards taken captive were gagged, tied, and beaten by the leaders of the uprising. Several of the inmates set fire to the mail bags manufactured inside, destroying most of the machinery and nearly killing several men. The prison officers who stormed the building were also exceptionally brutal, beating surrendered inmates with batons. During the investigation afterwards, few of the participants would explain exactly what they had hoped to gain, except, as one individual guessed: “They don’t want exercises. They want base balls. They want human treatment instead of persecution, and everything like that.” Schultz himself was implicated in the riot, considered an “agitator” by several other prisoners, but his testimony was rather limited in this regard:

Q (from Warden): “What I am getting at is that your answers are useless. The Shoe was set on fire, machines broke, windows broken, and, according to you, you didn’t see a thing. Are you sure you were there?” A: I don’t know what to tell you, boss.

Several weeks later he was overheard taking responsibility for “trying to beat you guys (ie the guards) but not knowing you can’t beat the boys in blue.” Schultz was given ten strokes of the strap for his role in this riot, and sent to segregation for a year.  He was pardoned December 1936.]

[collidingxworlds]

So!

Since I managed to do what I’ve been trying to do for months (aka finishing my Muse Pages and updating the Verses Pages), I decided to treat myself and give into the Stranger Things hype that has been dominating my dashboard for a good while.

Under the cut there are Five’s and Abigail’s brand-new ST verses! I still have drafts and my creativity is still a bit dried, but if anyone is interested in plotting something with them in their AU, hit me up ^^

Abigail’s verse can start in any season, while Five’s has a mandatory start in season 1 (but I can work around it if needed).

ABIGAIL HOBBS

Stanger Things AU || I’m not the Final Girl, I’m the Monster

Meet Abigail Hobbs. Orphan, daughter of a late, notorious serial killer, yet another young life ruined by the system. One of the latest arrival in Hawkins. Driven by a dark, obsessive love for his daughter and by the need to consume her, Garrett Jacob Hobbs started to kill girls who resembled Abigail when she was just a young kid, forcing her into the role of the lure and making her an accomplice to his crimes. Hobbs was eventually discovered by the FBI and killed, but not before he could murder his wife and almost mortally wound his daughter, in one last, desperate attempt of taking her down with him. Abigail was only twelve at the time and, when she woke up from her coma, she found herself with no family, no house, no money and a nasty scar on her neck as a permanent reminder of what kind of monster had spawned her. After bouncing from one foster family to the next, she eventually ends up in Hawkins at the age of 16. Strongly independent with a deep dislike for rules and laws, she finds herself joining the town’s petty crime circle in the matter of a couple of weeks. Nothing new for her, since her record has already quite a few, even if always small, stains on it. She quickly gains a reputation for ganging up with the local teen drug dealers and for being a permanent fixture on Hopper “watch out for” list, but her real talents and urges, the one she inherited from her father, are yet to come out into the light.

[ Headcanons ]

-

NUMBER FIVE

Stranger Things AU || The Boy from the Other Side

Hawkins secret lab isn’t the only place were children with extraordinary abilities have been brought together and trained. Doctor Reginald Hargreeves has spent a great deal of his life studying the paranormal and the theories concerning parallel universes to our own. And, eventually, his researches have led him to a dreadful conclusion: there is a much darker reality lurking just past the confines of our dimension, ready and eager to break in and infect the world as we know it. Counter measures had to be taken and this is how Project Umbrella was born. Seven children, all equipped with slightly different psionic powers, trained and experimented on with the aim of creating a squad that could, one day, save the world from such a dark, impending threat. Things, however, didn't go as planned and quickly spiralled out of hand one fateful day. Perhaps it was the too strict training. Perhaps it was the lack of time for the children to express themselves. Or maybe it was just the bud of teenage rebellion. Number 7's powers got out of control during one of her special training. She was the most powerful but also the most sensible of all the children, kept isolated for "safety reasons". A tear in the fabric of space and time was opened and hell broke lose. The lab was destroyed, Doctor Hargreeves and his assistance Grace disappeared in the flames. All the data from their research, including vital information about the dark dimension, lost. The children were scattered. Number 6, was killed, while Number 7 was knocked into a coma. 1, 2, 3 and 4 managed to get out alive. As for Number 5, he was the closest to 7's location when it all happened. In the attempt to get them both out of the collapsing lab, he tried to use his abilities to portal out. Grave mistake. The energy from the unstable gate laced onto his own and sucked them in. He barely managed to push his sister out of the portal before it swallowed him, trapping him in the Upside Down. A year later, just a few days after Will Byers' disappearance, a 13 years old boy appeared in the woods. Clothes dirty and all torn. Deadly pale skin caked in mud, blood and black ooze. A weird tattoo on his wrist, a stylised umbrella in a circle and the number "5" in the middle of its cover. The time spent in the Upside Down has left Five with very blurred memories of his life in the lab and absolutely no recollection of the accident. All he knows is that his siblings are out there, somewhere, and that there is a creature lurking in the shadow reality, ready to bring on the end of the world.

[ Headcanons ]

[dumdumsun]

Of Starlight

A/N: Onto the final five chapters ❤️ Dw though bc season two is still being written, so we’re not done here

Warnings: mentions of blood and violence

Word Count: 2571

—————————————

Chapter 16: Accomplices

The pain in Five’s side was still stinging, but he tried to ignore it as they entered the pub. He was fortunate to have someone like (Y/N) fretting over his well-being enough to let him lean some of his weight on her as they walked. Her arm was wrapped around his waist, hand resting above his wound, his own arm wrapped around her waist. Klaus, once seeing Luther, turned to his siblings and pointed towards their colossal brother. “Look.” He smiled as if to say ‘told you so’. The four of them approached the table Luther settled for, the man staring up at them under heavy brows. “Trying a little hair of the dog, are we? Hm?” Klaus lightly teased.

“Leave me alone.” He sulked, bringing his cup to his lips. The four leaned closer to provide their own words of encouragement to get him to work with them, but Diego sat beside his brother.

“Give us a minute.” Was all he said. The three others stared at the vigilante for a second before Klaus shrugged.

“Okay. Come on. Maybe they’ll brood each other to death.” He walked away from the table, motioning for the younger two to follow. (Y/N) turned the both of them around and walked with Klaus. They leaned on a table that was almost out of total earshot of the conversation. The three wordlessly watched the two of them talk, catching but a few words now and again. Beside her, (Y/N) felt Five lean up straight, away from her side. He braced both hands on the table behind him, trying to steady himself. She stared at the boy in concern and shifted a little closer. His head turned to her and watched as she motioned for him to lean against her again, if he wanted. Five’s eyes flicked around her face, seriously conflicted about whether or not he wanted to be comforted and assisted by the only person who truly took it upon themselves to do so. But he figured she’d been caring for him for so long, she seemed happy to do just about anything for him. What more was simply letting her help him stand straight? He wouldn’t hesitate to do it for her. So, with a small grunt, he pressed his uninjured side against her, the girl smiling contently and wrapping her arm around him again. Klaus’s movement beside them caught their attention. He tapped his wrist with his finger as if to symbolize a wristwatch. Five only nodded at him either in acknowledgement or confirmation, (Y/N) didn’t know.

She very gently kissed Five’s hair once Klaus looked away again. “How’re you feeling?” She whispered. The boy hummed and shifted his feet. Reaching up, he held onto the hand of the arm wrapped around his shoulders. The gentle squeeze he gave was enough to answer her question. The three at the table perked their heads up at Luther’s exclamation, “You should’ve led with that!” The man pushed himself out of his chair and hurried towards the exit. Five and (Y/N) glanced at each other before following their brother. Literally ripping the door off its hinges, Luther charged out of the pub, his siblings hurrying after.

-------------------------------------------------

Daylight had burnt out by the time Allison returned to the cabin from the hospital, where she had abandoned the officer she’d been deceiving into helping her find clues about Vanya and Leonard. As she ascended the small staircase to the porch, the sound of violin music reached her ears and a wind that seemed to only be affecting the area surrounding the cabin blew around just about everything. She stalked towards the entrance of the cabin, perplexed by the random occurrence around her. “Vanya? Is that you?” She called out, but only received violin strings in response. Fortunately, the front door was unlocked, granting her easy access. Stepping inside, Vanya was standing in the middle of the lounge room, absorbed in her music as that same wind shook the lights above them, the curtains, and rocked the chairs beside her. “Vanya, there you are. What is going on?” Allison closed the door behind her as her sister ceased the playing and turned to her.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to find you. Are you okay?”

Vanya hesitated. “Yeah?”

“There’s something… weird going on. What’s causing it?”

The chirping of the crickets outside saved them from the silence that would’ve followed Allison’s question. Vanya shifted on her feet before tilting her chin up. “Me.”

Allison, suspicious, slowly walked closer. “What do you mean, ‘me’?”

“I mean… I made those things happen. With my powers,” Her words made Allison stop altogether and stare in shock. “Turns out I’ve had them all this time. It’s weird, huh?”

It took her a few seconds, but Allison eventually let out a choked gasp, blinking and shaking her head. “It’s- It’s incredible.”

Sensing that there was more to why she was there, Vanya furrowed her brows. “But?”

“Can- Can we do this in the car?”

“Why?”

“You’re not gonna want to hear it.” Allison sighed. Vanya tilted her head with a false smile.

“Well, that’s never stopped you before.” She sassed. Allison looked away before taking a deep breath.

“Leonard Peabody? His real name is Harold Jenkins,” This information left Vanya speechless, staring at her sister with an unreadable expression as she walked closer to her. “Remember when I couldn’t find anything in the library on Leonard? It’s because Leonard Peabody doesn’t exist. Harold Jenkins does. He was in prison for twelve years. He murdered his father when he was thirteen-”

“This is… insane. His dad was an engineer at the-”

“I have the police report in the car, Vanya. I can show you.”

Vanya hesitated again, blinking slowly. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”

“Leonard, Harold, I- I know it doesn’t make any sense, and I know it sounds crazy, but we were in his house. He has pictures of all of us with our eyes gouged out.”

“W-What? I-”

“I promise I will tell you everything in the car, but it is not safe-” Allison began pulling her sister to the front door but Vanya stopped her.

“No, stop!” She sighed, exasperated, before taking a seat in one of the chairs. Allison knelt in front of her, not sure what to say.

“Look, um… I can’t imagine how hard it is for you to hear this...how you feel right now, but I… I love you, and I- I just… wanna be here for you, as your sister.”

“There’s just no way,” Vanya murmured, slightly shaking her head. “I mean, I love him. This just doesn’t make any sense. And this power… I- I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what to do.” She began breaking down, placing her head in hands. As she sniffled, Allison stared off, in thought. Coming to a realization, she furrowed her brows.

“I understand now.”

-------------------------------------------------

The metal squealing of the door alerted the four-year-old (Y/N) to peek over at what was happening. Her father demanded that she stand with her back to them until she was told otherwise, but he wasn’t currently watching her. She watched as Grace walked into the dark room with a tray of food for Vanya, who had sat up in bed. (Y/N) was informed by her robotic mother that her sister was sick, so she had to be transported away from her and her siblings to avoid spreading her infection. She missed her dearly and always asked Grace to wish Vanya a speedy recovery for her. “Who’s hungry?” She heard her mother chirp. She couldn’t see much else, for after Allison walked in, their father stood in the doorway, blocking Vanya from her view. “Now. You have to take your medicine, like a good girl. It’ll help calm your nerves.”

(Y/N) turned her full body towards the room, truly curious as to why she was brought down here if she couldn’t even speak to Vanya. “It’s time, Number Three,” She heard Reginald’s voice. “Do it.” From the very slim space between her parents, she could see Allison walk up to Vanya, but not their faces or actions. After a few seconds of silence, Allison sighed and began to speak,

“I heard a rumor… you think you’re just ordinary.”

There were no other words spoken between her sisters. Allison was ordered to leave the room afterwards. When she joined her sister’s side, (Y/N) quickly grabbed hold of her hand. “What happened, sis?”

“I don’t know… I just… I had to use my power. But I don’t know why.”

“Oh…”

“Number Eight,” Their father’s voice made both girls jump and tilt their heads up. He stood before them, taking off his monocle. He then crouched before them and stared (Y/N) in her eyes. “Number Eight, summon a clone. Tell it to make sure Number Seven does not leave her room. No matter what. Understand?”

“I understand,” She whispered before turning away and singing her tune. From her shadow, a clone of herself appeared and stood motionless, awaiting an order. “Make sure… Make sure Seven doesn’t leave her room. No matter what.” She quietly ordered, the clone only walking past them and standing in front of the door. Reginald watched its every move, pleased when it didn’t do anything to defy its orders. He nodded and stood to his full height.

“Come along, Number Three, Number Eight.” He walked down the long hallway to exit. (Y/N) stared at her clone, not leaving her spot until Grace placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her down the hall.

-------------------------------------------------

“He made us accomplices.”

Tears in her eyes, Vanya could only stare at her sister in betrayal. Allison tried to meet her eyes, but darted her gaze back down to the floor in shame. “You did this to me…?”

“I… I didn’t realize.”

“You knew this whole time? That I had powers?!” Vanya jumped up from her chair and walked away, but Allison stood as well.

“No, no! I didn’t really understand until I came today, until I saw it.”

Vanya turned to her, her voice shaking as she spoke, “Well, now it all makes sense. This is why you guys never wanted me around.”

“What?! No!”

“You couldn’t risk me threatening your place in the house, your- your dominance. You and (Y/N) constantly whispering to each other, mocking me!”

“That is not true. Don’t blame (Y/N) like this, she didn’t-”

“You two couldn’t handle the fact that Dad might find me special!”

“You are special, Vanya! With or without powers!” Allison raised her voice. Vanya’s face began to flush red with anger.

“Don’t- Don’t say that! You destroyed my life!”

“Oh, please, Vanya. Everything is out in the open. We can move on!”

Vanya’s expression set into determination, as if she had decided on something. “Oh, I’m moving on. But not with you, with Leonard.”

“With Harold, you mean.”

“With Leonard! The only person who has ever loved me for me.”

Rumbling sounded quietly, but neither sister paid much attention. At Vanya’s words, Allison simply scoffed. Vanya lifted her chin. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re not threatened now.” The wooden wind chimes clanked against each other as the curtains in front of the open windows swayed with the wind powered by Vanya. Allison glanced to the side, clearly nervous.

“I don’t wanna argue with you-”

“Then go!” Vanya boomed. Allison winced and slightly reared back as a crash could be heard from the distance. The wind picked up and their hair now flowed along with it.

“I’m only trying to help you-”

“I don’t want your help!” Vanya screamed.

“Vanya, I love you!” Allison cried.

“Stop saying that!!!”

Allison looked up as the lights flickered, the ceiling lamp swinging above their heads. She watched as Vanya’s power swayed the rocking chair, the items on the table, the dreamcatcher, then to her own sister, who looked as if she was going to explode from her heated anger. Glass smashed from somewhere in the house, but she was only worried about her sister. “Are you okay?”

“I! Said! Go!” Her scream sent the lights above them shattering. Allison gasped and tried to block the glass from falling onto her. She realized then that there was no stopping her sister in any reasonable manner. She choked on a sob as she set her eyes on Vanya.

“Please, don’t make me do this,” She cried, but Vanya only stood before her, silent, fuming. Allison gasped and opened her mouth. “I heard a rumor…” But she didn’t get to finish, for Vanya’s violin bow came into contact with her throat, slashing across it. All movement within the cabin halted as Allison gasped, then choked, blood squirting and streaming down to her chest. Realizing what she’d done, Vanya’s expression dropped, as well as her bow, as she rushed to her sister.

“Allison!” She grabbed ahold of her as Allison pressed her hand to her bleeding throat. They stared each other in the eyes as Allison began to fall to her knees. “No! No! Allison!” Once she fell to the floor, Vanya hovered over her, not knowing what to do. She screamed as her sister opened her mouth wide to talk, to squeak, to gasp, to do anything, but only her chokes were what left her lips.

“Vanya!” Leonard burst through the door. His face dropped at the sight before him.

“I didn’t mean to!” Vanya cried. But Leonard, once he came to terms with their current situation, smiled.

Almost excited.

-------------------------------------------------

The ride to Leonard’s grandmother’s cabin was silent. Five drove the car, eyes fixed on the road and beside him, Klaus sat in the passenger seat, his knees up to his chest. In the back, (Y/N) sat in between Luther and Diego, the latter staring out the window, the former tapping his foot to the floor of the car in impatience. Suddenly leaning forward, Luther was right behind Five. “Hey. Can you go any faster?”

“Ask me again, and I’ll burn you with a cigarette lighter.” Was all he said, but when Luther sat back again, the boy pressed on the gas harder.

Arriving at the cabin, Luther and (Y/N) were the first out of the car, bolting up the stairs with Klaus right on their heels. Luther burst inside, but he and (Y/N) froze at the sight before them.

“Allison!”

“No!”

Luther got to her before she could, kneeling down and gently lifting her head. Allison’s dark brown eyes were wide, blood still spilling from her open throat. Beside him, (Y/N) was sobbing into her hands, which were covering her mouth. Klaus was on his other side, his hands on Luther’s shoulder, watching as he cried for Allison, begging her to wake up, to look at him. (Y/N) reached one of her trembling hands forward and grasped Allison’s limp one in hers. Behind her, she heard Five’s feet scruff against the carpet.

She stood, stumbling back into the boy, but he caught hold of her before either could fall. He turned her in his hold and held her head against his shoulder, watching as Klaus lifted his head and glanced over at them with teary eyes. Five could’ve winced at the death grip (Y/N) had on his arms, but he didn’t.

—————————————

Taglist: @nate-isnt-great @43sparrows @sapphicsyn @m00n-sh @starcurrent @alexander-hamilhoe @youcandalekmyballs @wonderlandfandomkingdom @yrdadjstcallsmekatya @narikyuwu @sm0kingcrack @a-t-h-r-e-e-n-a @moatsnow @bubblegumflamingos @call-me-starstorm @rev-enviadhell @meowiemari @magicalgothpandamaker @simping-4-fictional-men @hehehehannahthings @harrystylescherrie @rhain3

[cilly-the-writer]

MAGIC SEEKERS, GRANTEES, AND MORE | Part 3 | 2,037 words

NOTE: Final installment of a short story! First part is here. The short story is 5,296 words total. 

WHAT’S IN IT: Magic powers + agents + evil villain(?) forcing the good guys(?) to work with his son and see he’s not all that bad! It’s supposed to be a slightly less serious story, but not without a heaping cup of big drama and suspense

CW: Violence and mention of death

--

     Zion sat in a dim interrogation room. The overhead lights buzzed like they were about to burn out. There was a nagging, growing pit in his stomach as a GIA agent asked him the same questions over and over. 

     "Why are you covering for this person?” the interrogating agent asked.

     "I’m trying to tell you–he's not that kind of person!” Zion said. “He's never even killed anyone!”

     “But he works for your father. Your father has people killed. That makes him an accomplice to a murderer.”

     “My father doesn’t kill innocent people! It’s not like that! Maybe it’s not right… I don’t know. But he’s saved people’s lives when your organization sat back and said there was nothing they could do. I’m telling you… he’s not that kind of person.”

     Vincent was standing in the room while Zion gave the speech. He’d been there the whole time, silently judging him as the interrogation went nowhere.

     "But he'll plant twelve bombs around the city?" Vincent finally spoke up. 

     Zion grit his teeth and seethed at the way Vincent made him feel like a liar.

     "Listen, if any more of these bombs go off," the interrogating agent continued, "you'll be held responsible.”

    "Wait. Any more?” Zion asked. “As in, one of them already went off?"

     "Yes. You're lucky there weren't any injuries or casualties."

     "Oh my god!" Zion threw his head back in frustration and snapped back to narrow his eyes at the interrogator, "I told you the bombs were set up in a pattern. How am I supposed to help you figure out the pattern… if you don’t tell me anything?!”

     “You need to tell us who did this so it doesn’t become a pattern,” the interrogating officer said. 

     Vincent, on the other hand though, seemed to contemplate whether Zion had a point. He didn’t want to give Zion all the details of the case. But at this point, he wondered… What harm could it do?

     “The first bomb went off downtown at the old post office,” Vincent said. “There’s been no second bomb. There’s no pattern to find.”

     Zion sucked his cheek in and squinted at the floor. Maybe that wasn’t enough for them to go off, but Zion knew the MA a lot better than that.

     “Which had a fire a few years ago, right?” Zion asked.

     “It did.” Vincent said, still annoyed. "Why?"

     Somehow, Zion convinced them to take him to a five-story office building downtown. It was a sleek building with shiny glass windows. The lobby and much of its decor were visible from the street, showcasing a white marble water fountain with angels carved into the sides as its grand centerpiece. Renaissance paintings even hung on the walls like it was a fancy art museum. 

     A couple of “FOR SALE” banners hung over the front of the building, listing a phone number in bold black lettering. The lights were on inside, but it was clearly abandoned.

     The GIA had caution taped the street, checked the building inside and out, and hours later–there was still no leads about any bombs. The caution tape remained, but the GIA doubted anything was there. When the news got back to Zion, he insisted they take him there. Right to the building himself.

     It sounded like a pointless trip, but given the circumstances and the letter from Mr. Marquette–they allowed it. They let him go with Vincent, who was beginning to feel like he’d wasted any faith he’d had in the kid.

     “I don’t know what you think you’re gonna find that the GIA couldn’t,” Vincent said. “It’s empty.” Then he crossed his arms and leaned back into a street lamp, gesturing for Zion to go ahead without him.

     “You don’t I’m gonna run away?”

     “Your father said he’d send you right back to us if you did.”

     “What?” Zion said, offended. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Vincent. He did. It was just definitely like his father to make sure every detail had been accounted for.

     Zion shook his head and headed across the street, ducking under caution tape on his way to the building’s front steps. He quickly headed inside to the front foyer, but once he got there, he slowed down to glance around and marvel. The foyer ceiling rose over twenty feet high, shimmering with accents of gold paint and imagery of gold suns all around. Zion remembered reading about the Apollo Center in the newspaper. It was rumored to sell for an estimated $2 billion.

     Zion stopped in the middle of the lobby and stared at a glittering, gold sun behind the hardware and mechanisms of a giant clock. The fine details and luxury were definitely mesmerizing. It was hard to look away from the beauty and sparkle of all of it.

     As Zion got lost in his trance, he almost didn’t hear as the entrance doors smashed open and glass shattered across the floor. The next instant, someone was grabbing him by the waist and he was out of the building before he could take his next breath. He opened his eyes facing the street and the change in scenery startled him. It happened so fast that he thought they had teleported back to the building’s front steps. 

     And in that moment of surprise, the deep boom of an explosion went off behind them. Smoke and debris flew into the air and clouded the street so fast that Vincent’s face fell and he ran into the clouds casting his time-reversing magic.

     The clouds of smoke shrank backwards in time and pieces of debris reformed, but there was no saving the building. He could only reverse some of the explosion. But that was enough to repress the fire and shrink it to a single flame. It took some effort to get there, but it went out easily with a small gust of wind.

     In the meantime, Zion had winced at the sound of the explosion while his savior, Vera, yanked him down the rest of the building steps–dashing into the street until they made it to safety on the other side.

     “Oh my god,” Vera said, shaking her head at Zion’s foolishness, “I can’t believe you did that. Boss just realized what you were doing when he saw your location. He said NOT to do it again.”

     “Oh really?” Zion smirked.

     “Do what again?” Vincent called from across the street, having just finished containing the fire. He took sharp steps Vera’s way now. He recalled her from the other day. She was part of the MA too.

     “He also said not to get involved,” Vera whispered fast to Zion, “I’d love to help, but I don’t know anything.” And with that, Vera just took off in a speed run. She was gone with a blast of pink energy in the wind behind her.

“What was that all about?” Vincent said bitterly, “How did you know the Apollo Center was next?”

     “I mean, I didn’t,” Zion shrugged, “not for sure. But I heard about this cover up after the fire. I know it was a small fire, but the damage was bad. One of the renovation crew members came to the MA and said the building was severely compromised… But he couldn’t say anything out of fear of retaliation.”

     Vincent stared back at him, speechless. He wasn’t sure if he should believe Zion.

“My dad’s kept tabs on the building ever since the renovation. He had some of his agents check it out and they said the guy was right. It was a disaster waiting to happen. It could have collapsed on a bunch of innocent people.” 

     Vincent held his tongue for a moment longer.

     “Then what do you think is next?”

     “Well… there’s a few other buildings that should have been condemned too.”

     Zion listed them off, and within the hour, the GIA got to work blocking all the corresponding streets off. It was enough for the GIA to stop pressing him for information, but Zion still insisted he visit each of the locations he’d given. Just as he had visited the Apollo Center.

     Sure enough, if Zion was in any danger–if he came near any of the bomb sites–Vera was sent to stop him. It was a rather quick verification process. And by the end of the day, the agency had identified all twelve bomb locations thanks to Zion’s help.

     The last building they stopped by was an apartment complex riddled with black mold and water damage, covered up by superficial renovations. Over a hundred tenants were scheduled to move in next week. So naturally, it was next in line to be blown up. GIA agents were already there though. The building went up into flames under a starry sky, and agents threw magic energy fields around it to contain it.

     By that point though, Vincent and Zion had been walking back to the GIA headquarters. They had already left the scene, leaving other agents to take care of any fallout. But Vincent still stopped in his tracks and turned to watch the blazing fire captured by a rainbow of energy fields.

     “You said your father doesn’t kill innocent people.” Vincent said, seemingly out of nowhere. He paused, appearing to be deep in thought. After a moment though, he continued, “So why did he kill agent Valli?”

     “Agent Valli?” 

     “Five years ago–a GIA agent was killed in broad daylight by an MA agent. It was all over the news. They said Mr. Marquette ordered it. There was even surveillance footage.”

     “Oh…” Zion’s voice grew quieter. “I remember hearing about it… Yeah. It was one of his coworkers that came to the MA. With footage of a crime he committed… they erased it from the surveillance cameras, but his coworker kept a copy.”

     “A copy? A copy of what? What crime?”

     “Uh, well,” Zion said, not wanting to get into the details. It seemed like a touchy subject. “He set a fire. People died.”

    “Set a fire? Are you kidding me? He literally saved people from a burning building the week before they killed him.”

     Zion blinked, nervous as Vincent took a step closer. 

     “The Aurora Havens?” Zion asked to confirm if that’s what he was referring to.

     “Yes, the homeless shelter.”

     “That’s…” Zion scratched the back of his head, “...that’s what he set on fire.”

     Vincent stared back, processing a wave of anger in complete silence. It looked like he was trying to decide what he was going to do–if he wanted to hit Zion or kill him right then and there. But after about six seconds of Zion holding his breath in fear, all Vincent did was shake his head and say, “No.” in a grim tone. He rejected Zion’s story. It couldn’t be further from the truth to him.

     “I’m… I’m not lying.” Zion was sweating this one out. He was starting to think he should have just lied and said he didn’t know anything. “I swear.”

     But the situation didn’t escalate much further.

     “Go.” Vincent gave him a cold look. “Get out of here. And stay away from the GIA.” 

     Confused, but not stupid, Zion heeded his warning and ran off. 

     Their business together was done. He had helped the GIA like his father wanted. There was nothing more to discuss. Vincent and the rest of the agency could continue to hate him if they wanted to. 

     Only a few weeks later though, Zion walked into the MA intel room and froze at the sight of Vera with Vincent. Vincent sat at a computer watching the rollback of footage from the night the Aurora Havens caught on fire. Confirming that every bit Zion had told him, was true.

     Mr. Marquette didn’t kill innocent people.

     Vincent’s father, Agent Valli, was a murderer.

     Nothing was said for a long while. Vincent had even noticed Zion’s entrance in the security cameras nearby and said nothing. The footage was hard to accept. He hadn’t wanted it to be true. He didn’t want to remember his father this way. It had taken him a few weeks to even entertain the possibility–to ask the MA to show him the footage.

     When he finally turned around, all he said was:

“How do I join the MA?”

[secret-engima]

hamelin-born

@secret-engima

It is. A very grim comfort to take (no pun intended), but Oscar’s sole almost-solace during that terrible time of blood and pain and (literal) soul-wrenching agony was that Salem hadn’t lied when she called his ‘Ozma’s son’. It was a truth that cut into him like barbed wire, a truth that lashed him with pain and grief and sorrow - but a truth that, as you said, he clung to.

He was son to a murdered father, he was a child of the Infinite Man, and it was - it didn’t bring him comfort, it brought him pain, but it kept him from shattering, it gave him the resolve he needed to hang on.

(And oh, but Salem would have laughed as she shifted the aim of her experiments, her torture - because Oscar was Ozma’s son, so Ozma’s son he would be in every way she could devise, ever similarity she could wrench into his body, down to his scars and to his limp - scars that, one day, Ozpin would take one look at and blanch because he recognized those scars from his own past.)

And Salem would. Salem would have poured her own magic into Oscar, not only to see what happened, not only to triumph over the memory of Ozpin one last time, giddy with the victory of finally killing her one-time husband for good. No. Salem would have set out to make Oscar her son as much as Ozpin’s as well, because she would take everything Ozma had, taint even the memory of him that lingered in the world - Ozma’s child would be her child as well, and best of all, to her? It would hurt Oscar so to know it. To be forced to acknowledge it. To have to call her ‘mother’.

Forget thunderstorms. Oscar might, in a panic, summon a full-on cyclone in an attempt to launch whoever’s pressing the issue as far away from him as possible.

...in a slightly fluffier vein (how did this get so dark?!) just. During their first meeting, or maybe a little later. Imagine Oscar hesitantly asking Ozpin if he’s his dad, because She said he was, but - there’s a difference between being a father and being a Dad.

And Ozpin, not hesitating for a single moment as he says ‘yes’. Yes, he’s Oscar’s dad.

(And that - that might just make Oscar break, for more reasons than one. Break, and *hug* Ozpin like there’s no tomorrow. Because he has healed, he’s worked hard at it, he has his family, he has his Torchdad and his friends/siblings and his magic, but this - this is something old and precious, the most tender of old scars, and now - now it’s split open so it can finally, finally heal clean.)

(He breaks, and goes in for a hug).

...also, Ozpin+Team Gremlin are willing accomplices in unceremoniously ejecting  anyone from the room who thinks to ask Oscar about his ‘mom’ or guilt-trip/interrogate him for being ‘Salem’s child’. They will eject the individual at high velocity, preferably from the nearest window - hey, Ozpin is known for dropping people off of cliffs.

Me: Once again plopping this here because the reblog chain was getting super long XD-

It is a very dark comfort indeed, but it was what got him through to the other side in enough coherent pieces to help destroy her once and for all.

(But yessss, oh how she laughed as she shifted her efforts to remaking this child, this remnant, into being the most perfect child copy of Ozma she could make. The perfect *son* in her mind and all that entailed)

Salem wove her magic into Oscar’s and it save his life, but oh what an agonizing price. She took glee in *claiming* one of the few things that could have been once considered solely his and gloried in tainting the last pieces of his legacy (and in the end, isn’t it ironic that her own torments are what undid her, both in the future and in the time rewritten that would come later)

FLUFFY VEIN YES PLEASE. Your comment finally spurred me to actually write that scene btw. And it came out ... angstier than intended but I’m so pleased and I won’t post the whole thing yet but HERE HAVE A SNIP:

...

     “Hey, Sondor,” murmured a voice through the tent fabric and Ozpin’s world crystalized, “Everything alright? You left in a bit of a hurry.” A deep rumble, inhuman and bass and … oddly content sounding. The voice —a child’s voice, a gentle voice, a voice he’d just heard laughing and waxing dramatic for a show of fake magic and real mysteries— laughed faintly, “Checking on someone then? You know everyone has to stay up late on performance nights.”

     If he held on any tighter to his cane, he thought it might shatter, but the feel of it grounded him like it always had, and with the last bit of courage he possessed in this lifetime, he pushed the tent flap open and slipped inside as the voice —his son— finished saying, “We’ll be sure to take long naps in the morning.”

     Ozpin was here. He was standing in the same space as his child, without a crowd to be wary of or a performance to keep them apart. He was standing in some kind of makeshift workshop, with a cot on the floor on the far side and the vast majority of space taken up by a battered, foldable metal table that seemed to be a desk and all the tools of a magician’s trade. Cards and wands and hats, gloves and fanciful outfits and a hundred thousand other things that didn’t matter, because amid all the mess, with his back mostly to the entrance and a massive Grimm lying contentedly next to his feet, was the Ringmaster.

     His child.

     The Grimm raised its head again to stare at him, a low noise he’d never heard the monsters make before rumbling from its chest, and the boy tilted his head toward the tent entrance absently, still not looking away from the Dust gem he was setting in his elaborate cane, “Hey Neo, you’re back early. I thought you were still scoping … out…” he finished setting the Dust in his cane, looked up and saw Ozpin standing there. Neither of them moved. Green-gold eyes in a young face —he looked ten had Qrow really been correct on estimating his age closer to twelve or thirteen?— went wide, and the magic passively swirling through the tent shrunk in on itself until he couldn’t feel it.

     It occurred belatedly to Ozpin that while he had essentially been stalking his son for the last few years in an attempt to meet him and make sure he was okay, the boy wouldn’t know him at all. Or worse, had only heard of him from people who hated him —from Salem herself even—. And now Ozpin had just shown up in the boy’s living space without warning or invitation.

     Terror and nerves tangled up all the words he wanted to say, all the ones he’d longed to say, and instead he found himself folding both of his shaking hands on the pommel of his cane and bleating out the first, most habitual line currently living in his brain, “Hello, I’m Professor Ozpin-.”

     A shout, loud and gutted, and all his words died in his throat again as the boy threw himself off his little camp chair and at Ozpin. Long Memory clattered to the ground unnoticed as Ozpin instinctively raised his hands to wrap around the little body that collided with his waist, slender arms tightening like a vise around him and Ozpin couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe-.

     Had he really said-?

     A hiccuping sob from the child in his arms, a fully body thing that shook him from his tousled black hair to his shoes while that word spun endlessly in Ozpin’s mind, haunting him and confusing him because he couldn’t have heard that right. He couldn’t have heard…

     “Dad.”

     The word echoed between them again, muffled by a young face buried in his suit jacket, and Ozpin felt his own breath start to stammer as he clung tighter to the boy in his arms, sinking down to his knees despite the screaming in his leg and burying his face in flyaway black hair, “I’m here.” He choked out, “I’m right here. I’ve got you. You’re alright. I’m right … I’m right here.”

[spencerreidfics]

Date Night

A/N: So this is my first ever smut/writing on posted, it was a lovely prompt given to my by @slutforthegubes​ who had the idea for a jealous reader smut based around the date night episode.

category: smut with fluff at the end

word count: 4129 words

pairing: Spencer x BAU reader (girlfriend) 

warnings: penetrative sex, spanking

“We don’t have a lot of time,”

“For what”

“I would like to go on a date with you,”

-----

My heart dropped when I heard her request from the other side of the glass. I could tell that Spencer was full of dread and trepidation at Cat’s words but was doing his best to hide it. To her this was all a game, kidnapping two innocent people all to challenge Spencer and get the BAU’s attention. 

I didn’t understand why I felt so threatened though, I was Spencer’s girlfriend of several months and coworker of the past few years. This was not the time nor the place to check in with my boyfriend about the security of our relationship. Two people’s lives were on the line. 

A few hours had passed and we weren’t getting anywhere. Cat’s only request was to go ice skating in order to “skate circles around Spencer” as Prentiss put it. Everyone looked at me with sad eyes until I broke the silence. 

“We need to give Cat what she wants and profile what she says on the date,” I blurted out. “She’ll trip up with Spence she always does,” 

“She always reveals her Achilles heel,” Prentiss added.

“And she always does it with you,” Rossi affirmed staring directly at Spencer. Everyone on the team knew I was right although no one could say it until I uttered the facts. Spencer grabbed my hand and pulled me aside.

“There are other options, (Y/N),” He told me still holding both my hands in his and looking at me with his thoughtful brown eyes. As much as I wanted to try and go over other options I knew this was our job and we had to act fast before anyone else could get hurt by Cat Adams.

“Not anything that we can do in twelve hours, believe me, I don’t want you going on a date with her more than anyone but there are two people who need us right now,” He knew before he even spoke that this was our best option but his attempt to reassure me was comforting. I pulled him into a quick but warm hug to show my appreciation and we both soon refocused our attention to the case. 

We had already identified Cat’s accomplice as a Juliette Weaver rather quickly. She was her old cellmate who had been recently released from prison. Although I was glad we had that information, in my gut something was bothering me. Cat always had a hidden agenda and I was scared we were going in blind. 

“Prentiss let me go along too, Cat doesn’t know about our relationship, and I can help keep Spencer focused,”. She looked back at me with serious doubt.

“(Y/N), I’m not sure…”

“Just let me go, Alvez can come with me and I promise to stay in line. I won’t interfere with her and Spence at all,” I looked at her with my eyes begging, I knew it was unfair to ask her to chose between me and the professionalism of the case but I wouldn’t be of any help if I had to just sit at the office thinking about Spencer with her. It seemed as though she understood because she nodded her head.

“Ok, (Y/N) and take Alvez with you,” 

“Thank you, I won’s disappoint you,” I squeaked out as I grabbed Luke and we headed out to meet Spencer, Cat and SWAT at the elevator. I tried staring at the floor as I watched her grasp onto his arm and look up at him. What was even worse was the clothes we gave Cat for her date were from my go-bag. I couldn’t deny that Cat cleaned up well. It was her signature though, seducing men before she killed them. 

Still, I was so relieved when Prentiss gave me the go-ahead. Part of me was scared to leave the two alone together and another part thought maybe my presence would give Spencer some peace of mind and keep him collected while he questioned Cat. Either way, I was now on my way to watch my boyfriend go on a date with the criminal who had sent him to prison and abducted his own mother. I had spent hours and hours comforting Spencer after those events before and after we had started seeing each other. Now that he was finally healing from it all he was being pushed right back into her arms and I couldn’t do anything except observe it all go down. 

Spencer and Cat boarded the back of the SWAT van while Alvez and I drove behind in the SUV. We sat in virtual silence until Luke broke it and spoke.

“This is all gonna turn out fine, (Y/N). Reid knows what he’s doing when it comes to her,” I knew his words were meant to be comforting but at that moment they stung almost as much as when you first learned about Cat. 

I hadn’t been on the team when Spencer had his first encounter with her at that restaurant. I had heard about it though from what Spencer was willing to tell me and from the rest of my coworkers. I was on the team when she had sent Spencer to prison and kidnapped his mother. It was around then that Spence and I got close. I would visit him as often as possible, send him letters to occupy his time, and go with JJ to visit Diane. It was shortly after Spencer was released that we started seeing each other and although it was hard at first with all he had gone through. But we had overcome that together and we were closer because of it. 

“I know, thank you, Luke,” was all I could muster out. I didn’t want to comment on how Spencer knew how to handle her. I was comfortable in my relationship, secure even, I trusted Spence with my life, the least I could do was just him now with Cat. 

I tried to distract myself as we drove to their date destination, hopefully, Luke would understand my unwillingness to talk. 

“We’re here,” I snapped back into reality as I noticed the neon lights of the roller rink and Spencer and Cat disembarking from the SWAT van. I exited the SUV and put on my FBI vest. 

“Let’s go make sure everything is set up,” I nodded and followed Luke through the back entrance and into the DJ booth. Spencer walked in, holding Cat’s hand looking more confident than ever. He looked so tall from where you were standing and smug with himself. 

“Luke can you hear me?” He called out. I knew he was going to avoid speaking and looking at me as to not give Cat any clues that our relationship was more than professional, but hearing him only address Luke only reinforced the idea that this night was all about Cat and Spencer. 

“Loud and clear,”

“Light it up,”

“Got it,” with that Luke flipped a few switches and with that, the whole rink lit up including a large LED sign which read “SPENCIE + CAT 4EVER”. I couldn’t tell what was more irksome, the sign itself or Cat’s reaction. I could see she was touched, maybe she even thought it was sincere. There they started to skate and I tried to remember this was just a case. Just me actively watching my boyfriend go rollerskating with a serial murderer and I couldn’t help but think that they were having fun. Spencer was tripping over himself while Cat skated gracefully around him smiling brightly at him.

….

Cat skated to Spencer’s side and helped him balance. 

“If your stupid chaperones weren’t here, I would ask the DJ to put on some Savage Garden for the guy-girl skate and we could totally make out.” Cat mentioned.

“You, uh You realize what I have to do, right?” He replied, adjusting his hand on her arm.

“Um, let me think. Ask me a bunch of pointed questions and hope that I trip up? Go ahead. Ask away.” She circled to face him, grabbing both his hands and then letting go. 

“What happened to your baby?” Spencer immediately asked.

“What?”

“Last time I saw you you were pregnant with someone else’s baby you said was mine,”

“Why are you asking me about that? I don’t want to talk about that,`` the question of her pregnancy had obviously unnerved her but she hid it with anger quickly. 

“Hormonal changes during pregnancy expand the brain's capacity for empathy. I was actually just trying to see if I could use it against you.” Spencer said confidently. Facts always made him feel secure in any conversation or argument. Cat though knew exactly how to throw him off balance.

“Oh really?” She questioned stopping her movements lining up with where Spencer was heading, “What about um, sex?” Right as she said that the two collided and Cat wrapped her arms around Spencer’s neck and his hands rested around her waist. 

“Why don’t you use that against me?”

-----

My heart dropped as I watched Spencer with Cat. I could see his hands gripping her waist firmly. For a second I thought I saw Spencer’s meet mine. Before I could acknowledge it or even tell what was happening Cat slapped Spencer right across the face and he was on the ground. 

“Cat, wait. Cat. Cat. Wait. I can explain.” I heard him call out to her. 

“I have spent my entire adult life reading men. I know when they're thinking about someone else.” I tried to stay calm, if Spencer and I’s relationship ever jeopardized a case we would both never be able to forgive ourselves. 

“Yes, I'm dating someone, but that doesn't mean” She quickly cut him off. 

”Do you know what this was for me? I didn't ask for one last family visit. I didn't want one final meal. I wanted this. And you can't even give me the courtesy of your undivided attention before I'm executed. So, thank you very much, but this date is over. You can turn off the stupid lights, boys. Let's get out of here.” Cat turned away from Spencer ready to leave their date. 

 “She's not you.” Spencer was speaking to Cat but his eyes were on me. I hoped that he meant it. 

 You're lying.” Spencer was going to have to do more to convince her.

 “I'm not lying. I wish I was, but I'm not. There's some part of my brain, some part that you somehow inhabit and no woman, no matter how good, no matter how kind, no matter how Sexy she is can ever get you out.” Spencer broke eye contact with me to look at Cat but I could tell his words were meant for me, not her or at least I was hoping. 

My heart started beating out of my chest though as soon as he finished because Cat must’ve noticed his glances and was staring dead at me. She turned back to Spencer with a grin on her face.

“Hey.. did you really mean what you said?” She asked him.

“Yes.” “Prove it” she said matter of factly, “And make it it good cause I’m this close to letting them die,”

Spencer hesitated and then swooped in to kiss her. His hand was gripping her hair tightly pulling her closer while her hand went up to reach his neck. It went on until Cat reached up to tap Spencer on the chest to stop. Even then they stayed connected with his hand in her hair holding her closely to him. Cat was grinning so widely pleased that in her mind she had won and gotten Spencer to break. 

Suddenly though my phone started ringing and broke my attention off of my boyfriend and the woman he had just made out with in front of me. 

“We got them both, the date is over, take her back into custody,” Prentiss sounded relieved although not as much as I was. I signaled to Luke to wrap things up and headed back to the parking lot as Luke cordiantated with SWAT to take Cat back to prison and to alert Spencer that things were over. I got into the front passenger seat of the car and tried to calm down. I knew it was for the case, it wasn’t real, and yet I was so bothered. It had looked real enough, but then I knew Spencer, I knew how he felt about Cat but more importantly I knew how he felt about me. I was angry. Sure it was for the case but did he need to shove his tongue down her throat like that? Especially with me watching? The only person he should be kissing like that was me. I had a right to be upset. I never thought I was the jealous type but something about Cat set me off. Maybe it was the abundant torture and agony she had already put Spence through and then her audacity to from prison ask for a date from him. I shook my head and tried to think of the positive parts of Spencer and I’s relationship without her meddling. 

 My head swirling with images of him and Cat, I barely noticed when Luke hopped up into the driver’s seat and Spencer sat in the back middle seat. The entire car was silent until Spencer tried to speak,

“Y/N, I..” but I wasn’t looking at him, instead he directed his attention to Luke, “could you take us to my apartment quickly before heading back to headquarters, it’s important we’ll only be an hour tops,” I looked back at him confused, neither one of us had left anything important there. I could only assume it was for us to talk in private about the events that had just occurred which to be honest I was dreading. I didn’t want to talk about it, maybe at a later date but now all I could think about is how I wished Spencer would kiss me like that, without a care for who was watching. 

Luke dropped us off outside the apartment building and told us to let him know if we needed a ride back to Quantico whenever we were finished doing whatever we were here for. I thanked him and started walking fast as Spencer was already at the building entrance. We walked up the stairs and he opened the door all while I stayed silent, with my arms crossed. Spencer reached out to uncross my arms, and embrace me while I tried to show him I was pissed by not letting him. 

“Y/N, I understand if you’re upset,”

I didn’t respond and instead plopped down on the leather couch. “I’m trying to have a mature conversation with you about this,” he pleaded. I turned my head to face him and just stared. He walked around to the couch and sat down next to me. I thought he was going to try to speak to me again but instead he pulled me over his lap and leaned down to whisper in my ear.

“What’s your color?” He questioned while his hand hovered over my body. The position made my whole body light up. 

“Green.” I swallowed waiting in anticipation for what I hoped was next. After a short pause Spencer began to spank me, only a few at first and then a couple more without breaks. His hand let down and he began caressing my ass, soothing it from what he had just done. 

“That was for your behavior in the car and just now,” I felt him lean down again and press a kiss to my ass cheek. “Go to our room and get naked,” I nodded quickly and skipped into the bedroom eagerly. It hadn’t been my intention to get Spencer like this but I certainly was going to enjoy it anyway. I stripped myself of all my clothes leaving on just my underwear. As soon as I get seated on the bed I see Spencer walk in, undoing his tie as he shuts the door. Soon the rest of his clothes except for his boxers follow. 

“Get on all fours love,” I quickly repositioned myself following his orders. I turned my head so I could still keep my eyes on him as he approached me. “Color?” he asked me again, wanting to be sure I wanted to keep going where this was going. 

“Green still” I breathed out quietly. As soon as the words left my lips Spencer’s hands were on me again touching my ass softly, hovering over behind me as I stayed on all fours just feeling his hands traveling up my back and back down to my ass again. While I was enjoying the massage from Spencer's large hands I wanted more. I pushed my hips back enough for me to hit Spencer’s crouch which from what I could feel was hard and having difficulty staying inside his pants. Quickly though his hands grabbed my hips to keep them from where I wanted to be. I could feel his fingers ghost over my panties and I wondered if he could feel how wet I was through them. “What got you like this, huh? Tell me what made you so jealous you acted like that?” I shook my head and whined. “If you tell me,” he said, “I’ll give you what you want,”. I could feel his hands getting closer to where I wanted them, ghosting over my underwear. I still kept silent, hoping that I could get away with not having to tell him what made me like this. I should’ve known though that wasn’t going to work for him.

“I’m not jealous Spence, just please,” I whined again at him. He shook his head at me and took out his cock. He began rubbing it over my clothed center making me gasp. 

“Either you tell me what got you so jealous and I’ll finally give you what you want or don’t and I’ll leave you with no release and finish myself off without you,” When he said those words I knew I had to tell him, I wasn’t going to let my pride or jealousy get in the way of both of us getting what we needed after today. I stood up quickly not wanting to let the offer change. I pressed myself up against him forcefully and leaned into his ear to speak. “It wasn’t the kiss, it was what she said about sex with you, it’s how she talked about your cock, that belongs to me. Only I can make you feel good, only I’m allowed to touch you like that. I hated seeing and hearing her talk about you like that. You’re mine and this cock is mine.” As I finished my sentence I wrapped my hand around his cock and looked up at him. 

Spencer’s face was stunned, being possessive wasn’t new to this relationship but it coming from my end was new to the both of us. Nothing I said though was something he wouldn’t have said to me if the roles were reversed. Spencer looked at me in the eyes and sealed the gap between us with a deep kiss. He wrapped his arms around me tightly and I moved my arms to go around his neck pulling him as close as possible to me. 

“Get back on your hands and knees darling,” He breathed out. I could tell that my words had turned him on even more and I eagerly went back to my former position. He pushed my panties to the side and pushed into me all the way, pausing for a second and then pounding in as deep as possible setting the rhythm. He started slowly taking his time filling me up.

“Fuck, you know I waited all night for you to fuck me” I groaned out. As soon as the noise left my lips Spencer leaned forward and grabbed my hair and pulled my head back as he kept thrusting into me. His other hand sneaked forward and cupped one of my breasts and he started to play with my nipple squeezing and pinching it till he was satisfied. The combination of him tugging on my hair and the stinging I still felt from when he spanked my ass felt so good that I could already feel myself getting close as he started the thrust a little faster. 

“You know you were right, only you can take my cock like this,” He said, using his thrusts to emphasize what he was saying. 

“Spence I’m close,” I choked out. He took that as a sign to wrap his arm around and put pressure on my clit. I could hardly keep my eyes open as my first orgasm overtook me. 

“You can be loud, Y/N let everyone know how good I’m making you feel,” I let out a long moan as I felt Spencer pull out and lay down on the bed next where I was wrecked and trying to catch my breath. He leaned forward and roughly grabbed my soft hips and placed me right onto his cock. I threw my head back and I started riding him, chasing my next release. 

“You look so beautiful on top of me,” he told me, brushing my hair back as I leaned forward into him to kiss him. 

“Fuck Spence you’re too good to me,” I groaned as I moved my hips. He used the opportunity to wrap his arms around my waist and held me close as he took over thrusting up into me. I ran my hands through his messy hair and grabbed onto it as the pleasure started to get to be too much. I could tell he was close as he started going faster and faster filling me till the brim, his hips slamming against my ass each time. 

“Wait for me,” He groaned into my ear, his grip still tight on my hips. 

“My love, please,” I whined. “Come with me, I want to feel you come in me please Spence,” I leaned forward to kiss his neck, but he intercepted me with his lips, kissing me again just as deeply but now less controlled. I kissed him back until we both couldn’t focus any longer. “Spence” I cried out as I felt him again reach down to help me out.

“Come for me, pretty girl, show me how good I’m making you feel.” With Spencer’s words of encouragement I finally let go shaking as my now second orgasm rode through me. Spencer kept thrusting until I finally felt him spill into me. I rolled off and snuggled into his chest. We laid there unmoving, until Spencer broke the silence.

“Let me go get you something to clean up a little,” He was only gone a second and then came back with a damp washcloth.

“How long have we been gone?” I asked realizing Spence had told Luke we’d only take an hour. “Only around 3 hours.” He said with a devilish smile. 

“Crap,” I gasped and quickly dialed the phone to call Emily. “Emily we will be back in 20 minutes, I’m so sorry,” I could hear her laughing on the other side of the phone.

“No worries, You don’t need to come in we are all heading out soon anyways,”

“Oh okay, so I guess I’ll see you Monday,” I replied

“Yes, also Y/N? I hope that the sex was good but more importantly you two are still together,” 

“Thank you, we are” Emily and I said our goodbyes and I put the phone away turning over to give my full attention to Spencer. I resumed my cuddling position. Spence left a kiss on my forehead and then finally spoke again.

“I hope you know I only love you, Y/N, so so much, and though I understand the jealousy, you should know I’m all yours.” I looked up at him and saw his big brown eyes staring back at me. I gave his hand a squeeze and kissed his lips gently. 

“I know, Spence. I love you too, more than anything. I’m sorry for the cold shoulder earlier, but you know,” I said, hinting at the events from earlier today as I played with his hair. He let out a chuckle knowing what I meant. 

“Understandable darling, but that is over now, for good, let’s get some rest” I nodded in agreement and pulled the covers up over us. 

“Maybe in the morning we can shower and have a round 2,” I told him as we got comfortable in each other’s arms.

“Absolutely.”

[some-dr-writings]

(an alternate DR V3 ending) If Tsumugi failed to kill Rantaro and instead got herself killed in the process

·       Well… this was unexpected. The ‘mastermind’ went and killed herself and revealed where her secret room was located. But as they say, the show must go on, and that the producers made happen. Initially they were panicked but they quickly came up with an alternate plan, one that may be much more exciting than what they had originally planned. One that viewers were either going to love or hate.

·       Even with the mastermind dead the trial still went on, concluding that Tsumugi got herself killed, trying to frame Kaede and because she killed herself, no one was executed.

·       Even after the trial everyone continued to investigate the secret room and the passageway that lead to the girl’s bathroom. They still had mysteries to uncover. How was the killing game still occurring with the mastermind dead? Was Tsumugi the mastermind or rather an accomplice? How were their movements being tracked? Were there secret cameras or were there trackers on them? Who was the mastermind? Were they one of the students in their ragtag group, or some malevolent outside force? Was Monokum being controlled by someone or an AI? What about the Monokids, were they the same as Monokuma or different? Those and so much more they were desperate to figure out.

·       Monokuma never did a thing to try to stop their search. This made Shuichi suspicious. If pursuing this search was going to yield them results surely Monokuma would have done something, or had he already removed any trace of useful information they could have found? Either way Shuichi knew there was something wrong with this. He would have told Kaede, but now knowing their every action was likely being tracked, he couldn’t risk the Mastermind figuring out his suspicions.

·       Shuichi ended up finding an unlikely ally in Kokichi Oma. Everything about him screamed dangerous to Shuichi yet… in the trials he couldn’t miss how the trickster gave hints through the lies and chaos. Kokichi in fact approached Shuichi knowing the detective figured out something and he wanted to find out what it was. They slowly developed a coded language in order to share theories and the like, while still maintaining distance so no one would become suspicious of them.

·       Despite Kaede almost killing Rantaro, him, Kaede, and Shuichi became a trio of sorts. The three were always together, encouraging one another and doing all they could to get everyone out of that hell and solve the mysteries of that place, including trying to recover Rantaro’s memories.

·       Eventually when Rantaro’s lab was unlocked they only got even more lost. He freely showed them the laptop hoping Shuichi and Kaede could figure out something about why they were all trapped here… or… did they voluntarily join in? But soon after the laptop went missing, Kokichi having stolen it. Only Shuichi knew of it’s whereabouts but didn’t say a word. He didn’t like or want to keep the secret, but it was the only way to get Kokichi’s thoughts on the matter. He was a being of chaos, but that didn’t make him any less brilliant, several steps ahead of everyone else.

·       Eventually there were only five left. Kaede Akamatsu, Shuichi Saihara, Rantaro Amami, Kokichi Oma and Kiibo. With tensions running high everyone suspecting one another even if they didn’t want to, they all agreed to hold a trial to figure out if any of them were the Mastermind. They set up chairs and tables in the gym to serve as their makeshift trial grounds. They hoped nothing would come of this. They hoped all they would figure out was that none of them were the Mastermind, after all, why would the Mastermind agree to this without worry of revealing of theirself! R-right?

·       At one point in the trial they got to the topic of the voices Kiibo hears. The others didn’t notice but Kokichi did immediately. That tinniest little shift in personality. He asked what the voices were saying right now…

·       That’s when it happened.

·       As he described what the voices told him Shuichi discovered it. How those voices were getting Kiibo to play a part in each and every murder. All except the first one with Tsumugi. Kiibo began to panic, he couldn’t be a part of this mad house! But it was undeniable, Kiibo was related to this, somehow.

·       That’s when Kokichi struck. He kept placing on the pressure, getting Kiibo to snap, screaming he was not the mastermind! He spoke of the previous trials trying to disprove he had anything to do with any of it. It was then Kaede was able to definitively prove that the murders could not have happened without him, his actions lead directly to those tragedies.

·       All was quiet as they took in that awful realization. “So… I never had free will? I… I’m just some puppet of the Mastermind?”

·       Monokuma came in with the Exisals. He put a stop to the proceedings. Saying that was boring. That they should get to murdering one another instead of searching for some mastermind. Or instead, return the Mastermind’s memories since this game couldn’t be fun for Kiibo anymore. He then flashed one of those lights on Kiibo.

·       Kiibo announced his new plan. He’d open up the entire school and give the remaining students the next twelve hours to solve every last mystery of the place, including Kiibo’s own motivations for starting this game and why he’d choose to wipe his own memory.

·       They had no choice, they had to investigate one last time.

·       In the trial they had come to the conclusion that after the world began to piece itself back together a new Hope’s Peak was created. The people of the world however hated this. The Ultimate hunt began, kill all those with an ‘ultimate’ talent. They were nothing but trouble, it was them that plunged the world into despair. They had to all be eliminated. Dr. Idabashi was one such individual, believing the only way the world could truly start anew was with no talented individuals, everyone starting from scratch at square one. He believed Kiibo, his newest and greatest creation was the only one that could achieve this. He managed to get Kiibo into Hope’s Peak newest class. That was when the newest class’ fate was sealed.

·       The principle of the new Hope’s Peak set about protecting these talented youth. First, they tried using the Neo world program to delete any memories of their talent so they could live as normal people, but that did not satisfy the world still wanting them dead. Because Kiibo was a robot he was excluded from this to an extent. They deleted only some of his memories. Dr. Idabashi being a brilliant scientist thought of this and created a failsafe. Should any of Kiibo’s equipment, hardware or software be tampered with an AI, the ‘AUDIENCE’ as he dubbed it, would be many voices that would manipulate Kiibo’s actions into still going through with his true objective. Destroy the talented children and make a show of it, showing what the people of the world would do to any future talented youth. It was unfortunate but it was all for one goal. To keep someone like Junko Enoshima and her Ultimate Despairs from even getting the chance to exist again. Only youth so talented could cause such a travesty so people must fear pursuing their talents… at least in their youth. If they grew into adults and pursue it then, maybe they could utilize their talents, but not when they were children, when their brains were still developing.

·       A new plan was formed by Hope’s Peak. They would send out these remaining hopes into space away from potential harm from the world. When the world had calmed, they would return and lead the world into a new era of peace. Little did they know that Kiibo was a person of the world’s will as well as Tsumugi Shirogane. She was given a talent in the same fashion as Izuru Kamukura, as to infiltrate the new class. Tsumugi before boarding the ship had her memories returned to her, so she helped remodeling the ship, fashioning it with the Monokuma room. The people of the world decided to film and project the new murder game worldwide as to show what would become of young talented individuals. Though they hated Monokuma, they decided to repurpose him into a mascot of sorts, a twisted beast that would come to kill all young people with talent in the most twisted of ways.

·       That’s what this all was. Kiibo was the will of the people, who wanted these remaining students dead and to suffer when doing so. They had the audacity to pursue their talents even knowing how the world was destroyed in the first place, so they had to pay. Deleting their memories and talents was not enough to pay for what they dared risk to bring back. More of that retched despair. A world of pure neutrality would be better than a world filled with hope and despair.

·       With all the mysteries solved Kiibo decided it was high time to give the remaining students their final reward. Blowing up himself as well as the entire ship. But then Kaede, Shuichi, Rantaro and Kokichi insisted on speaking to the world. Kiibo told them they couldn’t change the mind of the world; it was far too scared to be changed. And yet, the four remaining students made their plea to the world.

·       A new decision had been made. They could live, as long as they never returned to earth. Recreating those killing games brought no good. Instead they decided to send all talented individuals away to a new planet where they would live, never to return.

·       A rather controversial ending, but it was an ending that opened the door to many possibilities and that was good news for the producers. More material to work with, without needing to think much.

·       It was rather tricky, pulling the strings and making sure every one of the viewer’s choices lead to a murder but they thought it was well worth it.

·       A new season of Danganronpa was already being produced set in ‘the new talented world’