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saturnsstufff · 4 years

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The Empress (pt.IV)

Mmm. Blood for blood god, yes?

Warnings: mentions of abuse, poison, death, swearing

The palace was a bit busier after the evening you announced your new employment. After the servants herd there would be a trip, they were mostly preparing for Techno’s, and Phil’s leave. Two days weren't much to you, but to Techno and Phil? They were busy days. Techno ended up stealing Phil from your side during those days, so instead you spent your time with Wilbur.

Wilbur was a brilliant child. For being twelve he already had a large understanding of how their kingdom worked. Not only that, but when questioned he could also tell you about other countries and nations. He didn't play up his intelligent, but he also didn't dismiss what he knew.

Tomorrow was the day that Techno, Phil and you had planned to leave on. Phil did walk you to breakfast that morning, but Techno and Phil didn't waist time eating. They mostly hurried through, leaving little room for conversation, then left to Techno’s study. Leaving you and Wil alone for the day again. You didn't mind that though, yesterday you spent your time lingering over his shoulder well he did his studies. The studies, though sounding boring at first were actually pretty interesting. You had a education, however, the one you received was very basic. You were taught to read, write, and even shown basic math, but beyond that you weren't pressured to learn more. No one in your village was. This wasn't because your village viewed education less to survival. But mostly because your village was tiny, there were no great scholars. Most children were taught by there parents, like you, your mother taught you everything. Where Wilbur, at twelve was learning about different potion ingredients and there properties. You at the same age had just finished basic fractions. But that was ok, education wasn't something to compare, everyone learns differently and at different speeds.

Well you maneuvered around the casual tables, bookshelves and sofas, he responded. “Oh! well, you see, Phil wants all of his kids to be respectful, especially to women” you nodded, ’most parents prefer that.’ you mused to yourself. The two of you walked through the library to a room in the back. This is where Wil did his studies. It was just a private room, mostly made so no one could disturb the individual reading inside. “Our mother, she was really kind- you would have liked her- and her most defiantly would have liked you” He was just loosely rambling off, but it was adorable, he had a bright smile. Well you listened, something told you, not many people sat and talked with him. “When Phil met our mother he always told us of how poor her home life was, she wasn't treated very nicely, you see.” Wil took the door to the study and opened it for you two. Both of you moseying inside, side by side. When you two found the sofa you sat down easy, mostly having to readjust after. Unlike you Wil half threw himself onto it with a little squeak of the cushion. “When Dad found out mother was carrying me, he quickly took her away from her home. Anytime he mentioned her parents you could have sworn he wanted to kill them. Dadza doesn't get mad, but when he does... it’s not exactly pleasant.” Wil had swallowed a bit thickly at that last comment. Letting it linger in the air.

You walked with Wil towards the Library, the hall’s were a tad chillier due to the fact the sun wasn't out today. In its place was just grey clouds, offering more snow to the already maxed out ice cube you stood on. When you took the handle to open the door for Wil, he took it from your hand quickly. After grabbing it, he stumbled into profusely apologizing for his spur of the moment behavior.

“So sorry (y/n), it’s just, if Dadza caught me slacking on my manners... He wouldn't be too pleased.” You tilted your head slightly as he opened the door fully. Exposing the Ancient Book lined walls. The stale smell of paper, parchment, and the occasional ink hit you. The library was rather large, but then again, most things within this palace tended to be. The library did have a warmth to it, and a welcoming feeling. The type where if your not careful, you could get lost inside for hours at a time. In the corner rested a larger than normal fireplace, The attached Chimney ran to the celling, lined With thick Rocks and stones. The crackling and popping of the wood burning within was a very comforting white noise.

“this might seem off, but, what manners?” they way you said it may have sounded wrong, but you meant it in the best way you could. Or more the less for him to expand on the manners he was talking about.

“I'm not sure if I can ask, but, Techno looks older than you, did... He live with your mother when she was with her parents?” Wil shifted to face you a bit more. Putting his heel up on his knee. well he rested his elbow on the arm of the couch, he moved his head to rest in his hand.

“No, Techno was adopted. When dad was in the Nether he raided a lost fortress. from what he explained, there was just a toddler roaming around.” Your heart clenched slightly, you couldn't imagine leaving a toddler alone, none the less in a place like the nether. you have never been there, but the stories you’ve herd were enough to tell you the danger. “Since he’s a hybrid of a Piglin Brute and human, none of the other Piglins would touch him. So Dadza did, as Dadza does. he took him home.”

You thought back on this a moment. Techno had a godlike amount of strength, not to mention how tall he was. Of course he was a Hybrid. You felt a bit stupid now for not picking it up. “Just, don't tell Techno I told you, he doesn't like his name being discussed behind his back” You nodded. Wilbur’s face grew into a smile. “This can be our secret” you nodded and smiled back.

“our secret” The more you talked to Wil, you discovered he was a lot like Philza. The two had the most contagious smile you’d ever seen. The only difference you assumed was he had his mother's features. Phil had bright keen blue eyes, well Wilbur had deep beautiful brown eyes. Another difference was there facial structure. You two were quiet a moment before you spoke up. You had been curious of where their mother was, there were paintings of her. But she was no where around. The way Wil talked about her made you assume she had passed. “what happened to your mother?”

Wilbur’s eyes saddened briefly before he- what you assumed- forced himself to contain. “Oh, well... Phil and Mom had a dinner one night with some other world leaders.” he paused a bit rubbing his neck. “It was supposed to be peaceful. but someone from the German Empire didn't want us to be allies. so he poisoned our mother’s food.” He started slowing down with the story as he went on. “Like you said with your father (y/n), you were too young to understand? That's how it was for me. I was only four. I didn't understand why Techno and Dad were so angry.” he wiped his eyes as they welled up, one eye let a tear fall. “They didn't keep me in the room long. As soon as mom started choking, they started yelling. One of our allies’, his wife, had taken me out of the room before it had escalated any further.”

Your heart fell heavy, a pit forming in your stomach. you couldn't empathize with loosing a parent. especially at such a young age like that. You could easily tell Wil wasn't over his mothers death. The way he looked at the ground with such hurt, it genuinely pained you so see the happy boy like this. You moved yourself closer to his side and hugged him tightly, showing him the reassurance he needed. You didn't respond for a little bit. letting Wil express what emotions he had possibly bottled up. After a bit when you felt him pull back, you just kept your arm around his shoulder. You weren't his family. but you hoped that for what company you offered, it made him feel at least a bit better. “I'm sorry Wilbur…” was all you could muster. The atmosphere weighed heavier now. With the sadness of pressed memories lingering, the two of you didn't talk. instead you simply sat in silence.

“So what’s France like?” you asked curiously, taking a bite of your mashed potatoes.

By dinner that evening Wilbur and you had already promised each other that you wouldn't speak of what happened in the studies. He didn't want Techno on his back for opening up, or that he also cried a bit. You were ok with keeping it between you two, Wilbur had confided in you something very personal, the least you could do was respect his wishes.

Dinner had gone by smoothly, the chatter between Wilbur and you had picked up quite a lot. You could tell this made Phil happy to see the two of you getting along. Especially since you now technically live with them. When you first arrived to the palace, dinner’s were kind of awkward, since only Phil and you really talked. But now it seemed that Techno was the only one that wouldn't partake in the conversations. He would put a word or two in. But mostly dinners were spent with Wil and you talking about whatever came to mind.

Wil was hurrying to swallow to try and respond. “Oh! you’d love it there (y/n)!” Phil slightly chuckled at Wil. “Its really scenic!” Before Wil could ramble off about France and it’s perks, Phil had chimed in.

“It is a beautiful place, but were not going to any specific places. were only going to the countryside's. We know that much” Wil and you cocked your head’s slightly. ‘what’s out in the country side?’ You mentally questioned, but Wil instead asked it aloud.

“Not that the countryside isn't beautiful- why not stop by the towns?” Wil questioned, his brow furrowed. waving his fork between Techno and Phil for his answer.

“The cities don't have what I need” Techno said plainly, at that Wilbur shot back with a remark.

“mmn, like a girlfriend?” you couldn't help but laugh at the way Techno turned to face Wilbur. Since he still eats with his mask. you could only see his lips, to which Techno made a ‘heh?’ before he compiled his answer fully.

“Keep it up I’ll take you to France and punt you out of my plane.” Phil laughed with you on that one. Although Techno was pretty stoic and monotone, over the last couple of days lately he’s been showing more of his ‘Brotherly love’ as Phil call’s it. you had a feeling that Techno and Phil were going to miss Wilbur during there trip. or, at least you would for sure. After Wilbur laughed a bit he got serious again.

“But really, what are you looking for. there’s not many things in the countryside besides the occasional mansion or farm. Kind of boring if you ask me” Techno hummed in response. Appearing like he was aware of what was in the country already. Since Wil couldn't work a answer out of Techno he simply dropped the subject, viewing it no longer worth the push. Instead he started back on his steak, Phil picking up the conversation.

“Those new clothes should be in your room tonight, (y/n)” you looked up and swallowed your mouthful. nodding before you answered.

“mhn! oh! right, thank you again for them. Are you sure my old pair wouldn't cut it? I’d hate to ruin a new pair of clothes on a side trip” Phil waved his hand in response, as if waving away your worry.

“awh, I wouldn't worry to much on it. Besides, now that you work for us, you have to be official n’ shit” He grinned at you. “Besides, your clothes were nice for your village, but France and Russia have a bit different climates.” You nodded casually. The idea of visiting new places had you a bit giddy. Yes, you missed your home, but being with the royal family so far has been utterly pleasant.

“do you have a certain time you would like to leave?” you questioned, your eyes dancing between Techno and Phil for your answer. Techno didn't look up from his food, expecting Phil to answer for him.

“we’ll probably just end up sending a servant to wake you up. We don't have a specific time yet, but we know it will probably be early. Mostly so we can reach land on time. Techno has the map’s ready for tomorrow with the stops marked. fuel n’ stuff will probably draw us back time wise.” Phil poked at his food well he talked, moving a bit of the food to a nice size bite. “We don't have a designated time we have to return. But we also don't want to be gone from the palace long.” you tilted your head a bit, looking to Phil.

“why don't you want to be gone long?” You assumed it was because they liked being in the comfort of their own home, but you also had a feeling it was something beyond that. Phil’s brow had came together in a bit of... frustration?

“we cant be gone long because the Governor's get antsy..." this was the first time you herd Phil's voice drop. It wasn't his casual light hearted tone, instead it was replaced with a deep, meaningful, yet precise tone. He knew what he wanted to say, and he knew exactly what he had to say. "We can't take Wilbur with us since he’s too young. It's also best to have someone to look over the palace in our absence."

You set your fork down as you finished your plate. Mimicking how techno piled his plates. "Why do they get antsy?" You couldn't help your curiosity on this matter. ‘Did the Governor's not like them gone?’

"Because they feel Wilbur is more fit to Rule. It's utter bullshit" Phil had a lot of pressed emotion on that topic. You could tell just from how he now handled and moved his fork. Usually he had a easy grip, loose moving it about his plate. But now his knuckles were a tad white, and his grip was much more secure. "Don't mistake my words, Wilbur could rule. He'd be a bloody brilliant king too. But Techno is my oldest son. The crown falls to him. Plain and simple. But They think, that because Techno isn't my blood, that it doesn't count." His words started becoming sharper and more hateful. He dropped his fork on his plate at this point out of anger. Even Techno who never moves his head much, Or talk for that matter, had moved his head to face Phil. Techno addressed his father.

"Dadza..." you were a bit shocked, his tone wasn't as monotone. His voice showed his concern, or maybe his understanding. Phil only looked at his plate before he looked up with a breath.

"I cant leave Wil because they pressure him. They pressure him into the thought of marriage with his best friend, into dethroning techno, last time the fucker's brought up killin’ tech and I" Phil leaned back in his chair a bit.

Phil sighed again. Looking up at Wilbur with kind eyes, the hate from his previous thoughts wiped free. "I hate leaving him with that much pressure. He's only twelve".

After the dinner everyone slowly retired to their rooms. Techno had stolen Phil again for some last minute run by plans, so in his stead Wilbur walked you to your room. You both didn't Talk long however, you both were aware that you would be up early the next day. Oh yeah, you were definitely up early. The sun hadn't rose yet and you were already being shaken awake by one of the maids. Telling you that Techno and Phil were patiently waiting. you hurried to change not wanting to leave them waiting any longer.

When you saw them in the hall you had just thrown your cloak and cape over your shoulders. The new attire Phil had made for you was just mostly more layers. This way if you got warm you could shed a few, or vise versa when you were cold.

“I'm so sorry I kept you waiting-” you stopped mid sentence you couldn't believe what you saw. If anyone could have seen your face, they may have assumed you had witnessed a murder for the way your jaw hung open.

There stood Techno in front of you, Phil by his side. But that's not what had your mouth open. Techno’s mask was long discarded, and by the gods was he good looking. Maybe not in the typical sense of beauty standards, but to you he was ethereal. He had scars, yes, but that only added to him. Maybe if he didn't have the scars he would have blown the beauty standard of Handsome, but speaking for yourself you prefer him with the scars. You definitely prefer the scars. There was a small scar over his lip. Then one larger one across his brow bone that dragged down to his cheek. From how the larger one appeared, you could only assume how long it took for it to heal. His eyes were delicate, but they danced ablaze. they were brown, but almost borderline red tinted. Without his mask you could see that he had a rather soft, natural appearance. He was young, younger than you assumed. He looked only about seventeen. The way he was dressed made him look like a casual, young gentleman you would have found on the street. you almost couldn't believe he was the feared Emperor. He must have noticed your lingering eyes, because his lips moved into the ever slightest bemused smirk. When you saw his expression you couldn't help the heat that flushed your cheeks. Worst of all is you could feel your heated cheeks, and that just made you redder from embarrassment. If this was how the trip was going to start, you were in for a long bumpy ride.

“Hello, princess” was all he said. He was purposefully poking at you now. He just learned he had a big effect on you, and oh boy was he ready to torment you with it. You could only avert your eyes, you had nothing to say against that. You didn't even know where to begin with it all. it took you a moment to process. Phil still stood beside Techno, his hand rubbed at his mouth a bit to muffle the chuckle he had.

“w...where’s your skull?... a-aren’t you traveling with it?” oh great, yeah your voice definitely, wasn't taking your side on trying to compose yourself. Techno hummed, he was really amused now.

“Hm? Here I thought you would have preferred this... what a shame, I even shaved.” techno ran his large but delicate hand over his jaw and neck, the rings on his fingers stuck out against his skin. Phil laughed vocally now. The little shit was enjoying this. techno adjusted his stance and crossed his arms. He just held a bemused smirk, oh you so wished nothing more than to rub it off. You didn't care if he was a royal, if you thought you could take him, you would have.

“Ok techno, that's enough, don't want her too red now. she might try and off ya’” Oh don't worry Phil you already thought about it. “don't worry about making us wait either kiddo, we had to get a few things ready anyway” you looked up at Phil as your cheeks finally started to return to normal.

“What were you getting?” you inquired, your brows slightly furrowed.

“This” Techno said, offering a sheath to you. You looked up to him and back down to it. It was a sword, not the one you made, but a different one. “We cant have you defenseless on your trip with us” You hesitated. you knew this was the wrong time to admit that you didn't know how to fight with a sword. You gently took it, parting the blade from its sheath to look it over. It was well made that's for sure, basic Iron, but still strong.

“Your Imperial Majesty...” you were thankful for the sword but, again. you didn't know how to use it. you made them, but you were never taught on how to use one. Your mother forbid it, saying that you already took a man’s trade, there was no need for you to dirty yourself further down the path. “I... I cant...” Techno’s brow lifted in question. “I... d-don't know how to use it...” You felt shame take over you. Fully prepared for them to laugh at you. Instead Phil offered you a slightly surprised look. Techno only made a ‘Heh?’.

“You don't know how to use a sword?” you could only shake your head, looking down slowly. Phil placed his hand on your shoulder reassuringly, moving his head down so he could face you. “Hey... Hey, your ok... Tell ya’ what. Well were out on the trip, we’ll show you ok? It’s still good to carry a sword, just incase things go side-ways. But I promise we’ll make sure you don't have to use it then, ok?” you nodded slowly.

“O-ok, I'm still sorry...” Phil only shook his head, explaining you had nothing to be sorry for. He gently took the sword from you and put it back in it’s case. He told you to lift your arm’s, so that's what you did. He easily maneuvered the belt around your waist and secured the sword your hip. Almost like he would have done to his own kids. The weight of it would have to be something to get used to, but you were thankful that they were not mad or disappointed in you.

The three of you walked to where all the planes were kept. this is where Phil offered you a choice. “Would you like to ride with Techno or I?” Oh, so you had to pick. You gave them a brief blank look.

“I figured I would be riding with you, Phil” You did assume you were just going to ride with him, but you also didnt want to be with techno if he was strickly in a teasing mood. Phil only smiled and nodded.

“Alright’ lets get going then” was all he said. Techno walked passed you and Phil. Making his way over to his plane, there was a heavier cloak waiting on the wing. Techno’s plane was different from the other ones, not physically. His had a crown on the side along with the signa, probably to shownit was the Rulers. He effortlessly threw the heavy cloak over his shoulder and stepped up on the wing. His arm reaching out to pull himself up. jumping into the cockpit easily.

Phil handed you a similar cloak. “it’s colder right now due to the sun being down. you will definitely want this.” you nodded and took it with a ‘thank you’. well you put it on Phil had stepped up onto the wing. pulling his cloak on. He offered his hand down again like he did the last time you flew. His wings were spread out behind him, enjoying the freedom they had before they would be confined. when you took his hand he pulled you up effortlessly. letting you steady yourself before he lifted you up to the cockpit, assisting you in. when you were all situated the planes roared to life. Techno faced Phil and sent a nod. A wordless que. Phil sent a nod back before they both started moving together. Soon before you knew it, you were back in the air heading home.

@goldensunshineshit @snobunns @olyink @lolitsellieletsgobro @jackalopedoodles @angelic-scent @coolleviauchihadreamerlove @artsimatsu @justabalroginthenet @seme1e @fangirl570 @sweeetteaa @awlawdtheycoming @idkwhatusernametohave

#techno x reader #technoblade x you #technoblade x reader #TE

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nishisun · 3 years

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suna rintaro is NOT a genius.

summary: you loved the idea of soulmates. suna rintaro didn’t. it isn’t that hard to put two and two together to realize that maybe people with different opinions on things don’t belong together.

part 2

a/n: this was literally supposed to be a series, i gave up on it because i just didn’t like the way it turned out. it used to be called “out of my league” and this was the intro. i also renamed it. just emptying drafts!! please don’t get confused with the random timeskip, once again, this was a part of a series i never ended up posting😭

WARNING!!: suggestive themes, mentions of death, idk kinda angsty but tell me if i missed anything

Soulmates. Whatever the hell that means. The idea of soulmates is something I truly don’t understand. It’s bullshit, honestly. It’s all-pervasive.

My mother always told me I'd eventually find "the one.” I used to believe that when I was younger of course. But in my opinion? It’s all cliches. It's unhelpful, and it's certainly not true. Destiny is an excuse for the weak. Why do you think most marriages end in divorce? It's 'cause people who believe they are “destined to be" assume everything will fall into place without any effort. I don't appreciate people pontificating bullshit like that just to make me feel better, especially if they haven't found their "soulmate" themselves. My sister once told me, “People who believe in soulmates are more likely to break up and encounter more difficulty in their relationship, which will lead them to give up on one another eventually.”

I sure do believe that.

My mother is a prime example. Fumeiko Suna, my dear mother. Well, she clearly hasn’t found hers. I found out when I came home after a tedious day of school in 5th grade and found my dear mother on the floor crying, with bruises all over her face and a busted lip.

Initially, I thought a burglar had broken into our home once again, but if that were the case then there would’ve been missing furniture. But there wasn’t.

In fact, the place seemed cleaner than usual. When I ran up to her and asked her what had happened, there he was. The devil himself. My father. He reeked of alcohol, and I could detect his shadow towering over me. It’s funny how that I think of it. I used to fear that son of a bitch. Now, I’m way taller than him, and hate his guts. I turned around to see a faux-sympathetic smile plastered on his face.

He explained how my mother was being “clumsy” and had fell and busted her lip on one of the corners of the kitchen table and when I turned back around to face my mother, she smiled gently and nodded in agreement. She didn’t say anything after that.

It was then I realized my father had beat my mother to a pulp.

Long story short, when I found it was my father, sure, I was frightened. In fact, I remember going into my siblings’ rooms to inform them, they shrugged it off and told me that dad had been doing it for a while now.

Over time, when my dad had found out that I was aware, he didn't mind beating the absolute shit out of my mother in front of all three of us. This was when my burning hatred for that man started. Nobody in the house even attempted to stop him. I did a few times, though. He took all his anger out on me. At least my mom had a break for the day.

I almost pitied my mother. Almost. Maybe if she was strong enough to leave him, then yeah, I’d feel bad. But she still decides to stay with his sorry ass. It’s pathetic. It’s unrequited love or whatever you call it. How could she still love that asshole?

I mean, I’m not even going to lie, I’m an asshole too, but I’m definitely not my dad. I would never want to be him. He’s not someone I looked up to, he doesn’t do anything inspirational. He’s a businessman. He travels the majority of the time, and I’m pretty sure my mom invites men over when he’s gone. I don’t care enough to find out. But if I ever hear some guy rearranging my mom’s guts, I’ll kill him. I don’t even blame my mother. What she’s doing is wrong, she knows it and so do both of my older siblings. But they don't seem to care so why should I?

Who knows why she just won’t leave him. Maybe it’s cause they don’t want to ruin how people view our “picture perfect” family. I wonder what they’d say. “I thought the Suna’s were the ideal family? I guess not.”

My dad would probably lose it if he heard that.

Both my mother and my father are the cause of this broken family of mine. They never fed me or any of my siblings the love we always desired when we were younger. They never came to any of my volleyball games when I was younger. They never applauded me for the little recitals we’d have in class in primary school. They were never even here for most of my childhood. They always put money first and left us with the housekeepers. Hell, the housekeepers probably know me better than my own parents.They failed as parents. I despise them for it. They’re most likely the reason I am the way I am, but to be honest?

I don’t give a fuck.

In fact, I should thank them! Because of how they “raised” me, i’m extremely blunt, which is why people respect me. I use the hatred I have for my family and take it out on people and no, I’m not proud of that. I may be a heartless asshole, but I like that people fear me. The hell? Does that make me a sadist? Either way, people know to never fuck with me cause I’d fuck their shit up. I’ve overheard many people say it’s ‘cause of my privilege. It probably is. Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can buy you many other things.

If my parents were broke, I’d probably be expelled from school by now. Abuse of alcohol and drugs are forbidden on school property. I don’t even take them at school, I somewhat care about my education and health, but sometimes I just need to blow some steam. Even if I did, nobody’s gonna say shit since my dad is the head of Japan’s board of education. How did his ass even get there?

Call me lonely or cynical. Maybe I am. But how is that a bad thing? Why do people need a significant other to rely on? What, a soulmate is just going to turn my life upside down then suddenly bring me happiness? Pfft, I’m gonna need actual proof that shit like that still happens. I’ve only seen shit like that in fairy tale movies. It’s whatever, though. I can live with being alone. I’ve basically been alone my whole life and it isn’t as bad as people make it.

You loved the idea of having a soulmate. The thought of meeting someone who just understood you, accepted you for who you were, and most importantly, loved you excited you. You couldn’t wait to meet your soulmate.

But recently, you weren’t sure soulmates existed.

When your older sister, Akira, came into your room and burst into tears, it frightened you. Your older sister, the one who’d always provide you advice on relationships and how to keep one was in your room sobbing hysterically because hers hadn’t worked out.

“I just can't believe it,” she sobbed.

You couldn’t believe it either. Your sister had recently gotten engaged to her boyfriend of 9 years. They started dating at the age of 15 and managed to make things work out even after high school, and out of all those years of dating, they never broke up. Not even once.

They’d go on romantic dates on Saturdays and they’d always write love letters to one another every day, just to remind one another of how grateful they were to have each other in their lives. On Halloween, they’d dress up as fictional characters from TV shows and books and take cute selfies and bake a bunch of sweets. They’d invite you to come bake with them, but you would politely deny. You knew they were only offering so you wouldn’t feel left out, which you appreciated.

Of course, they’d argue every now and then, but at the end of the day, they always managed to talk things out. Oh to have a relationship like theirs. They were everything you wanted to have in a relationship and more.

“I really thought he was the one for me, y’know?” No, you don’t know. But that doesn't matter. What mattered was cheering your sister up.

“Maybe he wasn’t ‘the one’ Akira, and that’s okay! People come and go all the time, soulmates come and go all the time as well-”

“You still believe soulmates are real, huh?” she let out a humorless laugh and sniffed her nose, “What If I missed my one shot at love, Y/N? What if I lost my soulmate?”

That’s some deep shit.

Now that you think about it, were soulmates real? Soulmates come and go, yes, you’re aware of that, but even though they leave, it’s always temporary. Soulmates always find a way back to their other half, the piece that completes them.

Your dad never made it back to your mother.

He died in a car crash 5 years ago. Your mother and father had been arguing because she claimed your father was cheating on her since he wouldn’t let her check his phone.

You were 13 at the time. Your sister Akira was accompanying you in your room, listening to them arguing back and forth with one another. There was furniture flying across the room, glass breaking, and both of them throwing curses at each other. You were scared. They never argued in front of you and your sister. They'd bicker sometimes, but it was never anything too deep.

Eventually, your father had enough of your mother’s false accusations, and out of anger, he packed his things and left home. For weeks. It wasn’t until one of your uncles called your mother and broke the news. She didn’t take it very well.

Late 2012-early 2013.

Not many people came to your father’s funeral, his family didn’t like the fact that he and your mother were together, they said your mother was trouble, but your dad still stayed with her, even if that meant it would completely destroy the bond he had with his family. Now that’s true love, you had thought. Only your mother, Akira, the Sunas, your uncle, and you, of course, attended the funeral.

It hurt a lot. It hurt when your mother informed both your grandparents on your mother and father’s side and all they could do is put the blame on her. It hurt how they had claimed you, Akira and your mother were a hindrance to your dear father’s well-being. How could they be so cruel at a time like this?

That was the first time you ever questioned if soulmates were real. Maybe they fell in love at the wrong time? Who knows.

After your father’s passing, Fumiko Suna, your mother’s best friend, was there to help your family out financially. Your mother couldn’t even find the motivating to go to work. Your mother and Fumiko have been best friends since junior high, they’ve literally been inseparable ever since. In fact, after they both got married, they decided to live right next to each other.

Your mom didn’t cope with your father’s death very well; none of you did. But your mom had it the worst.

She would cope with alcohol and clubbing which would always result in her bringing different men home almost every night. You didn’t say much about it, you thought it would be selfish to since that’s what seemed to make your mother feel better about herself, but your sister hated it. She was already 19 and in college at the time, but when she visited and found out that your mother had basically been neglecting you, she was furious.

“Seriously, mom? This is what you’re gonna do while your 13-year-old daughter is in her room having a literal mental breakdown because of your childish behavior?” Your sister had barged into your mother’s room when she thought you were asleep, she was screaming loud.

“You’re interrupting something important, Akira. You know better than to-”

“Oh, shut the hell up mom. You’re the last person on earth to be saying shit like that.”

“Well, if you’re done, you can leave my room now. You’re being disrespectful, and this behavior is not tolerated!” Your mother was screaming now. The man in the bed covering his body under the covers and looking back and forth between Akira and your mother.

“Sakiya, maybe you should hear your daughter out-”

“Not now.” your mother scarcely interrupted the man, eye contact never leaving Akira. “Y/N has never complained about this when you were in college. She knows this is my way of coping, why can’t you understand that too!”

Akira scoffed. “So what, getting fucked by random strangers you find on the filthy streets is your way of coping? Getting wasted every damn night to the point where Y/N has to drag you up to bed is okay with you? Do you even know how much this is affecting Y/N? Did you even bother asking her how she felt? I hate breaking it to you mom, but you need serious help.”

“You selfish child!” Your mother screamed, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her body, getting up from the bed. “How dare you say that to your own mother?”

“I’m only telling the truth! If you’re the mother, then it’s your job to be taking care of Y/N, not neglecting her. When’s the last time you’ve engross in an actual conversation with her when you were fully sober?”

Your mother was silent. She quickly walked up to Akira and grabbed her by the hair and slammed her headfirst against the wall.

“You’ve got a big mouth! Maybe I should wash it with soap like I did back in the day, hm?” Akira was attempting to push her mother away, but she wouldn’t let go of her grip. The man that was still on your mother’s bed was in panic, yelling her name, which didn’t have any effect. He might as well stop.

"Look," Akira mumbled, struggling to get away from your mother's grip, "I know it's been hard ever since dad left-"

“Mom! Let go of her!” You cried from the door of her room.

All 3 adults froze and looked at your glassy eyes, mouths wide open.

“Hey, kiddo, I thought you were asleep?” Akira playfully said, your mother let go of Akira and crossed her arms then looked away from you.

“Well, I can't really go to sleep when there’s a bunch of adults yelling about my well-being,” you muttered incoherently. You quickly wiped the uncontrollable tears off your face and sighed.

“Honey,” your mom started, she walked slowly to you, carefully examined your face, and attempted to hug you, but you didn’t accept the offer which made your mother frown. She stopped walking until she was almost face to face with you and placed a hand on your shoulder gently. “Baby, your sister told me that you weren’t happy. Is this true?”

You looked away from her and stared dully at the floor, subtly shifting your feet, then you softly shook your head “no.”

“See Akira, Y/N is happy. So please stop stressing her out.” Your mother said through gritted teeth, then faced you once again. “Y/N honey, how about I go tuck you into bed, hm? I’m so sorry for the excessive noise that was caused.”

“Mom, how clueless can you be? Y/N looks miserable! It’s unhealthy for Y/N to be living-“

Slap.

Your mother just slapped Akira on the face.

“I know what’s best for my daughter! I am her mother! You are not the one who should be telling me how to take care of my own kid!”

“That’s enough, Sakiya.” a familiar voice said from the door.

“Fumeiko-“

“It’s fine. Sakiya, we need to talk.” It was Fumeiko Suna, your mother’s best friend, also known as your next door neighbor. She had been standing in the hallways the whole time, you didn’t even know she was there. Akira was the one who called her over.

That night your mother agreed to get help for her drinking problem. She was gone for 6 months. During those 6 months, the Suna’s took you in since Akira would be in college and you couldn’t have been more grateful.

You and Rintaro were the only kids in the house, being that you both were the same age and the others were in college. It was okay, they were all very polite, dinners were awkward, you could feel some sort of tension between the family but you didn’t pay any attention to it.

When your mom finally came back, it was awkward at first. She still seemed the same, loving and caring, just sober and free of alcohol. It was nice. You two spent the weekends bonding at the mall, watching a movie, or even getting your nails done. Eventually, she gained your trust back, and you couldn’t have been happier.

January 2017.

“Akira, don’t say that. You may not believe me now, but you are such an amazing person, don’t ever think you’ll never find love again. It’s all about having a positive mindset!” you said, thoughtfully stroking her hair as her head laid on your chest.

“I told you that.”

“You did,” you chuckled, “you should take your own advice.

“Oh, shut up!” you both laughed, and Akira let out a shaky sigh. “Thank you, Y/N.”

“Of course, you don't need to thank me. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

— so this is one of the writings that i wrote in January 😭 it’s been in my drafts and i re-read it once and instantly hated it right after. if there’s any typos please tell me!!

— also i wanna apologize again for putting gmds on hiatus,, i feel so bad 😭 i wanna make it up to you guys but idk how so if you have suggestions pls tell me

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bethhxrmon · 4 years

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do flowers exist at night? -chapter seven

Chapter Seven: Hands Clean

Pairing: Steve Harrington x OC

Chapter Summary: After the initial shock of the events surrounding Halloween and the days after, Steve and Annie both start to realize they may be wrong about how to cope. Their friendship also manages to strengthen in the process

Word Count: 3k

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of trauma, might be filler but I call it the beginnings of pining soooo

A/N: Hope you guys really liked this chapter because I thought it was a decent break from all that angst I lumped on pretty early into the fic. It would be fantastic if you guys could let me know your thoughts, I live for it! Anyways, you can find all the other chapters here!

~*~*~*~

Admittedly, Steve could have handled himself alone in the house long enough for Annie to go to school. However, when she pretended to be both her mom and his, he didn't stop her. Not until he was okay enough to drive.

How school would work was a question both of them asked. Steve's bruises were faded enough for Annie to try and cover them up with makeup. That was what she used almost too much of on the cut on her cheek. Sure, she could hide it with her hair, she already did that, but it wasn't enough for her. Nothing was really enough.

Being near Steve wasn't enough to stop her from reliving everything in her head. Besides, she eventually had to go back to her own house. It was safe and she was sure that Steve could use some alone time. Though, she couldn't stand the quiet of her house.

None of that stopped Steve from picking her up on a chilly Wednesday in November. Frost crunched under her boots instead of leaves. It was clear that nothing was going to stop time from passing. She wished it would pause just so she could catch up, but she wasn't sure that would be enough either.

Going back to school gave Annie the same twisted feeling in her gut as her first day. Maybe they found someone else to poke fun at or to joke with. She didn't have anything to defend herself with. Her switchblade was somewhere in the Byers’ house, but she hadn't asked anyone where it went.

"You ready?" Steve asked, looking at her.

Annie took a deep breath and nodded, "It's just school."

They both knew it was more than that. After a few days of hanging out, it became pretty clear when Annie decided to put on a front. Her back would straighten up a little bit too much and she would appear to tense up all over. It wasn't something Steve pointed out, and Annie assumed that he, of all people, would understand.

She could only imagine what seeing Nancy with another guy would be like for him. Though, a part of her wished that a broken heart was all she had to walk into. Seeing Billy was a reality she knew that she would just have to face. However, she tried to avoid it.

Since Steve was feeling better, she knew that she couldn't convince him to stay back. And maybe doing this with a friend would be easier for her. She wiped sweaty palms on her jeans before getting out of Steve's car.

It was going to be okay. That was what she kept telling herself on a loop. Just eight hours, seven if she took out lunch, and then she could go right back home. She could lose herself in a book or maybe try to catch up on some sleep she could never get enough of.

People stopped staring at Steve, and Annie wished that being shorter than him meant that she was safe too. Except it didn't. Nothing changed. There were stares boring into her as she walked to her first class. She didn't bother with her locker. That was something which obviously hadn't changed. Giving other students the satisfaction of walking up to it every day was the last thing she wanted to do.

There was a rumor going on about how Billy slept with her. It wasn't followed nearly as closely as everything with Steve a few days ago. Still, all of that led her to looking forward to lunch.

Sitting in the cafeteria was not an option. The first day back, they both sat in his car. They tried a few more places. By the end of the week, they were sitting in the auditorium. There was something about eating on a stage that calmed Annie a little and Steve was just glad it was empty.

"So what's going on there?" he asked, nodding at her copy of War and Peace.

Annie looked up at him, "Well... how do I explain this... there's this Pierre guy, and he kinda tied a bear to someone."

"What?!"

"In his defense, he was drunk?" she offered, laughing a bit.

Steve shook his head, "Didn't realize books like that were so interesting."

"You're kidding!"

"Every time I try the words don't really make sense or I get distracted by something else."

She nodded, "I get it. I mean, I'm sure you had a lot of other stuff going on."

"Not really. Come on, you lived in Seattle and New York. That's gotta be way more interesting. No wonder you didn't wanna talk to anyone," he chuckled.

"I didn't avoid everyone because I was trying to be pretentious. I gave up. There's a difference."

"What? How? You... you seemed pretty okay."

Annie sighed, "Well, you should've figured out I'm a fair actress by now. It wasn't like I had a say in whether or not I moved. I had to go with my mom or my dad, and well, my mom was the only decent option."

"Well, you can't say you don't have any friends now," Steve said, nudging her a bit.

Annie smiled a bit, "You've got me there."

"Could you read that part, though? With the bear?" he asked, "It just sounds like you're screwing with me."

She nodded, "Gladly, and I can tell you that I'm not screwing with you."

As Annie read the passage out loud, she couldn't help getting into it. Not wanting any of the details to seem boring, she tried her hardest to make all the characters sound different. Not that she would have needed to do that to keep Steve's attention. He looked at her so intently as she read. Of course, it wasn't anything she noticed since she was too caught up in what she was doing.

Lunch was the only real time Annie and Steve got a break from the school. Though, the only people who really cared about what they did were Tommy, Carol, and Billy. The perfect trio to constantly leave Annie feeling like she was going to vomit.

Annie had to stop carrying her books around in her hands. That was something she learned when her copy of War and Peace got snatched from her hands. Tommy didn't have the strength to rip apart the hardcover book, but she didn't want to take any chances either.

"So is it true you fucked Hargrove?" Tommy asked, cornering her in the hall when she was a bit slow to get out of the school.

"No, I think that was you," she said, trying to think of a quick getaway.

Steve sauntered up to both of them, "What's going on here?"

"Nothing, just having a chat with your psychobitch slut of a girlfriend," Tommy replied.

Steve nodded, "Right, I think you're done having a chat."

"No, I'm pretty sure I was just getting started," Tommy insisted, starting to get closer to Steve.

Annie was quick to move away from Tommy and grab Steve by the wrist, "You know what? I think we're done here."

She led Steve out of the school, promptly letting go of his jacket. Something told her that wouldn't be the last time they had to deal with something like that. It was the weekend again, though, and Annie was relieved that she hadn't completely fallen apart while at school. Getting through a full week sounded like it was out of the question.

However, that wasn't on either of their minds when they were sitting in Steve's room again that Saturday. She looked through his closet and sighed.

"Is it that bad?" Steve asked, sprawled across the bed.

Annie tossed a shirt to the side, "I just didn't know anyone could own this many polos. How were you so popular again?"

"Hey! It's because I'm good with the ladies, duh," he said, "What're we listening to right now?"

She found yet another polo and turned to face him, "West Side Story, the most heartbreaking musical I've ever heard in my life."

"I don't get it."

"Well it'd make more sense if we watched it. They're meant to be watched, but I don't have it and Family Video had it rented out already," she tossed aside the eighth polo, "I don’t get why you have so many polos."

He shrugged, "My mom told me they looked good on me and Nancy never minded."

"Well... I don't mind it, just... have you ever thought about what you like?"

"A little? No one really asks me, though."

Annie sat on the edge of the bed, "Do you like having all those polos?"

"Not really... I don't care, though. Same thing with the room," he shook his head, "Do you even know what you like?"

She thought a moment before speaking, "It took a while, but yeah. I don't have anything in my closet that I don't like."

That was a lie. What she wore that night with the demodogs was something she hated now. A part of her wanted to burn it, but she used to love that flannel. But now, it reminded her of everything so much. Mainly what happened with Billy. Shouldn't she have gotten over that by now? She didn't talk to anyone about it after she broke down that one time. A part of her wasn't sure if Steve even remembered.

As helpful as he had been that night and the day after, she knew he wasn't at his best. It was a relief that he was, for the most part, okay in the first place.

"How do you do that?"

She shrugged, "You try different stuff until you find what you like. And you'll know when you like something, trust me."

They stayed in silence for a little while, just listening as "America" played in the background. By all rights, Annie should have just been at her house. Her mom would be home tomorrow, but until then she didn't want to be alone in her house if she could help it. Though, she tried to stay the night at her own house.

Never mind how it had barely been a week and the only thing keeping her from losing it was that her cat would curl up in the middle of her bed with her. She didn't know how to go about talking about it. Though, if he wasn't going to comment on how she probably wasn't sleeping or eating much, then that was fine by her.

"So... what did happen with your parents, anyway?" he asked, "I mean, I get the cheating part, but my parents are still together and my dad’s not much better."

Annie stayed quiet for a few minutes as she tried to think about how to explain herself, "They tried making it work. We moved across the country so that could happen. My dad got a guy for a TA and everything. Still, they kept fighting and they wouldn't stop, and I was getting sick of it. I'm sure the neighbors were too, and I tried to get their attention. The only way I could do that was by talking about hurling myself off the roof of the apartment building."

"Shit... did you um... were you-"

"I didn't mean it, I was just frustrated," she said, thinking that was true, "But they agreed to go to family counseling. It just brought up all the problems my parents had and taught me that I was way more screwed up than I thought. We only went twice before my parents decided on the divorce."

Steve sat up, "That sounds awful."

"Yeah, it kinda was at the time... but my mom's doing the best she can and I appreciate that," she let out a long sigh.

He shook his head, "You shouldn't have had to do all that just for them to listen, though."

"Tell me about it."

"Hey, I know I'm not perfect, but you can talk to me about this stuff. Not that you have to tell me anything unless you really want to, but I just know that not talking about it ended up hurting Nancy a lot," he looked at his hands.

She nodded, "I know- but did it occur to you that I don't wanna talk about it? It's already bad enough just thinking about everything, talking about it? Forget it."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't know what you're normally like since we kinda met a couple days before everything went to shit but," he sighed, thinking of the right words, "But you don't seem right."

"And maybe I'm not, but that's not your problem. That's mine. Let me deal with that on my own time. It's a lot easier to just make fun of how preppy you are."

"Hey!" he tossed a pillow at her.

Annie laughed, feeling the pillow hit her side, "What? I'm right!"

Really, talking about anything else was easier. It wasn't that she wanted to make Steve worry about her, but she couldn't help reacting to everything the way she did. Besides, Annie knew that he wasn't reacting the best to it either. Though, there was a lot more than just demodogs that he had to go through. Losing the girl he still seemed to love had to take a lot out of him.

On the outside, it probably looked like she simply stuck around out of pity or for some form of social protection. Maybe there was some truth in that, but she genuinely thought that Steve was fun to hang out with. He was funny and kinder than he gave himself credit for. Obviously there was a part of her that knew if she didn't stick around with at least someone, she would end up being more of a victim to ridicule than she already was.

All of that pissed her off more than she cared to admit. A part of her really did wish Billy Hargrove were dead. The way he would look at her made her want to run to the bathroom and throw up for hours. What if she had actually tried to cut his throat? No, they would be in a bigger mess than they were already. There was no need to add murder to the mix.

She wanted him dead in almost the same way she wanted her dad dead when she found out he was cheating on her mom. It wasn't something she actually wanted to happen. Death was so final yet uncertain. Saying that she wished that she wanted someone to still be alive but never come near her in any way, shape, or form was a bit long-winded and less catchy. That was more accurate to what she wanted.

"I know you don't like it when people touch you," Steve said, changing the subject back.

Annie shrugged, "Is that such a bad thing?"

"No, but... but you're really specific with it. I don't need to know why, I just need to know what you're okay with. We're friends, I need you to at least explain that."

"Um... I mean, I don't know totally, it depends," she paused, "Like, being snuck up on? That's a huge no-go, obviously. I mean, it's not that I hate touch or anything, I just- I prefer to be the one touching someone else. Or if it's, like, one of the kids, that I have a way to get out of it easily. It's mostly with people I'm uncomfortable with. Like you, at first, but it just- it depends, I'm not sure how else to tell you."

He nodded, "That's fine, I just don't wanna end up hurting you on accident or, like, one of the kids or something."

"Well, since you asked me something super personal... do you think you're getting over Nancy at all?" she asked, moving so she was criss-cross on the bed.

Steve frowned, "I guess? Seeing her and Jonathan together sucks a bit less every day. It's only been a week, though. And I'm not dumb, I know she's liked him for a while. I just didn't want to admit it to myself. After what I did last year when I saw them sitting together, I didn't wanna be the asshole jumping to conclusions again. I thought if she didn't love me that she would say it when she was sober. I put in so much effort for her and she didn't even care."

Neither of them brought up how obvious it was that Nancy and Jonathan probably did something when they were off getting some Murray Bauman guy to help them. Annie wasn't going to say anything if Steve wasn't. A part of her thought he knew, but she didn't want to hurt him even more if he hadn't put it together.

"You know she didn't leave you because you were a shitty boyfriend, right?"

"Now that's bullshit."

Annie tossed the pillow in her lap right at Steve's face, "No, you're gonna listen to me. The only one who's bullshit here is Nancy. If she didn't love you, then she should've said so. You were obviously a great boyfriend. You went to her dead best friend's parents' house when you didn't even know them. And you let her go, if you were a shitty boyfriend, you wouldn't have done any of those things."

"That's nice, but I called her a slut and I didn't even really like her much at first."

"If all that bothered her, she could have stayed broken up with you after everything a year ago," she pointed out, "You made up for all that. Not everyone does, and you obviously love her."

They both sat there, not saying anything. Instead, they both just let the music play in the background. Annie knew that she didn't have feelings for Steve. For all the bad luck she had with guys, they were too good of friends for her to mess that up. Because of that, she couldn't let him get over Nancy on his own. And she knew that for as moody as Steve would get at times, he would have told her if he didn't want her around.

Taglist (lmk if you wanna be on it!): @dungeons-and-demodogs @nxncywheeler @ilovebucketbarnes

#steve harrington #steve harrington x original character #steve harrington x oc #stranger things #stranger things fic #stranger things 3 #stranger things 2 #stranger things x original character #stranger things x oc #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #steve harrington angst #steve harrington fluff

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roswelldetails · 4 years

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RNM 2x12 - Crash Into Me

EPISODE SUMMARY:

WELCOME TO CRASHCON — As the town prepares for CrashCon, Liz (Jeanine Mason) and Max (Nathan Dean) attempt to piece together who may be behind a potentially deadly plan targeting the festival. Elsewhere, Maria (Heather Hemmens) and Isobel (Lily Cowles) take drastic measure to learn more about the night Mimi (guest star Sherri Saum) disappeared, while Michael (Michael Vlamis) is forced to do someone else’s bidding.

DETAILS:

Max is secretly practicing with his powers. Was Max's "light cardio" actually just him trying to strengthen his powers?

Max has a land line. Hee. Which Liz doesn't mind answering for him.

Liz is looking for a pen on his desk when she finds the empty vials of the antidote. Max plays them off as being leftover from when he had amnesia.

Liz mentions that the phone call was Max's bank calling to verify a deposit for him.

Max is choosing not to worry about Michael because he and Isobel can feel that he's not badly injured or in serious danger.

Liz called Dirk:

"He said before she left she was getting nonstop calls from a 575 number. The Sunset Mesa facility where Mimi DeLuca lives."

"Wait, Mimi was calling your mom before the abductions?...Mimi was always obsessed with alien movies. Maybe fiction and reality are blurring. Your mom is working with Flint Manes who spent years making an alien-killing weapon while at Caulfield. What if your mom found out Rosa was killed by an alien? She'd want revenge."

Note: Max and I apparently think alike, because this was my assumption going into the episode as well. For the sake of detailing and not making this confusing plotline any more confusing...Max and I were both wrong.

Also, I love that they mentioned cell service issues during Crash Con. That is extremely realistic and makes a ton of sense, speaking from experience at like, concerts and baseball playoff games and such.

Maria gets Liz's voicemail and immediately confronts Mimi.

"I just got a message from Liz. Mom...when you disappeared, it was Helena Ortecho that took you...You didn't have butyricol in your system when they found you. You know Liz's mom. You'd remember if you spent a month with her. Mom, are you covering for Helena?"

"Everything is going to be fine."

"I'm not fine. Alex and Michael are missing."

"Helena is a lot of things, but she won't hurt your friends. I'm sure… (Isobel walks in) You're the blonde. The one that Rosa was afraid of."

"Hi Mimi...I'm your cool Aunt Isobel. Hopefully we can get to know each other under better circumstances sometime. Sure about this DeLuca?"

"Desperate times call for desperate alien invasions."

Isobel's first trip into Mimi's mindscape:

"Show me what happened the night you disappeared, Mimi."

Mimi turns to see headlights approaching. It's the hunting van. Helena is driving it. After they greet each other they talk in the van.

"I saw her. I saw her in a vision.

"I didn't believe you. I had to see it with my own eyes."

"You saw her. You saw Rosa."

Flashback to Liz and Rosa arguing over Rosa's necklace in 2x01. Just as a note, Isobel is in Mimi's head, not Helena's, so she shouldn't really be able to see this flashback since Mimi wasn't there when Helena saw Rosa.

"This is a good thing, Helena. Your daughter is alive. She needs you."

"When Jim Valenti was dying, I came home to say goodbye. He kept saying Rosa could live again, that she was preserved."

"But you didn't believe him. No one ever believes us."

"If Rosa is alive, it means Jim was telling the truth. Which means everything else he said could be true, like aliens are real and Jesse Manes has a weapon that can kill them. It means I have to go to war, Mimi. First, you need some shoes."

Then Mimi somehow kicks Isobel out of her memories, which gives Isobel a nosebleed. But Mimi doesn't seem to know what happened. It's almost like she has a kind of subconscious protection on her own mind, somehow.

Note: the hunting van must not be Flint's, because Helena is driving it when she first considers teaming up with Flint, I assume based on the above. Maybe she was the suspicious figure in Flint's house when Max and Kyle were hiding in the closet? And what about the car that Rosa blew up? Did she have access to multiple vehicles? Am I overthinking this?? Haha.

Kyle's tip to Max:

"I found this at Flint's, but it's from a florist my dad used when he was in the doghouse with my mom. I finally guessed the password today. Rosa's birthday. The only thing on it is a note my dad wrote to Helena. It's a lot of romantic crap followed by details for a storage unit he had up near Haystack Mountain."

Haystack Mountain is an off-road vehicle recreation area about 30 miles northeast of Roswell.

Michael working on the "bomb". Charlie is working on the toxin nearby and Helena is keeping an eye on both of them.

"This entire process would be more efficient if I could attach the release chamber to the other side."

"Ay, mijo. Now is not the time to get creative. Time is running out. Follow the blueprints exactly."

"You don't look like an obedient soldier. Who'd she take to force you to do her bidding?"

"A friend. It's complicated. Why are you helping her? Jenna's free."

"Flint Manes has a sniper rifle on the roof pointed at her bedroom window. If I step out of line and something happens…"

"You'll never forgive yourself."

"I'll never forgive myself anyway. Helena has me formulating a pathogen that I invented when I was 17. It's a poison that dismantles specific DNA. If targeted your death is quick and ugly. A bleeding from every orifice kind of deal… I thought that I was saving people. Okay, imagine a weapon that you could drop into a populated city and the only people targeted would be al-Qaeda leaders and their direct descendants. Okay? In the right hands my weapon could prevent innocent civilian casualties and save our troops."

"I'm guessing these are not the right hands? Why am I building the bomb when the inventor is under Helena's thumb?"

"I do chemicals, not mechanics. And technically it's not a bomb. It's a catalytic toxin atomizer that was developed in a top secret operation involving weapons specialists from both the Army and the Air Force."

"Project Shepherd. One more question for you, Charlie. Whose DNA is that poison you're making gonna target?"

"Judging from conversations I've heard between Helena and Flint, it's alien DNA. Like, literal aliens."

This is actually the part of this story that's crystal clear to me. We've been getting tidbits on this dating back to 1x12, when Flint told Alex about his "smart bomb". Jesse told Jenna in 2x04 about Charlie's toxin that could pinpoint specific DNA, and even used a similar metaphor in explaining it as Charlie did in this episode. The part that doesn't make sense to me is, why did FLINT need Michael to build it, if he developed the blueprints?

Liz and Rosa in the lab discussing Max taking the antidote.

"He's only supposed to take a drop when he has amnesia. It's not vitamin C. In high doses it could cause surges of adrenaline that could be dangerous."

"No offense, but you sound like a mom. Like a real mom, the kind who actually give a duck. Oh I just figured out what autocorrect is. It's hilarious."

"Speaking of moms, ours hasn't reached out to any of your old dealers and she hasn't shown up at any of the churches in town, so you got any other ideas?"

"It's CrashCon. We usually find her wearing the loudest t-shirts and flirting with the richest nerds."

"Yeah, but Flint and Jesse Manes hate aliens. I mean it's literally their only hobby. If she's with them, I'm betting she's lost her affection for the simple charms of UFO novelty kitch."

"Wait, if you were going to get revenge on aliens, CrashCon is the perfect place. There's all kinds of conspiracy theorists and press. You know how mom loves attention."

"You think something's gonna happen tonight?"

"Papi is there by himself setting up. I think he should come home."

Note: my phone autocorrected duck to fuck. So I guess that tells you something about me. 😳

Also I just realized that for once ROSA and not Liz is the one who put the pieces together! Good for her. I wonder if that's purposeful since she's the daughter who is more like their mom? Like, she understands Helena's motivations better than Liz or something.

Steph and her father are going to CrashCon together. Kyle helps her with her makeup. Super sweet, but rather pointless since the scenes of Steph at CrashCon were cut. Mostly just including this here as a reminder that she's there in case it comes up in the finale.

Max and Cam, who got her job back!

"Thanks for the assist. I'm guessing that guard wouldn't let me through with bolt cutters unless I had an officer of the law present."

"Oh well, don't be jealous, Evans. Valenti has me on desk duty. So this little adventure is my lunch break."

"Valenti did the right thing, giving you your job back."

"Yeah well, you know, apparently some local bartender gave her reason to doubt the events the night of the gala were my fault. So I owe you."

"I've lost track of who owes who what at this point."

They break into the storage unit. It's empty except for an empty shelving unit, a locked chest, and a puddle of purple alien goo.

"What is that?"

"It looks like embryonic fluid. There must have been a pod in here."

Note: no, Max! Pod Goo evaporates upon contact with Earth's atmosphere/air. So it's not pod goo.

There isn't a super clear shot of inside the chest, but Max pulls out a love letter from Helena to Jim Valenti. I can transcribe it if you want me to. It's pretty easy to read and frankly, there's nothing important there. My heart is forever yours...it feels good to actually love and be loved in return...blah blah cheesy platitudes.

But seriously. Just send me an ask if you need me to transcribe it. But I'm gonna skip for now.

Isobel is chugging acetone straight from the bottle in the middle of the Pony.

Isobel's second trip into Mimi's mindscape:

"Mimi. I know you think you're doing the right thing, but Helena is holding people hostage. We have to understand her motive."

"You all think I'm losing my mind. But I just...slip out of my time and into a different one every once in a while. Sometimes Maria's. Or Mama's. Other women in our future or past. I saw you when you were a baby. The sky was red."

"What can you tell me about your time with Helena? She had you for a month."

"We were in a motel. We watched movies. We laughed and gossiped. She wanted to trigger my visions...gather information."

"What information? What did you tell her? What did you see?"

"What's important is Helena will take care of our girls. I'm not afraid. That's enough."

Mimi kicks her out again.

"I tried. She's fading."

"She's tired. It's harder when she's tired. Come on, Mom. I'm gonna take you back to Sunset Mesa."

"Maria, you just have to look for the signs in the water. You have to believe. Go on, you'd better hurry."

"Hurry where?"

"CrashCon closing night! You don't want to miss the fireworks. You always loved the fireworks."

Max and Cam going through the chest of letters back at Max's house:

"Okay, all these notes are from Helena to Jim Valenti. This is from the week Rosa died. I mean even 20 years after their affair she's still writing and he's still saving her letters."

"Pining after an Ortecho for years and years. It's so weird. Who does that. This is a receipt. It's a money transfer he made around the same time. He paid Daniel Fuller a thousand bucks."

"Fuller was the county coroner. Okay we still don't know how Noah got Rosa's body into the pod, right? But Jim had Project Shepherd connections to the morgue. So maybe if Noah knew about Jim and knew that he'd be grieving Rosa, he could have told him where to find the pod, right, and maybe he didn't even take the pod back until after Jim died."

"I mean, this is all a bunch of conjecture."

"Jim pulled me aside at high school graduation, he said I was the kind of guy the sheriff's department could use. Look, I mean maybe… I mean, he never let on, but maybe he knew I was an alien, right? Maybe he knew more than that."

"Okay, Evans? Breathe. You're looking a little clammy. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"No. See, something's going on, and you're gonna tell me or I'm out, I swear to God."

"Okay you can't tell anyone."

"You know I won't."

"Okay, I've been taking this antidote that Liz made. No...she doesn't know. But its rebuilding some of my memories from before the 1947 crash, right? I was just a little kid, but I had a destiny. I had responsibilities."

"Right, you're the savior."

"Yes! Well, maybe. But I was starting to remember these symbols from our old language, right? I remember what they mean, but it's like the meaning is just out of reach. And I'm out of the antidote. And you know, Liz is getting suspicious. So…"

"No."

"I didn't say anything."

"Really? Can you tell that to your face? I am not using my friendship with your girlfriend to steal alien steroids for you. Okay? Our partnership has limits."

Michael and Helena:

"It's done. So now what? You inject my spine with your mind-eraser?"

"We only used the butyricol on Jenna Cameron because there was still work to be done. And Flint was afraid she'd ruin it for us. You told Flint Charlie was creating a toxin that would kill aliens. But if you wanted aliens dead, you'd be testing it on me right now. 'Cause that's what I would do if I was a criminal mastermind."

"I needed Flint for the schematics and the muscle. Our agendas didn't need to align perfectly."

"You don't have to do this. If you kill anyone tonight, Liz and Rosa will never look at you the same."

"That ship has sailed. Besides, I'm not killing anyone. If disaster never strikes, justice won't be served. Do you want to see Alex or not?"

Liz tries to get Arturo to go back to the Crashdown. She tells him that the kitchen is backed up because it's so busy. The interesting part of this exchange from a character perspective though:

"Papi, please. I have a bad vibe, all right? A gut feeling I can't shake."

Diego walks up.

"Who are you? Elizabeth Ortecho doesn't do feelings. She believes in facts and evidence."

"No, I do feelings now. I've evolved."

Alex is chained up in the house. There's a takeout box and coffee cup next to him. He's humming a song under his breath. Michael walks in and they talk.

"Guerin, you were right. They used me to get to you. My dad hit me over the head and then he swiped the piece of the console. And then Flint showed up with a gun to my head."

"Did anyone hurt you?"

"Nothing I can't handle. Helena's been weirdly motherly. She's bringing me clothes and meals."

"Your leg."

"Yeah they took the prosthetic. I tried to bludgeon my brother with it. Come on, use your powers. Get me out of this."

"Helena dosed me with something. I'm basically human until it wears off."

"Okay then find something that'll break the cuff or my wrist. I don't care."

"Alex, tonight at CrashCon, your dad plans to release a toxin that kills anyone with alien DNA...Helena made Charlie and I build an identical device, but one that targets a different DNA. She somehow got her hands on your dad's cells. She knows your dad killed Kyle's dad. She wants revenge. But she wants him to take himself out. When he pulls the trigger on us tonight your dad's gonna die because of a device I built."

"No, that is not on you, okay? Now let me out of here."

"I can't. The atomizer will kill anyone in your dad's direct line. You are safer here."

"Are you serious?"

"And I gotta go. I'm gonna come back for you."

While Michael explains to Alex, we get a flashback to Helena in her totally fake blonde wig at the hospital in 2x02.

Helena disguises herself as Jesse's maid using her totally fake blonde wig and switches out the bombs while Jesse is in the shower.

The @ladiesofrnm have their first scene all together! (With Max...and eventually Michael…) reading through Helena's letters together. Michael makes quite an entrance. Afterwards:

"You're such an idiot! You don't comply with a kidnapper's ransom demands. Without telling me."

"Alex was in trouble. He had to go."

"Mikey, where are Alex and Charley?"

"They're safe. Your mom doesn't want to hurt them."

"Look I don't get it. Does she want to kill aliens?"

"No. She's avenging her murdered lover."

Back to the house where Helena talks to Charlie:

"This atomizer contains the poison that kills anyone with alien DNA. I need you to destroy it."

"Does Flint know that you have it?"

"Flint. Jesse really broke that boy. Some people were never meant to be parents. You can go when you're done. The door's unlocked. Flint's rifle shoots blanks."

"What's to stop me from leaving now?"

"The knowledge that that deadly device only exists because of you. You decide. I'm off to CrashCon. I hear there will be quite a show."

Note, when Helena says Flint's name she says a word in Spanish that I can't make out and isn't in the closed captions.

Max and Liz's conversation about racism and privilege:

"I want to help. Your mom's not the villain here. All right? She's going about this all wrong, yes. But Manes is already a murderer. I mean, if he'd succeeded today…"

"I know...I could have lost almost everyone I care about in a moment. I remember every day what it was like to lose you and Rosa. I don't think I could survive that again. She could've built a decoy bomb that wouldn't have hurt anyone."

"He'd just get angry and do it again."

"Yeah, but he's not the only one that this would hurt. I mean, the headlines if she gets caught? Illegal Mexican Immigrant Slaughters Decorated American Vet via Bioweapon. People will line up to lay bricks at the border wall. But hey, maybe the president will talk about my family at his rallies. That's gonna be fun."

"That's not gonna happen. This will get covered up like every other strange death in this town."

"In case you haven't noticed those cover-ups don't tend to protect the Mexicans. Even when…"

"Even when Rosa died. You can say it, Liz. It's okay. It's fair. Rosa got blamed. White people didn't. Okay? I get it."

"I know you're on my side, but you don't get this. And that's not your fault, that's just the reality of our experiences. If I mess up. If I so much as roll through a stop sign, it reflects badly on any Mexican who came before me. And it hurts any Mexican who comes after me. I used to think that nothing would ever change that, but lately I think...maybe if something extraordinary happened it could."

"Extraordinary? Like what you're doing in your lab?"

"I've discovered something that could be the key to curing people who have no hope otherwise. I can't walk away."

"So you're gonna turn my family's stem cells into the hottest commodity?"

"No, I won't. I...we'll find a way to synthesize it or replicate it."

"Is this about the people you're trying to save or about becoming the poster girl for immigrants everywhere? You want the president to talk about your family because of you. Because you saved the world."

"If those in power see what happens when people are given opportunity…"

"You want the glory."

"I want recognition. I want to be the example I never had. And people who want glory, they're just in it for selfish reasons. People like Jesse Manes want the glory. He wants to be a big American hero. He wants the parades, he wants the medals. If he sets off his alien atomizer at CrashCon, a handful of twenty-something's will die of some mysterious ailment and it's barely gonna make the news. That's not what he wants. We're missing part of his plan."

"First, something violent. Large-scale that'll draw media attention. And then, once all eyes are in Roswell…"

"He'll blame the violence on the aliens. He only gets his parade if he makes people afraid and then he destroys the thing that they fear. If he makes people think that you're terrorists before he kills you."

Graham Green's reveal at CrashCon. Graham is announced and takes the stage as Max, Liz, and Rosa arrive to find Michael, Isobel, and Maria nearby.

"Hey, you guys shouldn't be here."

"I was held hostage, Max. I deserve to ride the Sizzler until I barf cotton candy, and maybe watch a bad man die."

"You guys, we think that…"

Graham Green starts his presentation.

"Hello loyal fans and devoted supporters! You patience is about to be rewarded. Today I am thrilled, nay, honored to show you the result of years or painstaking work. The moment we've all been waiting for. Irrefutable extraterrestrial proof! A bona fide alien artifact!"

Graham pulls the curtain and reveals what appears to be something similar to Michael's console, only it is complete and intact.

Flint brings Alex food and they discuss Flint's motives:

"If you're doing this to impress dad, it is never gonna work."

"I'm not trying to impress dad. His shutdown of Project Shepherd was an inform decision, but he's trained me my entire life to take it on.

Flint goes to leave but Alex stops him.

"Do you remember when mom used to drive us to the res, and you would sit at the loom with Granddad? Weaving stories. When was the last time you made something, Flint? Anything that wasn't built to destroy?"

"Around the time that mom decided that to leave dad, she had to leave us."

"She didn't know what he would do to us."

"He didn't do anything to us. Me and Clay are fine. He'll, even Gregory is coming to see dad today."

"...You are wrong. We are all dad's victims. Sure, he beat me up, but what he put the rest of you through was abuse too. He made you watch while he kicked my ass… He scared you into thinking that there was only one type of man that you could become."

Alex manages to knock Flint out, steal the key to his handcuffs, and free himself.

"You're so pathetic. You don't know me at all. This has nothing to do with dad and everything to do with our history. Aliens are a foreign threat. They're invaders."

Back to CrashCon, where the gang discuss the alien object:

"Alex's piece must have been the last one that Manes needed to finish building it. Where's he been keeping the rest of this?"

Sanders appears out of nowhere.

"Kid, I seen that thing before. Your mother built that back in the old barn. I don't know what it is, but it is definitely explosive. I always wondered what'd happened to the pieces."

"Maybe Harlan or Tripp Manes gathered them up. Rebuilt it."

"Yeah but if Manes is gonna use that to blow up CrashCon, it's gonna make Graham Green look like the bad guy. No one's gonna think an alien planted it."

"Unless they follow the money. I got an alert from my bank this morning. A $10,000 deposit had cleared."

"You think Manes set it up so that the investigation would lead to you?"

"If I become the world's first alien terrorist and he takes me out, the world cheers."

"Guys, you need to do whatever you can to get as many people out of here as possible, okay? Get help."

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Michael and I have studied this material before. It's part tech, but it's also part organic. And if it's part organic, that means it can be killed. I gotta get back to my lab."

Diego sees Max toss Liz his keys.

Max and Michael sneak backstage and convince Graham Green to let them have a moment with the alien ship thingie. Max takes photos of it with his phone.

"Do you think we can destroy it?"

"No. The pieces want to be together and now that it's complete if we break the bonds with brute force we risk a violent reaction."

Max hears voices whispering and reaches out to touch the alien tech. The alien symbol forms under his hand and he pressed it. There's a surge from the tech and it almost appears like Max is absorbing something from it. The voices get a little louder. When he breaks the connection it almost seems like it takes effort and he seems stunned.

"What the hell just happened to you?"

"Nothing. I think this is a remote. I think this controls a ship."

"It's a what?"

Gif by @maxortecho

Note, the way Max laughs when he says nothing is oddly similar to how he responded to Cam when she called him out on his weird behavior from the antidote. Like he's hiding something or brushing off the worry or something.

Sanders interrupts before Max can respond. Points out that the top of the stage is varnished which is highly flammable.

"Wait, if this is fresh varnish, this whole platform is set up like a tinderbox."

"There's gonna be fireworks tonight."

"One spark'll light a fire. I mean, this whole thing, the whole platform will go up."

"If this giant remote goes kaboom aliens will be framed as terrorists. You have to get out of here."

"What? No. I'm not going anywhere."

"Max you are all sorts of worked up right now. What happens when you're worked up?"

"Sparks fly. Right, okay. Yeah. I'll go."

Before Max leaves he spots something on one of the display boards that makes him pause. He grabs it before leaving.

Charlie is working on her chemicals in the makeshift lab when Flint sneaks up on her and puts a gun to her head, demanding that she gives him the atomizer.

Maria and Rosa hurry through CrashCon discussing each other's alien biology and Mimi's vision. They spot Gregory Manes and decide to try to get him to leave since the Manes bomb would kill him. He has 12 kids with them so they suggest that he take them to the Crashdown for free milkshakes. He recognizes Rosa, but they tell him she's Rosa's cousin.

Liz works in the lab while blasting Alanis Morissettte - great call back to last year when she told Michael that Alanis helped her channel Rosa's creativity. She says to herself:

"Destroy the organic cell membrane. Disable the nanotech."

She mixes some chemicals which react and explode her flask and start a fire. Really don't know if that's supposed to represent success or not.

Flint and Helena talk at CrashCon. She is surprised to see him. He tells her that he cleaned up the mess at the house.

We flash back to the house which is on fire. Charlie is chained up and trapped.

Liz hurries from the lab and doesn't realize that Diego followed her there. He sneaks his way into the building while Liz rushes for the car.

Speaking of cars...they're in the middle of nowhere. Where's Diego's car? I had the same thought last week when Max and Kyle were searching Flint's house and they almost got caught. Whoever pulled up in the hunting van should have seen their car!

Maria and Rosa are helping get the kids loaded onto a bus when Rosa points out Pisces to Maria. Call back to 1x03 when Maria tells Liz that she and Rosa used to compete to see which one of them could spot the constellation first. It gives Maria an epiphany. Pisces is "the water sign" which was one of Mimi's clues from her vision. Maria goes to follow the sign. She runs into Max who tries to get her to safety. They spot Flint Manes carrying the atomizer. Max tells Maria to get out of there and hurries after Flint. He tries to sneak up on Flint, but Flint is able to disarm him and beat him up. Flint sets the atomizer to go off in two minutes and then throws it like a Hail Mary into the crowd. Max chases after Flint while Maria goes after the atomizer. She pushes through the crowd and spots another clue from Mimi's vision - a poster of aliens asking "Do you believe?" The atomizer is sitting below it. Maria grabs the atomizer and takes off running with it. Cam spots Maria and follows.

Flint beats Max up again and then pulls a gun and threatens to shoot Max. Max disarms him and is holding the gun to Flint now. He laughs and asks Max if he's really going to shoot a soldier. Tells him that he already pulled the trigger to kill Max by setting off the atomizer. Max tosses the gun aside, and uses his powers instead to kill Flint,

Michael and Isobel are trying to keep the stage from catching fire, but then the fireworks start going off into the wind (which blows the embers towards the fair). The hay bales easily catch on fire. Isobel used her powers to hold back the flames. She can feel that something is wrong with Max and send Michael to find him.

Instead Michael finds Jesse and Alex. Their exchange:

"You know, I actually started to believe that you had changed."

"You never could tell friend from foe. I actually counted on it."

"Hey I know exactly who you are. You were gonna let all of these people die and you were gonna let the aliens take the blame."

"It's high time they got blamed for something, I think. I'm gonna drag them from the shadows."

"Yeah and then what? You're gonna use the atomizer to kill them all? Then you become some hero by destroying the enemy that you created?"

"American children are gonna read about the events of tonight in their history books... And don't worry about collateral damage, son. That's just an unfortunate aspect of war. You know that better than anyone, Alex."

"You're gonna become your own collateral damage if that thing goes off. Helena Ortecho switched the devices. That's not gonna kill aliens. That is set to destroy your DNA. If it goes off, you are going to die in a puddle of your own blood."

"What are you doing? Are you bluffing to protect the aliens?"

"What I'm doing is I'm trying to protect our family. Dad, if that goes off it kills all of your direct descendants. Flint and Greg are somewhere in here. And I don't care how much I disgust you, I am still your son!"

Greg runs up looking for help responding to the fire. He spots the atomizer and immediately recognizes it as a weapon. Alex tries to get him to leave. Michael runs up and Jesse pulls his gun on him. Greg steps between Michael and the gun to protect Michael for Alex.

Maria throws the atomizer off into the desert and immediately begins bleeding. Thankfully Cam is there to try to help.

Max kills Flint which in turn gives him another heart attack. Liz arrives as he's collapsing and starts CPR. Rosa runs up and tries to get Liz to let her step in to help Max so that Liz can stop the alien device from exploding… And cliffhanger.

MUSIC:

1. Valley Queen "Chasing The Muse"

2. The HawtThorns "Give Me A Sign"

3. Everclear "Everything To Everyone"

4. Alanis Morissette "All I Really Want"

5. Gary Numan "I Am Dust"

#roswell new mexico #rnm season 2 #episode details #long post #rnm 212 #crash into me

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cavendishtogopls · 5 years

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Weiss Schnee and the Snow White theme

Okay, let me start with a run down with the original version of Snow White by the Brothers Grimm. Guess what it's called- wait for it. Schneewittchen. And there's another German fairytale titled Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot which translates to Snow White and Rose Red. (GUESS WHOSE NAME LITERALLY MEANS RED ROSE BUT WE'LL GET TO THAT SOON.) For now let's start with the original Snow White.

Grimm's version of Snow White starts off grim with the Queen sitting when she pricked her finger and three drops of blood to drip on the freshly fallen snow. The three drops of blood could be a symbol for the 3 Schnee children. She then wished for a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony. Weiss got all of these down except the hair part which is understandable since we already have a Blake. Then the whole Mirror Mirror song (planning to dissect at a later date) and her family owning the Dust Mines. Remember how Snow White has 7 dwarfs? Well, she has 7 friends when she first came to Beacon. Team R_BY and JNPR. The most appropriate names I found pertaining to the seven dwarfs would be from Happily Ever After's version which would be Bright Silver (Ruby), Sharp Flint (Blake), Fools Gold (Yang),

Smelly Sulfur (Jaune), Heavy Metal (Nora), Rough Copper (Pyrrha), Hard Jade (Ren). You've got to admit it fits.

So, the Queen dies, the king remarries a vain and incredibly jealous woman. But it didn't use to be this way. In the first version of Snow White it was her own biological mother who was the evil queen. Enter Jacques Schnee, from what we know of canon, Jacques is not a Schnee. A name he married into as Weiss stated in volume 4. Which would make sense why the Schneeflake, the Schnee family crest and SDC's symbol, would be behind the Schnee sisters and not the men of the family in volume 7's intro. It could also be because Winter and Weiss are the ones who can wield the family semblance. Winter mentioned in Volume 3 how the Schnee semblance is hereditary meaning Jacques couldn't wield it and when Whitley mentioned in volume 4 that the company would be in good hands to men like him, I assumed he couldn't as well.

Jacques is obviously the evil queen in this with his narcissism and obsession with the Schnee family name. There's something so inherently evil about using his own children to further his own legacy. As parents by nature, their first priority should be to better their children not the other way around. If the way he treats Weiss is any indication, it is proof enough of how sick Jacques Scheee is. He thinks his children owe him for their lives, for their very existence and sees them nothing more than assets, bargaining chips to further his empire. Weiss in particular was raised the way she is, a delicate doll put in display with her singing to make her a more attractive piece to his prized collection.

With Ruby and Summer, Summer died. There's nothing Ruby could do about it but honor her with what little memory she has of her through becoming a huntress, with the help of Qrow. With Yang and Raven, Raven left. Yang searched for her even putting Ruby in danger in the process even if she had a loving dad like Tai. With Blake and her parents, they had a falling out and still she had been welcomed with open arms. It is different because Weiss' mom was literally there! She couldn't have not seen what her husband was doing and she could have been powerless to stop him but she was there and while the rest of team had some sort of guidance, WEISS HAS NONE OF THAT. I cannot stress this enough. Her father was a sick fuck and her mom doesn't care. The closest she had to a loving family is Winter and she left for military. Leaving her and Whitley to be at the mercy of her father.

I can't say much about Willow Schnee since she's almost non-existent in the show and Weiss only mentions her in passing and clearly does not want to talk about it. It could either be that Willow is a huge part of Weiss' character arc or she doesn't seem like that important at all. What with Jacques being enough problem to deal with in the storyline. But the thing is, we've seen what the absence of a parent could do to someone.

I love Winter, I do and she did it to save herself from Jacques' influence but she did so with escaping the responsibility and passing the burden onto Weiss. It was an incredibly bold and wise move to join the military, by doing so she gave herself an advantageous position in which her father couldn't touch her and wouldn't disgrace him so much she couldn't watch over her siblings. Winter was obviously no Yang, not by a long shot. But she tried with Weiss, to groom her into the huntress Weiss wants to— needs to be in order to escape Jacques as well.

This leaves Whitley, it's been confirmed that's he's not able to use the Schnee semblance then it would make a lot of sense why Jacques would have him under his thumb. Because he has nowhere to go. Unlike both his sisters, he couldn't have been able to be a hunter. Also I get why people are so mad at Whitley for acting the way he did. He's a jerk but really, Weiss acted the same way in volume 1. It's obviously the Schnee upbringing. He's just as much of a victim as Weiss and Winter so I don't get why people are giving him so much shit.

Alright, let's go back to Ruby Rose and Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot. Snow White and Rose Red is a different story altogether from the original story of Snow White. Snow White and Rose Red are two girls who lives with their mother, a widow, in the woods. The common factor with Weiss and Ruby is their lack of a mother with their sisters stepping up and taking that role. "Fair-haired Snow-White is quiet and shy and prefers to spend her time indoors, doing housework and reading. Dark-haired Rose-Red is outspoken, lively and cheerful, and prefers to be outside." Sounds familiar? Weiss is usually quiet and keeps to herself with her studying unless there's something she doesn't like or agree with and Ruby is a very loud girl who could barely sit still through class and prefers battling Grimm over learning about them.

There's nothing much to it that I can see related to the show because it was about the two girls giving shelter to a bear and an ungrateful dwarf. The girls continue to rescue the dwarf but each time he's ungrateful until the bear killed him and the bear turned into a prince and married Snow White while Rose Red married the Prince's brother and all that hetero fairytale shit. I just dug this up, you can check this over. It just fascinates me that Ruby does indeed have a lore somewhat connected to Weiss even if it wasn't the original story and romantic like beauty and the beast.

#weiss schnee #rwby spoilers #rwby theory #rwby analysis #jacques schnee #winter schnee #whitley schnee #schneeblings

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discoveringmiraculousartist · 4 years

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Hi anon! I'm so sorry for taking so long to answer is that I haven't had much time, also...

I'm not sure I said anything about Lila so I don't know where the ask came from, I generally don't say my opinion about the characters and the ships in this blog so I can't imagine when I said something that made you send me this ask djkfgnfk And for the same reason of not sharing my opinions over here, I'm still not convinced to answer you hehe But more than that... Ch*rch? How do you know I'm C*ristian? Or did you just assume it? sorry, I was a little... impressed. I've heard that Thomas is not religious and that he says the show on that is neutral, so I'm going to put religion aside in my response hehe

That being said...

Lila is not just a brat, she's a bad person. Yes, it's true that she's 14 so I don't hold her responsible in the same way as other older characters on the show who are also bad people. But Lila has done some very serious things that can't just be "ignored" and there's no way to justify them even for how shameful her past might be.

As far as I can remember, only in Oni-chan they reveal a more fragile side of Lila: a busy and somewhat absent mother who could give rise to a whole history of difficult family life, and, moreover, her father has shown no sign of existence. If the show or a fan decides to develop this further to give us some insight into why Lila is the way she is, I have no doubt that we will be able to empathize with her.

But a difficult past would only give us insight into aspects of her character, make her more human, but under no circumstances would that be an excuse for her actions. Especially because in the same show we have a character like Adrien, he has her same age and he has a canon background that is very hard: her mom disappeared and her dad is a monster who only shows him coldness (along with everything else from his personal life that we all know). Just here he already has a big difference with how little we know about Lila's background because in Hero's Day shows her mom being very warm with her. Also, despite all his terrible background, he is nothing less than a ray of sunshine and one of the heroes of the story.

Another character with a complicated background is Chloe. With her, the show has shown that even though her family life can make us feel a lot of empathy for her and makes us understand why she behaves like that, as long as she doesn't regret it and take responsibility for her actions, she won't have a miraculous. Nothing justifies her actions in spite of all the empathy we may feel for her. That empathy makes us want her to redeem herself and grow. I personally really hope that they redeem her, but I know that her redemption cannot be just a: "I am bad" *poof* "I am good". The redemption starts once you understand what you have been doing is wrong, a realization that takes a lot of time. And from that realization, you take responsibility and work hard for improving that part of yourself... A process that has many ups and downs, it's not just lineal.

Lila is 14 yo! of course I believe she can be redeemed! but I’d perfectly understand if the show doesn't give her a redemption arc (what I think it's more likely to happen). Anyway, I think it would be great if a fan develops from those 5 seconds of canon a difficult personal history for Lila or invents something completely new. Personally, I am not very interested in developing it and this is the kind of thing I will only explore if it's canon, maaaaaaybe if I had the time I would but I don't even have it TwT

Also, with redemption, I don't just mean that she ends being friends with everyone like nothing happened. No matter how much empathy you feel for someone and how much you can forgive them, that doesn't mean you forget everything that happened. To feel empathy is not to justify, to forgive is not to forget. Forgiveness is a good thing, you are free of the resentment and revenge wishes that can be so bad for you, as Don Ramón says haha (you probably don't know him but anyway xD): "la venganza nunca es buena, mata el alma y la envenena"//"revenge is never good, it kills the soul and poisons it". But forgiving is not the same as being stupid, you can forgive the liar but believing them again immediately after is just stupidity despite the all goodwill that goes with it.

The relationship you'll have from that moment on with the person you forgave will depend on the circumstances and the actions you forgave, ignoring them could be bad for you bc that person could harm you again, and it could even worse for the person bc maybe they would never learn their actions have consequences in other people too. If you are willing to continue to have a relationship with that person(again this depends on the circumstances), rebuilding the broken bond takes time, and it takes much longer if there was never a true bond but only one founded on lies (like between Lila and the Miracu-class).

If at some point in the show they explain through a difficult past her present attitudes, and they transform it into a redemption arc (which I doubt), and even if Marinette and the rest forgive her, that forgiveness doesn't have to be just a "let's start over and be BFFs". I want it to be seen that nothing justifies your bad actions, that you must take responsibility for them and that, as much as someone can forgive you, it doesn't mean that nothing happened. That other person has already given you all that they can give you with their forgiveness and they don't have to stay with you for any reason, and that doesn't make them bad. If they leave maybe they don't who knows, I believe it's a great instance for you to learn your lesson bc it would be one of the consequences of your past actions that you have to take responsibility in order to really grow into a better person.

#Sorry for the long answer I can't shut up xD #lila rossi #asks #queuequeue post on #sorry for my english idk if the text has mistakes #:(((

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hectorandvarian · 5 years

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Who is the father of Cassandra and analysis of video Wotso Video.

Greetings to my favorite readers! I finally watched all the episodes of the first "Rapunzel bomb" and I want to say that it was very good (although some moments could be better). However, for me, as a theorist, these ten series set aside little information, and therefore have to put a lot of effort. And now we will talk about one of the most significant topics - who is the biological father of Cassandra.

So, in the first series of the third season, we learned the terrible truth - Cassandra's mother was Mother Gothel all this time, and it was the witch who abandoned the little girl in favor of her selfish goals. And all would nothing, here is only about father we heard flat-sum game NOTHING. Although the series always gave at least minimal information about other relatives of our heroes, as it was with Eugene's mother and Varian's mother. Therefore, I assume Cass's father will have a much bigger role than we imagined.

Today will be a very unusual post, as I also want to parse a video theory from my fellow theorist - Isaac Carlson. I must say that I like his presentation of theories, and he is an extremely charismatic guy. He is eligible to carry the title of "best RTA theorist on YouTube". However sometimes he offers, on my view, wrong version of underway, as for example was with choice traitor in the finale of the second season. And this time was no exception.

He recently made a video where he suggested all the possible options of who could be Cassandra's father. And I was somewhat puzzled by those he chose as " Cass's fathers." And so I will first analyze all the four main options that Isaac suggested, and then I will offer my own, the fifth option. Chased:

* Zhan-Tiri. Well, we need to start with a few things. First, Zhan-Tiri had been imprisoned in another dimension a thousand years ago. Second, even with his partial presence in our world, why would this character meet with Gothel and, moreover, conceive a child for her? And third, Zhan-Tiri has a huge chance to be a girl. And even if we accept the fact that it can take any possible form, I come back to the second question-why it is necessary. Yes, I promoted the theory of "Zhan-Tiri - Varian's mother", but I understood its absurdity, and just wanted people to catch at least a small laugh from it, too, and here it is served as a serious statement. In General, you understood my thought, we go further.

* Quirin. Here it is turn to the politics of Disney. Maybe my memory is failing me, but I don't remember a single character from this Studio who had multiple wives or cheated on his wife. And I remind you, Quirin has a wife, and by her he had a son Varian. And given the kind of character we've seen, I can't imagine Quirin could have had many women. And besides, Quirin and Cassandra have nothing in common. I see nothing in common between them. Even if he were her father, it's more likely she would look Like Queen Ingvar than the way she looks in the series.

* King Edmund. Again, Disney's politics and the fact that Edmund had a wife by whom he had a son, and for whom he says you had to destroy the Moonstone. In this context, it is impossible to imagine that just two years later, Edmund would "change" his wife. Moreover, he had the most important mission-to protect Opal in the walls of the Dark Kingdom and no one allowed there. Seeing Gothel near his Kingdom, he would rather kill her than court her. And words Eugene about how, that Cassandra has become for him the sister need perceive not as fact, which is truth, and as thought individual, which can prove wrong. And again, except for skin tone, Edmund and Cassandra have nothing in common.

* Hector. I admit, this is the best of the options presented. I myself held to this theory, but then I realized its errors. In the first place, Hector greatly honors the words of his King, and so fiercely guarded the Great Tree. So hardly he could be back in the Gothel, thereby violating the order of Edmund. Secondly, despite some similarities, Hector and Cass have also a lot of different: they are of different height, they have a completely different nose shape, they also have a different face shape, their skin tone is slightly different, and the hair structure also has a difference. So Yes, Hector is hardly Cassandra's father, although he may be a different person, but we'll talk about that theory a little later.

And it turns out, Isaac lied to us, giving absolutely incorrect information? Well, not really, because he also suggested that Cass's father we have not seen in the series and he may be a completely different person, and maybe he will not appear in the series at all. This view can also be supported, since there are a huge number of topics in the series that have not yet been revealed to us. However, I try not to lose hope and think that we will get Cassandra's father. And my version of who Cass's father might be is that he's a Separatist from Saporia.

Yes, we haven't seen this character before, and what I'll tell you is more hypothesis than theory, but still, listen to me:

* Cassandra's father must also, like Gothel, hate Corona. He must be able to keep his mouth shut and keep the secret of Gothel's immortality. And most importantly, it should be useful to Gothel. And I think if the Separatist of Saporia will allow you to use their base as a refuge for witches, he will be able to receive her blessing.

* Such a move will provide an opportunity for artists to show more correctly the father of Cassandra and fit it more or less under the foundations of genetics and the similarity with Cassandra.

* Kinship with Saporia will allow crank such same focus, as this was with "Destinies collide", i.e. through the prism of relatedness hero better disclose the very group separatists Saporia, those thereby gladdened fans, because personally I believe, that theme Saporia - one of the most mysterious and interesting those receives more superficial treatment.

* If it happens this turn, then this may also be the impetus for Cassandra to take the path of revenge. Think about it: what a shock it will be for Cassandra that all her life she fought on the wrong side, served the people who oppressed her ancestors. And given the pressure of The Enchanted girl, the relationship could prove fatal to Corona.

* Again same, through this relatedness can be crank many Parallels and comparisons with lives Cassandra and Saporia, i.e. do something similar with Eugene, when "Lost Princess Sun falls in love in Lost Prince Moon illusion." Cassandra, as Saporia, is in the shadow of the Corona. She is also, like the Separatists, smart, cunning and inventive, able to manipulate people so much so that no one will understand it.

* And in the end, General Champagnier is very similar to Cassandra. Yeah, Cass's mom is a Gothel, but who's to say that round face, small nose, and skin color couldn't pass down through the generations to Cassandra's dad, huh?

Anyway, that was my theory about Cass's father. Stick to it or not, stick to the options from Isaac or not - it's up to you. But personally, I will not deviate from this theory, and I will hope that I will be right. All in all a good and remember - I'm on the way to work!

#tangled the series spoilers #tangled theory #rta spoilers #tangled #tts #tangled the series #tts edmund #tts cassandra #tts zhan tiri #tts gothel #tts quirin #tts hector #tts saporia #tts season 3 #rapunzels tangled adventure #rta #rta quirin #rta cassandra #tts theory

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valkerymillenia · 4 years

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Umbrella Academy

season 2, episode 7

More thoughts and live blogged reactions.

1982. I'm assuming Five used a briefcase... But in s1 we saw that the briefcase travels are tracked (Hazel and Cha-Cha got reprimanded for Klaus's Vietnam trip) so I'm not sure how the board doesn't know someone is coming... I might be overthinking.

Five being creepy.

Is that a Fudge Nutter like Handler mentioned in season 1? Oh, it is.

Jesus, Five! Anger management for you, old man.

AAHH! THEY LET FIVE SAY FUCK! Fucking finally! 🤣

How did nobody notice that destruction? 😆

Oh, the axe! Is Five going to go all American psycho? Because I'd love to see that.

HOLY SHIT!

That smile!

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!

Is he using tiny time travel bursts like Reggie said? Or a briefcase? Or is he just that fast?

AJ hiding under the table 😆

Pausing to drink water and grin, what a psycho, I love him.

He's definitely using time jumps but they are so controlled that I'm guessing briefcase or Handler little time stopping trick. I'm so proud of my mass murder baby.

... Vending machine? Lady, you have interesting priorities.

CRICKET BAT!

Wait! AJ's human body feels pain? How?

Please make Five swallow the fish like in the comics! Please, please, please, please.

The dancers are just like

I LOVE FIVE! The lengths this little killer will go for his family are unbelievable, nobody should ever doubt his love and devotion for them ever again.

This whole murder scene was incredible and Five's obvious glee made it even better. FEAR HIM!

Jesus, Klaus is so afraid of being possessed that he's afraid to sleep and Ben just mocks him? 😘💋 I get that this is supposed to be a funny 'brothers messing with each other' kind of thing but Klaus feels so unsafe that it makes me uncomfortable. What happened to you, Ben, when did you become so dark? You were the nice one!

Ben just getting closer and closer every time Klaus closes his eyes just gave me Doctor Who flashbacks.

"I hate your face" "I hate all of you" - Don't say that boys! You know you love each other.

Ok, Ben has a point. I'm actually liking this conversation. And I'm liking that Klaus is starting to understand his brother.

Ok, this is such a brother conversation. And Klaus constantly pretending not to know who Jill is 😆

Ground rules... Well, at least it's consensual now. That's something. See? Communication works.

Damn, the tension at the lunch table cut be cut with a knife. I'm scared what Carl is going to do.

Ray and Allison have a lovely relationship but I finally identified the problem, the tension I was feeling between since them a few eps back. It's not about Allison's secrets at all, is about Ray being so obsessed with his crusade that he completely overlooks Allison's feelings, he only pays attention to her when they are on the page about the mission. He sees her powers and his first thought is 'we could use this for the cause', Allison is clearly distressed and sad and even says she doesn't feel well and all he can think about is the damn JFK meeting. He's not a bad person and he's not doing it on purpose but he has a workaholic one-track mind that could easy turn into neglect for Allison. He clearly loves her and I'm rooting for them so much but I know that if asked to choose between Allison and his cause, he'll pick his cause.

So Five is done with the killing. I figured this might weigh on his conscience, it's one thing to kill for a greater good or survival, coldly and detached, it's another thing to slaughter for selfish reasons (even if his selfish reasons are a greater good).

Handler going all mom on him and wiping his face. 😆

"What I did today, I did for my family" -we know, baby, and they better respect you for it. You love then so much.

90 minutes??? Wtf, I knew Handler would try to screw Five over but that's just cruel, she's forcing him to uproot the family without even giving them time to say goodbye and that's even IF he can get to all of them on time.

It's not a name, you idiots. Also, that's Olga, not öga.

Don't harass the poor woman... Oh God, you guys are such morons... Diego, you dramatic little bitch...

"Wrong number. Have a lovely day" 🤣🤣🤣

I love the new dumbass buddy cop dynamic between Diego and Luther. This is the sort of positive brotherly dynamic they always should have had instead of being pitted against each other all their lives.

"you have some blood on you" "a lot of blood, actually. Five, what did you do?" -the casual, mildly annoyed way they ask is hilarious, if they knew what he did they'd be horrified (and possibly impressed).

Handler's militaristic chic dress is fabulous. I personally don't like it very much (or the message it sends) but it's haute couture and incredibly designed. Also, the bleached hair is back!

"any questions?" And then she leaves without listening. Power move 😏

Luther trying to comfort Diego like the dork he is. 🤣

Really though, I feel bad for Diego, and Five is under so much pressure that I don't blame him for snapping.

"I'm shy" -are you, Klaus? Are you really? You keep walking around in underwear in front of dozens of people, you're not shy.

So is Klaus lactose intolerant?

Ok, so far the possession thing is not as bad as some people were claiming. So far.

"stay focused" *giggle* -oh Ben, you dork 😆

Ahah, Ben enjoying all the different sensory stimuli. Adorable. He's just so happy, poor boy.

Dirt angels. SO CUTE ❤️

I know this all supposed to be cute and all but it would also be a perfect moment for Ben for experience Klaus's powers (the constant hauntings) as well as his addiction and the claustrophobic expectations of the cult. It would be an excellent chance to make Ben understand why Klaus is the way he is, seeing as Klaus is making a huge effort (and sacrifice) to do the same for Ben. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening because I think they want to keep this part about Ben.

By end of season 1 Klaus cried that people still didn't take him seriously, his compassion despite all his suffering made him likeable and deep, but this season he's back to being the family joke, I don't like that there's no resolution to that. But let's see where this goes, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Oh God, Carl's talk is freaking me out.

"who I am is not a disease" -very powerful LGBT+ statement considering it's the 60s!!!!

Oh, the blackmail...

Everybody keeps expecting Vanya to explode every time she gets emotional but this scene proves how much control she truly has. Respect!

Oh, finally Claire is mentioned! I've been rather upset that Allison hasn't mentioned her daughter even once this season (does Ray even know he has a stepdaughter?) seeing as most of her arc in season 1 revolved around her love and guilt over Claire.

Luther is right when he says they don't get live formal lives because they are special but Allison is even more right when she says that's not fair. This is why this family needs to stick together and love each other, they are the only ones that can really understand each other's struggles.

"hope" -Luther, you really are such a sweet summer child.

OH! I CAN FINALLY SEE ALLISON'S SCAR! The lighting in this scene makes it really obvious. Finally.

Ben and the strawberry. 🤣

"you're different today. You're dorkier" ah! First time anyone called Ben 'Sassy' Hargreeves dorky.

Oh Ben, you're adorable... Wait, "smell your hair"? What the fuck, Ben? You weirdo.

Holy crap! Jill is really forward, isn't she? Hippies, man.

Ben stuttering! 😆🤣 He died a virgin, didn't he?

It's funny but please tell me he isn't actually considering that in his brother's body...

Wait, did Klaus slap him because he doesn't want to have sex or because he's trying to stop Ben from ruining his own chance by saying too much?

Actually, I'm almost sure it's the second one, Klaus is playing wingman on his own body!

WHAT????

Ok so Ben IS a virgin but "you, me and Keechie"? What the fuck, Klaus? You slept with the fanatical crybaby and your brother's crush????

"Klaus, you're so filthy!" "Yes, you are, daddy." -Ben, this girl is not right for you. Run, boy!

AHAHAHAH ASDFGDDGGHSGSGASFHDBKDIS 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 DIEGO CALLING HIM DADDY!

Wait, AJ can speak without the body/suit/whatever?

Handler is going a little bit fascist dictator, isn't she?

Gotta admit, Handler really is such a mom in her own twisted way.

Ben giggling when he talks to Diego. Cute.

"Luther sniffs Dad's underwear" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

AWWWWWWWW, BEN AND DIEGO! THE CHILDHOOD HIJINKS! THE HUG!

GOD, THE HUG! ❤️

I need all the siblings hugging Ben now!

"you stay in this body, we need someone responsible behind the wheel" -Diego, I understand what you mean given the situation, but you playing obvious favorites between your brothers when free will and body autonomy are on the line is a little creepy.

"no one is insignificant" -that line is so loaded when used on Vanya.

Oh no, Vanya and Five playing the blame game is so bad... They used to be so close... They are both under so much pressure, this won't end well.

Oh boy, Five looks like he's on the verge of crying and Vanya sees that! I bet that's why she backed down. 😲😢

The Lila and Diego conversation is heartbreaking without even trying...

Is that Elliot? Is Diego burying Elliot because nobody else will? Diego really does have a heart of gold.

Don't drinkit! I'm pretty sure Lila is drugging you.

Yup, there it is.

What is she planning?

Once again, it's all about the movement with Ray.

"I would take my one year with you over a lifetime with anybody else." 😭 Oh Ray ❤️

But I get the feeling this won't end so easily.

There it is, the Swedes just arrived. And the smart assholes went right for Allison's throat.

You don't need the coffee can, Sissy. The Hargreeves are loaded.

Sissy, hurry up.

BEN, YOU ARE SUCH A 90s KID!!! So the Backstreet Boys are Ben's fault, God, I love this dork 🤣

Come on, Allison, you can fight better than this!

Good girl!

Klaus and Ben running and fighting each other at the same time 😆

Holy shit, that is some Exorcist level vomiting!

Poor Klaus, I totally get Ben's side in this (pretty sure he was trying to save Klaus by getting him to Five ASAP) but this whole thing made me mildly uncomfortable. Klaus just keeps sacrificing for everyone and nobody respects his boundaries.

Holy shit, Allison! That is so cruel! I like it though, so ruthless and vicious. 😈

Problem- Allison can't just leave Ray with a white corpse in the house. Especially not in Texas, death penalty and all.

Oh Sissy, you dumbass. You're a sweetheart but also a dumbass.

Ok, Lila is pretty insane. That's for sure.

Five:

"I don't want to hurt you" - well, Vanya warned them.

My baby is getting really good with her powers.

I hope that hit to the head doesn't give Vanya her memory back, that's so cliché and convenient, or would be really bad writing.

SHIT IS HITTING THE FAN. I'm dying to see more!!!!!!

#tua #tua s2 #tua s2 spoilers

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saiilorstars · 5 years

Text

It Had To Be You

Ch.14: Shackles of Bonds // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Original Female Character

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Belén struggles to move on after her father's death. Barry does his best to support her by doing whatever he needs to. However, in the midst of her recuperation Belén runs into some old (not so nice) friends...

Nobody move! I mean it!'

'Please, d-don't hurt-"

"Yeah, yeah, 'don't hurt me, please' I've heard the story , I don't have time for this - put the money in here-" there was a gesture of a bag,"-or then I will stuff you with this."

A massive blob of purple shot straight through the glass display at the entrance of the store, causing several people to scream.

"Money. Now."

Belén clicked pause on the video and thought for a minute of what she'd watched. Her eyes scanned every person in the convenience store looking for just one person...but came up short.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Plasticine was fed up with the relentless whimpers and pleads from the people in the store. Out of frustration, she shot yet another purple hit across the store. It hit the wall and splattered everything nearby. Turning her perfectly covered face to the cashier, she waited for the money to be deposited in the brown bag she was holding out. "Hurry up, hurry up," she leaned forwards to see how much was already in the bag. "Oh, look at that, I got what I needed - thank you." With a big smile she made her escape.

Belén switched to the next video and proceeded to watch yet another robbery from Plasticine. However, when someone knocked on the bedroom door she quickly shut her laptop thinking it was Iris. Joe had already been kind enough to let her stay in his home, the least she could do was keep his wish of leaving Iris out of anything metahuman related.

"Bells, hey," Barry peeked through, looking almost afraid of what he'd find inside.

Belén waved him off and grabbed her laptop again. "You know you don't actually have to knock right? This is your room after all."

Barry fully stepped into what used to be his bedroom in the West house. For the last couple of weeks, Belén had taken it as a guest room until she felt well enough to return home knowing her father wasn't going to be there anymore. "I'd rather knock and avoid...certain situations," Barry cleared his throat. If it were any other moment, she would have laughed. Nowadays, she only gave a look of silence. "Listen, Dr. Wells thinks it's a good idea to start, you know, maybe training a little more? Now with, well…" he didn't want to outright say 'the man in yellow' in case she would take it even worse than he did when he was younger.

"I said no the first time, and the second time, and...yeah, the tenth time," Belén sighed. She kept the videos on her laptop mute but kept a close eye on the screen for the person she was searching or. "I don't...I can't be out there again…"

"Why not?" Barry thought it was a stupid question but it was worth it if she just talked again. None of them had had such luck in getting the old Belén back. It became tougher when she refused to use her powers and go to STAR Labs altogether.

"I'm sorry, I just can't," Belén shook her head.

"You know we can't help you if you don't tell us how you feel…"

"But that's just it, I don't know...I don't…" she looked frustrated, and so she closed her eyes and exhaled. "When you were little, and your mom's...murder happened...how did you feel?"

There were many words that came to Barry's mind then, but he settled for the one that he knew she was probably going through. "Helpless."

"Yeah, because you were a kid, and you had no way to help," Belén opened her eyes again. "Now, my Dad was murdered and I'm an adult, have powers, am more or less smart, yet I can't do a single thing to help. I don't want to say that my problem is greater than yours because it's not but I feel completely and utterly helpless right now."

"Well, see, this is why you need to come to STAR Labs with me," Barry walked up to the bed and took a seat on the side near her. "We can practice and then-"

"I can't," she refused again. "I can't even dream to catch that man. I'm not fast and I don't think my powers are good enough to go against him. If I can't use them to help you catch this guy, why use them at all? What's the point?"

What an awful way to think, thought Barry. If he said that out loud the conversation would spiral into an argument and that was the last thing he wanted. He understood anger manifested itself differently in people, and this was apparently how Belén handled it. Well, it was better than him who punched walls and people, but he still didn't like it on her.

"You're Dad wouldn't want this, Bells…"

"Yeah, well, my dad's dead so I don't think it matters what he wanted."

Barry could see this was a lost cause at the moment. There were moments where Belén seemed to be on a much more cheery mood, but then there were these days where she hit...low. It was a process, and that's what everyone around her thought. All they had to do was just help her throughout it.

"What are you doing?" he noticed she was too delved into her laptop screen at the moment.

Her eyes briefly looked into his then quickly returned to the screen. "Just...something..." She glanced at him again and felt the rush of guilt fill her up again. She understood that at the moment she was being difficult - with everyone - and yet they all showed her the utmost patience. She turned her laptop over for Barry to see the current video which was yet again of Plasticine in the middle of another heist. "Felicity hooked me up with like every footage possible of Plasticine robbing."

"You want to catch her badly, then..." Barry mumbled. He hadn't been sure where Belén was in her brother's case and he hadn't touched the subject knowing it was still too soon to even talk about.

"I...I don't know, honestly," Belén admitted and turned the laptop back to her. "I just want to know if my brother's been with her in any of the thefts she's committed. So far, only Azul and that Pixel chick have aided her on occasions."

"That's...good?"

Belén sighed. "I honestly have no idea. I don't know what the hell I'm doing, but...right now, I just...I need to know if he's been out there doing crimes like any other bad meta we've seen."

Barry nodded. "If you need anything on that, you know we're here for you."

"Yeah, I know," she went back to her laptop, indicating in her own way that the conversation was over.

Not wanting to push, Barry let it be and got up from the bed. "If you need anything, just ask, okay?"

Belén's face softened as she recalled something that had been nagging her for days now. "Wait," she stopped him midway to the door, "There is...one thing.. I've been meaning to ask…"

"Okay," Barry turned back, "Anything you need," he could tell this was something important judging by her constant shifting and fiddling fingers.

"Well, I don't know if it's important - well, it's important to me - but I don't know if it would be important to you or anyone -"

"If it's important to you, it's important to me," Barry clarified at once. He came back to her side. "What is it?"

Belén opened her mouth several times, but nothing came out. She stuck her index finger's nail between her teeth and slowly began to explain. "You know the, uh, the, um...the present you gave me for Christmas?"

"Yeah?"

"It's tomorrow night...and…I know it's...way late but..." Belén gave a light shrug as if that would explain everything she couldn't say.

"You don't want to go anymore?" Barry guessed. Iris had been telling him of her constant failed attempts to get Belén out of the house. He'd already assumed a while ago that his gift would become one of those failed attempts to get out.

"Not exactly that…" she gave a sheepish smile, "I...don't want to go...alone. See, you're the one that...that gave me the present, and...my Dad...he helped you…" she took in a small breath before beginning over again, "It would really mean a lot...if you came with me."

"Oh," Barry's eyebrows raised up in surprise.

"It's just...it would feel like a last connection to my Dad, you get me?" Belén found it hard to explain without making it awkward. She felt her face warm but she pushed through - this was important to her. "You both worked on it together and…" her courage faded in a snap and she shook her head, "What am I saying. You don't want to go to that."

"No, it's fine - I'd love to!" Barry exclaimed, although somewhat blushing himself.

Belén visibly relaxed upon hearing his answer. "Really? Because...because you don't have to. I know it's kinda weird but…"

"I understand, don't worry," Barry assured. He reached for her hand and gave her a smile.

~ 0 ~

"Wait a minute, she asked you out on a date?" Cisco arched an eyebrow, a wide smirk settling across his lips.

Caitlin, who was coming around with fresh new papers for their training session, smacked Cisco upside the head and ignored his cry of pain. "She did not, weren't you listening?" She put the papers down on the table beside Dr. Wells, who was also shaking his head at Cisco. "Barry," she said after a moment, looking a bit anxious suddenly as she looked over to the metahuman finishing up his soda, "You do know that's not a date right?" she asked cautiously.

Barry had told them of Belén's current situation of the day and couldn't help sharing her request with them either. To answer Caitlin's question, he gave a firm nod. "I know that, Cait."

"Good," Caitlin visibly relaxed. "Because I think this is very important for Bells. This is her last connection to her father and it would be incredibly inappropriate for you to even think about-"

"You don't have to finish that, Caitlin," Dr. Wells interrupted, missing Barry's grateful glance towards him. "I think Barry understands quite well the situation Miss Palayta is in."

"I do," assured Barry. "I figure this is a way to start getting her back on her feet."

"She still refuses to come to STAR Labs?" Cisco inquired.

"Greatly," Barry said, adding afterwards with great discord, "She says if she can't help catch the man in yellow then why use her powers at all?"

"That's horrible," Caitlin made all face.

"Yet quite understandable," Dr. Wells said. "It's a normal reaction to a situation like this one. We only have to help her realize that people need her. Like Barry, she has the quality that makes her susceptible to helping anyone despite her own situations. She will come around, just give her some time."

The group felt a little more confident after hearing Wells' words. Being an expert he had to know what he was talking about, right?

"In the meantime, I need to do this again," Barry got up from his chair, motioning to the training area ahead of them. "I need to be ready for the man in yellow next time."

"I think you mean the reverse-Flash," Cisco said quite proudly, and when everyone gave him looks he rolled his eyes. "He said it, not me. And he's right. Yellow suit, red lightning, and evil... the reverse of Barry."

Caitlin made another face and turned to the computers. "Meh."

Wells gave a short smile of amusement as he admitted, "Actually, I kind of like it." Cisco beamed and shot Caitlin a smug look.

"All right, I'm still ready for another round," Barry started making way for his suit. "How many more drones do you have left?"

Cisco went in the opposite direction for the remaining drones. "Two. And they've got lasers."

"No," flatly went both Caitlin and Wells.

~ 0 ~

"So listen," Iris cautiously began as she sat beside Belén on the couch, both deciding - with Iris leading by about 40% - to have a movie night, "I was thinking we could maybe go tomorrow night to the little music fest the city's having down at the park?" Belén was midway through opening her mouth when Iris quickly jumped in, fearing her idea would be shot down like many others had been prior. "It doesn't even have to be for a full hour! We can just go, see how many free meals we can get by batting our eyes at the guys selling. It's just all about being out there. So, what do you say? I heard there was gonna be some of that lemon pie…" she nudged Belén with a knowing smile. "I know it's one of your favorites…"

Belén tugged on the blanket Iris had brought down for them, lightly smiling as she said back, "I can't."

Iris, assuming it was another failed attempt to uplift her friend, began to add on more reasons for Belén to agree. "There's going to be music, and lots of food - and did I mention pie?"

"No, Iris, I mean I can't go for real. I have other plans."

"Oh," Iris blinked, wondering for a moment if she had already gotten Belén to agree to a different event and just forgot about it.

Belén could see how stumped Iris was and decided to make it easier by explaining. "Tomorrow's the date for the aerial dancing show, remember? I'm going to use the tickets Barry gave me for Christmas."

"Oh you're going!? That's wonderful!" Iris beamed and hugged Belén until she realized something important. "Hold on," she pulled away to suspiciously look at Belén, "You said tickets in plural. Who are you going with? Can't be me, I've got a shift at Jitters."

Belén dreaded her answer but saw no way to get out of it. "I asked Barry if he would come with me." Iris bit on her tongue to keep in the first thing that popped into her mind. But her growing smirk said it all. Belén sighed and looked straight at the movie, her thin pajamas suddenly becoming like an extra layer of heat. "It's not a date, Iris West, so you better not even start."

"I'm not…" Iris reached for a couple popcorn on the coffee table.

"I asked him because he was the one who gave me the tickets in the first place," Belén continued, clearing her throat. "And because I know my father helped in that and I want...that connection...to live on. It's important to me."

Iris could see it was and so, for once, kept away all her teasing. But the smirk on her lips didn't go away. She leaned back on the couch, holding her last piece of popcorn as she watched the movie. "You gotta at least let me help you get ready tomorrow night."

Belén considered the idea for a minute, looked down at her messy hair, picked at a strand and shrugged. "My hair could use a little toning up."

As Iris laughed with triumph, Belén smiled to herself while sporting a light pink blush on her cheeks.

~ 0 ~

The following morning had been taken up by an odd case of breaking into a garage of prestigious cars covered under white sheets. Barry found the garage door had been frozen by none other than a freeze gun, making it easy for the thief to break in. The odd case was that no cars were stolen. Everything was in its place as it should be, thus allowing for the conclusion that the break-in had been more of a trap for the Flash. Knowing this, Barry rushed to STAR Labs to explain to the others so they could get working on a plan.

"Captain Cold is back?" Cisco was still in mild shock. The last time they'd met the man it had been a close call. If it had not been for Belén, their plan of using a vacuum as a gun would have failed and they would have died...

"For a non-metahuman, Leonard Snart is proving to be quite the nemesis," Dr. Wells remarked, although not entirely surprised to hear Snart was back.

"He still has the cold gun, the one he stole from us, the one I built," Cisco reminded glumly.

"Well, what does he want this time?" Caitlin asked from Barry.

"The Flash," he frowned. "If Snart wants a fight with the Flash, then I'll give him one."

He was so sure of it until Wells swayed his head. "Well…"

"You don't think I should?"

"I didn't say that," Wells clarified, "But, Barry, as fast as you are, you cannot be everywhere at once. And it becomes then a question of priorities. Now, in the last month, you have made a commitment to increasing your speed, enhancing your reflexes, and it's working. You're finally getting faster."

"Okay, but what am I supposed to do, just ignore Snart?"

"We could always ask Bells," Cisco reminded quietly, unsurprised to see the round of shaking heads st him.

"Not a good idea," Dr. Wells was the one to say it out loud. "If Miss Palayta is not focused she will only get herself hurt and perhaps even others."

"...there is always Nina," Caitlin quietly spoke up as well.

"She's not trained enough," Barry put that idea down, mostly for the sake of Nina's safety.

"She helped take you down back when you were whammied," Caitlin then said back.

"This is not her fight, it's not Bells' either, Snart is looking for me," Barry finally said what had been behind his earlier reasoning.

"The last time you had a fight with Snart, a train derailed. You were lucky to get all those people to safety," Dr. Wells began laying out the truth as it was, "And if you don't give him that fight…"

"He may just back off, and there'll be no casualties," Barry finished in a mumble, knowing fully well that was a high possibility. It just didn't mean he liked it very much.

"Look, Barry, Cisco and I will work with Joe and the police and devise a way to catch Cold-" Wells noticed the impressed look on Cisco's face and playfully rolled his eyes, "-Yes, I said it, Cisco. As soon as it came out of my mouth, I heard it."

"Yeah, we can definitely come up with ways to neutralize Snart!" Cisco exclaimed.

"Listen, Barry. Whether or not you go after Snart, that's your choice. We here, we will do whatever we can to support you. But after this past Christmas, after the events with the reverse-Flash... I just think he poses a greater threat to all of us."

Barry gave in with a small nod. "Okay."

~ 0 ~

"We're leaving in five minutes, Belén, and that's whether or not you have shoes on!" Iris gave her last firm warning from downstairs before crossing the living room to retrieve her purse. She was worried Belén was wasting time on purpose so she wouldn't have to go out anymore. Well, Iris was not gonna have that.

Someone knocked on her front door, and rather than answer it first, she hollered up to Belén that she would be coming upstairs whether Belén was finished or not to take her to the mall. When she opened the door and found Eddie on the other side, her boyfriend was in a state of surprise.

"You realize that can qualify as kidnapping right?"

Iris rows her eyes and gave him a short kiss before letting him inside. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was gonna see if you wanted to have lunch but apparently you have other plans…" Eddie's eyes drifted towards the stairs where he assumed Belén was.

Iris apologetically smiled. "I'm sorry. I told Bells we were gonna go to the mall today and...well...sorry…?"

Eddie lightly sighed, not too surprised. "You know, if she's ready to go to the mall then I think it's high time you told her you were moving in with me."

"I've been wanting to, I promise, but...I've can't just abandon her like this," Iris trailed off, feeling like she was between the wall. She had made plans with Eddie to finally move in with him but after Belén decided to temporarily stay with her, Iris didn't have the heart to tell Belén about moving out. She knew Belén was still struggling to get back on her feet after her father's death and Iris didn't want to make her feel forced into leaving. Belén had to leave when she wanted to, when she felt ready to.

Unfortunately, this was testing Eddie's patience. He wanted to help Belén as much as possible too, but he just didn't understand why he and Iris couldn't do that while also living together. "Iris, how much longer are you going to be living here?" he asked her.

"Until Belén decides she can go back to her house," Iris answered firmly. "And then...we can move in," she smiled at him, taking his hands, "And that shouldn't be long okay? I promise."

And at that moment, they heard footsteps coming down the staircase. A minute later, Belén emerged, neatly dressed with a low pony tail behind her shoulders. "Hi, Eddie," she greeted politely.

"Hi, Belén," Eddie gave her a small hug, discreetly taking notice of how put together she was in comparison to the last time they'd seen each other. Maybe Iris was right and this wouldn't take much longer.

"What are you doing here?" Belén asked him.

"I was, uh…" Eddie faltered in coming up with an excuse fast. Thankfully, his clever girlfriend was right beside him.

"My Dad forgot something from work and Eddie was passing by for it."

"Oh, okay," Belén nodded. "I'll give you guys a moment then. Iris, I guess I'll wait outside then?"

"You bet you will," Iris pointed warningly at her. "Because we're going and that's that." Belén rolled her eyes, took her bag off the table, and went for the door. When she was gone, Iris turned back to Eddie, once again apologetically smiling. "Soon," she repeated, giving him another kiss to seal her promise.

~ 0 ~

When Barry entered his lab, he found Joe working at his desk with plenty of files spread around. "Joe, hey."

"Hey. I'm glad you're back. I've been going over Snart's files," Joe reached for a Jitters cup he had on the desk and handed it to Barry.

"Thanks. Yeah, I need to talk to you. As CSI, my work on this case is done. And as the Flash, I don't think I can focus on Snart right now."

Joe arched a questioning eyebrow. "You mind telling me what brought about this change of heart?"

"This man in yellow, the man that killed my mom, is still out there. I have to be ready to face him, which means amping up my speed. It's a question of priorities."

Something about that last sentence didn't sit well with Joe. "Your mom's killer isn't the only reason you've been doing this. You told me that if you could use your powers to save someone from a burning building, you would."

"Look, Dr. Wells and STAR Labs are gonna work with you," Barry tried to make things a little better. "Cisco thinks he has a way to protect the police against Snart's cold gun."

"Barry, I can understand if you're scared. We talked about this."

"Of course I'm scared, Joe!" Barry snapped, though regretted it a second later. He was just frustrated nothing was going right. "This guy could run into the precinct and kill everyone in here in seconds. He threatened Iris. He killed Bells' father. I won't let him hurt the most important people in my life again. If that means devoting every second I have outside this place to getting faster and to stopping him, then that's what I'm gonna do. I'm sorry. I've made up my mind."

He didn't give Joe a chance to retaliate as he left in a rush.

~ 0 ~

"Hey, Barry, come in," Iris was the one to greet at the front door. "I thought you were going to be Eddie."

"Eddie? Why?" Barry asked, mildly confused while scanning the immediate area for Belén. Her show would be starting soon, and being who he was he'd ran a little late.

"We made dinner plans," Iris closed the door behind him. "But listen, I'm glad you're here on your own cos I'm a little worried about Belén."

"What is it?"

"I'm having a little trouble getting her to come downstairs…"

But by the look on Iris' face, Barry could tell it was a little more than that. "How little?" he asked.

"She locked herself in your room."

Somehow, Barry was not surprised.

Iris shook her head, leading him towards the stairs. "She was all gung-ho until I said I'd let her borrow my purse tonight. I walked out of the room to go get said purse and when I came back, she locked herself inside! And she refuses to come out! She doesn't want to go anymore."

"We'll just see about that," Barry straightened himself up and started up the stairs.

"Please get her to go," Iris called from her spot downstairs. "Eddie's gonna be by any minute now and I just...I really think this can be good for her."

"Don't worry, Iris. It'll be fine," Barry assured. He left her to go upstairs. He came up to his old bedroom door and used a vibrating hand to unlock the door.

Belén seemed to be expecting him to do something like this as she immediately threw a notebook at him from the bed. "I thought you said you would always knock."

Barry bent down to pick up the notebook that had hit him square in the chest. "Desperate times call for desperate measures." He stood back up and placed the notebook on the edge of the bed.

She was sitting on the same side of the bed, dressed in a green and blue, plaid, dress with black tights underneath. Her hair had been put into a low, side ponytail with all her curls hanging loosely. Beside the bed laid a pair of small heeled, black boots.

"You look wonderful," Barry thought it a good place to start, though he really did mean it.

"I'm not going Barry," Belén shook her head. "I'm sorry I wasted your time, I'm sorry for wasting Iris' time but I just...can't."

"You said it was important to you, remember?"

"Yes, I do, but...it's hard."

"Of course it is."

"I mean this is the last connection I have to my Dad. After this, I won't have anything else. I don't...I don't want that to go away."

"But if you never went, then you would lose that connection without even experiencing it." Barry came over to her side. "And your father's idea will have gone to waste. Do you want that instead?"

"...no," Belén answered meekly.

"Then, why don't we go and at least give it a chance? Don't forget that while your Dad did help I was the one who had the idea. You really want to void my gift?"

"Barry Allen are you really going to guilt me into this by pouting at me?"

Barry felt childish as he pouted at her but also felt quite comfortable with her. She tried upholding her look but she scrunched her nose in defeat.

"That's not fair!" she playfully growled and crossed her arms, huffing afterwards. "You can't do that to me."

"Well, you can't expect me not to try. Up, up we go!" Barry seized her hands and easily pulled her up to her feet, ignoring her groans. "C'mon!"

"No!"

"Bells, this is ridiculous, let's go before we're really late!"

"Barry, I can't!"

Barry stopped at the door and looked back at her, more or less irritated. "Why not?"

"I don't have my shoes on," Belén pointed down to her feet.

"Oh! Sorry!" Barry instantly let her go and rushed to retrieve her boots by the bed.

"I can get them on-" Belén shut her eyes at the strong gust of wind that surrounded her in the next seconds.

"Can we go now?" Barry asked after successfully putting on each boot on her feet.

"I could have put those on myself, you know," Belén said, mocking a scolding look.

"Yeah, but I'm quicker. So, can we go now?"

"I don't have much of a choice do I?"

"Nope!"

Although Belén gave a deadpanning look, Barry ignored it and went right ahead in speeding them to the theater where the Dream would be performing at. The moment Belén saw the place she gasped and froze on her spot.

"A-are you okay?" Barry worriedly asked her, looking between her and the theater which was beginning to crowd at the entrance.

"I-I just...need a moment," Belén made a gesture with her hands and turned away from the theater.

"It's okay," Barry assured her. "You just need to take it slow. You can do this."

"My Dad used to be front row..." Belén pointed back at the theater and slowly turned to face it again. "Every show I did..." but the words failed her. It brought back so many memories she had long ago buried. She had left aerial dancing because her mother told her too, and had never quite gotten over it apparently as she came to realize now. But everything was different now - her number one supporter for aerial dancing was gone and even as she went to just watch a show she could feel it was no longer the same. Her heart hurt, and her mind whizzed.

She felt something soft take her hand, snapping her from her thoughts.

"You can do it," Barry whispered to her, gently gripping her hand.

Belén felt slightly better then, without an explanation. She allowed him to lead her towards the theater, listening to his words of encouragement. Their tickets allowed them a good seat up front.

The stage was lightly colored at the moment, but its rainbow swirls were still clear enough to brighten up the dark room. Barry was all about the science, and the facts and the logistics, and what he saw that night was not logical.

It started slow and with soft pastel colors. Three female dancers appeared first, all dressed up in cream-colored one-suits with their hair tied up in high pony tails with white flowers embedded around. Different colored silks were dropped from the ceiling, two per dancer. It was unlike anything Barry had ever seen, and that was saying something considering he was the Flash who fought metahumans on a daily basis.

Silk was wrapped around ankles as the dancers swung till their feet were high in the air and their hair flung around. At one point, Belén had to hold onto Barry's arm to keep him from swooping in as the Flash because he was so sure one dancer was going to slip and fall. This was, admittedly, making it worthwhile for Belén. She loved being back in the environment she had left and it was amazing to see so many familiar people doing what they loved up on stage. Every minute or so she would get a new memory from her times up there. It made her heart swell, no longer hurting like before.

All that ran through Barry's mind, in the meanwhile, was: Holy shit, Belén actually did this stuff. She actually got up and did this. What. The. Hell?

Every now and then, he would literally glance at his concentrated friend and try to imagine her up on stage.

When a dancer wrapped a silk around their waist and leaned impossibly back, he wondered if Belén was capable of such flexibility. Could she sway her arms so delicately like the brunette up on stage? At one point, a dancer wrapped a green silk around one of her thighs and used it to swing down and proceeded to entwine another piece of silk over her other thigh. She swung herself again in a sitting position, opened her arms and swayed them again before completing another swing so that her head was down below. She grabbed both silk pieces on her sides and flapped them wide. The crowd 'awed' and cheered at her, and no one louder than Belén. At the end of the show, both metas were so delighted with what they saw that neither of them realized they had yet to abandon the theater and were but one of the few watchers left.

"I am so glad that we came," Belén laughed to herself as she reached for her purse. "I...I haven't been to one of these in a long time, oh my God."

"I...can't believe this is actually something real," Barry admitted, still gaping at the stage where a couple of dancers were still at. "Belén, are you sure you did this?"

Belén laughed and turned around, about to respond a full 'yes' when someone else called her name. Momentarily confused, she looked about for the source until she saw a tall blonde coming towards them from the stage.

"Mark?" she blinked, unable to really confirm it was who she thought it was under the dim lights.

"Belén? Have you really come back to us?" the blonde hopped off the stage and walked up to the two.

"Oh my God, Mark!" Belén exclaimed and immediately threw her arms around the man's shoulders.

"I thought I recognized that laughter," Mark pulled away and looked over to Barry, the latter standing awkwardly behind. "She just has a specific laugh you can't really...misplace…"

"Yeah," Barry agreed weakly, looking to Belén.

The ombre-blonde smiled, for the first time, at both of them. "Barry, this is an old friend of mine from when I was on the team."

"Hi," Mark politely shook Barry's hand. "Mark Forneez. Nice to meet you."

"Barry Allen," the meta introduced himself politely.

"Barry got me the tickets to see your show," Belén explained to Mark.

"Ah, nice move," Mark gave a knowing smile that put both receiving-enders in state of flushes.

"Christmas present, friendly present…" Barry sputtered but not a complete sentence.

"Barry's one of my newest friends so he didn't really know about my past until I mentioned it," Belén tried to explain in a way that would set it clear how they were only friends and that this had been just a friendly present. "He thought it would be nice - and it was really nice," she made sure to tell Barry himself. "My Dad did well to give you the idea."

"Right, I heard about your father, Belén," Mark said, his voice softening as he looked at Belén. "The entire team did, actually. We're really sorry."

Belén gave a small nod and received another tight hug. "Thanks, Mark."

"If you need anything, please just let me know. You know where to find us, right?"

"Still practice in the building right?"

"Always," Mark gave her a nudge.

"Thank you, Mark."

"Well, it was nice seeing you again - nice meeting you Barry - but I have to get back and help with the clean up." Mark started backtracking when Belén called for him again.

It ashamed Barry to think it was high time for them to leave and with that leave they would put Mark behind as well. Belén looked pretty content for the first time and who was he to tear her away from it? In the end, Belén had only called Mark back for an exchange of phone numbers. Afterwards, the two were back out in the streets on the way home. It didn't take long to start feeling like normal, and Barry had a lot to say about the show.

Every now and then Belén would chuckle at one of his crazy comments and questions. They hadn't even thought of just speeding back to the West residence yet, too engulfed in clarifying and praising the show.

"But honestly speaking, did you really used to do that?" Barry had asked for about the fifth time, still suspiciously staring at her.

Belén swayed her head with another soft laugh. "Yes, Barry, I did. I promise."

"So you actually swung on those silks like there was no tomorrow?"

Belén had to laugh and stop to do so. She covered her mouth and looked at him. "Seriously? Like there was no tomorrow?"

Barry widely smiled, partly out of embarrassment but mostly because she was actually looking like she was having a good time. Mark was right - she had a laugh that could not be mistaken for anyone else's. He quite liked it, actually.

"A figure of speech…" Barry coughed.

"So like, you basically? You run like there's no tomorrow. Does that work?"

"Yes, yes it does!"

Belén laughed again but suddenly admitted. "If you ever do doubt my word, though, there are videos of my old performances...if you'd like to see them, you know."

"I think, after seeing all that tonight, I would very much like to," Barry said with a matching smile for Belén.

"Okay," Belén couldn't think of much more to say, and she was very greatful for the darkness covering up her blush.

"Uh, we should, um...get you home," Barry gestured ahead, as if the West house was just down the block.

He was nervous, yes he was, and he wasn't quite sure why. Belén nodded, understanding what he was trying to say. He took hold of her from the side and in a second they were standing on the front porch of the Wests'.

"Thank you for the gift, Barry," Belén said quietly, still genuinely smiling. "You were right in making me come, and seeing it all, I just…" she felt her eyes shimmer with tears and, embarrassed, shook her head. "Sorry…"

"It's fine, don't you worry about it," Barry assured, hoping she wouldn't suddenly grow grim again. "I'm very glad this helped you, because we all love you Bells. And, STAR Labs does kinda miss you, you know."

"Right," Belén chuckled to herself, clearing up some of her loose tears. "I haven't seen them in forever."

"Cisco is finishing his new suit for Nina and she's not quite happy about it," Barry confided, both then laughing.

"He's not making her a skirt right? Because Nina will beat the crap out of him."

Barry laughed. "Uh, no, I don't...I don't think so. But it is coming out pretty cool."

"I will think about checking it up," Belén said truthfully. She stepped forwards and kissed his cheek so suddenly it froze him in place. "Right after I look for those videos I now owe you."

"R-right," Barry nervously nodded in what he thought was an idiot kind of way. She looked so nice in front of him and all he could do was nod?

"Goodnight," Belén wiggled her fingers and turned for the door. She thought her shoes were doing a funny walk - did she forget how to walk?

As soon as Iris heard the door unlocking she turned off the television in the living room and jumped to lean on the couch. "So, how'd it go!?" she excitedly asked.

Belén smiled softly and felt, after weeks of gloominess, good. "It was lovely."

Iris gave her teasing smirk and warned Belén they would have to talk about it after she got some drinks for them. Belén didn't even care at the moment. She was just happy, very happy. Belén reached to push some hair back but instead spotted the ugly green patch on her wrist. Her eyes widened in horror and quickly stuffed her hand inside her coat's pocket.

She couldn't even afford to be really happy now?

Get it together, Belén. No one could ever see that. Ever.

~ 0 ~

"Here, take these," Maritza handed over a couple pills to Rayan, along with a glass of a water. Maritza tried hiding her worried expressions as soon as Angie and Noah walked into the apartment.

"I don't see my sister with you," Rayan rubbed his temples, impatiently waiting for the pills to make effect on the nasty headache he had.

Noah rolled his eyes, quite used to that greeting nowadays. It was the same or each time he came. "You know, I don't understand why you don't do the same to her," he gestured to Maritza.

"She's my sister, moron, she has other things to worry about. You, on the other hand, only have this one task. So tell me, why isn't it done yet?"

"It would be easier if you just let me bring her here," Noah began the same point he always made when they got on the topic.

"She has to come willingly, we've been over this. I want her to realize this is where she belongs...with her brother and her sister."

"Oh that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Angie dropped herself on the couch across the siblings. She rested an elbow on the couch arm-rest and smirked at them. "Do you really think that goody two-shoes is going to leave her life of hero for this?" she languidly gestured to the place.

"Not to mention the fact she likes her partner," Noah added and elicited a laugh from Angie.

"Right," the blonde wagged a finger in the air.

"Is one of you about to say anything intelligent soon?" Rayan snapped.

"It's true and you know it!" Noah shut him down. "You see it too you just don't want to admit it. Your sister works with the Flash, she is probably near him more than anyone else. The way in which she defends him...c'mon!" he laughed at their ignorance. "It's obvious! The good news is, is that she hasn't realize it yet or it would've been public already. Which means, there is still a chance, albeit a tiny one, but there's still one. You just had to acknowledge it and make plans around it."

Angie gave him a curious glance. "That's actually smart. I think I like you now."

Noah playfully rolled his eyes at her. He pushed her elbow off the armrest to take a seat. "Thanks."

"You two are unbelievable," Maritza spat. "Belén is difficult, I know, but she's going to realize that she needs to be with us. After all, we were all affected by the stupid Particle Accelerator. Once she knows what happened to all of us, she'll understand."

"Well, unless one of you-" Noah gestured to her and Rayan, his words laced a warning, "-gets off your high and mighty thrones to do something with us, you can forget it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it's time to show yourselves to her. Tell her what's going on already, then we'll know who's side she's really on."

The suggestion was troubling for both Maritza and Rayan. Rayan could only think about it so much until his head began to hurt with more force. The headaches had been coming and coming for the past months.

~ 0 ~

In STAR Labs, Caitlin searched for anything Firestorm related online. She was certainly not expecting company at the moment, considering this was something delicate.

So, when Barry came in with a polite 'hey' she gasped and jumped in her chair. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Caitlin turned her chair in his direction and smiled. "No, it's okay. I was just kind of focused."

Barry looked at the computer and saw glimpses of Firestorm articles. "Gotcha. What's firestorm?"

"It's one of the last things Ronnie said to me before he... flew away," Caitlin made a face as she realized just how that sounded. "My dead fiance can fly. I haven't broke that to my parents yet." She shook her head and then noticed the everlasting smile on Barry's face, even as he drank from a Jitters cup. "You doing okay?"

"Mm?" It appeared Barry had forgotten he was with Caitlin as he nearly choked on his coffee. He looked down at her, momentarily flushed while she knowingly smiled.

"I forgot to ask, how did it go last night with Bells?" she asked then.

"Good," Barry tried to remain casual but even he had become aware of his lasting smiles. "It went good."

Caitlin liked seeing him happy, but she felt a responsibility to remind him of the important details that pertained to last night. "Barry, you do remember that it wasn't a date...right?"

Barry's face immediately went red. He put his coffee down and cleared his throat, all the meanwhile Caitlin studiously stared at him. "O-of course I do, C-Caitlin! How could I forget?"

Caitlin's smile softened. "I was only reminding you. So tell me, did she like the show?"

"She loved it. It was like getting a glimpse of the old Bells."

"That is very good news," Caitlin pointed at him then turned her chair to face the computers again. "I wish I had good news like that."

"What exactly are you trying to find?" Barry leaned closer to the screens, seeing multiple articles about Firestorm.

"Just, anything about Firestorm. But, nothing comes up except gibberish," Caitlin sighed. "Like it doesn't exist."

Barry tilted his head, eyes scanning the abstracts of several articles, quickly seeing it had nothing to do with what Caitlin was looking for. "What if...what if Firestorm isn't a word?" he suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Ronnie was an engineer, you're a scientist, you're both accustomed to using acronyms for works."

Caitlin then understood what he was trying to say and started retyping. "What if Firestorm isn't a word?" She typed the acronym F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M and this time only one article popped up. She clicked on it and out came a long reading. "Fusion ignition research experiment and science of transmutation originating RNA and molecular structures." She read aloud but got to the bottom part and sheepishly looked at Barry. "It's 800 pages."

Unsurprised, Barry stepped closer to the computers and began reading at top speed. In less than a minute he was finished. "There's a lot of stuff in there, but it mostly focuses on transmutation, which is the process of altering the structure of an element by unzipping the atoms…"

"And rebuilding it to create an entirely new element," Caitlin nodded.

"Well, the article was co-written by Jason rush, who's a grad student here at Hudson university. So if anybody knows what happened to Ronnie…"

"Maybe he does," Caitlin said hopeful. "Thanks!"

~ 0 ~

When Iris walked down the staircase, she was largely confused to find the foyer room full of empty cardboard boxes. What got her more was Belén standing by the staircase closet with another box in hands.

"What's going on?" Iris asked slowly, taking the last couple of steps down.

"You're moving out," Belén shrugged like it was casual.

Iris' eyes widened. "How…?"

"I heard you and Eddie yesterday before going to the mall," Belén elaborated as she put the box down on the floor. "Iris, I had no idea what you were planning. If I had, I would've stayed at home."

"No, this is exactly why I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to feel guilty," Iris walked forwards.

"It's the truth," Belén repeated. "It's not fair for me to bring you down in my grieving period. I don't want you to stop living your life because I sullenly stopped living mine. You are moving out because a wonderful man's patience is being tested out there and it's just morally wrong."

The two shared a small laugh and got straight to work. In about an hour, the foyer room and parts of the living room were covered with boxes, clothes draped over couches and tables, personal objects on the floor and part of the staircase.. They had even gotten Joe to help, surprising him first that it was actually going to happen now. Apparently he was quite happy Belén was staying over because that meant his Iris wasn't going anywhere for at least another while. It made the two women laugh.

Sometime in the middle, Barry showed up as well, and he was just as surprised as Joe had been when he saw all the moving-out boxes lying about. "What's going on here?"

"You came to help her pack?" Joe inquired, although unbelieving it as well.

"No, no, no. Iris called and said that she had something for me."

"Yes, I do!" Iris got up from a nearby box and walked over to pick up a red backpack from the floor. "Bells actually found this in my closet."

"I thought it was just a backpack," Belén came over, seeing how wrong she was judging by Barry's ecstatic face.

"I haven't seen this in years!" he exclaimed as he took the bag, ignoring both Joe's and Iris' laughter.

"Well, the nerd survival kit is still intact," Iris patted his arm, still teasing him by laughing.

"Hey, Rayan used to read those," Belén inched closer to Barry as he pulled out an old comic book from the backpack. "He used to get mad at me for even breathing around them. What's so good about them anyways?"

"Don't even get him started," Iris shook her head.

"Once he starts he can't shut up," Joe added.

Barry, red-faced, gave them both a mini-glare. "Alright then." Belén laughed while he put away the comic into the backpack again.

"I think I'm late for work," Iris had checked her phone. "Dad I promise I will clean this up when I get back, okay?"

"Don't worry, Iris, I got it," Belén waved it off. "Least I can do for everything you've done for me."

"Thanks, Bells," Iris gave her a quick hug before heading out.

"Joe, do you mind if I have a quick word with Barry? I have to leave anyways too," Belén said sheepishly before adding, "And don't worry, unlike Iris I will have this cleaned up when I get back."

"How about you just don't leave either so that way Iris can stay again?" Joe tried his luck for the last time, making her chuckle. "Yeah, it was a long shot." With a light sigh, he signaled he would be upstairs.

"You're going back home?" Barry assumed immediately after they were left alone.

"Mhm. It's time I stop forcing people to mourn with me," Bells nodded. "Did you know that Iris had been planning on moving out but postponed it for my sake?"

"Well…" Barry rubbed the side of his neck.

Belén tilted her head disapproving. "And you didn't tell me either. Great."

"Iris asked me not to…" Barry sighed. "We just wanted to help you as much as possible."

"Well," Belén didn't look as upset as he thought she would be, "I'm going back home. It's time to face what is now my life. But listen, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Shoot then."

There was an immediate shift in attitude in her. Her eyes seemed to shimmer, not of tears as they commonly did but of excitement. "I met with Mark this morning…"

See, something about that sentence didn't make Barry feel quite good. He was aware of it too and felt more puzzled than ever.

"...and we got to talking. He's become one of the leads of the team and, so...he has more authority than other dancers. I told him how much I realized I missed the place, the dances, my old friends...and he offered me a chance to come by and just, you know, start practicing again." There was a visible streak of shock etching across Barry's face and Belén jumped to add something more, thinking he was disapproving. "It's nothing promising, though, just...just a way for me to keep that connection with my Dad, you know…"

"Bells, I think...that's great," Barry began, and she immediately relaxed.

"You think so?"

"Yes! I mean, I think it's what you've needed, honestly. You seemed to be missing that part of your life and if, if that Mark guy is willing to help then...you know, go for it!"

The biggest smile spread across Belén's face. "I think it is what I needed. For the first time in weeks it's making me feel something besides grief. And it...it feels nice," she exhaled.

"I'm happy for you," Barry truthfully said, although a part of him wondered if this meant they would be seeing even less of her. She was already refusing to come to STAR Labs, how would this affect things?

"I'm going to go tell him yes right now!" Belén's announcement brought him back to the present. She was looking for her jacket somewhere in the mess, babbling on about setting up a meeting with Mark.

Deciding to be helpful, Barry sped around the room and put away everything in sight, leaving a neatly stack of packed boxes by the door.

"Oh that was so nice of you," remarked Belén with a sheepish smile, "But, um...my jacket was somewhere in the mess...and you probably put it away."

Barry turned back to the boxes, sighing as he went back through them, all in the meanwhile Belén stood there and laughed at his antics.

~ 0 ~

That night, STAR Labs kept true to their word and came up with designed shields that were meant to protect policemen from Snart's ice gun. Assuming the next spot Snart was to attack, the policemen, including Joe and Eddie, filed out towards the local mini-airport where Mr. and Mrs. Rathaway would be arriving with a million dollar priced artwork. Sure enough, Snart made an appearance...but he was not alone. The shields were meant to protect below average temperatures but were not equipped to protect against violent flames. In other words, they had not calculated for Mick Rory, and a heat gun, to be there as well. There were minor casualties, but enough to put some chaos in the CCPD.

Barry was one of the first to hear and immediately arrived at the building, where sure enough they were in the middle of trying to get back in order. He found Joe by the threshold of the main offices.

"Hey, are you okay!?"

"I'm fine," Joe nodded. "Snart's new partner, he's got this handheld flamethrower. Almost everyone was treated on the scene, but... We got two in the burn unit, though."

This made Barry feel incredibly guilty. He should have been there - he needed to have. "I'm sorry," he said, though knew it meant nothing now. "I should've listened to you."

"It's all good. But... The next time Snart and his pyro pal show up, you make them sorry they ever messed with you," Joe warned with a finger before whipping out his phone. "I got to call the hospital."

Barry nodded, intending on seeing it through.

~ 0 ~

"I love it," Belén chuckled as she and Mark stepped out of the theater. Belén held Mark's cellphone and was scrolling through pictures of the team. "These are so incredible, I can't believe you guys went on to New York. And England!" Mark laughed alongside her. "Oh my God, is that Casey?" she stopped at a picture of him and two blonde women in front of a beautiful garden. "I haven't seen her in years. She wasn't in the last show, right?"

"She's with her sister - she's got a new niece," Mark informed with a bright smile on his face.

"I can't wait to talk to her when she comes back," Belén gushed over the thought of speaking to old friends. She gave Mark back his phone and settled down. "I'll see you Friday, then?"

"Friday," Mark nodded, giving her a goodbye hug. "Get your silks and training clothes ready."

"I definitely will," Belén assured. With a last goodbye, they went in opposite directions. She pulled out her phone to search for any missed calls. There were, unsurprisingly, several from Cisco and Caitlin. Her fingers hovered over each of their names, unsure of how to even call back. She made it like a life mission not to step foot in STAR since her father's death. It felt like she failed her father and that STAR Labs was reserved for the heroes that were actually heroes capable of doing their duties.

The moment she stepped in front of her car - her brother's old car - she heard a whizzing noise followed by a loud crack behind. Her eyes widened at the sight of the frozen window on her driver's side. Slowly, she turned around and saw none other than Leonard Snart and, unknown to her yet, Mick Rory.

"Long time no see," Snart devilishly smirked her way. "You shoot, you dance - if you come up with a third one you could be a triple threat."

Belén's heart hammered as the second man, Mick, stepped towards her. "N-n-n-n-no! Let's be rational!" she threw her bag at them and made a run for it.

Unfortunately it didn't work out.

~ 0 ~

Iris set down two mugs of cofee for a pair of customers at a table, asking them if there was anything else they would need. Upon a 'no' she turned back for the counter, and as soon as she looked up to the incoming customers, she found Maritza coming in holding the hand of her son Axel.

"Maritza, hey," Iris greeted, unable to mask her surprise in her tone.

"Hi Iris!" Axel greeted much like a four year old would, with excitement.

"Hello there, Axel," Iris smiled at the boy and headed back for the counter.

"I know it's strange seeing me," Maritza said quietly, understanding perfectly well the resentment she'd been getting due to her distance of her family. If they only knew why.

"Well, I just think when one of your parents die, it's customary to be close to your siblings," Iris said, rather coldly, not that she cared.

"We all mourn in different ways," Maritza said weakly.

"But family is important, too. They stick together in tough times, and you chose to wallow in your grief alone, leaving your sister alone in the process."

"I know it was bad, and that nothing I say can make it better," Maritza sighed. "I just...I just want to see my sister but no one was home."

"That's cos she's been staying with me and my Dad," Iris revealed, although there was something about her tone that put Maritza on edge. It was no longer cold nor anger seeping out.

"But…?" Maritza drew out.

"It's just...I haven't spoken to Bells since yesterday."

"What do you mean?" frowned Maritza. "Have you tried calling her?"

Iris bit her lip, her eyes discreetly glancing towards the wall clock that struck one p.m. and she now knew she couldn't keep thinking it was nothing.

~ 0 ~

Barry, Cisco and Dr. Wells were hunched over the desk computers in Labs, listening to Cisco's newest discovery over the cold gun and the heat gun.

"See, when the heat gun was fired, it increased the surrounding temperature of the air dramatically, sort of like an extreme heat wave," but Cisco had to stop for a moment as a new realization struck him. "Heat Wave."

"Stop doing that," Dr. Wells scolded but there was no actual meaning behind it.

"Okay. I measured the temperature output of both the cold and heat guns, right? And while the cold gun achieves absolute zero, the heat gun successfully reaches absolute hot, or the hottest temperature an object can reach."

"Planck temperature," Barry understood fast.

"So potentially, these two guns could cancel each other out," Wells liked what he was hearing.

"Yeah, but to do that, you'd have to make them cross streams," Cisco glanced over to Barry.

"You mean like Ghostbusters?"

"That film is surprisingly scientifically accurate. And really quite funny."

Barry rolled his eyes at him, leaving it at that because his phone was ringing in his pocket. He pulled it out, saw Iris' name and took the call. "Iris, what's up?"

~ 0 ~

"Hey, Barry, listen, I was wondering if you knew where Belén is?" Iris turned her back on the counter, lowering her voice so that the nearby Maritza wouldn't hear her. "I haven't spoken to her since yesterday, and, well...at first I thought it was nothing but now Maritza's here and-"

"Maritza is there? What is she doing there?"

"She's come to see her sister obviously. But the point here is she stopped by Bells' home and she wasn't there either."

"Maybe she just overslept or something," Barry suggested. "Or maybe she's at CC Pictures."

"That's what I thought in the morning but, well…" Iris trailed off, biting nervously onto her nail.

"Well?"

"I went into your room, Barry, and she wasn't there. The bed - it was untouched. It was like she hadn't slept in it."

~ 0 ~

That put Barry on alarm as well. He glanced at Cisco, the latter conversing with Dr. Wells over future plans with the guns.

"Do you know if she slept over with someone else?" Iris asked then. "I thought Caitlin-"

"No, Cait went to have a word, um...she's not with Caitlin," Barry felt it was not his place to divulge information on Caitlin's whereabouts last night seeing it had to do with Firestorm.

"Okay, now I'm feeling bad because I waited too long. I swear I thought she was with Caitlin or something…"

"Don't worry Iris, I'll figure it out," Barry assured, although he wasn't too sure himself. It wasn't adding up.

"I'll keep Maritza busy I guess," Iris said glumly before hanging up.

Barry hung up afterwards and looked around, trying to come up with quick places he could check easily. Just as he was going to put away his phone it vibrated again. Thinking it was Belén, he hurried to answer without checking the ID.

"Bells!?"

"Barry-" it was Joe, "-you need to get over here. Fast."

~ 0 ~

Out in the parking lot of the local community theater, the CCPD had put cautionary tape around Belén's car. Barry went straight past the officers, up to Joe.

"Joe, anything?"

"There's no sign of Belén anywhere," Joe shook his head, moving aside so he could see the car behind. "We found her bag over there-" he pointed a few feet from them, "-but nothing else."

Shattered ice pieces were left near the car, some of them coming from the iced, cracked window. "Oh my God," Barry whispered at the sight, running a hand through his hair. He could see nothing that could tell him whether or not Belén was severely hurt on the spot, but nothing guaranteed she wasn't now. Determined, he turned back to Joe. "We're getting her back. We have to find Snart."

"Damn right we do. Come on, let's go," Joe gestured for them to get a move on.

And so they returned to the CCPD to continue the investigation. The moment they arrived, they were greeted by Eddie with a new file in hand.

"We got a hit," he announced, "A second pair of prints," he handed Joe the manila file, "They belong to a Mick Rory."

"Who is he?" asked Barry.

"Big-time arsonist," Joe explained. "He and Snart worked a job last year that went bad. Half of Rory's body was burned in a fire that got out of control. He escaped from an ambulance on the way to the hospital, hasn't been seen since."

"Why would they kidnap someone like Belén?" Eddie frowned at them, utterly lost.

Singh came out of his office with a finger pointed at the higher placed televisions. "Joe, Thawne, it's on every station."

They all looked up to the unmuted television that sure enough was broadcasting an unusual stream. Snart was up-close and personal on the screen, while Mick held onto Belén.

'Greetings, citizens of central city. I am Leonard Snart. But you can call me Cold. I'm gonna make this very simple for everyone…'

~ 0 ~

"Oh my God..." Angie's mouth fell open at the television screen and immediately turned up the volume. "RAYAN!" she called for the man in the hallway. "You have to see this now!"

Rayan came out grumbling, about to tell her off for disturbing his sleep when he saw his sister on screen with two well known criminals. "What...?"

'...That red streak you've been hearing whispers about, the one mysteriously saving people these past few months? Well, surprise, he's real...'

~ 0 ~

"Is that…" Maritza looked up to one of the Jitters televisions, seeing past Snart's face to Belén in the background.

"What in the…?" Iris stopped pouring coffee to look up as well.

'He calls himself the Flash. Porter and Main, tonight, sundown. Come out, come out, wherever you are, Flash. Show the whole world you're real...'

~ 0 ~

'...Or this woman dies."

Though Belén was being pointed at she didn't care. She wasn't thrashing against them, nor looked the least bit afraid anymore. Once she learned their plan she knew there was no reason to be. They weren't after her. She was just a means to get the message through.

She met the camera with a straight face. "You don't have to," was all she said to the camera, hoping to God Barry would understand she would get out of it herself. She didn't want to force him to expose himself to the city.

The problem was Barry had made his decision before the transmission even ended.

~ 0 ~

Angie boredly stared as Rayan threw the television control at her television. "I'm gonna have to bubble wrap everything in this goddamn place," she muttered.

Rayan stalked into the hallway and Angie got up to follow. "What are you going to do?"

"FIND MY SISTER!" he screamed in her face and went into his room, slamming the door on her.

Angie felt no guilt whatsoever in hoping that they never did. She was becoming a nuisance, honestly.

~ 0 ~

"That hurts!" Belén hissed when Mick tied her second wrist down to the chair. She hated the rotten smell the warehouse they were in gave off, and she hated the two men around her who seemingly wanted nothing with her but to use her as bait. Mick ignored her and squatted down beside her, eyeing her. "What?" she snapped, meeting his look.

"You're a friend of his, huh?" Mick asked.

"You can say that," Belén smirked crookedly. "And I nearly shot yours."

"Nearly," Snart called from his spot across, hunched over a table.

"He's fast... Like fire," Mick suddenly said, whipping out a lighter and slowly waving it between him and Belén. "Fire, it's undefinable. Heat, light, energy. It's an evolution when things burn."

"Go get help," Belén concluded and looked away momentarily. "You're sick, do you know that?"

"Maybe you're the sick ones. You ever think about that?"

"Oh, good comeback," Belén rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with you anyways?" she eyed his burned skin. "You didn't ever think going to the hospital might help all that?"

"The fire revealed my true self, showed me who I really am. I wonder what your Flash will reveal when I burn his suit and skin off," he smirked at her, but it made no difference for her.

Belén leaned closer to him. "You won't be able to lay even a finger on him."

"So sure?" Mick challenged her, but she didn't falter.

"Absolutely. I'd say leave him alone but after what you did he's coming, and when the Flash is angry...watch out," the light smile on Belén's face only irritated Mick more.

"You're so sure he'll come to help you yet you told him not to," Snart turned from his table. "Which is it?"

"I hope he doesn't," Belén admitted. "But 99.9% of me knows I'm lying to myself if I think he's staying put."

Snart rolled his eyes and moved onto business. "Mick, time to go." Mick gave one last smile to Belén, who glared in return, and got back on his feet.

Mick rose up but not before pressing a red button on a small device strapped to the bottom of Belén's chair. "You better pray the next people that come through this door is us." He made sure to tie a gag around her mouth tightly.

"Nice to see you again, shooter-girl," Snart called and Belén tried to insult him through the gag.

When they two criminals had gone, Belén calmed down and let her vines wrap over the gag until it was untied and fell to the ground. The same thing happened with her wrists and feet. She was free, but she couldn't make her move without setting off the device under her chair.

"Just...great," she huffed at her predicament.

~ 0 ~

Momentarily alone in the cortex room, Barry stood in front of his suit on display. He was just waiting for the 'go' sign from Joe. The entire city was probably waiting for him and that...that put him on edge.

"She said you didn't have to," Caitlin's voice made him jump on his spot. She and Dr. Wells were the only ones left in the building since they would be monitoring him in the street. Cisco and Joe were tasked with finding Belén.

"And you think she meant that?" Barry asked her, meeting her soft smile.

"Yeah. But I think we all knew you wouldn't do it."

"If roles were reversed she would be doing the same," Barry said with the utmost certainty. "We're partners. I told her I'd have her back and she said she'd have mine."

Caitlin nodded, seeing there was nothing left to say on the matter. "Then go get them."

A second later, Barry's phone buzzed from his pocket, and when he answered it was Joe. "Okay, you're on," the man said with a tinge of fear. "Good luck, son."

"Thanks," Barry moved to hang up when Joe added as a final warning.

"Barry, after tonight, everyone's gonna know that the Flash exists. Are you ready for that?"

Barry understood completely the implications and still stood by his decision. It was worth it. She was worth it. "I'll see you soon," he said to Joe and finally hung up. He put away his phone and looked at his suit again.

"I'll go get Dr. Wells," Caitlin wished him good luck and went on her way.

Barry glanced to the side where Belén's green suit had been placed weeks ago and left untouched. He didn't realize it till then how much he missed seeing her in it, having her working beside him. Well, there would be a next time, he thought. There was no way in hell he was going to lose.

~ 0 ~

Zipping through the night streets of the city, Barry was very punctual in meeting Snart and Mick. The precise street had been evacuated and policemen, including Eddie, were on standby watching.

"The Scarlet speedster. Any preference on how you'd like to die?" Snart was the first to make a greeting. He waved his gun with the biggest smirk on his face. "The flame or the frost?" Barry only stared, though his mask covered up his anger it was pretty evident how he felt. "Not in the mood for chitchat. Gotcha. Ready when you are." Snart powered up his gun, as did Mick, and both shot forwards their respective beams.

Barry went right past them, easily dodging said beams. He gave only a second of a gap before he zipped right past them, disorienting both thieves for a minute. The second time around, the thieves had caught on. Snart caught Barry on surprise and, instead of directly hitting Barry, he formed an ice wall in Barry's direction. The speedster screamed in both horror and terror as he went straight first into the structure of ice. He tumbled on the ground, landing against a thrashed car.

"Barry?" he heard Dr. Well's voice through the comm. "Barry, are you okay? You know what you have to do."

"Yeah, get them to cross their beams and cancel their guns out. I know."

Mick stepped forwards and blasted flames from his own gun, causing the car Barry was hiding behind to explode into flames. Barry sped right out of it and onto a lonely side corner where he could catch his breath.

"It just not as easy as it sounds," he told Wells afterwards.

~ 0 ~

Belén was, shamefully, bored waiting to be rescued. She liked fairy tales, but she wasn't exactly liking having to once again be helped as if she couldn't do anything on her own. "What good is it to have powers if you can't use them," she sighed to herself. Maybe if she'd been practicing like Barry had told her over and over she would have more creative ideas to use her powers.

She heard a noise from the front doors and thought it to be someone else, seeing they were trying to bring down the locks. She heard a freezing noise, and for a minute thought it was Snart again. But the doors blasted into icy pieces and in came a familiar voice.

"Boy you sure love to get yourself into trouble, don't you?" Azul strolled in.

"You?" Belén frowned.

"Try not to conceal your disappointment," he rolled his eyes. "I'm not Flash but I do make an effort here. Would you like me to dress in red?"

"I can't...I can't decide if that was flirting..." Belén blinked, honestly having a hard time deciding.

"Is that disappointment I hear again?" Azul's smirk irritated the hell out of her.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Azul laughed and started coming for her when she shouted again. "No! Don't come any closer! They put a bomb on the chair!"

"Why don't you just use your powers to escape? I thought that was the point of them."

"Escaping is no problem for me, idiot," she raised her free hands. "It's me getting out before the bomb goes off that's the complicated part."

"Thank goodness we've got someone better," Azul shot her wink. "Come in!"

Belén heard new footsteps and strained her neck to see who it was, as her chair was facing the other direction and she couldn't risk moving the bomb strapped underneath "Who's that?"

It was a tall man, dressed in black and grey leather, walked in. He wore a black, half-mask. However, the mask didn't stay on for long, as his hands reached up to take it off. Belén gasped loudly, unable to decide if she wanted to scream or cry at the same time.

"Hello my dear sister," Rayan greeted with the kindest smile ever, one that made Azul stop to question if this was the really the man he'd been working with. "Long time no see."

~ 0 ~

With the crazy shooting his way, Barry had no choice but to run up alongside buildings to dodge them or at least reflect them. However, on one of those he was struck by one beam and fell to the ground.

From the sidelines, Captain Singh ordered the other officers to get moving. "The fight is spreading beyond the evac area. We need to expand the perimeter."

"We can't," Eddie said determinedly. "We can't let this spread." He snatched up one of the designed STAR Labs shields and ran off, ignoring the calls of his name.

~ 0 ~

"It's okay, I can get you out," Rayan assured his younger twin. "This might feel a little weird, okay?"

"Weird how - AH!" Belén yelped in surprise as her body literally levitated off her chair. She turned her head frantically to see herself floating towards her brother and Azul. "H-how are you doing this!?"

Rayan hid his struggling face as he answered. He'd been having minor pain when using some of his powers but this was pain. He wasn't liking it, and he definitely wasn't going to show it. "With much love, Belén. I got you, don't worry."

"You're a telekinetic!" Belén exclaimed, gently dropping into his brother's arms.

"And you're a poisonous meta," Rayan's matching brown eyes met his sister's. "We've both changed."

Belén was put down on her feet. Her eyes shimmered with tears as she took in the fact her brother was right there in front of her again. She gave him the biggest hug possible. "I missed you so much!" she stifled a cry.

"As did I," Rayan admitted, relishing in the moment. "But, don't you think I've ever stopped watching over you."

Belén pulled away and smiled what she thought was probably the ugliest smile ever as it was covered in loose tears and dirt from her kidnapping. "I needed you, Rayan. Dad...he's…"

"I know," Rayan's eyes glistened as well. "And I want you to know that I will catch this guy and I will make him pay for what he did."

"It wasn't the Flash, did you get that message?" Belén asked quick. "It wasn't him, okay? It was a different speedster. They call him...the Reverse Flash apparently. It was him. He killed Dad because of some tachyons."

Rayan took Belén's hand and started leading them for the broken doors. The warehouse was not too far from the beginnings of the city.

"We're gonna find him, Belén. I swear."

"Why did you come for me?" Belén looked between him and Azul. "You say you've been watching over me, but when I needed you most you weren't there."

Rayan sighed. "It's complicated, Belén. But I wanted to be there. Things are…"

"Complicated," Belén finished for him. She glanced at Azul with nothing but disapproval. "You've been hanging out with the wrong crowds, Rayan."

"A lot's happened since the last time we saw each other," Rayan cleared his throat. "I was kidapped by some...gang, and it took me months to escape."

"I know, but why didn't you come back home?" Belén asked softly. "I've been looking everywhere for you and...you've just been playing hide and seek. You had your freaky metas come after me! You had them shoot me!"

"I didn't know it was you behind the mask!" Rayan immediately clarified. "Pixel got hell for that after I realized it was you."

"Rayan, what's happened to you?" Belén looked her brother up and down. She felt something was off about him, besides the new abilities and the evil crowd he was with.

"I survived," Rayan said coldly. "The Particle Accelerator did this to me. It did this to all of us," he gestured to the trio. "What I've done, I've done because of them. They have to pay for what they've done-"

"What?" Belén blinked. "You mean STAR Labs? No-"

Rayan reached for her hands and cut her off. "I want you to come with me. Your abilities are extraordinary, but you are wasting your time with the Flash and all the other accomplices. You belong with me, with your family."

Belén looked at the city and suddenly saw two distinct rays of orange and blue shooting into the sky. "The Flash…" she went wide-eyed at her brother and Azul, "...he's...he's fighting the two that kidnapped me. We...we gotta help him."

"Belén, you're not listening!" Rayan snapped, unusually harsh. Her widened eyes laid on him again and showed, frankly, some fear. "You need to come with us!"

"I am not going anywhere with your nor your little band of criminals," she snapped. "They're thieves! Murderers!"

"You've been looking for me, Belén, and here's your chance to reunite with me. We can take down the bad guy, and we can take revenge on those who have wronged us. Most importantly, we can be a family again."

"Rayan-"

"Don't call me that," he shut his eyes for a moment. "I want...I want to be called Neuro."

"What?" Belén's eyebrows raised together. "No, your name is Rayan and you can help. Please, we need to go help my friend."

Rayan gripped her hands, imploring her to listen by tugging her closer. "I came out because you were in deep trouble, Belén. I wanted you to come to me because you wanted to. So please, I'm asking you to come with me now, and forget all that you know from that Flash, that...that crazy idea you can be a superhero."

"Rayan, I-"

"Don't you want to be with your family?"

"Don't...don't do this…" Belén could see the decision she was being forced into, or at least unfairly by the circumstances. "Rayan, I love you, and I want to be a family again…" but her eyes drifted to the city again, where the gun beams were growing wilder.

"Then let's go," Rayan said quickly. "Now is the time for you to get out. Come with your brother."

Belén swallowed hard and let her eyes fall on the city again. Her heart beat rapidly as she thought of Barry fighting off Snart and Mick on his own. They were partners and this was what they'd promised to do, help each other. She'd been nothing but difficult lately and, even though she deserved to be alone, Barry had been there trying to cheer her up nonstop.

She took back her hands from Rayan, and with tears falling down her eyes, she shook her head. "He's been there for me and now I can be there for him. I want to be there...and I want to help people. I've just been so obsessed with you that I forgot about me. I can't keep doing that."

"Belén..." Rayan was definitely not liking where this was go.

"Dad would be so disappointed," Belén continued, her voice frail yet assertive. "In you. Not me." That wounded him, Belén could see it all over his face. "If you really want to be a family again then you'll leave all of this and come with me right now to help my friend. It's your decision now."

Rayan gaped at his sister, but she did not budge from her stance.

~ 0 ~

From his abrupt fall, Barry could not quite get up yet, even as Snart and Mick approached him. Just when the two were about to shoot their respective guns, Eddie managed to get through and shield him and Barry from the beams.

"I've got you!" the blonde officer exclaimed, though struggled to uphold his word.

With little energy, Barry sped them out of the way to safety. He left Eddie and returned to the street. "I can't get them to cross streams," he spoke into the comm. "Speed isn't getting it done."

"You're right," Wells said, as if just realizing it himself. "Maybe the way to do this is not by going faster."

"It's going slo-"

Someone else shouted from across, close to where Snart and Mick were. Thick vines had wrapped around a figure, revealing to be 'the Azalea' - and she was not happy. One thick, strong vine went straight for Mick, punching him across the face and knocking him to the ground.

"What's the matter?" she called to Snart who was taking in the uninvited opponent. She was furious, and it wasn't totally with him which only made things worse. Because she was in civilian clothing - though wearing a makeshift mask of her vines and azaleas - the blotches of green were trickier to hide. Belén could feel that uninvited rush of powers washing over her.

Go away, she desperately wished.

A low growl slipped through her mouth, indicating she was losing the internal battle. Before she knew it, she thrust a tendril of vine directly for Snart. The man barely dodged it but Belén was quicker in her state. She snapped the tendrils like lassos and forced him to continue jumping to dodge. He directed his gun at her and began to fire several times.

Relieved to see her, and a bit afraid for her life, Barry zipped across the street and got Belén out of the way. He hid them behind another car. "Bells?" he noticed she wasn't quite herself but blamed it on her kidnapping.

Belén gasped and came back as herself. Her eyes darted to ever inch of her body and was grateful to see the green had gone...she was just left wondering for how long.

"Belén?"

She met eyes with him and remembered where she was. "Oh...oh! I had a plan!"

"I kinda had one too...you shouldn't be here," Barry could hear Caitlin repeatedly telling him to tell Belén to get back to STAR Labs for a check up.

Belén shook her head. "Nope! I have a plan and it's quite easy too! It involves no more burned suit…" she was having a good eye on his tarnished suit, even making a face.

"New partner, Flash?" Snart called to them.

"They're allowed," Belén popped up from behind the car. "Now choke on this!" she sucked in a breath and released the familiar mist of pink poison towards him and Mick.

"Azalea!" Barry feared for a minute her anger would get the best of her and make her do something she would later regret.

Snart started coughing, forced to drop his gun as he clutched at his throat. "Dark…" he smirked nonetheless her way. The same was happening with Mick.

Belén jumped onto the car and watched with pride. "But not a murderer. The poison is enough to make you weak, but you'll be fine." She swung one arm to the right and slammed Mick with a tendril of vine against a closed shop's door. She snatched the heat gun then swung her other arm to the right and left Snart lying against a mailbox. She picked up the cold gun and brought both guns into her arms.

Barry got on his feet and looked at the sight Belén had left. "Did I mention I love having you as my partner?" he moved around the car and helped her get down. Before he could see her teary eyes she threw her arms around his neck for a well-needed hug.

~ 0 ~

"What do you mean she...chose another?" Maritza was appalled to hear such a story from her younger brother. The two were sitting inside the warehouse that had been hardly touched since Rayan's headaches started.

"Exactly what I said. Belén made me choose," he said, sounding truly offended of the matter.

"Well, I'll give her points for being a lot tougher than we thought," Maritza ran a hand through her hair. "I mean...I guess we didn't really think about what she would say."

"How could we? Neither of us are with her enough to know her," Rayan shrugged. "We've left her with some new people who...who are changing her every day."

"Then maybe that's what we need to work on," Maritza resolved. "We need to remind Belén that family is everything. She's always been family-driven so it shouldn't be that hard."

"You think so? Because I saw a different light in our sister's eyes. She actually wants to become a hero," Rayan shook his head. "Imagine that?"

"I do, but that's where we'll need to show her how awful STAR Labs actually is. It's just a matter of reminding..." Maritza put her arm around her brother's shoulders and gave a smile for both of them. "We can do it, Rayan."

But somehow, internally, she wasn't exactly sure.

~ 0 ~

The next day, Iris had finally finished packing and was now watching Eddie and Barry carry down her last box from upstairs. She didn't think it was all that heavy but apparently the two had disagreed.

"I think that's it," she said cheerfully nonetheless.

"This better be it," Eddie mumbled as he placed the box down with Barry.

"Well, like you said, you're ten minutes away, so if you forget something…" Joe had began to say when his eyes teared up.

"Okay, Dad," Iris gave him a tight hug.

Joe laughed. "I can't say it enough. I'll miss you."

Eddie walked over to the two. "You know you can come around anytime, Joe. Just give us a heads-up." But the look on Joe's face made him reconsider. "Or not. Come around whenever. You want a key? I'm gonna go." He quickly went back to the box and on his own picked it up. "I'll wait...in the truck." On his way out, he bumped into Belén, making her stumble back a couple steps. "Sorry, Belén!" he apologized but she laughed and stepped aside for him to keep going.

"Careful on the last step!" she made sure to warn before stepping inside. "Are you all set then, Iris?"

"Definitely," Iris said.

Belén was able to see the twinge of guilt in Iris' words and shook her head. "Iris, I'm gonna be fine, honest. I just...actually came for some things I left upstairs."

"You already left?" Barry asked, surprised of this. It had been late in the evening when Belén was able to return from the police department after giving her formal statement.

"This morning," she nodded, speaking quietly and averting her eyes from him.

"I guess...there's nothing left to say then," Iris stepped up and hugged her friend. "You know I really am ten minutes away, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Belén tried to remain happy for Iris, because she was, she just couldn't help feel like the loneliness would be more challenging than she thought.

"I gotta go," Iris looked at her father and Barry. "I'll see you guys later, okay."

Belén awkwardly smiled as she gestured to the stairs. "I left my laptop upstairs earlier. I'll be out soon too, promise."

"It's fine," Joe smiled her way.

"Thank you for everything," Belén honestly said and started up the stairs when she remembered. "Actually," she turned to the side facing the two men, "I don't suppose you thought about my suggestion from earlier?"

Joe raised his eyebrows, apparently having thought about it. Confused, Barry waited for some explanation but it never came. "Uh, what, uh, what explanation?" he finally asked.

"Belén was making a couple good points that I thought were...true," Joe began, but had trouble to finish.

"I said that maybe you could move back in," Belén contently finished for him. "I have never been to your place but everyone says it's a death trap-"

"It is," Joe made sure to leave clear. Barry shot him a small glare.

"I was just thinking maybe it could be easier for both of you…" Belén said kindly, leaning on the banister. "And I promise I didn't girly your room up. I didn't touch anything...I didn't understand what many things were, especially that one with a little mirror." She made the gesture of a circular mirror with her index and thumb.

Barry chuckled and glanced at Joe. "You know, it is getting hard to hide the blasting in and out of my apartment at all hours of the night from my neighbors. I suppose it would make sense for me to move back in. I mean, I am a millennial. That is what we do."

Belén rolled her eyes. "Well, you guys can figure that out. I will go get the rest of my things."

"Do you want some help?" Barry was too quick to volunteer, but he was surprised to have such a faster rejection from her.

"No, I'm fine, thanks," she made a hasty retreat to the second floor.

Barry glanced back to Joe, making a confused gesture. Joe just shrugged and went on with the topic.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think...roomies, definitely," the choice wasn't difficult for Barry to make. Still, as happy as he was to come back home, he couldn't help wonder what was up with Belén.

There was still the unaccounted way of how she managed to escape from wherever it was Snart and Mick had put her away in. After getting to STAR Labs, they helped heal her and whatnot but they could not get her to speak about her escape. She wouldn't budge. There was something that happened and she didn't want to say it - in fact, she didn't want to remember it.

#barry allen #the flash #ocappreciation #ocapp #barry allen imagines #the flash imagines #barry allen fics #the flash fics #barry allen fanfics #the flash fanfics #arrowverse #caitlin snow #cisco ramon #iris west #joe west #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: it had to be you #noblecrescentedit

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