#also the siblings reuniting was definitely quite shocking for both of them

[redfirefox-55]

Have some very low effort AU doodles

[limeade-l3sbian]

you're correct about ozai. i only loosely remember the comics, but the additional context there is pretty much that ursa was the grandchild of roku (whose family went into hiding precisely to avoid being roped into fire nation politics), that she already had a lover when ozai's father found her and set her up to be married to ozai (presumed to be zuko's actual father), and that ozai treated ursa as basically a trophy wife, going as far as to tell her that their wedding was the last time she would see her own family because she's "his." the man has a very solid background to be a misogynist, and they just didn't touch on it at all in the show, except to imply he was a bad husband (which...no shit).

i kind of respect the attempts to make more rounded female characters, including a female long-term villain, but i think they dropped the ball when considering misogyny and female oppression as topics (even though the writers clearly had it in mind at some points, they could never seem to commit or go all the way; it was better than a lot of other media, but it was FAR from perfect). i'm not necessarily against fully evil female characters, though i'm not very into wholly evil characters in general, and i'm mostly bothered by the fact that the younger girl sibling was irredeemably evil when the older male sibling was fully redeemable. also, i lowkey think that azulas traits play into some misogynistic tropes (as a little sister who was always accused of being a liar who faked her emotions to "get her way" (but was also "overly emotional," as well??) and was seemingly assumed not to care about anyone or anything else other than herself and her own self-satisfaction, her depiction stung to see quite a bit).

even though the writers clearly had it in mind at some points, they could never seem to commit or go all the way

YES

They wanted the credit of having these themes but were unwilling to give them the full depth that makes people truly appreciate them. While I think Azula's slip of mind was horrifying in a good way, I think it was rushed entirely too much. I think the earliest we see this "slip" is Boiling Rock when she's "betrayed" by Ty Lee and Mai. There's definitely a shock in her expression when Mai basically tells her "you haven't been controlling me with fear the way you think you've been".

But we should have see more. You can't provide to me this calculated queen of battle and then three episodes before the finale be like "oh but naw, she's losing it". Like, why would she be losing it over some bullshit like her hair was fucked up or she JUST started thinking about her mother? She just got everything she's been hounding for!

If you want me to think she's losing it over her new position as firelord (by the way, I love the genderless title of the throne. Kind of like Pharaoh), have her flashback to the betrayal of Ty Lee and Mai. Show me how she's looking around and putting on unnecessary acts of force to keep intact this method of control she's used her whole life. Show me an example of her thinking she's got everyone in the palace under her control of fear but its somehow revealed that they only really follow her because they're more afraid of Ozai.

That is a problem with this franchise in general. If you're gonna do it? DO IT.

I LOVE the ending of Amon's season. There was no redemption! And his brother knew that so he KILLED THEM BOTH. And we don't know what that tear was! Was he crying because he was happy to be reunited with his brother? Was he crying because he, the master blood bender, could sense what his brother was doing? I personally love that ending because they followed through. This guy was indoctrinated by his father but rebelled too far and overall, was just too far gone.

I do not think at any point Azula was too far gone. Yet, that's what they kept trying to sell to me.

Azula wouldn't be some compulsive liar. She would be so brazened in her fear tactics that there would be no need to lie. She'd say "I only lie when I'm afraid, and what do I have to be afraid of?"

They have a better show of female rep, but like you said, I hope people don't hail it as perfect.

[thosewickedlovelies]

Be the Girl You Wish to Meet in the Bar Bathroom

Pairing: Santiago Garcia x F!Reader

Summary: You make a new friend in the bar bathroom. She and her friends help you lure in the hottie she spots checking you out ;)

Rating: T for suggestive themes

Tags: Brief mention/implications of alcohol use.

Word Count: 3,359

A/N: This one goes out to all the drunk girls you've ever met and been uplifted by in bar bathrooms <3 Also for @nathan-bateman ❤

---

“Ugh, my feet are killing me,” your new friend groans as she lowers herself onto the toilet. “This always happens when my friends make me dance with them.” Still seated, she bends over to rub what she can reach of her heel.

Despite the thumping music and the din of bar conversation in the background, you can hear her perfectly fine, seeing as you’re sealed in the tiny bathroom together. You met her a moment ago in line, after you almost stumbled into her and she immediately proceeded to compliment your dress. Now you’re chatting like longtime pals.

A universal feminine experience, a distant part of your mind thinks, with a fuzzy sense of warmth.

“Yeah but you’re so lucky though,” you tell her earnestly, while washing your hands. “My boys hardly ever dance with me, they’re soo lame.” You make an exaggerated pouty face.

You only ever went out with your boys- Frankie, Will, Benny, and Santiago. You had other friends at work, but weren’t quite at the “let’s go out dancing together” stage with any of them yet. Benny and Santi actually did dance, but while you loved them to pieces, it wasn’t quite the same.

Tonight you had reunited at one of your usual spots- a basement bar that was a bit on the divey side, but just trendy enough to have designated space for a dance floor.

“Oh my gosh, you should totally come dance with me and my friends! Every girl needs a girl friend group to dance with.” She looks at looks at you with wide, serious eyes and all the sage certainty of a perfectly tipsy person.

“Oh my gosh, that’s so nice!” You’re genuinely touched at her invitation. “And so true,” you add a beat later, nodding with conviction. You shift away from the sink as she flushes the toilet.

“Yeah!” The brown-haired woman continues to rave about her friends while she washes her hands. “Ready?”

Arm in arm, you leave the bathroom together. You halt almost immediately, however, as the colored lights of the dance floor change abruptly, blinding you with white strobes. You both shriek and giggle as you throw your hands up in defense. You decide to remain where you are while you try to locate her friends.

She spies something else first. “Oooh, don’t look, but there is an absolute Adonis of a man checking you out right now at one of the tables.”

You don’t look, keeping your intrigue under wraps as you continue to scan the room. “Ooh, what does he look like?”

Santiago Garcia had been keeping an eye on the restrooms waiting for you to return, but his relief at your reappearance turns to curiosity as you exit with a woman he’s never seen before. His interest in her fades quickly, though, as the sweeping lights highlight your grinning face and that close-fitting dress. Everything else seems to fade to his peripheries.

He doesn’t know what it is, but he’s captivated by you tonight. Maybe it’s that you haven’t seen as much of each other lately, everyone busy with work and life. He thought he’d been elated at the prospect of a group get-together this evening, but when he kept finding himself frustrated at the guys stealing your attention from him, he wondered if it was just you he’d been excited to see.

Maybe it’s the fact that he can see every man in a ten-foot radius of you right now doing the same thing he is: checking you out. Sizing you up like nothing more than a trophy to add to their collection, as if any of them were good enough for you.

His fingers tighten around his beer as Santiago drags a dark gaze down you. Thinking of all the memories he has associated with you, all the things he’s seen your body do- a connection none of these other suckers can claim. In his brooding, he doesn’t notice the woman beside you noticing him.

“There they are!” Brown Hair squeals. She drags you around the edge of the dance floor to where several people are waving.

There’s a flurry of introduction, but you don’t catch any of their names over the music. A tall woman with noticeably muscled arms; another with deep brown skin and a halo of dense, tiny, blue-dyed curls; a third whose accented greeting you’re just able to catch as the music fades briefly.

Taking advantage of the quiet, Brown Hair speaks. “All right girls, now listen. There was an obscenely gorgeous man checking out our new friend a second ago, and I bet he still is. A few tables behind us, with the hair?”

With the hair? She and you are facing the dance floor, but her friends are facing the bar’s tables, one of which your future man is apparently sitting at. With outstanding coordination and nonchalance, they all manage to identify him over your shoulders, and whistle their approval.

The one who…?” You strain to hear Arm Muscle’s question, but it’s lost beneath a suddenly surging bassline.

Brown Hair darts a quick glance over shoulder and nods.

“That is some nice hair, and I would know,” the blue-afroed beauty smirks and winks at you, before grabbing your hand and tugging you slightly further onto the dance floor. Still close enough to the edge to be plenty visible to anyone seated at a table. “Don’t you worry, we’ll get you that man.”

“I haven’t even seen him!” You protest with a laugh, even as you follow her willingly.

“Girl, all you need to know is that he is insanely hot.” The one with the accent speaks from close behind you. “As your designated girl friend group for tonight, it’s our duty to help you lure him in.”

Conversation becomes impossible in the rhythm of the crowd. You follow their lead, let their hips and hands guide your movements, losing yourself in the uninhibited joy of moving your body to the thumping music. In the whirl of unself-conscious beings all around you, you momentarily forget what brought you out here in the first place.

Until, after some unknown amount of time, Brown Hair twirls to face you. “He’s on the move!” She waggles her eyebrows.

You remember then that you’re supposed to be dancing for some guy. You’re still facing away from the tables, but from in front of you Blue Hair has a clear view over your shoulder. “Mmm, look at his hunky blond friends,” she purrs. “Think he’ll bring them over too?”

Wait. Surely they couldn’t mean…? There had to be more than one table in here with two hunky blond men at it, right??

She spins you around, and you follow her pointing to where Benny and Santiago are standing at their table, the former clapping the latter on the back. Eyes widening, you’re nearly beside yourself wondering which of your boys the girls could possibly be referring to- until Santiago detaches himself from the group.

“Your man is coming!” Accent squeals.

“Wait, he was the one checking me out?” you hiss frantically.

“Undressing you with his eyes, babe,” Brown Hair nods knowingly. The others make sounds of confirmation.

Pope’s dark eyes pin you as makes his way across the room. He weaves through the tables like they aren’t even there, like you’re the only thing worth his attention. Your lips part in shock.

You’d always thought the vague chemistry between you and Santiago was merely a side effect of his natural sexual charisma. Like a power he could turn on and off at will, you’d seen it in action enough times to recognize it. Although...it had never occurred to you to wonder if the chemistry was not, in fact, a side effect, but rather an intended result. Had Santi been deliberately using his powers on you?

Watching him go, Benny chortles. His gaze slides past Santiago to the other women who are still blatantly eyeing their table. “Looks like you might be DD for just yourself tonight, Catfish.” He smirks devilishly and runs a hand through his hair. “Come on, brother.” Will doesn’t react to his sibling’s invitation as he saunters after Pope, only sipping his beer contemplatively.

Frankie snorts at the older brother’s obvious interest. “Get out of here man, they’re definitely checking you out, too. I’ll hang here for a little while longer.”

Will cracks a smile. Draining his glass, he unfurls himself from the table, bright blue eyes roving appreciatively over the women flanking you.

“You’re the man, Francisco.” The taller blond gives him a nod of thanks before following his brother.

Frankie only shakes his head, a faint smile on his lips as he observes the scene unfolding between you and Pope. Finally.

With the hair, indeed. That should have tipped you off straightaway. You’ve been encouraging Santi to grow out his gorgeous curls for probably as long as you’ve known him, but he rarely took leave for long enough to gain any measurable growth. Even short, however, his greying locks reflect the colors of the roaming spotlights as he approaches, making his beauty even more otherworldly.

Dumb with surprise, you don’t have time to plan any kind of reaction before Santiago is there, standing before you with one upturned hand outstretched. “Can I cut in?”

Cooing, your new friends part to allow him unhindered access to you. Although there’s a suave sort of expectancy on his face- he knows what the girls were doing- even in the dim, shifting light you can see the genuine question in his eyes.

You’re still unsure of what he’s playing at, but Santi has never let you down before. Your hand doesn’t waver as you place it in his.

His fingers curl around yours, warm and reassuring. He tears his gaze from you only to briefly address the girls: “My friends are single, by the way.”

As if on cue, you all become aware of Benny and Will sidling up in Santiago’s wake, like two blond, shameless, bad ideas.

Santi is wearing that big shit-eating grin when he turns back to you, and you can’t help but smile at his familiar antics. Laughing, you let him sweep you away, guiding you toward a more remote corner of the dance floor and into a sway that’s breathtakingly gentler than what you were expecting, given the moves with which you and the girls were taunting him.

(If his hold feels gentle, he makes sure it doesn’t look that way: flexing his arms where they rest around your waist and brushing his nose along your hairline, breathing you in and sending menacing glowers to anyone still looking at you.)

You’ve never been this lost for words around Santiago. You’ve danced with him before, technically; but it had never felt like this. You want to speak, but your tongue feels clumsy in your mouth, heavy with the energy between you. As your thoughts churn, his hold shifts, one arm wrapping all the way around your waist to draw you nearer, the other sliding up your spine, fingertips tracing the skin above the back of your dress.

It may have only been a song or two during which you held each other, but it felt like much longer. His light caress sets the blood fizzing in your veins, sparkling like drink mixers, sweet with the promise of bright memories to come.

Finally he speaks. “Is this okay?” Santi murmurs.

Hearing his warm voice in your ear, instead of making you more nervous, grounds you. That familiar, steady timbre, his quiet confidence and trust in you to answer him truthfully. Which you do, because you trust him, too.

“Very,” you profess into his neck. Your nose nearly tucks beneath the collar of his button-down. “Santi…” you hesitate, knowing you want to ask but unsure of what the question is.

He waits, his subtle swaying never faltering.

“Why tonight?” It’s a vague, possibly lame cop-out of a question, but it’s the only way you can think to phrase it. He’ll understand though. Santi can play the fool when he wants, but he knows you, and now isn’t the time.

For several heartbeats, the only response is the rasp of his stubble against your jaw. You swear you feel his lips brush your skin, but before you can properly register the sensation he’s withdrawing to answer.

“Mmm...Well, I don’t need to tell you what those dance moves of yours do to me.” He pinches your side in emphasis, but despite your squirm and flush, you scoff. Santi has seen you dance like that before- he’s been the one dancing with you like that before.

Santiago chuckles, the sound liquid dark. He knew you wouldn’t buy that. “Honestly, I don’t know. Seeing all these other assholes eyeing you up like they’d have a chance...I couldn’t stop myself. I’m just putting them out of their misery, really.”

You snort at his dismissive shrug, knowing his irreverence masks real emotion. You can read it in the lines of his face, each one as dear and familiar to you as the beauty marks on your own. Green and red lights stripe his skin as you study them.

He can’t quite meet your gaze, suddenly. “What are you staring at,” Santi grumbles, burying his face in your neck again.

You giggle at his gruffness, at his breath huffing on the sensitive skin.

“Just your pretty face, Santi,” you croon. You tighten your arms around his shoulders, deliberately wiggling closer so you’re pressed more firmly against him.

His sharp, surprised inhale juts into your chest. But any response he might have given is lost beneath the sudden blare of trumpets from the speakers.

The familiar melody makes you both pause. You lean back just far enough to meet Santiago’s eye; you know he’s anticipating the same thing you are and you both shout: “Shakira, Shakira!”

You squeal as Santi leaps back from you, grabbing your hands and twirling you in a familiar routine. ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ had become, thanks to Benny, Pope’s song, a claim he always pretended to roll his eyes at when the boys brought it up. But he secretly loved it, and rarely missed a chance to show off why.

Your muscles leap into action as he does just that, dancing you to the Latin beat. You’re breathless with laughter, sweat beading on your hairline.

I don’t, don’t really know what I’m doing, but you seem to have a plan...

The tripping guitar notes swirl around you, but Santiago doesn’t let you stumble. He guides you in time with the pounding percussion, his whole body undulating to the rhythm.

All the attraction, the tension...

His arms cross above your head as Santi spins you so your back is pressed to his chest. He holds you close, hands low on your hips, and you lean back into him, relishing the strength in the muscles shifting against your spine. Warmth radiates from him, all-encompassing. He hooks his chin over your shoulder and you turn your head to look at him.

His face is much closer than you were expecting; a thrill bursts in your chest. Curiosity kindles, however, as you take in his expression. You’re not sure if you recognize it. Happy, but searching- like he’s gauging your reaction, or seeing something he hasn’t before.

You don’t have time to dwell on it, though- the song is approaching Benny’s favorite line. You tip your head as if listening, raising your eyebrows at Santi expectantly.

His eyes widen, sparking with recognition at your signal. You jump away-

Let me see you move like you come from Columbia…

The saxophone trills its long, fluttering note and you whoop in admiration at the sight before you. Santiago loops his hips rapidly, letting them sling him in a circle, his elbows held square at chest level. His lips form an “o” of concentration in a spicy expression that would make anyone else look ridiculous. But Santi’s obvious skill and the self-assured confidence with which he always carries himself only makes the whole thing ridiculously sexy.

Santi’s movements cause his shirt to ride up, exposing a sliver of taut, tan skin. Shamelessly you appreciate the visible, flexing muscles in his arms and thighs. His butt in those jeans.

He is grinning and giddy when he faces you again, one corner of his smile crooking higher as he witnesses your glee. Laughing, Santi pulls you back into his arms.

“How many times have you seen me dance like that, cariño? And every time you have the same reaction.” His voice is breathless in your ear.

You bite your lip at the warmth of his broad hands, at what is definitely the kiss of his mouth on your skin.

“I like your dancing, Santi,” you say simply. His pulse thrums beneath your lips as you slowly skim them up his neck in return.

Into the line of his jaw you admit “...I like when you dance with me.”

Santiago brings one hand up to cradle your head, leaning back slightly to look at you. His brown eyes are full of affection. “I love dancing with you.” Creases fan out from his eyes as he smiles and he is so beautiful it makes your heart squeeze.

The moment hovers, both of you hardly daring to hope. Your gaze skips down to his lips despite your best efforts.

You know he sees it when his grasp tightens, his hold at the nape of your neck becoming more deliberate. His face is merely a breath away.

“Cariño?” he murmurs. You’re surprised to see the faintest trace of uncertainty, the question in his eyes. He’s asking if you’re sure.

One eyebrow quirks the tiniest bit. “Santi?” You are.

The uncertainty vanishes, and you kiss him.

He lets out a soft groan in the back of his throat. He hauls you as close as he possibly can, and you arch into him, trying to get closer.

You plunge your hands into his silvery curls with a sigh of satisfaction. You’ve touched his hair before, but never like this- never used it to hold his face to yours. The damp traces of sweat as you twist your fingers in it only add to the surreal euphoria of it all. The flashing lights leave colored impressions against your closed eyelids; the music is a muffled, fading pulse as your senses fill with him.

The sturdy press of Santiago’s body, the smell of him- lingering cologne and the musk of his earlier exertions. His mouth velvety hot, his tongue curling against your own in a way that makes heat expand low in your belly. Increasing desperation infects both of you as you realize you should have done this ages ago.

Dimly you become aware of raucous cheers coming from somewhere nearby. With a gasp you pull your mouth from Santi’s, chest heaving. His lust-blown eyes clear somewhat as you share a shy grin.

Then he looks up, toward where the Miller brothers and your girls are hooting at you. Benny cackles as Santiago gives them a one-fingered salute. You shrug helplessly at the girls, noticing with delight the way they’ve paired off: Benny with his arms around both Accent and Arm Muscles; next to them, Blue Hair’s beautiful brown skin contrasting with Will’s paler complexion.

Overcome with mischief, you duck your head into Santiago’s neck again. Placing your lips where it curves into his shoulder, you flutter your tongue delicately against the flesh before biting down with purpose, laving and nibbling to leave a mark.

Santi sucks in air and you feel a subtle shudder wrack his body. He is still facing your friends; scandalized oooohs sound from their direction, and you're impishly delighted to have made him react in some visible way.

His grip on your head shifts so that one thumb is pressed beneath your chin, guiding your head back up to look at him. He breathes your name, his expression dangerous- but questioning all the same.

Radiating innocence, you grin in answer. “Wanna get out of here, Santi?”

Relief quickly vanishes beneath the promising gleam in his eyes as he takes your hand.

[sokkas-honour]

Hi there! Could you write for your #30 for your music playlist? Zuko x reader 😁😁 thank youuu!!!!

nothing has changed - zuko x reader

pairing: zuko x fem!reader

wc: 2.3k with lyrics

notes: reader is katara & sokka’s older sister! this time the lyrics are in bold + italic so that you don’t confuse them with the flashback + dream scenes, not that i think you would but just in case.

warnings: mention of sibling problems, if there’s anything else feel free to lmk!!

-

nothing's quite the same, as it has been on those familiar days,

as the night sky reigned above the fire nation, zuko looked out the window of his palace bedroom, memories flooding back from his time travelling around the world, away from his nation. wether it had been looking for the avatar or actually working with him, you had always somehow been there. first as his enemy, then as his friend, then as his lover.

he remembers the days where you’d find yourself fighting each other; he would attack you with his fire bending while you’d land hits with your battle club, knife or your whales tooth scimitar. when he’d feel nice, back in his avatar hunting days, he’d solely use his duel swords to make the playing field more even but he’d constantly forget that you were able to handle yourself even against benders. he had always found you to be beautiful and the tension between the two of you when you fought was undeniable.

he remembers when he tried to make amends with team avatar and even try to join, he remembers your initial reaction to it. you sided with your sister, not liking the idea of the boy who tried to hunt your friend, your siblings and yourself down, and the idea of accepting someone of the firenation, a nation that had taken your mother from you, into your friend group.

you came around before your sister, having joined your brother and zuko to try and free your father. he had proven himself in terms of having changed and as being a valuable member for the gaang. he still remembers exactly what you said when you came back from the trip.

“zuko!” you called before he could go too far, wanting to give some sort of privacy to the reuniting family. the ex prince stopped in his tracks as he waited for you to catch up to him.

“yeah?” he asked, unsure of what you would say. your brother had already made his amends with him but had warned that although you wouldn’t be as hard as katara, you still might take a little while to come around. either he was about to hear you accept him as part of the group, or you were about to, well he didn’t know.

“i wanted to say thank you. thanks for helping me get my father back. you really have changed.” zuko was a tad bit taken aback, not thinking he’d get your approval right after the trip but it didn’t bother him. a small weight seemed to be lifted off his shoulders. you gave him a proud smile and he felt his heart race.

“it was nothing. you both deserve to find your father again.” he blushed, bringing his hand to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly. he returned your smile with a small one.

all of a sudden, you grabbed your scimitar and pressed the sharp tooth end lightly on his neck. his heartrate sped up but it wasn’t fully from you being close but also out of fear, sokka hadn’t warned him about this. his eyes widened.

“but if you even dare double cross us. if you even dare lay a finger on either of my siblings, i won’t hesitate to hurt you.” your previously bright face turned dark as you threatened him, not moving your weapon from his neck until he nodded nervously. when he finally did, you lowered it and your face returned to what it was before.

“good, i’m happy to have you as part of the team zuko.” you put your hand on his shoulder as a sign of acceptance, accompanying it with a small grin before turning around to go reunite with both of your siblings and your father.

he laughed a bit at the memory, remembering the fear that he felt during those few seconds but also the weird attraction he still had while you threatened his life.

he also remembers when you both finally admitted your feelings for each other. unbeknownst to him, you had also felt some sort of weird attraction to him when he was still hunting the avatar but it went from a weird and almost uncomfortable attraction, to one of genuine caring and love.

you had both grown rather close after your rescue at the boiling rock, spending many moments together along the beach and in town. it was after seeing the horrible play about their mission thus far, your character seeming to constantly fight with katara over zuko while also being an annoying and overprotective sister, constantly belittling your sibling’s feelings.

zuko remembers you storming out right after the show closed, sokka’s and katara’s characters having almost insulted you multiple times and you just needed some air. the words of the characterised katara still ringing through your head. ‘you’re a terrible sister y/n.’

“hey y/n.” he approached you calmly as you leaned against the balcony, staring at the bright moon that had been your friend during many sleepless nights after your mother died and your father left.

“you ran out of there pretty fast so i just wanted to make sure that you were okay.” zuko informed, leaning his back against the balcony after you gave him no response. he turned his head towards you and searched for a reaction.

“yeah, the show was just.” you took a deep breath, thinking of a word to describe the monstrosity you had just seen. “horrible, let’s put it that way.”

zuko laughed at your bluntness. you turned your gaze away from the moon to zuko, a small smile creeping up on your face at his carefree and content expression. his laugh was also something you didn’t realise that you liked about him but the last couple of days had made you create a long list on things about him that made you swoon.

“that’s certainly one way to put it.” his laughter died down and he met your staring gaze, both of you not breaking it.

“listen, if there was anything happening between katara and you, or if there is anything, i’m totally cool with it.” you blurted out, needing to get it off your chest to have an answer on the relationship portrayed in the show. you knew that katara would’ve told you something if it were to happen but you had to be sure.

“why would? why would something be happening between katara and i?” zuko asked, confused at your question that seemed to have come out of nowhere. the firebender knew that he wasn’t great at expressing his feelings but he had hoped that he’d been somewhat obvious about the way he felt toward you.

“the show, in the show you two have a lot of romantic scenes. that’s literally one of the main fighting points for katara and i’s character, other than me being told i’m a useless and horrible sister.” you mumbled the last part. pushing yourself off from leaning over the balcony to stand up straight, body still not facing zuko.

“you do realise that the show is incredibly inaccurate?” he rose an eyebrow and stared you, confused as to why you would base your information on some horrible adaption.

“yeah but parts of it were true.” your head fell, letting the words of katara’s character get to you.

“hey, you’re not a horrible sister. in fact, i know that sokka and katara would say the opposite, in fact, they already have! multiple times!” zuko wasn’t about to let you beat yourself up over a badly interpreted story that was based off of misinformation. he put his hand on your cheek that had since turned away from him. when you felt his warm hand, your brought yours up to put it on top of it, letting your head settle against his hand and turned to fully face him.

“i know it’s just. katara and sokka have always been closer and, i sometimes neglected katara and was overprotective of her. i had always been closer to my dad so i had no idea how to deal with her and was just jealous of the attention she got as the youngest.” you admitted, not wanting to look into zuko’s eyes as you confessed something that not even your siblings knew.

“that doesn’t mean your a bad sister. katara and sokka both love you and know how much you love and care for them.” he caressed your cheek with his thumb in a caring manor as you finally met his caring gaze once more.

“thanks zuko.” you smiled in recognition, thanking him for his comforting words.

“and not only do katara and sokka love you for who you are, i love you for who you are. the y/n in the show was nothing like the y/n i know.” he ranted, not noticing his confession that slipped but you caught it and a huge smirk grew on your face.

“what?” he stopped talking when he noticed your mischievous grin.

“you love me? zuko we only became friends like two weeks ago.” you laughed, butterflies still dancing in your stomach at the idea of him feeling so strongly towards you in such little time.

“i mean i dont if it’s love but it’s definitely something similar. i like you y/n. you keep me on my toes, you make me laugh, you challenge me to be a better person.” he clarified his previous statement which just made things even better for you.

“uh huh.” you nodded, indicating him to keep going. zuko usually wasn’t the one to have a lot to say but tonight seemed to be a special night.

“and after seeing all the horrible things i’ve done, not only in person, but theyve all gotten thrown back into our faces tonight. it’s totally understandable if you’re not there yet to completely forgive me, i mean i would but.” zuko’s out of character rambling continued, making you laugh but you couldn’t keep letting the poor boy dig himself an even deeper hole so you took a deep breath and grabbed his hand to remove it from your cheek so you could lean in and press your lips against his in order to shut him up.

zuko’s eyes widened in surprise, taken aback by your bold action but you were always the one to take bold moves. after the initial shock, zuko eagerly kissed back, moving his hands to your waist in order to bring you closer to deeper the kiss. some part of him had been waiting for this moment ever since he had laid eyes on you.

“spirits zuko, you never talk that much.” you teased once you broke apart from the kiss which just earned a blush from the raven haired boy.

“well um, i.” zuko stumbled, failing to find a reason for his previous ranting but he never got the chance to answer as you pecked his lips , and you both got interrupted by a certain watertribe boy.

“y/n!” you heard your brother call out, probably concerned at your running away and the fact that you still hadn’t come back.

“looks like sokka’s calling me, if you don’t mind.” zuko unwrapped his arms from your waist and you started walking back inside to the voice who called you. you made sure to send a wink in his direction before you left, leaving the banished prince blushing and with a stupid smile on his face.

zuko grinned as he thought about your first kiss. he sighed happily and went under the covers to doze off and let sleep take over temporarily.

i dream about an old familiar face, then wake up and you're gone without a trace,

“zuko!” the firelord lifted his head up and saw you running towards him down the long hallway of the palace. enormous smile on your face at the sigh of your boyfriend at the end of the hallway.

“y/n!” he greeted you with a mirroring expression and a hug when you finally reached him. arms wrapping around your waist as you cuddled into his chest.

“ i missed you.” you mumbled into his chest, feeling his chest rumble as he chuckled at your statement.

“i missed you too.” he replied, eyes meeting yours as you lifted your head to look at him. he used one of his hands to move the hair out of your face before placing his lips softly onto yours.

“i have news.” you announced as you broke the kiss, a huge grin on your face as you looked up at zuko with an infinite amount of love.

“which is?” he asked, not knowing if he should be concerned or excited.

“well, as you know i went to see katara while i went home and you’ll never guess what she told me! i’m pregnant!” you told zuko the news and you swear you saw him panic for a split second before he fully processed the information and his face was replaced with pure bliss.

“really?” he didn’t believe it, you two were finlay going to have a child together. who would’ve thought back then when you two fought against each other that you would’ve been carrying his future child. you simply nodded before he leaned back into kiss you.

he woke up in the morning, thinking that his dream was a memory and that you were laying right next to him but as he turned around, he was met with an empty bed. he sighed slightly, you were still away in the south pole with your family as you had been for months. nonetheless, he was happy to have dreamed about your beautiful face.

and though you're away, nothing has changed, we always made it out, even when im old and blue, i’ll think about my time with you.

when he stepped out of his chamber, he was met with a servant giving him a scroll, no doubt a message from you. the firelord thanked them before returning to his room to read in peace.

whenever one of you were gone on a mission somewhere in one of the four nations, you both communicated through letters so that you could keep in touch. it would also serve as a way to your future selves to look back in the early moments in your relationship fondly. you’d always have memories that would never go away written in those scrolls.

atla taglist: @draqondance @biqherosix @missmorosis @firelady-jay

zuko taglist: @duh-dobrik

[talesofesther]

Anchor - Part 1

Five Hargreeves x Reader

Summary: When Y/N reunites with her friend Klaus he ends up dragging her into his family mess of saving the world from an apocalypse. Meanwhile, Five sees himself getting more and more attached to this new girl.

Masterlist with the other parts

A/N: if you wanna be added to the tag list, let me know. 

Important notes, PLEASE read: 

I suck at summaries, so I'm sorry;

Anyway, I haven't written anything in a LONG time, so brace yourself for some bad writing, also English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistakes;

Five is aged up to 17/18 years here (which is Aidan's age, so nothing's changed);

This fic will be focused on Y/N's and Five's relationship so if I sometimes just brush past anything important happening with the other siblings, that's the reason;

I will follow the main events of the series but there might be some changes to best fit this story;

I have just a vague idea of what I want this story to be, but I'll mostly figure things out as I write. I'll try to update this always as soon as possible, but no promises (I'm also open to ideas of what you would like me to include in this story, so don't be afraid to ask);

I'll always try to keep the siblings in character as much as I can, but it may not always be perfect, so I'm sorry;

And last but not least I will only continue posting this fic here if you guys like it, so please let me know, a simple like will suffice. And all feedback is appreciated :D.

It was already late at night, Y/N didn't know how late, but it was late. She was mindlessly walking the empty streets, with her hands in the pocket of her jeans, her sneakers kicking the dirt and her head overwhelmed with probably too many thoughts. She reached a club, at least she presumed that's what this place was. Just hearing the music from outside already seemed to give her a headache.

She was already walking away from the disturbing place when she saw a man stumble his way out, something about him looked familiar so she walked a bit closer and squinted her eyes to give him a better look. The only light illuminating them was the moon and the faint colorful lights coming from the club, and when she saw who the man was her eyes automatically widened.

"Klaus?" Her voice made her sound more surprised than she actually was.

Klaus on the other hand, raised his head so fast when he heard her voice he even became a little dizzy. When he saw the girl in front of him, his hands came to his mouth in utter shock and he muttered "oh my god".

"Oh my god Y/N" he said again, louder, after some seconds. Next thing Y/N knew she was being enveloped in a bone-crushing hug by her weird friend. "I can't believe you're actually here. Oh, it's been so long, I missed you" Klaus said while holding her close, he seemed genuinely happy to see her and it sent a warm feeling to her heart.

"I missed you too, buddy" she said with a smile, bringing her arms around him as well.

Klaus finally pulled back and held her by her shoulders. Now that he was closer, she noticed that he was sweaty and looked quite on edge. "Finding you here is definitely the best part of today, oh I haven't seen you in ages"

Y/N grinned at his overreaction, this was so typical of him that it even made her feel at home. But honestly, it hasn't been that long, probably just... Two months.

"Are you back in town? Please tell me you're back in town"

"Yes, I'm back in town Klaus, I was planning to call you tomorrow actually" Y/N chuckled.

This put an even bigger smile on the man's face. For some minutes they just sat outside of the club and talked about what happened in their lives in the past months, Y/N realized that she also missed him dearly. She didn't have so many people she could talk this carelessly with, or any at all.

After some minutes, she decided to ask him the question that was swimming in her head. "Are you okay Klaus? You seem a little on edge"

His eyes met hers and he saw her genuine concern, so he told her the truth. "I conjured my dad"

Y/N's eyes widened once again. Yes, she knew all about his family and his powers, and she saw about his father's death on the news. But she also knew that he hasn't conjured anyone in years, so that was a surprise. "What?"

"Listen, I'll... I'll tell you everything he told me, god I'd be happy to" he gulped and fidgeted with his hands. "But not here, come with me to the Academy. It's comfier there" he smiled.

Y/N had never entered the Academy before, Mister Reggie would probably despise her so she kept her distance. But since he wasn't around anymore, she didn't see much of a problem. So she reluctantly agreed and left with him.

_________

They stayed up all night, talking in the big living room, drinking some glasses of wine here and there. And Klaus told her everything. He told her about Dave while he cried and she held him close. He told her about the apocalypse that was coming, and as much as she didn't want to believe him, she saw the sad sincerity in his eyes. That one specific part she took a couple of minutes to process, but he promised her they were working on stopping it. And at last, he told her everything his father said to him.

They only noticed that it was already morning when the rays os sunlight seeped through the windows.

"Hey, do you wanna head down to the kitchen and make some coffee? I gotta wake my siblings and tell them the big news" he asked while he got up from the couch and stretched.

"Of course but, your siblings don't know me, Klaus..." Y/N smiled hesitantly, looking up at him with her head resting on her hand.

"Ah don't worry about them, they're gonna love you. Just like I do" he waved her worries off and headed upstairs.

Y/N sighed and rubbed her eyes. She had to admit she was a little nervous, from what Klaus had told her, his siblings were nothing like him and she honestly wasn't expecting to meet them anytime soon. Especially now that apparently their missed sibling was back and for some reason that Klaus failed to explain to her, he was her age, but very grumpy. Klaus's words, not hers.

Yet here she was, about to make them coffee. In the kitchen that she was supposed to find in this immense house. Just great.

After she spent more time than she would like to admit looking for the kitchen, she was finally able to brew the coffee in peace. But at least while looking for said kitchen, she was able to take a look at the house. It was huge, every part of it was filled with decorations that were probably worth more than everything she's ever owned in her life, but nonetheless, it was beautiful. Plus Y/N was lucky she didn't run into anybody yet.

"Alright the big man is finally here, Y/N is that coffee ready yet?" Klaus barged into the kitchen followed by a huge man, too huge. Y/N even felt a little intimidated. The big man's eyes soon landed on the new girl awkwardly standing in the kitchen while he sat in one of the chairs.

"Hi I'm-" Y/N was about to introduce herself when Klaus put an arm around her shoulders and cut her off.

"This little thing is Y/N, she's my friend" Klaus had a pleased smile on his face while he held Y/N to him.

"Hey, I'm Luther" the big man mumbled his name, he was clearly very hungover.

Y/N was about to sit on a chair but Klaus stopped her once again. "Oh, Ben is sitting there" he said while pouring Luther a cup of coffee. So the girl sat in the chair in front of Luther, looking at the seemingly empty chair beside her and whispering "Hey Ben, how've you been?".

Her kind smile made Ben smile as well. "I'm good Y/N, I missed you" sadly she couldn't hear him, but her smile didn't leave her face for a while, which made Ben's heart feel a little alive again.

All too suddenly another boy appeared and took Luther's coffee cup from his hand. Judging by his age and appearance Y/N presumed this was their missing brother that was now back. He was wearing a blue set of pajamas and honestly, he was quite... Cute. An opinion Y/N would never let Klaus know, otherwise she would never hear the end of it.

"Jesus, who do I gotta kill to get a decent cup of coffee?" His snarky comment made Y/N raise an eyebrow at him and a small smirk make it's way to her face. But it soon disappeared when the boy's eyes finally found her's. His gaze was serious like she was a complex math problem he was desperately trying to solve.

"And who are you supposed to be?" He asked without taking his eyes off of her.

"I'm Y/N, a friend of Klaus" She gave him a small wave of her hand, but his serious expression still hasn't dissipated. He just took another sip of his coffee and said "Five".

She supposed this was his name, giving that all the other siblings seemed to have actual names instead of their numbers it was a bit odd. But she decided to not ask about it.

"Don't worry guys she's already all caught up in the apocalypse business so she's here to help" Klaus voice made yours and Five's head turn to his direction.

"Help?"

"What?"

Y/N and Five said at the same time. Which made them both look at each other for a second before Y/N spoke again. "You didn't say anything about me helping stop a fucking apocalypse, Klaus. I mean, I will but... A warning would have been nice" she mumbled the last part, bringing her eyes down to her hands to process her new task, apparently. Of course she would help them in any way she could. But she wasn't like them, she was just... Normal. 

"You can't just run around telling all of your friends about the apocalypse Klaus" Five scolded him.

"Hey for the record Y/N is like a little sister to me alright? And also she already knows everything about our weird family, the more help the better right? So you're welcome" Klaus said back at him waving his spatula around. Five didn't look totally convinced, but he didn't say anything else, just shot another glance to Y/N's direction.

"Can we get started please?" Luther finally talked again.

And so Klaus finally started to talk about what happened last night, which was the reason that everyone was here in the first place. His siblings didn't seem to believe that he was able to conjure his dad until a monkey showed up and confirmed his story. He was so adorable that Y/N had the sudden urge to give him a hug, but she stayed on her chair in silence. She wasn't surprised when he confirmed that their father had actually killed himself apparently just to bring their family together. There are probably easier ways to schedule a family reunion, but she wasn't one to judge.

Luther was the first one to leave, he seemed pretty annoyed with all of this, and Y/N couldn't blame him.

Five risked another glance up towards the new girl, she was mindlessly playing with a spoon on the table. He wondered how she ended up with Klaus, maybe someday he can ask her. She looked innocent, fairly happy, and despite Klaus saying she already knew all about his family's weirdness, he had no desire to put her in unnecessary danger. But now was probably too late.

When her eyes rose up and met his, he felt uneasy. He felt an unfamiliar sensation inside his stomach and he didn't like it one bit. So he ran his hands through his hair, said "I gotta think" and in a flash of blue, he was gone.

Leaving only Y/N and Klaus (And Ben) in the kitchen.

***

Thank you for reading ♥ the next part should be out soon. And as I said, if you have any idea about how this story should progress or anything you would like to see in it, please send me an ask or message and I'd be happy to include it. ♥

[pretend-writer]

Kids Of The Future (Chapter 3)

(gif cred: @beth-cassidy)

Mini-Series

Summary: After time traveling from the apocalypse in 2019, a surprise waits for Diego and Y/N as they arrive at Dallas, Texas circa 1960.

Pairing: Hargreeves x sibling!reader, Diego Hargreeves x reader

Word Count: 2.2k words

Warning: mention of violence, mention of sex

✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤

A few weeks passed by and we find Vanya, shopping at our local store with a lady and a boy. I tried waving at her but she gave me a weird look instead.

Eventually down the line, we found out that she had amnesia. She'd had gotten hit by a car, losing her memory which made her not recognize me at all.

We then found Luther at a bar, Diego and I happened to find him there one night when we had one of our friends from the Karate Dojo babysit Belinda. We were having our little date night and of course, they ruin a heartwarming reunion by bickering like a married couple despite not seeing each other for three years.

Five appeared out out of nowhere; as usual. He said he had been trying to find us for years. I'd say he did a shitty job considering that Diego and I found everyone else first except for Klaus. Our favorite cult leader reunited with Allison before any of us found each other.

'How did you manage to drop us off at different timelines?' Allison placed her finger on her temple, trying to make sense in all of this.

'Better question; Why did you two decide to make this love ring?' Luther joked, looking around the Karate Gym. He was the curious one that wanted to see what our Dojo looked like and he was here to make fun of it. Great.

'Okay, Bartender shut it.' Diego hissed at Luther. I never understood how they could go back to arguing even after years of being apart.

Five rolled his eyes, 'Anyways. Now that I've finally found you guys, I-'

'I found you actually.' I commented, grinning as I corrected Five.

'Okay fine! You found me, you genius of a sister. Why don't you find us a way to get back to 2019 then?'

'Three years apart and you're still a dick.' I flicked Five in the forehead.

Klaus laughed, clapping his hands. 'Ahaha, Good one Y/N!'

Vanya looked around the room as everyone else joined Klaus for a laugh. With a confused look on her face, she raised her hand. 'Can I ask a question?'

'Does it involve us getting back home?' Five asked.

'No.'

Five sighed, 'What?'

'We are siblings right?' Vanya scratched her head, looking directly at me as if she was judging me. I could tell what she was implying, causing me to blush a little.

'Okay, for your information, we aren't biologically related. We didn't even have time to act as siblings, Reginald made sure we didn't have a life.' Diego defended himself, squinting his eyes at Vanya.

'But still.' Klaus commented.

'Luther, Allison, don't act like this doesn't involve you guys too.' I practically threw them under the bus, I hated being the center of attention.

'You two have a kid together- a kid!' Luther face palmed, shaking his head.

'It's not our child!' Diego and I said in sync, we should've definitely braced for these comments before this family meeting.

Vanya cocked her head, 'Why did you guys name her Belinda?'

'Wow, more questions.' Five said sarcastically.

Biting my lip, I tried to ease my nerves. I was a little shy about talking to my child in front of my siblings. 'Uhm, her nickname is Bel and I thought it'd be right to make her name similar to Ben. A bit cheesy yeah but I really miss him and it's a cute name so.'

Allison and Vanya awed, Klaus making a sour face as he turned around to face no one. Perhaps talking to his ghost friend that he always argued with.

'What? What are you so butthurt about Klaus?'

Quickly turning back around, he flashed a fake smile. 'Nothing, nothing. So lovely you two. Congrats on the real fake kid you two had.'

Diego scratches his head and continued, making a joke. 'Anymore questions before we end this interview?'

Klaus raised his hand, 'Are you and Y/N not going to date? I mean you guys are raising a child together right? And I'm sure a lot happens behind closed doors with you two. It's no secret the tensio-'

'Okay, interview over.' I grinned and turned to Five. 'I sort of have an idea of a way to get to 2019.'

'What would that be?'

'The briefcase. I ca-'

Five chuckled, shaking his head as he crossed his arms. 'There's no "I can", Y/N. We're going to get caught because I'm the only one who know the way around The Commission.'

'Let me help, Five. I don't wanna sit around and wait.'

'Well, you have no choice because you're going to have to! I'll set up a trap for The Handler to come, figure out a way for her to come find me. You guys just stay put.'

'You're letting me help, Five.' I stood up and walked toward my small-but-sort-of-older brother. 'My baby may be in danger so now I need to come with you to help you take down The Handler.'

'Are you crazy, stupid or all of the above? This has nothing to do with you and Diego's love child!'

'It has everything to do with her!' I yelled back, 'Diego and I are involved in this crazy bitch's business, now so is Bel and I have to protect her. So let me help you.'

'So you can be a burden? I don't think so.'

'Fi-' before I was able to get another word out of my mouth, Five disappeared; Just how he did every time he was annoyed with an argument. Typical.

Vanya's eyes widened, 'Wow. This family is a little overwhelming.'

'Tell me about it.' Klaus sighed, 'Who wants to get wasted?'

'I'm in!' Allison grinned and eyed the rest of us.

Diego shook his head. 'No, no, no. You know I don't put poison into my body.'

'Come on, I've been stuck here thinking I didn't have a family. The least we can do is keep each other company.' Vanya smiled sweetly. It was so hard to process the sweet Vanya that we knew nearly destroyed the whole planet. Well, she technically did.

'The last time I drank, I-' Luther paused, his face turning red from having a flashback. 'Yeah, no I'm not drinking.'

'Popped your cherry right? We all knew that.' Klaus nudged his brother on his arm, 'Drinks on me! I already have loads to share. Y/N?'

On one hand, I was worried about what might happen to us. Not going back to our timeline scared me a little and I didn't want anything bad happening to Five. But right now, I wanted to forget it for just a moment.

'Spending quality family time? I can't say no to that.' I smiled as Allison, Klaus and Vanya cheered.

Diego leaned over to me with an anxious look on his face. 'Shouldn't we check on Bel?'

'Sarah said she'll look after her. Bel will be fine.'

Diego pov;

I sat on the corner as I watched everyone drinking and dancing in the middle of Allison's salon. Klaus brought so many drinks back and honestly, I was in shock. I couldn't believe Klaus was drinking again, didn't even realize how much he used to drank until now.

Y/N was surprising me as well, given the fact that I've never seen this side of her before. After all of us decided to move out of dad's mansion, we went our separate ways.

Even when we kept in touch every now and then with phone calls, it wasn't like we talked about our nightlife and love life. We simply told each other we were doing good and updated on where we were in our lives. Little did I know Y/N was quite the life of the party.

'Come on, Diego! Come dance with us.' Y/N cheesed, inviting me to come join her and the rest of them.

It was cute seeing her drunk and careless, she was constantly stressed and headstrong about everything around her. Never taking a break or relaxed for that matter, in a way I was glad she had this moment to be free for the night.

'I'm sitting this one out.' I smiled as Y/N pouted, tugging on both my hands, trying to get me to get off of this stool.

'Don't be a party pooper.' Luther gestured to come, 'Gotta let loose brother.'

'See, even Luther agrees.' Klaus laughed.

'Fine, fine.' I rolled my eyes and took Y/N's hand as she pulled me into the middle of the floor. The way she was swaying back and forth, I could tell the alcohol was definitely taking control.

Everyone continued to dance, quite sloppy as they were all drunk from Klaus' alcohol. As Y/N try to twirl, she tripped a little, gasping and giggling to herself.

Grabbing onto her, I furrow my eyebrows. 'Looks like someone drank a little too much.'

'Eh, I'll be fine.'

'Let's just sit for a bit.' I helped her sit down on one of the stools, she didn't fight back and maybe Y/N knew she had to rest also.

'Why are you so sweet to me?'

'Because I care about you.' I smiled at her, enjoying the different, drunk side of Y/N.

She stared at me, her eyes said something but I couldn't quite grasp what she really wanted to tell me.

'What are we doing, Diego?' Y/N scratched her head, chuckled to herself. 'Why do you do all these things with me? All these years... why?'

This had probably been the first time Y/N had been honest with her feelings. Even when we were little kids, she would never talk about herself.

I would never talk about myself either, leaving us to hide our feelings for so long. Despite the two of us having casual sex every now and then, I wasn't fully sure of how Y/N felt about me.

'Just trying to pass by time. You know, taking care of Bel and making sure we get back home with our family.' I bit my tongue, realizing I wasn't being honest with her. Beating around the bush was my forte, It was hard speaking the real truth especially to someone like Y/N. I didn't want to scare her off with how I genuinely felt and lose her.

'Ah, for a second I thought I actually meant something to you. Silly me.'

Y/N said so casually, I didn't think she intentionally said those words either. The alcohol in her system made her blurt out the truth, this time I knew she wasn't lying to me.

Growing up, I knew Y/N and I had special connection. Sneaking around every now and then behind Reginald's back, sharing gifts to one another since our loving father didn't do shit for us. She was someone I appreciated and I knew she was grateful for me too. Never would of thought that those feelings were something far more than friendship.

Y/N's pov;

Biting my bottom lip, I immediately regretted saying what I said. I've never in my life confided to anyone, the one time I did it had to be about my feelings. To the person I loved for a long time.

Just for him to tell me that we were doing what we were supposed to do solely for business.

I was embarrassed, trying so hard to keep my tears in. It was hard since the liquor I shoved down my throat was making my emotions bounce all over the place. Hopefully, Diego would think that it was all drunk talk and not my honest feelings about him.

'I'm going to get some fresh air.' I got off my seat, trying to play it off. Or at least I thought I did.

Diego quickly responded back, 'I'll come with you.'

'No, I want to be alone if that's okay?'

He nodded slowly before I walked through the back door into an alley. A part of me wished Diego came after me but that was just some stupid fairytale bullshit that ran through my mind. Besides, it was clear he didn't feel the same way.

'Just the person I want to see.' The voice startled me, not expecting anyone at this dark alley in the middle of the night. 'Hi, Y/N.'

'Uhm, who are you?' The complete stranger that popped out of nowhere made me completely forget about what just happened, maybe in a way it was a great distraction. Unless they were here to kill me.

'Your brother likes to call me crazy bitch, but I personally thought we were BFFs. Shocking.'

I stared at her, the way she looked didn't ring a bells. 'You're going to have to be more specific than that, miss.'

'The little one, Five's friend.' She smiled, I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or polite.

'Ah, you're The Handler?'

'Sure.' She smiled again, that same expression on her face that seems sincere yet deceiving. It was hard to tell but hearing stories from Five, maybe I couldn't fully trust her.

'Well, you must be mistaken because I'm not sure why you want to see me. If you're looking for Five, I don't-'

'No, I need to see you Y/N Hargreeves.' The Handler pulled out her cigar, this time with a smirk on her face. 'I have a proposition for you.'

[moxtoons]

If you don’t mind... What is Noiren and Kenaas story? (Also... A torguta Sith Lord?)

I don't mind at all! I love my boys and am always very happy to answer questions about them!

So first of all, this is basically their relationship:

Now onto the details below the cut ⬇️

You can find more about Noiren here: link

As for Kenaas, he's a Nautolan that was the son of a very powerful Jedi Master and always had high expectations thrown on him because of this. During his training on Tython they learned he was a very expressive boy, he was emotional and excitable, which was deemed as dangerous and needed to be kept under control (especially considering as a child, when his mother died, he destroyed a meditation room in grief and anger).

His father became very strict with him and supervised his training. He helped his son follow the Jedi code and bury his feelings under serenity and calm, though Kenaas felt it was wrong.

After completing his training and becoming a full Jedi, he heard his father getting praise for "training the untrainable" and quickly left the planet, angry and dejected. His master and father continuously demanded he return and told him he was walking a dangerous path. He ignored them, his mind was racing. Being a Jedi felt wrong. He felt he didnt belong. He knew what his peers thought of him, and how much his father wanted to bury the real him.

Kenaas jumped from planet to planet trying to find his place until eventually he landed on Tatooine. Boy oh boy did he hate it there. Too dry and too hot for the poor Nautolan.

And on that horrible desert planet he met Noiren.

Their meeting wasn't as one would expect from a Jedi and Sith pair. There was no big epic battle. Noiren was standing guard at one of the Tatooine Imperial bases and spotted a figure in the distance. As it approached he noticed it was a Nautolan, just walking, in the desert all alone. That was certainly odd. Then as the alien passed him he spotted the light saber and realized this was a Jedi walking through Imperial territory casually.

He approached the foolish Jedi with an intention to fight if needed, his brother Aidesan was behind him and ready to go as well. But the Jedi didn't pay them any mind, he just kept walking in his dazed state. The brothers looked at each other in confusion and decided to just knock him out and take him back to their ship, as a prisoner.

Kenaas was so lost in thought he hadn't realized where he was, and it ended up getting him captured. When he woke up he found himself in a cage in the Siths ship, Aidesan was sitting in a chair watching over him and called out for his brother to alert him of their new prisoners awakening.

Noiren stepped in and started to ask questions. Who he was working for, why he was in Imperial territory, what he wanted, all of the basics.

He wasn't expecting the response he got. Kenaas hadn’t even realized where he ended up. He was too deep in thought. He was a rogue Jedi rethinking his life and tired of being expected to be a perfect jedi when he had to hide so much of who he truly was. He was tired of living in his fathers shadow and considered the failure that graduated. Inner peace and serenity may work for most Jedi, but he wasn’t one of them.

Aidesan took pity on him and pulled his brother aside, he suggested they teach this Jedi the ways of the dark side. Maybe they could save him from his misery if he found his place with them. Noiren thought on this and decided that it was actually a rather good idea. This Jedi was passionate and could harness all of that emotion and energy and be very powerful.

The suggestion was denied at first by the Jedi, but the idea of learning about both sides of the force and being allowed to feel and use his bottled emotions started to grow on him and he agreed to learn.

From there Noiren took him to Dromund Kaas for some training. He was shocked by the Nautolans power and how quickly he could learn. He was a bit of an airheaded bleeding heart, but he was a nice it of light to have around and during the months of training they started to become friends.

He was very excited to shoot lightning for the first time.

After a full time of training, Kenaas joined them as a permanent crewmate and friend. He wasn't quite Sith, and wasn't quite Jedi, but he definitely became Noiren's impulse control. He even brought the soft side of the Sith Lord, a side Aidesan hadn't seen in a long time.

After a little over a year of traveling and fighting together, Noiren sat down with Kenaas and opened up to him about his past and his reasons for doing what he does. He didn't care about the war, or the emperor, or even being a Sith. He just wanted to find his brother and sister that were taken from him at a young age. Kenaas swore he would help him find them, and he would be free from his Imperial shackles once they found them.

And this was when they had their moment and confessed. Noiren had fallen in love with Kenaas.

The two ended up starting their relationship that day and their bond only continued to get stronger. Even in the rare times they were separated they could feel eachothers presence through the force.

The small group worked together to continue to try and find Noirens siblings. They found his twin sister when they were sent out on a mission from the Imperial military. They heard about a pirate who had stolen a ship from them years ago that had been doing way too much digging into where the Sith training grounds were. She was a threat that needed to be eliminated. (This was also in my explanation about the siblings)

Long story short, they ended up fighting, Kenaas helped Noiren realize it was his sister and they reunited, then with some troubles and a big battle with other sith they end up getting their other brother back as well.

Noirens siblings all adore Kenaas and he won the hearts of Arianness's crew as well.

Kenaas and Noiren get married as the years go by and when Arianness has her children, Kenaas is the best uncle they could ask for, though his struggles continue through those years as the Jedi still track him and have him branded a traitor. His father swears revenge on the Sith that brainwashed his son and they end up having to fight off both Sith and Jedi alike.

Until his father personally found them. Noiren is ready to strike the old Nautolan down before he gets stopped by Kenaas, who pleads for him to show mercy because this was his father. This leads to a talk between the Jedi and his son, demanding he come home and leave this foolishness behind. Kenaas denies him, explaining that he felt more at home using both light and dark sides of the force with his Sith husband on a stolen starship than he ever did on Tython as a Jedi. He explains that their little group were heros to small villiages now and what they were trying to accomplish.

His father remains straight faced, but is clearly upset and he tells Kenaas he is no longer his son, and that he will no longer be welcome on Tython or in any Jedi temples.

In a moment where he expected to feel the most broken hearted, he finally felt free. He finally had a life of his own with no heavy expectations from superiors and he had a family/peers that loved him. 

So that’s kind of the spark notes of his story, sorry if they were incoherent rambles!! I’m just so excited people are actually interested in my OCS!!!! Thank you for validating my love for my OCs lol 

ALSO YES! My Torguta Sith Lord, Mavasha-Scorn! I am gay for my own OC and I will not apologize for that

If you wanna ask about more of my OCs or just see more doodles of them I’m always happy to do so, just receiving asks like these makes my day just that much brighter! Thank you!!!!

[avidrawsthings]

I lost track of how long this took me from start to finish but I’m very impressed with the final result. I can’t recall the last time I’ve drawn a line-up like this and actually finished it. That aside, Reina is meant to be very tall for her age, like at least a head taller than most kids her age, but here she looks to be of average height...XD

This is my take on the MC Through the Years Challenge (I think that’s what it’s called lol) by @leah-demarco 

My contribution to the MC Childhood Challenge is right here! The stuff above can be regarded as a continuation from that.

Ties into the Future MC Challenge here!

(If the letters on my blog are difficult to read on the PC, use CRTL + to zoom in. When I tried increasing the font size on my settings, all it did was make the letters overlap horribly)

1984-1985 (11 years old)

After bonding with Ricardo (Jacob) over the past 3 years, Reina made up her mind to attend Hogwarts just for the sake of being closer to him. Since he never told her or her family about the vaults in order to keep them safe, Reina was completely expecting him to be at Hogwarts starting off his 6th Year. It wasn’t until after she met Rowan did she learn the truth. Upset and shocked as she was, that gave way to her absolute determination to find him and bring him home.

As Ricardo never mentioned having a sibling to anyone except Dumbledore and Chester, Reina was only ever seen as the friendly foreign transfer student from the Dominican Republic. She hit it off quite well with her fellow classmates, becoming popular in her own right, second to Penny. With dreams of owning her own bakery one day, she decided she would have a mini baking business while at school that became a hit with her classmates.

Much like Penny, Reina proved herself to be skilled enough at Potions to also be on Snape’s good side. She views brewing Potions in the same manner as she does baking, knowing the importance of having the right ingredients and the proper way to mix them. Despite enjoying such a positive atmosphere, it didn’t stop her from having to deal with Merula’s shenanigans. 

Since Merula didn’t have the excuse of MC’s relation to their sibling to get away with messing with them, she often faced the consequences for her actions. The other students viewed her actions as quite malicious because as far as they knew, she was attacking the transfer student for no reason.

1985-1986 (12 years old)

With encouragement from Rowan, Reina tries out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team and becomes their newest Chaser. She also meets Andre around this time and the two bond over their love of Quidditch and how they were taught by their respective grandparents, Andre with his grandma and Reina with her grandpa. 

Rowan effectively took Penny’s place for all the Quidditch stuff, as her own involvement stemmed from her family’s tree farm also making wood for brooms, and she wanted to see them in action. This helped Rowan break out of her shell, especially after hitting it off very well with Murphy.

Activities aside, Reina was still determined to get involved with the vaults for the sake of bringing Ricardo home. After meeting Bill for the first time, Reina unknowingly latched onto him due to seeing him as an honorary big brother figure. Once the Ice Knight had been dealt with and the Ice Curse broken, Reina would be left in shock upon hearing what she thought was Ricardo’s voice for the first time in 2 years. He begged her to not press further for her safety, but she wasn’t having it, promising him she’d rescue him from wherever he was.

1986-1987 (13 years old)

Develops a big time crush on Talbott after meeting him in group study sessions, and goes out of her way to help him when realizing he’s going through something. Merula’s constant spying nearly destroyed the chances of Reina and Talbott becoming friends, but in the end they succeed and the two become quite close.

With the Vault of Fear causing Boggarts to run amok all over the school, Reina knew she’d run into one eventually. What often puzzled her was that she’s never encountered one before, and isn’t exactly sure what her fears are. She got her answer when walking down a hall on the way back from the courtyard. It would take the form of a woman she wasn’t familiar with, but insisted she was Reina’s mother. The sight alone caused Reina to collapse with a high fever.

While she already knew her mother was abusive, the woman died when Reina was a toddler and her memories of the woman were wiped to spare her from the trauma. As the Boggart couldn’t figure out what Reina feared at the moment, it appears to have latched onto her subconscious. While she wasn’t sure why her mother’s image would cause her to have a fever, it gave Reina and her friends all the more incentive to break the curse as soon as possible. In time, of course, they succeeded.

1987-1988 (14 years old)

Reina pays less and less attention to Merula’s nonsense, and goes as far as befriending Ismelda after helping her deal with heartbreak regarding her feelings over Barnaby. Reina then attends the Celestial Ball with both Ismelda and Rowan as a girl group.

Some time after the Celestial Ball, she starts dating Talbott and the two are head over heels for one another. They do keep it private, however, as Reina herself is still very popular second to Penny, and Talbott would rather not be the center of attention.

After meeting up with Torvus, she befriends the Centaur much faster thanks to him not knowing of her relation to Ricardo. She has some familiarity with Centaurs as a herd of predominantly female ones live a short distance outside of her hometown. Progress is made and the Sleepwalking Curse is broken.

1988-1989 (15 years old)

Her 5th year proved to be a major turning point in Reina’s life. With newfound responsibilities, she now had to balance Prefect duties, her side baking business, Quidditch, detention and figuring out how to solve the newest curse. Reina’s emotion-reading abilities allowed her to be aware of Rakepick’s wickedness, and she refused to go anywhere near the woman to the point of avoiding her classes entirely. This didn’t go unnoticed by her friends.

The group found themselves divided over Reina’s choice to avoid the woman. Some of them (including Ben, Rowan, Talbott and Tulip) sided with Reina when she shared her concerns, while the others (Bill, Charlie and Penny) had doubts. Bill felt very appreciative of not only Rakepick teaching them actual important things, but the fact that she’d secure a Curse-Breaking job for him once he graduated. Charlie, of course, sided with his brother, and Penny herself was desperate for whatever help was possible to free Beatrice from the curse.

When questioned if her current levels of stress was affecting her ability to read the emotions of others, Reina couldn’t provide an answer, but stuck by her gut instincts regardless. Things reached a breaking point near the Christmas holidays. Penny (with some manipulation by an opportunistic Merula), took Reina’s refusal to cooperate with Rakepick in the worst possible way and angrily lashed out at her friend. The ensuing argument led to a vicious falling-out between the two. Some weeks later Reina would suffer a stress-induced mental breakdown that left her bedridden for some time.

Prefect duties were given to Rowan with Sprout’s approval, she was excused from detention and couldn’t take part in Quidditch until further notice. Her condition also prevented her from having her Quinceañera, which deeply upset her for quite a while. When Merula failed to get the painting from Peeves, Reina had to do it for her despite her weakened state. She recovers enough that she’s approved to enter the vault with the rest of the group. 

After Rakepick revealed her true colors and went as far as trying to kill Reina, the group fights back and forces the woman to flee. She reunites with Ricardo and the two have a heartfelt reunion. He joins the group in heading back to school. While Reina would fall into a coma for a week (even clinically dying for 4 minutes), she would eventually recover. With Ricardo safe and sound, and the Portrait Curse being broken, Reina made it clear she would no longer be involved with the vaults. The injury she sustained from Rakepick would leave Reina in a wheelchair for most of the upcoming summer.

1989-1990 (16 years old)

After the emotional fallout from everything she went through the previous year, Reina fell into a very deep depression. It was so bad that it darkened her hair and left her in a lethargic state. She barely interacted with anyone outside of her family, Rowan and Talbott. She only took 4 classes (Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology) at the N.E.W.T. level as her future career of running her own bakery didn’t have any required classes to go with it. 

She had no energy for her extra-curricular duties, so Rowan officially replaced her as Prefect. Reina had also stepped down from Quidditch for the same reasons, and ceased her baking side business as well. In her downtime she’d often be sleeping due to her near endless exhaustion. She even found a way to switch off her Empathetic abilities and kept them off due to not caring. With Ricardo tackling the final vault, Reina stayed true to her word by not getting involved when the next curse broke out.

She would remain in her slump until one night when she had a nightmare of Rowan getting killed right in front of her by Rakepick. It scared Reina so badly that it took a Calming Draught for her to be able to relax. While it didn’t break her out of her depression right then and there, it proved to be the push she needed to eventually make a recovery and get her inner fire back. What definitely added to it was how prophetic it felt. The same night she had the nightmare was when Ben and Merula went to the Forbidden Forest by themselves and encountered Rakepick, but were saved at the last minute by Ricardo.

Reina and her friends outright believe that despite the teachers’ best efforts to tackle the current curse, they weren’t getting anything done. The group would take matters into their own hands, but Ricardo would act as their guide, using his own experiences to help them out. 

1990-1991 (17 years old)

By this point there’s no sure way of knowing how the vaults would be dealt with, but they would be dealt with. Reina by that point would feel a sense of relief that she could finally put the vault stuff behind her and go back to as normal of a life as possible. She’d graduate with the rest of her friends and together take the next step toward the new stage of their lives. 

After graduating, Reina would head back to her home country and work under her family to learn how to officially run her own bakery.

[fatherlyssa]

The Past.

summary: old feelings and relationships are reunited between y/n and ethan.

"Y/n, you have to come! It'll be so much fun." Cam whined over the phone as you pulled it away from your ear. You placed the phone on speaker and sat it on your bed, continuing to do your laundry.

"Cameron," Your voice trailed off as you held the shirt up in front of you. It was one of his t-shirts. One that you didn't have the heart to throw away or give back to him. You owned it for so long and wore it so often there was holes forming around the neck. The him happened to be Cameron's brother. "I don't think it would be a good idea."

You thought back to the last time you saw him. The cardboard box in your hand was full of everything of his that was at your house. Items ranging from his hairbrush, mouthwash, toothbrush, clothes, pictures, and a couple of movies. You didn't want anything that was going to remind you of him in the slightest.

His reasoning behind the breakup was simply, "I don't love you anymore. Not like I did."

The words replayed in your mind everyday. Everytime you looked in the mirror. Everytime you passed a Sonic because that's where you two ended up every Friday night. A cookie-dough master blast in your hands and a brownie blizzard in his.

How can you just love someone one day and not the next? It never added up in your mind. But you were never raised to beg for anyone to stay in your life that didn't want to be there. So, you let him go. You left his house that day and never saw him again.

The downside of the entire thing was his siblings were your best-friends. Cameron remained one of your closest friends, but Grayson drifted away. It was understandable. Where Grayson was, Ethan followed.

"Look, as far as I know. He's not even going to come. You know how him and Grayson are with alcohol."

Cameron was having a get together at her new house. She had a pool with a jacuzzi made into it and it had a slide going down into it also. It was very nice to say the least. The party wasn't for anything in particular. It was for her to say, "Hey, I have a pool!", and that's okay.

You and Cameron were of legal drinking age so you didn't turn down a beer or seltzer, but Grayson and Ethan's morals stood strong. Usually.

The thought of being able to lay out by the pool while just hanging with some people your own age didn't sound bad at all. It sounded relaxing and that was exactly what you needed after the stressful work week you had before.

"Okay, fine. I'll come, but-"

Before you could finish your statement, Cameron was shouting excitedly about how much you were both going to have. She told you what time to come and then hung up abruptly.

You were going to tell her that if he showed up, you were leaving. No if's, and's or but's about it.

DAY OF THE PARTY

You looked over your outfit in the full body mirror you had set up in the corner of your room. You had lost a little weight within the last five months. Your appetite just wasn't there like it used to be. Nor did you ever have time for with work and all the overtime hours.

The top of the bikini was strapless and was open in the middle, exposing the valley of your breast to the world. The bottoms were just a plain black cheeky style. The bikini was more revealing than what you would normally wear, but it gave you a new found confidence. The confidence that said you didn't cared if showed up at this point.

But, soon it washed away as you put your blue jean shorts and thin white t-shirt on. You were back to your old reserved self.

The drive to Cameron's house took you no longer than fifteen minutes. The closer you got the more your anxiety rose. Several cars were parked in the long driveway and a few on the grass along the curb. You decided to park on the curb, not wanting to get trapped in the driveway if something were to happen.

"Y/n!" Cameron spotted you as soon as you walked through the front door. She was already sporting a bright yellow one piece that made her look super tan and slim. "Here. Your favorite." She reached her hand into a red cooler that was in the kitchen and handed me a mango White Claw.

"Thanks, I'm gonna need about ten more." You laughed with her as you popped the top and took a couple of sips.

She began introducing you to couple of her college friends. A few of them you had already met from other get-togethers and a few were new. By the time she had walked around and talked to everyone with her arm around your shoulder, you had finished your drink.

You were never one to sit around and babysit a drink. You had tried in the past, but it never worked out.

After excusing yourself from the crowd of people in the backyard, you walked into the kitchen. It looked as if everyone had moved the party outside. The sun was shining brightly and a few people had already gathered in the pool also.

"Oh! Excuse me.." As you stood up from where you were bending down by the cooler, the back of your body collided with someone else's.

"No worries." your breath caught in your throat as you turned around to face him.

His hair was gone. He had buzzed it. You knew of this because you watched the video. Seeing it in person now, you realized it suited him well. His shoulders seemed more broad than they were before. He had definitely been working out.

You shook your head and pulled your eyes away from him. Without another word added to the conversation you walked away. Part of you wished you wouldn't have apologized to him, but your good nature and manners would have never let that happen.

"Come get in the pool, Y/n!" Your eyes landed on the blonde haired boy with dark brown eyes. Introduced to you as Bryce about ten minutes ago.

"I will in a minute!" You told him with a smile as you opened your new drink. It was a lemon flavored white claw. Why would I grab this?

Your mind was still racing from the prior happenings. Should you leave? If you leave right now he'll know it was because of him. He'll think he has some sort of upper hand on your emotions still. You have to let him know you don't care. Even though you still do.

You took a seat in one of the lounge chairs that were placed around the pool and continued sipping your drink, watching everyone around you have fun. While you were stuck in your shell of anxiety.

When you were younger, early teens probably, you used to get anxiety attacks quite frequently. They came at random times even when you thought you were okay. After a year of them happening you were taken to the doctor and put on a certain medication. The attacks went away.

About a year ago, when you were happy and full of life you stopped taking them. You didn't need them. The people in your life at the time had taught you how to not worry about things so much and to just go with the flow.

Now, as you sat on the lounge chair you felt like you were a mile away from everyone else. You could them all talking, but you couldn't understand what they were saying. It was happening again. And you hadn't had one in so long, you didn't think you could remember how to handle it.

You stood to your feet, cupping your hands around your face to try and focus on what was in front of you. You could feel your breathing begin to get uneven as you stepped into the house.

Your feet led you to the bathroom on the bottom floor, your back sliding down the wall with your knees pressing to your chest.

Focus, Y/n. You're fine.

  "Y/n? Are you okay?" It was him. He noticed your absence from the party. He was the first of your friends to witness one of these episodes. And he was the first person in your life who took their time and helped you through the episode.

Before you could respond the door opened and he knew what was happening. He closed and locked the door behind him, sitting down directly in front of you.

  "Shh," You didn't know you were making any noises. "You're okay. Everything's fine." His words sent a calming effect over your body.

Even if he was the one who caused the attack, he still somehow was managing to stop it.

  "Look at me." His voice wasn't harsh. It was easy and smooth. You had no choice but to follow his orders. His eyes were still the same. Still had the same shine to them. "Breathe with me."

Your chest rose and fell with his. Your hands still cupped your own face. It was a thing you did that you noticed seemed to help you. It blocked out everything that didn't matter.

  "Your hair looks pretty." He said, his finger reaching up to twirl a piece of it around his finger.

He had noticed the highlights you got. Most of them had faded and blended in with your natural hair color, but he still took notice.

  "Thanks. So does yours." You giggles at the fact that he really didn't have any at that moment. He took the sarcasm like a champ, flicking an imaginary ponytail over his shoulder in the process.

Silence overtook the bathroom. It was comfortable and not awkward. Who would have thought sitting in a bathroom with your ex-boyfriend would be anything but relaxing?

"Why haven't you been taking your medicine?"

Here came the parenting Ethan. When you were together, you didn't need to take them. He was your medicine. He made you forget your problems.

"I forgot." It wasn't a lie. You really did forgot about it. Most of the time you were too busy to sit and wonder or overthink things that would lead to these episodes.

The silence flooded back and all you could hear was each of your breathing. At this point neither of you knew what to say. Was there anything that needed to be said?

Ethan moves abruptly and stood to his feet in front of you. You stared up at him as he outstretched both of his hands down to you. You were hesitant at first, but slowly let your hands slip into his. They had the same warm feeling. The warm feeling that made you feel safe.

As you brushed your shorts off and pushed some of your hair behind your ears Ethan spoke up.

“Hey, Y/n?” You peered up at him, your eyebrows furrowing together a bit.

In an instant his lips were pressed against yours. The kiss shocked you, leaving you stunned and pushed against the bathroom wall. Almost as if you had just gained your consciousness, you let your lips move against his.

It was rough and needy. It was something both of you needed.

Your arms wrapped around his neck, letting one of your hands cradle the back of his neck while the other one fell further down his back holding his body tightly to yours. His rough fingertips pressed into the bottom of your thighs and he picked you up, turning the two of you around so you now sat on the sink counter.

His lips pulled away from yours only to reattach themselves to your neck. A small moan fell from your lips as soon as he sucked on the one spot he knew drove you crazy.

“Ethan,” His name fell from your lips smoothly, “Wait, stop.” You forced the words out of your mouth.

As much as you didn’t want the actions to stop, you knew they needed to. This was wrong. You two were supposed to be broken up. But here you sat on a bathroom counter with your legs wrapped around his waist and his lips pressed against your neck.

“Why?” He stopped the magic he was doing on your neck and moved to look you in your eyes once again. “Don’t you miss this? Us?” His eyes held hope and lust. Which are the two worst emotions to mix together. Because nothing good ever comes from either.

“Ethan. Of course I do. You did this. You ruined us. You walked away from this.” You scooted your way off the counter and began to leave the bathroom.

Only to be stopped by a hand grabbing yours.

“I know I did. I did that because I knew I wasn’t good enough for you. I’ll never be your knight in shining armor that comes to save the day. You deserve someone who doesn’t forget your anniversary and brings you flowers. I knew I could never be that person for you.” His voice cracked at the end. Your gaze began to get blurry as you focused on his t-shirt.

“You don’t get to decide whether you’re good enough for me, Ethan. I get to decide that. You were perfect. I don’t need flowers. I can’t take care of myself What makes you thing I can take care of a plant?” You chuckled as you wrapped your arms around yourself to almost try and hold yourself together.

He silently stared at you for a second until he spoke up again.

“Do you still love me?” It was a whisper. Almost like he was dreading an answer in return.

“Never stopped.”

You didn’t want to be stuck in the tiny room with him any longer. You could feel the bubble growing in your throat and that was you needed was for him to see you breakdown. Twice in one day.

You didn’t bother telling Cameron goodbye or any of your new friends. You headed straight to your car and left. Never looking back to see if he followed or if he chased you down like the do in movies. Because you knew if you did, your hopes would crushed looking at the empty road.

[pilot-boi]

Five Injuries Hidden: Chapter Five

Reunited

He could hide from his teammates one on one. All he could hope for was that if they were all together, he could still shrug them all off

AO3 LINK

It had been three hours, stumbling through to their assigned mission points, and there was still no sign of their wayward friends. Jaune didn't know whether to be relieved or scared out of his mind.

He settled on a happy medium.

Another growing concern was if he'd be any help at all soon, as his leg had not stopped bleeding and his lightheadedness had gotten progressively worse. At least Ren wouldn't have to worry about him too, with his concussion making it difficult to summon up the concentration necessary to check Jaune for injuries.

Thank the gods for severe head trauma.

They had finished their own missions as quickly as two Huntsmen in a fortress swarming with guards could, and then started checking the places where the others had been sent.

But no such luck. There was no sign that they had even made it there in the first place.

Roughly running a hand through his hair, anxiety through the roof, he watched Ren peer through the small vent down into yet another room. This time it was a small storage room. Looking up, Ren shook his head, silently conveying that their friends weren't there either. 

Letting his hand fall limply to his side, Jaune scowled darkly at the far wall of the steadily narrowing vent they had been making their way through.

Closing his eyes and resting the back of his throbbing skull on the chilled wall, Jaune suppressed a teeth-chattering shiver that rushed through his bones. That wasn’t a good sign.

The knight stiffened at the sudden cool hand on his shoulder, his eyes snapping open and his hand jerking to the hilt of his sword before he made himself relax. It was only Ren. "-d you hear anything I said? Jaune?" 

Shaking his head -gently, mind you, no need to make things worse- to hopefully clear some of the fuzziness that was slowly growing in size. "Y-yeah, um, yeah, sorry could you repeat that for me?" 

If anything, this made his teammate look even more concerned. "I was asking if you were okay, as I cannot properly check myself. Are you okay to continue looking for the others?"

Shaking Ren’s hand off his shoulder, Jaune marched onwards to the next vent without answering, forcing himself to not wince every time he put his weight onto his injured leg. There was no way he was going to stop because of a stupid iron bolt through his leg..

Fate must have decided that this had gone on long enough after the umpteenth room or hallway they peered down into, because the shrill sound of an alarm screamed through the air and echoed twice as loudly through the vents, causing both teens to cover their now deafened ears.

No longer concerned with being loud, they hurried down the vents, following the stream of guards from above. Jaune's limp became more and more predominant the faster he went, but he forced himself to walk perfectly normal every time he saw Ren even twitch in his direction, which probably messed his leg up even more.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw though, through the vent right above all the commotion.

Lined up in a row on their knees were their friends glaring defiantly up into their captor's and the guard's eyes, prisoners to be executed and looking more than a little roughed up.

The rage was instant and fierce, roaring through his system and clearing away the exhaustion, pain, and fuzziness with all the power of a howling wild-fire. He didn’t notice that he was tearing through the grate with his bare hands. Not until he was suddenly tipping forwards and Ren yelped as he tried to catch him, but to no avail.

The world slowed. His mind, at this very moment, was as clear as it had been in hours, but he knew it wouldn't last long. But it would last long enough to at least get his siblings out of here, and complete their mission.

He could work with that time limit.

He was currently falling from a rather high place, so no matter how he landed, it was going to hurt. A lot.

But, if you really looked, his current position was also the greatest place to do the most damage. Yes. He could work with that. He could definitely work with that

Jaune happened to have surprise on his side, though not for very long. This would have to be done quickly.

Luckily, Ren and he had happened to have the common sense to place the extra bombs that they had brought, which would serve to both complete their original mission and serve as a distraction. Perfect.

Plan formulated, the world resumed its previous speed. And then Jaune released nearly every ounce of his pent up aggression down upon the gathered soldiers and machinery in one blinding flash of Aura. 

If they survived this, and he ever saw him again, Jaune might have to thank Cardin for being the unwitting guinea pig to that particular move.

The yelps of shock and pain was music to his ears.

Oh, there's the ground. Hello ground. It was nice to see you again. He’d need his face back, thanks.

The wind was painfully knocked out of him as he landed awkwardly onto the metal flooring, but other than more serious bruising, he would be fine. Luckily for him, he landed on his good side. The one without the horribly inconvenient bolt of steel still brokenly sticking out of it.

Forcing himself up, with the help of a wayward crate, Jaune gasped for air as he hobbled along the sidelines of the chaos that he had created and back behind where his friends were being forced to kneel, noticing Ren doing the same.

Quickly ridding them of their shackles and waving off their concern, they all used the growing pandemonium to make their escape.

As soon as they were in the clear and the base was evacuated, Yang pushed the button.

The fortress blew and it made a beautiful picture.

Then Jaune turned around and punched Oscar in the arm. Hard. Before he could even open his mouth to question what his problem was, the exhausted knight threateningly pointed a figure into his brother's face. "You are to never. EVER. say 'What could possibly go wrong' before a mission ever again. Clear?"

Properly abashed, Oscar sheepishly nodded while still rubbing his arm. "Clear."

Jaune sighed and briefly rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder before nodding deeper into the forest that surrounded the mountain where the factory fortress had previously been located. "Let's go find a good place to set up camp for the night." No one argued.

Blake helped Ren onto Nora’s back so that the valkyrie could carry her injured partner, and then allowed Weiss to use her as a crutch. Sharing a meaningful glance with her sister, Ruby zoomed ahead to look out for Grimm as Yang led the way into the darkness. 

All of which Jaune was silently thankful for as it distracted any of them from examining him closer and making a big deal out of his injuries.

Which they weren't. A big deal, that is.

Nope.

Definitely not.

He was quite sure that it was actually getting colder because the sun was setting and not because he was going into shock. He was perfectly fine.

...He was in serious trouble, wasn't he?

A soft whine made everyone freeze and whip around to the maker of the sound. It was Ren, looking miserable and in pain. Through pained, squinted eyes, he weakly waved them off. "Apologies. Please do not mind me."

Frowning, but only out of worry and not true anger, Jaune shook his head. "Nuh uh. No way, man.”

“This is as good a place as any to set up camp,” Ruby interjected, zipping back into view in a flurry of petals. “Weiss, could you make some sort of hut thing? It doesn’t have to look nice,” she said, passing the heiress the few Earth Dust rounds she had remaining. 

Weiss nodded and winced, having twisted her ankle during their capture. "Don’t worry, I’ll have a shelter up in no time," she groaned, leaving her weight resting against Blake so she could focus on her work.

Ruby nodded to Weiss to start setting up the stone shelters as Nora settled the groaning Ren against the trunk of a tree. She waved Oscar over, and, grabbing him, the two of them zipped further into the dark forest to hunt for firewood.

Jaune thanked the growing shadows that hid his leg when Nora gave him a searching look before focusing on tending to Ren. 

He knew that he wouldn't be able to avoid her forever, and giving her tasks that kept her away from him was sure to make her suspicious sooner rather than later. But they had so much more to worry about than something that might not even be that bad.

It was, and he knew it. 

Jaune might be stupid, but he wasn’t dumb. He couldn’t pull the rest of the bolt out in the middle of the forest, and healing his leg would just encase the damn bolt inside. The pain had settled into a low pulsing ache that sent waves of nausea and dizziness crashing over him every time he shifted his weight. 

So yeah. He was not having a good time.

Gingerly leaning against the same tree Ren was and resting his eyes for a moment, he could feel the last of his adrenaline trickle out of his system, leaving him beyond exhausted, disoriented, and pained. And this time it was ten times worse. Feeling sick, a few full bodied shivers sneaking past his self control. 

Jaune shoved it all away, locked into a tiny box at the back of his mind to deal with later. Or preferably, never. Never dealing with it was infinitely preferable.

Paying no heed to his shaking hands, Jaune fumbled with his battered Scroll and flicked it on. "Jaune to the Qrow. Jaune to Qrow Branwen. Can you hear me?" Signal was patchy at best, but they couldn’t afford to wait for the established rendezvous tomorrow afternoon.

"I hear ya, kid. Where are you guys?" came the gruff reply, voice turned tinny by the speakers.

Relief swept through his bones, taking more strength than Jaune could spare. Grunting as he sat down, he knew he wouldn't be moving for a while, whether he wanted to or not. "South, down a ways from the main gates I think. We'll keep a fire burning until you can get an airship or some kind of transport here. The quicker, the better.” 

Jaune glanced at the pale face of his teammate, and then over at Weiss, whose teeth were gritted in pain from putting weight on her injured ankle. “Weiss and Ren aren’t looking so hot, and we'd feel a lot better if we had some actual medical supplies to help them."

"Sure thing, I'll be there as quick as I can. And I’d hope that Ice Queen Jr. doesn't look hot. Wouldn't fit with her whole thing." 

Jaune huffed a laugh at the attempt of humor, and tried to not let his voice betray how much even that hurt. "Heh, that's true. I'm going to let you go now, I'm not sure how much longer the signal will hold."

"Gotcha. Stay safe you guys." With that, the transmission cut out.

Sighing and resting the back of his head on the tree, Jaune once again closed his eyes. It would be so easy to fall asleep... 

"Jaune?" Biting back a long suffering groan, the knight blinked open his eyes, having to briefly rub at them to clear the blurriness. Ruby settled onto the forest floor beside him, but not where she could see his leg, thank goodness.

She rested her head on his shoulder, and without looking at him, simply staring off into the forest in front of them, she quietly questioned. "You alright?"

Jaune blinked down at the top of her head. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

He felt her shrug. "You look really pale. Sick, even. Pained,” Ren groaned, as Nora flopped down on Jaune’s other side. Ruby shifted so that she could look him in the eyes, silver on blue.

"Did something happen on the mission?"

He stayed quiet, every fiber of his being screaming at him to avert his eyes, but then she’d know he was hiding something. To tell her, or not to tell her?

In the end, Ruby looked away first, her shoulders slumping. "It did, didn't it." She said it as a statement. A fact.

He didn't deny it. "Wasn't your fault."

She shoved him away, suddenly glaring. "No, it was my fault! I was the one to come up with the plan. I was the one who made the mistake! Don't you dare try to tell me otherwise Jaune Ar-mpth!" 

Ruby suddenly found her voice muffled as Jaune pulled her into a hug, drawing his most effective de-escalation tactic from many years of living with sisters. She fought it for a minute, before leaning into his embrace and quietly crying.

"I th-thought I had lost you guys... There were so many signs of a fight, a- and then Weiss got hurt, and then we got caught, and t-then..."She hiccuped, and he just pulled her closer, humming some tune Saphron used to when he’d have a nightmare.

After she had calmed down and wiped away any remaining evidence of tears, Jaune brought his Semblance up to heal the few srapes Ruby’s Aura hadn’t managed to. “Thanks,” Ruby muttered, leaning away.

“Eh, what are friends for,” Jaune said, biting back a groan of pain.

A bang and a whoop of triumph from Yang indicated that the fire had been started, if by rather less than conventional means. And some fish had been fried up and eaten, courtesy of Blake.

The Faunus had gone and caught them as soon as Weiss was finished setting up camp and no longer needed to stand. Jaune barely touched his food, but made sure that it seemed like he did. Then everyone headed into the shelters Weiss had cobbled together, unaware of just how much drama was about to unfold the coming morning.

[jarienn972]

A Simple Spell - Chapter Fourteen

A Captain Swan Supernatural Summer Tale

For weeks, I was feeling as though this story would never come together. Amidst all of the chaos, I finally found the words again and with a few tweaks from my original plan, my @cssns​ 2019 story is at last complete!  I really want to thank everyone for all of the encouragement and wonderful comments along the way. I have to extend many thanks to @lassluna​ for her beta assistance.  Sorry this ended up taking so much longer than planned, but man, the real world can certainly be stranger than fiction! Thank you @cocohook38​ for the incredible banner you created for this story.  I plan to print it out and hang it on my wall now that this is all completed!  And thank you @kmomof4​ for being such a great cheerleader as I muddled my way through my first AU. I’m definitely looking forward to working with you on this year’s story!

When we left off, Emma had kissed Killian awake (although she doesn't know it yet) before being whisked off to a rooftop to battle Walsh. Now, having defeated him, she's still left with a ton of questions - and some of the answers just might be more than she imagined.

To get caught up from the beginning, you can find the entire story on AO3 or FF.net.  Here are the previous chapters on Tumblr:  One  Two  Three  Four  Five  Six  Seven  Eight  Nine  Ten  Eleven  Twelve  Thirteen

She should have registered some reaction as the ominous clouds drifted apart, but assuming that the trickster had been controlling the darkened skies, Emma barely noticed the evening wasn't as foreboding as earlier. Her brain was still struggling to process the sequence of events that had just taken place on the rooftop and the shocking role she'd just played. She sank to her knees in disbelief as her gaze locked on the stuffed toy that rested in the very position Walsh had stood moments ago.

Magic - magic more powerful than she'd ever experienced - had escaped from her fingertips like an electric shock, yet she hadn't really been surprised by the sensation. This new magic had felt so comfortable, so natural. Had she always had those abilities?

The only real surprise had been in her unexpected ally. There'd been something familiar in that creepy cackle but at this particular moment, she was too shaken to place the voice that had whispered in her ear. Whoever (or whatever) it had been, the shadowy figure's presence had angered Walsh. It also hadn't been fazed by Walsh's powers yet Emma was astounded to think that this person had shown a degree of faith in her powers that she wouldn't have thought she was worthy of.

It seemed to have been an eternity since she'd been whisked atop this building but how much time had actually passed? Emma finally found the strength to push herself back to her feet and took a tentative step towards the plush monkey, approaching the toy with a degree of caution as though it might spring to life. Had she really just turned Walsh Gibbons into a stuffed animal?

She slid the garnet-capped signet ring onto her index finger, finding herself twisting it mindlessly as thoughts of her actions crossed her mind. She pushed them away as she lowered her hand to scoop up the little monkey. It didn't appear quite so sinister upon closer inspection, but she wasn't taking any chances and certainly wasn't about to leave it here. After a brief examination and determination that there was no lingering paranormal effect, she tucked the toy beneath her arm. It was time to get the hell off of this roof and get back to Killian…

Killian! Her mind was suddenly in overdrive, flooded with anxiety about what may have happened to him. She patted her pockets in search of her phone before remembering that she'd set it down on the nightstand before she'd kissed Killian. Ugh… how was she supposed to find out what had happened to Killian if she couldn't call anyone? For that matter, how was anyone supposed to call to see if she was alright?

Too bad the mysterious stranger couldn't have let her know if she had the ability to poof herself back over to the hospital before vanishing…

Emma managed to locate the doorway that led to the building's stairwell and hurried down the three stories to reach the ground level, using a tiny bit of magic to unlock the door of the ice cream shop she found herself in. She took a moment to secure the lock once she was outside but she made a mental note to return tomorrow to apologize to the proprietor anyway. She'd reimburse them for the lock in the event her magic caused any permanent damage.

She darted across an empty Main Street, still clutching the stuffed monkey, and made a left on 3rd, running as fast as her feet would allow before nearly colliding with a vehicle approaching from Oak Street. Hyper-focused on finding her way back to Storybrooke Hospital and the man she was now certain was her True Love, it barely registered that the vehicle now screeching to a halt was the black and white Sheriff's cruiser and the figure leaping out of the driver's seat was her brother, David.

"Emma!" David shouted to garner her attention, but she didn't seem to have noticed him. "Emma! Stop!" Her head snapped around as she heard her name called along with the order to Stop. Now she recognized David, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of her sibling. "Where the hell have you been?" he demanded. "Regina called me and said you vanished from the hospital and we've been searching all over town for you…"

"I'm fine, David," she insisted, not wanting to waste time explaining things to her brother right now. "It's all over and I promise, I'll tell you everything, but right now, I need to get to Killian. I need to know that he's okay…"

"Your pirate, uh…, I mean Captain is fine. He's awake and confused, just as we all are."

"Then give me a ride over there."

"Yeah…, sure," he replied as he calmed down enough to notice the toy tucked in the crook of her arm. "But can you tell me what's with the monkey?"

"That is a very long story," Emma stated as she tossed the plush toy into the back seat of the cruiser before climbing in to the passenger seat. "I'll try to explain later… if I can figure it out myself first…"

"I'm going to regret asking, aren't I?" David asked as he slid back into the driver's seat and pulled the door closed while Emma fastened her seat belt. She answered him with simply a shrug of her shoulders. She'd just defeated a powerful demigod, albeit a weakened one, who had masqueraded as someone she'd once loved. She'd put an end to the town's history of supernatural challenges designed to strip witches of their magic. She'd thought to ask questions, to do the research that her mother hadn't done and now, it was time to reunite with the man she'd known for only a week. The man she now knew was her true love.

She certainly had some interesting conversations ahead of her.

**********

David slightly abused his authority as Sheriff as he sped his sister to the front entrance of Storybrooke Hospital, lights flashing and siren blaring the whole way. Using David's phone, Emma messaged Regina to ask her to lower the protective spell, promising she'd explain everything (at least as well as she could) when she arrived. She didn't have the faintest idea what she was going to say but something would come to her. At least she hoped something would come to mind since she really wasn't sure herself.

Regina's face wasn't exactly the one Emma wanted to see as the elevator doors parted so she tried her best to disguise the disappointment on her face when her cousin started asking questions before she could even step into the corridor.

"Emma, what the hell happened? Where did you go?" Regina impatiently rattled off her inquisition but before Emma could even open her mouth to reply, David held up his hand with the best I've got this expression on his face.

"Give her a minute or two, Regina," David stated, ushering the mayor aside while Emma slipped past. "She's had a rough day and just uncovered her true love. Don't you think they deserve a moment alone?"

Emma grinned at her brother's words. It had to be killing him to say that, she thought as she overheard Regina sputtering through a dejected reply. Madame Mayor wasn't used to being usurped by her underlings, even if they were her relatives.

Her heart was pounding and her skin was flushed as she passed through the open doorway into Killian's room, finding him seated atop the bed wearing the same dusty black jeans he'd had on when she'd found him in Walsh's root cellar. He'd clearly been rushing to dress himself, his midnight blue tee-shirt still clutched in his hand when she entered. His back was to her but he turned immediately to face her at the sound of her footsteps on the tile. Her breath hitched in her throat for a split-second at the sight of his bare, well-toned chest, eyes drifting to the patches of dark, thick hair trailing across his pectorals and down the center of his abdomen.

"Killian, hi…," she stammered, lifting her gaze to meet his eyes before he caught her checking him out. The sly smile that crossed his lips indicated she was probably too late.

"Emma...I'm so glad to see you, Love," he said, dropping the tee-shirt onto the bed as he stood to face her. Both felt equally awkward and anxious, having learned in very different ways that they were true loves. They still had so much to learn about the other. There were so many more words to be said and time to be spent together but in this instant, all of those seemed insignificant as she rushed toward his open arms. Without hesitation, he drew her to him and captured her parted lips with his. Emma sighed into his kiss as their bodies pressed together, relaxing as she relished his embrace, the fear of losing him diminishing as she gently caressed his wounded shoulder.

Without breaking their connection, Emma wiggled her fingers in the direction of the door, willing it to close as the sudden need for a little privacy struck her. As she heard it slam shut at her command, the corners of her mouth upturned into a deeper smile that Killian reciprocated when he noticed the glass wall of the hospital room frosting over with an opaque white film as if by magic.

Pure true love magic.

The Next Day

An overnight in a hospital bed was certainly not the evening Killian Jones would have preferred to spend with his newfound true love. Dr. Whale had insisted his patient stay the night for observation since he hadn't been able to determine the unknown substances present in Killian's blood. Emma knew it was the sleeping potion, but Dr. Whale didn't know that. The doctor saw a man who'd been inexplicably unconscious for hours with a stab wound in his shoulder and despite Killian's arguments that he kept his hook spotless, Whale had insisted on intravenous antibiotics to stave off infection. The stubborn captain was finally forced to concede defeat when Emma reminded him that his abductor might have subjected Killian's hook to some less-than-sanitary treatment before shoving it into his shoulder - not that Killian wasn't going to grumble about his additional night of forced captivity.

Having slept for a full day already, Killian was wide awake so, despite her own exhaustion, Emma stayed up to talk with him as long as she physically could, eventually drifting off to sleep curled into his uninjured side on the narrow bed. He wrapped his arm around her, careful not to entangle her in the tubes and wires attached to him while he thought of ways to inform his crew that they'd be remaining moored in this port for a little while longer.

When released shortly after 9 o'clock, David met them at the curb, dropping off Emma's car while Graham waited in the cruiser across the street to drive his boss back to the station. They'd both agreed that Emma deserved a couple of days off so they offered to cover her shifts until Wednesday to give her some time to decompress. She, of course, planned to spend as much of that time as possible with Killian Jones.

Emma drove Killian to the harbor, leaving him to reclaim his position as Captain while she made a brief trip back to the loft for a much needed hot shower and a change of clothes. She assured him that she'd return in an hour or two and whether or not it made her the talk of the town, she had no intention of leaving his side tonight.

She managed to dodge most of Mary Margaret's questions as she cleaned up and pulled on a pair of faded blue jeans that she paired with a casual charcoal grey sweater. She hurried downstairs clutching her favorite ankle boots, flopping onto one of the kitchen chairs to tug them on while her sister-in-law brought her a brown paper bound parcel.

"I almost forgot," Mary Margaret spoke up as she extended the package towards Emma. "This came for you this morning."

"It did?" Emma asked quizzically as she took the parcel into her own hand. She didn't see any postmarks or return address on it and she hadn't been expecting anything. What was this that had mysteriously arrived today?

"I found it on the doorstep after David left to pick you up."

"Oh, okay… Thanks." Emma peeled off the paper wrapping and was stunned to find that beneath that outer layer was her mother's journal. "You didn't happen to see who left this, did you?" she asked as her sister in law turned on the faucet to start washing the breakfast dishes.

"Uh, no, sorry."

"That's okay. I think I may know…" Maybe she'd been wrong about something here but she knew she'd need to make a pit stop on the way back to the harbor. "I've got to get going. Thanks for this."

"Enjoy the time with your Captain," Mary Margaret dismissed her with a knowing grin as the sink filled with hot water.

**********

But the Jolly Roger wouldn't be her immediate destination. Emma drove to Main Street and eased her Bug to the curb, setting her jaw firmly as she parked the car and clambered out, clutching the toy monkey that had materialized the previous night in her left hand. She stomped fervently to the entrance to the pawn shop and unceremoniously shoved the door open, thankfully finding no patrons in the shop as the little warning bell attached to the handle sounded. Without waiting for the shop's proprietor to emerge from the back room, she flipped the Open sign over to read Closed instead.

She'd rather this be a private conversation.

A slightly perturbed Mr. Gold emerged from beyond his bead curtain as Emma flopped the stuffed toy atop his glass countertop.

"Deputy Swan… To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit this morning?" He stabbed a bony finger at the toy littering his counter. "And what's with the toys? If you're planning to pawn that, it's hardly worth anything…"

"I think you know why I'm here," she replied. "I think you know a lot more than the little bits and pieces you've been feeding me."

"Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"Yeah, I think you do. After all, you showed up to help me last night - albeit in a very different form. Just who the hell are you? Forget that… what the hell are you?"

Gold sighed dejectedly then raised his hand and locked the door with a flick of his wrist. "Seems as though we should keep this between us."

"Fine with me, as long as you start telling me the truth!"

"Truth can be subjective, Miss Swan. You of all people should understand that."

"Understand what? How everyone has lied to me since the moment I arrived into this town? I used to think I could tell when people lied to me, but then I came here and suddenly, I have no idea who I can trust…"

"I'm afraid that's because the spell your mother gifted you with doesn't work within the boundaries of Storybrooke. She intended it to protect you from those outside our town lines, not within."

"So people from Storybrooke can lie to me all they want and I'd never know it? How do I know you're not lying to me right now?"

"Because right now, your desire for the truth has brought you here, exactly as I knew it would."

"You knew. I knew it!" she exclaimed although there was still a heavy degree of skepticism in her voice. "What the hell is going on here? Last night, I got transported across town, had a battle with a damned trickster who once pretended to care for me, had some creepy, shadowy figure show up and give me this…," she unfurled her right hand to reveal the garnet ring that had repelled Walsh's magic. "And then a magical shield suddenly deflected his magic and he disappeared, leaving only this little plush monkey where he'd been standing. But I'm pretty sure you already knew all of that since you were the shadowy figure up on that rooftop with me. Isn't that right, Dearie?"

Gold chuckled, picking up the toy to examine it. "You're every bit the witch I knew you would be, Emma. From the moment your powers emerged, I knew you'd be the one to save this town."

"And I thought you barely knew my family? What else do you know about us? About my mother?"

"As much as any grandfather should - except how to protect her…"

"Grandfather?" Emma wasn't sure if what he was saying was real, but she found herself suddenly speechless.

"You wanted to know who I was. When I founded this town, my name was Francois Albert Blanchard. Of course, that's just one of many names I've used over the centuries and I projected a far different appearance. I was a little taller and a little burlier back then… Something more like this…" The old man snapped his fingers and in the blink of an eye, an entirely different person stood before her. This person stood six inches taller in stature and had a far stockier build than that of the often frail looking Mr. Gold. And there was no doubt that he was the spitting image of the Blanchard family patriarch.

"What are you…?" Emma demanded, backing a step away from the counter as the image of her great grandfather vanished and the familiar face of the pawn shop owner reappeared. "Walsh said something about me being descended from something more evil than him… I didn't believe it but I don't know what to believe right now…"

"Walsh wasn't wrong - there is a degree of evil to me. As the living embodiment of dark magic, there always will be evil that comes with that. I've been called many things throughout the years but essentially The Dark One has been the name that stuck."

"The Dark One? Seriously? Are you another immortal like Walsh? Another trickster?"

"You're not entirely wrong, Dearie. While my powers are not exactly akin to my more volatile brother, there's some degree of similarity between the two of us."

"Brother? Walsh was your brother? Please tell me you're kidding me…"

"Well, adopted brother. My mother had a habit of bringing home strays back then. His given name was actually Malcolm. Believe it or not, he was once the epitome of light magic - well, at least he was when we left the old world. He quickly discovered what so many magic practitioners learn the hard way - power corrupts. Unfortunately, he became addicted to it. By the time we'd founded this town to create a refuge for those like us, Malcolm was growing crazed for power. So, I created a talisman that would temper his magic. It kept him tied here to Storybrooke."

"Walsh… Malcolm… he said you'd kept him tethered here… That ring? That was the talisman, wasn't it? But if you had his powers under control, why couldn't you stop him?"

Gold sighed, leaning back against the doorframe as he tried to determine the best way to answer. "After our falling out, Malcolm vanished off into the woods and no one saw him for years. I'd honestly lost track of him, and interest in finding him, until the attack on Ursula. By then, I'd been here far too long as a Blanchard so I had to leave for a while. When I returned, my children were long grown and I bore the appearance of someone my grandchildren's age. No one had heard of or from Malcolm in a generation, yet somehow, the tale of the town's founding had evolved into the one you heard - one about a warlock seeking to trick witches out of their magic through unknown challenges rather than a rogue trickster who'd been stripped of most of his powers playing absurd, dangerous games."

"You came back and joined the coven with your own granddaughters? Interesting… and only a little disturbing…" She'd barely processed half of what he'd divulged and none of it was getting easier to digest.

"I joined the coven to protect my family. I just couldn't let them know who I was. I did everything I could to help teach them to respect magic, but I didn't know about that ridiculous love spell Malcolm planted until it was too late. He was calling himself Ozmund by then and I know he targeted your mother on purpose. He knew Ava was a Blanchard so he knew her powers would help restore his own, but he had to defeat her to steal them. I hated seeing what he did to her…"

"Let me get this straight - your power-crazed brother pretended to romance his own great-niece to steal her powers? Adopted or not, do you have any idea how depraved that is? And then - damn… He did the same thing to me?" Emma was suddenly sick to her stomach at the thought of her time spent with Walsh in Boston, now ever so thankful that their relationship had never advanced to the bedroom. "I think I'm going to be sick…"

"Try to save the retching until you're out of my store. You've no blood relation, but I agree, it was rather disturbing. I didn't know him anymore. He'd become every bit as evil and dark as I was, perhaps more so, and I had hoped that after he stole your mother's powers that he'd just leave Storybrooke and never return. He'd regained enough to cross the town line. He had no reason to come back here…"

"Until he ran into me," Emma realized. Walsh or Malcolm or whatever his name was might not have come back if he hadn't stumbled into her in Boston. "He said that running into me in Boston was completely by chance. He recognized me because I look so much like my mother. Did I bring him back here?"

"You're not to blame. No one ever set the story straight that there was no actual warlock and your mother never completely recovered from her ordeal. When you started showing signs of birthright magic - magic that comes from within, not learned from a spell book, she got scared. She took you and ran from Storybrooke, leaving your heartbroken family behind. She didn't understand she would have been safer staying here."

Emma paced a circle through the center of the shop, her mind spinning with information overload. What a week this had been…

"Walsh said he'd been back here though… Even you confirmed that you'd seen him, did work for him… He came back before I did so why didn't you stop him then? According to you, my mother's box was here the whole time so why didn't you use the talisman against him again?"

"I couldn't," Gold confesses with a loud sigh. "When he returned, Malcolm was stronger than I'd expected and as I'd done to him, he created a talisman to control my powers. In a game of chess, we'd have both been in check. I couldn't deny his requests whether it be creating potions, gathering exotic elixirs and supplies from abroad… or sending a letter…"

A letter? Emma's pupils broadened as it instantly clicked. "About a year ago, a letter showed up addressed to my mother. It had a return address here in Storybrooke. That's what sparked my interest because she'd never mentioned Storybrooke before. My curiosity got the best of me and it brought me here - right into his trap…"

"That was precisely what he wanted. He saw you in Boston and thought you'd be the weakest link of the Blanchard heirs, but he completely underestimated your tenacity - and your natural ability to question everything. That proved his downfall."

Emma was overwhelmed. She hadn't walked in here expecting any of this, but there as more she needed to know. "You created the sleeping potion that he used on Killian, didn't you?"

"You mean the young man who proved to be your true love? Unfortunately, yes, I did. I'm glad your heart was strong enough to let you see through it."

"Was kissing him really the only way to wake him?" The old man nodded, confirming that it had indeed been their true love that awakened Killian. "Alright…, I've heard about as much as my head can handle for one day but I've got two last questions. First - does Belle know who and what you are?"

"She does not. As of this moment, you are the only one who knows who I am. I change my appearance gradually each year to mimic aging and eventually, I will have to leave her and our son. In a few years, I'll return with a new identity."

"Sounds like a pretty lonely existence…"

"After five centuries, you've no idea…," he mused, voice deep with melancholy. "What was your other question?"

"Was Walsh really waiting for some package to arrive or was that all an act?"

"Oh, he was definitely anxiously awaiting an elixir he'd procured from some distant realm. Supposedly, it would have granted him the ability to use his powers beyond the bounds of Storybrooke."

"He could have used his magic in the outside world?"

"Was that a third question, Miss Swan? I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one, but I do have work to get back to. Don't you have your Captain to return to as well?"

"Yeah, I do. Thank you for your honesty. Your secret is safe with me, but when I've finished digesting all of this overload, I'll be back with more questions."

"I'm certain you will," he replied, squeezing the body of the toy monkey as he carried it back into his private sanctuary beyond the beads. She hadn't expected he'd want to keep it, but he'd not asked for the garnet ring back. Perhaps it's job was done or perhaps it was just time to bequeath it to the new generation. Either way, she slipped it into her jacket pocket as she unlocked the door and reversed the sign to again read Open with the slightest wiggle of her index finger.

Gold listened for the bell on the door to chime, for the echo of footsteps to dissipate before returning to the shop, the plush monkey still clutched in his left hand. He watched Emma make an illegal u-turn in the middle of Main Street as she departed for the harbor front. Satisfied that the only person in Storybrooke who knew his secret was out of sight, Gold propped the toy on the counter and let out a hearty chuckle.

"You've never looked better, Malcolm," he said snidely as his palm closed over the toy's head. Gripping the body with his other hand, he twisted the head and yanked it from the body, spilling foam and polyester stuffing onto the glass countertop. "I warned you to leave my family alone," he continued, pulling stuffing from the toy by the fistful until a gold ring nearly identical to the one Emma had left with toppled out from amongst the fluff except the the capping stone was a deep smoky topaz instead of a garnet. "I knew you'd have it on you," Gold beamed with a wide, toothy grin as he slipped the ring onto his left middle finger, relishing the warm glow it gave off. "The Dark One has returned."

There were no ears to hear his announcement. No one to share his elation over the sensation of lost magic once again coursing through his veins. He didn't need it to be broadcast though. The extent of his power would remain a secret and both that secret and his legacy would be secure with his great-granddaughter.

**********

The jovial face of William Smee was the first to greet her as Emma bounded up the gangplank and stepped onto the deck with a canvas backpack slung over her left shoulder. After last night's supernatural darkness, today's brilliant sunshine was welcoming. The bay was so calm she barely noticed the ship bobbing with the gentle waves.

"Deputy Swan! It's so wonderful to see you," Mr. Smee smiled as he offered an arm to steady her land legs while maneuvering around and over obstacles including buckets, mops and ropes. "Sorry it's such a mess. Last night's storm did a number on the deck…"

"I'm sure it did. Is Killian… uh, Captain Jones in his quarters?"

"He is indeed," Smee replied. "He's been expecting you, but he has been resting as the doctor ordered. Is it true that we'll be spending another two weeks here while he recuperates?"

Emma had to stifle a giggle at Smee's question, wondering what else Killian had told them to explain why they weren't sailing out this week as planned. "Uh, yeah… the doctor didn't want him heading out into the open ocean until his shoulder is healed. Not taking any chances, you know?" She hoped her story was close enough to whatever tale Killian had spewed to be believable. Of course, she doubted it would take long for the crew to figure out the real reason.

"No matter. We're all just glad you were able to find the captain and bring him back to his ship. He instructed me to have Cookie send down some luncheon items for you once you arrived. I'll make sure to do that."

"Thank you, Mr. Smee," she replied as she raised the hatch to Killian's quarters. Smee helped her hold it open as she descended into the cabin at the ship's stern, finding Killian seated at his writing desk when she reached the bottom.

"Hello, Love," he smiled, standing to meet her in the center of the cozy cabin as the hatch fell closed above them.

"Hello to you, too," she responded, tossing her backpack onto the chair he'd just vacated. "Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

"This is resting," was his reply as he slipped his arms around her waist. "I'm resting my eyes on the most beautiful woman in all the realms."

"Really? I don't think this would meet those doctor's orders…," she teased him, brushing her lips against his cheek as she eased him backwards toward his bunk. His untrimmed stubble prickled her skin as he turned his head to try to capture her lips with his own but before he could, she pushed him down onto the mattress. "You're supposed to be resting…"

"And I do indeed plan to rest, but right now, I desperately want to kiss you…" She almost wanted to burst out laughing at the ridiculous pout on his face but she held her composure as she flopped down next to him on the narrow bed, tossing a couple of jewel toned silk pillows to the wall as she reached over and began to unbutton his shirt. "Now Emma…, I thought you intended for me to rest?" he said in mock protest as she undid the rest of the buttons and gently slid the fabric over his bandaged shoulder first before he shrugged it off his other arm.

"Oh, I fully intend to help you rest," she assured him as she planted a tender kiss on his crinkled forehead. "You're way too overdressed…"

"I do enjoy the way you think," he smirked as she shook her head.

"Don't think too much into it - at least not today," she stated, noting the immediate disappointment in his gaze. "You really do need to rest. You look exhausted, even if that potion did make you sleep an entire day. I promise you, I'm not going anywhere though. According to the laws of magic, you're my true love and honestly, I really don't want to screw this up. I want to take this time to fill in some blanks. To get to know you. Hell, I want to get to know me… A whole lot has changed for me this week and I hope you understand…"

"Emma, Love… I would wait an eternity for you. If fate means for us to be together, you won't find argument from me. I've been smitten with you from the very moment I laid eyes upon you and all this week, I've dreamed that you would feel the same."

"Well, how's this for an answer…?" She leaned closer to him, at last pressing her lips into his, gently at first but becoming increasingly fervent, driven by a passion she'd never experienced before.

So this was what true love felt like? Maybe she still had a lot to learn… And she was more than willing to commit a lifetime to it.

[chibimyumi]

Hey! Hope everything's fine (: I wanna ask about the following: what do you think will happen to r!Ciel? I just can't see o!Ciel, Sebastian, the Undertaker etc killing r!Ciel... He might decide to leave the scene for his brother's sake. It would be quite ironic if r!Ciel will choose to sacrifice himself after UT's hard work to bring him back to "life", given the fact that he's an ex-human who committed suicide.

Dear Anon,

First of all, thank you very much, I am doing great. I hope you’re doing great as well! Secondly, I am so sorry for the late reply.

What I think will happen to R!Ciel.

I definitely think that Undertaker will do anything in his power to make sure that R!Ciel does not get killed again; we have seen Undertaker’s obsession with the Phantomhive family, after all.

Sebastian is the titular character of this series, and right now he is incredibly scared of the reaper. Functionally, Undertaker is designed as the main villain and foil to Sebastian. Therefore, storytelling-wise, I think the logical proceeding would be for Sebas to thwart Undertaker when it comes to R!Ciel. Both of them would share the same reason to oppose each other, namely that they are each other’s greatest obstacle in achieving their respective goals. For Sebastian, it is to fulfil his contract and devour O!Ciel, which Undertaker is trying to prevent. For Undertaker, it is for Sebas to NOT fulfil his contract, as he wishes to reunite the Phantomhive family as much as possible. As such, though R!Ciel is of course a character of his own, he does also function as a plot-device for Sebas’ character arc to bear fruit.

Unpacking ‘Need vs Want’

Any good character arc should contain a good ‘need vs want’ correlation. The part above ⇈ and the greatest part of the manga so far, addresses only the ‘need’ in the ‘need vs want’ in Sebastian’s character arc. The ‘want’ is mostly left untouched. Sure, we could say that Sebastian ‘wants’ to fulfil his contract in order to have O!Ciel’s soul, but there has never been any explicit explanation as to whether Sebas had a choice in the matter to begin with. He did not seem to have any say in whether he gets summoned or not, as was suggested by him telling O!Ciel to dismiss him if he required no service of him. Here, we learned that Sebas can’t just leave on his own accord; i.e. he is chained. From this, we may conclude that sacrificing R!Ciel was the fee to get Sebastian to travel to the human world. If we do accept that he had no say in whether he wanted to come or not, we could say that by ‘paying’ with R!Ciel, Sebas was put in a magic-parcel and sent to O!Ciel, with the included promise to enter a bond of servitude. In order to dismiss him, the same postage fee would have been required to repack him and send him back.

If we accept Sebas’ condition of entering the contract as being involuntary, all the ‘want’ in him that is left so far is:

wanting his meal to be delicious

to not be a speechless slave.

Out of these two ‘wants’ however, only number 1 counts as the correlation with the ‘need’ which befits a character arc.  Number 2 is more of a coping mechanism, or a means to an end, if anything. Whether or not he acts like a speechless slave will not really change the way he fulfils his contract. For number 1 however, Sebas does need to act differently depending on how he wishes to manipulate the flavour of O!Ciel’s soul. Sure, so far in the manga, Sebastian has done quite a few things already to influence the flavour of his meal, e.g. letting the snakes attack the boy in Snake’s tent in the circus arc, or not allowing him to continue simpering due to trauma in the werewolf arc. (But one could even argue that shocking him out of trauma has more to do with the ‘need’…)

The current development in regards to Undertaker is probably the first time where Sebas’ ‘want’ arc can finally shine. I shall explain below:

R!Ciel and O!Ciel’s bond.

One of the most important things the flashbacks were telling us is that O!Ciel and R!Ciel have an incredibly strong bond, and that O!Ciel used to be hyper dependent on his older sibling. After R!Ciel died, O!Ciel had to rapidly grow up in order to fill the shoes his brother left behind, as well as to establish his own identity, or arguably, his brother’s identity according to the almost idealistic standard to which the younger twin held him.

O!Ciel is no longer dependent on his twin, but if we read this spread page from the werewolf arc as the order of guilt-level O!Ciel feels towards people, we see R!Ciel being in position number 1.

So the arc for O!Ciel here is to decide whether his sentiments play a role in his decision making.

Will he show that he has entirely let go of his sentiments and see R!Ciel for the zombie he is, and continue his revenge arc in a bee-line?

Or will lingering sentiments flow into a mini personal-redemption arc now that the main object of O!Ciel’s guilt is back?

Considering O!Ciel’s personality, I personally am more willing to bank on a route 2, where the sentiments might threaten to influence O!Ciel, but him having to smack these feelings down even more harshly. If anything O!Ciel has learned in the past almost-4 years, is that the dead stay dead. Back in chapter 19, O!Ciel even lectured Soma on the stupidity of wishing things back that are gone at one point.

O!Ciel realises very well that R!Ciel is not his brother anymore. We have seen his shock upon seeing his brother’s corpse talking to him, yes, but afterwards, the first spoken reaction we see of him is utter outrage. That scene was so full of spontaneity and catharsis, it is hard to believe that he used all those long, looong moments of absolute silence to come up with a script to give people a ‘show’ of how he wants his zombie brother deader. If anything, the long period of silence was probably him considering what the return of ‘the real first born’ means to him, and how it will influence his future. And of course O!Ciel is not happy to find out that the one adversary even his demon seems unable to overcome, has become their adversary again in a major problem that O!Ciel cannot afford to hand-wave. During the Campania- and the Boarding School Arc, O!Ciel could say: “Oh, Undertaker is up to no good, he has to be stopped. If not, then it sucks for others.” But now, if Undertaker doesn’t get stopped FOR GOOD, well… it will become: “That sucks a lot for me!”

Returning to Sebastian’s ‘want’

So, what does all this rant about O!Ciel have to do with Sebastian’s ‘want’ arc? If O!Ciel goes for route 1 (bee-line to revenge), then Sebastian and O!Ciel’s ‘want’ arc will overlap, and the two of them can head towards the same goal (albeit with different motivations).Here above however, I said that I am more likely to vouch for route 2.

If O!Ciel opts for route 2, then O!Ciel’s ‘want’ and Sebastian’s  ‘want’ will contradict, as surely Sebastian is not waiting for a soul with ‘too-many-sentiments-to-kill-a-corpse’ flavour. In that case, however reluctant Sebastian might be to fight Undertaker again, he will at least make sure that O!Ciel’s resolve to kill the zombie won’t wither. This task however, will require a much greater effort and determination on Sebastian’s part than anything he has done so far in terms of ‘seasoning his meal’. The snake-stunt in the Circus Arc was adding some salt and pepper perhaps, but this time, playing a hand in whether or not O!Ciel has the guts to kill R!Ciel will be as flavour-changing as choosing between boiling or stir-frying a meal.

Hence, with clashing interests between demon and boy, Sebastian must see to it that his ‘want’ won’t be hindered by O!Ciel’s ‘want’. So,  ladies and gentlemen, and other respectable individuals, here is where we might see Sebastian’s first ‘want’ arc where he acts solely out of personal desire. Regardless of whether O!Ciel would initially choose route 1 or 2, the final result (if Sebas has any say in the matter) will still result in them going after R!Ciel.

R!Ciel Leaving Baby Brother?

As for R!Ciel leaving the scene for his brother’s sake… I personally find it quite hard to believe so. As explained in the Boarding School Arc, Bizarre Dolls – however well they are made – are in essence the embodiment of a person’s strongest emotions and fixations in life. R!Ciel’s fixation is probably his regret that he could not stay by his baby brother’s side to protect him and planning every detail out in their ‘glorious shared future’. Remember how R!Ciel could not handle O!Ciel saying he is going to live his own life and become a toy maker? Yikes.

The possessiveness of R!Ciel that was unfiltered due to his young age became the essence of his current being; a baby-bro-con zombie. Instead of “braaains”, it is “baby-brooooo”. In short, I do not think there is any chance R!Ciel will be able to physically and mentally let go of O!Ciel. As touched upon in this post, I think Undertaker’s and O!Ciel’s shared objective is to force O!Ciel to live a ‘happy life’ together with his twin.

If anything, R!Ciel’s (artificial) intentions fit the theme of Kuroshitsuji perfectly; humans are too greedy to let go and will submit to their greed ever after death.

If we consider this, then the Bizarre Dolls tell us that: “what makes humans human is their greed and fixation. In order to make a corpse human again, the main and only way to make this possible is to restore this greed and fixation.

[tvdversefanfiction]

Origins of Magic

“The Originals” Fanfiction Series

Warnings: I do not own the rights to the television series “The Originals”, “Vampire Diaries”, or “Legacies” and do not own any of the characters within the TVD universe, I am making no profit from this and have no intention for this fanfiction series except for readers to enjoy.

15+ Mild to Strong Violence, Strong Language, Witchcraft, sexual scenes, and sexual references.

F/F, F/M, M/M, Other.

CHAPTER THREE HERE

Chapter Four - Between Heaven, Hell, and New Orleans

After a decade living in the afterlife Klaus Mikaelson and his brother Elijah had found a version of peace living together in a dream like version of the Abattoir in New Orleans with their loved ones which included; Camille O’Connell, Hayley Marshall and most surprisingly a grown up version of their youngest sibling Henrik Mikaelson. The option of seeing Henrik as anything but a child was new to both Klaus and Elijah and not only did it please them but it helped lift some of the weight of the guilt Klaus had carried for a thousand years for feeling responsible for his youngest sibling’s death. Noticeably missing through their family reunion after life, with the addition of honoree Mikaelson Hayley and the former psychologist bartender Cami, was the Mikaelson’s treacherous parents Esther and Mikael and their deadly aunt Dahlia, after all this was the brother’s version of heaven not hell. Although Klaus managed to find ways to check up on his daughter he never worried too much about her, knowing she would and eventually did find her way in the world making her prouder than he could ever have imagined being, allowing for him and his brother Elijah to be at peace with their deaths. The only problem is the living were not at peace while the two Mikaelson brothers remained dead leading to a trio of powerful witches casting a wicked spell snatching Klaus and Elijah from their heaven, bypassing hell and returning them to the land of the living, right to the city of New Orleans. “I knew hell was on hold!” Klaus stated as he woke up on the ground within the Lafayette Cemetery, sitting up to see Elijah stood above him, looking equally confused as to how they wound up there. “I am not too sure this is hell Niklaus, in fact if I were to take guess I’d go for, well I would say somebody with a heck of a lot of power just brought us back from the dead.” Elijah replied to his hybrid brother, as Klaus quickly rose to his feet. “Hope,” Klaus uttered, automatically fearing the worst about his daughter. “Hope does not know anything about me and yet I am here!” The now adult Henrik stated, as he appeared from behind a large gravestone. “I do not know what has brought us all back brothers, but I can tell you with certainty it is not Mikaelson magic.” “Actually brothers…” Rebekah announced as she vamp sped her way into the cemetery, confronting all three of her brothers, ready to admit her truth. “It was definitely Mikaelson meddling I just so happened to use a different source of magic to get the deed done.” Klaus, Elijah, and Henrik stood there in shock, surprised by Rebekah’s actions, unsure of why she had brought them back to life, fearing the answer would be far worse than it was. Meanwhile Rebekah turned to face Henrik, instantly feeling a connection with him but having only seen him as a child, not being able to work out his identity. “Who the bloody hell are you?” She asked, not knowing it was her youngest brother all grown up.

As the hours went by and the world around him continued to live Klaus Mikaelson began to slowly realize that there was no going back to the place, he had been for a decade of what he considered bliss. He had grown used to the place he and his brothers Elijah and Henrik had come to think of as a form of heaven and was at peace with himself for the first time ever but now he was back in New Orleans, a place that was once his home had now felt like nothing more than the thing blocking him from a much better fate all because his sister Rebekah Mikaelson missed them too much, something that would have touched Klaus if he was not so furious about it all. “You mean to say that there is literally nothing bloody wrong and yet you pull us back from death to what check in?” Klaus shouted at his sister within the compound, as he, Rebekah, Elijah, and Henrik stood by the empty fountain. “You died with the hollow inside of you how was I supposed to know you were not suffering an eternity in some kind of hell?” Rebekah snapped back at her brother, while Elijah and Henrik decided to just stand there and watch how the fight played out. “You were supposed to move on with your life like everybody else, you spent so long trying to get rid of me and then when you do you stop at nothing to bring me back!” Klaus continued to argue with his sister. “Yes, I for one would like to know how exactly you managed to bring us back and who exactly helped you.” Elijah told Rebekah, somewhat alarmed at the possible measures his sister went to bring them all back. “It was nothing bad Elijah I just called in some favors from old friends and they were more or less happy to oblige.” Rebekah replied, telling a half-truth to Elijah. “Well I for one am glad to have a chance at living once again just keep the werewolves from me this time around.” Henrik chimed in, only to be met by frustrated glances from his siblings, forgetting for a moment his brother Niklaus was a werewolf/vampire hybrid. “So, I admit I was rash and I will more than likely regret this decision sooner rather than later but I just hated the idea of everything moving on….Freya’s got a kid, Davina and Kol too and Klaus…your daughter…she’s getting married…how can you not be here for that?” Rebekah informed Klaus, shocking her brother by the admission his daughter was now engaged. “She’s engaged?” Klaus responded with a soft smile, genuinely happy for his daughter Hope. “Yeah to Caroline’s daughter…I guess Hope is better at getting the girl than you brother.” Rebekah teased him. “So, we are back here for a wedding? Seriously Rebekah I have come to expect this carelessness from Kol and Niklaus, but I thought better of you!” Elijah complained to his sister. “Also, if this is your logic why not bring back Hayley as well as us?” “Trust me I was all up for resurrecting every single person I ever lost but it was hard enough sale for the two of you.” Rebekah answered Elijah, before turning to Henrik. “Not sure how you wound up alive again and all grown up…that is giving me a headache trying to work out.” “If you did not rope my daughter into this ressurection party of yours just which old friends did you persuade or threaten?” Klaus wondered. “Please tell me it was not Bonnie Bennet she has already stopped my death once before and was quite honestly very righteous about it.” “The kind of magic which would resurrect two original vampires and possibly the hollow would have to be that of a great darkness, a Black magic darker than even our aunt Dahlia’s.” Elijah suggested, as he began realizing the truth. “Oh, Rebekah please tell me our lives are not owed to any of them….”

Although Rebekah was under the illusion the ressurection spell had worked perfectly with the delightful addition of her youngest brother Henrik, Annabella knew better in fact Henrik coming back was not the only thing that went awry with the spell that Bella, Kayne and Rose had cast, in fact as the Black siblings were about to realize very quickly the spell they had done together had caused all kinds of chaos with more awaiting not only them but the Mikaelson’s too. “I cannot believe we did not get the hollow one of you witches must have done something wrong!” Rose accused her siblings, as Rose, Kayne and Bella walked into a luxurious hotel room within New Orleans. “Who is to say you did not mess up? I mean you are hardly the wonder witch of the family!” Kayne snapped back at his sister. “Not gaining the power of the hollow are the last of our worries, I fear something is wrong, I can feel it in my bones I just cannot get my head around what.” Bella warned her siblings, eager to determine the extent of the damage from the spell the three of them cast. “You worry too much Annabella,” Kayne responded, dismissing his older sister’s worries. “The only thing we messed up on was bringing back the Mikaelson’s and getting nothing out of it!” “Speak for yourself Kayne, I for one struck a deal with Rebekah from the very beginning I may not have the hollow, but I am sticking around here until I get something else, I want.” Rose revealed to them both. “Of course, I first have to work out something that is really going to make Rebekah’s life a living hell.” “So, you had a back up plan all this time?” Kayne furiously shouted at Rose. “Guess I am fool for thinking you actually cared for either of us…you have not changed one bit!” “Oh, please you already said yes the minute Rebekah asked anything for the man who would rather be dead then be anywhere near you!” Rose cruelly taunted her brother, before turning to Bella. “And you…what do you get now that Rebekah’s got her use out of you? Yeah, that is right you will go back to hiding from the rest of the world.” “Can we please just stop attacking each other for one second so we can work out the amount of damage we have caused with that god damn spell?” Bella shouted, eager to get her siblings to stop fighting with each other and her. Suddenly, the sound of a loud knocking noise coming from their hotel door had stopped the three siblings in mid fight as they looked among themselves trying to figure out who would be knocking on the door; Bella fearing it would be a newly revived Elijah issuing an polite warning about leaving New Orleans, Kayne fearing he would be reunited with Klaus and Rose hoping it was anyone or anything that would get her away from her family. “I guess I will get it then,” Rose said as she walked over to the hotel room door. “Honestly, you would think neither of you were all powerful witches…” As Rose swung the door open neither her, Kayne or Bella could prepare themselves for who stood in their doorway ready to greet the bewitching siblings. “So, you are the witches who have went and screwed up death!” Katherine Pierce greeted the three siblings as she stood within their doorway, Bella instantly realizing in that moment they had brought back more than just Klaus and Elijah. “I just wanted to say thanks for old time’s sake before I get the hell out of this city…which if I were you guys I would do the exact same before Klaus gets pissed and decides to kill the lot of you!” “Katerina Petrova?” Bella managed to say, while still in shock from Katherine’s arrival. “How exactly did we screw up death?” A clueless Kayne asked the female vampire. “Wow, you did not even mean to do it did use?” Katherine laughed at them. “In that case I’d highly advise getting the hell out of here before Mikael arrives…. oh well I’ve done my good deed for the century…it was good seeing you again Annabella.” Before Bella could muster up anymore words and before Kayne had any chance to ask Katherine any questions about her claim about him and his sisters screwing up death, Katherine Pierce had already vamp sped out of sight all too eager to get as far away from the chaos that was most definitely about to follow. “I guess you were right Annabella,” Rose said as she turned to face her sister. “Just one question in what way did we just screw up death?” “In a really bad way…” Kayne said with a look on horror on his face, which caught his sisters’ attention as they turned to look at what he was staring blankly at, only to see their brother Magnus Black was now stood in the doorway.

[latter-day-saint-nick]

Here‘s a list of all the books with queer protagonists I’ve read this year. While I do actively seek those out, there are several books on here that I didn’t know had queer themes when I picked them up from the library and then I was pleasantly surprised by lesbians. I‘ll avoid spoilers except when discussing trigger warnings.

 Kaleidoscope Song by Fox Benwell

Neo, a South African teenager, is obsessed with music of any kind. Her love of music brings her together with the singer of a local band and they have a passionate relationship that they must keep secret. The descriptions of Neo‘s life and her tendency to hear music in everything are beautiful and dynamic. The author included a list of the songs Neo is listening to throughout the book, so I was introduced to a lot of cool music from South Africa and other places. TW: Corrective rape and Bury Your Gays. This is a book by a queer (albeit white British, rather than black South African) author writing about a very real problem that exists within our communities, so it feels different to when a cishet author kills off a queer character just for shock value. I still can‘t help feeling that he could have made the same point without having the character die – just have her be injured. Still, I loved pretty much everything else about the book, so it gets a tentative recommendation from me.

The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb

25-year-old opera student Kathleen tries to cope with the constant pain in her feet, nightmares about having her tongue cut out, and desperate yearning for the sea. With the help of her girlfriend Harry she delves into her family history to uncover the secret of a curse spanning generations of women. What’s nice about this book is that Kathleen and Harry’s relationship is accepted by all their family and friends without question, so if you want to read a nice wlw fantasy story with no homophobia, this one’s for you. TW: Some discussion of suicide, but nothing too graphic.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

A teenage lesbian is sent to conversion therapy by her religious aunt. This is basically a coming-of-age story as the title character comes to terms with her identity and the death of her parents. It’s considered an important work of LGBT YA literature, so I really wanted to like it more than I did. Most of the first half of the novel deals with Cameron’s everyday life in her small town in Montana, which was, to be honest, rather boring to me. The pace of the story picks up a bit once she gets sent to conversion therapy, but even then it’s slower and less eventful than I would have liked. But since it is a popular book, that’s probably just me. I did like that the two best friends she makes at the therapy camp are a disabled girl and an indigenous boy, two types of people that are not often represented in queer fiction, so that’s something. TW: Conversion therapy and self-harm.

Proud by Juno Dawson

This is a collection of poems and stories about queerness aimed at a YA audience, and each one is a pure delight! These stories detail moments of joy and pride that make you feel happy and hopeful about being queer. They include a high school retelling of Pride and Prejudice with lesbians, a nonbinary kid and his D&D group on a quest to disrupt the gender binary at their school, a magical phoenix leading a Chinese girl to find love, and gay penguins. All stories, poems and illustrations are by queer writers and artists. Seriously, I cannot recommend this collection enough!

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

An Irish magical realist story about three girls who perform a spell to find things that they have lost. The spell appears to have wider consequences than they expected, bringing to light things that should have stayed lost. This book has three narrators, two of whom are wlw. It treads a nice line between fantasy and reality, and has some pretty good plot twists. Also, there’s a crossword at the end, which is awesome. More books should come with crosswords.

Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

A space opera trilogy set in the distant future about the embodiment of a ship’s AI who seeks revenge against the ruler of a colonialist empire who destroyed her ship and killed her beloved captain. This is not beginner’s sci-fi, as it is very complex and intricate, but if you’re fine with a bit of a heavier read, you’ll be rewarded with some very interesting concepts. What makes this series queer is that the Raadch empire has no concept of gender and uses female pronouns for everyone. This makes every romantic relationship queer by default, whether we are aware of the characters’ sexes or not. I found it particularly enjoyable when Breq, the protagonist, tried to communicate in different languages that have gendered pronouns, which she had to navigate carefully in order not to offend people. She tries to look for outward clues of gender, such as hairstyles, chest size, facial hair or Adam’s apples, but even then often gets it wrong, because these things are not always consistent. That is just a great depiction of how arbitrary ideas of binary sexual characteristics tend to be. Also, I guess technically Breq is aroace, but since she’s not human, I’m not sure if she can be considered the best representation, though she is a very likeable character that I enjoyed following.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

These books are a lot of fun! They’re historical adventure stories with a bit of fantasy thrown in, featuring disaster bisexual Henry Montague, his snarky aroace sister Felicity and his best friend Percy whom he is secretly in love with. In the first book, the three teenagers are sent on a tour of Europe for various reasons, but they quickly abandon the planned route when they get embroiled in a plot involving theft and alchemy. The second book details Felicity’s further attempts to become a doctor, which leads her to reunite with an old friend and chase a tale of fantastical creatures.

The Spy with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke

Technically I read this one late last year, but whatever. I just wanted to put it on the list to have an excuse to talk about it. It’s about two Jewish siblings with magic powers who are recruited during World War II to take part in a secret project to fight the Nazis. Both siblings turn out to be queer: the brother is gay and demisexual, while the sister is bisexual, and they each have a love interest. This book is an independent prequel to The Girl with the Red Balloon, which takes place in East Berlin during the time of the Wall, and is just as good, albeit not as gay.

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

This book tends to be classified as fantasy, because it takes place in an alternate, Latin-American-inspired world, with a distinct history, culture and religion, but there’s no magic at all, so I’m not sure it counts. But I digress. The country of Medio is built on classism and acute xenophobia. But by hiding her status as an illegal immigrant, Daniela, a girl from a poor background, manages to rise to the top of her class at her elite finishing school and become the first wife of one of the most powerful young men in the country. But her new comfortable status is threatened when she is pressured to join a group of rebels who fight for equality. At the same time, she also finds herself falling for her husband’s second wife. Obviously, this book’s political message is very topical, but beyond that, it’s just a very good story, with a well fleshed-out fictional world and great characters. This is the first in a series, with the sequel, We Unleash the Merciless Storm, coming out in February.

All Out: The No Longer Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages by Saundra Mitchell

A very nice collection of short stories about various queer teenagers in different historical settings, from a medieval monastery to an American suburb on New Year’s Eve in 1999. Most of the stories are realist, but there are a few ghosts and witches to be found in-between. What I found particularly notable about this book is that it featured several asexual characters, which you don’t often see in collections like this. I definitely recommend it.

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

This is a thoughtful, heart-warming life story about a woman growing up during the civil war in Nigeria. After Ijeoma, a Christian Igbo girl, is sent away from home, she finds her first love in Amina, a Muslim Hausa. Even after they are found out and separated, Ijeoma doesn’t quite understand what’s so shameful about their love. Still, as she grows older, she attempts to fit into a heteronormative society while also connecting with the things and people that make her happy. TW: Homophobic violence, including an attack on a gay nightclub. The novel makes up for this by having a remarkably happy ending.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

A young man in Victorian London finds a mysterious watch on his pillow, with no idea how it got there. This sets into motion a strange series of events, which leads him to a lonely Japanese watchmaker, to whom he finds himself increasingly drawn. This is an unusual novel that treads the line between historical fiction, fantasy and sci-fi. Most of the characters are morally grey and have complex motivations, but are still likable. I just really enjoy stories that take place in this time period, particularly when they are this thoughtfully written and don’t just take the prejudices of the past for granted.

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

A YA book about a transgender teenager, written by a transgender author. After her mother decides that she is not safe in her hometown anymore, high school senior Amanda moves in with her dad in a town where nobody knows her and she can try to go stealth. But even as she is making friends and experiencing romance for the first time, she constantly worries about what will happen if her secret comes out. It’s a fairly standard story about being transgender, really, but as it comes from a trans author, it feels a lot more personal and less voyeuristic than these stories tend to be when coming from a cisgender perspective. Amanda is a sympathetic and compelling character. TW: This book deals with a number of upsetting themes, including transphobic violence, being forcibly outed and suicide. There is a flashback to Amanda’s pre-transition suicide attempt, which I found particularly triggering. I also wish she could have come out on her own terms, instead of being outed in front of the whole school by someone she thought she could trust. It is still a pretty good book, but it can be very upsetting at times.

As I Descended by Robin Talley

A loose retelling of Macbeth that takes place in a boarding school in Virginia and involves two queer couples. The supernatural elements of the play are amplified in a wonderfully creepy way, and the characters are complex and realistic, so you understand their motivations, even when they do bad things. TW: Out of the five queer characters in the novel, three die, two of them by suicide.

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss and EG Keller

A charming picture book about the Vice President’s pet bunny who falls in love with another boy bunny and wants to hop around at his side for the rest of his life. This book was written as a screw you to Mike Pence, but even so it is a genuinely nice kid’s book that deals with homosexuality and marriage equality in a way that is appropriate for young children. The illustrations are incredibly cute as well.

Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente

A very strange, surreal tale about four people (most of whom are queer in some way) exploring a magical city that you can enter in your dreams by sleeping with someone who has been there before. I wanted to like this one more than I did, because I really love Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland books for children. But while some of the dreamlike imagery is cool and pretty, I found a lot of it weirdly uncomfortable, along with the frequent sex scenes.

The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein

15-year-old Julia is home for the summer at her parents’ ancestral mansion in Scotland and gets involved with a plot about theft, disappearance and possibly murder. She also has her first crushes – on a man working at her parents’ estate and a young Traveller girl, respectively. This is a prequel to Code Name Verity, which has the same protagonist, though her bisexuality isn’t really alluded to in that, which is why I’ve kept it off the list, even though it is an excellent book. The Pearl Thief is pretty good as well, though it is a bit strange to read after you’ve already read Verity and know that this carefree teenage character is going to grow up to be a spy in World War II and be tortured in a Nazi prison. Do read both books, though. They are great.

Gut Symmetries by Jeanette Winterson

A young scientist falls in love with the wife of the man she’s having an affair with. There’s speculation about quantum mechanics and interconnectedness, all wrapped in very poetic language. To be perfectly honest, I really didn’t get it, so I have no idea what any of it means. But at least the main character is bisexual and polyamorous (and possibly genderfluid – I’m not sure).

Queer Africa by Makhosazana Xaba and Karen Martin

A collection of short stories by queer African writers, discussing themes like love, sex, marriage, family and homophobia. The attitudes towards queerness in these different countries varies. In many of them, homosexuality is illegal, even though same-sex relationships used to be respected before the interference of Western colonialism. In any case, these stories are an interesting and oftentimes beautiful examination of queerness from a non-Western point of view, some joyous and some tragic. TW: The second to last story is about incest.

[theworkofxanderking]

The Originals: Bad Blood (Alternative Season 5)

Episode 5: A Mikaelson Family Christmas

Warnings: I do not own the original content to “The Originals”, “The Vampire Diaries” or “Legacies” or any of the characters from the television shows.

15 plus, displays of Violence, Gore, Torture, M/M, F/M, F/F.

Klaus vamp sped into the dining area of the compound to find Rebekah and Elijah sat the table both looking rather miserable with themselves.

“I’m beginning to think use two are competing for most miserable Mikaelson this year and I have to say I’m rather annoyed your coming for my trophy.” Klaus said to them mockingly. “Things are on the up Marcel and I have called a truce, Hope’s arriving any minute and Hayley’s compelled one of the city’s finest cooks and yet you two have been miserable for days.”

“As long as there’s no daggers in my stockings like that one god awful Christmas I’m sure I’ll get into the festive spirit.” Rebekah replied as she stood up forcing a smile on to her face.

“I must admit even this Christmas still beats that one.” Elijah said as he too stood up and straightened his suit jacket.

“I found it rather amusing,” Klaus retaliated with a cheeky smirk noticing Elijah and Rebekah were hardly feeling festive. “Okay what the bloody hell is going on?”

“You should tell him Rebekah after all this is of your doing.” Elijah snapped at his sister.

“Firstly, none of you would be here if it wasn’t for me so don’t even start blaming me for reuniting us.” Rebekah snapped back.

“Well somebody please tell me before I dig out those bloody daggers for a second Christmas.” Klaus demanded clearly grown tired of his siblings’ secrecy.

“It’s Henrik, he’s alive well he’s a lot more than just alive he’s all kinds of messed up and all he wants for Christmas is to feast on his beloved siblings.” Rebekah revealed before Hope walked into the dining area hugging Hayley.

“Guess whose finally home for Christmas?” Hayley said to them all while hugging her daughter tightly.

“Now how exactly do us Mikaelson’s celebrate Christmas?” Hope asked them while Rebekah and Elijah tried to hide their guilt and her father Klaus remained shocked by her aunt Rebekah’s admission.

Marcel walked into Rousseau's to find Josh wearing a Santa hat while cleaning tables within the bar and listening and dancing along to “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” on his Bluetooth speaker placed on the counter of the bar causing Marcel to laugh at possibly the world’s most innocent vampire before walking over to the counter and switching the speaker off demanding Josh’s attention.

“Hello Marcel,” Josh said as he took of his Santa hat and gushed at the man, he had recently spent a night with. “I’m guessing your not here for a drink considering we’re not open although that tends to not stop most of my clientele.”

“I actually wanted to talk about…” Marcel began to say.

“Davina and Kol coming to the city for Christmas I know Davina already told me.” Josh butted in knowing that wasn’t the topic on Marcel’s mind. “I bet you can’t wait to see Davina again I sure can’t.”

“Well it has been a while but that’s not what I came here to discuss.” Marcel replied.

“Is it about the Mikaelson’s getting a head at the table for the faction meetings because I think that’s a good idea if only to lessen the bloodshed.” Josh added in proving to be very eager to not talk about a certain subject.

“Josh you’re not the first guy I’ve ever been with when your immortal sexuality is a lot simpler than people make it out to be.” Marcel explained to him. “We like who we like when we like them and have no need to apologize for it.”

“Wow where was that kind of thinking when I came out to my parents.” Josh answered him clearly surprised by Marcel’s reaction to their one-night stand.

“It was definitely interesting I mean you’re a lot less shy between the sheets,” Marcel said with a sinister smile “definitely unforgettable however I value our friendship too much for it to ever happen again.”

“Oh, thank god,” Josh breathed a sigh of relief. “I mean no offence but us would’ve been super messy I mean you’re clearly still madly and deeply in love with Rebekah and I tried the whole relationship thing once and it ended it too much pain.”

“I’m glad you and I are on the same page.” Marcel laughed. “However, I don’t think you should write off romance with everyone I know what happened to Aiden broke your heart but the moments you had with him were worth every ounce of pain. Trust me when I say love is truly the best and worst thing that can ever happen to you.”

“So, did you get invited to the Mikaelson’s Christmas?” Josh asked. “Davina’s convinced me to go just what I love Santa and Klaus wrapped up into one holiday I just hope it’s not me that ends up roasted on the open fire.”

“Do you know you’re absolutely adorable when you say stuff like that?” Marcel told him while looking at him with pure admiration.

“Oh no don’t you be looking at me like that!” Josh said clearly nervous by Marcel looking at him. “Shouldn’t you be last minute Christmas shopping for Hope and Davina?”

“I’ve already got their presents sorted.” Marcel replied with a laugh finding Josh’s nervousness intoxicating before vamp speeding to be standing right in front of him so close that Josh could feel Marcel breathing on him, the two beginning to long for each other’s touch.

“Well I can’t say I’m surprised to see you working Josh.” Davina said as she walked in instantly making Marcel and Josh distance themselves from each other. “I’m guessing you’re also here Marcel because you’re doing just about anything you could possibly do to avoid seeing Rebekah until necessary.”

“It’s so good to see you,” Marcel said as he walked over to hug the girl he loved like a daughter. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“You got here in perfect timing.” Josh said with a sense of relief in his voice.

Hope and Klaus walk down the stairs in the compound Klaus’ arm lovingly around his daughter as they reach the bottom of the stairs and start making their way to the fountain Hope clearly suspicious of what’s going on with her family knowing when any Mikaelson was quiet it was never a good sign.

“Okay go on dad tell me what’s going on already.” Hope demanded as the two stopped walking and Klaus let go of his daughter. “It’s freaking Christmas our first one together in I don’t know how long certainly the first one I’m going to remember that’s for sure and you’ve all been quiet since arrival. Do you not want me here?”

“There is nobody on this earth I’d rather spend any day with than you Hope.” Klaus replied making it clear to his daughter she was wanted and loved. “I just want you to have the perfect Christmas.”

“Dad I’m fifteen now I’m hardly a kid anymore and even when I was, I went up against the ancestors, unbound aunt Davina from The Hollow and helped Aunt Freya restore Elijah’s mind after his death.” Hope snapped at her father. “I can take care of myself now tell me what’s going on. You’ve spent five years away from me dad don’t come back just to keep me in the dark once again.”

“You are right you’re a Mikaelson after all,” Klaus responded as he lifted his right hand to touch his daughter’s cheek lovingly “one day you are going to become the most powerful witch this world has ever seen. You are everything we ever wanted you to be and so much more Hope, you are this family’s true legacy.”

“Who’s plotting to kill our family now?” Hope asked. “It can’t be The Hollow because she’s gone right?”

“The threat this time is a lot closer to home I’m afraid to say.” Rebekah announced after vamp speeding into the compound.

“Thank god you’re here to explain because to be quite bloody frank I have little clue myself to why our brother is now hungry for our blood.” Klaus told his sister while looking at her furiously.

“So, it turns out this ancient powerful witch brought our youngest brother Henrik back to life and the spell took a toll on him making him a power draining monster he’s already claimed our mother’s spirit.” Rebekah explained before taking a reluctant sigh. “And our eldest brother Finn’s spirit. Finn sacrificed himself so that Bonnie and I could return from the now destroyed ancestral plane.”

“There’s always some pain in the ass witch messing around with our family.” Klaus snapped. “We need to get a hold of Freya and see if there’s some spell or something that can help Henrik.”

“I’ve already called and explained everything to her she should be arriving just in time for Christmas.” Rebekah revealed. “So far there isn’t much she’s found that can help Henrik, but we won’t stop until he’s saved or no longer a threat.”

“This meddling witch you speak of is she the one who removed The Hollow from us all and restored Elijah’s memories?” Klaus asked.

“Yes, he is.” Rebekah answered, “His identity is a whole other story best saved for later.”

“Seems like you’ve been keeping a lot of secrets to yourself Rebekah!” Klaus shouted at Rebekah.

“Don’t you dare come for Aunt Rebekah for doing everything she could to bring us all back if it wasn’t for her none of us would be standing here together.” Hope snapped at her father causing Rebekah to smile at her niece defending her. “We just need to find a way of helping Henrik and getting him back too.”

“You are right.” Klaus mumbled clearly taken aback to be put in his place by his own daughter.

“Bonnie’s also looking into every resource she has to find some sort of solution to this hell and Davina should be due in the city any minute with some possible news.” Rebekah told her brother. “Plus, the witch that created whatever the hell our brother has become is now working alongside Elijah for some reason he will not reveal to me. Even though I was the witch’s alliance at first, but I guess pompous men like to stick together.”

“Can this witch that Elijah is working with be trusted?” Hope asked her aunt.

“Absolutely not.” Rebekah replied.

Elijah walked into St Anne’s Church to see many people gathered while Hayley, Marcel and Bonnie gathering many of the New Orleans together handing out Christmas style hampers causing Elijah to smile seeing Hayley being so kind.

“Elijah what are you doing here?” Hayley asked him after vamp speeding over to him.

“Nothing’s wrong I just wanted to see you.” Elijah said with a soft smile.

“That bad then,” Hayley scoffed. “I thought it would only be a matter of time. Go on tell me what Klaus has done now?”

“Actually, it’s my youngest brother who has created the chaos our family now finds ourselves in.” Elijah replied.

“Marcel said he saw Davina what possibly could Kol have done already?” Hayley asked wondering what Kol had done now.

“Actually, the blame falls on my youngest brother Henrik it appears he’s not as dead as we were once led to believe and now, he seems to be some kind of magical battery determined on killing us all.” Elijah explained to her. “But I don’t want you to be alarmed because I’ve already got things in hand well as in hand as possible.”

“You’ve just told me your long-lost brother Henrik is out to kill the lot of you which last time I checked meant Hope too and I’m not to worry.” Hayley snapped. “How can he possibly be alive?”

“You guys are around vampires we can hear everything.” Marcel told them after vamp speeding over to them.

“He was brought back to life by a powerful witch which practices some long-forgotten magic called Malus.” Elijah revealed to Hayley.

“The witch in question also happens to be Klaus’ first love but nobody has told him that yet I’m assuming.” Marcel butted in shocking Hayley with his admission.

“Hold up I thought Aurora was Klaus’ first love?” Hayley asked them both.

“Well Bonnie told me that Rebekah told her this Nathaniel guy was Klaus’ first love back in their human days so I guess Aurora was Klaus’ first love after no longer being human.” Marcel responded in a gossipy tone.

“But that would mean this witch is like a thousand years old.” Hayley said clearly intrigued by recent news.

“We’re deciding not to tell Klaus about Nathaniel until after Christmas Henrik being alive and wanting to murder us is enough bad news for one Christmas.” Elijah revealed while rolling his eyes.

“Makes sense Klaus has never been one to take bad news well.” Hayley replied. “Can we trust this Nathaniel not to screw us all over?”

“Absolutely not.” Bonnie stated as she walked over to the three of them.

Nathaniel sat on a rocking chair swinging back and forward outside of a small decaying cabin in the woods of Helton when Henrik appeared in front of him a puff of black smoke his eyes still jet black and looking rather angry with his long-time friend.

“You left me trapped for what felt like forever am I supposed to believe you only found a way recently to free me from my cage.” Henrik said as Nathaniel stood up from his chair.

“I admit I could’ve got you out sooner but if I did it would’ve have been for anyone’s good except your own. I needed it to be now Henrik because now is the perfect timing to end my father’s miserable existence and save you.” Nathaniel replied.

“I don’t need saving I’m perfectly fine as I am or at least I am now that you’ve finally seen fit to release me.” Henrik snapped.

“Don’t you dare take that tone with me if it wasn’t for me you would’ve been nothing, but a corpse long rotted away into nothing but bones in the dirt. I made you the powerful witch you are today and never forget that.” Nathaniel snapped back at him. “Everything I have done is to protect you and save you from yourself from following a similar fate as my father or soon to be me.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Henrik asked with genuine concern as his eyes went back to their normal color.

“The details of my plan are not important Henrik just trust in me to have your best interests in mind like I always have done.” Nathaniel replied before walking over and hugging Henrik. “I’m glad I’ve got you home for Christmas let’s not spend it fighting.”

“I’ve never understood your fascination with Christmas.” Henrik scoffed while breaking off the hug. “It’s not particularly like either of us are very family orientated.”

“You are my family,” Nathaniel told him as he placed his hand on Henrik’s shoulder “you may not be my blood but from the moment I brought you back to life, raised you, cleaned up your endless slaughters you have been my son. Always and Forever.”

“Always and Forever.” Henrik smiled before looking at the cabin. “Why do you always come back to this place?”

“Because it’s the only place that has ever been a home to us.” Nathaniel revealed. “It’s exactly where all of this should end.”

“I guess we should find something to cook for dinner then.” Henrik replied while looking around the woods. “I saw a cafe about 40 miles back we could always go there for Christmas dinner.”

“I’d like that very much.” Nathaniel said with a soft smile clearly beyond happy to be reunited with the man who he considered a son.

Klaus found himself sitting on the edge of his bed in his bedroom at the compound staring into thin air as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that his youngest brother Henrik, the brother whose death he blamed himself for was resurrected by some powerful ancient magic the same type of magic which had somehow removed the Hollow from Klaus, Rebekah, Elijah and Kol.

He had never heard of magic powerful enough to do these things and yet somehow it was all possible in that moment as he struggled with flashbacks of his youngest sibling’s death he wished for his oldest sibling Freya to be there to explain the unexplained knowing that if anyone could explain Malus to him it would be her.

“I’m sorry Niklaus all I wanted was for my family to be reunited.” Rebekah apologised after vamp speeding into his room and taking a seat next to her brother. “The truth is after centuries of craving freedom the last five years without all of you were the most miserable of my life. I got you Elijah and Kol back and for that I’m not sorry I just wish I understood what that cost would be.”

“So, Henrik is labelled some kind of monster that’s what we’ve all been called our entire lives we will find a way to help him somehow.” Klaus replied while placing his arm around Rebekah.

“The Malus witch’s master plan includes saving Henrik’s soul so speak.” Elijah revealed after he too vamp sped into the room and took a seat next to Klaus and Rebekah. “Sure, we have to help this Malus witch kill their father but we happen to have an expertise in killing parents sure usually our own.”

“Who is this witch? Why is he so interested in Henrik’s well-being?” Klaus asked as he stood up form his bed looking down his brother and sister. “Clearly he must be somebody of importance if you haven’t told me their identity yet and clearly, we have history with him if Rebekah trusted him to remove The Hollow.”

“Trust is a strong word Niklaus it was more desperation than anything else.” Rebekah revealed as Hayley suddenly vamp sped into Klaus’ bedroom.

“It’s Nathaniel some guy who was neighbours with you all when you were humans.” Hayley admitted much to Rebekah and Elijah’s shock. “Don’t blame your siblings for not telling you they just feared your reaction whereas I genuinely think if we’re ever going to tell you something like this it’s best to have Hope within close proximity so you don’t overreact and dagger everybody.”

“We were going to tell him after today.” Elijah said giving Hayley a disapproving look as he and Rebekah rose to their feet.

“That makes sense Nathaniel was just a mortal who fled our village before we even turned even if he somehow became a witch, he’d of had no clue about Henrik.” Klaus replied as he struggled to understand what Hayley had just said.

“Actually, he didn’t leave as early as planned and when he heard of word came back for Ayana, she was always like a mother to him there was no way he’d ever leave her with a choice.” Rebekah revealed reluctantly. “Kol killed Ayana and I managed to fight him off Nathaniel, but the blood lust was so new, and I couldn’t restrain myself.”

“You fed on him?” Klaus asked her with a look of disgust in his face as tears began forming in his eyes.

“I wish I never, but control was something that took us all too long to learn.” Rebekah answered her brother. “For some unexplained reason he didn’t die, and I guess that’s when he went down this path of discovery into Malus magic.”

“Malus witches feed on the magic of others especially the darker magics which provides them immortality of sorts and incredible power the reason he didn’t die at Rebekah’s hands is because only a Malus can kill another Malus.” Elijah explained to Klaus who continued to remain painfully silent.

“We’re not sure whether we can trust him or not which may mean he’ll have to be killed somehow.” Hayley said to Klaus.

“Enough!” Klaus snapped before forcing a smile on his face. “Hope is downstairs preparing for a Mikaelson family and that is what she is going to get.”

Nathaniel Malin was a Malus witch by birth but not by nature despite a thousand years of darkness there was still light within him and he had never fully succumbed to the darkness even at times when it would’ve been easier for him if he did. He fought the darkness as he mourned the other mother he knew, he fought the darkness as he spent centuries on the run from his own father and he tried his hardest to help Henrik fight the darkness he had accidentally inflected on him however Henrik may not of been a Malus witch by birth but he certainly was one by nature.

Nathaniel and Henrik had found themselves sitting within a booth in a cafe as Nathaniel watched Henrik tuck into a roast dinner with blood on his hands as Nathaniel look at him with disapproval in his eyes before looking around to see lifeless bodies all around the rundown cafe painted with the blood of Henrik’s victims.

“Less of the judgement Nathaniel.” Henrik told him as he continued to eat his roast dinner. “You know I’ve never been one for an audience while eating.”

“I know but killing them all was hardly necessarily.” Nathaniel replied with a sigh. “I fear for your humanity sometimes Henrik.”

“You’ve killed as much people as I have Nathaniel maybe you should worry about your own.” Henrik responded while continuing to eat.

“I kill for survival for power I kill because sacrifices need to be made to keep us both alive, but I never get off on the kill.” Nathaniel told him. “Sometimes I believe you enjoy it a little too much.”

“We’ve been killing for centuries Nathaniel and I’ve seen you in action you enjoy it just as much as I do but you fight it because you want to hold on to whatever humanity you claim to still have.” Henrik explained to him as he stopped eating. “Your Malus blood is the only reason why we are both alive and yet you continue to despite it.”

“I know you were younger when all this happened to you, but I spent an entire life as a human or an entire life believing I was human.” Nathaniel said. “I was a good person and I have no illusion that there’s good left inside of me, but I won’t freely dance in the darkness as of it’s anything other than sentence.”

“You never change,” Henrik laughed. “Very well I promise to not kill anybody else for the entirety of the day consider it your Christmas gift.”

“Thank you.” Nathaniel replied with a sigh of relief.

“Now please tell my why after all this time you continue to defy me killing my siblings?” Henrik asked him.

“Because their your family and unlike your parents they have done nothing but love you.” Nathaniel warned him. “Killing anymore siblings would be the point of no return and don’t even get me started on how furious I am with you over what happened to Finn.”

“You are my family!” Henrik shouted as he stood up. “I barely even remember them all they are to me is power ready to be drained. You’re my family not them.”

“I will not be spoken to like that killing the Mikaelson’s is not on our agenda.” Nathaniel snapped back as he stood up.

“If we got rid of them, we’d have more than enough power to get rid of Augustus.” Henrik told him clearly furious by Nathaniel’s demands.

“Then we lose everything!” Nathaniel shouted raising his voice higher.

“Everything is already lost Nathaniel you’re just stuck in a past where you meant something to them.” Henrik said with a harsh tone. “They would kill you without pause and you allow their existence because of feelings you should’ve been over centuries ago.”

“Killing them isn’t a part of the plan and would only derail things as for my supposed feelings they are in the past and I am not.” Nathaniel stated trying to convince both himself and Henrik.

Klaus, Hope, Rebekah, Elijah and Hayley are stood within the compound watching the bonfire in front of them burn only to be shocked to see Freya walk into the compound hand in hand with Keelin and immediate attention turns to Freya who’s very clearly pregnant at least five months by the size of the bump leaving everyone shocked as nobody knew anything about this pregnancy.

“I guess there’s a new Mikaelson on the way.” Hayley said with a smile before going over to hug Freya and Keelin. “Congratulations guys.”

“Well I guess I’m not the only Mikaelson sister keeping secrets from the family.” Rebekah joked before going over to hug Freya. “You deserve all the happiness in the world.”

“I’ve got to say I’m shocked that you kept this from us Freya.” Elijah said to his older sister as he too gave her a hug.

“I never thought I’d ever be with child again after everything that happened to me and I never thought I’d ever love again but I’m glad I was wrong.” Freya revealed as she held on to her fiancé Keelin’s hand.

“Well we all know you’ve been saving us or kicking or asses when needed for long enough it’s about time some child has to suffer you instead of your siblings.” Klaus said with a laugh before hugging both Freya and Keelin.

“I guess this means I’m going to have a little cousin.” Hope said before being the last Mikaelson to walk over and hug Freya.

“I was going to tell you all once we had defeated The Hollow but then Nathaniel Malin became the latest threat knocking our family’s doors.” Freya explained herself. “I’ve only met the witch once or twice over the years and he’s not one to be messed with however he’s nothing compared to his father that man is wicked enough to claim aunt Dahlia’s admiration.”

“Let’s not concern ourselves with our enemies tonight.” Klaus told his older sister while pulling in Rebekah and Hope in each arm for a hug. “The entire family is here and tonight we celebrate tomorrow we’ll discuss our battle plans.”

“I guess that means it’s time to dine and fill the humans with enough drink to pass out.” Kol said as he and Davina opened the dining are doors to reveal a table filled with a full Christmas feast with a delicious turkey on the table.

“I’m sure us witches will put some of you vampires to shame.” Davina replied to her husband with a smile.

“I’m not late, am I?” Marcel asked as he vamp sped into the compound.

“You’re just on time.” Klaus responded with a smile as Hope walked over to Marcel and gave him a hug.

“While you’re in such a good mood Klaus did, I happen to mention I’ve invited Bonnie to dinner too?” Rebekah told her brother only to laugh when he rolled his eyes.

“I hope I’m still invited.” Josh said as he too vamp sped into the compound before looking at the bonfire making him terrified. “Oh, crikey there’s a big fire.”

“Everyone is invited,” Klaus said with a smile that made Josh uneasy as he put his arm around him and gave him a hug surprising everyone there. “That smell is oddly familiar.”

[flowercuco]

Veil 2 - 10 (finale)

Well after a long long time we’ve finally hit the end of this arc of our Veil campaign, with Crescent Moon hopefully safe, finally reunited with her mother/creator, Heartful Vale, and the company and mercenaries that did all of this dealt with, the group tentatively settles down and awaits the concert.

Fortuna checks her e-mails as she is at work, dealing with her new assistant, who she is very suspicious of. One of the messages is from Bicker Boulder, and it so happens to be the alibi of Mia Ann Grace who is, to the entire party, definitely suspicious, and definitely evil. Along with commentary on the events at Snow Vision and if they were tied to the odd actions that Thicker Than Blood did the day prior, Bicker asked her superiors in the Investigation Bureau to try to do Fortuna a solid. Mia Ann Grace, super star assistant is supposed to be that solid. Fortuna, being suspicious, has Mia Ann do basic tasks while she invades a janitor closet to get in touch with her best friend, Senza.

Senza and Fortuna talk about their suspicions and of the events, Senza concludes that even if Bicker seemed on the up and up, that doesn’t mean that Mia is, as the IB was a group that was compromised by the Angelic Threads. She promises to look into the assistant and see if she has ties to anything. 

Back in the new safehouse, Crescent Moon goes from the various groups sitting around, her mother on a tablet, Ariel practising her new Veil manipulation abilities in a simulation of some sort on a tablet, Senza taking a shower, and Will doing her daily workout. Crescent watches intently as Will does pull-ups and is very cool and strong. Synch enters, having done all that they wanted to do by themselves, asking if everyones good, which they basically are. Crescent greets them, and they approach the two, with Will still doing pull ups as Synch tells them that they have evidence of Burning not committing the crime that got him banished from Quid. Will is pleased, as she did like Burning in their brief interactions and confirms that she’ll pass along the information to get Burning exonerated faster. Synch then asks for Will to get more information on Bloodroot and Will promises to look into it, along with a number of other things that she has to deal with. Finally, Synch asks Will to tell them if there’s anyone in the Seat of Judges who needs to be investigated, as they are a detective and will do a better job of it (and are also a psychic but Will doesn’t know that).

Meanwhile, Heartful Vale asks Ariel about what she’s doing, following up with questions on if Ariel learned what she did from Crescent or if she taught it to herself. After an awkward silence, Heartful asks what Ariel considers herself, wondering how similar the android is to Crescent. Ariel tells her that she’s an artificial human on bad terms with her creators, something Heartful feels sorry for, but asks for more details on. Upon learning that they’re a secret society of some kind, Heartful stops asking questions, but is clearly hiding something more. Ariel asks how Crescent moon is so special, to which Heartful responds with something to do with the virtual idol being intertwined with the veil, but not having any more details. Ariel attempts to probe further, but is thwarted by Senza entering the room and stuck wondering if Heartful just wanted to know about any possible corporate espionage... or more.

Senza checks her emails on her smart watch and gets a news alert about the deaths of Denno’s and Swept Coil, then an invitation to Denno’s funeral, and finally a frantic email from Blessed Lee about it. Senza asks for the other player characters to follow her into the private room, goading Synch into fully following in. Senza asks what happened and why she wasn’t told about Denno’s death, with Synch saying that a lot happened and WIll agreeing, then continuing with a full explination of the events that happened at SVS. They tried to deal with things quickly, Denno’s tried to run, and he died. Will, not quite getting what Senza wants, attempts to summarize more when Synch admits that they killed Denno. Senza takes a moment and then says that, it isn’t that she doesn’t think that he deserved to die, it’s that she wants to be told if someone she knows dies. Will apologizes, saying that she didn’t know that Senza would be this affected and that she should have thought about it. Synch admits as much fault as they ever will in their life and also says that they should have thought about it more. Senza just feels like this is surreal.

When the group returns into the main room, they notice that Crescent isn’t there. Ariel texts her and asks her where she is, to which after a bit of back and forth, is revealed to be to go to Fortuna, with an apology. Ariel is shocked and the group decides to have Synch protect Heartful Vale while the rest of them go pursue Crescent. Senza sends Fortuna a text warning her about Crescent’s arrival and the idol mysteriously arrives at her office. Crescent Moon wants the favor Fortuna promised her. Fortuna isn’t ready for this. 

Luckily, Mia Ann Grace is pre-occupied watching Anime while Fortuna makes the idol tea and is asked about how she met her wife. The story is very embarrassing with Fortuna trying to act cool at a party, making kind of a fool of herself and running away. The next day, Audacity went to see Fortuna and asked if they could study together, and after time, they got married and stuff. Love’s weird and lucky folks. Fortuna and Crescent watch anime while they wait for the others, Senza ignores more of Blessed Lee’s emails and when they all make it into the office, Crescent Moon awkwardly fails to fully say what she wants, having Fortuna take over.

Senza doesn’t want to be here and tries to give Fortuna an out.

Fortuna says that Crescent Moon needs to talk to Ariel and Will, but that first she wants to apologize to Ariel for the events that happened the previous night. Ariel tentatively accepts the apology after Fortuna puts more gusto into it, allowing the topic to move to what this whole conversation is about. Fortuna says that Crescent has relationship troubles and goads the idol into saying what she wants to say, which is that she likes Ariel and Will. Will is, slow about it, and asks what she means, to which Fortuna says that Crescent Moon is gay and romantically likes you. Will pauses and attempts to process this information, thinking back to the events of the days prior and then going “Oh!”

Senza makes her move, as Fortuna tries to excuse her, as she’s uncomfortable and probably has something important to do, which Senza says that she does, she has to deal with stuff about Denno’s funeral, a bomb to drop before she leaves.

Crescent Moon rambles about how much she likes Will and Ariel, citing their actions and character traits, the things that she likes about both of them and the things she likes about each of them, going on and on and on. Will tries to deflect, as she does like Crescent but they haven’t known each other for very long and that she’s just been doing her job. Crescent tries to retort with how she’s dating Ariel already despite knowing them both for the same amount of time. Will affirms that they need to slow down, that the dynamic is something to consider, you shouldn’t date your body guard, which Crescent reluctantly accepts. The idol turns to Ariel and asks if she’s mad that she likes will, which Ariel isn’t. Crescent is in charge of her own feelings and can date who she wants. Crescent makes confused sad noises and Ariel moves in to hold her hand and Crescent clutches it tightly and beings to cry. Fortuna goes in for a hug and Will slowly attempts to also come in to comfort Crescent Moon, not even noticing Fortuna’s presence anymore. Crescent Moon unleashes a flurry of feelings and is glad that Fortuna helped her, thanking her for it and feeling overall better and ready for the concert.

With that out of the way, Ariel tells Fortuna how they can become square, asking if Audacity can make her sibling, Ark, a body. Fortuna nods and promises to have her wife help. Senza texts Blessed Lee about the urgency of his situation. It is about the nanomachines, and while it doesn’t seem urgent, it is something Senza needs to check up on. The others leave as Senza goes to see him. As her office returns to being just her, Mia Ann Grace returns from her anime binge and asks for whats next.

Alone with Heartful Vale, Synch is playing the Crescent Moon Gatcha Game when Heartful gets an email and reacts in a shocked manner. Synch probes bluntly, saying that keeping information away from people trying to protect you is a bad idea. Heartful tries to deflect, saying she doesn’t want to put others in danger, something thats way too late to apply now. When Synch looks up information on the deep web and sees Heartful Vale connected with Chasis, the CEO of Snow Vision Structure and Nicola Lelulilo, they probe further, eventually getting Heartful to reveal the message, a picture of her, her wife, Chasis, and her mentor along with the message, “Welcome back. Please find me.” It’s clearly from her mentor and Synch says it’s clearly a trap. Synch reveals to Heartful the misdeeds of her mentor, showing her the data he was given by Chasis on what Nicola did or was trying to do with psychics. Heartful asks how intimate Synch is with psychics, the answer to which is very. When Heartful asks if this has to do with Ariel, Synch asks why the researcher has to know. She’s worried about Crescent and it has to do with her work. Synch says that Heartful should ask Ariel about it herself.

Finally. We go to the concert.

The park has the big stage, various booths, the sky is a cool starry nebula thats clearly going to have cool shit happen to it. The group is dressed in various casual clothes and two characters fully introduce themselves in a way that they haven’t really in the space of the game. The first is Zed Teneberous, Will’s hacker and sibling in the Seat of Judges, who’s robot arms are a lot more industrial and who so desperately wants to be cool. Will introduces them, prompting Ariel to say that she doesn’t see the resemblance. Zed (un)cooly says they’re both adopted. Audacity, Fortuna’s catgirl wife, also introduces herself, finding the hacker endearing as he says that Fortuna’s cool. Audacity approaches Ariel, who has used her veil powers to give herself some Crescent Moon themed galaxy space hair effects, which Audacity comments on positively. Audaicty encourages Ariel to try some fashion or cosplay after saying that she has some sketches and preliminary ideas and stuff for Ark’s body. Ariel tries to decline a selfie with Audacity, trying to explain her killer robot status and wondering how much Audacity really knows. She knows everything that Fortuna knows, and the married couples love manages to get Ariel to agree to a selife. 

Sorry Tuna, Wish U Were Here

The concert finally happens, with Crescent Moon wearing a very cool outfit with tassels rising up into the concert like the moon as she thanks the party for being her friends and keeping her safe and showing her everything Quid had to offer. After a few songs, Crescent says that the next one is for her girlfriend, something that shocks the entire crowd. The concert goes off without a hitch, as Crescent Moon gives a performance of a lifetime.

In the afterparty for the concert, the party, Anemone, Zed, Audacity, Heartful and Crescent’s staff all hang out! Everyone says how much they liked the concert and then they go into small talk and party food as Zed takes Will aside for a second, telling her what they found out about Thunderings Seat of Judges mask. Apparently, the mask was expunged from the records, but Eastern Seabed, who trained Will, knows more. Will really doesn’t want to ask her about this, but she supposes she will have to. Will moves on to the new hustle she has for Zed, which is to find out more about the Angelic Threads, as if they are real and a threat, the Seat should know about them, even if for whatever reason, Will doesn’t. Zed agrees and then immediately moves on to asking about Anemone, asking WIll who the cool girl with Ariel is. Will tells Zed that it’s a bad idea and watches in horror as the hacker moves in to introduces themself to them.

While Zed is embarrassing, they do reveal their thoughts on the Seat of Judges to Ariel, saying that the ritual and pretence is more harmful than it is good, but that they like being a cool hacker and that the Seat of Judges as an organisation that makes sure that people can stand up for themselves  and have what was promised to them is good. Zed then asks them what their favorite animals are, and then makes Ariel an origami Snow Leapord and Anemone an origami Crane, with paper printed from his arms. Ariel eventually realizes that Zed’s hitting on her and or Anemone and tells her sibling whats up. She doesn’t really care, as she is interested in seeing what the dork of a hacker has to say about art and culture and dumb internet things they like. 

Heartful then takes Senza and Ariel aside, wanting to trade information about the angelic threads that she assumes they have for information on Crescent Moon that she’s been hiding. Ariel does not trust Senza, or rather LACUNA, and doesn’t want Crescent potentially endangered. Senza tries to convince Heartful otherwise, but doesn’t quite manage it. Heartful Vale reveals that Crescent Moon wasn’t made by her as much as she was restored by her, from an old world data-core, one that she hid before she was kidnapped. She needs to know if the data-core was stolen, and if it was stolen by the angelic threads in particular. That kind of thing can’t fall into the wrong hands. Ariel pauses, as it is a lot to process, and promises to tell Heartful Vale more when she figures out how she feels about this, asking the researcher if Crescent Moon knows. Crescent is aware of her true origins, but not of the particulars of why she specifically is in danger. Heartful wanted to hide it from her, but knows that she can’t do that anymore.

Ariel rejoins the party and the night goes on, quietly our party slowly gaining new friends and allies and getting closer to finding out the secrets behind the Angelic Threads...

In our epilogue, we see them, speaking with 9Sigma, who insists that [Ariel] is behind the disturbance at SVS and the death of Swept Coil. They must act before it is too late and we cut to that night, when Ariel, Ark, and Anemone all have a nightmare, a dream of metaphors and numbers, a message, warning, and call from their eldest sibling.

We see Zed, having stolen access to the Seat of Judges library looking into a group of people who were ousted from the Seat by Radiant Historia, leading to her rise to the top of the Seat, a group who supposedly claimed to want to Open Heaven. 

Mia Ann Grace talks to her true employers about her work with Fortuna, wanting to find specific knowledge that only Fortuna should have...

And finally, Senza is asleep in her home, with LACUNA charging. LACUNA slinks to Senza and connects to her, interfacing with her body, and managing to move her fingers while she’s asleep. LACUNA will have the knowledge they need, at any cost...