#alive and married to claudia i said what i said

[revvlation]

- Ezio, where is your Hookblade?

[planchettewrites]

"Red Hair" Shanks (One Piece)/AFAB!Reader

DESCRIPTION: Imagine being "Red Hair" Shanks' wife.

CONTENT: Angst (Shanks losing his arm, talk of infidelity), Fluff (Weddings, Falling in Love)

A/N: Shanks my beloved. While I work on an ideally long Sanji fic, I needed something to post. Hence, this Shanks imagine. This can be read as OPLA!Shanks or Anime/Manga!Shanks. My friend Claudia always tells me being Shanks' wife would be a rather depressing endeavor, but to that I say, bring it. Enjoy bbys!

653 words | Safe!

Imagine being Shanks’ wife.

You’re not a pirate; you’re far from it. You worked at Party’s as a barmaid; you just happened to be the lucky lady to catch Shanks’ eye. Red Haired Shanks, a feared pirate, was nothing but a man with his hat in his hand asking to marry you. You had feelings for the pirate for a while, so of course, you accepted his proposal. You still remembered his words: “Would you marry me, darlin’? Make me the happiest man alive?” His words made you melt. Everything about him made you melt.

The wedding was nothing special in the grand scheme of things; it was what would be considered a “courthouse” wedding. It was held at the very bar you met, and you dolled yourself up nice: your nicest dress, your best available makeup, and you did your hair the way you like it. Shanks wore his Sunday best—which frankly wasn’t much, but you were always a sucker for the rugged look. The rest of the Shanks’ crew and all your friends were there too. Your officiant was the town elder, who looked at you and Shanks with a smile. He grabbed your hands, wished you eternal happiness, and told the pirate that he better not let a single tear slip down your cheek. Shanks promised. 

There were two days he couldn’t keep that promise, the first being the day he lost his arm. As he and Luffy came to shore, you noticed the blood draining from the lost limb and screamed. You screamed so loud you were sure they could hear you around the East Blue. As Makino ushered Luffy away, you practically threw yourself at your husband. You were sobbing, grabbing at his shirt, asking what the hell had happened. He shushed and cooed you quietly, telling you what happened. You wanted to punch him, scream at him for his recklessness, but he was protecting a child that he cared for, and you couldn’t fault him for that. As you ushered him to the medic, you continued to cry. You loved your husband more than anything, and nothing would ever change that.

The second time he made you cry was when he left for the Grand Line, telling you that you couldn't come with him. You were enraged, and you showed it with tears. Thoughts raced of him with a hoard of different women, him getting hurt, or getting betrayed, or worse, his death. You couldn't stand any of those things; you needed to be there with him. You rarely got angry at your husband, but today was the day you became livid at him. Instead of screaming out of sheer horror, you screamed in sheer anger. How dare he? How dare he find it acceptable to leave you here forever? Alone. Alone, without the man you promised to spend the rest of your life with. Beck Beckman and the rest of the crew watched this unfold; you were not one to make a scene, but you weren’t going down without a fight. Beckman had approached Shanks, saying he was more than welcome to bring you. 

Shanks shook his head and said: “I couldn’t live with myself if she got hurt.” 

You fell to your knees. You weren’t going to beg. You had to accept this fate, the fate of a wife with a husband out at sea. Until you feel Shanks lift your chin and help you return to your feet. He kissed you with passion and pulled you into the tightest hug he could: “Where would I be without my wife by my side? You can come along, darlin’.”

From that day forward, you were on the sea with the Red Hair Pirates. More importantly, you were on the sea with your husband, the feared pirate Red Haired Shanks. Your souls in the ocean together would be, and that’s all you needed to be happy. 

Please like, reblog, and comment! I love to hear from readers!

[midnight-in-town]

Frances Midford : The Mentor, a summary

To follow with my post about fighting against misinformation, here’s a first topic. 

Ciel’s remaining aunt is often viewed by the fandom as a mean lady who doesn’t care, because of a) all the mysteries around the family that Ciel doesn’t know about and b) the use of comic relief in Kuroshitsuji often used to hide some relevant clues, as previously demonstrated in this post. This is actually far from what her character really is about and I intend to demonstrate it now with a (long) recap post. 

I have talked about Frances a lot in the past, about her caring about our!Ciel and about her possibly knowing, like Tanaka, that he was lying about his identity. While the former is undeniably true, the latter is still up for debate. [X][X][X][X] However, with the upcoming adaptation of the Weston arc (probably) in 2024, I don’t want the old discourse to come back, so without further ado...

What Yana has said about Frances’ character

Besides our!Ciel, Frances is the last remaining Phantomhive (not counting real!Ciel as a BD). She’s Vincent’s younger sister, they both have the same parents (that is to say Claudia P and Cedric K. Ros) and she married out of the family (implying that maybe the Phantomhives have distant relatives still alive), becoming Lady Midford. 

According to Yana, Frances takes after their dad while Vincent takes after their mom and the same is true for her kids, meaning Ed takes after her (thus takes after his maternal grandfather) while Liz takes after Alexis. 

As far as her relationship with our!Ciel is concerned, here’s what Yana said in the guidebook : “Frances' strength of character is why Sebastian chose her as a role model Ciel should follow”. Since her relationship with Lizzie is sometimes also viewed negatively, I’d like to add that both in the guidebook and on twitter, Yana said that “Liz thinks her mom is kind and strong so she looks up to her mom as a role model she aspires to become”, hence the similar hair style.

TL;DR Yana’s overall description of Frances is that a) she’s kind and strong which is why b) she’s Lizzie’s role model, as well as the role model Sebastian thinks our!Ciel should follow.

Now that this is established, here’s what the canon story gives us, to illustrate Yana’s words. Spoilers for the entire manga series and long read below the cut.

Frances’ introduction

Frances is introduced in ch14 and, boy, what a generally misunderstood chapter by some parts of the fandom. xDD

Contextually, ch14 is Ciel’s birthday, meaning it is also the anniversary of the massacre of the previous household and Madam Red just died, after trying to kill him. For those who might wonder, the guidebook confirmed that our!Ciel was quite saddened by Ann’s death (obviously), so really, what a fun 13th birthday in perspective. Cue Liz and Frances. 

The comments on her strength aside, Frances’ introduction is otherwise often misread as her nagging being inappropriate but I beg to differ. As mentioned by @akumadeenglish​ and @chibimyumi​, Yana is Japanese author who likes to explore writing tropes in depth. Though it’s also important to remember that, before the curry arc, Yana didn’t know how long the series would run so everything had less intent, because the story was initially supposed to end quickly.

In other words, Frances’ introduction really is initially to be read as the severe mother-in-law (based on Japanese comical stereotypes) coming to check on how he handles his household, which is why Seb is so stressed out when everything goes bonkers. But that’s only the surface. 

Most importantly though, Frances showed up because it is Ciel’s birthday and, as said above, there’s a lot of negative and dreadful memories associated with this day. So...

...let’s change his mind, shall we? 

Phantomhives love games and Frances is a Phantomhive too, the last one besides our!Ciel, so she knows her nephew and chooses an activity she knew he wouldn’t be able to resist. 

Ch14 also introduces two important facts that are still relevant as plot points, especially as far as the Blue Revenge arc is concerned. The first one is that our!Ciel protected Lizzie from that bear, so Frances said she owes him. 

Secondly, as stated by Frances herself, she knows the ropes of the “game” (aka acting as the Watchdog) better than our!Ciel (”you’ve still got a decade to go before you can even think of winning against me”). 

In fact, like our!Ciel with real!Ciel, Frances was probably raised as Vincent’s spare [X][X], but compared to our!Ciel who knew next to nothing about his father’s real job until 3 years ago (at the time of ch14), Frances is an experienced veteran...

And that’s why Seb chose her as a role model for our!Ciel.

Therefore it is my opinion that ch14, despite being written back when Sensei didn’t know how long the series would be published, is still relevant as heck when it comes to Frances’ role in the series, aka acting as a mentor for our!Ciel (and for Lizzie, as Yana also stated). Kuroshitsuji is a slow story though, with a lot of build up and it’s why some fans still fail to see how significant Frances is to the plot and to our!Ciel’s development. 

Campania arc

Liz is the one who comes to ask our!Ciel to come with her whole family (thus introducing Alexis and Edward) on a cruise, but it’s also very important to note that she conveyed that Frances thought that our!Ciel should take time off of work:

This led some of us fans to theorize that maybe Tanaka used to send updates to Frances about our!Ciel’s wellbeing and how he fared as the Watchdog: the timing of the cruise works well with Frances’ remark, considering that the Queen just sent Charles Grey as a merry punishment for Ciel’s deeds during the Circus arc. 

This arc mostly highlights Frances’ bravery and strength : she didn’t hesitate to fight for countless of passengers unrelated to her (something that UT said isn’t very typical of Phantomhives, during Weston)...

More importantly, we finally get into Lizzie’s personal motivations and we indeed have the confirmation that...

...Frances is a big key to Lizzie’s strength, confirming the role model/mentor position that she holds in Lizzie’s eyes. I’d like to also point out that Frances completely trusts in her daughter’s abilities, which highlights a very positive mother/daughter dynamic.

Lizzie’s flashback gives us this very important bit...

...a part that’s unfortunately often overlooked by the fans complaining that Frances is too severe with our!Ciel and Lizzie. This scene however makes way more sense once we find out, after the Weston arc, that Frances lost her mother Claudia (the Watchdog before Vincent) when she was probably about 12 or 13 years old (Vincent being 15 years old then). 

To me, this is a big explanation as to why Frances is as serious about training as she is:

Indeed, she lost at least her mom (and later her brother) so, since her daughter is betrothed to the future Watchdog, she wants Liz to be strong enough to survive. All I see in the former panel is a mother saddened by the burden on her child’s shoulder and desperate to imagine that she will be exposed to a lot of danger as an adult. 

Side point there, but it’s likely there’s a very relevant reason Frances’ only daughter was betrothed to Vincent’s heir when they were young kids. We’ll dive into it later, but I believe the answer is tied to the Phantomhive lineage introduced in ch103. 

Lastly, our!Ciel’s flashback also gave us another important bit to explore...

...which is that our!Ciel directly applies what Frances once told him to his current path for revenge: 

Also note the allusion again to Vincent “losing the game”, creating a parallel with Frances telling our!Ciel in ch14 that “he still has a decade to go before he can even think of winning against her”, because he has a lot to learn from her, especially since even he admits that he knows next to nothing about his own family.

The previous spare teaching the spare. How fitting. :D

Weston arc

Even if Frances only appears in this arc during the cricket game, I think there is a lot to be deduced from it. First, I’ve said it long ago and I’ll say it again: I strongly believe Frances played a part into Vincent’s victory during the first blue miracle.

Mind you, Tanaka basically confirmed that Vincent cheated to win (since he knew what Seb and Ciel were up to) and I could totally see Vincent asking his strong little sister to crossdress in order to destroy the Green team. xDD Besides, she certainly seems uneasy whenever the topic is brought up and she also wasn’t fooled by Ciel’s act when he won, haha!

This is silly, but this shows (imo) that Frances and Vincent had a good sibling dynamic, with Frances supporting her brother as the Watchdog as much as she could, which is heartwarming because this means Frances would have no reason not to support her brother’s sons after his death. 

Tanaka (who, according to Yana, was already in the household taking care of Vincent and Frances as children) and Frances happily dancing together at the end of the tournament also confirms this. Vincent and Frances having a strong sibling bond would also explain why, despite Claudia’s death, Frances would agree to the betrothal between Lizzie and Vincent’s heir (and would keep it that way, even after Vincent’s death).

All that to say, I’m sure the cricket game confirmed to Frances how similar our!Ciel is to Vincent on some aspects (the second blue miracle attests to that), which probably makes him somewhat predictable (and reassuring?) to her.

One thing that I also believe is important is Ed’s mini flashback during the game. On this topic, Yana has said that she couldn’t draw his backstory in detail, so she’ll probably expand on that in the future, which makes me think that there is some foreshadowing in there. 

TBH I think it’s ironic that Ed would consider himself as “ordinary”, considering the whole lineage thing introduced one arc later. xDD But also, if we consider that the tale of Vincent’s first blue miracle is supposed to hint that Vincent and Frances were close as siblings, it’s nice that Ed, who takes after his mom the most, would also have his own flashback about loving and looking up to his sister a lot, despite his small inferiority complex. Considering that Liz sees their mom as her role model though, I guess that means Ed also sees his mom as a role model (though the Campania arc already made that pretty clear). 

During the Weston arc, Frances also managed to surprise Sebastian, both by recognizing him (lol) and by stopping him despite his intent to leave, which is, according to the demon himself, no small feat: 

Like the usual nagging she does towards Seb though, it’s played for laugh, but as introduced in this post, I believe overused comic relief is a way to foreshadow some hints and we’ll dive into it with the next arc. 

Last but not least, during this arc UT commented that our!Ciel was different from his ancestors when he willingly put himself in danger to save Joanne...

...but as presented during the Campania arc, it seems it’s a trait he shares at least with his aunt, furthering the parallels between them and the fact that she would definitely make a good mentor for our!Ciel, because they’re quite alike and can probably understand each other. 

Green Witch arc

The only relevant part of this arc with Frances’ character is the introduction of a special lineage in the Phantomhive family by German Shinigamis...

...something that might explain why our!Ciel was able to notice them, when even Seb didn’t. So this begs the question: who else in his family shares this lineage? And obviously, Frances and her kids might !

My personal opinion is that the lineage thing is old and is probably why the Phantomhive family became the Watchdogs, many generations ago. But also, if our!Ciel can notice Shinigamis thanks to it, could it explain why Frances was able to detect and catch Seb during opening ceremony before the cricket game at Weston? And why she always nags him about his appearance (both hair and face)? That remains to be confirmed, but...

...at the very least Bravat in the recent arc confirmed that some gifted people like himself can “sense” that demons are different. Just like animals [x][x], apparently. Bravat is irrelevant besides being a small scale villain though, so I take it as a hint for a more plot significant character, such as Frances, whose nagging behavior towards Seb is way too overused as comic relief anyway. 

The lineage thing is yet one more family topic on which Frances probably has answers to give to our!Ciel (the only other people who might know about it being Tanaka and UT). 

Bonus : if what Vincent said below about strong-willed women in the family line (from a side story “With Father”) is a hint towards the lineage thing...

...then it’s probably why Vincent wanted Lizzie to be betrothed to his heir in the first place and why Frances agreed. 

Blue sect & blue revenge arcs

I already mentioned that Bravat’s innate ability to recognize Seb as a demon was a hint that other characters, like Frances, might be able to guess that Seb is a demon as well, so moving on to ch151 :

This chapter confirms that UT has known Frances since she was very young (which is a hint to the UT = Cedric theory of course), which also explains why, knowing about her strength, UT went on with the whole BD massacre on the Campania despite the presence of our!Ciel and the Midfords on board. 

Also, while this chapter neither confirms nor denies if Frances knew about our!Ciel lying about his identity (like Tanaka and UT did), she didn’t show anger nor disbelief about the situation, just her incomprehension.  

More than anything, this chapter strongly hints that our!Ciel will at some point seek his aunt for a talk before the final confrontation with UT and real!Ciel, because both are seeking answers to their different questions (our!Ciel needs to find out about UT & his grandmother and the lineage thing, while Frances will want to know what’s the deal between the twins). Speaking of which, a talk between Lizzie and Frances is probably also in order, before Lizzie can choose our!Ciel’s side again.

Lastly, ch151 hinted that Frances doesn’t fully believe that real!Ciel’s return is “natural”...

...and, i mean, why would she? She faced the Bizarre Dolls on the Campania and, for all we know, Edward told her how the Weston arc ended so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ considering that UT has been involved every time, the Midfords probably aren’t far from connecting the dots about real!Ciel being already dead. 

To sum up !

Outside of the narrative, Yana said that Frances was Lizzie’s role model and that Seb also wanted her to be the model our!Ciel should follow. And, in my opinion, the entire series so far (as I tried to present in this post) is slowly building up to that because :

our!Ciel and Frances are very similar: both the spares & both survived their parents’ and brothers’ death 

both saved folks unrelated to them despite being Phantomhives, meaning that they are a bit alike and can understand each other

our!Ciel literally built his path of revenge following the advice Frances told him about how to counterattack an opponent

Again, to understand who targeted his family, our!Ciel needs to find out about his grandmother, about the lineage and about why his dad had to be killed amongst other things. The only people who can answer him are UT, Tanaka and Frances. 

I believe UT and Tanaka are more connected to Claudia, but also both are by real!Ciel’s side for now, making them less accessible for a talk. This leaves Frances for the time being and, as Vincent’s sister and Claudia’s daughter, it seems appropriate that answers would be coming from her. 

Also, in shonen series, usually the hero(es) have a mentor figure who will help them “unlock their potential” through training. Kuroshitsuji is not your usual shonen and I doubt our!Ciel can become better at fighting lmao, but Frances can certainly help him better appreciate the massive scale he’s bound to face when seeking his revenge. Especially if it all goes back to events from 3 generations ago and a worldbuilding full of supernatural elements, as well as a world war he doesn’t entirely comprehend yet. 

Frances acting as a mentor/role model for her own kids also foreshadows that they’ll follow our!Ciel on his journey and, like him, they’ll definitely need her wisdom/knowledge to be able to reach the necessary level for survival by his side.

As to when all that is going to happen, well, I’d say Frances will probably take on a more active role in the plot when, to quote Seb in ch14, "[our!Ciel] will overconfidently believe that he cannot lose and that it will be necessary for him to carry himself with humility while striving for his goal". Because by then, "an adult who will be firm with him is what he'll need". 

If that doesn’t foreshadow the current conflict between the twins, I don’t know what does. xD

Thanks for reading!! As always, let me know if I’ve forgotten anything !

[ca-suffit]

“loumand were happy together most of the time” is kind of an insane take bc louis spent eps 1-4 haunted by lestat and distracted by a hallucination of him, fought badly with armand and called him a boring beige pillow in ep 5, the closest they probably came to being genuinely happy was in 6, the ep which had louis acting really off (i think jacob himself said he’d regressed to a lot of his past personality). eps 7, 8 and dubai speak for themselves lol. whereas loustat *were* happy, especially when they were raising claudia (“we were a happy trio”), and it’s clear that louis downplayed a lot of that happiness (see all of jacob and sam’s comments about dreamstat reflecting the softer and happier parts of loustat that louis wants to forget). but people also ship them because a) their intense chemistry and b) the whole show revolves around their romance, which is tragic and destructive because they love each other *so much*. it’s fucked up but also so compelling and epic and romantic because they will literally love each other forever and nothing can stop it no matter the cost. that doesn’t mean you have to ship it, but it actually surprises me that someone could even enjoy the show if they don’t even “get” loustat at all

tbh I think an argument could be made for both relationships either way. I don't think any of it has to be a contest of any kind. ppl come into the show from all different backgrounds and awareness of the books / characters or not. I think it's fine to let ppl come into the story however they want.

loustat allowed louis to feel seen for the first time in his life but also unseen in other ways. we do see them have happy moments but the more time goes on, the worse they get and the less "alive" he seems. then there's the explosive endings of the fight and mardi gras. although the show has told us there's layers to this and a general back and forth of whether things were better or worse all over their timeline.

loumand and being in paris gives louis more freedom in ways than he's ever known. he explores hobbies, he feels less judged as a black man in public spaces, he feels like he's allowed to have boundaries and voice desires. armand pretends to relinquish control at times when he knows it's what louis requires to feel good. that's something that lestat wasn't doing. for a lot of S2, in dubai, there is an unease felt and a forced manner of discussing all of these "happy" memories they have together, but a lot of it still feels real. like an authentic couple that's been married a long, long time and settled into each other. 2x5 shows us a layer peeled back and starts to break the illusion, but just like with louis' happy moments with lestat, it doesn't change that those moments still exist.

the show itself is always telling us that everything we see of any of this are parts of a whole. just like real life, all events have different perspectives. if louis' memory hadn't been erased after 2x5 then who knows what would have happened. but louis also wouldn't have left lestat on his own without claudia too, so maybe nothing?

the core of all of these relationships is what they reveal about the characters. while loustat has been said to be the main focus throughout, it doesn't lessen any of the others. all of these characters are around each other for eternity and have to endure each other somehow, whatever their current status with each other. I don't think anyone has to have any relationship preference to watch the show tbh, bcuz they're all related in the end anyway.

[raayllum]

Ezran is twenty-two when he kisses her for the first time.

Claudia stumbles back in a panic, lips burning and wide eyed. His office, her books stacked high on the desk they share most days, is so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

She touches her mouth. "Why would you do that?"

Ezran meets her stare evenly, although with something defiant about him, too. Like he's not sorry about putting this, whatever this is, out into the open, like he's daring her to make him feel ashamed for it. "Because I wanted to. Don't you?"

"It—Ezran."

Her eyes sting because the truth is yes, she wants. She has always wanted more than she should in all things, has never been able to let go of anything gracefully, has left claw marks on all that matters in her life. So she'd told herself this one time, at least, after everything Ez has done for her—he's the reason she's alive, he's the reason she's able to be here with her brother even when his had disapproved, he's the one who gave her a place to grow, and—

She wants him. She can't have him.

"I'm too old," she starts because it's true and because she swore a long time ago she'd never lie to him. She's not going to break that promise when she also has to break his heart.

Ezran frowns. "Claudia—"

"And I'm hardly respectable." Just the reformed dark mage and daughter of a dead, disgraced king, with no dowry, no tangible ties to Del Bar, and no prospects. It's a miracle she's not a prisoner. "And the court would talk."

His advisors want him to marry the younger sister of the king of Evenere or Del Bar, to solidify alliances, to ensure peace amongst the Pentarchy. A smart match that can give him heirs. She's just a few years shy of thirty and ravaged by dark magic, and—

She doesn't want to be a reason his judgement is questioned. She doesn't (heart pounding) want to cause a rift between him and his brother. Callum has only just begun to treat her as a friend again. What will he think if he finds out she's courting his baby brother?

"I don't care what they or Callum say," Ezran replies staunchly, and yes, there's the defiance. "I love you."

"No, Ezran—Ez." She dares to take him by the shoulders, marvelling not for the first time that she has to look up to meet him in the eye. "You're young," she reiterates. "And it will pass."

She is not going to ruin his life again—and certainly not let him ruin his life over an infatuation mistaken for love.

Because it is one thing to be his friend after she was his enemy for so long, and his high mage for half the year when his brother is gone. It is one thing to dance with him at Ellis and Aanya's wedding last summer, and to admire the way the light catches the gold beads in his hair, and hum to herself after they've gone for a castle garden stroll together, and try to make him laugh during droll council meetings, but she can't—they can't—

She leaves before she can do any more damage, before he can grasp her wrist and convince her.

The next day, after a terse breakfast in which Soren knows what happened because she told him in tears, he corrals them into talking.

Claudia doesn't get up to leave this time, when Ezran sits next to her on Their Bench in the gardens.

"You know," he says, not wearing his crown for once. "You never said you don't love me back."

Claudia can't look at him, focusing on steepling her fingers together instead, skin too pale and nerves still too frayed after so many years of dark magic. "I said I wouldn't lie to you."

Ezran exhales. "Then why on't you let yourself be with me?"

"Because I don't have a good track record with love." She and Terry still write to each other sometimes, and he'd help keep her sane those first few months back on this side, but... They'd been too much, and she'd been too prejudiced when they met, to ever have something work. She swallows. "And even worse track record with you."

Ezran reaches up and tucks a strand of dyed black hair behind her ear, lingering. "Well, you know I like to bet on long shots, at the horse races in Duren."

"You're young," she reiterates.

"My mother and father were six years apart, too—"

"And whole, and bright, and full of life, despite everything that's happened to you." She folds in on herself. "In spite of everything I've done. I mean it; you'll grow, and it'll pass."

That's how it worked for Callum, and for Terry.

"I just don't understand," he says. "Why not even try, at having the thing that you want?"

"Because the last time I chased what I wanted, the world ended." And it'd felt like it ended again, when he'd kissed her. Like it would end again because she never knew when to stop, she hadn't thought she was being selfish before, either, and... "It'll pass," she promises.

Not for her, but for him. It has to.

(It doesn't. He's twenty-three when she kisses him back.)

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Imagine you and Soren liking one another but him being worried he can't compete with the other man in your life...your best friend Callum

You were Callum's best friend and had been as long as you could remember. Your moms were close friends and you were born only 1 month apart so you went through everything together. When Callum's mother married the king and moved to the palace she brought your mother with her they were that good friends. Then when Callum's mom died, your mother tried her best to help keep her memory alive for Callum and Ezran and the King was always grateful for that.

Having grown up at the palace together you were also around Soren from a young age but only really noticed him as a teenager. That's when you realised he was totally hot. That was also when your realised you wanted to be a soldier. You got to participate in Callum's training sessions but quickly surpassed him. You remembered the exact date Soren first complimented your fighting style. You'd been sparring with Callum when Soren happened to be walking by. You decided to go extra hard hoping he was watching and he the was. You knocked Callum into the mud with the force of your strike which Soren found hilarious and he bounded over to tell you. "You should totally come to the intermediate classes I run" Soren said and you nodded "I'll be there!". Once he'd left Callum sighed "I know you fancy him but did you really have to give me a concussion?".

Callum was your best friend so it didn't take him long to realise you were into Soren but the man himself didn't quite get that. You quickly progressed through your classes to the stage where Soren was giving you one on one sessions which you both used as a cunning excuse to be alone together, unaware the other was doing the same thing. You even started staying in the palace as an excuse to bump into Soren more and the chemistry between the two of you felt amazing. However, Soren was worried about your friendship with Callum. Although Claudia assured him there was nothing going on there (she was stunned Soren couldn't see you had fallen for him hook line and sinker) he still couldn't shake away this feeling he was competing with Callum if not for your hand then at least for the first place spot in your heart.

You made it onto the King's Guard after years of work and Soren was determined to finally ask you out...but enter Rayla and her assassins. You were with Callum when he found her and escape with Ezran, Rayla and Callum with the egg. However, Soren had no idea you'd gone willingly and spent weeks pushing himself to the limit so he could rescue you. He promised, the second he saw your beautiful face he'd propose or something! Claudia told him this might be weird considering you'd never dated and so he agreed he'd ask you to be his girlfriend before wife. But then he found out it was all fake! You'd never been kidnapped by an evil elf but had gone willingly and just fed him that story because it was convenient. Soren felt betrayed and to make it all worse, you'd done it for Callum. So when Soren saw you again at the Moon Nexus, after Callum convinced Rayla to let them stay, he had a lot of feelings.

"What's wrong Sorbear?" Claudia asked him "you haven't said a word since Callum showed us to our room". Even Callum's name made him angry and he sighed "nothing". "Okay but it's clearly something so tell me or I'll tickle you until you tell me". Soren sighed "she left me, for him" and all the humour left the room at his tone. "Y/n?" Claudia asked and Soren nodded "I was so worried about her and now I feel so stupid. She always picks him and I don't know what else I was expecting. She became a king's guard for him. She ran away from all that for him! She lied to me and let me think she was kidnapped for him! He's her everything". Claudia frowned "yeah Y/n cares about him but they're best friends! That's all". Soren shook his head "she loves him Clauds, how do I compete with that?". Claudia tried to explain to Soren there were many different ways to love someone and one wasn't superior to another but he was too pouty and wouldn't listen.

When you found out Soren was here you were a mixture of ecstatic and nervous. When you'd left the two of you were close, pretty much an unofficially couple. Soren was training with you every night of the week and then he'd walk you back to your room. You'd go out together on Friday or Saturday evenings and Claudia had started calling you Soren's girl which made both of you blush but neither of you had stopped her. Seeing him again would be awkward to say the least but Callum could be an idiot sometimes and didn't think about this.

"So...Sorens back" Callum said smirking suggestively "you must be happy". "Wait you and that big lug?" Reyla asked. You went to deny it when Callum nodded "oh yeah they've had the hots for each other for ages! They used to train together just as an excuse to get close to each other. They were totally a couple just never made it official. We won't be seeing much of Y/n now with him around" Callum smiled. You shook your head " I don't know, he might be mad at me". "What? That's crazy!" Callum said but you shook your head "then why didn't he come and see me? You didn't force him to go straight to his room right?". Callum paused "well no...". "And you probably told him I was here right? What did he say". Callum frowned "well he didn't comment which I did think was odd but I bet he's just tired". "He's hurt" you frowned and Rayla frowned "why?" she asked in her typical brass way. "I'm guessing it's the whole leaving without telling him, faking a kidnapping and running away from him thing. He's hurt I never trusted him or went to him for help". Callum frowned "then just apologise. There's no way he can stay mad at you". You frowned but decided to give it a go.

So you made your way over to Claudia and Soren's room and just as you were about to walk up the path Claudia appeared. She saw you and smiled "hey y/n great to see you! You here for Soren? Just go on in!". "Are you sure?" you asked and she nodded "yep no need to knock" and walked away. You nodded and walked right in, to find a shirtless Soren. He'd clearly just come from the shower and looked amazing. He'd always been muscular and tall but add that to not seeing him in weeks plus the tension between the two of you and you'd never been more attracted to him.

Soren heard footsteps and turned "Claudia have you seen my..." when he saw it was you. "Oh..." he said and that jolted you back into reality. Soren always smiled when he saw pretty much anyone but especially you, so to see him so serious was upsetting. You nodded "Hi, Callum told me you were here and I just wanted to come and make sure you were okay". Soren shrugged "we're fine" and you nodded "it must've been hard travelling all this way just the two of you". Soren shrugged putting his shirt on "well you do anything when someone you care about is in danger...or maybe they're just lying to you about it". You sighed "Soren I'm so sorry for leaving without telling you. You deserved better than that and I never wanted you to follow me or worry about me. I just didn't get the chance to talk to you because Callum needed my help and I knew he'd had that run-in with Claudia". Soren shook his head "you know I'd worry about you Y/n and I'd always listen to you if you came to me as would Claudia but even if she didn't there's no way I'd just blindly side with her". You nodded "I know, I know, I'm so sorry everything just happened so fast and I was scared. I know I can trust you of course I do. It was you who encouraged me to go out for king's guard. You who got up early to run all those drills with me. You who vouched for me when nobody else would. You meant the world to me Soren and I'd hate for something like this to ruin all that!" you cried tears leaking down your face and Soren caved "hey, hey calm down it's okay!". "So you forgive me?" you asked sniffling and Soren nodded "yes I forgive you" and hugged you. You relaxed against him and it felt like you'd never left. You buried your head in his chest and felt him tighten his arms around you. This was the safest you'd felt since this all started and it was a while before Soren let go of you.

You spent pretty much the whole night together catching up and it felt so good to be back together. Neither of you had said anything so you still weren't technically a couple but Soren kept putting his arm around you and your eyes lingered on one another.

When you saw Soren again in the morning after a brief 2-hour sleep you blushed and Callum smirked "someone's got a boyfriend". You punched him making Rayla laugh. You took a seat next to Soren at the table and he shot you a huge smile that made you want to melt. "Hey Y/n! I saved you some breakfast, Claudia tried to take your bowl because it had more in it and she said you wouldn't notice...". "Did not!" Claudia cried but from her blush, you could tell Soren was telling the truth so nodded "thanks Soren" shooting him a big smile. Soren nearly melted.

However things weren't all sorted, Rayla still didn't trust the duo and with good reason. Although Soren was thrilled to be back with you he did suspect you'd been brainwashed. "I mean come on, what other reason would make Y/n side with an elf?". "Both Callum and Ezren also siding with her?" Claudia pointed out. Soren shook his head "no she's too smart just to get pulled along by them, I'm telling you she's been forced!". "Either way we can't let them leave with the elf that's for sure" Claudia replied.

You were outside the door on your way to go ask Soren if he wanted a walk. You rushed back to the others and sighed "Rayla you were right but I want to create the plan to leave Soren and Claudia behind. Not hurt them". "No problem" Rayla said "I'm just glad someone else has seen the light...or heard the light".

So you put together a plan. You'd make Soren and Claudia thought you were going along with them but it was an illusion. Rayla would lure Soren away and tie him up while you kept Claudia busy. Then you'd both escape on PhiPhi. You felt bad for lying to Soren but this time planned to tell him you were going.

So you did just that. After Rayla had tied Soren to a tree you approached him "Soren I'm doing with Rayla and I'm not brainwashed or being forced. I'm sorry to be leaving you again, I know it might seem weird to you but it's something I need to do and I need you to understand. I don't need your permission but I do want you to know I'm not leaving you and I will come back because I want you...I like you" you said. Soren hadn't looked happy to be tied to a tree but when he heard your explanation he positively grinned.

Soren smiled at you, his bright blue eyes sparkling "I like you too and have been waiting ages to hear you say that...I won't stop you, I mean I can't but you know that means I have to follow you right? As long as you're out here in possible danger I won't leave you". You nodded "I figured you might say that...and there's nothing I can do to deter you?". Soren laughed "not a chance" and you smiled "well it might be quite nice knowing you a few steps behind me". "Not many" Soren replied still smiling"you know I could always outpace you. Plus having you as the goal will certainly increase my motivation". You smirked "you always did like chasing me huh?" enjoying this when Rayla groaned "Y/n are you seriously flirting right now? We have to go!". "Oh yeah right" you nodded "bye Soren" and you rushed away. Soren smiled watching you go, he honestly wasn't even sad. He was just excited and when Claudia found him he was just grinning goofily.

Let the chase begin.

_________

So in honour of the new season of The Dragon Prince which I am absolutely loving, I had to polish off and post an old Soren imagine because he's just as great in the new season and he's still my favourite character.

[mateushonrado]

What I'd like to see in the seventh season of The Dragon Prince

Status Post #11309: Now that season six has arrived on Netflix and that the third arc now back in the planning stages as season 8-10, pending a greenlight from the streaming service, here's what I'd like to see in the upcoming seventh season, which will be titled Book Seven: Dark and will air between the latter half of this year or during next year, probably summer. That said, I hope we'll get a great conclusion to Mystery of Aaravos like having Callum and Rayla getting married in a flashforward and so on.

Claudia and Terry's redemption

While a friend of mine find the former an inconsistent mess of a character and the latter uninteresting who doesn't do much to the story, I'm in the opinion that they'll find redemption, especially the former since I doubt she'll remain Aaravos' apprentice, given that the fallen Startouch Elf himself has plans for Callum and there are moments in the recent season confirmed that she still has redemption.

She's definitely going to know the truth behind her father Viren's death by that he sacrificed his life to stop Sol Regem and Aaravos than being killed by the tyrannical dragon as punishment as well as realising that Terry was right about Aaravos' motive is revenge.

Flashback anthology episode

What the show needs is definitely an episode in vein of its spiritual predecessors Avatar: The Last Airbender's "Zuko Alone", "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", "Appa's Lost Days" and "The Avatar and the Fire Lord" and Avatar: The Legend of Korra's "Beginnings" and "Korra Alone".

It would be a good opportunity to focus on Rayla's past with Kim'dael, Soren and Claudia's past with their mother Lissa, how Claudia met Terry like why they fall in love and what does Terry think of Claudia using dark magic, Aaravos' devouring of Janai's grandmother Queen Aditi, Callum's father Damian, Aanya and her mothers Annika and Neha, the Orphan Queen, Laurelion, Luna Tenebris, Garlath, Esmeralda Skall and so on as it could be an extra-long episode, say a 40-45 minute episode.

Return of characters

Other than characters who are likely going to return such as those who appeared last season like Callum, Rayla, Ezran, Soren, Claudia, Zym, Terry, Aaravos, Amaya, Janai, Zubeia, Gren, Kasi, Aanya, Lujanne, Allen, Runaan, Kosmo, Astrid, Bait, Stella, Karim and Miyana, here's those I'd like to see next season.

It's very likely that Runaan's husband Ethari will return because otherwise, we won't get a reunion between Rayla's foster fathers if he doesn't. Notable characters I'd like to see returning are Ellis, Ava, N'than, Ahling (considering that he's the only one of the three attacked by Viren's forces who is still alive along with that his son Kasef, who served as his temporary successor and was allies with Viren, is dead since Florian and Fareeda were killed off in season three and it would be a good opportunity for this to introduce their successors), Nyx, Akiyu, Kim'dael, Elmer, Villads and so on.

Especially Kim'dael since I'd like to see her appear in this season because it would be a good opportunity to set her as the main antagonist of the final arc along with introducing characters from Bloodmoon Huntress and Tales of Xadia such as Suroh as well as Lissa since I would like to see Soren and Claudia calling her out for her reasons to leave them to be with their father.

Deaths and resurrections

Given one of the recent interviews hinted that we'll be seeing a sacrifice, my guess is that we'll see something important. Given that Karim isn't so likeable, I think he'll likely bite the dust for his idiotic attempt to overthrow his sister Janai and there's a possibility that Callum will sacrifice his life and then returning back to life, given that he said in seasons four and six to Rayla that if Aaravos corrupts him to the dark side or if he gets consumed by darkness, (according to Kosmo), she would be the one doing the deed, something that she's not so sure about it.

I do think we'll see a resurrection but I doubt it'll be Viren since his voice actor Jason Simpson outright confirmed that he's permanently dead after being revived twice. I think Aaravos will manipulate Callum into reviving Viren after Claudia betrays him only to revive his daughter Leola, which could result in Callum and Rayla ultimately acting as parental figures to her in the end, not unlike how the Mandalorian became a father figure to Grogu in his titular show, how Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna became parental figures to Hotaru during Sailor Moon after her father's death and defeating Mistress 9 that led to her sacrificing herself to stop Phantom 90's wrath which resulted in her being age regressed into a baby or how Thor took care of Gorr's daughter Love in the end of Thor: Love and Thunder.

I also think Kpp'ar will be freed from his coin in which he pretends to have found redemption only for that he returned back with revenge on Viren before discovering that he's dead, resulting him attempting to kill Soren and Claudia before Rayla kills him and I think that's it.

[pardonmydelays]

hii

in the heights/hamilton characters as different aesthetics (preppy, goth, etc.)

this is such a great question! ok, let's think about it. so i decided to pair them up (one ith + one (or two) hamilton character(s) with similar vibes i may also drop some quotes to prove my point) and here's how i see it:

usnavi/alexander (it's all about the legacy they left with me, it's destiny/what is a legacy? it's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see + both the caribbean immigrants + both orphans + both can't shut up sometimes i could write a whole essay about it actually): 90s (i don't have any explanation for this one, i just want to see it cause it's a vibe)

vanessa/angelica (if i'm in the mood, it will not be with some dude who is whistling cause he has nothing to say/i'm looking for a mind at work + so this is what it feels like to match wits with someone at your level you see what i did here, right?): DARK ACADEMIA (oh i love this one, i could even make them a moodboard lol)

nina/eliza: (hey guys, it's me! the biggest disappointment you know BUT nina please believe that when you find your way again you're gonna change the world/i'm erasing myself from the narrative BUT i live another 50 years, it's not enough + and when my time is up, have i done enough? cause in the end they both have done so much, ok? you know what i'm trying to say also this post is a mess): PREPPY (idk i just think it's their vibe)

benny/mulligan (idk, for some reason i was just thinking about how benny was showing off his skills in benny's dispatch and mulligan was showing off... his pants also yes that is the only reason lol): SKATER (do i even need to explain?)

sonny/laurens/philip (they all just have the same young energy for me and i'm not gonna give you any quotes here, it's just something you can see with your own eyes when you watch them on the stage): KIDCORE (i literally had no idea something like this exists but you can google it and it's a perfect choice for them)

kevin/jefferson (ok so look, kevin and camila are married to each other and jefferson and madison are also like a married couple in my head i don't know what else i can say): NORMCORE (just how i see it)

camila/madison (look up): LIGHT ACADEMIA (idk it's just the vibe bro)

daniela/lafayette (mostly because they are both iconic and come on we all love them so much also daniela works in the salon and layafette has majestic hair but it's unimportant): ART HOE (it's just perfect for them, ok?)

carla/peggy (like can't you just see it? carla clearly doesn't have much to say and peggy... and peggy. they are both cute tho! and they are both there just for fun!): SOFT GIRL (cause like i said they are just cute!)

piragua guy/king george (hey, pana! i run this town!/soon you'll see, you'll remember you belong to me! come on they are basically the same person, piragua guy is the king of washington heights): BADDIE (i'm literally crying right now, it's too damn funny)

abuela claudia/george washington (that was abuela, she's not really my abuela but she practically raised me, this corner is her escuela/your wife needs you alive, son, i need you alive + daddy's calling parent vibes lol): COTTAGECORE (it is what it is)

graffiti pete/burr (listen, i don't even have any quotes here, it's just the fact that usnavi hates graffiti pete and hammy and burr are enemies lol you see what i did here): GOTH (just because this is so fucking funny in my head lol imagine aaron burr as goth)

maria reynolds (i don't have a pair for her oops): EARLY 2000s (because of course)

[jelzorz]

For the writing meme please:

Viren gets up. Opeli’s hand tightens around the handle of her dagger, but she does not draw it. Viren doesn't even touch the bars. “Why are you all trying so hard to keep me alive?” he asks. “You’ve made it clear I'm not welcome here, just let me die.”

Opeli scoffs at him. “The only ones who don't want you dead are your children,” she says. “I don't care what you do. I advocated for you for Soren, but whether you live or die at this point is not my concern. But know this, Viren, if you hurt him again, I will personally make sure you are kept here, fed and watered enough to stay alive with guard to make sure you will never find relief. Your children will grow and they will live their lives, and you will never trouble them again because you will never leave here. And when you do die, old and forgotten, your body will rot here. No rites. No burial. Whatever’s left of your soul can wander around for rest that will never come.”

He stares at her. Then he laughs a hollow, dead sounding laugh. “You know I have never believed in such things.”

“And yet, here you are,” sneers Opeli, “begging for Mercy in the form of Death that Justice will not let you have. How much longer would you like to tempt her? What was it that Claudia said?” She hums, feigning the thought process. “There were certain conditions that were met to make your resurrection spell permanent. How permanent do you think it meant? Shall we leave you here and find out?”

Viren holds her stare, defiant, but Opeli can see the flicker of doubt in his eyes.

“It's been eight years since Aaravos was defeated, Viren,” she says. “Eight years since Soren ran you through with a sword. How many times have you tried to end it? How many times have you failed?”

He looks away, his brow furrowed, counting the attempts, the failures, rethinking the events of his resurrection. Then his face shifts, eyes wide in horrified realisation.

Opeli smirks. “Take the kindness that is offered to you, Viren. There are worse fates than a trial. Don't make this harder for Soren than it already is.”

She turns to leave, heaving the door open with an echoing creak when Viren calls after her.

“It's his, isn't it?” he asks. “The child.”

Opeli shuts the door behind her without a response.

B L E S S Y O U @lunamoon1313

A quick disclaimer: I wrote this on night shift so I can't tell you exactly what was on my mind as I wrote it bc. I don't remember and I was very sleep deprived lmao BUT I can tell you what I intended based on how I read it now, which was, probably, ~dramaaaaa~

One of the biggest selling points of the crack quartet is how fucking Messy it gets for everyone involved. I did fully intend for Viren to dead but the idea of Soren having to deal with him while being married to Opeli was just too good for me to pass up. This entire scene is built around two things:

1) Opeli being stubborn as Fuck

2) Viren figuring everything out

Once again, most of the snake was written on night shift so I don't actually know if it was obvious that Viren had picked up on the hints. I remember going "Is this a reasonable leap he could make?" And then immediately going "🤷🏽‍♀️" and doing it anyway, but I tried, in previous scenes, to draw attention to the fact that he noticed Soren's wedding band, the little looks that passed between him and Opeli when they went down there together, and the fact that she's threatening him over Soren but not Claudia, and not even the rest of the kids. Her priority has and should have been Ezran, but instead she's demanding he play nice for Soren? Oh???

So he puts the pieces together which Opeli does not confirm but he'll bring it up with Soren later, just subtly, and Soren will go "How the Fuck do you Know" and realise Opeli went down there, and one would think they might Argue about it, but in my head, he is so desperate not have a repeat of the fruit that it'll just be a few stern words and then they're cool, as they always are.

This is entirely not canon now but I do also like to think that Opeli has always had LJs favour, whether LJ is a real deity or not. I wrote in another ask that if Opeli got power from somewhere, it wouldn't be a primal source but from LJ herself, and the fact that Viren won't die is an extremely ironic and also extremely LJ thing to happen given all his crimes. Opeli threatening him is one of the very few times she invokes power through LJ the way a cleric might invoke the power of any other god, but I think there's also something extremely ominous about a non-combatant character threatening violence through a god BC. Well. She means it, and she's right. Whatever the fuck Claudia did to bring Viren back MIGHT ACTUALLY have made him immortal in some extremely ironic sense, and LJ definitely has the vibe of a god who would Absolutely pull that kind of shit.

ANYWAY thank you for the opportunity to talk about this!!!! I put FAR too much thought into this fic and it was an absolute Pleasure to rant about it!!

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

“What the hell is going on in here? Dad? You’d better be wearing pants!”

Crown Princess Theodosia of Crystal Cove stormed the main palace, looking angrily at the mess around her. Cups of wine and articles of clothing littered the front entryway and the princess was absolutely certain that she knew how they’d gotten there.

For most of her life, Theodosia had been cleaning up her parents’ messes. Her father loved to party and have countless meaningless flings, while her mother had thrown herself into dark magic and had been killed attempting to destroy the Grim Reaper with the delusional, nearly extinct Strangetown witch coven. Her twin siblings had never shared the burden of their parents with her, and since her sister, Holly, had died in the explosion with the queen of Twikkii Island, her brother had been even less helpful. While her father was a widower, his flings were no longer considered adultery, but his daughter still thought less of him for them.

She had been married to a near stranger, the former queen of Pleasantview Queen Charlotte II after a diplomatic incident required a sacrifice to Pleasantview be made. King Liam hadn’t asked his daughter what her thoughts on the matter were before the engagement was announced. He’d stood at her rushed wedding and grinned like this was all going according to his elaborate design. Theodosia loved her father, she truly did, but most days she felt like she was the parent in their relationship. Her mother had already been pressuring Liam to abdicate the throne in favour of their daughter for years when she died. If she were still alive, he may have gone through with it. 

It was hard enough knowing that she had to run a country one day, Theodosia didn’t need the stress of being the default leader of her family, especially considering that her father was still alive and seemingly interested in filling the role. All his daughter could see was the seemingly endless political fires she had to put out due to Liam’s carelessness.

“Dad?”

The princess stormed past a group of party guests enjoying the sights of the palace from the kitchen floor. To her horror, she could vaguely recognize one of them as an occasional visitor from Arkhelios who she had the misfortune of meeting before under circumstances like this one, along with what she was desperately hoping wasn’t Twikkii Island’s palace head of security.

“Dad! We need to talk!”

As she suspected, Theodosia found her father wooing a man she wasn’t familiar with. She tried to breathe as her therapist had recommended, but staying calm was increasingly difficult with every second she stood there.

“Pelle, you’re amazing,” the king gushed, brushing his lips against the other man’s hand and watching him melt. “Maybe I could speak with the staff and organize a room for you so that we could spend more time together.”

“Absolutely not! Mom has been dead for just over a decade, and Holly less than six. We are not having any more scandals with you parading people younger than your children around the castle. Think of your reputation. Think of the country’s reputation. Do you really want Claudia to walk in here some day and evict you from your luxurious lifestyle because she’s convinced our people that she’s the better option compared to you?”

The king frowned, though he looked like he was weighing his daughter’s words.

“Claudia has no claim here,” he said at last in his defense. “Your mother is dead, and I’m not married, so who I decide to spend my time with is no one’s business but my own.”

“Do you really think that’s going to stop Pleasantview?” Theodosia hissed, glaring at the young man literally trying to hide behind her father. “That’s never stopped them historically and it won’t now. Unless you want to watch a second Crystal Empire take away your throne, you have to play your part. Mom’s not here to protect us anymore with whatever hellish dark magic she had and Pleasantview is still a prime suspect in Holly’s death. You are going to run this country into the ground if you don’t change things!”

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to cause a scene,” the young man said earnestly. “I never wanted to-”

“Pelle, relax. You haven’t done anything wrong,” King Liam sighed. “If I want you to stay here, then you’re allowed to stay here. Theodosia isn’t queen yet, even if it seems that she’s forgotten that fact. Her mother filled her head with nonsense about an abdication long ago and tried to bully me into doing it. The country is still here and thriving over a decade later, so what did she really know?”

Silence swept across the room as the princess continued to try to lower her blood pressure. Her mother had been terribly wrong about many things in life, but she hadn’t been wrong to suggest that her husband “retire” from the throne, especially when this current mess was the result of Liam making his own choices.

“Pelle, I’m sure you’re a nice person caught up in the glamour of the castle and my father’s...charms,” she said coldly, ignoring her father in favour of his lover. “You’re not the first person to do so, and I know that you won’t be the last. Let me tell you about your predecessors. I have four recognized half-siblings from my father’s many affairs. There are likely more, but those are just the ones I know about. The ones who grew up without a word from my father. The ones who had mothers and fathers plead with the palace for child support or for the father of their child to spend a single moment with his child. The ones that I write WInterfest cards to every year under my father’s name so that they don’t have to feel the same crippling rejection from their absent father that I do. You are nothing more than a plaything, a toy. He’ll get tired of you too, so be prepared and use protection. I would hate to see history repeat itself with you.”

“That’s both treason and unfair,” Liam growled, but quickly withered under the glare of his daughter. “I had a traumatic childhood. I didn’t have my parents to raise me or protect me or teach me how to endure a loveless marriage to your sociopath of a mother. I’m doing my best here. Everything is fine. There’s hardly rioting in the streets because I entertain guests in my private quarters.”

A vein in Theodosia’s head was beginning to throb angrily. She tried massaging it away with no luck. Some days she wished that her mother had been the one to survive the marriage and that her father had died in her place. Queen Celeste had been emotionally unbalanced, incredibly self-centered and frankly, an actual danger to society, but at least she owned it. Her mother had accepted blame and talked to her daughter about critical things that a ruler needed to govern effectively. She had had insight and ideas and strategies for her kingdom, where her husband...didn’t. One parent was maliciously ambitious and the other had spent his life running away from his problems. No wonder Theodosia had been plucking grey hairs from her head since her early twenties.

She wanted to rage and scream about the injustice in her life, but there was an audience and her mother had trained her better than to throw tantrums about her father’s childish behaviour in front of the public. Who was her father to whine about his orphaned childhood when Theodosia had never once been allowed to have a childhood at all? She’d been the one to try to clean up her parents’ messes, while also helping to shield her young siblings from the disaster that was their family.

“I have a meeting to discuss the Harvest Moon Ball,” she spat. “Something that the monarch should be doing. By all means though, you stay here and cry about your dead mom who you don’t even remember. My losing both my mother and sister could never compete with that, Your Majesty.”

The princess curtsied dramatically, mocking the respect she was supposed to have for her king and father. What she really longed to do was flip him off and shout obscenities like the frustrated teenager she was never allowed to be, but she was better than that. For his part, Pelle did try a clumsy bow as she retreated, though the princess was far too angry to notice. 

"Your Majesty! What a surprise."

No sooner than when she’d entered the hallway, yet another situation appeared. Queen Claudia was in the main hallway, lazily looking at the portraits on the wall. Had talking about the threat Pleasantview posed somehow summoned the monarch or was this just exceptional bad luck?

Theodosia tried to suppress her surprise at the queen of Pleasantview and her heir just walking into the castle unannounced. Formality had never been Claudia's strong suit, and she clearly had no intention of changing. Theodosia remained convinced that Claudia enjoyed the element of surprise and the uneasiness it inspired.

From down the hall, Theodosia's wife, Charlotte, was just leaving the kitchen with a small snack in her arms. Her wife frantically signalled her to be on alert and Charlotte laid her snack aside and came running as elegantly as she could. 

"Your Majesty," Charlotte said with a deep curtsy. "We didn't expect you here, what an honour."

Claudia couldn't help laughing at the situation, despite its seriousness. Charlotte had been the monarch that she'd replaced in Pleasantview and now she was bowing to Claudia. The whole thing was silly, but protocol was protocol. She and Charlotte weren't close and hadn't spoken outside of events in the past few years, so formalities needed to be established. She had Victoriana as an audience, looking for an example of how to treat foreign royalty.

"Your Highnesses," Claudia said, following proper procedure and not bowing or curtsying to either princess. Beside her, Victoriana remained silent. "I'm just visiting today. There's a matter I need to consult the archives about. A private matter. I've consulted the archives in Pleasantview, but I need some titles from your archives. I trust this is the estate where the records are kept?"

Theodosia nodded gracefully.

"Yes, since this is the king's formal residence, all the archives have been moved here as is the custom. Did you need any title in particular? I can summon the royal librarian to assist you if you'd prefer."

"It must be nice having so many royal residences that you have to move archives around," Claudia laughed. Theodosia's mask of politeness never slipped in reaction. "You guys have what? Three castles? Four? I'm jealous. I only have one royal residence and the ruins of the old one. I'm thinking of expanding my estate to catch up with you guys. Maybe add a few new houses."

Claudia watched the princesses closely, hoping that her light threat had hit her targets as she'd hoped. Neither woman moved from their place, still politely bowing and showing no reaction. Pleasantview had a history of absorbing Crystal Cove over multiple centuries, freeing it and then capturing it once again years later. There was a good reason why both women were so cautious of Claudia and it never hurt to remind them of why. Claudia had no intentions of going to war to conquer any country, but it was good to mention every so often that she always could if she ever changed her mind.

"I think I'll just poke around by myself for now," Claudia announced. "I'm looking for the archives regarding the Empress' reign. I assume that they'd be here?"

A worried look passed between Theodosia and her wife, though they tried to hide it.

"E-empress Anastacia?"

Claudia fought the urge to roll her eyes. It was hardly acceptable behaviour for a queen, but it was so tempting.

"Yes, there's only been one empress, unless I'm missing one," she replied irritably. 

"But, she reigned over Pleasantview mainly, surely you have all the records you need in your archives. Everything from the Crystal Empire remains under your control, if I'm remembering correctly," Theodosia answered.

She was remembering correctly. There wasn't an inch of this castle or this government that she hadn't meticulously studied in preparation for her eventual ascent to the throne. Whatever Claudia was looking for should be in Pleasantview, or at the very least, be able to be sent to Pleasantview at the queen's request. Why did she need to arrive in a foreign country unannounced to look for records she already had?

"I'm sure having a quick look won't hurt either. Victoriana, stay with the princesses until I return," Claudia ordered. "It will be boring in the archives, so go explore with them. I'm sure you two don't mind looking after her for a bit?"

"Of course not," Theodosia said, clenching her teeth in a grimace she hoped was convincing. First she had to babysit her father and now she had to entertain a foreign princess without notice. She had had plans of her own for the day, but they had all been ruined, as usual.

"Have fun," Claudia called out, heading in the direction of the castle archives.

When she had disappeared from eyesight, both Crystal Cove princesses sighed deeply, releasing the breath they'd been holding.

"What do you want to do? We could play a game if you want," Victoriana suggested, oblivious to the tension in the air. "Or watch TV."

"I have to go for another meeting on the Harvest Moon Ball, I can't stay and babysit Claudia's kid on top of everything else. Make sure my dad's still wearing pants by the time the witch council meets tonight. Maybe someone on staff will look after the kid until Her Majesty is done pretending that she owns the place."

With that, Theodosia stormed down the hall, intent on accomplishing at least one of the items on her schedule.

[up-sideand-down]

2 and 79 for your mash up 😁

Rules: Send me two (2) tropes from this list + a ship and I’ll describe how I’d combine them in the same story. 

2. A Royal AU

79. Anger Born of worry

I didn't see a ship so I get to pick for you: Zack/Cloud!

Zack is well-liked guard in a small kingdom. He rises very quickly through the ranks, reaching a commander status faster than most. He and his fellow commanders are given a dire task. The Crown Princess has gone missing, just without a trace. The royal family doesn't want her disappearance known (since she is engaged and that would make her husband-to-be very pissed off), but she must be found and returned as soon as possible. Zack dives into the task. He's never actually admitted it...but he's always had a massive crush on the princess.

At first he really goes nowhere. No one is willing to say much about the Princess. Then he suddenly realizes that's it! The people who are the most silent really know where she is. He is slightly angry when Kunsel, his own second in command, is found to be someone who helped her Majesty disappear.

"She asked me to," Kunsel says, "I cannot say more. She swore me to secrecy, but she is alive and well. I promise you." Zack is shocked at that. She wasn't taken. She's...running away. He thinks about it. Rufus of the ShinRa's isn't exactly his favorite person either. Perhaps this was her way of trying to get out of a terrible marriage. Zack just asks if Kunsel can say where Zack should go next. Kunsel tells him to find a soldier named Cloud.

2. Zack finds Cloud to be a very hostile man. Cloud refuses to say a word about Princess Claudia regardless of the threats and bribes Zack offers. So Zack decides the best way to get Claudia to reveal herself is to try and nullify her engagement himself, going against his orders. That finally seems to get Cloud to open up. Cloud demands, in his angry way to go with Zack. They leave at the dead of night.

Despite himself and his misconceptions about Cloud, Zack warms up quickly on their journey. Cloud isn't as cold and cruel as he makes himself seem. Despite keeping his hood and helmet up Zack feels a deep friendship forming with Cloud. They both love underdog stories and hate injustice in any form. Cloud actual seems to have a beautiful and noble heart.

"Why did her Majesty ask you for help?" Zack asked, "how did she know?" Cloud seems sad.

"I can't tell you that," he says, "I really would if I could." Zack lets it go.

3. The ShinRas are less than pleased to see Zack and Cloud at their doorstep and even less pleased to hear what they are trying to do. Zack offers anything to keep his home safe, even his own life. The ShinRas seem satisfied with that. Cloud suddenly goes berzerk with rage refusing to let them have Zack.

"Cloud its okay, let me do this. It's what she would want," Zack says.

"No its not!" Cloud snarls. He finally takes off his helmet and hood and Zack's jaw drops.

"I am Cloud--I mean Princess Claudia," he says, "and after seeing how you've treated my bodyguard there is no way in hell I am marrying anyone from this family!"

4. Rufus ShinRa actually listens and breaks the engagement then and there, making up something about not wanting to marry an unconventional woman, especially one who can use a sword so well. As well as accepting a massive bribe from Cloud behind closed doors.

Zack pulls the full story from Cloud as they go back. Cloud had never once in his life felt like a princess, or a girl for that matter. His family thought it a phase and got him engaged. So he ran. He had found a witch in the slums of the capitol and gotten a spell that finally made him a body that matched how he felt inside. Kunsel found him though and agreed to keep him secret and hide him in the army itself

"I didn't know they would actually look for me," Cloud said, "I didn't know I caused so much trouble."

"You're not that much trouble," Zack said, "I know I for one would be happy to serve a Crown Prince."

"But your so much more princely than me," Cloud said, "you tried to fix everything I ruined."

"It was fun," Zack said. That finally gets Cloud to laugh.

In the end, a lot of the people agreed that Zack would make a fine prince and king when the 2nd engagement announcement came out.

[pynkhues]

YEEEESSS I am SO curious about if Rolin has someone in mind for her. I could see it either way, that he's had someone in mind since season 1 or that he's really open to ideas. Same with Marius actually. I know he said that Eric and Ben were the two he had from the beginning, but obviously he couldn't say yet if there was anyone else in there too. I wonder if Gabrielle will be someone where we all go, oh duh, can't believe I didn't think of her, or someone where we're more like WOAH I would not have thought of that.

Yeah I think that is it, that even though I like GA a lot, she's become a go-to for certain types of characters, and I want someone who doesn't carry a feeling of "oh okay, I know what this is."

YES I loved that Jacob said that he was really excited about Gabrielle and Louis' dynamic with her and Lestat -- that was one of a number of things that made me confident that Rolin is going to have Louis be a major element of next season, and that dynamic could be so fascinating.

Yeah! I actually love that Rolin obviously comes into this show with certain characters like, so firmly cast in his head, and others he's just so open to - I still love that they obviously went so broad in casting Jacob and Sam while being so targeted with Eric. It just feels like such a great approach when it comes to casting.

And I think that's a really good way to describe Gillian. I do like her, but I guess I just don't find her all that exciting and I feel I know exactly what to expect from her, which is good in some cases, but not what I want for Gabrielle (or IWTV in general tbh).

I am also literally obsessed with what the show is going to do with Louis and Gabrielle, haha. It lives rent free in my head! The book is so surface-level in their interactions, which is wild to me given Louis is not only discovering that he is one of maybe the only immortal creature's with a MIL still alive, but also that he's lowkey a lot like her at the exact same time Gabrielle is realising her son married a version of her too lol. There's also soooo much to explore in the fact that I think Claudia and Gabrielle would have gotten along really well (and it's interesting to think about whether or not Louis could've let go of Claudia a little easier / encouraged her independence if she was traveling with her nomadic grandmother rather than on her own).

[murfpersonalblog]

Yes. But I'll also push back a bit and point out that Louis WAS actively in the act of killing Daniel when Armand interrupted him. Armand saved Daniel's life--if he hadn't come in, Daniel would 100% be dead. Lou only sobered up after his suicide attempt; he was surprised Daniel was even still alive, then horrified when Armand got jealous & started torturing him. (Armand saved Daniel twice, cuz he didn't HAVE to do as maitre!Louis said & spare Dan's life. What would Louis do if he went along with it, hobbling around burnt to a crisp?) Louis invited Daniel over because he wanted to be interviewed, not to have sex; and he turned Daniel down flat when he started stripping.

Lestat HID his sex affair with Antoinette cuz he knew it offended Louis. Lou never his his sexcapades in SanFran (even invited Armand to join in--Armand said he killed most of the guys Louis slept with), cuz Loumand told Les to his face that they were only together to spite him.

So it kinda flips the parallel on its head, cuz Lou never interrupted/interfered with Lestat's sexcapades, the way Armand did. (Even the rule to kill Antoinette was Claudia's rule, not Lou's.)

Which kind of makes me wonder now if Armand interfering even makes any sense? Like...WHY did he stop Louis? They killed hundreds of guys together anyway, so why even bother stopping Louis this time? Just cuz it was morning & the sun was out? Who cares--Louis has a coffin in the other room; he doesn't have to go anywhere. And it's not like Daniel was a world-famous journalist at that time; he wasn't even married yet. So who would miss him if he died?

Crap, the more I think about it, the more OOC it seems.

the way louis is like ”i understood the indulgence” about lestat fucking antoinette the first time, even if he didn’t like it, but a line is crossed for him when he realizes lestat didn’t kill her afterwards, he walks out into the courtyard asking lestat if she burned quickly and instead there’s a random dentist in the incinerator because antoinette ”has talents” and THIS is when louis asks ”aren’t I enough?” because he figured lestat was gonna fuck and drain her and that would be that. instead it turns out lestat has a soft spot for her.

”128 boys he’s brought here and you’re the first he didn’t consummate and drain. That makes you special.”

[thebigoblin]

Sterek Fic Recs Part 3

[You can find the first two lists here: Fluffy Sterek Recs & Sterek Fic Recs. Also here's a special fic, check it out]

First off, thank you all for a 100 followers!! As of September 7, 2021 you've made me feel really, really good about my obsession with two oblivious idiots (with sprinkles of the hale pack and other fandoms), and this is my way of thanking you ♥️

If you're on PC, you can see that there is a page dedicated solely to fic recs, which caters to other ships & fandoms too. So don't feel left out if you're looking for something other than Sterek!

Without further ado, let's get to it then!

an awful curse

Isaac is asleep in a chair. The angle of his neck makes Derek wince in sympathy.

"Isaac," Derek says.

Isaac snaps awake immediately.

"You're-"

"Where's Stiles?"

"Stiles?" Isaac asks.

Jesus. It's not like they know more than one.

AU - Canon Divergence | 6.3k | By blinkiesays

Throw Away The Key

Stiles knew it was stupid to go to the hunters’ headquarters all by himself, so when he finds himself caught, he can really only blame himself.

It shouldn't surprise Stiles when the situation quickly goes from bad to worse as the hunters throw him to a feral werewolf waiting to tear him apart.

Sucks that it's Derek, though.

AU - Canon Divergence | 5.9k | By mommymuffin

Whatever Happened Last Night, Why Did Glitter Have to Be Involved?

Derek rolled out of bed in search of his phone - quickly finding it in the pair of jeans that had evidently been tossed aside haphazardly on the way to the bed. Seeing the pants sparked flashes of memories - wolfsbane-laced alcohol, loud music, multicolored lights.

Peter’s new supernatural-friendly club - the pack had gone to the opening night party.

He unlocked his phone and opened the pack group chat, which Erica had affectionately named ‘Moon Sluts’.

>>Derek: What the fuck happened last night

[or: Derek wakes up with three things on his mind: he feels like he was punched by a troll, his mate is missing, and there's glitter covering his bed. Oh, and the pack group chat is mildly helpful]

**

Prompt #159 - “Also, my bed has glitter in it for reasons I do not recall.”

Crack Vibes | 1.2k | By ash_mcj

Good to Eat

So if Stiles married Derek Hale, he could become Jewish too? Perfect. It was settled. Stiles gleefully shoveled a forkful of cheesy shells into his mouth.

"Uh oh. I know that look.” Claudia shook her head.

"Don’t worry, Mom, ” Stiles said, reaching for his plastic Batman cup.

"I’ve got a plan.”

"Good luck, Derek Hale,” his mother muttered.

Rude.

AU - Childhood Friends | 1.7k | By Jmeelee

Murder Brows and Avoidance Tactics

Derek gets the wrong end of the stick.

Written for prompt: "You're jealous, aren't you?"

AU - Everybody Lives | 2k | By Dragonink13

Double Vision (only registered users can read this one)

"So what caused my hearing and sense of smell to dull?"

Deaton's brow furrowed, all amusement vanishing from his face. "What do you mean?"

Derek snapped, letting loose all of his anger and fear at the man before him. "I mean I can't hear your heartbeat or the cars down below or the birds in the attic! I can't smell the flowers in Mrs. Everett's apartment, I can't smell the rotting burger in the fridge that Isaac left in there a month ago, I can't smell or hear anything like I normally can!" Deaton mouth was pressed into a thin line. "Can you explain that?!"

 Tumblr Prompt: Derek jealous of himself.

AU - Everyone Lives | 6.1k | By Novkat21

Kiss?

Derek likes kissing Stiles, honestly he does. Until he doesn't.

Fluff | 3.6k | By clotpolesonly

Oblivious Misadventures, and Other Such Tales

Going to college was exciting and new, a chance for new friends and a fresh start, and the best part was, there was a supernatural fraternity on campus, meaning Scott finally had the freedom to be himself.

Then he met the resident human who came with a stalker alpha. What was the point of a supernatural fraternity if he still had to pretend to be human. And seriously, did Stiles ever fall asleep somewhere normal?

--

(aka - Five TImes Scott Found Derek and Stiles Sleeping, and the One Time He Didn't)

AU, Supernatural is real but not known by everyone, Alive Hale Family | 11.2k | By Little Spoon

Call Me (Cliché)

When the sheriff's sister ends up in a wheelchair for the duration of summer, Stiles' dreams of three months full of pack bonding, late-night video games and bro-time with Scott come crashing down. He's temporarily relocated to Redford, a three hour drive away, and he can already tell he won't be getting many visitors.

Sure the pack will forget about him while he's gone, Stiles is determined to make the most of his summer of isolation, training his body and mind - and his magic - so he can come back with a bang, and maybe catch a certain Sourwolf's eye.

Then Derek shows up at his window one night with a flimsy excuse about needing research done. Suddenly, his summer away is looking a whole lot more interesting.

AU - Canon Divergence | 84.6k | By Orphan_Account aka the author has dissociated themselves from the fic

Shiver

Stiles has really, really cold hands. Luckily, Derek knows just what to do about that.

Established Relationship | 1.7k | By canistakahari

Derek Hale's Possible Heart

An anon sent me a sterek prompt for Laura teasing Derek and Stiles joining in, then somehow sharing their feelings for each other in the mess of things.

AU - Canon Divergence | 4.3k | By loserchildhotpants

What's a Secret Identity?

Stiles sipped at a mug of coffee, absently watching the news play in the break room. Because of course a news station couldn't play anything other than its own content, even in the one part of the office that was supposed to be a safe space from work. His interview with Superman was making a rerun and Stiles glanced at Derek before commenting absently, “I’d totally let Superman fuck me.”

Derek, who had been in the middle of a swig of coffee, choked violently, “That’s not something I needed to know at nine in the morning, Stiles.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow. “What time would you prefer I tell you about all of the things I would let Superman do to my body?”

AU, Derek is Superman | 7k | By Chrystie, imabignerd and kate882

i see that you've come so far [just like them old stars]

But her big brother’s unwillingness to touch anyone, like he thinks he doesn’t deserve it isn’t the only thing she notices. She also notices how Stiles doesn’t touch him.

Everyone reaches for Derek in some form or another, but Stiles- Stiles is something different altogether because he reaches for Derek but he never makes contact.

He’ll be trying to shimmy past Derek and instead of putting a hand on his arm like most of them do, he’ll reach out with a hand and stop it scant centimeters away from Derek’s skin.

Or they’ll be walking alongside each other and Stiles will hover a hand on Derek’s lower back.

It’s both fascinating and tragic to watch, like NASA lost control of one of their robots and instead of it landing on the moon it’s fated to gravitate around it.

AU - Canon Divergence | 2.3k | By crossroadswrite

Déjà Vu

There’s a shop in Beacon Hills that no one knows anything about except that the mysterious proprietor, a witch in whispered circles, knows what you need before you do and that the things given are always just what you need.

Derek, lost after a breakup, heads into the shop to see if he can find something to help him forget his ex. The witch gives him a potion to drink, and when Derek wakes up, he finds he’s sixteen again and there’s a new student at his school, Stiles Stilinski.

Everything is familiar and yet not, and Derek finds he’s strangely drawn to Stiles in a way that is entirely supernatural.

AU, Supernatural is Real | 8.8k | By gremlins-came-and-got-me and StaciNadia

Start Small, Like Oak Trees

The months following Allison's death have passed Stiles by in a haze of monotony. He sleepwalks through days that seem to lose their color, an unwilling passenger in a body he no longer trusts. Eventually, he thinks, he'll just fade away. He isn't sure anyone would notice. Then, during a spur of the moment grocery run, he stumbles upon Derek Hale attempting to console a lost child, and for the first time in recent memory the world doesn't seem so awful.

He's not sure what he'd been expecting when he eventually convinces Derek to move into the Stilinski's spare bedroom, but a newfound passion for weeding and topsoil certainly isn't it.

AU - Canon Divergence | 24.2k | By SmallBirds

Undercover K9

As it usually goes, Derek acts before he thinks. This time he has a good reason, though-it's all Stiles' fault. Mostly.

Or, that time when Derek volunteered to spend all his spare time as a wolf with the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Office K9 Unit, just to protect Stiles' dumb ass.

Future Fic | 17.9k | By Cobrilee

Rose Colored Glasses

“Obviou—um, what? Derek?” Stiles managed. “What? You’re not colorblind. You’re colorblind?”

“Yes.” Derek said gruffly. “And?”

“And? What do you mean and? You can’t see colors?” Stiles demanded, thrown. “Does it—what kind is it? Red-green? Blue-yellow? Why doesn’t—oh my god, is this why your entire freaking wardrobe was completely black until like two years ago? Oh my god!”

“There’s nothing wrong with having a favorite color, Stiles.”

Established Relationship | 2.2k | By SassyStarboard

1,460 Days (gotta clean my slate)

Two years after Scott becomes Alpha and Derek gives it up for Cora, Stiles gets hurt during a fight and ends up in a coma for two weeks. According to the nurse, a guy has been visiting him every day and, as much as he wishes it were Derek, it sounds a lot like Scott. Except he and Scott aren't even friends anymore.

AU - Canon Divergence | 10k | By army_of_angels

This is it for now. Happy reading y'all! ♥️

[battinsonrobert-archivess]

"i know you probably hate me right now, and i get it" + dealer's choice 🦋

title: for five minutes characters: claudia daviau, alexander roscoe notes: basically, alexander time traveled by accident a while back and the last time cloud saw him, he was dead. and like, they were married around the time of his disappearance and had a few kids together. cloud was so distraught when he left cause she thought he'd come back to her, but he never did. triggers: grief, loss. (also i wrote this at 6am just having had my coffee, only proofread once. if there are errors, i do not choose to see) sender: @honeysides

“I know you probably hate me right now, and I get it, but I’m here now, and it’s not like I left you on purpose - you know that, and you can’t deny that,” Alexander told her, arms out in surrender, just after Cloud broke one of her favorite vintage dish pieces upon materializing in their kitchen.

While he was right, and he couldn’t control his time traveling, it’s been six years since she’s last seen him, and to be more accurate the last time she saw him, she saw him dead; in a coffin. So, the sight of him, alive and well, is somewhat a relief.

But the sight also made her angry because she’s begun a new life with her new wife, Beth, and she won’t know how to explain to the children that their father’s back from the dead.

Sure, it had been easy to explain Marta’s - their missing daughter - reappearance because missing people reappear all of the time. But Alexander coming back from the dead? Well…that was difficult when they’d had a funeral for him and all of the children had said their goodbyes and saw his casket fall six feet underground.

The fact that he was back now would probably traumatize them. Hurt them, even - and that was something she wanted to avoid, but knew was inevitable with a time traveler for a father and a mother who spoke to the dead and couldn’t exactly die, herself.

But still, she was angry.

Not necessarily at him for coming back and making things more difficult. But because seeing him made her want to fall into his arms again and hug him, ask him if he’d like a cup of the deadly dark as death stuff he called coffee that he took with no sugar or milk. She wanted to hear about his life with the woman Marta had told him he’d been living with, and that he’d been safe with, and she was curious if when he left here - if he left - if he’d go back to her or another timeline. She wanted to throw another piece of China though, so she threw a little cup, and when she did, she screamed, and then shrugged with her arms out, and made an annoyed noise, surrendering to the fact that she couldn’t be as mad at him or the universe as she’d have liked to be.

“I can’t deny that, but it’s unfair that you were taken from me so quickly. I loved you more than anything, except for maybe the children. You were so good to me, and you loved me with your whole entire being - I could feel it, and I never felt that before you,” she expressed honestly, voice a little off-pitch from her odd scream from a moment ago. “I just wish I had you longer. You were mine, and I was yours. We were each other’s.” She smiled, but then took a seat at the kitchen table, hand running through her hair, despite how unsanity that might be.

Alexander stood behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it. “I’ll always be yours, Cloud. No matter what,” he replied, honesty in his voice as always, “You know that. I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry I die. But we had some good times, right?” A soft chuckle leaves his lips and it makes her nod her head slowly.

“We did. But it’s still not fair,” she argued.

“I know, I know. But life’s not fair, as everyone keeps telling me,” he told her, causing her to look up at him and narrow her eyes. “What?” He laughed, narrowing his eyes right back at her.

“I miss you, is all,” she said softly. “Like, so much. I am married now, and I love her, but you were my first love, and …as cheesy as the saying goes, you never forget your first love.” She poked her tongue at him though, and he rolled his eyes.

“I miss you, too. And I’m glad you’ve managed to move on, even if it’s without me. I’ve only ever wanted you to be happy,” he smiled.

Now she’s rolling her eyes, but before she can say anything else…he’s gone, and she’s back to breaking dishes.

[lostandundead]

Chapter one: When Day Turns To Night

Cassandra Davenport walks up the trail, holding the hand of her wife, Claudia Montes. It was the night of their anniversary and she thought that they could spend it by taking a hike. It was getting dark but she didn’t mind. After all, she and Claudia went camping several times before.

Claudia giggles a bit before asking, “Where are we going?”

“I want to show you something amazing. You know you are the light of my life, right?”

“Of course I do! You tell me every single day!”

“Alright, Alright. Anyways, we’re almost there.”

“Do you want me to close my eyes?”

“Okay, I’ll let you know when to open them.”

Claudia closed her eyes and Cassandra held her hand as she guided her. She found the special spot when she was checking the trail out and wanted to share it with her. Eventually, Cassandra led Claudia to an open field in the middle of the forest.

“Alright, open your eyes and look up.” She instructed.

Claudia opened her eyes and gasped as she gazed upon the setting sun and the rising moon. This was a rare occurrence where they live, so it was a magnificent sight to behold. Cassandra smiled as she saw how happy her wife was.

“Oh Cass… It’s gorgeous!”

“I knew you would love it! I made sure we had the best view!”

“You didn’t have to.”

“But I did. Now how about we take a seat?”

Cassandra sat on the ground as Claudia plopped down beside her. Claudia leaned her head on Cassandra’s shoulder as she wrapped her arm around her. The view was nice but it was even nicer to share it with someone you love.

How did I end up with someone like her? Claudia thought to herself. Cassandra was so caring and kind. She loved everything about her, from her curly, kinky hair, to her warm, brown eyes. In her opinion, Cass was an Angel.

Similarly, Cassandra loved Claudia with all of her heart. Everything was beautiful about her, including her light brown skin, honey-colored eyes, luscious black hair, and her personality. She was just lovely overall and she wanted to do something special for their anniversary.

“Hey Claudia?”

“Yeah?”

“If there was anything you can do in this lifetime, what would it be?”

“Well, I am already married to you so that is one thing, but I’d like to travel the world. I want to see all the beauty within it.”

“Then why don’t we do that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I was already saving some money for a trip for the both of us so maybe we can make that dream possible.”

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to.”

“I can and I will. It’s our anniversary and I want to do what makes you happy.”

“I want to do what makes you happy too!”

“Honey, you don’t need to worry about me.”

“I will because I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Cassandra gave a little peck on the cheek to Claudia, who returned it. They continued to look at the sky, now changing into lovely shades of purple. Almost nothing can ruin this day.

Almost.

————————————————-

The two began walking down the trail as it was getting late. They considered getting some takeout and spending the rest of the night cuddling with each other. It sounded like the perfect way to end the night to them.

They were midway down the trail when…

“Look! A shooting star!” Claudia shouted.

Indeed, there was a shooting star, multiple to be exact. They flew across the sky, with their tails following them.

“How lucky do we have to be to see this tonight?” Cassandra asked.

“I don’t know but you have to admit that it is beautiful.”

“They kind of look pretty big.”

“It looks like it is coming towards Earth.”

“It looks like it is coming right at us! LOOK OUT!”

Cassandra pushed Claudia out of the way as the shooting star flew above them and landed among some bushes. Cassandra was still reeling from the whole ordeal when Claudia stood up and began to walk towards the landing site.

“Claudia! What are you doing?!”

“Investigating, of course!” Her wife responded, creeping towards the bushes.

“That could be dangerous! We don’t know what could have landed there!”

“Don’t worry! Now, come on and help me!”

Cassandra sighed as she stood up and walked towards the bushes. Claudia stood right next to her and held her tightly.

“On the count of three, we part the bushes, okay?” Claudia asked.

“Okay.”

“One… Two… THREE!”

When they parted the bushes, they did not expect what they saw. It was a small, black blob that had a strange mist hanging around it. It was laying on a crater that was most likely created when the shooting star hit the ground. To be completely honest, it looked out of this world.

“I did not expect an alien.” Cassandra mumbled.

“Are you sure that it is alive?” Claudia asked, grabbing a stick just in case.

“Please don’t poke it.”

“I am not going to poke it! I grabbed it just for self defense.”

“Just be careful. And anyways, how did this small, blobby creature cause this crater?”

“I don’t know. I’m no alien expert.”

Suddenly, the creature began to make gurgling noises, as if it was waking up. Claudia pointed the stick at it, prepared for anything. Cassandra, on the other hand, thought it was a little unnecessary.

“Claudia, I don’t think that it can or will harm us.”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure. Look at how small it is. Even if it is a carnivore, it is not big enough to harm one of us.”

Just as she said that, the blob began to glow brightly. It soon began to grow and change its shape. When the glow was gone, so was the blob. In its place was a young boy with dark hair. He wore an oversized, dark blue cape that covered his mouth and arms with a lighter blue vest underneath. He also wore some dark grey trousers but was most shocking was that his legs faded from a fairly normal skin tone to inky black, similar to the blob.

At this point, Claudia only had one thing to say.

“Well shoot.”